Briefly

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

President’s brother faces assault trial

GENEVA — The brother of the president of the United Arab Emirates, accused of assaulting a U.S. national in a Geneva hotel in 2003, will have his case heard in court June 19, according to a legal document from Geneva authorities.

Sheik Falah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan has been accused of inflicting bodily injury on Silvano Orsi, a U.S. citizen, in the bar of Hotel La Reserve in August 2003.

According to a copy of a legal document obtained Monday by Agence France-Presse, the hearing will be held at Geneva’s Palais de Justice.

Mr. Orsi said he was attacked after refusing the sheik’s advances, which Mr. Orsi characterized as homosexual.

“This has been a five-year ordeal for me and my family,” Mr. Orsi told Agence France-Presse by telephone. “A judgment is inescapable now for this sheik.”

Sheik Al-Nahyan is the brother of UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

AFGHANISTAN

Militants targeted with air strikes

KABUL — U.S.-led coalition forces called in air strikes against the Taliban, killing a dozen militants during fighting in southern Afghanistan that has displaced thousands of residents, officials said yesterday.

The coalition said its troops opened fire and called in air strikes Monday after observing militants trying to set up an ambush. The coalition had been targeting a Taliban commander transporting weapons.

The troops also discovered weapons and ammunition in a search of compounds.

Fighting has intensified in the southern province of Helmand since U.S. Marines pushed into the town of Garmser late last month aiming to cut Taliban supply lines.

About 1,200 families — an estimated 7,000 people — have left their homes in recent weeks because of the fighting in Garmser, said Mohammad Nader Farhad, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

In the northern town of Baghlan yesterday, a boy dropped an old mortar shell that he was trying to exchange for ice cream with a scrap- metal dealer, police officer Habib Rehman said. The shell exploded, wounding 17 children and a man.

ISRAEL

Olmert probe grows with new police raid

JERUSALEM — Police raided the Ministry of Industry and Trade yesterday, seizing documents in a widening corruption probe of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Investigators from the National Fraud Unit raided the offices “in connection with the Olmert investigation,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Mr. Olmert headed the ministry from 2003 to 2006.

The investigation, the fifth into Mr. Olmert’s conduct since he became prime minister two years ago, has provoked speculation about his ability to remain in office. Mr. Olmert has said he will resign if indicted.

On Monday, police raided City Hall, confiscating documents related to Mr. Olmert’s tenure as Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003.

Mr. Olmert, who has denied any wrongdoing, is suspected of illicitly receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky.

From wire dispatches and staff reports