■ Nigeria
Oil tanker `disappears'
The disappearance of a Russian tanker laden with crude oil from the custody of Nigerian authorities is a national embarrassment, the head of the parliamentary committee investigating the case said Sunday. The MT African Pride was seized last October by the Nigerian navy along with 13 Russian sailors on suspicion of smuggling, but disappeared last month along with its cargo of 11,300 tonnes of crude oil. The disappearance of the ship is "to say the least, a national embarrassment," said Anthony Aziegbemi, chairman of the parliamentary committee investigating the affair, in the Sunday Tribune. In the commission's hearings. the Nigerian navy and police have been trading blame for the ship's disappearance.
■ Turkey
Bomb explodes at concert
A bomb exploded under a police car at a pop concert in southern Turkey, injuring at least 14 people, the prime minister's office said. A hospital official, however, said that at least 17 people, including two police officers, were injured in Sunday's blast in the southern Turkish city of Mersin. Two of the injured were in serious condition, the hospital official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Television footage showed a young woman lying on the ground with blood next to her and splattered on her pants. A man could be seen helping another who was apparently injured in the leg. Young concertgoers carried several of the injured to ambulances as the show continued.
■ Serbia-Montenegro
Ruling coalition loses poll
Serbia's ruling conservative coalition appears to have suffered a severe blow in local elections. Two opposition groups -- pro-Western Democrats and hard-line allies of former President Slobodan Milosevic -- won the most votes, according to early projections based on partial results from Sunday's election. Candidates endorsed by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica lagged behind both the pro-Western Democratic Party and the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party in nearly all of Serbia's 148 municipalities. The ballot, whose importance has gone beyond municipal issues, could even trigger early general elections.
■ Germany
Anti-US radical deported
Berlin authorities have deported the main organizer of an Islamic conference planned in the German capital next month for his alleged radical anti-Israel and anti-US stance, authorities said. Fadi Madi, spokesman for the International Movement against American and Zionist Globalization and Supremacy, was deported to his home country of Lebanon on Saturday evening, the Berliner Morgenpost reported Sunday. A Berlin police spokesman confirmed Madi had been sent back to Beirut.
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