BUSH

U.S. President George W. Bush will meet with President Václav Klaus, Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and opposition leader Jiří Paroubek during his June visit to Prague, Mladá fronta Dnes reported April 24. His goal is to rally support for U.S. plans to build a missile-defense radar base in the Czech Republic, the paper reported.

The Justice Ministry will ask South Africa to extradite Czech fugitive businessman Radovan Krejčíř, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported April 23. Krejčíř was arrested at the Johannesburg airport after entering the country under a false identity, ČTK reported. Krejčíř, accused of organized crime, fled Prague for the Seychelles Islands in 2005.

Former dissident Petr Uhl has left the government’s human rights council over recent “xenophobic” comments made by Deputy Prime Minister Jiří Čunek, he told ČTK April 20. Čunek has refused calls to resign over his statements and amid allegations of corruption.

Right-wing extremist groups demonstrated in Prague, Plzeň and Kladno April 21, Lidové noviny reported April 23. Officials believe they were commemorating the April 20 birthday of Adolf Hitler but gathered under other pretenses to avoid breaking anti-fascism laws.

A Czech base in southern Iraq was hit by a missile April 23, ČTK reported. No one was injured. The attack, part of a 15-missile strike on allied multinational forces in Basra, destroyed three vehicles used by the 89-person Czech unit. The soldiers remained in shelters during the missile strike.

The Czech Republic and other East European countries serve the world’s unhealthiest fast food, according to a Danish study. Nutritionist Steen Stender said that fast food here contains some of the highest levels of trans fat, which he called a “silent killer.”

RUSSIA

Former President Boris Yeltsin has died at the age of 76, Kremlin officials said April 23. Yeltsin oversaw the breakup of the Soviet Union and became Russia’s first democratically elected leader after former President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned in 1991. The cause of death was not immediately announced but Yeltsin had a history of heart problems.

The first round of presidential elections April 22 will pit right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy against Socialist candidate Segolene Royal in a runoff round of voting scheduled for May 6. Preliminary results gave Sarkozy 31 percent of the votes, with Royal closely trailing with 26 percent. Both are now appealing for centrist and undecided voters.

Parliament voted April 19 to suspend President Traian Basescu for allegedly committing 19 abuses, from ordering wiretaps to criticizing judges. A referendum will be conducted May 19 about whether to remove Basescu from office. Supporters say that some of the politicians who voted to suspend Basescu were under investigation by him.

An airliner carrying Greek members of the European Parliament was forced to make an emergency landing in Munich April 23 after police received an anonymous bomb threat. The passenger flight, scheduled to fly from Athens to Brussels, made the emergency landing 90 minutes after takeoff. No explosives were found.

Austrian energy company OMV has developed a major gas deal with Iran, the Reuters news agency reported April 21. The firm and Iranian officials said the agreement will develop Iran’s gas fields. The U.S. government has urged its allies not to invest in Iran in hopes of forcing Iran to end its nuclear program.

A 22-year-old man competing in the annual London Marathon April 22 has died in the hospital, race organizers said April 23. The man’s identity was not released, but officials confirmed he was British. The day’s 21-degree Celsius (69.8-degree Fahrenheit) temperatures sent scores of runners to the hospital.

A French appeals court overturned the sentence April 21 of one of 61 people convicted in a massive sex abuse trial that shocked France in 2005. A total of 45 children were abused by relatives and family acquaintances in Angers, western France, prosecutors said. The appeals court upheld the sentences of the 11 others who appealed.

Officials in Moscow announced April 18 that they plan to build a tunnel to Alaska to supply the United States with Russian energy. The project, which an Economy Ministry source said would be done in cooperation with Canada and the United States, would cost $65 billion (1.3 trillion Kč) and be complete within 15 years.

An appeals court upheld the sentences April 23 of three thieves convicted of stealing paintings by artist Edvard Munch. The Scream, considered one of the world’s most recognizable paintings, and The Madonna, were stolen from Oslo’s Munch Museum in an armed daylight raid in 2004. They were recovered last fall but were both damaged.