BELGRADE (AP) - A Bosnian-Serb war crimes suspect returned home to Belgrade on Saturday after the Netherlands-based UN tribunal released him earlier this week until the start of his trial. Momcilo Gruban, indicted for war crimes during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, was one of six war crimes suspects who had surrendered voluntarily after the government in April adopted a new law on extradition to the Hague court. The UN tribunal judges granted Gruban’s release after receiving guarantees from Belgrade that he would return to face trial. Gruban pleaded innocent in May to charges of murder and torture at the infamous Omarska prison camp, a former mining complex where detainees were starved, beaten and raped from May to August, 1992. Gruban faces life imprisonment if convicted of any single charge of the 11 counts of war crimes.

OBILIC, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - Lightning struck Kosovo’s main power plant, starting a fire that killed one worker, injured 34 and plunged the UN-run Yugoslav province into darkness, officials said on Saturday. NATO peacekeepers shone helicopter spotlights to help rescue teams evacuate casualties from the smoking plant, 7 km (5 miles) west of the provincial capital Pristina. A Croatian technician, who had been reported missing, was found dead, police and UN sources said. The coal-fired plant was shut down, leaving the province without electricity overnight.

Montenegro’s president on Saturday announced that his republic will hold early parliamentary elections on October 6 after the republic’s assembly on Wednesday voted to shorten its mandate, which had been due to expire in 2005. Former Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic saw his government collapse earlier this year over a dispute about a Western-brokered deal that kept Montenegro together with Serbia, the larger Yugoslav republic, in a loose union. (AP)

Four people have drowned in weekend floods following heavy rains in several parts of Romania, police said yesterday. Flooding has affected the north, east and southeast of the central European country, swamping 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of farmland and 500 homes. Some bridges were swept away by floodwaters, leaving several roads impassable, while drinking water and power supplies were cut to about 50 towns, police said. (AFP)

Turkey detained 195 illegal migrants on Saturday after their ship began sinking off Turkey’s southern shore, a coast guard official said. The ship collided with another ship in heavy fog, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) from the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, an official said. The migrants were mostly Turkish citizens. All were rescued before the ship sunk. The ship did not bear a flag but was believed to be Turkish. (AP)

Romania’s ambassador to China has been recalled to Romania after he apparently irked members of the ruling party, a newspaper reported on Saturday. Adrian Paunescu, a senator for the ruling Party of Social Democracy, called for Ioan Donca’s removal, accusing the ambassador of rudeness during an official visit. He said Donca and his wife had sat in seats intended for Romanian lawmakers during a meeting with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. (AP)