World briefs 11/18/02

Cuban VP accuses U.S. of encouraging terrorism

BAVARO, Dominican Republic -- Cuba's vice president said the United States was encouraging "terrorism against Cuba" by allowing eight Cubans to remain in Florida after they flew a Soviet-built crop-duster to Key West.

Vice President Carlos Lage told leaders of 21 nations at the Ibero-American Summit Saturday that "the number of terrorists protected by that country (United States) increases" by giving asylum to the eight, including a 2-year-old girl.

The group made their risky flight Monday from Los Palacios, in the western province of Pinar del Rio, and landed at Key West International Airport under escort by two Florida National Guard fighters.

The eight migrants, initially detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, were released to a group of cheering friends and relatives Friday. Federal law allows Cubans who reach American soil to apply for U.S. residency.

German terrorists' brains reportedly vanished

BERLIN -- The brains of three leading terrorists who committed suicide in a German jail in 1977 have vanished from the lab where they were taken for autopsy, a magazine reported Sunday.

Der Spiegel's report added a macabre new twist to a controversy surrounding Red Army Faction leader Ulrike Meinhof since it emerged that her brain was preserved for research after her 1976 suicide. German prosecutors, alerted by Meinhof's daughters, demanded last week that a university professor who had been studying the brain since 1997 return it.

Richard Meyermann, a pathologist heading the University of Tuebingen lab that autopsied RAF terrorists Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe in 1977, said their brains were no longer there and may have been destroyed to free up storage space, Der Spiegel said in its latest edition. The report said there was no record of what happened to the brains.

Reached at his home Sunday, Meyermann refused to comment on the report.

Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat, dead at 87

JERUSALEM -- Abba Eban, an Israeli diplomat who helped convince the United Nations to approve creation of a Jewish state in 1947 and defended its policies for decades afterward, died Sunday, hospital officials said. He was 87.

Eban served as Israel's U.N. ambassador and envoy to the United States when the state was created, and was the country's foreign minister from 1966 to 1974, one of the most turbulent periods of Israel's history.

His term spanned two wars and their aftermath. Fluent in 10 languages, Eban was best known for his explanation of Israeli policies in world gatherings and interviews.

His views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict were more dovish than those of most of Israel's leaders. He called for an Israeli pullback from most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and creation of a Palestinian state years before that stand became the policy of his Labor Party.

Gunmen open fire outside Jamaican street market

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Gunmen opened fire outside a busy street market in a rare daylight attack in Jamaica's capital, killing five people and injuring three.

Police said vendors and shoppers ran screaming for cover when an unknown number of armed people began shooting late Saturday afternoon a few blocks from the packed outdoor Coronation market in downtown Kingston.

Four men were killed in gunfire that continued for several minutes, and another victim died of wounds at a hospital. Three others, including two women, were treated for gunshot wounds.

Police and military helicopters searched the area for suspects but reported no arrests.

-- From wire reports