World in brief

Morocco warns it lost track of 400 militants

MADRID - Moroccan authorities have warned Spain that they have lost track of 400 suspected militants who trained in al-Qaida terrorist camps in Afghanistan, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Most of the suspects in the Madrid train bombings were Moroccan, prompting that country's government to alert Spanish antiterrorism judge Baltasar Garzon of the situation during a meeting in Rabat, Morocco, in early July.

About 600 Moroccans were known to have trained in Afghanistan in camps sponsored by Osama bin Laden, the daily El Pais said, quoting unidentified sources close to police and judicial officials.

But Morocco knew the whereabouts of only 200 of them, El Pais said.

Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso declined to confirm the report, but said Spanish authorities were in constant contact with their Moroccan counterparts.

LAHORE, Pakistan - Police and intelligence agents raided a suspected terrorist hideout in eastern Pakistan on Sunday, arresting at least 12 people after a prolonged gunbattle, officials said.

At least four of those arrested in the raid in the Punjab province town of Gujrat were foreigners, said Saadatullah Khan, the provincial police chief.

Security forces returned fire after they were attacked from inside the home and the standoff lasted for about six hours, Khan said.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - Pope John Paul II denounced the use of child soldiers in Uganda and the plight of refugees in Sudan as he appealed Sunday to African leaders and the international community to work to end the continent's conflicts.

"How can we remain indifferent?" the pontiff said.

Also Sunday, the European Union joined the United States in threatening sanctions against Sudan, hoping to pressure the African country's government to end the conflict in its western region of Darfur.

MOSCOW - In an opening move to heal the breech between the Russian Orthodox Church at home and abroad, the remains of the last czarina's sister were flown Sunday from Jerusalem to Russia where they will be displayed in a golden ark in Moscow and throughout the country.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth was thrown down a mine shaft by Bolsheviks in 1918 and has been canonized by both the Moscow-based church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

LONDON - Princess Diana "took every penny" that Prince Charles had in their divorce settlement, the prince's former financial adviser was quoted as telling a Sunday newspaper.

Geoffrey Bignell told the Sunday Telegraph that Charles handed over his entire personal fortune when the divorce was settled in 1996, a year before Diana died in a Paris car crash.

He did not reveal the amount, but at the time it was widely reported to be between $25-million and $33-million.

A spokeswoman for Prince Charles refused to comment on the settlement issue, saying it was a "private matter."

DHAKA, Bangladesh - Workers and volunteers frantically stacked sandbags Sunday to protect Bangladesh's capital from rising water, and a crowded boat ferrying villagers across floodwaters capsized in northeastern India, killing at least 10 people.

Five other people were missing after the boat, with more than 50 people on board, overturned and sank in the Morigaon district of Assam, district police chief Rana Bhuyan said.

The combined death toll in both countries rose to more than 760 fatalities, with some 200 deaths in Bangladesh.

AFGHANISTAN: An earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed two people, injured 40 and destroyed hundreds of homes, the United Nations said Sunday. Earthquakes are frequent in Afghanistan, particularly in remote mountainous areas, and news from affected regions can take days to reach the capital. The quake hit Paktia province on July 18, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said. Three villages were particularly hard hit.

INDONESIA: A powerful earthquake, magnitude 7.3, shook western Indonesia late Sunday, the state news agency Antara said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

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