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European Roundup



August 22nd, 2007 issue

TURKEY Election frontrunner Abdullah Gul fell short of the two-thirds majority he needed to win the presidency in parliament’s first round of voting Aug. 20. Gul won 341 votes from the 550-seat house, the BBC reported. Analysts estimate Gul is likely to win a third round, due Aug. 28, in which just a simple majority is needed. Gul’s candidacy has stirred tension for months over whether his ties to political Islam will pose a threat to the secular state.

RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin announced Aug. 17 that Russia would resume patrols over the world’s oceans by nuclear-capable bombers. The practice had been stopped 15 years ago. The first flights took off at midnight Aug. 17 over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and were escorted by NATO fighter jets, according to The New York Times.
FRANCE French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner visited Iraqi President Jalal Talabani Aug. 19, marking the highest-level visit by a French official to Iraq since the 2003 invasion. The French Foreign Affairs Ministry says it wants to rebuild relations after years of opposition to the Iraq War during Jacques Chirac’s presidency, according to the BBC.
GERMANY A German aid worker kidnapped by an Afghan gang was freed Aug. 20 during a police raid in Kabul, where the woman was abducted two days earlier. Authorities arrested four suspects believed to be part of a criminal gang unaffiliated with the Taliban. The kidnappers had requested $1 million (20.7 million Kč) and the release of prisoners in exchange for the woman’s release, the Associated Press reported.
UK Amnesty International (AI) confirmed that it has ended its neutral stance on abortion, and will back measures to ensure victims of rape and incest can access abortion, the BBC reported Aug. 18. AI’s council, 400 delegates from 75 countries worldwide, overwhelmingly backed the move in a weeklong meeting in Mexico City. Vatican leaders have accused the organization of betraying its human rights commitments.
GERMANY German authorities released a woman Aug. 20 who was jailed for life for the murder of a U.S. soldier and the bombing of the U.S. Rhein-Main air base. 53-year-old Eva Haule is a former member of the Red Army Faction, a German extremist group responsible for a wave of bombings and assassinations in the 1970s and ’80s.
TURKEY Passengers and pilots stopped two men claiming to be al-Qaeda operatives Aug. 18 from hijacking a Turkish plane en route to Istanbul from Cyprus. The hijackers demanded the flight be diverted to Iran, but the pilots convinced them that the plane needed to refuel and landed in Antalya, where the hijackers released the hostages and surrendered to authorities, the International Herald Tribune reported.
GREECE Officials says they believe the huge forest fire that broke out north of Athens Aug. 16 was the work of arsonists, according to the BBC. The fire started on Mount Penteli, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Athens; it consumed homes in three residential districts and sent 10 people to the hospital with respiratory problems.
ITALY The Coast Guard found about 500 people on boats headed to Italy from Africa Aug. 15. About 400 people aboard were stopped south of Sicily and rescuers helped 56 people near another part of the island; about two dozen made their way to the shore. Meanwhile, 12 Algerians were rescued off the Sardinian coast. All the migrants are being detained.
GERMANY Six Italian men were shot dead outside of a pizzeria in Duisburg Aug. 15. In response, hundreds of Italian police officers were deployed around the men’s hometown for fear that the killings were mob-related. The men had been celebrating the 18th birthday of one of the victims.


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