ISTANBUL (AP) - A boat carrying illegal migrants capsized yesterday in the Aegean Sea off Turkey's coast, and at least three of them drowned, according to media reports. The coast guard recovered the bodies near the town of Cesme in the western province of Izmir, news agency Anatolia said. It was not immediately clear how many migrants were aboard the boat, but the coast guard said it was no longer searching in the area. The victims - who were from Rwanda, Mauritania and Gambia - were attempting to reach Greece, which is across the Aegean, Anatolia said.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The Bosnian war crimes chamber sentenced a Bosnian-Serb former paramilitary yesterday to 12 years in prison for the persecution, detention and torture of Muslims in eastern Bosnia early in the 1992-95 war. Former reserve policeman Nenad Tanaskovic from the eastern town of Visegrad was also found guilty of setting Muslim houses on fire in nearby villages and abetting in the rape of Muslim women, presiding judge Hilmo Vucinic said. «The trial panel of the Bosnia-Herzegovina court found the accused guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 12 years in prison,» Vucinic said.

Bulgaria has extradited a British man who faces trial in his country for 24 sexual assaults on other men, including 19 rapes, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. The 57-year-old man was extradited to Britain Thursday, a ministerial statement said. The man had been arrested on July 22 at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint between Bulgaria and Turkey, after Interpol issued a European warrant for his arrest in late June. He is to stand trial in his country for the rape of 19 men, four occasions of abetment in sexual acts with underage teenagers, and one case of sexual assault. (AFP)

An animal rights group yesterday called for an international team of vets to examine dozens of famed Lipizzaner horses it says face starvation while Serbia and Croatia argue over their ownership. The Belgrade-based «Freedom for Animals» group said the animals, rescued from war in 1991 after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and brought to Serbia from Croatia, were weak and neglected despite government pledges they would be looked after. «The horses... are still starving, they are in very bad condition, without veterinary supervision and treatment,» the group said in a statement. (AP)