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RUSSIA Parliament’s lower house voted unanimously Nov. 8 to suspend Russia’s participation in a 1990 treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe, according to The New York Times (NYT). The vote is thought to be partly in reaction to U.S. plans to build a radar base in Central Europe. The upper house and President Vladimir Putin are expected to approve the measure.GEORGIA On Nov. 9, President Mikheil Saakashvili called for a special presidential election to be held Jan. 5. The announcement came one day after he declared a state of emergency following violent confrontations between police and protesters in the capital, Tbilisi. Saakashvili also announced that a referendum to determine a date for parliamentary elections will also take place Jan. 5.FINLAND An 18-year-old student killed himself, seven other students and a principal with a .22-caliber handgun at Jokela High School in Tuusula Nov. 8. The shooter, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, had posted a video about the massacre on YouTube beforehand. The video was set to a song that was posted on a Web site maintained by one of the Columbine High School killers.ITALY Five U.S. soldiers were killed and seven were wounded after their Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed outside Treviso, near Aviano Air Base. The helicopter was on a training mission, according to the NYT.SERBIA The war crimes trial of Vojislav Šešelj, leader of nationalist Serbian Radical Party, began in The Hague Nov. 7. He is charged with inciting violence during the war that split Yugoslavia. Prosecutors say he is accountable for acts of killing, rape and persecution of Croats and Muslims.EUROPE Nordic countries rate the highest in terms of gender equality according to a report released Nov. 8 by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum. Italy ranked the lowest in Europe; the Czech Republic ranked 64th in the world. The study compares differences between men’s and women’s salaries, access to education, political representation and health considerations such as life expectancy. RUSSIA Twenty sailors are missing after 11 ships, including an oil tanker, sank or broke apart in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov during a powerful storm Nov. 11, the NYT reported. Up to 2,000 metric tons of oil leaked into the Kerch Strait, which connects the two seas. NORTHERN IRELAND The largest Protestant paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Defense Association, disbanded its armed units Nov. 11, according to the Associated Press. The outlawed group had terrorized Northern Ireland’s Roman Catholic minority since the 1970s. SLOVENIA Leftist former diplomat Danilo Türk won Slovenia’s presidential runoff Nov.11, according to Reuters. Former Prime Minister Lojze Peterle conceded after exit polls showed Türk getting almost 70 percent of the vote. GREECE A Turkish cargo ship carrying 275 illegal immigrants was rescued from a storm off the coast of Greece Nov. 11, the NYT reported. Greek authorities arrested the ship’s crew for smuggling the immigrants, which included men and women from Iraq. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Nov. 12 that the United Kingdom will push for a worldwide ban on foreign investment in Iran’s oil and gas industry until it sees that Tehran is abandoning its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, according to the NYT.
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