World briefs 10/01/02

Saudi officials: Explosion wasn't act of terrorism

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- A car explosion that killed a German man in Riyadh over the weekend was not a terrorist act, but the result of gang rivalries, the kingdom's intelligence chief said Monday.

"The incident was extraordinary and isolated and is the result of a struggle and disputes among traders in illegal matters," Prince Nawwaf said in remarks distributed to the media.

Saudi authorities have blamed a string of bombings targeting foreigners in the past two years on disputes between gangs dealing in alcohol, which is forbidden but not difficult to obtain.

Germany charges rock group with hate crimes

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Three members of a German skinhead rock band, Landser, have been charged with inciting violence and spreading hate through songs that attack Jews and foreigners, federal prosecutors said Monday.

The group made albums abroad to get around German laws forbidding publication of neo-Nazi materials, and set up distribution channels built on "secrecy and conspiracy" to circulate the CDs in Germany's underground far-right music scene, prosecutors alleged.

Charged with forming a criminal organization and other offenses were two members who founded the band in 1992 and a drummer who joined in 1997. Prosecutors identified them as Michael R., 37, Andre M., 35, and Christian W., 27.

Yugoslavians charged with spying for U.S.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Military prosecutors on Monday formally charged a former Yugoslav army chief with spying for the United States.

Gen. Momcilo Perisic, who served under Slobodan Milosevic before joining the pro-democracy forces that ousted the Yugoslav president, was arrested in March for allegedly passing military secrets to a U.S. diplomat.

Perisic denied the allegations and said he was the victim of a power struggle among Yugoslav leaders. Just days after being briefly detained, he resigned as deputy prime minister of Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic.

On Monday, Perisic and two others were charged with espionage, the Tanjug news agency reported, citing a statement released by prosecutors. If convicted, they face between three and 15 years in jail.

Japanese prime minister reshuffles his cabinet

TOKYO -- In his first cabinet reshuffle since taking office more than a year ago, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday fired a top economic adviser who shied away from reforms, underscoring his desire to get this country out of its decade-long fiscal slump.

Stressing the need for continuity, Koizumi retained most of his main ministers, including Heizo Takenaka, the economic and fiscal policy minister.

Koizumi cut from his cabinet Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, the nation's chief bank regulator. Yanagisawa has been criticized for shying away from aggressive fiscal measures to deal with Japan's troubled banking sector.

Yanagisawa's position was assumed by Takenaka, who also retained his previous post. Koizumi said he made the change because he wants to accelerate the cleanup of Japan's banking morass, which he said was weighing down the economy.

Mexican president averts threatened oil strike

MEXICO CITY -- President Vicente Fox scored what may be the first big victory in his pledge to transform Mexico when he averted a potentially devastating strike at the state-owned Pemex oil monopoly.

Long criticized for a hands-off management style and frequent trips abroad, Fox cultivated union members by donning blue jeans and visiting an oil platform to speak with workers.

Fox carefully cultivated the PRI's new leaders in closed-door meetings at the presidential residence. The PRI, which dominates the union and initially supported the defiant union leaders, finally came out against the strike.

Rank-and-file workers -- many of whom opposed any strike -- settled for a 7.3 percent wage and benefit increase, instead of the 15 percent the union had demanded.

-- From wire reports