SACRAMENTO: Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski yesterday pleaded not guilty to carrying out four bombings that killed two people. The hearing was adjourned until next month and his trial is not expected to open for at least a year.

Kaczynski, 54, who was arrested in April, is accused of being the bomber who killed three people and injured 23 during a 17-year anti-technology campaign of violence. The former mathematics professor appeared in court wearing a bandage on his head after he fell and hit his head while being taken there, but a defence lawyer said he was not complaining of ill-treatment.

Polls date set

VIENNA: The Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe announced that Bosnian elections will take place on September 1. However chairman Flavio Cotti stressed that Bosnian Serb eader Radovan Karadzic, who is wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal, must be removed from power to save the polls from faltering.

Britons held

ANKARA: Two British men in their 20s were arrested at the western Turkish beach resort of Cesme yesterday, allegedly carrying 24lb of heroin. Brian Lowe, 29, and Rodney Cook, 22, were held along with a Nigerian as they tried to board a ferry for Brindisi in Italy.

Mine man `slave'

PHNOM PENH: British mine-clearing expert Christopher Howes is reportedly being held at the home of the Khmer Rouge's most infamous military commander, Ta Mok. Senior Cambodian officers said that Mr Howes and his Cambodian interpreter, kidnapped three months ago, have been enslaved to make mines and handle explosives in the guerrilla group's civil war against the government.

Birthday moves

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's outgoing government has shifted the celebration of the Queen's Birthday to June 30 next year, the day that ends 150 years of British colonial rule and the colony reverts to China.

Au pair murdered

BOSTON: Police say a dismembered torso discovered in a rubbish skip was the body of a 19-year-old Swedish au pair. The body of Karina Holmer, who worked as a nanny in the posh suburb of Dover, had been cut in half at the waist in what a spokesman said was ``one of the most gruesome scenes anyone has ever seen''.

Newspaper folds

PARIS: The world's last daily Yiddish newspaper, Unzer Wort (Our Word), will fold at the end of this month because of rising costs. The paper sought to preserve the former language of East European Jewry.

Goose cooked

DETROIT: About 500 Canada geese in Michigan are heading for the plates of the homeless after a judge lifted a temporary restraining order on their slaughter. The large birds, infamous for their canine-sized droppings, will be captured and killed and their meat distributed to food banks.

Post for envoy

HONG KONG: A former British ambassador to Beijing and government adviser on China policy, Sir Percy Cradock, has become a director of Hong Kong's English-language South China Morning Post newspaper.

Fenice arson link

VENICE: Investigators suspect that fire which destroyed Venice's historic La Fenice opera house may have been raised deliberately. Italian media reported that investigators were considering arson after experts who studied the charred remains of the 18th-century theatre discovered several fires had broken out inside. Initially the fire was linked to an electrical short circuit during restoration work.

Mouse meltdown

TIRANA: Two Albanian towns were blacked out when a mouse caused a short circuit and sparked a #6000 power plant blaze. The fire burned down a high voltage distribution centre in the town of Kruja, causing a second blaze at a power station in the nearby town of Fushe-Kruje.

q.Millions of mayflies smothered a power plant in Toledo, Ohio, in a scene reminiscent of a horror film, reducing electricity for 290,000 homes and businesses and setting off hundreds of alarms throughout the city.