ANKARA (AP) - A gas tank exploded at a Turkish five-star Mediterranean hotel yesterday, killing one person and injuring 11 others, including two foreign tourists, the governor's office said. The explosion of the liquefied petroleum gas tank damaged the kitchen and the restaurant of the Kaya Hotel in the resort town of Belek, near Antalya, the government-run Anatolia news agency reported. A Turkish kitchen staff member was killed in the blast, which also injured nine other staff members and two tourists - one from Russia and one from Norway - the Antalya governor's office said.

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that he was waiting for a response from Tehran on whether Turkish diplomats could see the 15 British military servicepeople being held in Iran. Erdogan made the request to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at the Arab League summit in Riyadh on Wednesday. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett had told Turkish leaders in Ankara a day earlier that London would welcome efforts by diplomats from third countries to visit the soldiers. «I asked Mr Mottaki whether he can help our ambassador in Tehran to see the captives,» the Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as telling reporters.

A group of Bosnian prisoners staged a mutiny to protest poor conditions at a detention center in the northeastern town of Doboj, authorities said yesterday. Gunshots and several injuries were reported at the start of the protest, which began early Wednesday when some 20 inmates disarmed prison guards and demanded talks with the government. BN television showed footage of the prisoners standing on the roof of the facility with clubs in their hands as special police surrounded the building. The standoff lasted until around midnight local time, after Bosnian-Serb Justice Minister Dzerard Selman negotiated a peaceful resolution. (AFP)

The US ambassador to Romania, in rare public criticism of the government, warned yesterday that political feuding could harm the country's chances of attracting foreign investment. «Romania's many friends are prepared to help it continue to strengthen its democratic institutions, but we need to be realistic and recognize that recent political turmoil has raised doubts beyond Romania's borders» as to whether this is a good place to invest, said Nicholas F. Taubman in remarks to the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania. (AP)