SARAJEVO (AFP) – A Bosnian court yesterday cleared a former Muslim soldier of charges that he was responsible for detaining and beating Serbs during the country’s 1992-95 war. The Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina said it was not presented with evidence that Ferid Hodzic ordered the unlawful detention and maltreatment of Serb civilians and prisoners of war near the eastern town of Vlasenica in 1992 and 1993. Hodzic had been accused of ordering the detention and beatings of six Serb prisoners of war and civilians, including a woman and a child, in an improvised prison set up in a stable at Rovasi village. The prisoners had frequently been beaten and insulted by Bosnian Muslim soldiers, but it was impossible to link the crimes with Hodzic, the court said in a statement. “The evidence about who or what authority was responsible for the detention of the prisoners was mixed and contradictory,” it said.

BUCHAREST (AP) – Former Romanian soccer star Gheorghe Popescu has denied a newspaper report that he was an informer of the feared Communist secret police in the 1980s. Popescu says he signed a document promising to “defend the national interests” during the regime of late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. He says that was common practice for players in Romanian teams that entered international competitions. Daily Adevarul claimed Popescu had been an informant from 1986 to 1989, the year communism was toppled. Popescu called the report “a big lie.” He denied informing on teammates or anyone else at a news conference yesterday.

NICOSIA (AFP) – The United States hopes a historic breakthrough to end decades of division on Cyprus can be achieved by the end of this year, a senior US diplomat said yesterday. “We are trying to plan for success, which means we would like to look forward and anticipate there will be an agreement by the end of the year,” visiting senior State Department official Matthew Bryza told reporters. “But we don’t have any plan of our own, we don’t have any initiative... we don’t foresee ourselves playing any new role, unless the parties themselves... said, ‘Please do something. ’” UN-brokered reunification talks between President Dimitris Christofias, the Greek-Cypriot leader, and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat have struggled to achieve tangible progress since they were launched last September.

Two Bulgarian youngsters have tested positive for swine flu, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 10, the Health Ministry said yesterday. An 11-year-old boy, who lives in the United States but arrived to visit his Bulgarian grandparents for the summer, tested positive for the influenza A (H1N1) virus. A 14-year-old boy became infected after coming into contact with a man who was diagnosed with swine flu last week after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia, the ministry said. (AFP)

Three people have been charged in Poland after a jailed Romanian national died following a two-month hunger strike to protest his innocence of a theft charge, prosecutors said yesterday. “The charges were presented to the court on Monday,” Piotr Kosmaty, Krakow regional prosecutor said, quoted by the Polish PAP news agency. The three officials from the hospital at Krakow’s Montelupich prison, who have been accused of criminal negligence, face up to five years in prison if convicted. Daniel Crulic, 33, was incarcerated in the Montelupich prison in Krakow, southern Poland, in November 2007 pending trial for alleged thefts. (AFP)

Novak Djokovic defeated Dudi Sela in straight sets to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Djokovic won the last four games of the first set before completing a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win in just 1 hour, 29 minutes. The fourth-seeded Serb broke Sela seven times. Djokovic set up his match point with an ace and converted it with another strong serve that Sela could only return into the net. Sela was the first Israeli man in 20 years to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon. Djokovic is looking for his second Grand Slam title after winning the Australian Open last year. (AP)