NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's parliament yesterday demanded that Britain pay for the use of military bases on the Mediterranean island, saying London had accumulated four decades of debt likely to run into millions of pounds. Britain, Cyprus's former colonial ruler, has two sprawling military compounds on the island that have in the past supported military operations in Iraq. Cyprus says London has failed to make any payments for their use since 1965. Britain denies it has such an obligation, saying there is no question of paying for use of territory it still retains sovereign rights over. In a show of hands, all factions in Cyprus's 56-member parliament urged the government to make claims on Britain. «We propose the government make official representations to Britain to pay its dues. If there is a refusal there would be no alternative but a recourse to international courts,» said socialist leader Yiannakis Omirou, who triggered the debate.

SARAJEVO (AP) - The government yesterday ordered people recently stripped of Bosnian citizenship to leave the country immediately or face deportation. Earlier this month, the government revoked the citizenship of more than 300 people, most of whom were naturalized during the 1992-95 Bosnian war and its immediate aftermath by officials bypassing official procedures. «The decision is final and binding. With this all people whose citizenship was revoked become foreigners and must immediately leave the country voluntarily or their stay will be regarded as illegal,» the Security Ministry said in a statement. Bosnia was criticized after the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 for granting citizenship to people who had links to international terrorism networks.

Belgium's highest court quashed the convictions of seven alleged Turkish militants yesterday and ordered their retrial, one of their lawyers said. The seven were sentenced to prison in February 2006 for belonging to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), the largest of Turkey's many leftist factions and on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations. There were cheers from the public gallery of the Court of Cassation as the accused were told they could walk free. The case will now go to the court of appeal in Antwerp. According to the court, one of the judges handling their case had not appeared to be impartial. That alone was grounds to consider the convictions unsound. (Reuters)

An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale shook southern Bulgaria yesterday without causing any injuries or damage, the country's seismology center said. The tremor hit in the early afternoon some 320 kilometers south of the capital Sofia. (AFP)