Kosovo votes for first government since declaring independence

(CNN) -- Voters in Kosovo are electing their first new government since declaring independence from Serbia.

The snap poll pits outgoing Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo against the Democratic League of Kosovo, led by Isa Mustafa, and various smaller parties.

Kosovo, which has strong links to predominantly Muslim Albania, declared independence in February 2008. Serbia and Kosovo's Serbian minority, among others, refuse to recognize the declaration, and Kosovo is officially administered by the United Nations.

Ethnic Serbs are expected to boycott the poll.

It was forced when Thaci lost a confidence vote November 2.

Thaci campaigned on promises of reform and visa liberalization with the European Union within 15 months.

Other political parties promised a better economy, while freer travel to the EU was also on their agendas.

The elections are the second ones run by Kosovo's own election commission. It ran mayoral and municipal elections in November 2009. International agencies ran Kosovo's elections for nine years before that.

The Kosovo government estimates the country's population at more than 2 million, with an estimated 92 percent Albanian, 5.3 percent Serbs, and 2.7 percent other groups.

Serbian-Albanian sectarian tension boiled over there as the former Yugoslavia broke up in the 1990s.

After the brutal civil war in Kosovo in the late 1990s -- which pitted Kosovo Albanian insurgents against Serb security forces and Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb paramilitaries -- a U.N. mission and a NATO-led peacekeeping force began operating in the region.

Kosovo's independence has been officially recognized by 72 countries.

Polls opened Sunday at 7 a.m. (1 a.m. ET) and will close 12 hours later. Results will take at least 24 hours, election officials say.

More than 1.6 million people are eligible to vote, with a choice of 29 political parties competing for the 120-seat Parliament, according to the Central Election Commission. A handful of seats are reserved for ethnic Albanians, Serbs, Bosnians, Turks and other minorities.

Election materials were delivered Saturday under heavy police security to 2,000 polling stations in 37 municipalities, CEC head Valdete Daka said.

The CEC has prepared 114 mobile teams for the the flashpoint town of Mitrovica, which is ethnically divided between Albanians and Serbs.

The European Union and NATO will be paying close attention to Kosovo's ability to carry out elections, with Kosovo aspiring to join both international organizations.

The European Union and United States have called on Kosovo to hold fair and democratic elections as a test of its progression toward the EU. CNN

Opposing theories given in death of swimsuit designer

New York (CNN) -- The attorney for the boyfriend of a 33-year-old swimsuit designer, whose bruised body was found in a bathtub at an exclusive New York hotel, said he believes at least one other person besides his client had been in the room.

Nick Brooks, 24, whose father -- Joseph Brooks -- is the Oscar-winning composer and director who produced the song "You Light Up My Life," was arraigned Saturday night on charges of attempted murder and strangulation in the death of Sylvie Cachay. He pleaded not guilty.

"I believe he is, in fact, not guilty," attorney Jeffrey C. Hoffman said of Brooks.

According to CNN affiliate WABC, authorities are treating Cachay's death as a homicide. However, Brooks cannot be charged with murder until the medical examiner determines the death was the result of a homicide. Cachay's body was discovered early Thursday.

Police are investigating a specific timeframe in which the killing occurred. According to court documents, police said the only person in the hotel room with Cachay besides Brooks was a hotel employee who delivered ice and was inside for about one minute. Brooks escorted the employee into the room and remained after the worker left, police said.

Authorities said they relied on interviews with hotel employees and surveillance videos from the location.

Police discovered Cachay, whose designs were a celebrity favorite, at the Soho House club and hotel, according to a New York police spokesman who declined to be named, citing agency policy.

Brooks was Cachay's boyfriend, according to WABC. Cachay's body sustained bruising on the neck and bite marks, and was found clothed in the hotel room bathtub, the spokesman said. Hoffman told WABC he didn't believe the two were in the process of breaking up.

An autopsy indicated that the designer suffered injuries that were consistent with neck compression, court records show. Cachay suffered internal hemorrhaging, injuries to her scalp and cuts to her lips and mouth.

The medical examiner's office will provide more details surrounding Cachay's death "pending toxicology and tissue testing, which would take a few weeks," spokeswoman Grace Burgess said.

"Sylvie Cachay was one of those rare individuals who truly sparkled when she spoke," said publicist Kate Godici. "She will be deeply and painfully missed, yet celebrated, honored and never forgotten". CNN

South Korea to conduct naval drills

(CNN) -- A new round of naval firing drills in South Korea is scheduled to steer clear of border islands, defense officials told the Yonhap News Agency on Sunday.

The exercises, which will start Monday and end Friday, will take place off coasts on all sides of the country, the South Korean agency reported. None are scheduled near the Yellow Sea islands south of the maritime border with North Korea, defense officials said, but more locations could be added to the list.

They come after similar live-fire drills conducted by South Korea last week.

Tensions mounted between the Koreas on November 23, when North Korea shelled South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island. The attacked killed two marines and two civilians and injured 18 people.

The North has accused the South of provoking the attack because shells from a South Korean military drill landed in the North's waters. CNN

Engagement pictures of William, Kate released

(CNN) -- The upcoming nuptials of Prince William and his fiancee, Kate Middleton, became even more official Saturday, with the release of a pair of engagement photographs.

The pictures, sent by Prince William's press office and distributed by the Press Association, came out several months ahead of the April 29, 2011, wedding at London's Westminster Abbey.

The prince proposed to Middleton, whom he had dated for much of the past eight years, on October 20 in a remote spot 10,200 feet (3,100 meters) above sea level on Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak.

Photographer Mario Testino took the engagement pictures, among others, on November 25 at St. James' Palace in London. CNN

Explosions in Stockholm believed to be failed terrorist attack

(CNN) -- A failed terrorist attack in a central Stockholm district full of Christmas shoppers could have been catastrophic, Swedish authorities said late Saturday.

Police are investigating whether two explosions in Stockholm, an e-mail threat sent shortly before the attack that mentions Afghanistan and the body of a man who was apparently killed in one of the explosions are related.

"Most worrying attempt at terrorist attack in crowded part of central Stockholm. Failed -- but could have been truly catastrophic," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a Twitter message on Saturday.

A Swedish news agency and police said they received e-mail threats against the Swedish people 10 minutes before the explosions, which killed one person and injured two others on Saturday.

"We have not taken any decision to increase the terror threat level," said Swedish Security Police spokesman Mikael Gunnarsson. "And apart from the e-mail we didn't have any other indications or threats that this would happen," Gunnarsson added.

The writer of the e-mail mentions the presence of Swedish troops in Afghanistan and a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammed, according to TT, a Swedish news wire.

The e-mails contained sound files featuring a person speaking in Swedish and Arabic, TT reported.

The sender referred to Swedish silence regarding the Afghanistan troops and the controversial cartoon by Lars Vilks that depicted Mohammed as having the body of a dog.

"Now your children, daughters and sisters will die like our brothers and sisters and children are dying," the e-mail states, according to TT.

"Our actions will speak for themselves," the person said in an audio recording attached to the email. "As long as you don't end your war against Islam and the humiliation against the prophet and with your stupid support to Lars Vilks the pig".

Swedish terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp told CNN that he did not believe the attacker acted alone.

"This was not something where he just woke up and thought that he would blow himself up," said Ranstorp, a professor at the Swedish military academy and a former professor in terrorism studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Police said the explosions were in a popular pedestrian shopping area.

"One explosion happened at the intersection of Drottninggatan and Olof Palmes Gata," two busy streets in central Stockholm, said police spokeswoman Petra Sjolander. "This was the car that exploded multiple times".

A second explosion occurred about five minutes later, at the intersection of Drottninggatan and Bryggargatan streets, Sjolander said.

An unidentified man was found dead at the scene of the second blast.

"We don't know at this point what caused the second explosion," Sjolander said, describing it as suspicious.

A bag was found near the body, she said.

"We had bomb technicians on site, but I can't give you any details of what they did," Sjolander told CNN.

A bomb robot rolled up to the body and removed the bag for examination, according to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

In the first incident, multiple blasts went off in a car, according to Sjolander.

"It is likely that this was some kind of gas tubes that have caused the car to explode multiple times," she said.

Two people at the site of the car explosion were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, she said.

Video on Sweden's TV4 showed flames spewing from the car, which was parked behind several others.

The e-mail writer ended the message with a call for action "to all Mujahadeen in Europe and Sweden," TT said.

"Now is the time to strike, don't wait any longer," the message read, according to TT. "Step up with whatever you have, even if it is a knife, and I know you have more than a knife. Fear no one, fear not prison, fear not death".

TT said that it was not clear from the e-mail or the audio files if the person belongs to any specific organization.

The person claimed to have been to the Middle East and asked family for forgiveness for lying to them. "I didn't go to the middle east to work," the writer wrote. "I went there for jihad". CNN

High-tech war games help save lives

Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- Virtual life is around us every day, from online communities to simulation in computer games. It's fun, but it's also useful.

The United States military uses simulation technology to train pilots, soldiers who take part in convoys and medics, who are similar to civilian emergency medical technicians.

New battery-operated, remote-controlled mannequins can simulate bleeding and breathing, and they have blinking eyes that dilate. Medics can test their skills on these life-like mannequins.

The new units, which are packed with technology, are used at 23 U.S. Army Medical Simulation Training Centers as part of a program to teach lifesaving techniques to medics and nonmedical personnel.

A Pentagon study says the training program has saved 1,000 soldiers' lives in combat, said Lt. Col. Wilson Ariza, manager of the U.S. Army Medical Simulation Project.

The centers -- originally designed to train medics and first responders before deployment to Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan -- became so good at saving lives on the battlefield that training was added to include everyday soldiers.

The latest mannequins are anatomically correct and have life-like skin, allowing soldiers to practice lifesaving techniques to stop bleeding and start intravenous medications.

A computer captures the medics' actions to ensure that they take the right steps.

"That simulator will breathe and bleed. And if it's bleeding, you have to apply the proper pressure to stop or control the bleeding, or the simulator will die, Ariza said.

The training takes place over five days at military bases in the United States and overseas.

The last day is the toughest. In an exercise, a simulated bomb explodes inside a tent, and a soldier screams "Help me! Help me!" as a medic rushes to a man whose legs appear to be blown off.

Blood squirts from the mannequin's severed limbs, which have exposed muscles and bone. The graphic scene includes soldiers lying on the ground with facial injuries.

A tourniquet is applied to the mannequin's legs, stopping the bleeding. The screaming soldier is an actor, lying on a cot, who has only the top half of his body exposed. The bottom half is the mannequin. CNN

10 killed in gang violence in southwest Mexico, government says

(CNN) -- Ten people were killed and 18 injured in clashes between "criminal gangs" in a southwestern Mexican town, Mexico's federal government said Saturday.

Mexico's interior ministry issued a statement blasting what it called "reprehensible acts" that it said contributed to the deaths, which occurred Friday night in Tecalitlan in the state of Jalisco.

Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora contacted Jalisco Gov. Emilio Gonzalez Marquez to offer the federal government's help in improving safety and security in the town, the statement said. Federal authorities also offered help tracking down "the criminals responsible".

The violence came one day after federal troops gunned down an alleged drug cartel boss in the state of Michoacan, which neighbors Jalisco.

The death of Nazario Moreno Gonzalez and two other Familia Michoacana members came during a joint operation involving members of Mexico's federal police, army, air force and navy. At least five federal police officers and three civilians died in that operation, officials said Friday afternoon. CNN

Koran-protest pastor Terry Jones invited to UK rally

Campaigners are calling for a controversial US pastor to be banned from entering the UK to share his views on Islam with activists.

Terry Jones attracted condemnation when he threatened to burn copies of the Koran on this year's 9/11 anniversary.

He said his presence at an English Defence League rally in February would be "positive" but he admitted he would preach against "extremist Muslims".

Anti-extremist group Hope Not Hate is urging the home secretary to act.

The EDL said on its Facebook page that the rally in Luton, Bedfordshire, on 5 February would be "our biggest to date". It said Mr Jones would be joining the organisation to "speak out against the evils of Islam".

Mr Jones told BBC 5 Live he had "no intention" of burning the Koran in the UK and said his speech would be "on harmony, on the subject that Muslims are welcome in our country".

He said: "We have no problem with Muslims - we have freedom of speech and religion - Muslims who want to make our country their country, obey our laws and constitution.

"We have a problem with them, which I believe you all have also, when they go on the street... and they call for the death of the UK, for the death of Israel, for the death of America. They call for Sharia law.

"They say they are going to turn Buckingham Palace into a mosque and the Queen must convert to Islam or leave the country".

'Intimidation and division'

Mr Jones admitted that his knowledge of the EDL was "somewhat limited".

"It's only what I know through conversations with them that my office has had and then of course the different material in the internet that they have put out. I would describe them as a group who, I believe, in their words they want England to stay English".

Anti-extremist group Hope not Hate condemned the invitation to Mr Jones and has launched a petition calling on the home secretary to ban him from entering the UK.

Its director Nick Lowles said: "Only extremists will benefit from his visit and, as we know, extremism breeds hatred and hatred breeds violence.

"It is yet another example of how the EDL exists only to sow the seeds of intimidation and division".

A Home Office spokesman said: "We do not routinely comment on individual cases".

Home Secretary Theresa May has the power to exclude an individual from coming to the UK if she considers that the individual's presence here would not be conducive to the public good. BBC News