World

Calling the resort island of Bali "now [a] hell in paradise," senior Indonesian officials blamed Al Qaeda for the terrorist explosion that killed at least 181 people late Saturday. More than 300 others were hurt; dozens remained missing. The casualties came from 23 other countries, plus Hong Kong and Indonesia itself. A Muslim cleric who leads Jemaah Islamiya, a group suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda, denied any role in the attack and dared accusers to prove otherwise.

For the fourth time in three years, Northern Ireland's Protestant-Catholic self-rule administration was suspended by the British government. Secretary for Northern Ireland John Reid said he hoped the move would be "a short-lived impasse." But because of alleged spying by Sinn Fein, the Catholic party allied with the Irish Republican Army, critics doubted the power-sharing regime could be patched back together easily.

A furious Vojislav Kostunica vowed that his main political rivals "will be put on the pillory" for leading a boycott of Sunday's presidential runoff in Serbia that resulted in an invalid election. Kostunica, who would yield his post as president of Yugoslavia under a political reform plan, won 66 percent of the vote, to 31 percent for economist Miroljub Labus. But the boycott, which Kostunica blamed on Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj, kept the voter turnout to 45 percent, setting up yet another election Dec. 5 that will be open to all candidates.

Buoyed by a march of supporters estimated at 1 million strong Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was to fly to Europe for a week of high-profile engagements – among them the keynote speech at World Food Day ceremonies in Rome. He was among those in the streets of Caracas for a response to a mass protest three days earlier calling for his resignation. Chávez rejected the demand as well as calls for an early election. "The next election will be in December – December 2006," he said.

As many as 50,000 people chanted "Bye, bye, KANU!" at a rally in Nairobi, Kenya, organized by opponents of President Daniel arap Moi as his ruling party announced its nominee to succeed him in elections due by year's end. KANU chose Uhuru Kenyatta, the politically inexperienced son of former President Jomo Kenyatta. In response, six cabinet ministers defected to the opposition alliance, which said it would field a single candidate to try to oust KANU, which has ruled since 1963.