Ramadan prayers will continue at the Bosnia Herzegovina Heritage Association through July 17,  following the discovery of the message “Death to Islam” spray painted on the building’s exterior this weekend. “We did take a few days off, while the dust settled, so to speak,” said Admir Rasic, a member of the Spokane Bosnian and Muslim communities who was present at the club, along with about 25 other people, on July 4 when the graffiti was discovered. “We are back here, and we invite the whole community. Everyone is welcome here.”

Miroslav Klose rescued a point for Germany, and tied the World Cup scoring record in the process. Germany was held to a 2-2 draw by Ghana on Saturday in Fortaleza, Brazil, needing Klose’s equalizer in the 71st minute to avoid a second-game letdown.

Bosnia-Herzegovina will make its World Cup debut against a two-time world champion led by one of the greatest players in the game at the legendary Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. It’s not like the Bosnians need smelling salts to get excited for today’s match ( 3 p.m., ESPN) against Argentina and four-time world player of the year Lionel Messi. Bosnia coach Safet Susic said “the very fact that we are here for the first time, that we play a great team, that we are playing against the best player in the world ... that’s motivation enough.” The match will also be the first World Cup game at the Maracana since the 1950 tournament. – AP

Finnish forensic experts collect a skull found in the hills 10 miles northwest of the Bosnian city of Srebrenica Friday. Photo by Associated Press

A high-ranking U.S. defense official tells me: "If we get the order, we can take out every Serbian tank and artillery piece threatening Sarajevo." But the order from the United Nations, NATO and the White House to destroy the 300 targets has not come. Instead we are being treated to an illusion, with more bombast than bombing.

President Clinton's push for airstrikes over Bosnia backfired in the belly of Europe, jeopardizing the United Nations mission and raising the prospect that U.S. ground troops will wade into the conflict. As the president honored his nation's fallen soldiers in Memorial Day ceremonies, Bosnian Serbs escalated their war by holding hundreds of peacekeepers hostage and snatching U.N. equipment.

Bosnia plunged deeper into crisis Sunday with the death of its foreign minister, whose helicopter was shot down by Serb forces, and another round of hostage-taking that left the United Nations and NATO powerless to stem the violence. As of last night, the tally of U.N. personnel held by Bosnian Serbs had climbed above 300. The latest were a contingent of British soldiers, 33 of whom were abducted Sunday from observation posts around Gorazde in eastern Bosnia.

American, British, French and Canadian commandos are preparing for possible raids to free U.N. peacekeepers held by Bosnian Serbs, the German newspaper Die Welt reported today. Die Welt's report, which named no sources, said the United States had sent a Special Forces commander to Italy, where teams of British SAS and Canadian commandos also were preparing for an operation to rescue the hostages.