Serbia faces crisis after failed election

Serbia faces crisisafter failed election
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Serbia headed for a major political crisis after it failed for a second time to elect a president and the top vote-getter said he would not recognize the outcome.
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica -- who won most votes at the Sunday election which failed because of low turnout -- claimed he was robbed of his victory because of irregular voter lists, announcing legal steps to challenge the ballot.
"We will not recognize the results of this election," Kostunica said hours after the polls closed. "Crime is the right word for what happened here."
Sunday's vote was invalid because some 44 percent of the electorate cast ballots -- short of the 50 percent minimum turnout required by the election law, according to the State Electoral Commission and the independent observers. The inconclusive outcome followed another such failure in October.
Although he won most votes on Sunday, the failure at the polls dealt a serious blow to Kostunica, indicating that the once overwhelming popular support he enjoyed when he toppled autocratic Yugoslav ex-President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 has shrunk.
Authorities: Al-Qaidanot behind bombings
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Grieving families flew Muslim black flags and offered prayers for the dead today after Prime Minister Khaleda Zia vowed to hunt down the bombers of four crowded cinemas.
No suspects have been identified and no one claimed responsibility for Saturday night's blasts, which killed 18 people and injured 200.
Authorities said an unidentified "organized group" set off the bombs in Mymensingh, a small town 70 miles north of the capital, Dhaka. But they denied speculation that Osama bin Laden's terror network might be involved.
"I ... would like to categorically state here that there is no Al-Qaida network on the soil of Bangladesh," Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury told a news conference.
Zia ordered heightened security at mosques, temples, churches, shopping malls and theaters across Bangladesh.
The government appointed Sultan Hossain, a retired high court judge, to investigate the attacks. Hossain has three weeks to investigate and make a report.
Police raid nightclubin drug crackdown
LOS ANGELES -- Authorities raided a popular Hollywood nightclub where they allege designer drugs were openly sold at rave parties.
The raid capped a seven-month probe that has led to the seizure of more than 10,000 Ecstasy pills. Five people were arrested on drug charges during the raid of Circus Disco on Sunday.
During the investigation, undercover agents bought Ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana and ketamine from 25 people. In six cases, the drug sales were either made or facilitated by nightclub employees, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control said.
The pills that were seized over the course of the investigation had an estimated street value of more than $200,000, officials said.
Investigators said they targeted Circus Disco following the September 2001 death of a 27-year-old man who collapsed on the dance floor and began having convulsions after taking Ecstasy he reportedly obtained at the nightclub.
Trashy birthday party
LOS ANGELES -- When 6-year-old Michael Wong-Sasso grows up, he wants to be a trash collector.
So naturally, he wanted to have his birthday party at the local dump.
About 40 children and their parents gathered Saturday at the Sunshine Canyon Landfill to celebrate Michael's seventh birthday.
"I like the big trucks," he said. "I like putting trash where it belongs. I like making the world cleaner."
For safety and sanitary reasons, the party was held in a small valley on the landfill's outskirts, away from bulldozers and strange smells. The partygoers were surrounded by scores of potted trees, which are used to landscape the landfill.
The children fashioned flour-dough animals with the help of recycled materials such as cardboard and colored paper and frolicked on a big pile of "clean" dirt, playing with toy backhoes and earthmovers.
"We don't know where this interest in trash came from," said Michael's mother Sophia Wong. "He's been this way since he was 2."
Having a party at a dump is "definitely different," said Scott Krause, who brought his 6-year-old son, Trevor.
"It's not like you're saying, 'Oh no, not another birthday at the landfill,"' Krause said. "I mean, how many times can you go to Chuck E. Cheese's?"
Associated Press