Trial resumes of three Saudis accused of plot

CASABLANCA, Morocco -- The lawyer for three Saudis accused of plotting to attack U.S. and British warships argued Friday they were wrongly detained and said there is no evidence to support the case against them.

The three were arrested May 12 in an alleged plot to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the Strait of Gibraltar to attack U.S. and British warships. Prosecutors said they were also in a cell of the al-Qaida terror group.

"This dossier is empty. There is no material proof," said Khalil Idrissi, one of a dozen defense lawyers.

He said they were held illegally for a month, and that their arrests and interrogation "were carried out in flagrant violation of penal procedures and international conventions on human rights."

The three defendants are Zouhair Hilal Tabiti, 26, Hilal Jaber El-Assiri, 31, and Abdellah Msafer El Ghamidi, 22.

The three Saudis were arrested based on information from Moroccan prisoners at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where more than 600 prisoners from 41 countries are being held.

Nazi-hunting groups place ads in Baltic newspapers

RIGA, Latvia -- Latvian newspapers published ads Friday announcing a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of aging Nazi war crimes suspects.

The advertisements are part of "Operation Last Chance," an effort to prosecute Nazi war criminals led by the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. They were to appear Saturday as well.

"The fact that somebody has got away with this for 50 years does not diminish the nature of the crime," said Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Jerusalem office.

The ads show grainy photo of Jews being led to killing sites, luggage in tow.

Prosecutors in the former Soviet republic said gathering evidence against the few surviving suspects -- men in their 80s and 90s -- has been difficult.

"If anyone comes forward with information we are ready to investigate," said Dzintra Subrovska, a spokeswoman for Latvia's Prosecutor General's Office.

Flooding washes away homes in southern Africa

BLANTYRE, Malawi -- Massive flooding caused by Cyclone Delfina ravaged parts of Malawi and Mozambique on Friday, washing away homes and crops, submerging roads and bridges, and cutting off electricity in the impoverished nations.

In Mozambique, one person died and 10 others were injured seriously when a vehicle plunged into a river after a bridge collapsed, state radio reported.

The flooding, caused by weeks of heavy rains, comes as the southern Africa region struggles to cope with a food crisis that threatens about 14 million people with starvation. Thousands of people have been left homeless.

Two more southern Malawi districts were hit by flooding Friday, submerging roads and bridges, officials said. About 20,000 people have been displaced and almost 60,000 farming families have lost their crops, officials said.

At least seven people have died because of the flooding.

Malawi's agriculture ministry sent teams to assess the damage and has begun relief efforts.

Euro continues rally amid Iraq-related war concerns

BERLIN -- Europe's common currency rose to a new three-year high against the dollar Friday, powering toward the $1.07 level in a rally fed by concern about the impact of a possible war in Iraq on the economy of the United States.

The euro rose as high as $1.0677, after breaking through $1.06 on Thursday. The euro last traded higher on Oct. 26, 1999, when it reached $1.0694.

The joint currency shared by 12 European Union countries has gained more than 20 percent against the dollar in the past year, as worries about the U.S. economy and stock markets turned to alarm at threats of a conflict that could drive up oil prices and dry up investment.

-- From wire reports