World digest 2/18

U.S citizen arrested after pistol found in luggage

TIMISOARA, Romania -- A U.S. citizen was arrested in Romania Sunday on suspicion of illegal weapons possession and smuggling after authorities found a pistol in his luggage, officials said.

Sorin Dragoi, 32, of Troy, Mich., was detained Saturday after a 5.6 mm Baretta was discovered in his checked bags during by an X-ray check at the airport in the western Romanian city of Timisoara, police said.

Authorities said the gun was hidden in green foam in the false bottom of a jewelry box in Dragoi's checked bags. He arrived on the Romanian airline Tarom from New York after a connecting flight from Detroit.

Dragoi did not explain why he brought the weapon, officials said, and it was unclear in which airport he had checked the luggage. He was arrested Sunday and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Dry-eyed, France marks death of using franc

PARIS -- France officially buried the centuries-old French franc -- out of business at midnight Sunday -- and hailed the euro at a ceremony hours before the clock pronounced the old money dead.

Giant sparklers mounted on the ground in the Finance Ministry courtyard consumed flags representing francs in a frenzy of fire. Flags representing the euro climbed the flagpole.

France was the third country -- after the Netherlands and Ireland -- to officially part with its national currency since the euro went into circulation in 12 of the 15 European Union countries on Jan. 1.

The other euro countries will give up their local currency by Feb. 28.

The low-key ceremony underscored the almost instant success of the euro. But it was an anticlimactic finish for the franc, which was born in December 1360 as the "Francorum Rex," a gold piece used to buy freedom for King Jean Le Bon, held by the English during the 100 Years War.

Greek capital cleaning up for Olympics 2004

ATHENS, Greece -- Athens is getting a facelift -- not to hide age, but to celebrate it.

The capital is cleaning up its cluttered skyline in an effort to restore some of the city's ancient glory for the Olympic Games in 2004.

Armed with cranes and new legal powers, construction crews are tearing down advertising signs that obscure views of the 2,500-year-old Parthenon and other monuments in the center of Athens.

Going are glaring ads for weight-losing clubs welded to the sides of buildings, insurance companies' neon signs and rooftop billboards with giant pictures of hamburgers and cigarette packets.

City officials aren't stopping at signs that block views. Attacking what many people have long considered eyesores, they are removing all 10,000 advertising signs downtown that are illegally placed above the first floor of a building.

The work is part of a $36 million urban improvement project to refurbish monuments and replace noisy roads that connect ancient sites with cobbled pedestrian walkways.

Zimbabwe intelligence chief to head food panel

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Prompting fears that food will be used as a political tool to win key elections, the government set up a task force headed by its feared intelligence chief to distribute emergency food imports, state media reported Sunday.

Opposition leaders said they feared that the appointment of Minister of State Security Nicholas Goche, head of the Central Intelligence Organization, meant that food would be used as a tool to help President Robert Mugabe win hard-fought presidential elections scheduled for March 9-10.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said it was concerned that their strongholds would be starved of the emergency food.

Mugabe promised "no one will die of hunger. Maize is being delivered to every corner of the country," state radio reported Sunday.

He promised them the elections would be "just, free and fair," Mozambican state television reported Sunday.

-- From wire reports