TARGET 

A Russian general said Feb. 19 that the Czech Republic and Poland risk being the target of Russian missiles if they agree to host U.S. missile shield bases. The comment came the same day Czech and Polish prime ministers, meeting in Warsaw, said their respective countries were likely to go along with the United States.

The 10 Romany families evicted from their homes in Vsetín, east Moravia, last fall may be given government money to repair their houses. Deputy Džamila Stehlíková of the Green Party said Feb. 19 that she plans to submit the 1.5 million Kč ($69,541) plan to Parliament. Deputy Prime Minister Jiři Čunek, chairman of the Christian Democratic Union and the former mayor of Vsetín, who first evicted the families,opposes it.

A weeklong cultural festival against totalitarian rule called Mene Tekel opened in the upper house of Parliament Feb. 19. Politicians, students and former political prisoners are expected to attend the event. Between 1948 and 1989, 241 people were executed for alleged anti-communist activities under the regime, according to the Czech News Agency.

Czechs who are subjected to illegal wiretaps on their phones may be entitled to compensation, Justice Minister Jiří Pospíšil said Feb. 19. A Criminal Code amendment has been drafted that requires police to disclose the nature of the wiretapping to their subject within one year of the case. If that is not done, the wiretapping could be ruled illegal and the victim could claim compensation, Pospíšil said.

SLOVAKIA

The archbishop of Bratislava, Jan Sokol, is suspected of having worked for the Czechoslovak secret police, or StB, during the communist era. On Feb. 13, a Slovak newspaper reported that Sokol gave police a list of priests who were to become bishops. Sokol, 73, denies working for the StB.

The trial began Feb. 15 for the 29 men accused of plotting the March 2004 Madrid train bombing that killed 191 people and wounded 1,700 others. Six of the suspects are charged with 191 counts of murder. About 600 witnesses and 100 experts are expected to testify, according to the BBC.

Thousands protested on Feb. 17 against the expansion of a U.S. military base in Vicenza. The military base, in the Veneto region, is slated to double in size, increasing the number of its personnel from 2,750 to 4,500. Residents of Veneto have said they are concerned about terrorist attacks, military traffic congestion and environmental damage, according to The New York Times.

Police arrested a man Feb. 19 that they suspect of sending letter bombs throughout the United Kingdom during the past three weeks. Miles Cooper, a primary-school caretaker, was arrested near Cambridge. Seven letter bombs containing homemade pyrotechnic-style devices have were sent out during the campaign. At least two bombs also contained glass. Nine people were injured.

On Feb. 14, counterterrorism police arrested 11 men they say were part of a recruiting network linked to al-Qaida. Nine of the suspects were detained in or near Toulouse, in southern France, and two were arrested at Orly airport in Paris. During the investigation, police found letters threatening bomb attacks that had been sent to area supermarkets.

Moscow announced Feb. 19 that it will delay work on Iran’s first nuclear reactor because Tehran is behind in payments. Russia had been scheduled to start nuclear fuel deliveries to Iran this March to ready the reactors to start in September. The United Nations enacted sanctions on Iran in December, forbidding anyone to help it with its nuclear program.

A Feb. 17 Russian report cited pilot error as the cause of an airplane crash that killed 170 people last August. The report states that a trainee was in control of Pulkovo Airlines Tupolev 154 when it went down in a field near Donetsk. The plane had been flying in bad weather from the Russian resort Anapa to St. Petersburg.

A judge indicted 26 Americans — all but one employed by the CIA — and five Italians Feb. 16 in connection with the suspected kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect in 2003. The imam, known as both Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr and Abu Omar, says he was snatched off a Milan street and secretly flown to Egypt for questioning, where he was tortured. The indictments are the first involving U.S. extraordinary rendition flights.

A priest and four nuns were convicted of manslaughter Feb. 19 for their roles in a 2005 exorcism that left a young nun dead. Irina Cornici, 23, died after being starved and chained to a cross in a village in northeast Romania. Daniel Petru Corogeanu, 31, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. One of the nuns received an eight-year sentence and the others five-year sentences.