World Scene

SWEDEN

Lindh mourned, suspect sought

STOCKHOLM — Thousands of Swedes mourned Foreign Minister Anna Lindh yesterday as police studied grainy videotaped images of the man believed to be her killer and hunted for the stocky, acne-scarred suspect.

Investigators also scoured letters and e-mail addressed to Mrs. Lindh, after the Foreign Ministry said she received correspondence attacking her campaign for a “yes” vote in Sweden’s upcoming euro referendum.

Mrs. Lindh was stabbed several times in an upscale Stockholm department store Wednesday and died the next day, horrifying the nation and rekindling painful memories of the unsolved slaying of Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.

QATAR

New video shows September 11 hijacker

DUBAI — Arab television channel Al Jazeera yesterday aired a new videotape of a man it said was one of the September 11 hijackers, reading his will and saying it was a Muslim duty to fight the “American enemy.”

“America is the enemy that every Muslim should fight. There is no way the Arab nation can be saved except through jihad [holy war],” said the speaker, identified as Saeed Alghamdi.

VENEZUELA

Election council rejects recall petition

CARACAS - Venezuela’s election council yesterday rejected a petition for a referendum on ending Hugo Chavez’s presidency, a major setback in opposition efforts to oust the leftist leader.

The petition was thrown out because the signatures of millions of Venezuelans were gathered before the midpoint of Mr. Chavez’s term, an election rule violation, said National Elections Council President Francisco Carrasquero. The council is considered an impartial body by rival political groups.

The decision dampened opposition chances of holding a vote by the end of the year. Many Chavez supporters believe that such a vote could now be put off indefinitely. Opposition leaders vowed to launch a new signature drive Oct. 5.

GERMANY

Ex-Nazi faces trial for murder

BERLIN — An 88-year-old former member of the Nazi SS will go on trial next week for the 1944 killing of a Dutch resistance fighter, a court in northern Germany announced yesterday.

The trial of Dutch-born Hubertus Bikker will open Wednesday at the state court in Hagen, the court said. Doctors at the Institute for Neuropsychology at the University of Bochum on Thursday deemed him fit to stand trial.

GUATEMALA

Rios Montt cleared to run for president

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala’s high court has dropped two appeals and will allow ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt to run for president in the Nov. 9 election, a court source said yesterday.

Mr. Rios Montt’s 1982-83 rule followed a bloodless coup, but was widely criticized abroad for human rights abuses, during which thousands of political opponents were slain.

RWANDA

Kagame takes oath of office

KIGALI — Raising his right hand and touching Rwanda’s flag with his left, Paul Kagame took the oath of office yesterday as the nation’s first popularly elected president since the 1994 genocide.

The ceremony officially ended the transitional government set up in July 1994 after Mr. Kagame’s rebel forces ended the genocide and ousted the extremist Hutu government that orchestrated the slaughter of more than 500,000 people, most of them minority Tutsis, like Mr. Kagame.

From wire dispatches and staff reports