World digest 11/13/02

One dead, three missing in weapons dump blast

BERLIN -- An explosion at a munitions disposal plant in eastern Germany on Tuesday killed one employee, and three people missing in the blast were also feared dead, police said.

The body of a 26-year-old male employee was recovered. Rescue workers with sniffer dogs searched for the three missing, but Joerg Schoenbohm, the state's top security official, said officials were losing hope of finding them alive.

It was unclear how many people were injured or what caused the explosion at the Spreewerk Luebben plant, 50 miles southeast of Berlin.

The plant employs about 70 people in an area of forests and swamps with little industry.

U.N. police officer gets prison term for killing

PEC, Yugoslavia -- A U.N. police officer in Kosovo was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in prison for killing his ethnic Albanian girlfriend during an argument.

Sherif Abd Elaziz, a 33-year-old Egyptian, admitted killing Vlora Berbati, 23, but said it was an accident. Berbati worked for the United Nations police as a translator in Pec, 55 miles west of the provincial capital, Pristina.

Judge Hans Breuer declined to impose the maximum sentence of 40 years, saying the crime was a "spontaneous act."

Elaziz is the first international police officer convicted of a serious crime in the province, which has been run by the United Nations and NATO since a 78-day alliance air war in 1999.

Elaziz will serve his prison sentence in Kosovo.

Prince to inquire into rape allegation, butler case

LONDON -- Prince Charles's private secretary announced Tuesday he will conduct an internal review of questions about the collapse of former butler Paul Burrell's theft trial and allegations of homosexual rape by a former member of Charles' staff.

Sir Michael Peat said he would investigate whether any members of Charles' household acted improperly in connection with the unexpected ending of Burrell's trial.

Prosecutors dropped their case against the late Princess Diana's former servant when Queen Elizabeth II said he had told her he was holding some of Diana's belongings for safekeeping.

The palace inquiry will also look at allegations that officials covered up accusations of homosexual rape by one of Charles's aides, Peat said.

An inquiry report is expected by Christmas.

Muslim radicals face crackdown in Jordan

AMMAN, Jordan -- Residents hid from gunfire as armored vehicles prowled the streets and police went house to house Tuesday searching for Muslim radicals suspected of holding a cache of weapons in the southern city of Maan.

Two police officers and three gunmen have been killed and dozens of people arrested in three days of raids -- part of what one security official called a campaign to rein in armed groups as tensions rise over the possibility of war in Iraq.

Five alleged gang leaders believed to be hiding in the city's al-Tour district remained at large, a senior security official said on condition of anonymity. The gang was suspected of smuggling a large cache of arms into the city.

The city has been sealed to outsiders, placed under curfew, and phone service cut since the raids began on Sunday.

Group to sue firms over supporting apartheid

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- A South African support group for victims of apartheid has sued several top international banks and businesses for supporting the racist regime.

The lawsuit was filed late Monday by the Khulamani group in federal court in New York City on behalf of the group's 33,000 members and 85 individuals.

The plaintiffs allege Citigroup, the largest financial institution in the United States, and Swiss banking giants UBS and Credit Suisse aided the "in the commission of crimes of apartheid."

Credit Suisse has said it saw no grounds for the class-action lawsuit and said the company should not be held responsible for apartheid's crimes.

-- From wire reports