TIME

Clocks should be set forward one hour Saturday evening to keep in synch with Europe's Daylight Savings Time scheme. Those in the US have already moved ahead as the country instituted a plan to make the change three weeks earlier to save more energy. Airlines and software companies had lobbied against the earlier change, saying it would cause confusion, but no major disruptions have been reported.

SCANDAL

Christian Democratic Union (KDU-ČSL) leaders voted to continue supporting their chairman, Regional Development Minister Jiří Čunek, at a March 16 meeting. Čunek is charged with accepting a 497,000 Kč bribe in 2002 while mayor of Vsetín, east Moravia. He has refused to resign his Cabinet post. KDU-ČSL Deputy Chairman Stanislav Juránek said 53 out of 56 delegates present voted in favor of supporting Čunek.

President Václav Klaus has sent his ideas on the environment and climate change to the U.S. House of Representatives, spokesman Petr Hájek told the Czech News Agency March 20. Klaus was invited to contribute to a March 21 hearing in U.S. Congress on the topic. In recent interviews, Klaus has said humans have no discernible impact on the environment and that global warming is a myth.

The Czech Republic needs to improve its track record on treatment of its Romany citizens, a report from the United Nations has said. The March 15 paper by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination criticizes the relocation of Romany families in Moravia, the “racial segregation” of children in special schools, and the lack of compensation for Romany women who underwent forced sterilization. Czechs need an anti-discrimination law as soon as possible, the report said.

Police President Vladislav Husák may not receive the lustration certificate he needs to keep his job because of his girlfriend’s secret-police past, daily Lidové noviny wrote March 20. Jitka Mitisková worked for the communist secret police (StB), the paper said. Husák is also currently being investigated for allegations that he tipped off Social Democratic (ČSSD) politicians involved in a biofuel scandal last spring.

RUSSIA 

At least 100 people are dead after a methane-gas explosion in a southwest Siberia coal mine March 19. Russian officials said dozens have been rescued, but more are still missing. The mine opened in 2002 and produces 3 million metric tons (3.3 million short tons) of coal a year.

Schools have the right to ban Islamic face veils in classrooms, according to government guidelines released March 20. School administrators can ban full-face coverings if they decide the veils impede learning or pose a safety issue. The guidelines come after a 12-year-old British school girl lost her battle last month to wear a full-face niqab.

An Italian journalist freed March 19 after two weeks in Taliban captivity in Afghanistan told the media that he witnessed a decapitation while imprisoned. Daniele Mastrogiacomo, 52, was kidnapped March 5 along with two Afghan companions. One of those two men was later decapitated, Mastrogiacomo said. Taliban insurgents have claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Lawmakers passed a tough lustration law March 15 that would remove from authority anyone who collaborated with the communist-era secret police. The law requires 300,000 Poles born before 1972 to state in writing whether they cooperated with secret police. The measure covers people in positions of authority, including journalists, executives and academics.

Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen became the first high-ranking European official to recognize the Palestinian government. Johansen met Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh in Gaza March 19, ending the yearlong Western boycott of the Hamas-led government. Norway has restored full economic and political relations with Palestine.

A 54-year-old nurse is accused of killing six patients by injection at Berlin’s Charité, Europe’s biggest hospital, a state prosecutor said. The unnamed woman has allegedly confessed, saying she wanted to spare the patients further suffering. She is also charged with the attempted murder of two other patients.

About 100,000 people rallied in Budapest March 15 to demand that Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány resign. Gyurcsány has admitted that he lied about the budget to win the 2006 election. Police used water cannons and tear gas on some protesters who threw stones at them. The rally was held on a day that commemorates the 1848 uprising against Habsburg rule.

A man police believe killed four people in the 1970s was arrested in Brazil March 18. Cesare Battisti, who escaped from a Rome prison and later lived openly in France, where he became a successful novelist, was found in Rio de Janeiro. Battisti had been a member of Armed Proletariat for Communism in the 1970s. He maintains his innocence.

Far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen officially entered the French presidential race March 14. Le Pen is the head of the right wing National Front party and is known for his views against immigration and his tough stance on crime. He won 17 percent of the popular vote in 2002.

The Slovak-Ukrainian border will meet requirements to join the European Union’s border-free Schengen zone by June, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák said March 14. Several EU commissions will visit Slovakia this year to evaluate its Schengen readiness. The Czech government said in December it was prepared to fortify the Czech-Slovak border if Slovakia did not meet requirements. Both countries are set to join Schengen at the end of the year.