ANKARA (AP) - Floods triggered by heavy rains swept away tents in villages in southeast Turkey yesterday, killing six people, a news report said. A 42-year-old mother and her three children — aged 16, 3 and 1 — drowned when their tent was swept away by floods in the village of Ilica in predominantly Kurdish Mus province, the Anatolia news agency reported. In nearby Derecik village, a husband and wife, both in their 40s, was also swept away by flood waters and drowned, the report said. The two families had returned to their home villages recently and were living in government-provided tents as their homes had been destroyed, Anatolia said.

BELGRADE (AP) - The head of the UN war crimes tribunal traveled to Belgrade yesterday for the first visit by the court’s president since it was established a decade ago to prosecute atrocities committed in former Yugoslavia. Theodor Meron first went into talks with Svetozar Marovic, the president of Serbia and Montenegro — or what used to be Yugoslavia — before meeting with Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic. Meron is scheduled to meet other top officials today. Serbian media have reported that the talks in Belgrade will focus on the country’s cooperation with the court based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Bosnian-Serb President Dragan Cavic said yesterday that he hoped Bosnia-Herzegovina would be ready to join the European Union in 2010. “I hope the Republika Srpska (the Serb-run part of Bosnia) and therefore Bosnia-Herzegovina, will be able to join the EU in 2010,” Cavic told reporters during a two-day visit to Italy’s northeast. The 1992-1995 war left Bosnia split into two semi-autonomous entities — the Serbs’ Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. Each entity has its own president, government, parliament, army and police. Speaking in the town of Udine, Cavic added, “We are counting in the help of Italy, which holds the EU presidency for the current semester.” (AFP)

The remains of 107 victims of Europe’s worst massacre since World War II were transferred yesterday for reburial later this week in a ceremony over which former US President Bill Clinton will preside. Up to 8,000 Muslims, mostly boys and men, were killed in Srebrenica in July 1995 by Bosnian-Serb troops, who had overrun the eastern town, then a UN-protected zone. The victims will be buried tomorrow at a new part of the cemetery in the nearby town of Potocari during the opening of a memorial center. (AP)

The United States yesterday lauded Bulgaria’s steadfast support in the war on terrorism and the conflict with Iraq, calling it a “pivotal” and “valuable” friend on the eve of the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries. “The US congratulates the people of Bulgaria on this occasion and looks forward to many more years of increased cooperation and partnership,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Boucher also praised Sofia’s contributions to US-led military operations in Afghanistan and in Iraq, where a 500-strong Bulgarian infantry battalion is now serving in the stabilization force. (AFP)