WIND

Like much of Europe, the Czech Republic was pounded by Jan. 18's record winds that blew as hard as 212 kilometers (130 miles) per hour on the country's highest peak. Four people died after trees fell on vehicles. Five border crossings were closed, Ruzyně Airport closed one terminal and canceled 20 flights, and more than 1 million people were left without power. ČEZ reports that power supply is now back to normal across the country.

BRIBERY

Police are looking at bank statements of Deputy Prime Minister Jiří Čunek as part of a bribery investigation, Hospodářské noviny and Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) reported Jan. 23. Čunek deposited 499,000 Kč into his account in 2002, while he was mayor of Vsetín, east Moravia. Around the same time, a real estate firm withdrew a similar amount from its account, the papers wrote. Police have asked the Senate to strip Čunek of his immunity so he can be charged.

CONSTITUTION

President Václav Klaus supports the new version of the European Union constitution, which would prevent the gradual unification of Europe, he told MfD Jan. 22. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek says he wants a new, simpler EU constitution.

HIV

The government registered more than 90 new cases of HIV in the Czech Republic in 2006, bringing the total number of registered HIV-positive citizens and foreigners with permanent residency to 920 since 1985. Of that number, 209 have developed AIDS and 123 have died.

ABOLISH

New Education Minister Dana Kuchtová said Jan. 23 that high school entrance exams should be abolished in an effort to send more students to school. She told the daily Právo that instead she would like to weigh students' elementary school records more heavily.

TURKEY

The funeral for slain Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink proceeded under heavy security in Istanbul Jan. 23. Dink, 52, an ethnic Armenian, was shot to death Jan. 19 outside his Istanbul office. Police say a teenager, Orgun Samast, confessed to the crime and that well-known militant Yasin Hayal was also implicated. Dink had received many death threats for articles he wrote calling the mass killing of Armenians in Turkey from 1915 to 1917 genocide. The Turkish government maintains that the deaths were caused by fighting during World War I and famine.

UK

A report by Northern Ireland's police ombudsman accused the force of covering up at least 10 murders by Protestant militants in the 1990s in exchange for intelligence information. In the 160-page report, released Jan. 22 after a three-year probe, Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan accused the largely Protestant police force of allowing the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force to get away with murder, extortion and bombings. Officers are unlikely to stand trial because little evidence remains, O'Loan said.

BULGARIA

Government officials have temporarily closed nearly 600 schools after a flu outbreak, Reuters reported Jan. 23. The closures affect about one-fifth of the country's schools. The Health Ministry said unusually warm temperatures, which caused more people to go out, were partly to blame.

UK

Police have warned people to stay away from the site of a shipwreck on the southern coast of England as efforts begin to clean up the site and contain the ship's oil supply. The MSC Napoli was damaged during a storm that battered Western and Central Europe Jan. 18 and was deliberately run aground on the Devon coast to avoid sinking. Scavengers have flocked to the wreck to help themselves to goods from the ship, including shoes, wine and car parts.

SERBIA

Coalition talks are in progress after a Jan. 21 national election left no party with a clear majority. Though the nationalist, anti-European Union Serbian Radical Party claimed victory, it failed to win a majority of seats in Parliament. President Boris Tadiç told reporters that the various pro-EU parties could form a working government through negotiations.

VATICAN

The late Pope John Paul II believed the Soviet Union was behind a 1981 attempt on his life, the pontiff's former secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, has written. The cardinal's memoirs are due to be published next month. The book also says the pope considered retiring from his position in 2000 due to his failing health.

ITALY

The head of Italy's bishops has lashed out against the government's intent to safeguard gay rights. Speaking at a conference in Rome Jan. 22, Cardinal Camillo Ruini said gay unions are "at odds with basic anthropological facts," the Associated Press reported. Prime Minister Romano Prodi's center-left government has pledged to introduce legislation to protect unmarried couples, including same-sex ones, by the end of the month.

FRANCE

Popular homeless advocate and former French Resistance member Abbe Pierre died Jan. 22 at the age of 94, setting off a wave of national mourning. The Catholic priest worked with the underground during World War II to help save Jews and later founded an international organization to help the needy. Pierre was regularly voted the country's most beloved national figure in an annual poll.