Korean leaders meet in summit

SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il greeted South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in Pyongyang today, beginning the second summit between the two countries since the peninsula's division after World War II. Thousands of cheering North Koreans waving pink paper flowers and a military honor guard bearing rifles with bayonets heralded the leaders' encounter outside a cultural hall in the North Korean capital. Kim appeared reserved and unemotional, walking slowly and occasionally clapping lightly to encourage the crowd. Roh appeared to revel in the moment, smiling broadly. Neither made any public comment. (AP)

TORONTO - Three former Canadian health officials and a US pharmaceutical company were acquitted of criminal charges yesterday following a tainted-blood scandal in which thousands of Canadians contracted HIV and hepatitis C from blood transfusions. Roger Perrault, a former director of the Canadian Red Cross, and the others had each been accused of criminal negligence causing bodily harm after thousands of hemophilia patients were given tainted blood products in the 1980s and 1990s. (Reuters)

VIENNA - A Bosnian who tried to enter the US Embassy in Vienna with a backpack filled with explosives, nails, and Islamic literature was arrested yesterday after the bag set off a metal detector and the man fled on foot, authorities said. Police sealed off the neighborhood and shut down or rerouted bus and tram lines. Officers patrolled the area with bomb-sniffing dogs. The suspect was described only as a 42-year-old native of Bosnia-Herzegovina who lives in the province of Lower Austria. Police said they made the arrest a short distance from the embassy in a neighborhood where security is tight. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. (AP)

CAIRO - A newspaper editor facing criminal charges for reporting that Egypt's president was ill accused the government yesterday of launching an organized campaign to silence the media and said it would take a miracle for him to escape a prison sentence. Ibrahim Eissa, a critic of President Hosni Mubarak and editor of the independent daily Al-Dustour, skipped the opening session of his trial yesterday but was represented by lawyers from across the political spectrum. (AP)

TEHRAN - A university in Iran has invited President Bush to visit and discuss issues including terrorism and the Holocaust, a week after his Iranian counterpart visited a university in New York. The invitation from Ferdowsi University in the northeastern city of Mashhad was to attend a question and answer session with students and professors, Fars News Agency said. Human rights and other issues could also be raised, it said. Iranian media and politicians have reacted angrily to the way Ahmadinejad was treated when he spoke at Columbia University on Sept. 24. (Reuters)