AMSTERDAM (Reuters) The UN war crimes tribunal confirmed the acquittal of Bosnian Muslim commander Sefer Halilovic yesterday, rejecting a prosecution appeal that he be convicted of murder for a massacre of Bosnian Croats. Halilovic is one of a handful of Bosnian Muslims to stand trial for alleged war crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. His acquittal in 2005 angered Bosnian Croat war veterans and Serbs, who accused the court of bias. The appeals chamber dismissed the prosecution’s allegation that Halilovic exercised effective control over troops who killed 13 Bosnian-Croat civilians of the southern city of Mostar in 1993.

BELGRADE (AFP) A Serbian man murdered the donor of a kidney that saved the life of his own daughter in an apparent a fit of madness, the daily Vecernje Novosti said yesterday. Milenko Burmazovic, a former police officer and father of six, cut the throat of the donor, Dragoslav Tesic, on a road between the western towns of Loznica and Valjevo on Monday, the newspaper reported. Police detained him after finding him calmly smoking a cigarette near his victim.

Patriarch Daniel, the new leader of Romania’s Orthodox Church, was cleared yesterday of having been a Securitate collaborator because files on him had been destroyed during the 1989 anti-communist revolt. There has been no word from the Romanian Orthodox Church on Daniel’s past. (AP)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Turkey yesterday for a four-day visit to discuss regional issues and bilateral ties, the Anatolia news agency reported. Assad was to dine with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul yesterday evening ahead of talks today that will include meetings with PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. (AFP)

Shocked Slav Macedonians yesterday mourned one of their biggest stars, singer Tose Proeski, killed in a car crash on a Croatian highway early yesterday. In the capital Skopje, thousands of sobbing fans gathered in the main square, lighting candles and leaving flowers, teddy bears and posters of the 26-year-old pop star in makeshift shrines. (Reuters)