Serbia-Montenegro

Thousands greet Clinton

Thousands of cheering ethnic Albanians greeted Bill Clinton Friday in Kosovo as he made his second visit to the province since assembling a coalition that halted a brutal crackdown by Serb forces.

Guarded by an armored personnel carrier and NATO peacekeepers, the former president’s motorcade streamed past flag-waving crowds as he traveled from the airport to the capital of the ethnically divided province. He then strode into the city’s university to receive an honorary degree.

After donning a blue gown for the degree ceremony, the former president urged students and other dignitaries to create a positive model in Kosovo that would encourage people in the Middle East and the rest of the world struggling with ethnic and religious problems.

India

Deputy prime minister cleared of inciting riots

A judge cleared India’s second-most powerful politician Friday of charges he incited Hindu mobs to tear down a historic mosque in 1992, setting off years of bloody religious violence. But seven leading officials linked to the ruling party will face trial for the razing.

The dismissal of charges against Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani was a victory for the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Advani, the party’s No. 2 leader and a possible future prime minister, was present in the northern city of Ayodhya on Dec. 6, 1992, when tens of thousands of Hindu activists razed the 16th-century Babri Mosque with spades, crowbars and their bare hands.

The attack on the mosque led to nationwide riots in which 2,000 people died.

Pakistan

Police say bombing may be business dispute

A bomb hidden in a trash can on the 10th floor of an office building in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi on Friday shattered windows and rained debris onto the street below, but there were no reports of casualties, police said.

Residents said the explosion was loud enough to be heard throughout the city of 14 million people. But police official Mohammed Ashraf told The Associated Press that there was no major damage or serious injuries.

“It (Friday’s blast) could be a business dispute, but we cannot rule out terrorist activities,” said the officer, Mohammed Saleem. “The matter must be investigated.”

Russia

Seven Russian soldiers killed in Chechnya

Rebel attacks and a mine blast killed seven Russian servicemen in the past 24 hours in the Kremlin’s military campaign against Chechen separatists, an official said Friday.

Three of the servicemen were killed and 11 others wounded in rebel attacks on Russian positions, said an official in Chechnya’s Moscow-backed administration on condition of anonymity.

Three others died and seven were wounded in a clash with rebels that broke out as the Russian were conducting a security sweep in the village of Goiskoye in the Urus-Martan district in southern Chechnya on Thursday, the official said.

The seventh Russian serviceman was killed while defusing a mine in the western village of Assinovskaya, the official said.

Afghanistan

Three Afghans killed in blast near U.S. base

An explosion caused by locals handling an unexploded rocket killed three people and injured five Friday at a house near the U.S. military headquarters at Bagram air base, officials and residents said.

U.S. and Afghan troops rushed to the scene of the blast, which occurred around noon when the father of the family living in the house apparently tried to dismantle the 122mm rocket, officials said.

Maj. David Long said two bodies had been recovered and a third may have been buried under the rubble of the house. He said five injured people were taken to the hospital at the U.S. base.

Germany

Former Nazi collapses during his murder trial

An 88-year-old former Nazi SS fighter collapsed Friday in court and was rushed to the hospital shortly after the start of his trial on charges he murdered a Dutch resistance fighter in 1944.

Dutch-born Hebertus Bikker was taken from the courtroom in this northern city minutes after telling the judge, “I don’t feel well.”

The trial was originally scheduled to begin Wednesday, but had to be postponed because Bikker was suffering from high blood pressure. Proceedings are now scheduled to continue Sept. 26.

He was sentenced to life in prison in the Netherlands for crimes including torture, deportation and treason, but escaped in December 1952 and fled to Germany, where he has lived ever since.

New Zealand

Second bid to break glider record fails

American adventurer Steve Fossett failed Saturday in his second bid in less than a day to break the glider altitude record in southern New Zealand.

Fossett and former NASA test pilot Einar Enevoldson set off shortly after daybreak to seek out wind conditions they hoped would lift their glider above the current record of 49,009 feet.

They were back on the ground an hour later, aborting the attempt after hitting “rotor wind … which is rough and turbulent,” Fossett told The Associated Press.

“We were hoping for better,” said the Chicago millionaire, the first person to fly a hot air balloon solo around the world.