Spy Chief: Qaeda Taps Europe For Recruits

(AP) Al Qaeda continues to recruit Europeans for explosives training in Pakistan because Europeans can more easily enter the United States without a visa, the nation's top intelligence officer said Tuesday.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said European al Qaeda recruits in the border region of Pakistan are being trained to use commercially available substances to make explosives, and they may be able to carry out an attack on U.S. territory.

McConnell also said he worried that Osama bin Laden's recent video and audio releases may be a signal to terrorist cells to carry out operations, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"That's unusual. He had been absent from airwaves over the last year. Our concern is that's a signal," McConnell said. "It just causes us to be concerned and vigilant."

Europeans are being recruited specifically because they generally do not need visas to enter the United States, he said.

"Purposely recruiting an operative from Europe gives them an extra edge into getting an operative, or two or three, into the country with the ability to carry out an attack that might be reminiscent of 9/11," he said.

McConnell's threat warning echoed what he told Congress in July at a time when he and the Bush administration were pressing Congress for swift passage of a new law designed to ease warrantless eavesdropping on overseas calls and e-mails.

McConnell warned then that the existing law which dictated when the government must obtain warrants from a secret intelligence court to eavesdrop had become a dangerous blockade to spying on terrorists overseas.

McConnell told the Senate panel Tuesday that half of "what we know" comes from electronic surveillance, and the outdated Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had degraded those intercepts by two-thirds.

Under the new law, the government can eavesdrop without a court order on communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the United States, even if an American is on one end of the conversation - so long as that American is not the intended focus or target of the surveillance.

Because of changes in technology, many more foreign communications now flow through the United States. The new law, called the Protect America Act, allows communications initiated outside the United States to be tapped without a court order when they pass through electronic channels on U.S. soil. That law expires in January.

The FISA law generally prohibited eavesdropping conducted inside the United States, unless a court approved it.

In requesting the change, the Bush administration said technological advances in communications had created a dire gap in the ability to collect intelligence on terrorists, even those overseas.

Italians 'seized in Afghanistan'

Italian authorities say they believe that two missing soldiers serving in western Afghanistan have been abducted.

"We believe they have been kidnapped together with two Afghans," the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that a search was under way.

Contact was lost after the men crossed a police checkpoint in Herat province.

An Afghan driver and interpreter were with the soldiers at the time but have since returned to Herat city and are to be questioned by police, reports say.

The four had driven through a police checkpoint in the Shindand district of Herat province on Saturday before all contact was lost, said Gen Ali Khan Hassanzada, chief of police criminal investigations in western Afghanistan.

The Italian defence ministry said the military personnel were "carrying out liaison activities with local civilian authorities".

There is some speculation that the Italians were intelligence officials but this has not been confirmed, the BBC's Charles Haviland reports from Kabul.

Increased insurgency

An Italian embassy official in Kabul said the two men last spoke with officials at their base late on Saturday during "routine contact".

Officials in Rome said the families of the men had been notified.

Western Afghanistan is a relatively safe area, our correspondent says.

But Shindand district has become more volatile as it borders a province where the militant insurgency has been on the rise, he adds.

Earlier reports, later corrected, had said the two were journalists.

In March, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was criticised for making a deal with the Taleban to free kidnapped Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.

Italy has more than 2,000 troops in Afghanistan, many of them based in the west.

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Dutch cabinet rules out EU vote

The Dutch cabinet has decided against holding a referendum on the EU's new Reform Treaty, amid fears the public would reject it at the polls.

Voters in the Netherlands and France rejected the treaty's predecessor - a proposed European constitution - two years ago, plunging the EU into crisis.

Reports had indicated the Dutch public would vote against the new treaty too.

The decision on a referendum now goes before the Dutch parliament, where many MPs are said to favour a public vote.

The 2005 referendum, effectively scuppering the proposed constitution, was held at the initiative of parliament, rather than the government.

The lower house of parliament is believed to have a majority that favours a referendum, while the upper house is against the idea.

Labour split

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, of the Christian Democrat party, said the new treaty did not propose constitutional changes and therefore did not require a referendum.

"This is a normal change of treaty and only needs a normal procedure to approve it," he said.

He said on Friday that the entire cabinet had backed the decision against holding a referendum.

Two of the three parties in the Dutch governing coalition had opposed a referendum on the new treaty, but a third, the Labour Party, was split over the issue.

Although the Labour party supports the EU Reform Treaty, a faction within it has argued that the views of the public must be taken into account before the document is adopted.

BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell says it is expected that some policies unpopular with the Labour Party will soon be dropped, in return for Labour ministers having given their consent to the decision against holding a referendum.

A Dutch decision in favour of holding a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty would have put fresh pressure on the British and Danish governments to do the same in their countries.

Both London and Copenhagen have been eager to avoid plebiscites on the new EU Reform Treaty.

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France approves immigration curbs

The French National Assembly has passed a controversial bill tightening entry conditions for the relatives of immigrants living in France.

Under the legislation, the relatives will have to prove they are solvent financially and can speak French.

It also includes plans for DNA testing of foreigners seeking to join family members living in France.

But the new bill has been criticised by some members of President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right government.

The legislation would require immigrant family members older than 16 to take a test in their country of origin, demonstrating a good knowledge of French language and values.

Applicants would also have to prove that their family in France could support them and earn at least the minimum wage.

Deportation quotas

If immigration officials doubt that an applicant is a genuine relative of the person they seek to join, they could be asked to take - and pay for - a DNA test to prove a biological link.

An amendment to the bill on these tests says they will be carried out for a trial period of only two years.

The legislation was "fair" and would provide "tools to fight against illegal immigration", Eric Ciotti, an MP from Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party, told Reuters news agency.

But Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, a socialist, and Martin Hirsch, a campaigner for the homeless who joined Mr Sarkozy's government, criticised the measure.

The opposition voted against the bill, which will be debated in the Senate next month.

The UMP and its allies have a majority in both chambers.

Mr Sarkozy has set up deportation quotas, promising to send home 25,000 illegal immigrants this year alone.

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EU anti-death penalty day vetoed

Poland has blocked plans to hold a European day against the death penalty, the EU's Portuguese presidency says.

It says Warsaw rejected the idea at a meeting of ministers in Brussels, arguing that any such event should also condemn abortion and euthanasia.

The EU, where the capital punishment is outlawed, had planned to mark the anti-death penalty day on 10 October.

Poland's conservative government has in the past called for a re-opening of the debate on capital punishment.

The European Commission said a conference scheduled to launch the EU day against the death penalty would still go ahead on 9 October.

But with Poland digging in its heels, delegates may find the debate is livelier than they had expected, the BBC's Alix Kroeger in Brussels says.

'Broader approach'

"Unfortunately, it was not possible to find a consensus among all the 27 [EU] member states," Portuguese Justice Minister Alberto Costa told reporters after the Brussels meeting of EU justice and interior ministers.

EU officials also confirmed that Warsaw alone objected to the move.

Polish Deputy Justice Minister Andrzej Duda said that the EU "should approach the subject in a broader way and debate the protection of life".

"The death penalty is only one element of the debate; there are more - for example, abortion and euthanasia," he said.

This is the latest in a series of political clashes between Brussels and Warsaw, on everything from homosexuality to environmental protection, our correspondent says.

She says that Poland's junior coalition partner, the ultra-conservative League of Polish Families, wants to bring back the death penalty for paedophiles.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski last year called on EU member states to reintroduce the death penalty.

Poland, along with Ireland and Malta, are the only members where abortion is illegal.

Poland's Roman Catholic clergy and politicians have described the practice of euthanasia in countries such as the Netherlands as a "culture of death".

The latest row comes as Poland prepares for early general elections on 21 October.

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Charges over Austria Nazi salutes

The Austrian army has charged three conscripts in connection with a video posted on YouTube showing young soldiers exchanging Nazi salutes.

Two men can be seen in the footage. The third is suspected of having filmed them on his mobile phone.

Those seen doing the salutes will also be taken out of military service.

Any display of Nazi propaganda or symbols is a crime in Austria. Defence Minister Norbert Darabos said there was "zero tolerance" for such actions.

The footage is said to have been filmed at an army barracks in the western city of Salzburg.

In one video posted on Monday, a man in uniform is seen stretching his arm into a Nazi salute while another one shouts "Heil Hitler!"

A second, similar video showing the two conscripts appeared on Wednesday.

Both videos have now been removed from YouTube.

The men could face up to 10 years behind bars if found guilty.

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'Casual lunch' for Bush, Sarkozy

US President George W Bush welcomed his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, to his family home in Maine on Saturday for an informal lunch and boat ride.

Officials stressed the meeting was not a summit but instead a chance for the two men to get to know each other over hot dogs and hamburgers.

France's former President Jacques Chirac's opposition to the Iraq war saw Franco-US relations fall to a new low.

But Mr Sarkozy has made it clear that he will adopt a more pro-US stance.

Mr Bush praised Mr Sarkozy as he waited with his wife and parents on the lawn of the family home in Kennebunkport, on the Atlantic seaside.

"The good thing about President Sarkozy is you know where he stands," Mr Bush told reporters.

Before the lunch, Mr Sarkozy, who is on holiday in America, said he admired the US as "a great democracy, a country of freedom".

He called the US a "close friend", comparing France's relations with it to a family which sometimes had disagreements.

"Do we agree on everything? No.

"Even within the family there are disagreements but we are still of the same family and we may be friends and not agree on everything but we are friends nevertheless. That's the truth."

Despite protestations that the meeting was just a casual lunch, some observers remarked that it was impossible to imagine Mr Bush issuing a similar invitation to Mr Chirac.

In addition to the Iraq war, disagreements over trade and climate change further strained the relationship between Mr Bush and Mr Chirac.

In contrast, Mr Sarkozy made it clear from the outset of his presidency that America could count on his friendship.

US officials have pointed out that the countries are already working closely on issues such as Iran, Lebanon and Sudan.

Hot dogs and hamburgers

The lunch included hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as corn-on-the-cob, baked beans, and fresh blueberry pie.

No mention was made of whether french fries were on the menu. Some Americans started calling chipped potatoes "freedom fries" after Mr Chirac opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The French president's wife, Cecilia Sarkozy, was meant to be at the lunch but phoned First Lady Laura Bush to say she and her children were feeling unwell and would not attend.

After lunch, President Bush and his father, former President George Bush, took Mr Sarkozy for a 30-minute boat ride.

The Sarkozys have been on holiday in nearby New Hampshire, although Mr Sarkozy briefly returned to France for the funeral on Friday of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger.

Mr Sarkozy's decision to take a holiday in the US has led to some negative comments at home, especially from critics who believe he would like to see the French economy overhauled to follow the American free market model.

Only one other foreign leader has been invited by President Bush to his family's home in Maine. Russian President Vladimir Putin went there in July for an informal meeting that was dubbed the "lobster summit".

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Libya and EU seek improved ties

Libya and the EU have said their ties will improve following the release of six Bulgarian medical workers.

The six had been imprisoned for deliberately infecting children with HIV and are now celebrating their freedom in Bulgaria.

They were released on Tuesday following years of negotiation.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to meet Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli, where he is expected to sign agreements on bilateral co-operation.

The five nurses and a Palestinian-born doctor, who served eight years of the life sentences they received, had always maintained they were innocent.

All six were pardoned on their arrival in Sofia by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.

'New page'

Europe and the United States had made it clear to Libya that resolving their situation was the key to improving ties.

There are reports that Mr Sarkozy could sign agreements on security, immigration, energy and scientific research.

Mr Sarkozy wants to further Libyan help in the fight against terrorism, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris.

And he wants more support in to stem the flow of illegal immigrants crossing into southern Europe from North Africa.

The six medics were flown from Tripoli to Sofia early on Tuesday at the end of a three-day trip to Libya by Mr Sarkozy's wife Cecilia and the EU's External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

Ms Ferrero-Waldner said it marked "a new page in the history of relations between the EU and Libya".

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU could now begin to normalise trade and political ties with Libya.

Compensation confusion

Mr Sarkozy and the EU denied making any financial payment to secure the medics' release.

However, the families of the 438 infected children reportedly agreed last week to a compensation deal worth $1m (£500,000) per child, channelled through the Gaddafi Foundation, a charity run by Seif al-Islam, the Libyan leader's son.

Libya's foreign minister said both the EU and France had contributed to the fund, AFP reported.

The medics were convicted of deliberately injecting the 438 children with HIV-tainted blood. Fifty-six of the children have since died.

The six, who had been in prison since 1999, say they were tortured to confess.

Foreign experts say the infections started before the medics arrived at the hospital, and are more likely to have been a result of poor hygiene.

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Turkey unhappy at EU talks delay

Turkey has said it is not satisfied with the EU's reasons for not opening membership talks in the area of economic and monetary policy.

The talks were delayed because France signalled objections, reflecting President Nicolas Sarkozy's opposition to Turkey joining the European Union.

But membership negotiations were started in two other areas on Tuesday.

Turkey's chief negotiator, Ali Babacan, said Ankara hoped the problems would be overcome in the next six months.

"We are not satisfied with the technical justifications that were given to us and we hope that there will be progress in this matter during the Portuguese presidency," he said.

Turkey and the euro

Germany, which will hand the EU presidency over to Portugal on 1 July, had hoped to make more progress with the negotiations during its six months in charge.

The BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels said France's decision to delay the talks on economic and monetary policy was intended to demonstrate that Mr Sarkozy was keeping an election promise to keep Turkey out of the EU.

A French diplomat said discussing monetary union with Turkey implied that Turkey could one day adopt the euro.

Croatian breakthrough

There are 35 policy chapters which must be successfully negotiated before a country can join the EU.

Turkey now has four chapters under way.

Croatia, which began membership talks at the same time as Turkey, opened six more chapters at Tuesday's talks, bringing its total to 12.

Croatia seems well on track to become the EU's 28th member by the end of the decade, our correspondent says, provided it continues reforms and tackles corruption. But Turkey's bid, she says, seems to go from crisis to crisis.

The EU suspended negotiations on eight chapters last year, after Turkey failed to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU-member Cyprus.

It has decided that chapters not linked to trade policy can still be opened, but not closed until the Cyprus issue is resolved.

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EU treaty 'in Britain's interest'

The treaty agreed by EU member states is "quintessentially" in Britain's interests, Tony Blair has said.

The prime minister told MPs the government had achieved a "leadership position" within Europe.

The treaty, expected to be finalised later this year, preserves much of the planned EU constitution, rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005.

Conservative leader David Cameron said Mr Blair had "broken" a promise to hold a referendum.

He accused the prime minister of handing powers to the EU "without the permission of the British people".

'Completely protected'

The treaty gives an opt-out on a human and social rights charter and keeps an independent foreign policy and tax and benefit arrangements.

Mr Blair, in a statement to the Commons, said the UK's social security and benefits system was "completely protected".

The EU's powers to set "substantive" foreign policy would not be extended, he added.

"The new treaty will confirm for the first time explicitly that national security is the sole responsibility of nation states," Mr Blair said.

The treaty is planned to replace the failed EU constitution.

Mr Blair and his successor Gordon Brown insist a referendum is not required because Britain's "red lines" - control over human and social rights, foreign policy and tax and benefits - have not been crossed.

However, Irish foreign minister Dermot Ahern has said it is "likely" a public vote will be held there.

'Flagrant'

Mr Blair had pledged to hold a referendum on the constitution but the government says the changes included in the Reform Treaty are not significant enough to warrant one.

Amid noisy scenes, Mr Blair told MPs: "Over the past 10 years Britain has moved from the margins of European debate to the centre. This is absolutely right for Britain."

He added: "Britain has for a decade been in a leadership position in Europe. That is exactly where we should stay."

But Mr Cameron said Mr Blair had sanctioned the transfer of powers from Britain to Brussels "without the permission of the British people".

He added: "This will be remembered as one of the most flagrant breaches of any of the promises you have made."

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: "Listening to the prime minister today it was still unclear whether his principle aim in negotiating this treaty was the national interest or appeasement of the eurosceptic press.

"Having drawn up artificial 'red lines', he has flown home to trumpet a disingenuous victory in defending them."

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EU chiefs 'satisfied' with treaty

EU leaders have expressed measured approval of a draft treaty to reform EU systems agreed at a summit in Brussels.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed a good compromise with Poland over planned changes to voting rights, which proved the key to the final agreement.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Europe was moving again, while British PM Tony Blair said the EU could now concentrate on issues of real concern.

The treaty, to be finalised later this year, will come into force in mid-2009.

Following marathon discussions which were at times on the brink of failure, leaders from the 27-member bloc emerged smiling at dawn on Saturday to announce the results.

Having led the negotiations and brokered the compromise, Ms Merkel, the current EU president, said: "We are very, very satisfied with what we have been able to conclude."

Poland's President Lech Kaczynski, whose objections to proposed voting rights almost de-railed the summit, said his country would now be able to co-operate better with its partners.

"We really were fighting but we also encountered solidarity. The striving for success was something that was observed on everybody's part and Poland understood this," he said.

The new treaty preserves much of the planned EU constitution, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters during referendums in 2005.

It will need to be ratified by each of the EU's member states.

Tony Blair said that the arduous process had shown why the treaty was needed - to streamline EU mechanisms which were not designed for the current number of states.

Mr Sarkozy said the treaty was crucial for the future, adding that there were no winners or losers.

"The mandate is clear and precise and the dates are fixed. And you will now have a Europe with institutions. This is a very important message," he said.

'Double majority'

Mrs Merkel conceded the talks had been hard - with Poland, the UK and the Netherlands each staunchly defending their interests.

The main obstacle had been Poland's demand to keep its voting power, which is currently almost equal to that of Germany's, even though its population is only half as large.

The new system - known as a "double majority" - will now be phased in beginning in 2014 and fully implemented three years later.

Under this system, a 55% majority of EU countries with at least 65% of the bloc's population will be required for a change to be approved.

Britain and the Netherlands also got what they wanted from the summit.

Mr Blair wanted to ensure the Charter on Fundamental Rights would not alter British law, and to maintain national control over foreign policy, justice and home affairs.

The Netherlands, too, was satisfied that the role of national parliaments in Europe is to be strengthened and the criteria for new members joining the EU are included in the treaty.

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Poland pressed on EU treaty deal

Germany's chancellor has threatened to call a conference on a draft EU treaty without Poland's consent, if Warsaw does not compromise on voting reforms.

Angela Merkel's spokesman said Poland would have "an opportunity to join the consensus" later this year.

A preliminary agreement struck in Brussels with the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, was blocked by his twin brother Jaroslaw, the prime minister.

Speaking on Polish television, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said talks "had hit a wall".

The original treaty perished when Dutch and French voters rejected it in 2005.

'Red lines'

Despite intensive debate during the ongoing two-day summit, the Polish government has refused to budge on its demand for a radical rethink of the proposed voting system.

Mrs Merkel, who holds the EU presidency until the end of June, said that in the light of the Polish rejection it was important to take action to avoid "leaving Europe to mark time".

The BBC's Johnny Dymond in Brussels says the move by the German government is a sign of their frustration.

The inter-governmental conference is the body that is charged with drafting the EU's reform treaties, traditionally created with the unanimous agreement of member states.

To do so without Poland's agreement is almost inconceivable, our correspondent says.

Diplomats are being very cautious about the German proposal, described as quite premature by one, while others say the suggestion is designed simply to put pressure on Poland.

Various solutions have been offered to try to overcome Poland's objections to the new voting system, which Warsaw says would give too much influence to Germany.

As President Kaczynski continued tough talks in Brussels, his twin brother said the offer on the table, that would have delayed introducing a new voting system for seven more years, was "far too little to be acceptable".

Speaking live on Polish television, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Poland was open to compromise but that "one cannot give way all the time".

'Fresh crisis'

Britain meanwhile, seen as the other problem country, is also trying to get water-tight guarantees that the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which could give workers extra rights to strike, will not apply to the UK.

Britain also wants to maintain national control over foreign policy, justice and home affairs.

Earlier, the UK and others asked for clarification on why reference to the EU's commitment to free competition had been dropped from the draft treaty at the request of the French.

"The notion that this in any shape or form changes the legal basis of the internal market and the way the European economy works and the Commission's powers in relation to it is wrong," said Mr Blair, adding that a protocol would be added to the treaty.

EU leaders have struck other compromises, including the job title of a new EU foreign policy chief.

The post-holder will not be called a minister, as in the European Constitution, but High Representative of the EU, and will combine the job of the vice-president of the European Commission, which comes with a significant aid budget and staff.

A draft treaty submitted for debate at the summit makes several concessions to EU member states that had opposed key parts of the planned constitution.

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EU leaders grapple with reforms

European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels, where they are struggling to reach agreement on new ways to run the 27-member bloc.

Germany, which holds the EU presidency, has called for a treaty to replace a planned constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

The UK and Poland are both threatening to use their vetoes.

The UK opposes any growth of EU powers, while the Poles are resisting plans to reduce their voting rights.

A draft paper tabled by Germany makes several concessions to EU member states opposed to key parts of the failed constitution.

But both the British Prime Minister Tony Blair - attending his final EU meeting before leaving office next week - and his Polish counterpart have taken a hard line.

Touchy subject

Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has suggested that his country deserves a greater share of voting rights than it is being offered under the current draft.

He said Poland was disadvantaged because of the millions of Poles killed by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Under the current system Poland has just two fewer votes than Germany, but under the proposed treaty Warsaw would have a much smaller share because EU votes would be linked to population.

Mr Kaczynski argues that his country would be a much larger country now if not for the war, and should therefore qualify for stronger voting rights.

Mr Blair has set out a number of "red lines" which the UK government regards as unacceptable.

These include proposals to make the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding.

Agreement urged

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has warned all member nations to be open to a compromise, and has suggested that the draft treaty would be a "good deal" for the UK.

The German draft paper removes any mention of the word "constitution", accepts that the title of EU-wide foreign minister will not be used, and provides countries with a chance to opt out of EU policies in the area of policing and criminal law.

The Netherlands and the Czech Republic also have concerns about the treaty.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says every member nation will have their issues addressed at the summit.

But she too urged leaders to move towards a deal.

"Many are watching us, not only in Europe," she said.

"It is important that we don't drag on too long and that we make every effort to reach an agreement."

Correspondents say failure will plunge the EU into a fresh crisis as deep as the one that followed the rejection of the constitution two years ago.

In one early decision, leaders agreed to allow Cyprus and Malta to adopt the European single currency, the euro, beginning in January 2008.

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EU to drop idea of constitution

Germany has proposed to EU states that they should agree to drop the idea of a constitution when they meet at a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

The "constitutional concept... is abandoned", says a paper circulated by Germany, which will chair the summit.

The paper makes several concessions to EU member states opposed to key parts of the failed constitution.

But Poland and the UK are still warning they could use their vetoes if they do not get their way on a new treaty.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said a veto remained "highly likely" while UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said no deal was better than a bad deal.

Mrs Beckett told Parliament: "If it comes down to deal or no deal at this European Council the UK government is clear... no deal is better than buying any old pig in a poke."

She added that Britain wanted a Europe "of sovereign nations, not a superstate".

The summit is intended to issue a mandate for an intergovernmental conference to agree the precise wording of a treaty to replace the failed constitution.

If it fails, it will plunge the EU into a political crisis as deep as the one that followed the rejection of the constitution by French and Dutch voters two years ago.

The German paper proposes that the new treaty is called "The Reform Treaty", accepts that the EU will not have a "foreign minister", and provides countries with a chance to opt out of EU policies in the area of policing and criminal law.

Correspondents say the biggest remaining problem for the UK could be Germany's continued support for the idea of making the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding.

The UK fears this could allow the European Court to make decisions that would change British labour law.

Olive branch

The part of the constitution that Poland most disliked - the introduction of a new voting system for decisions taken by member states - is preserved in the latest German proposals, seen by the BBC.

However, the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels says the German paper offers Poland a "discreet olive branch".

For the first time it mentions, in a footnote, that the Poles, backed by the Czechs, want to raise the idea of changing the voting system at the summit.

The new system would benefit larger member states to the detriment of smaller and medium-sized ones, and have the effect of reducing Poland's clout.

Despite his warnings of a possible veto, Mr Kaczynski hinted Poland could drop its opposition if it guaranteed a strong voice in EU decision-making.

"We realise we cannot stop the process [of reform] - that would be too risky for the future," Mr Kaczynski told Reuters news agency.

He said there was a 50-50 chance of the summit ending in agreement.

Under the latest German proposals, Britain gets reassurances that the European Courts will have no power to examine foreign affairs policies.

And at the request of the Dutch, the draft gives more power to national parliaments to block EU laws.

But a Dutch proposal to enshrine criteria for further enlargement in the treaty, is not fully satisfied.

That would send a very negative signal to Balkan countries, an EU diplomat said.

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Warning to EU members over treaty

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has told EU members not to block progress towards an EU treaty.

Mr Barroso warned against taking a tough line into negotiations, telling member states that opposition to the treaty was not in their interest.

The UK and Poland are opposed to key elements of the treaty, with Warsaw against changes to voting rules.

France and Spain have proposed a 10-point document backing an expansion of EU powers.

Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency, has aimed to put core elements of the aborted 2005 EU constitution at heart of a new agreement.

However, British and Polish objections have dominated the build-up to two days of negotiations at the end of this week.

Mr Barroso did not refer to the UK or Poland directly, but refused to deny that their opposition was causing problems.

"It is not in the interest of any member state to be in a position that is seen as hardliner," he said in Brussels.

"The environment for a deal is clearly there. Please avoid appearing as blocking. This is not intelligent, this is not in your interest.

"Defend your positions, but don't come with these red lines and vetoes."

Objections

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has listed four so-called "red lines" that the British government insists it will not cross during negotiations.

They are: a Franco-Spanish call for a Charter of Fundamental Rights; and EU-wide legislation on foreign policy, common law and tax and benefits.

Mr Blair's successor-in-waiting, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, said on Tuesday that he was confident the UK would get what it was seeking from any treaty.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Warsaw's pursuit of a greater share of voting rights was not negotiable, adding: "There is no plan B."

But Mr Barroso issued a coded warning to Poland, a new EU member, saying newcomers had a responsibility to help bridge divides within the union.

"It will be in their interest for them to show that their membership of the European Union is not making European Union life more difficult but, on the contrary, they are giving more impetus to the European Union," he said.

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EU moves to ban cat and dog fur

The European Parliament is set to back a ban on cat and dog fur imports, in a move to reduce the two million cats and dogs slaughtered in China each year.

MEPs say shoppers buy goods made with the fur unknowingly, because exporters attach false labels.

It is used in coats, linings for boots and gloves, stuffed toys, and even homeopathic aids for arthritis.

MEPs have agreed with EU member states on the text of the law, which will come into effect by December 2008.

"Many people are unwittingly deceived into buying garments made out of cat and dog fur due to mislabelling. This law will put an end to these deceptive practices," said Labour MEP Arlene McCarthy.

Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson, said: "Slaughter of these animals is horrific, with cats strangled outside their cages as other cats look on.

"Dogs noosed with metal wires are slashed across the groin until they bleed to death as the wire noose cuts into their throat."

DNA tests

Liberal MEP Liz Lynne said a Europe-wide ban would add weight to bans already in force in several EU member states and the United States.

The legislation was initiated by the European Parliament, more than half of whose members signed a written declaration supporting a ban in December 2003.

The European Commission then drafted a regulation in 2006.

It aims to:

• Block cat and dog fur imports at the border
• Introduce penalties for traders
• Encourage sharing of information on how to detect cat and dog fur

The Commission says the obligation on member states to carry out checks and test for the fur will also provide a clearer picture of what products it is being used in, and where it comes from.

Main markets

As cat and dog fur can be hard to detect when it is dyed, some states are already using hi-tech systems - mass spectrometry or DNA testing - to identify it.

Europe and Russia are reported to be the main markets for the cats and dogs killed in China and some other Asian countries.

David Neale, UK director of Animals Asia Foundation, said the ban would stop hundreds of thousands if not millions of animals from being killed.

Ministers from the EU member states will need to give the ban their approval, but are not expected to reject it, following an informal agreement with the parliament on the text.

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Sarkozy party wins in French poll

President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right party has won a majority in parliamentary elections in France, according to early poll projections.

But his UMP party fell far short of the landslide majority it was predicted to win in the second-round vote.

The opposition Socialists fared better than expected, the early results said. Voter turnout was low, at about 60%.

The results will be seen as a minor setback for Mr Sarkozy's party, says the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris.

However, a major blow for the UMP was the defeat of former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, who was made energy and environment minister in the new government after Mr Sarkozy's election.

Mr Juppe said he would offer his resignation. Mr Sarkozy has insisted that any minister would have to leave the government if they failed to be elected.

But the victory gives Mr Sarkozy enough room to start pushing his reforms through parliament, our correspondent says.

Mr Sarkozy has promised to give universities more autonomy, impose tougher sentences on repeat offenders, tighten immigration, make labour laws more flexible and reduce taxation.

'Coherent choice'

The UMP and allied parties would win around 340 seats, according to polling institutions, down from 359 in the previous parliament.

Socialists and their allies were braced for up to 233 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, up from 149.

The centrist Democratic Movement, founded by presidential candidate Francois Bayrou, was expected to win just two seats. The far-right National Front party was not expected to win any seats.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the result gave Mr Sarkozy a strong mandate to introduce his reforms.

"Your participation has resulted in a clear and coherent choice, which will allow the president of the Republic to implement his project," he said.

Royal split

The leader of the Socialists, Francois Hollande, said the result was "good for the country".

"The blue wave that had been predicted... has not taken place. In the new assembly, there will be diversity and pluralism," he said.

He also described the result as an indictment of "unfair measures" set to be introduced by the UMP such as raising sales taxes from 19.5% to 24.5% to finance healthcare costs.

The Socialists' results are a relief to the party, which has been riven by infighting since its candidate Segolene Royal, Mr Hollande's partner, lost the presidential elections in May.

Ms Royal is expected to take over from Mr Hollande as party leader.

Meanwhile the defeated presidential candidate said in a book to be published this week, that the couple were splitting up.

In the book, Ms Royal accuses her partner of having an affair.

"I have asked Francois Hollande to leave our home, to pursue his love interest which is now laid out in books and newspapers and I wish him happiness," she said in an interview ahead of the book's release on Wednesday.

The couple have been together for more than 25 years and have four children.

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Merkel urges EU treaty compromise

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged EU leaders to be ready to compromise on a new constitutional treaty before a crucial summit.

Mrs Merkel met Polish President Lech Kaczynski in Germany for crucial talks on the simplified treaty.

Germany, the current holder of the EU presidency, wants states to agree to a road map for a new constitution at next week's summit in Brussels.

Mr Kaczynski has threatened to veto any deal reducing Poland's voting rights.

'Time to act'

Speaking on her weekly video podcast, released just before she met with Mr Kaczynksi on Saturday, Mrs Merkel said Europe needed to "recover its ability to act".

"For [the timetable] to be agreed on, readiness to compromise on the part of everyone will be necessary," she said.

"We are working on it and thank many member states for pursuing the same goal."

She urged leaders from the EU's 27 member states to act quickly to resolve the constitutional crisis.

"We need a new contractual basis for this, but we also must not devote our attention to ourselves for too long," she said.

French and Dutch voters rejected a proposed EU constitution in 2005.

The new, simplified treaty is expected to address demands for institutional change to help the EU to operate more efficiently.

'Herculean effort'

But Mr Kaczynski has threatened to block efforts to draft it next week because of the proposed changes to the bloc's national voting system.

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EU constitution 'can be simple'

An EU summit next week may agree to re-name the European constitution and re-package it as a simple treaty, a report by German officials suggests.

But the report, seen by the BBC, says this "major concession" will only be made if the "substance" of the original deal is preserved.

Germany will be chairing the summit in Brussels, which may agree the outline of a treaty replacing the constitution.

BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell says the report poses some problems for the UK.

He says several areas would be difficult for British leaders to sell to the British public without a referendum.

The constitution was signed by EU member states in 2004, but was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005.

British, French and Dutch politicians have argued that the treaty must be simplified to prevent the need for further referendums.

It has not been general practice, in most member states, to put routine amendments of EU treaties to a public vote.

'Important' days

The German proposals are also likely to be unwelcome in Poland, because they say nothing about changing the voting system at meetings of the 27 governments.

Poland has threatened to block the new constitution, unless its demands are met, but is coming under intense pressure to drop its objections.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy held talks with his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, on Thursday, and Mr Kaczynski is due to travel to Germany for a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday.

"We think that during these days of extreme importance, June 21 and 22, that we will reach a compromise and all member states will come away from the summit fairly satisfied," Polish President Lech Kaczynski told a news conference after his meeting with Mr Sarkozy.

Single legal personality

Our Europe editor says the Germans are proposing that the treaty would give the European Union a "single legal personality".

This would allow it to join international organisations, or sign international agreements, and is opposed by some who see the EU weakening the role of nation states.

The report also lists a number of sticking points, where further discussions are needed.

These include:

• Whether or not to mention symbols, such as the EU flag and anthem
• Whether or not to include the Charter of Fundamental Rights
• The delimitation of competences between the EU and member states
• The role of national parliaments
• Aspects of EU foreign policy

The report does say that the Charter of Fundamental Rights, signed in 2000, should be made legally binding - a move opposed by some governments, including the UK.

Ms Merkel told the German parliament on Thursday that agreement on the new treaty was "still not in sight".

But she said she nonetheless hoped next week's summit would take a clear step forward and produce a "roadmap" to a new treaty by 2009.

Germany wants the summit to issue a mandate for an intergovernmental conference, which would agree the details of the new treaty later this year.

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EU's carbon trade 'set to fail'

The EU's carbon trading scheme - deemed a key to tackling climate change - is set to "fail" yet again, says the WWF.

The European Trading Scheme (ETS) was launched in 2005 to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, but its success was limited, partly due to lax limits.

The wildlife charity is worried that the ETS' next phase will also "fail to deliver" significant emissions cuts.

Failure to cut carbon dioxide levels could cause irreversibly damaging climate change, scientists fear.

Good principle

"While the mechanism of carbon trading is sound in principle, the first phase of the EU scheme (2005 to 2007) has been seriously undermined by weak political decisions," said the WWF.

The first phase of the ETS - which covered around 40% of the EU's emissions - has been accused by critics of falling short of its promises because the CO2 limits were not strict enough.

Moreover, the large polluters were given credits free of charge.

For firms that managed to cut emissions easily, they then had a surplus of carbon credits, which they could then sell for a profit.

Next phase

Now the EU has set new limits for the next phase of the scheme for a number of nations including the UK, Germany and Luxembourg. Others are yet to be finalised.

But the WWF's new report called Emission Impossible shows that the next phase of the ETS - which runs from 2008 to 2012 - could also fail "because of the potential for very heavy use of imported credits".

In practice this means that large polluters could buy carbon credits from projects overseas that claim to reduce emissions.

The WWF questions whether these projects are all genuine emission reduction plans.

The ETS could become "a messy and deeply flawed market for a virtual commodity that only really benefits the traders", WWF warns.

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Bulgaria presses Bush on shield

US President George W Bush has held talks in Bulgaria on US plans to build a missile defence shield in Europe.

Bulgaria's government, a staunch US ally, is concerned it may be left out of the plan, which would include bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The issue has contributed to raised tensions between the US and Russia.

Mr Bush also backed Bulgarian calls to free five nurses sentenced to death in Libya on charges of infecting children with HIV.

Speaking at a news conference with his Bulgarian counterpart Georgy Parvanov in Sofia, Mr Bush said the nurses' release was a "high priority".

Mr Bush spoke as an EU delegation was in Libya attempting to negotiate the release of the five.

"They should be released and they should be allowed to return to their families," he said, adding that the US would make representations to Libya on behalf of the Bulgarian authorities.

Mr Bush's trip to Sofia is the final leg of an eight-day European tour including visits to the G8 summit in Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy and Albania.

Defence fears

During formal talks with President Parvanov and Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, Mr Bush thanked Bulgaria for its support in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thirteen Bulgarians have been killed in Iraq, while the country's 200-strong force in Afghanistan is soon to expand to 800 troops.

More than 3,000 US troops are due to start arriving at a new base in Bulgaria in September, as part of a US policy to move many of its European forces closer to the Middle East.

The former Communist bloc nation joined Nato in 2004, and became a member of the European Union this year.

But Bulgaria remains concerned that despite its loyalty, much of the country would fall outside the range of the US missile shield.

However, talks to include Bulgaria in the missile defence plans will only inflame tensions with nearby Russia, which views the system as a threat and a challenge to its influence in the region, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale.

Russia opposes the plan, which it regards as a threat, and President Vladimir Putin has threatened to point Russian missiles at Europe in response.

The US says its missile shield is not directed at Russia, but at what it considers "rogue states" such as Iran.

'Distinguished guest'

On Sunday, Mr Bush received a hero's welcome in Albania, another staunch ally, and reiterated his support for a UN plan for independence for Kosovo.

His sentiments were welcomed in Kosovo but rejected by a spokesman for the Serbian government, which opposes independence.

The G8 failed to reach a consensus on the Kosovo issue at a summit last week.

Russia remains strongly opposed to the blueprint for independence laid out in April by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

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Sarkozy party 'set for landslide'

Projections after the first round of France's parliamentary elections suggest President Nicolas Sarkozy's party is heading for a landslide.

Although most seats will not be decided until next week's second round, polling firms said Mr Sarkozy's UMP party would win at least 383 of the 577 seats.

Analysts say a big majority would allow the new president to press ahead with his sweeping economic reforms.

Turnout is reported to have reached a record low, at around 61%.

That contrasted with a turnout of 84% at the presidential election a month ago.

"Many people seem less interested in the parliamentary elections because they think Sarkozy will win a large majority anyway," Mikhael Perez, a 48-year-old voter from Paris told Reuters news agency.

Socialists flounder

With a second round of voting to follow next week, the size of the UMP's likely majority was still uncertain.

Polling companies said the party could win anything between 383 and 501 of parliament's 577 seats, compared to its 359 at present.

Mr Sarkozy's Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, said: "Today you have chosen to give the presidential majority a beautiful lead... Tonight we have gone some of the way.

"But everything will really be decided next Sunday. This is why all the French need to go to vote. Change is on the march."

The Socialists, whose presidential candidate Segolene Royal lost to Mr Sarkozy, appeared set for another big disappointment.

It was predicted they could lose some of their 149 seats - and possibly as many as half of them.

Ms Royal urged left-wing voters to show up next weekend. "The republic needs you, because the republic needs a great force of the left to watch over things," she pleaded.

Blue wave

If candidates do not win more than 50% of the vote, with at least a 25% turnout, the constituency must vote again on 17 June.

Most will go to a second round. Any candidate with a first-round score of 12.5% or more of the registered vote is eligible to stand.

France has not returned the same government to power since 1978 - but this time the pattern looks set to change, the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris says.

France's "blue wave" means the president will get exactly what he wants - strong backing with which to implement his ambitious programme of economic reforms, our correspondent adds.

The parties of the left - including the communists, who look set for their worst result in memory - have called for a big turnout next week, warning voters not to give absolute power to Nicolas Sarkozy.

"He is a sort of hyper-president," said Socialist Pierre Moscovici, a member of the European parliament.

Mr Sarkozy has said he will hold a special session of parliament in July to initiate his first set of political reforms, which include tougher immigration rules and more freedom for universities.

A new finance bill will mean that overtime earnings are no longer taxed, inheritance tax is abolished for most people and overall individual taxation is capped at 50%.

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President And Pope Meet Amid Protests

(CBS/AP) President Bush, in his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, defended his humanitarian record around the globe, telling the papal leader on Saturday about U.S. efforts to battle AIDS in Africa.

Mr. Bush shook hands, posed for photos and shared a few laughs with the pope and then sat down with him at a small desk in Benedict's private library.

The president called his half-hour meeting with the pope "an experience like no other," and one he says he is "not poetic enough to describe," according to CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller.

The president and the pope discussed international politics, especially the Middle East and what a Vatican statement termed "the worrisome situation in Iraq." The pope has spoken out against the violence and bloodshed there, saying nothing positive can come out of it.

At a press conference later in the day with Italian Premier Romano Prodi, President Bush said the pope had expressed "deep concern" to him about the Christians inside Iraq. "He was concerned that the society that I was evolving would not tolerate the Christian religion, and I assured him it would," he told reporters.

Benedict asked the president about his meetings with leaders of other industrialized nations in Germany, the pontiff's homeland, and then changed the topic to international aid.

"I've got a very strong AIDS initiative," Mr. Bush said.

The president promised the pope that he'd work to get Congress to double the current U.S. commitment for combating AIDS in Africa to $30 billion over the next five years.

The pope also asked the president about his meeting in Germany with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has expressed opposition to a U.S. missile shield in Europe.

"The dialogue with Putin was also good?" the pope asked.

Mr. Bush, apparently eyeing photographers and reporters who were about to be escorted from the room, replied: "Umm. I'll tell you in a minute."

The pope was introduced to the president's top aides. Bush speechwriter William McGurn kissed the pope's ring. The pontiff gave each of them a small gift and the pope and the president also exchanged gifts.

(AP)

CBS News correspondent Sabina Castelfranco reports that security fears over an anti-Bush demonstration that has drawn thousands of marchers led to the cancellation of a planned visit by the president to the Rome neighborhood of Trastevere.

Americans here on vacation or business have been warned by the embassy to stay clear of the rally for fear that they become targets. Thousands of peace activists and leftists opposed to the war in Iraq and to Italy's deployment of troops in Afghanistan will be marching, along with anti-globalization protestors.

Thousands of security officers were deployed in downtown Rome Saturday morning. Dozens of trucks and buses surrounded the Colosseum, the downtown Piazza Venezia and other historic venues as scores of officers, some in anti-riot gear, poured from their vehicles. The main boulevard leading to St. Peter's Square and the Vatican was closed to traffic. Police and helicopters guarded the area.

Mr. Bush was greeted in the courtyard of the Vatican by members of the Swiss Guard, the elite papal security corps dressed in their distinctive orange, blue and red-stripped uniforms.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's No. 2, said Benedict planned to discuss the war in Iraq and the plight of Christians in the unstable, violence-wracked country. The war was vigorously opposed by the late Pope John Paul II. In his Easter message, Benedict said "nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees."

In a pre-trip interview, Mr. Bush said: "I think His Holy Father will be pleased to know that much of our foreign policy is based on the admonition, 'To whom much is given, much is required.'"

Mr. Bush arrived in Rome Friday night, after a stop in the Czech Republic, three days at a summit of industrialized democracies on Germany's northern coast, and a quick, three-hour visit to Poland. The president stays in Rome Saturday night, too, before going on to Albania and Bulgaria.

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First CIA rendition trial opens

The first criminal trial over the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects has opened in Italy.

Twenty-six Americans and six Italians are accused of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from Italy and sending him to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured.

The American CIA agents and military personnel will be tried in absentia. Italy has not announced if it will seek their extradition to the Milan trial.

US President George W Bush arrived in Italy hours after the trial began.

Mr Bush will have his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Saturday and will later hold talks with Italy's prime minister, Romano Prodi.

Mr Prodi has already said that the extraordinary rendition case will not be on the agenda.

Surprise witness

This is a controversial trial and it made a stuttering start, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome.

In their opening submissions this morning, defence lawyers called for proceedings to go behind closed doors, but the judge rejected their request.

The defence team is supported by the Italian government which has asked the country's highest court to set aside the rendition trial, saying prosecution documents will break state secrecy laws and damage relations with the CIA.

The Constitutional Court is due to rule on that appeal by September, and defence lawyers are expected to ask that the trial be adjourned until the high court makes its ruling.

Prosecutor Armando Spataro told the court that the rendition trial should continue despite the pending decision.

"In a democracy, the separation of powers is critical," he said.

Only one defendant, Luciano di Gregori, who worked for Italian intelligence at the time of the abduction, appeared at the trial.

"I have been doing this work for 33 years," Mr Di Gregori said. "I did it with my head held high and in the full light of day. I have nothing to hide."

'No extradition'

The cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr - also known as Abu Omar - was snatched from a Milan street in February 2003.

Italian prosecutors say Nasr was taken to US bases in Italy and Germany before being taken to the Egyptian capital of Cairo. Nasr says he was tortured during his four-year imprisonment in Cairo.

At the time of his arrest he was suspected of recruiting fighters for Islamic groups but had not been charged.

He was released by Egypt earlier this year, his lawyer said.

A senior US official has said that the 26 Americans accused of Nasr's kidnapping would not be sent to Italy even if Rome made an extradition request.

Meanwhile, Swiss senator Dick Marty, leading an investigation on behalf of the Council of Europe, said he had evidence that secret CIA prisons "did exist in Europe from 2003 to 2005, in particular in Poland and Romania".

Mr Marty also said a secret agreement among Nato allies provided the framework for CIA activities.

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G8 leaders agree to climate deal

Leaders of the G8 nations have agreed to seek "substantial" cuts in emissions in an effort to tackle climate change.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the G8 would negotiate within a UN framework to seek a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 2009.

No mandatory target was set for the cuts, but Mrs Merkel's preference for a 50% emissions cut by the year 2050 was included in the agreed statement.

Developing nations should also cut emissions, the leaders agreed.

Elsewhere at the summit, US President George W Bush met Russian President Vladimir Putin against a backdrop of disagreements over US plans for missile defence.

Mr Bush said the pair had had a "constructive" meeting, in which Mr Putin suggested using a radar station in Azerbaijan instead of facilities elsewhere in Europe.

Turning the tide

Announcing the climate change deal, Mrs Merkel described it as a "significant and important step forward".

"We agreed... that CO2 emissions must first be stopped and then followed by substantial reductions," the German chancellor said.

Her preferred benchmark of 50% cuts by 2050 - backed by the EU, Canada and Japan - would be given serious consideration, she said.

According to an extract from the agreed text published on the G8 website, the leaders agreed to take "strong and early" action.

"Taking into account the scientific knowledge as represented in the recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] reports, global greenhouse gas emissions must stop rising, followed by substantial global emission reductions," the text says.

Yvo de Boer, head of the UN's climate change division, quickly welcomed the agreement.

He told the Reuters news agency the deal augured well for a meeting to discuss a post-Kyoto consensus scheduled for Bali in December.

Blair optimistic

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus, in Heiligendamm, says Mrs Merkel has crafted a compromise while appearing not to have abandoned her principles.

Ahead of the meeting President Bush proposed the establishment of his own process of climate control negotiations.

The compromise appears to bring Mr Bush's plan into the wider UN-brokered process - something the US had previously resisted, saying it would not even discuss a post-Kyoto deal.

But changing diplomatic chemistry and an evolving debate on climate change back in the US forced the president to give ground, our correspondent says.

Speaking to reporters in Heiligendamm, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair deflected concerns about the absence of a precise definition of the term "substantial cuts".

"I'm both surprised and very pleased at how far we have come forward in the couple of years since [the 2005 G8 summit at] Gleneagles," he told reporters.

"Now we have an agreement that there will be a climate change deal, it will involve everyone, including the US and China, and it will involve substantial cuts."

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Man Tries To Jump Into Popemobile

(CBS/AP) A man tried to jump into Pope Benedict XVI's uncovered popemobile as the pontiff began his general audience Wednesday and held onto it for a few seconds before being wrestled to the ground by security officers.

The Pope was not hurt in any way and continued to hold the audience as if nothing happened, reports CBS News correspondent Sabina Castelfranco.

At least eight security officers who were trailing the vehicle as it moved slowly through the square grabbed the man and wrestled him to the ground. The pope didn't even look back.

The man "looked a little crazy," said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman. He said the man was being held for questioning by Vatican police.

The man, a 27-year-old German whose name was not released, was wearing a pink T-shirt and dark shorts, a beige baseball cap and sunglasses. He appeared to have vaulted himself up and over the barricade from the second or third row back. He got as far as the back of the jeep, holding onto it for a few seconds, before being wrestled to the ground.

The jeep kept moving, and Benedict kept waving, then proceeded with the audience as if nothing had happened.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Vatican has tightened security in St. Peter's Square when the pope is present. All visitors must pass by police to get into the square, with some walking through metal detectors or being searched with metal- detecting wands.

Nevertheless, virtually anyone can attend the audience. While tickets are required, they can often be obtained at the last minute �Eparticularly in good weather when the audience is held outside in the piazza.

When the pope uses the popemobile in St. Peter's, it is usually uncovered; when he travels overseas or outside the Vatican, he usually uses one outfitted with bulletproof glass.

The pope is protected by a combination of Swiss Guards, Vatican police and Italian police.

On Wednesday, the head of the Swiss Guards, Col. Elmar Maeder, walked along one side of the popemobile while the pontiff's personal bodyguard, Domenico Giani, took the other side. Several plainclothes security officials trailed them.

Benedict stood up behind the driver, holding onto a bar to steady himself, with his personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein, seated behind him.

St. Peter's is cordoned off with wooden barriers to create "routes" that the popemobile can drive along to make the pontiff more visible to the crowd, which on Wednesday numbered about 35,000.

From his perch on the jeep, the pope waves and blesses the crowd, and occasionally will bless a baby handed up to him by a security guard. The jeep, though, never stops, with security officials walking or jogging alongside the whole way.

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Polish Teen's Holocaust Diary Revealed

(AP) The diary of a 14-year-old Jewish girl, dubbed the "Polish Anne Frank," unveiled by Israel's Holocaust museum more than 60 years after the teenager wrote it, vividly describes the world crumbling around her as she came of age in a Jewish ghetto.

"The rope around us is getting tighter and tighter," Rutka Laskier wrote in 1943 shortly before she was deported to Auschwitz, her words read aloud Monday at the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem. "I'm turning into an animal waiting to die."

Within a few months Rutka did die and, it seemed, so did her diary. But last year, a Polish friend who had safeguarded the notebook finally came forth, exposing a riveting historical document.

"Rutka's Notebook" is both a daily account of the horrors of the Holocaust in Bedzin, Poland, and a scrapbook detailing the life of a typical teenager in extraordinary circumstances. The 60-page memoir includes innocent adolescent banter, concerns and first loves �Ecombined with a cold analysis of the fate of European Jewry.

Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II, after European Jews were herded into ghettos, banned from most jobs and forced to wear yellow stars to identify them.

"I simply can't believe that one day I will be allowed to leave this house without the yellow star. Or even that this war will end one day. If this happens I will probably lose my mind from joy," she wrote on Feb. 5, 1943. "The little faith I used to have has been completely shattered. If God existed, He would have certainly not permitted that human beings be thrown alive into furnaces, and the heads of little toddlers be smashed with butt of guns or be shoved into sacks and gassed to death."

Reports of the gassing of Jews, which were not common knowledge in the West by then, apparently filtered into the Bedzin ghetto, which was near Auschwitz, Yad Vashem experts said.

The following day she opened her entry with a heated description of her hatred toward her Nazi tormentors, but then, in an effortless transition, she speaks about her crush on a boy named Janek and the anticipation of a first kiss.

"I think my womanhood has awoken in me. That means, yesterday when I was taking a bath and the water stroked my body, I longed for someone's hands to stroke me," she wrote. "I didn't know what it was, I have never had such sensations until now."

Later that day, she shifted back to her harsh reality, casually describing watching a Nazi soldier tearing a Jewish baby away from its mother and killing it with his bare hands.

In addition to chronicling her life in the diary, between January and April 1943, Rutka also shared it with her friend Stanislawa Sapinska. The two met after Rutka's family moved into a home owned by Sapinska's family, which had been confiscated by the Nazis to be included in the Bedzin ghetto. Sapinska randomly came to inspect the home and the young girls �Eone Jewish, one Christian �Eformed a deep bond.

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Netherlands sued over Srebrenica

Relatives of the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre have filed a case against the Dutch state and the UN, saying they allowed it to happen.

The Bosnian town of Srebrenica was a UN safe haven under the protection of Dutch peacekeepers at the time.

About 8,000 Muslims were killed after Bosnian-Serb forces overran the town.

The case was filed before The Hague district court. Dutch officials say compensation claims should be directed at the perpetrators of the massacre.

Two-hundred women from the group known as the Mothers of Srebrenica carried banners in a silent march outside the Dutch parliament.

Their lawyers said the Dutch were to blame for refusing to give air support to their own troops defending Srebrenica, claiming that would have prevented Bosnian-Serb forces from advancing.

The Dutch cabinet resigned in 2002 after a report blamed politicians for sending the Dutch UN troops on an impossible mission.

The Bosnian-Serb troops were under the command of General Ratko Mladic and the former leader Radovan Karadzic, the war crimes tribunal's most wanted fugitives.

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Riots break out at German rally

Protesters have clashed with police at a largely peaceful anti-globalisation rally in the German city of Rostock.

Rocks, bottles and sticks have been hurled at riot police, who are using tear gas and batons charges to try to disperse the hundreds of rioters.

However, the violence only involves a small portion of the estimated 30,000 people police say had joined the rally.

They are protesting against next week's G8 summit of leading industrial nations in Heiligendamm, 25km (16 miles) away.

More than 160 groups of anti-globalisation activists, left-wing groups, students and anarchists had been taking part in the march.

Organisers had predicted that 100,000 people would be joining the protest, and though the police estimates of 30,000 are much lower, the BBC's Tristana Moore in Rostock says many more people are still arriving in the city by bus and train.

Police say that at least 146 officers have been hurt in the fighting.

Masked protesters have broken up paving stones to use as projectiles and overturned and torched several vehicles, spreading a pall of black smoke over the area.

"The police were attacked massively from the violent protesters. They threw bottles, fire crackers, rocks and Molotov cocktails," police spokesman Frank Scheulen told the Associated Press.

Riot police have responded with tear gas and water cannon in an effort to drive them back.

Our correspondent says that although police have been involved in running charges with protesters they are isolated incidents on the fringes of the rally, involving just a fraction of those in attendance.

The majority of demonstrators have already passed through the city centre and are gathered near the harbour to enjoy a pop concert, our correspondent says.

The challenge for the police now is to contain the violence and ensure it does not reach that concert area, she adds.

Organisers at the concert have been making announcements urging people to stay where they are and not venture over to the part of town where the violence is taking place, but, according to our correspondent, many have been leaving to do just that.

Here to stay

The German authorities had warned in advance that there were serious concerns that far-left groups were planning violent attacks.

The authorities said they would react quickly to any trouble and had deployed at least 13,000 police onto the streets.

Some shops had boarded up their windows as a precautionary measure.

Many of the protesters have travelled to Rostock from all over Europe and the majority have made camp by the harbour saying that they will stay put until the G8 summit, which runs from 6-8 June.

The activist have pitched their tents in a large field where the main entrance bears the words: "No police and no neo-Nazis."

"It's very important people all over the world come and protest against the politics of G8, which actually refer to all people of the world, although they are driven from the high elite in the G8 countries," said one protester.

"They actually use citizens of the world and the environment of the world as their playground to achieve more money and power."

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Geneva synagogue fire 'was arson'

A fire that gutted a synagogue in Geneva last week was caused by arson, a Swiss judge has said.

Investigating magistrate Michel Graber said all leads were being followed - including the possibility that extremists were involved.

Investigators are hoping to take DNA samples from a cigarette butt found at the scene, the judge added.

No-one was hurt in the fire, which charred the inside of the Hekhal Hanes synagogue and blackened its facade.

Other parts of the synagogue, built in the Malagnou district during the 1970s, were severely damaged by water used to extinguish the fire.

A Geneva-based group representing Switzerland's French-speaking Jewish communities, Cicad, said it had been very concerned by the "odious" attack, but added that it did not necessarily represent an escalation of anti-Semitic activity in the country.

"The investigation has not yet been able to determine whether this act was anti-Semitic," it said in a statement.

The group's secretary-general, Johanne Gurfinkiel, said there were 67 anti-Semitic acts in 2006 and 75 in 2005.

The Swiss police said last week that they had not found any graffiti or hate messages near the synagogue.

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Pope meets parents of Madeleine

The parents of Madeleine McCann have met Pope Benedict in Rome and had a photograph of the abducted four-year-old blessed by him.

Kate and Gerry McCann, from Rothley in Leicestershire, spoke briefly to the Pope as he met selected worshippers after his weekly audience.

Afterwards, Mr McCann said the meeting had been a positive experience for him and his wife.

Madeleine disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal on 3 May.

Her parents, who are devout Catholics, flew to Rome from the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in tycoon Sir Philip Green's private jet.

'Mixed emotions'

The general audience given by Pope Benedict XVI takes place every Wednesday and is held in St Peter's Square during the summer months. About 25,000 people were at the audience attended by the McCanns.

Mrs McCann showed the Pope a photograph of Madeleine when she met him, which he blessed. He put his hand on the arms of both parents during the emotional meeting.

At a later press conference, Mr McCann said: "Today, meeting the Pontiff was an experience that has caused very mixed emotions for us.

"In ordinary circumstances it would be a highlight for any Catholic to meet the Pope. Of course it's saddened by the marked realisation that our daughter is still missing.

"We know people everywhere are praying for our daughter and that helps sustain our belief that we can get her back safely."

Mr McCann said the goodness that had been generated by "one evil act" had restored his faith.

The McCanns reiterated their appeal for information on Madeleine and urged people to visit their website, www.findmadeleine.com.

Height mistake

The McCanns, both 38, are staying at the residency of the British ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Campbell.

They have left their two-year-old twins in the Algarve with Mr McCann's sister, Trish Cameron, and her husband Sandy, deciding they were too young to take on the trip to Italy.

The couple are also due to visit Spain, the Netherlands, Morocco and Germany to raise awareness of their daughter's disappearance.

This week the family released the last video clips taken of their daughter before her abduction.

Meanwhile, Portuguese police have received hundreds of calls after they released a description of a man seen near the McCanns' holiday flat.

But the family said on Tuesday that police had got a crucial fact wrong in the description of the man.

The height of the man given on the Portuguese press release was 170cm (5ft 7in) but it mistakenly appeared as 5ft 10in in the English version.

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Pope reinstates Islam department

Pope Benedict XVI has reversed a controversial decision he took a year ago to downgrade the Vatican department which deals with the Islamic world.

The Council for Interreligious Dialogue will be restored to its former position as a department in its own right.

It is not clear if the department's former head, British archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, will also be reinstated.

His removal was seen as a sign the Pope was more interested in improving ties with other Christian denominations.

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says that by reversing his decision, which was interpreted negatively in the Muslim world, the Pope has tacitly admitted that this was a mistake.

Relations between the Vatican and Muslims have deteriorated over the past year, particularly over remarks made by the pontiff during a visit to Germany last September, in which, some thought, he appeared to equate Islam with violence.

The Pope insisted his words had been taken out of context and that he meant no offence to the Muslim religion.

Merger reversal

In a rare about face, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, that the Council for Interreligious Dialogue would again become "a dicastery in its own right".

In March 2006, the Pope had downgraded the office by merging it with the Pontifical Council for Culture.

"The change highlights the importance of inter-religious dialogue," Cardinal Bertone said.

The cardinal did not, however, identify who would be asked to lead the council after its reinstatement.

The last president, Archbishop Fitzgerald, an expert on Islamic affairs, was appointed papal nuncio to Egypt and the Vatican's representative at the Arab League in Cairo.

Our correspondent says the archbishop, a fluent Arabic speaker, is much respected as a negotiator for the Vatican within the Muslim world.

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Sarkozy rejects Turkish EU place

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he will stand firm in his opposition to Turkey being allowed to join the European Union.

"I couldn't have been a candidate for the presidency with one view and then changed it having become president," he said after a European Commission visit.

He said the issue should be debated once the EU reformed its institutions.

Mr Sarkozy said a simplified treaty was the only way forward to replace the stalled EU constitution.

'Way out'

"I do not see the use of raising the issue of Turkey since it is not being discussed now. We have enough to cope with," Mr Sarkozy said after meeting European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels.

The French president said that instead his priority was to clinch an agreement on a reform treaty at next month's EU summit in Brussels.

"We need to move forward and a simplified treaty is the way forward.

"Europe cannot remain at a standstill, we cannot remain in this relative paralysis... we have to find a way out of this impasse," Mr Sarkozy said.

In his turn, Mr Barroso said he was counting on France to provide fresh dynamism in Europe, and that a consensus was now emerging within the EU in support of a slimmed-down treaty.

Voters in France and the Netherlands rejected a proposed constitution at referenda two years ago, leading to the current deadlock.

The constitution needs the backing of all 27 nations of the EU.

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Italy row over Church abuse film

An Italian politician has sparked a furore by urging state broadcaster Rai to block the transmission of a controversial BBC documentary.

The programme, aired in the UK in October, investigates the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church.

Italian journalist Michele Santoro has asked to purchase the rights to the film to broadcast it on his talk show.

But Mario Landolfi, who heads Rai's parliamentary oversight committee, has asked Rai to prevent its transmission.

The programme, Sex Crimes and the Vatican, has been Google Italia's most popular online video choice since a version with translated subtitles was put online.

The Catholic newspaper Avvenire says that the bloggers who posted the documentary online have committed "wicked slander".

'Preventative censorship'

Mr Landolfi, of the right-leaning Alleanza Nazionale party, said the programme should not be screened "to avoid public service television becoming a media execution squad ready to open fire on the Church and the Pope".

His intervention has drawn the wrath of other politicians who attacked his attempts at what they called "preventative censorship".

"Neither the oversight committee nor individual politicians have the right to ask for a preventive censorship of any journalists or topic," said lawmaker Giuseppe Giulietti.

Mr Santoro, a left-leaning journalist, wants to air the documentary as the centre-piece of his discussion programme, "Year Zero".

The investigation examines a secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church.

Crimen Sollicitationis, it says, is a Latin document penned in 1962 and imposing an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses.

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Romania president survives vote

Romanians have overwhelmingly voted against impeaching suspended President Traian Basescu, preliminary official results have shown.

Mr Basescu was accused of violating the constitution and was suspended by parliament on 19 April.

He has been locked in a long-running power struggle with his former ally, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

Data collected from 92% of polling stations showed 74% of people voted against impeaching the president.

Turnout was about 44%.

Despite the result, a major debate is likely on the future division of powers between parliament and president, says the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Bucharest.

The president will still be facing his opponents in parliament, who also control the government. The president has called for them to resign, but legally he cannot force them to go, our correspondent says.

The voters had to decide between conflicting views of Mr Basescu - as a threat to democracy or a political hero pushing for renewal and good governance.

'Vote for justice'

Prime Minister Tariceanu, speaking after exit polls on Saturday evening, said the low turnout meant it was a victory without glory for the president.

There were more than 18 million eligible voters, including two million Romanians living abroad.

"I voted for our own good, for justice," Iuliana, 70, a pensioner in Timisoara told the BBC. "Why shouldn't Traian Basescu be president? We voted for him once and now we elect him a second time."

The opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP), who initiated the impeachment process, describe Mr Basescu as dictatorial and corrupt, a failure who has never lived up to his constitutional duties.

"I voted for the chance of a new beginning for all those who don't want scandal and chaos and who want to live in... a democratic Europe," said SDP head Mircea Geoana.

The president says his enemies are desperate to stop his anti-corruption drive, which has rattled what he calls "the economic mafia".

Some analysts say only a general election could calm the situation, but the next poll is more than 18 months away.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu warned that Europe's patience with Romania had a limit and that after the referendum, politicians should stop fighting and get back to work.

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Sarkozy brings socialist to team

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has named socialist human rights campaigner Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister in a leaner, broad-based cabine

The Socialist Party immediately moved to distance itself from Mr Kouchner, saying he was no longer a member.

The new president fulfilled a pledge to improve the gender imbalance in French politics by appointing seven women.

Cabinet positions have been halved and some portfolios expanded, with Alain Juppe handling environment and energy.

The former French prime minister will also be in charge of transport and sustainable development as part of a new super-ministry.

Government of 'all talents'

The slimmer cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Francois Fillon, is part of Mr Sarkozy's plan to cut costs and make the French government more efficient.

The reduced number led to fierce competition for cabinet jobs.

Mr Kouchner is best-known for having founded the aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

The appointment of Mr Kouchner, who has also served in a socialist government, to a centre-right cabinet follows Mr Sarkozy's call for a "government of all the talents".

The decision sparked anger among his former colleagues with Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande quoted by AFP news agency as saying that Mr Kouchner was no longer a member of the party.

But Mr Kouchner's pro-American line should fit in well with Mr Sarkozy's thinking, the BBC's Caroline Wyatt reports.

He was one of the few French politicians to support the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, on the grounds that it would topple Saddam Hussein.

Former Social Cohesion Minister Jean-Louis Borloo will manage the economy and employment in Prime Minister Fillon's team.

Mr Borloo faces the tough job of reducing France's high unemployment rate of 8.3% and pushing through tax cuts and labour market reforms, in line with Mr Sarkozy's promise of a "rupture" with the past.

Former Prime Minister Mr Juppe's return to office is a dramatic comeback for the senior Chirac ally who was given a suspended jail sentence for his role in a Paris city hall funding scandal.

As minister of state he is now the number two in the cabinet.

Women prominent

France will now have its first ethnic minority figure in a senior cabinet post, with Rachida Dati named as justice minister. She was Mr Sarkozy's campaign spokeswoman and has strongly backed his ideas on affirmative action to counter racial discrimination in the jobs market.

Former Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie goes to the interior ministry. She was a loyal follower of Mr Chirac and was the first woman to lead the governing UMP's right-wing predecessor, the Gaullist RPR party.

Former Trade Minister Christine Lagarde is going to agriculture - a key job, with world trade discussions going on and EU farming subsidies up for debate again soon.

The other women appointed include Culture Minister Christine Albanel, Health and Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot and Higher Education Minister Valerie Pecresse.

Defence has gone to centrist MP Herve Morin, who heads the UDF party in parliament.

The new Ministry of Immigration and National Identity will be headed by Mr Sarkozy's long-time friend and ally, Brice Hortefeux.

As if to prove this will be a more dynamic government, determined to act quickly, the first cabinet meeting is scheduled for Friday afternoon - after Mr Sarkozy has been to visit workers and trades unions at the troubled Airbus factory in Toulouse, our correspondent says.

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Rows overshadow EU-Russia talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting EU leaders in southern Russia amid tension between the two sides.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the union's rotating presidency, is leading the EU team at the summit in the city of Samara.

She warned that it would yield no concrete results, but said talks might get to the bottom of disagreements.

Disputes have arisen over the status of Kosovo, energy supplies, trade, and ties between Russia and Estonia.

An EU official attending the talks told the BBC that the tension was palpable.

And in a separate development, Moscow police prevented former world chess champion Garry Kasparov and other opposition leaders from flying to Samara to attend a protest rally near the summit.

Veto

Initially the main summit issue was the security of Europe's energy supplies - much of which come from Russia.

But the BBC's Richard Galpin, who is in Samara, says there are now sharp differences over the future status of Kosovo, on how to resolve a trade dispute with Poland and over Estonia's treatment of ethnic Russians.

Ms Merkel, who had dinner with Mr Putin on Thursday, said: "It is better to talk with each other than about each other."

She added: "There are no direct results that can be expected but we will get clues about the reasons for our different opinions."

In a break with previous practice, no joint declaration has been prepared.

Nor will the two sides be able to begin delayed talks on a new strategic partnership agreement, because of a veto imposed by Poland, now supported by Lithuania.

Human rights record

The veto follows Russia's decision last year to block meat imports from Poland over apparent food safety issues.

The EU has also said it could withhold final approval of Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization until trade tariff problems are resolved.

A major factor in the deterioration of relations has been Estonia's removal last month of a World War II monument to Red Army soldiers in central Tallinn.

The event sparked unrest by ethnic Russians in Estonia, and a blockade of the Estonian embassy in Moscow.

More recently, EU leaders have expressed alarm about Russian threats to veto a UN Security Council resolution proposing Kosovo's independence from Serbia.

Russia's record on human rights is also an issue at the summit.

A protest by opposition groups has been allowed to go ahead in Samara, but leaders, including Mr Kasparov, had their passports and tickets removed by police as they tried to board a plane at Moscow airport. Several foreign journalists were also reportedly prevented from travelling.

Organisers said they were not expecting more than 1,000 people to attend, and a demonstration by pro-Kremlin groups will go ahead simultaneously.

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Sarkozy Sworn In As New French President

(CBS/AP) Nicolas Sarkozy took office as the new president of France on Wednesday, waving farewell to outgoing leader Jacques Chirac and promising to move quickly and boldly to equip the nation for a new era.

Chirac, ending 12 years in power, transferred the country's nuclear codes to President Sarkozy in a behind-closed-doors meeting that was a highpoint of the transfer of power.

A 21-gun salute signaled the change in leadership after the 74-year-old Chirac took his leave with a handshake at the entrance of the ornate Elysee Palace and a walk alone to a waiting car. Sarkozy, with a clenched jaw, returned the waves before turning to enter his new home for the next five years.

The blunt-talking, pro-market Sarkozy, 52 — the sixth president of the Fifth Republic that was founded by Charles de Gaulle in 1958 — was elected on May 6 on pledges of market reforms and a break with the past.

In his first speech as president, a determined Sarkozy noted that he was elected with a mandate for change that he was honor-bound to fulfill.

"The people conferred a mandate on me .... I will scrupulously fulfill it," he said, adding that further delays "will be fatal."

Chirac handed over the helm of the world's sixth-largest economy after two mandates marked by lackluster reforms and tensions in rundown, immigrant-packed housing projects far from the glory of the Elysee Palace.

Issues demanding attention include a jobless rate of more than 8 percent and the identity and cohesion of an old nation in a quickly changing world.

"Never has opposition to change been so dangerous for France," Sarkozy said, promising to restore the values of "work, effort, merit" and to invent new solutions.

Sarkozy said that issues of security, order, authority and results would be priorities of his administration.

Even before taking office, Sarkozy sought to set himself apart from Chirac, holding surprising preinaugural meetings with labor unions and some leading Socialists.

Sarkozy is expected to appoint a fellow conservative, four-time former minister Francois Fillon, as prime minister in the coming days.

The popular Bernard Kouchner, a former Socialist health minister and founder of the Nobel-prize winning organization Doctors Without Borders, is among those being considered for the post of foreign minister.

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Chirac bids farewell urging unity

French President Jacques Chirac has bid farewell to the nation he has led for more than a decade, in a televised address to the country.

Mr Chirac, whose political career spanned four decades, said he was "proud of a duty well accomplished".

He expressed "great confidence in the future of France" and wished his successor - his rival Nicolas Sarkozy - best wishes for his new role.

The 74-year-old will formally hand over power to Mr Sarkozy on Wednesday.

Mr Chirac urged his compatriots to "always stand united" in what analysts said recalled one of the low points of his tenure - the 2005 race riots that spread from Paris to other major cities.

"A nation is a family. This link that unites us is our most precious asset," he said.

'Generous nation'

The outgoing president said he was convinced France would remain at the forefront of European affairs.

"France will show itself to be an exemplary nation, a nation which drives the building of Europe, a generous nation," he said in his final address from the Elysee Palace.

He said the three key challenges faced by the world were peace, development and the environment and pledged to use his influence to ensure these remain at the top of the political agenda.

"I will continue in my struggles," he said, "I will contribute my experience to make specific projects progress - both in France and beyond."

Mr Chirac plans to establish a foundation devoted to saving the environment and promoting cross-cultural dialogue.

The foundation, which is to bear his name, will be launched this autumn as part of Mr Chirac's pledge to serve France "in a different manner".

Run on private funds, it will resemble that set up by former US President Bill Clinton.

Corruption allegations

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Chirac accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, a move which clears the way for Nicolas Sarkozy to nominate a new government later this week.

The next French prime minister is widely expected to be moderate conservative Francois Fillon, who could take office as early as Thursday morning.

Mr Chirac will leave the Elysee for good on Wednesday after a ceremony transferring power to Mr Sarkozy at 1100 (0900 GMT). He will also hand over the launch codes of France's nuclear arsenal.

After stepping down, Mr Chirac will be given an office paid for by the state and a pension of 19,000 euros ($26,000) per month.

As a former head of state, he will also become a member of France's highest constitutional authority, the Constitutional Council.

The president's retirement may be overshadowed, however, by the prospect of being questioned by a judge investigating an illegal party-funding scheme dating back to his 18 years as mayor of Paris.

Under French law, Mr Chirac's presidential immunity will expire on 16 June, one month after he leaves office.

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Sealed Nazi Archives To Be Released

(AP) Copies of documents from a secretive Nazi archive, locked away in a quiet German town for more than 50 years, will be released to Holocaust institutions within a few months under an agreement reached Tuesday.

The documents will give historians an intimate view of the systematic slaughter of millions during the Holocaust, and will let survivors and victims' families search for their own histories, as recorded by their tormentors.

The 11-nation governing body of the International Tracing Service, which runs the archive in Bad Arolsen, Germany, voted to sidestep legal obstacles and begin distributing electronic copies of the documents to member states as soon as they are ready.

The archive contains Nazi records on the arrest, transportation, incarceration, forced labor and deaths of millions of people from the year the Nazis built their first concentration camp in 1933 to the end of the war in May 1945. It also has a vast collection of postwar records from displaced persons camps.

The name index refers to 17.5 million victims, and the documents fill 16 miles of shelves.

Until now, the files have been used to track missing people, reunite families and validate restitution claims. The Tracing Service is an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The decision to release the copies circumvents the requirement to withhold them until all 11 countries ratify 2006 treaty amendments that enabled the unsealing of the archive. It was likely to speed up the distribution of the documents by several months.

Institutions that receive the documents can organize the electronic files and integrate them into their own archival systems, but they are prohibited from allowing access to researchers until the ratification process is complete, said archive director Reto Meister.

Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, which sent a representative to the meeting, welcomed the decision. "I am delighted to see this project moving forward," said the memorial's director Avner Shalev.

"This was a huge hurdle for many people" on the commission, said J. Christian Kennedy, the State Department's special envoy for Holocaust issues. He said the U.S. government would work to ensure the final four countries ratify the accord quickly.

Those countries �EItaly, Greece, Luxembourg and France �Ehave all pledged to endorse the agreement by the fall, Meister said. The United States, Israel, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Germany have already finished the legal process.

Meister said the first 10 million pages, about one-fifth of the documents, will be ready for transfer to the countries by early September, with another huge batch following in November.

The United States, France and Germany pledged to donate more than $700,000 to offset costs for preparing and transmitting the papers, Kennedy said, just short of the amount needed.

Seized by the Allies from concentration camps and Nazi offices after the war, the files were closed under a 1955 agreement to protect the privacy of survivors and the reputation of the dead who may have undergone humiliating medical experiments or been falsely accused of crimes.

Few people were allowed to see the actual papers. Since 1955, the archive has received more than 11 million requests for information, but it often responded with form letters giving minimal information. Sometimes, copies of documents were given to families.

Meister, a Swiss diplomat who took over as head of the Tracing Service earlier this year, said that approach is changing.

"People have the right to see their files. It's their files. They may be written by the Gestapo. Ultimately, this is the property of the person whose name appears there. Somebody who visits us gets the original to see, to touch, to receive a copy," Meister said.

Last year's amendments to the 1955 accords, reached after years of negotiations and resistance by several members, stipulated that some privacy guarantees remain.

A single copy of the documents would be available for inclusion in the 11 member states' archives, but each government was expected to take into account "the sensitivity of certain information" the files may contain, the new agreement said.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem already have already asked for copies. France also has expressed an interest.

Earlier at the meeting, delegates agreed to declassify all correspondence with the Tracing Service dating back more than 25 years. The correspondence covers requests and responses for information by individuals and governments, including requests by the U.S. Department of Justice for the files of former Nazis suspected of visa fraud when they immigrated.

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'Pro-family' groups rally in Rome

Hundreds of thousands of "pro-family" protesters have gathered in the Italian capital to protest against laws giving more rights to homosexual couples.

The proposed law would allow all unmarried couples greater rights in areas such as inheritance, but stops short of legalising gay marriage.

Hundreds of activists attended a counter-demonstration supporting the law nearby, in Rome's Piazza Navona.

The divisive issue is causing problems for Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Catholics and Communists from Mr Prodi's coalition attended both rallies, magnifying the same divides that brought down his government in February, says the BBC's Christian Fraser.

'Test of commitment'

People from around the country gathered amid a carnival-like atmosphere for Italy's first "Family Day" rally, at Rome's St John Lateran square.

Music, clowns and games kept children entertained, while older demonstrators listened to speeches by Catholic officials.

"Living together is not family," protester Anna Manara, 58, told Associated Press news agency.

"A commitment such as marriage cements the bond, while other models make it easier to be together and therefore end up making it less valuable."

Reports say between 500,000 and 1.5 million protesters turned out.

The demonstration had the backing of the Vatican and Italy's Catholic bishops, although neither was involved in organising the protest.

At the counter-demonstration across town, Italy's Minister of International Trade and European Affairs, Emma Bonino, condemned the Vatican's interference in domestic politics.

"The Pope is just stepping in politics every single day," she said.

"You are not in a position to open the news, any evening at all, without a speech from the Pope, be it on Turkey, be it on whatever."

Franco Grillini, president of Italy's main gay rights group, Arcigay, said the country was "scared of diversity".

Yet Mr Grillini said he welcomed the Family Day rally.

"It will be a big protest against us, and that is the best advertisement we could ever have."

Missing out

About 500,000 unmarried Italian couples are without shared rights or benefits.

They miss out on social benefits, property or inheritance, a situation that is now at odds with many countries in Europe.

When Mr Prodi came to power last year he promised his supporters that the government would bring in new laws to protect cohabiting couples.

But with only a razor-thin majority in the Senate, Mr Prodi needs the full support of all sides of his coalition, our correspondent says.

Recent polls showed that most Catholics in Italy are in favour of changes to the legislation despite Church opposition.

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Scholar defends Pope Pius' record

A senior Catholic scholar has defended the Vatican's decision to put Pope Pius XII, who led the Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958, on the road to sainthood. Pope Pius has long been accused by Jewish groups and scholars of turning a blind eye to the fate of the Jews.

A Vatican commission of cardinals and bishops unanimously voted this week for him to be considered for beatification. Professor Peter Gumpel said there was no truth in any of the allegations raised about the late Pope.

He said that, as far as he was concerned, the objections that had been raised over the years had now been researched and discounted.

"The case against Pius has been studied at length and in detail by many serious and independent scholars," said Professor Gumpel, a German Jesuit who contributed to the commission's work.

"I would not have signed the research papers that we put forward to the commission if I believed there was any truth behind the objections or allegations that were raised."

Criticism

The commission, called the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, has considered the case of Pope Pius for more than three months.

The cardinals and bishops - from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Japan and the US - poured over six volumes of work comprising more than 3,000 pages and hundreds of documents.

The file was compiled by a number of scholars and historians, of all nationalities, who have investigated many of the criticisms that have been levelled against the wartime Pope.

Pope Pius abstained from signing the Allied Declaration condemning the extermination of the Jews.

There have also been many objections to his case for beatification, fuelled over the years by the publication of several books that claimed the Pope cared more about securing a concordat with Nazi Germany than he did about saving Jewish lives.

Critics have included John Cornwell, author of Hitler's Pope, and Daniel Goldhagen, who wrote A Moral Reckoning.

Hurdles

The Vatican has always contended that the wartime Pope led quiet diplomacy that saved the lives of thousands of Jews.

With the opening of the Vatican's pre-war archives to scholars in February, Professor Gumpel says researchers will soon have access to new evidence that proves Pius actually helped the Jews.

With the investigation now complete, Pope Pius XII has overcome one of the biggest hurdles on the path to sainthood.

Pope Benedict must still sign the decree and Pope Pius XII must still be credited with one miracle before he can be beatified - and another before he will become a saint.

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Pope arrives in Brazil for visit

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo for a five-day visit to the world's most populous Roman Catholic nation.

It is his first visit to Latin America since becoming Pope in April 2005.

He is to perform a series of open air Masses before travelling to Aparecida for the focus of the visit, a major conference of Latin American bishops.

There he is expected to touch on the growing challenge the Catholic Church faces from evangelical groups.

Talking to journalists on the flight, the Pope said his main concern in the region was the loss of millions of disaffected Roman Catholics to evangelical churches.

According to a recent study, some 64% of Brazilians are Catholic, but this number represents a 10% fall compared to 10 years ago and contrasts with an upsurge in converts to evangelical churches.

The issue of abortion is also expected to feature, amid dismay within the Catholic Church at Mexico City's move to legalise it.

'Peace to all of you'

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greeted Pope Benedict as his plane touched down at Sao Paulo's international airport.

"I extend my greetings to all the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in the words of the Apostle: 'Peace to all of you who are in Christ'," the Pope said, speaking in Portuguese.

Crowds waited in the rain to catch a glimpse of the pontiff, who later went to a monastery where he will stay during the visit.

At the monastery, the faithful chanted "Bento, Bento" as he arrived and waved flags as he blessed them.

On Thursday, he is to address a youth gathering in the city's Pacaembu stadium and on Friday canonize Brother Antonio Galvao, Brazil's first native-born saint, during a public Mass.

Then on Sunday, Pope Benedict is to open the bishops' conference, the first such meeting for 15 years.

The two-week forum will bring together almost 200 bishops and cardinals from across Latin American and the Caribbean to set out the Church's agenda and policies in the region for the coming years.

Abortion debate

The conference comes only weeks after Mexico City's decision on abortion.

Talking to journalists on the plane, Pope Benedict appeared to back Mexico City church officials who said that politicians who supported the law and medical workers who performed abortions would be excommunicated.

A Vatican spokesman later clarified the issue, saying the Pope did not intend to excommunicate anyone.

However, Father Federico Lombardi said that "legislative action in favour of abortion is incompatible with participation in the Eucharist" and therefore "politicians exclude themselves from Communion".

The subject is also up for debate in Brazil. The health minister has recently said he would like to see discussion on abortion - currently permitted only in limited circumstances - a suggestion that has already prompted a vigorous response from senior clergy.

Warm welcome

President Lula has already made it clear that he regards the question more as a matter of public health than a moral choice.

But our Vatican correspondent, David Willey, who is travelling with the Pope, says that the Church is reluctant for even a similar public discussion on the issue in Brazil.

The Pope said it was the issue of Catholics choosing to join evangelical churches that was "our biggest worry". "We need to find a convincing response," he said.

Pope Benedict is sure of a warm welcome from the Catholic faithful in Brazil, says the BBC's Simon Watts.

But his problems is that both he and the local Catholic hierarchy are more conservative than most Brazilians.

To the converts, the evangelicals offer the chance of redemption now, rather than in the after-life, as well as a social network and help with problems like drink or drugs.

In contrast, Catholic rituals can seem stuffy and out-of-touch with day-to-day reality for most Brazilians, our correspondent adds.

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KLM accused of helping Nazis flee

The Dutch airline KLM is facing calls for an inquiry into reports that it helped Nazi war criminals escape to Argentina after World War II.

According to papers found by Dutch journalists, KLM asked Switzerland to let Germans cross its borders and fly to South America without proper papers.

Suspected war criminals were forbidden from leaving Germany by the Allies.

KLM acknowledges some of its passengers may have been fleeing justice, but denies it sought to help them escape.

A spokesman for the airline, Bart Koster, told the BBC that it was not responsible for carrying out background checks on passengers who had been allowed to leave by the Allies.

Dutch MPs, historians and Jewish groups have demanded an independent investigation into the reports first aired last week, particularly because a member of the Dutch royal family may have been involved.

Prince Bernhard, the father of Queen Beatrix, was the director of KLM at the time.

Mr Koster said KLM did not want to run away from the allegations and was willing to co-operate with any inquiry.

"We would welcome everything which could help clarify what may have happened," he said.

Royal controversy

According to documents found in Switzerland by Dutch TV documentary-makers, a local representative for KLM, Mr Frick, asked the Swiss border police in 1948 to allow his airline's passengers from Germany to enter the country without the proper papers so they could fly to Argentina.

Sander Rietveld from the Netwerk programme said that although the memo from the border police about Mr Frick's visit showed his request had been refused, many Germans were allowed to enter Switzerland without permission.

"The point is that it shows KLM actively approached the Swiss police," he told The Times.

Marc Dierikx, an aviation historian at the Institute for Netherlands History, said other documents showed that many Germans had paid large sums of money to leave the country and that KLM was "intensively involved".

Mr Koster said KLM had no record of a former employee called Mr Frick in its archives, nor evidence that its board had known anything about the allegations.

"We have no information whatsoever that our board was actively involved," he said.

"However, it cannot be excluded that KLM representatives were not involved at a local level."

Experts say more research is needed in Europe and Argentina, because no passenger lists for KLM flights have been kept.

Argentina was notorious for welcoming war criminals into the country when President Juan Peron was in power between 1945 and 1955.

More than 150 Nazis were given refuge - among them Adolf Eichmann, who is considered to have been the chief architect of the Holocaust.

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Sarkozy's Message: I Won't Be A Poodle

(CBS/AP) To the world, President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy sends this message: France is back.

Sarkozy said in his victory speech that his France will stand up against tyranny, dictators and fundamentalist Muslim oppression of women.

Maybe the most significant result from this side of the Atlantic is that Sarkozy promises to be a lot more friendly toward Washington than outgoing president Jacques Chirac, who forcefully opposed the Iraq War, and who looked to build a European counterweight to U.S. influence, reports CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield.

But Sarkozy, in his victory speech, pointedly noted that the United States must do more about global warming.

By urging the United States to take the lead on fighting global warming, Sarkozy also signaled that an invigorated friendship with Washington would not mean subservience. His speech Sunday provided comfort to a populace worried that France's global voice is fading.

"The message was, 'Don't take me for granted,"' said Francois Heisbourg, a leading expert on French strategic and foreign policy. "This was wise in terms of domestic policies but also in terms of the overall relationship. He was saying, 'I'm not going to be a poodle."'

Sarkozy has won the label "Sarko the American" for openly admiring the get-up-and-go spirit in the United States, and indicated that he would toe a less-accommodating line toward the Arab world than his predecessors �Ewhose close ties to the Middle East were rooted in France's past as a colonial power in the region.

Overall, though, his campaign gave short shrift to foreign policy, and his limited international experience has left many wondering how he will steer France in global affairs.

Sarkozy sought to quell that uncertainty in a speech barely 30 minutes after his electoral triumph.

France, he said, will stand alongside "all those persecuted by tyranny, by dictatorships." He reached out to "all those in the world who believe in the values of tolerance, freedom, democracy and humanism."

"France will not abandon women who are condemned to the burqa," the full head-and-body covering worn by women in Afghanistan and some Muslim women in Britain and elsewhere, he said. He did not elaborate on how that would translate into policy.

Sarkozy was a member of the government that instituted a law banning head scarves and other "ostentatious" religious apparel in classrooms.

In his speech, he appealed for all warring parties in the Middle East to "overcome hate."

"France will be at the side of the world's oppressed," he went on. "That is the message of France, that is the identity of France, that is the history of France."

While some of the language was reminiscent of Chirac �Ea fellow conservative and one-time Sarkozy mentor �Ethe message itself was new.

"This is a new generation," Heisbourg said. "It is a clear change. It is values rather than interests. He talked about what the Americans would call 'democracy promotion.'"

Chirac, too, spoke often of tolerance �Ebut critics said that meant tolerating African dictators with whom France harbored longtime ties, and turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in Russia and China. Though he cajoled the Western community into intervening in Bosnia in 1995, Chirac later spoke more of cultural understanding than exporting Western values.

Both Chirac and Sarkozy say the U.S.-led war in Iraq was a mistake, and the president-elect has called for a deadline for a U.S. pullout. But Sarkozy has not let that dampen his enthusiasm for the trans-Atlantic relationship: He eagerly met with President Bush in September, drawing criticism from a populace that has had a complex and sometimes bumpy relationship with the United States.

He has also indicated that he would oppose war against Iran, although analysts predict he will stake out a tough stance in the coming weeks in international efforts to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The most obvious shift is likely to be felt in the Arab and broader Muslim worlds. Sarkozy has reached out to France's 5 million Muslims, but he also has been more open to Israel than Chirac; his support among French Jews was very strong.

"He has abandoned whatever remained of France's Arab policy," said Olivier Roy, a specialist on Islam at the National Center for Scientific Research. "It will mean less activism in the Arab world. He has chosen a position like the American neo-conservative position."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed confidence that Israeli-French relations would improve after years of acrimony.

In Algeria, observers braced for possible tensions with Sarkozy. Algerian daily El Watan turned his speech on its head, saying Monday: "The strong image of a humanist and democratic France will suffer a terrible blow with Nicolas Sarkozy."

Roy said Sarkozy's burqa message was aimed as much at a domestic audience as a foreign one. "It was a statement against fundamentalism," he said. It also came, he noted, as France is negotiating for the release of a French aid worker held hostage for more than a month by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Sarkozy's initial foreign policy focus, however, is likely to stay closer to home, in aiming to mend a frayed European Union.

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Nicolas Sarkozy Wins French Election

(AP) Nicolas Sarkozy, a blunt and uncompromising pro-American conservative, was elected president of France Sunday with a mandate to chart a new course for an economically sluggish nation struggling to incorporate immigrants and their children.

Sarkozy defeated Socialist Segolene Royal by 53-47 percent with 85 percent turnout, according to near-total results. It was a decisive victory for Sarkozy's vision of freer markets and toughness on crime and immigration, over Royal's gentler plan for preserving cherished welfare protections, including a 35-hour work week that Sarkozy called "absurd."

"The people of France have chosen change," Sarkozy told cheering supporters in a victory speech that sketched out a stronger global role for France and renewed partnership with the United States.

There were few reports of unrest, despite fears that the impoverished suburban housing projects, home to Arab and African immigrants and their French-born children, would erupt again at the victory of a man who labeled those responsible for rioting in 2005 as "scum." That abrasive style raised doubts over whether Sarkozy, himself the son of a Hungarian refugee, could truly unite the increasingly diverse and polarized nation.

Sarkozy pledged in his victory speech to be president "of all the French, without exception." But that task will not be easy. The 52-year-old former interior minister inherits a nation losing faith in itself, paralyzed by worries over globalization, bitter at American dominance and saddled with social tensions.

Late Sunday, small bands of youths hurled stones and other objects at police at the Place de la Bastille in Paris, who fired volleys of tear gas.

For all his determination and talk of change, Sarkozy also is certain to face resistance from powerful unions to his plans to make the French work more and make it easier for companies to hire and fire.

"Like Thatcher in Britain, like Reagan in the United States, Sarkozy will change things," said supporter Thierry Gauvert, 55.

The White House said President Bush had called to congratulate Sarkozy, who is largely untested in foreign policy but reached out to the United States in his victory speech, an indication of his desire to break from the trans-Atlantic tension of the Chirac era.

Sarkozy also made it clear that France would remain an independent voice.

The United States, he declared, can "count on our friendship," but he added that "friendship means accepting that friends can have different opinions."

He urged the United States to take the lead on climate change and said the issue would be a priority for France.

"A great nation, like the United States, has a duty not to block the battle against global warming but �Eon the contrary �Eto take the lead in this battle, because the fate of the whole of humanity is at stake," Sarkozy said.

In some European capitals, Sarkozy's victory inspired hope that he might lend a decisive hand to efforts to salvage the European Union's hopes of greater integration, largely on ice since French and Dutch voters rejected a proposed EU constitution in 2005.

Royal's program seemed more in line with the policies pursued under the outgoing Jacques Chirac �Ewho is from Sarkozy's own party, the Union for a Popular Movement. Chirac, 74, held the presidency for 12 years but failed repeatedly to push through reforms.

The handover of power ushers in a president from a new generation, who has no memory of World War II and waged the country's first high-octane Internet campaign.

Royal, an unmarried mother of four, would have been France's first female president. Her defeat could throw her party into disarray, with splits between those who say it must remain firm to its leftist traditions and others who want a shift to the political center like socialist parties elsewhere in Europe.

Conceding minutes after polls closed, Royal said her campaign had launched a "profound renewal of political life, of its methods and of the left ... What we tried to do for France will bear fruit, I am sure."

Cracks immediately started appearing in the Socialist Party, which now must try to regroup ahead of June legislative elections that Sarkozy's party must win to give him the majority he needs to reform.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist former finance minister, noted that it was his party's third consecutive defeat in presidential elections.

"The left has never been so weak, because the French left has still not renewed itself," he said.

Sarkozy �Efor whom the presidency has been a near-lifelong quest will formally take over Chirac on the very last day of his term, May 16. Sarkozy aide Francois Fillon, a favorite to be the prime minister, said that for a few days from Monday, Sarkozy plans "to withdraw to somewhere in France to decompress a little" and to prepare his government team.

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French rivals hold final rallies

The two candidates in France's presidential election have held their final campaign rallies before Sunday's run-off vote.

The rallies, at opposition ends of the country, attracted thousands of people.

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, in the southern city of Montpellier, promised to unify the nation, re-invigorate the economy and restore full employment.

Socialist Segolene Royal, in the northern city of Lille, called for help to build a new France.

Frontrunner Mr Sarkozy, from the ruling UMP party, addressed about 15,000 supporters who braved driving rain and storms to attend his rally in Montpellier.

He spoke of his love for France, saying he had come to think of the country almost as a person.

He appealed for help to "create the conditions for a French rebirth", saying the nation had two days for "a new energy to rise out of the country's depths".

Mr Sarkozy, 52, also addressed his most controversial previous statements, saying he did not regret using the word "rabble" to describe delinquents from Paris' poorest suburbs, nor did he regret speaking about cleaning housing estates "with a pressure hose".

Ms Royal, 53, was greeted by 25,000 supporters under sunny skies in France's traditional socialist heartland of Lille.

She urged voters to make the "audacious choice" to elect her France's first woman president.

She too called for a French rebirth, but said she offered a safe choice for those wanting "a protecting France, a fraternal France, a competitive France".

"We do not want to appeal to people's dark side, but to the light and hope inside them," she said.

But these rallies may not make much difference, says the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Montpellier, because 90% of voters have already made up their minds.

Race to the centre

Both candidates claimed victory in a fiery TV debate on Wednesday evening, their only face-off ahead of Sunday's run-off election.

They clashed over employment, the economy and law and order.

The debate was watched by an estimated 23 million people, about half of the electorate, but neither candidate was thought to have landed a decisive blow, analysts say.

The Opinionway poll, which was conducted after the debate on Wednesday night, was based on the views of some 900 internet users who watched it.

Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal are vying for votes from the 18% of voters who backed centrist Francois Bayrou in the first round of the election.

Mr Bayrou, who has been strongly critical of Mr Sarkozy, said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper following Wednesday's debate: "I will not vote for Sarkozy."

He said the conservative candidate "could further rip France's social fabric apart", but did not say whether he would back the socialist challenger or abstain.

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Le Pen calls on voters to abstain

French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has urged supporters not to vote in Sunday's presidential run-off between Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal.

Mr Le Pen said that neither candidate deserved support from the voters who backed him in first round polling.

The veteran lawmaker came fourth in the 22 April vote, with 10.4% of the vote.

Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal are now working to secure votes from people who backed him and the third-placed candidate, centrist Francois Bayrou.

Mr Le Pen gave his instructions at his National Front party's May Day parade.

"I call on voters who have shown their confidence in me to cast their vote neither for Madame Royal nor for Mr Sarkozy and to abstain en masse," he said.

Socialist 'danger'

Despite Mr Le Pen's instructions, analysts believe that a large majority of his supporters will plump for the centre-right candidate, Mr Sarkozy, who has set out a tough stance on immigration and crime.

Mr Le Pen accuses Mr Sarkozy of poaching his voters, but he told the crowd that this was no reason to vote for the Socialist candidate, Ms Royal.

"It would be illusory and dangerous to vote for the Socialist candidate to get revenge for the hold-up carried out on our programme by Nicolas Sarkozy," he said.

He told his supporters to save their votes for legislative elections in June instead.

Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal, meanwhile, are also battling for the centre ground and the support of the 18.6% of voters who backed Mr Bayrou.

Mr Sarkozy is thought to be in the lead ahead of a highly-anticipated two-hour televised debate between the two rivals on Wednesday.

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US and EU agree 'single market'

The United States and the European Union have signed up to a new transatlantic economic partnership at a summit in Washington.

The pact is designed to boost trade and investment by harmonising regulatory standards, laying the basis for a US-EU single market.

The two sides also signed an Open Skies deal, designed to reduce fares and boost traffic on transatlantic flights.

But little of substance was agreed on climate change.

However, EU leaders were pleased the US acknowledged human activity was a major cause.

Richest regions

Economics rather than the environment or politics was the focus of the summit, says the BBC's Europe correspondent, Jonny Dymond, from Washington.

The two sides agreed to set up an "economic council" to push ahead with regulatory convergence in nearly 40 areas, including intellectual property, financial services, business takeovers and the motor industry.

The aim is to increase trade and lower costs.

Some reports suggest that incompatible regulations in the world's two richest regions add 10% to the cost of developing and producing new cars.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said last month that if the US and EU could set business norms today, they would "secure the markets of tomorrow".

She has made repairing damaged relations with the US a top priority, since she came to office 18 months ago.

Emission cuts

The Europeans said they were pleased that the US now officially acknowledges that climate change is happening and that human activity is a major cause of it.

"We agree there's a threat, there's a very serious global threat," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

"We agree that there is a need to reduce emissions. We agree that we should work together."

But behind the scenes, says our Europe correspondent, officials were saying that not much had changed.

Ms Merkel will try to nudge the US towards a global approach to climate change before a G8 summit Germany is chairing in six weeks' time, says our correspondent.

But the US has consistently rejected the European approach of imposing national limits on greenhouse gas emissions, saying they would harm the international economy.

Visa hope

The Open Skies agreement will take effect on 30 March 2008 and will allow EU carriers to fly to anywhere in the US and vice versa.

The deal promises to lower airfares and widen choice for passengers on both sides of the Atlantic.

The EU hopes to go further and create an "Open Aviation Area" between the two sides "in which investment can flow freely and in which European and US airlines can provide air services without any restriction," said a EU statement.

The EU is also hoping that the US will agree to withdraw its visa requirement for travellers from a number of EU states.

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Sarkozy woos Bayrou supporters

French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has held a rally in Paris before thousands of supporters.

He called on those who had backed the defeated centrist candidate, Francois Bayrou, to join him.

Both Mr Sarkozy and his socialist challenger, Segolene Royal, have been battling to win over the voters from the political centre ground.

A week before the decisive round of voting the opinion polls have shown a slight lead for Mr Sarkozy.

After several days dominated by events surrounding Segolene Royal's televised debate with Francois Bayrou, this was Nicolas Sarkozy's chance to regain centre stage.

The indoor stadium was packed with cheering supporters, many more watched on giant screens outside.

Much of his speech was devoted to the themes he has addressed many times on the campaign trial.

He stressed that France would not tolerate violent crime and that the country needed to value work again.

But there were overtures towards the centre ground.

He said the views of Mr Bayrou's supporters would be taken into account and he offered to introduce some proportional representation in parliament.

As the campaign enters its final week the tussle for the centre ground is showing no sign of easing up.

When Segolene Royal was asked whether she would consider making Mr Bayrou her prime minister, she said she ruled nothing out.

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France's Royal in Bayrou debate

French presidential hopeful Segolene Royal and defeated candidate Francois Bayrou have held a televised debate in which they vowed to seek common ground.

But both ruled out working more closely together before the final vote next month, stressing their differences.

The debate, on a cable TV channel, has dominated recent political campaigning.

Another cable channel pulled out of broadcasting it out of fear it would not be allocating airtime fairly to the other contender, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Mr Sarkozy, who takes on Ms Royal in a 6 May run-off, had refused to take part in the three-way debate, prompting Mr Bayrou to accuse him of stifling free speech.

'Slanderous insinuation'

The BBC's Alasdair Sandford in Paris said the debate, which took place in front of hundreds of journalists in a Paris hotel, had dominated political debate in recent days.

Mr Bayrou repeated his stance that he was not going to back either of the candidates.

But there was consensus on some of the issues between the pair.

On institutional and parliamentary reform they agreed power needed to be spread more evenly; on Europe, both said a new treaty should be put to a referendum, our correspondent says.

But Mr Bayrou did not agree with the Socialist candidate's spending plans outlined in her presidential manifesto.

Mr Sarkozy derided the debate, calling it part of Ms Royal's "little games".

Ms Royal and Mr Bayrou had agreed to hold the debate following her call for talks about a possible centre-left alliance.

Who takes Mr Bayrou's 6.8m votes from the first round may well decide who wins the run-off.

When Mr Sarkozy declined to take part, both Ms Royal's Socialists and Mr Bayrou accused him and his supporters of intimidating broadcasters and the industry watchdog to try to stop the debate.

Mr Sarkozy's team strongly denied the allegations, saying they were a "slanderous insinuation".

Mr Sarkozy, who won 31% of the first-round vote, and Ms Royal, who took nearly 26%, will hold their own TV debate on 2 May.

Opinion polls show her closing the gap but still trailing Mr Sarkozy.

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The legacy of Guernica

Josefina Odriozola was a 14-year-old girl shopping in the market with her mother when German and Italian planes supporting the Fascist forces of Gen Franco closed in on the town.

"I remember it well," she says.

"We left everything in the market and went home. We lived just outside the town, but the bombing started and we were there in the main square. Three planes flew in full of bombs and then left empty. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, until everything was burning."

Josefina is one of about 200 people, many in their 80s, who are still alive to describe what they witnessed on that day. Today, it is not the bombing that makes her most angry, but what followed.

"They burnt the city down with their planes and they denied they had done it - they blamed it on the Communists," she says.

"My sister was 13 years older than me and they told her that the Reds had destroyed Guernica. But she said: 'No, the Reds don't have planes.' And they said to her: 'You little Red, we're going cut all your hair off.' Why? Because she was telling the truth. We couldn't even say the truth about the attack."

Historical truth

That same concern with historical truth is on the minds of more and more Spaniards as the country marks the 70th anniversary. Spanish society is becoming more interested in knowing the full story about its recent history, from the Civil War to the death of dictator Gen Franco in 1975.

Jose Ortunez and his Guernica History Association have spent 30 years reconstructing the truth about what happened here in 1937. The forces of Gen Franco blamed the attack on their enemy in the Civil War: the Communist-backed Republican government.

Thanks partly to work by people like Jose, Spaniards know the truth, that the attack from the air was by German and Italian planes supporting General Franco.

Gen Franco wanted to terrorise the people in the Basque region, an area of strong resistance to his nationalist forces in the Civil War. For Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, it was an opportunity to get some practice with a new form of warfare: strategic, aerial bombing of civilians.

No strictly military objectives were touched. Factories and bridges were left alone - civilians were the only targets.

Ironically for a town almost completely destroyed by armed conflict, Guernica, before the Civil War and afterwards, continued to be a major production centre for bombs and automatic pistols.

The figures for the number of casualties in the bombing are still disputed, but most historians think between 200 and 250 people were killed and many hundreds wounded.

Positive message

The attack not only terrorised the people of Guernica. This methodical and well-planned destruction spread fear across Europe on the eve of World War II.

But today, Guernica is sending out a more positive message. Iratxe Astorkia, director of Guernica's Peace Museum, says the permanent exhibition of the museum aims to make the visitor reflect on three things: the nature of peace, what happened in Guernica 70 years ago and what happens nowadays with peace in the world.

The museum and its centre for investigation have converted Guernica into a world centre for peace studies and conflict resolution.

And for many Spaniards, Guernica is symbolic of the renewed interest in unearthing the truth about their own recent past.

"I think Guernica is a good example of not forgetting and trying to go further," says Ms Astorkia.

"More and more young people in Spain want to know about it. They lost their parents, their sisters their brothers and they didn't know much more than that."

Ms Astorkia partly blames the education system for ignorance about this period. Barely a few pages are devoted to Spain's Civil War in official school text books.

An estimated 30,000 people murdered during the Civil War still lie in mass graves. The government is preparing new legislation that will officially honour victims of the Franco regime for the first time.

Keeping the young informed

With survivors and witnesses of the bombing in their 80s, the challenge now is to convey the importance of Guernica to a new generation.

One witness who does a very good job of that, is Luis Iriondo. Seventy years ago, as a 14-year-old boy, Luis ran across Guernica's main square and found refuge from the bombs in a shelter.

Through a doorway is the wine cellar-like room where Luis found safety with dozens of others. He says it was completely dark and there was no ventilation, so after five minutes he could hardly breath.

As the bombs started dropping he says he was terrified and expected to be buried alive.

"This bombardment lasted for three, maybe three and a half hours," he says.

"You could hear the bombs and feel the hot currents of air being forced away by the explosions. I tried to pray.

"Finally it finished, and I didn't really know what had happened, I knew that it was a bombardment and expected houses to be in ruins. But when I left the shelter I could see that everything was on fire."

Incendiary bombs had destroyed three quarters of the town. Luis fled to the hills and remembers looking back and seeing the buildings collapse. He says when he sees images of the twin towers falling down in New York, it reminds him of that day seven decades ago.

Iconic painting

Today, 84-year-old Luis thinks it's more important than ever to remember Guernica and its message:

"War doesn't solve anything," he says. "It just sows the seeds for more war. World War I led to World War II. The attack on Iraq - look where that's led."

Luis is an artist and talks in schools about his experience, encouraging children to paint what happened in Guernica. Back in Madrid, it is the artwork of one of the world's most famous painters that has helped bring Guernica's message to millions of people.

At the Reina Sofia Art Gallery, Pablo Picasso's Guernica is always surrounded by visitors, of all ages, both Spanish and foreign. But it was not always in the gallery.

Picasso would not allow it to return to Spain while the country was a dictatorship. For that reason, says the head of collections at the Reina Sofia, Javier de Blas, many Spaniards associate the work with their country's desire to be free of Gen Franco.

"It was a symbol of this construction of democracy," says Mr De Blas. "The whole world accepted that the country had recovered its political and social liberties in part because Picasso permitted the return of the painting to Spain."

For many, it is also a constant reminder of the truth that the Franco regime preferred to cover up.

"We're in an moment of reflection concerning everything that happened in our recent past," says Mr de Blas. "This painting continues to do transcendental things in order to bring us towards understanding the truth."

After the death of Franco in 1975, there was an agreement between the left and right of politics, not to critically examine the past.

But as the country marks 70 years since the bombing of Guernica, things seem to be changing. Many Spaniards feel that their transition to democracy will not be complete until they take a closer look at their recent history.

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Sarkozy, Royal Reach French Runoff

(AP) Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal advanced to a runoff in Sunday's presidential election, presenting France with a fundamental left-right choice between a conservative who could push his anxious nation toward painful change and a socialist who would be the country's first female leader.

Royal is the first woman to get this close to the helm of this major European economic, military and diplomatic power after a campaign marked by suspense, surprise and unusually dynamic candidates who lured voters to the ballot box in near record numbers.

Sarkozy has the advantage heading into the May 6 runoff. Partial results from the Interior Ministry, based on a count of 30 million votes, or more than 80 percent, had Sarkozy leading with 30 percent, followed by Royal with 25 percent.

Either way, France will get its first president with no memory of World War II to replace the 74-year-old Jacques Chirac, who is stepping down after 12 years to usher in a new generation of candidates.

Sunday's first round of voting shut out 10 other hopefuls, from Trotskyists to far right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. Le Pen had hoped to repeat his shockingly strong showing of 2002 but instead finished a weak fourth.

Both Sarkozy, a Hungarian immigrant's son, and Royal, a military officer's daughter who beat Socialist heavyweights to win her party's nomination, are in their 50s and have traveled long, arduous roads to get to this point.

The winner's task will be tough: France is a troubled nation, still haunted by the riots by young blacks and Arabs in poor neighborhoods in 2005.

Decades of stubbornly high unemployment, increasing competition from economies like China's, and a sense that France is losing influence in the world made this a passionate campaign. Both Royal and Sarkozy have promised to get France back on its feet but offer starkly different paths for doing that.

Sarkozy would loosen labor laws and cut taxes to invigorate the sluggish economy, while Royal would hike government spending and preserve the country's generous worker protections.

Royal, too, champions change but says it must not be brutal.

"I extend my hand to all those women and men who think, as I do, that it is not only possible but urgent to abandon a system that no longer works," she said.

The runoff offers "a clear choice between two very different paths," she said.

Outside Socialist Party headquarters in Paris, supporters reacted to the result with joy, chanting, "We're going to win!"

Sarkozy told cheering supporters Sunday night that by choosing him and Royal, voters "clearly marked their wish to go to the very end of the debate between two ideas of the nation, two programs for society, two value systems, two concepts of politics."

Despite Sarkozy's lead, he faces a powerful "Anything But Sarkozy" push by those who call him too arrogant and explosive to run a nuclear-armed nation. He once called young delinquents "scum," a remark that outraged the residents of poor neighborhoods and has dogged him politically.

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Final rallies in French election

The main candidates in the French presidential election have held their final campaign rallies.>

A new opinion poll indicates that centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy is still leading with 29%, ahead of the Socialist Segolene Royal at 25%.

The BVA poll also showed the centrist candidate Francois Bayrou slipping a few points to 15%.

But at least one-third of voters remain undecided ahead of Sunday's first round. A runoff is expected on 6 May.

Mr Sarkozy appeared before 12,000 cheering supporters packed into a conference hall in Marseille, trying once again to shed the tough image he gained as interior minister.

"To unite the French people, to be able to speak on their behalf, to be able to govern, you must be able to love," he said.

He was joined on stage by footballer Basile Boli and a range of former prime ministers and ministers.

Thumping rock music

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero appeared with Segolene Royal in the south-western city of Toulouse.

To the sound of thumping rock music and the cheers of about 15,000 supporters, she promised a "fairer and stronger" France.

"A France that does not discriminate against a job seeker because he does not have the right skin colour, the right name, the right address. This will be the fight."

Not far away in the town of Pau, Francois Bayrou, leader of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), said rising tensions in France concerned him.

"I want France to be secure and calmed," he said.

Far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, currently polling about 13%, spoke in the party's Riviera stronghold of Nice.

He said a "great national wave will sweep away the oligarchy". He came a surprise second in the 2002 election, beating the Socialist candidate to run against Jacques Chirac in the runoff.

Hard to predict

An editorial in the French daily Le Monde urged voters to send Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal into the second round, saying it was important for two differing "visions of society" to be represented in the runoff.

There are more than one million newly registered voters, the biggest increase in 25 years. Many of them are young people or French living abroad, whose voting intentions are hard to gauge, BBC European affairs correspondent Oana Lungescu reports.

Another novelty is the use of electronic voting machines in some districts, criticised by the Socialists and some other opposition parties as dangerously unreliable. They will be used by 1.5 million voters.

Six out of 10 voters say they trust neither the left nor the right to govern the country, and one in eight is ready to switch allegiance, Oana Lungescu reports.

Ms Royal hopes to become France's first woman president, but left-wing voters are among the most volatile, surveys suggest. She has several rivals on the left who could undermine her support.

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Instructor On Racist Military Video Fired

(AP) The German Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it has dismissed an instructor who told a soldier to imagine hostile blacks in New York's Bronx while firing a machine gun.

The instructor was let go under a provision that permits the immediate dismissal of personnel who violate service obligations, or whose continued service would harm the order or reputation of the military, a ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity, as is customary.

The incident, captured in footage posted on the Internet, led the Bronx borough president to call for discipline against those responsible.

The clip shows an instructor and a soldier dressed in camouflage in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, "You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. ... Act."

The soldier fires his machine gun and yells an obscenity several times in English between bursts. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.

The Defense Ministry on Monday described the incident as "completely unacceptable" but said an investigation could take several weeks.

The instructor, whom authorities have not named, has admitted being the person in the video, the ministry said. The soldier who made the video is also being investigated.

In New York, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. demanded an apology.

"The German government obviously has work to do to correct something that is insidious. ... Clearly these folks don't know anything about African-Americans or the Bronx," he said Saturday, after the video was aired on German television.

The incident is the latest embarrassment for the German military.

A group of army instructors is currently on trial on charges they abused and humiliated recruits in 2004. Last year, newspapers published photos of German soldiers in Afghanistan posing with skulls �Eincluding one soldier who exposed himself.

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France Knew Of Hijack Plot Before 9/11

(AP) France's foreign intelligence service learned as early as January 2001 that al Qaeda was preparing a hijacking plot likely to involve a U.S. airplane, former intelligence officials said Monday, confirming a report that also said the CIA received the warning.

Le Monde newspaper said it had obtained 328 pages of classified documents on Osama bin Laden's terror network that were drawn up by the French spy service, the DGSE, between July 2000 and October 2001. The documents included a Jan. 5, 2001, intelligence report warning that al Qaeda was at work on a hijacking plot.

Pierre-Antoine Lorenzi, the former chief of staff for the agency's director at the time, said he remembered the note and that it mentioned only the vague outlines of a hijacking plot �Enothing that foreshadowed the scale of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"It wasn't about a specific airline or a specific day, it was not a precise plot," Lorenzi told The Associated Press. "It was a note that said, 'They are preparing a plot to hijack an airplane, and they have cited several companies."'

The Sept. 11 commission's report on the four hijacked flights has detailed repeated warnings about al Qaeda and its desire to attack airlines in the months before Sept. 11, 2001.

In a version declassified last September, the report shows that the Federal Aviation Administration's intelligence unit received "nearly 200 pieces of threat-related information daily from U.S. intelligence agencies, particularly the FBI, CIA, and State Department."

George Little, a CIA spokesman, said the agency does not generally comment on reports of information from foreign partners, but noted that the Le Monde story "merely repeats what the U.S. government knew and reported before Sept. 11 �Ethat al Qaeda was interested in airliner plots, especially hijackings," Little said.

"The article does not suggest that U.S. or foreign officials had advance knowledge of the details surrounding the Sept. 11 plot. Had the details been known, the U.S. government would have acted on them."

The French warning, part of which was published in Le Monde, detailed initial rumblings about the plot.

In early 2000 in Kabul, Afghanistan, bin Laden met with Taliban leaders and members of armed groups from Chechnya and discussed the possibility of hijacking a plane that would take off from Frankfurt, Germany, the note said, citing Uzbek intelligence.

The note listed potential targets: American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Continental Airlines, United Airlines, Air France and Lufthansa. The list also included a mention of "US Aero," but it was unclear exactly what that referred to.

Two of the airlines, United and American, were targeted months later on Sept. 11.

Lorenzi said details of the threat would certainly have been passed along to the CIA, though he was unable to specifically confirm that they had been.

"That's the kind of information concerning a friendly country that we communicate," he said. "If you don't do it, it's an error."

He also stressed that officials could not say whether the plot they outlined in January 2001 was an early warning about the attacks to come in September.

At the time, Lorenzi said, officials had heard echoes only about a standard hijacking �Ethey had no idea al Qaeda planned to slam planes into buildings, let alone the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Uzbek officials apparently tipped off the French about the plot. Alain Chouet, a former top anti-terrorism official within the DGSE, said that an Afghan warlord from the Uzbek community who was fighting the Taliban at the time had sent men to infiltrate al Qaeda camps �Eand their information was passed down the chain to Western intelligence officials.

Confirming information in Le Monde, Chouet said such intelligence was likely checked out before it was put into a note. He also said that to the best of his knowledge, "all identified threats, even indirect and minimal ones, were passed in both directions" between the CIA and the CGSE.

The 9/11 commission said that, as 2001 began, the CIA started receiving "frequent but fragmentary" threat reports. Among other warnings, the intelligence community sent out a March 2001 terror threat advisory about a heightened threat of Sunni extremist attacks against U.S. facilities, personnel and other interests.

During that investigation, then-CIA Director George Tenet told the commission that "the system was blinking red."

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Pope envoy ends Holocaust protest

The Vatican's envoy to Israel has attended the annual Holocaust remembrance event in Jerusalem after earlier threatening not to be present.

Archbishop Antonio Franco was angered by a caption in the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum describing the actions of wartime Pope Pius XII.

The photo caption had said the Pope remained silent even when reports about the murder of Jews reached the Vatican.

The museum's chairman has now said he is happy to review the matter.

Archive request

"Yad Vashem believes it was inappropriate to link an issue of historical research with commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust," the museum said in a statement.

The museum added that it would be glad to study Vatican archives from the period "to possibly learn new and different information than what is known today".

The Vatican has denied access to its archives, including those covering the period during World War II, to researchers.

The caption in question said that during World War II, Pope Pius XII "abstained from signing the Allied declaration condemning the extermination of the Jews" and "maintained his neutral position throughout the war".

Archbishop Franco had protested that the caption was offensive to Catholics.

The Vatican has always maintained that the wartime Pope led quiet diplomacy that saved the lives of thousands of Jews.

The memorial ceremonies are traditionally attended by all foreign diplomats in Israel.

The museum said that the Vatican envoy's absence would have been the first case of a diplomat missing the official events.

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German army in 'racist video' row

A video aired on German TV has shown an army recruit on firing practice being ordered to pretend he was in New York's Bronx facing hostile African Americans.

In the grainy 90-second video, the instructor tells the soldier to swear as he fires his gun.

US civil rights leader, Al Sharpton, said it was outrageous to depict blacks as "target practice".

New York officials say they are saddened and frustrated that the Bronx district is depicted so negatively.

"Clearly these folks don't know anything about African-Americans or the Bronx," said Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion Jnr, who recently returned from a trip to Germany to promote tourism to the district.

He has demanded an apology from the Germany military over the clip.

Skulls

During the filmed training session, an instructor tells the soldier: "You're in the Bronx, a black van pulls up in front of you and three African-Americans get out and start really insulting your mother... act!".

The soldier then fires his gun several times and shouts obscenities in English, as the instructor encourages him to curse even louder.

The clip was filmed in a forest in July 2006, near the barracks of the northern German town of Rendsburg .

The German army said it has been aware of the video since January and was investigating it.

It is the latest in a series of scandals to hit the German military.

A group of 18 army instructors are on trial in the country accused of abusing and humiliating recruits during training in 2004.

Last year, German newspapers published images of German soldiers serving in Afghanistan posing with skulls.

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Oxfam calls for Palestinian aid

Oxfam has called on the European Union to resume sending aid to the Palestinian government or risk its territories becoming a failed state.

A report by the British charity says the year-long boycott of the Hamas-led government has seen an increase in poverty in Gaza and the West Bank.

Oxfam said poverty levels had risen by 30%, basic services faced meltdown and factional violence plagued the streets.

This situation, it says, may prevent a two-state solution with Israel.

Oxfam said the EU should not miss what it called an "opportunity to restore the faith of the Palestinian people in the Europeans' role as an honest broker" of the Middle East peace process.

"International aid should be provided impartially on the basis of need, not as a political tool to change the policies of a government," said Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs.

"With Palestinian institutions collapsing and insecurity growing, the resumption of international aid to the Palestinian Authority is a necessary step to preventing further suffering and securing a just and lasting settlement on the basis of international law," he said.

'Worsening crisis'

The EU was the biggest aid donor to the Palestinian government until the Hamas militants came to power in March 2006.

Since then, the EU has redirected its aid, worth 700m euros (US $943m) in 2006, through a special mechanism to help the neediest people while bypassing the government to avoid contact with Hamas.

This week the new Palestinian Finance Minister, Salam Fayyad, told EU leaders in Brussels that his government urgently needed a resumption of funds.

Mr Fayyad said that one billion euros ($1.35bn; £681m) in aid was still needed this year in order to avert a deepening of the crisis.

Israel suspended the transfer of taxes to the Hamas-led government because of the party's refusal to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and respect past political agreements.

The international community took a similar position, though the formation of a national unity government last month has opened the way for some countries to deal directly with non-Hamas ministers.

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Palestinians press EU for funds

The Palestinian finance minister has urged the EU in Brussels to resume financial aid as the new unity government faces a funding crisis.

Salam Fayyad said his government needed one billion euros ($1.3bn) in aid.

The European Commission offered technical assistance, but said it needed more time to decide whether it could resume financial aid.

The EU provides humanitarian aid to the Palestinians but suspended direct aid to the Palestinian Authority last year.

The embargo followed the election of Hamas, which it regards as a terrorist organisation.

Cautious approach

Mr Fayyad, on his first trip abroad, said the new unity government was going through a very acute financial crisis, with the government operating on just a quarter of the funds it needs for this year.

The Palestinians do not aspire to be a beggar nation, Mr Fayyad said.

He said the assistance was necessary for Palestinians to get back on their feet.

For now, all the European Commission is offering is technical expertise, to ensure the finance ministry works in a more transparent and accountable way.

While the EU clearly supports the reforming efforts of Mr Fayyad, a former International Monetary Fund official, European Commissioner for External Affairs Benita Ferrero-Waldner made it clear that direct aid would not be resumed overnight.

It is a cautious approach endorsed last month by EU foreign ministers, who said they would keep up contacts with moderates such as the finance and foreign ministers, but would continue to assess the Palestinian government on its deeds.

Mr Fayyad is next going to Norway, the first European country to have recognised the unity government, and then to Washington, where he will attend the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund.

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Jail for Serb video death squad

Serbia's war crimes court has jailed four Serb paramilitaries who were filmed as they shot dead six captured young Bosnian Muslims.

The Scorpions unit leader and one of his accomplices were given 20 years each - the others 13 and five years.

A fifth man was cleared of the murder which took place during the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia in July 1995.

This was the first trial in Serbia to deal with the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys around Srebrenica.

It was also the biggest war crimes trial of Serbs by Serbs to date.

But relatives of the victims expressed disappointment that the maximum sentences - of 40 years - had not been handed down.

Prosecutors said the five suspects were members of a paramilitary unit called the Scorpions.

On the video, paramilitaries are heard taunting the youths about their virginity before shooting them in the back as they lay in a ditch.

The tape was played at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague (ICTY) in June 2005 at the trial of the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Victims unhappy

Correspondents say the video shook the popular belief in Serbia that any war crimes their side had committed were done in the heat of battle.

The former commander of the Scorpions unit, Slobodan Medic, and his main accomplice, Branislav Medic, were each given 20 years in jail.

Pera Petrasevic, the only defendant to have confessed to the crime, was given 13 years. The fourth defendant, Aleksandar Medic, was given five years while a fifth man, Aleksandar Vukov, was acquitted

"Slobodan Medic ordered the three defendants and two others to execute the prisoners, take them away from the site and make it seem as if they had been killed in conflict," Judge Gordana Bozilovic Petrovic said.

"By committing such acts against defenceless civilians, by showing off their power and not showing remorse, the defendants did not give the court the choice to pass lower sentences," the judge added.

'Justice not done'

But several relatives of the victims, who had been brought from Bosnia under police escort, expressed disappointment at the verdicts.

"Whatever the ruling, my child is not here," said Nura Alispahic, who saw her 16-year-old son being killed in the video.

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Pilgrims mark Holy Week in Rome

In Rome tens of thousands of foreign pilgrims are attending Holy Week ceremonies.

On Easter Sunday morning Pope Benedict will be giving his traditional blessing and message, Urbi et Orbi, to the city of Rome and to the world.

On Friday night, the white-robed Pope led rites at the Colosseum, the ancient Roman amphitheatre.

The ceremonies commemorate the suffering and death by crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Thousands of pilgrims, each carrying a flickering candle, prayed with him as a procession of church dignitaries and ordinary believers wound its way through the 2,000-year-old ruins.

On Saturday night, the Pope will celebrate Easter midnight Mass in St Peter's Basilica.

As the mass begins, the huge darkened building will be suddenly flooded with light symbolising the resurrection of Christ.

And on Easter Sunday morning Pope Benedict, who celebrates his 80th birthday in a few days' time, will deliver his traditional Easter blessing and message to the city of Rome and to the world.

Thousands of people are planning also to march through the centre of Rome on Sunday morning in support of international moves to abolish the death penalty in the diminishing number of countries which still carry out capital punishment.

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Bosnian Serb jailed for 15 years

A Bosnian Serb former policeman has been sentenced to 15 years in jail by the UN war crimes tribunal for the rape and torture of Bosnian Muslim women.

Dragan Zelenovic, 46, pleaded guilty to the crimes, which took place during the 1992-1995 war in the former Yugoslavia.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors at The Hague war crimes tribunal agreed to drop another seven charges.

Zelenovic was indicted in 1996. He was arrested in Russia in 2005 and extradited to The Hague last year.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had sought a 10 to 15-year sentence, while the defence had asked for seven to 10 years.

'Unspeakable pain'

Zelenovic showed no emotion, sitting with his head bowed and eyes closed as the presiding judge read out a summary of his crimes before passing sentence.

One of the women was just 15 when she was illegally imprisoned and gang-raped. Another had a gun held to her head while she was raped, the court heard.

"The victims... suffered the unspeakable pain, indignity and humiliation of being repeatedly violated, without knowing if they would survive the ordeal," said judge Alphons Orie.

"The scars left by the sexual assaults were deep and might never heal. This perhaps more than anything speaks about the gravity of the crimes in this case."

Zelenovic pleaded guilty in January, saying he wanted to spare his victims the ordeal of having to testify.

Zelenovic was among Bosnian Serb forces responsible for a campaign of rape and sexual assault of Muslim women in 1992 and 1993 in Foca, where he was deputy commander of the military police.

When it first came to court in 2001, the case established rape and sexual enslavement as a crime against humanity.

Zelenovic was on the run at the time, but was arrested in Russia in 2005, where he had been working on building sites in Siberia under a false identity.

Three other Bosnian Serbs indicted at the same time were convicted and given jail sentences ranging from 12 to 28 years in 2001.

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UK drops bid to boost EU rebate

The UK has given up attempts to claw back some of the EU rebate sacrificed in 2005 by Tony Blair to achieve a long-term EU budget deal.

Chancellor Gordon Brown launched a bid in June to shave about £90m (133m euro) off the annual £1bn Mr Blair gave away.

But the UK has now given up its claim to this money in a deal on details of the way the budget will be implemented.

The Treasury has denied that the U-turn was a concession to France to prevent it blocking changes to UK VAT rules.

The EU budget deal negotiated by Mr Blair in December 2005 resulted in a cut of about 20% in the UK rebate - equivalent to about 10.5bn euros (£7bn) between 2007 and 2013.

'No changes'

The deal also included lump-sum refunds to four other countries which pay considerably more into the EU budget than they get out - Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Mr Brown argued that the UK should get a rebate on its contributions to those refunds, as well as to the rest of the EU budget, causing EU officials to say that the UK was refusing to pay its "fair share".

Although Mr Brown was consulted during the budget negotiations he is reported to have regarded the outcome as a bad deal.

Agreement on the implementation of the budget was finally reached at a meeting of ambassadors in Brussels on Tuesday.

"There are no additional costs to the UK, and no changes to the position on our rebate beyond those agreed in 2005," a British Treasury spokesman said.

France was reported in February to have told Mr Brown that it would hold up UK plans to tackle a multi-billion-pound VAT fraud, unless he gave way on the rebate.

French fears

The scam, known as carousel fraud, involves the repeated import and export of high value goods, such as mobile phones, free of VAT from other EU countries.

France, which says the fraudsters could migrate across the Channel, dropped its opposition earlier this year, allowing the UK to announce last month to announce that the VAT change would take effect from 1 June.

EU diplomats repeated on Tuesday that the two issues had been linked, but this was rejected by the Treasury spokesman.

Changes to national sales taxes have to be unanimously approved by other EU member states because of the potential knock-on effects for them.

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EU ministers put pressure on Iran

EU foreign ministers have demanded the immediate release of 15 British navy personnel seized by Iran a week ago.

The 27 ministers voiced "unconditional support" for Britain in the dispute, in a statement agreed at a meeting in the north German port city of Bremen.

They urged "the immediate and unconditional release" of the crew.

The EU said it reserved the right to take "appropriate measures" if Iran did not comply - though the measures were not spelled out.

The BBC's Oana Lungescu in Bremen says the strongly-worded EU statement goes much further than the UN's expression of "grave concern" about the Iran-UK dispute on Thursday.

Germany hosted the EU meeting as it currently holds the EU presidency.

'Unacceptable act'

Earlier, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy described Iran's detention of the Royal Navy crew as "a very serious and unacceptable act which we immediately condemned".

"We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the British," he added.

The UK Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, did not explicitly ask for a suspension of EU business ties with Tehran.

France and other big European countries, including Germany and Italy, have important economic interests in Iran and would be reluctant to heed such calls, our reporter says.

The European external affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, warned that the EU had to be careful at a very delicate moment in relations with Iran.

Europe should make clear where it stood, she said, but also hold the door open to negotiations on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.

The foreign minister of Turkey, whose country is trying to intervene on the UK sailors' behalf, was also invited to the meeting in Bremen.

The ministers also discussed the Middle East and Kosovo.

A paper prepared for the meeting says an EU police mission - the largest of its kind set up by the bloc - could be in place in Kosovo for at least two years and the international community will need to raise $2bn (£1bn) to prop up the province's fragile economy.

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Italians held in EU fraud probe

Three Italians, including an EU official, have been arrested and held in custody as part of a European Commission corruption probe.

An EU civil servant and an assistant to a European Parliament member were among those under arrest, a spokesman for the Brussels public prosecutor said.

The three were arrested as part of a multi-million euro case over suspected fraud involving EU building tenders.

On Tuesday, European police raided the European Commission and Parliament.

The public prosecutor in Brussels, Jos Colpin, said the situation seemed to be "a very big case of corruption".

The names of the three Italians were not made public.

The three individuals - who also include a company director - were suspected of defrauding European taxpayers of the money over a decade.

The investigation over the awarding of tenders for EU buildings was launched three years ago.

"The investigation involves suspected bribery of European civil servants, forming a criminal organisation, violating professional secrecy, breaches of public tender laws and forgery," a spokesman for the prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Italian Carabinieri, French financial police and Belgian fraud squad officers were all said to be co-operating with the case.

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EU effusion 'lost in translation'

Sharp-eyed professors have spotted what they say is evidence of "political translation" of the EU's Berlin Declaration, agreed at the weekend.

Both the Danish and English versions of downplay the emotional language of the original German, they say.

Instead of saying that the EU member states are united in "happiness", they say that they have united "for the better", or "for the best".

An EU spokesman said the texts had been agreed by the national governments.

"We, the citizens in the European Union, are united zu unserem Gluck ", the German-language version of the declaration reads. The phrase can be rendered in English as "united in our fortune/happiness".

By contrast, the English-language version reads: "We, the citizens of the European Union, have united for the better".

While in the Danish version, the word "Gluck" has been replaced with "'vor faelles bedste" meaning "for the best".

Gushing terms

Professor Henning Koch from Copenhagen University told the Danish paper Politiken the low-key translation could be no coincidence.

"It would come as a big surprise to me if the translators are bad at German. So then it's a political translation," he said.

Gushing and emotional terms were something Danes feared, he added.

Professor Rudinger Gorner, head of the German department at Queen Mary, University of London echoed Professor Koch's point, looking at the English version of the Declaration.

He told the BBC that the German phrase used in the declaration implies that it is "really a fortunate thing we have united".

"The English rendering certainly downplays the meaning", he said. "There's no doubt that if one wanted to express the German sentiment, one could do so."

He said there was also a subtle difference in that the English version "suggests something happening in the future".

"Yet again, it's an attempt on this side to downplay things wherever possible."

Compromise text

Mats Persson of the Eurosceptic thinktank Open Europe, which focuses on EU reform, said that it was clear there had been a struggle over the translation of the declaration.

"It is quite common that people use the maximum room available to accommodate shades of meaning," he said.

"The Swedish version also reads quite awkwardly. The Berlin Declaration is a reflection of a political compromise and this is reflected in the translations."

A spokesman for the EU Council said all the translations of the declaration were "official" ones and had been agreed by the national delegations of the member states.

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EU celebrates its 50th birthday

European Union leaders have joined a gala concert in Berlin celebrating the 50th anniversary of the bloc, which was founded by the 1957 Treaty of Rome.

The concert, conducted by Britain's Sir Simon Rattle, will be followed by dinner for the 27 leaders at German President Horst Koehler's residence.

Berliners will also join events at city clubs and museums throughout the night.

A leader's summit on Sunday will endorse a statement emphasising the EU's achievements and challenges ahead.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will use the event to relaunch the debate on the EU's stalled constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Divisive issues

But correspondents say the statement will mask divisions among EU members.

"We, the citizens of Europe, have united for the better," says the draft statement, known as the "Berlin Declaration".

The statement, drawn up by the EU's German presidency, hails some of the EU's achievements over the past 50 years, including open borders, the common market and the euro, and an end to Europe's Cold War divisions.

The BBC's Oana Lungescu in Berlin says there is no explicit mention of the most divisive issues - future enlargement to admit Turkey and the Balkan nations, and the EU constitution.

Just weeks before the French presidential elections, and faced with stiff opposition from the Czech Republic, Poland and Britain, Angela Merkel has chosen the vaguest of terms, our correspondent says.

A single coded reference to the constitution talks about "placing the EU on a renewed common basis" before the 2009 elections to the European Parliament.

'Great achievements'

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said it was best to avoid the word "constitution".

"It's a very good declaration and what we need now is a change of treaties," he said.

Germany hopes that a new text can be agreed by the end of the year, or early next year at the latest, so that it can be ratified by mid-2009.

Many European leaders believe the project will come unstuck again if member states decide to ratify the treaty by referendum.

But a poll by a British Eurosceptic think tank, Open Europe, suggests that three-quarters of Europeans would like a referendum on any new treaty giving more power to the EU.

According to the poll, carried out in all 27 EU countries, 41% of people in the EU would Yes in such a referendum and the same proportion, 41%, would vote against.

However, a majority would vote No in 16 EU countries, including Germany.

British officials say that if the new treaty is very small, and contains only a few of the ideas in the original draft constitution, there will be no need for a referendum.

Ms Merkel told reporters that the city of Berlin itself was testimony to the importance of European unity.

"A city that was once divided and is now re-united... stands symbolically for what has succeeded in Europe over the 50 years," she said.

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Basque leader acquitted in court

Basque separatist leader Arnaldo Otegi has been cleared of praising terrorism, only hours after being arrested and taken to court by hooded police.

The leader of Batasuna, the political wing of militant group Eta, was due to have gone on trial on Wednesday.

He failed to turn up at court in Madrid, blaming snowstorms in northern Spain. A judge promptly ordered that he be arrested and flown to the capital.

But Otegi walked free when prosecutors said they were dropping charges.

He had been accused of glorifying terrorism by allegedly praising a suspected Eta member who blew herself up while preparing explosives in 2001.

Prosecutors had been seeking a 15-month jail sentence.

Otegi, 48, a convicted Eta kidnapper, denied the charges, saying he had only spoken about Basque self-determination and the need for a solution to the Basque conflict.

In April last year he was sentenced to 15 months on the same charge, relating to a different incident, but was freed pending an appeal and has not served the sentence.

Batasuna is banned because of its links to Eta but is seeking a way to participate in regional elections in May.

The government broke off peace talks with Eta after it killed two people in a bomb blast at Madrid airport at the end of last year.

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Fifty years of fraternal rivalry

The European Union claims it has secured peace among historical enemies, spread democracy to its neighbours and created a new model of international co-operation.

But none of that was pre-ordained.

The milestones of the past 50 years tell a story of bitter national rivalries, personality clashes and tortured compromises which have threatened the project's survival more than once and may do so again in the coming years.

Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime leader, called postwar Europe "a rubble heap, a charnel-house, a breeding-ground for pestilence and hate".

The challenges for Europe included the retreat from colonial empires and the imminent security threat posed by the Soviet Union's domination of eastern Europe.

But a different concern motivated the architects of the European integration project - fear of an over-mighty Germany.

The story began as a search for an over-arching political framework to tie West Germany's destiny to that of its western neighbours and make another war impossible.

First fiasco

The first attempt ended in fiasco. In 1954 six nations signed an ambitious treaty to set up a European Defence Community as a rival to the US-led Nato alliance.

But the French parliament rejected the plan, judging that it would be too weak to allow France to keep the upper hand over a revived West Germany.

Economic integration proved more fruitful. The European Coal and Steel Community had shown the way by pooling national sovereignty in key industries.

The Treaty of Rome built on that to unite France and West Germany, together with the four other founder members, in a European Economic Community.

But the fledgling EEC soon faced another life-threatening crisis.

In 1965, an imperious French President, Charles de Gaulle, threatened to wreck the EEC unless the others acknowledged France's special role in taking the Community's big decisions, especially over the Common Agricultural Policy's system of lavish subsidies, of which the lion's share went to French farmers.

The result was the "empty chair crisis", a French boycott of EEC meetings which forced the rest to agree that each country would keep the power to veto common decisions to protect its vital national interests.

Thus France firmly staked its claim to ownership of the European project.

And Charles de Gaulle acknowledged his motives in vetoing the UK's attempts to join the EEC until 1973. Britain, he feared, would be a "Trojan Horse" for American influence.

Two speeds

That mistrust pointed to what was to come - a titanic, ongoing struggle among European states between a French-inspired Euro-centric, dirigiste vision of the Community's purpose and a looser, free-market and Atlanticist vision championed by Britain.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War the political battle for Europe was joined again with renewed fervour. European leaders ruled that German re-unification must be accompanied by a new effort to unify Europe politically.

Two formidable figures, Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany and President Francois Mitterrand of France, forged a uniquely close alliance and claimed a special role as the joint "engines" of European integration.

They made history by paving the way for the euro currency and the Maastricht Treaty which was to establish a European "Union".

But to latecomers such as Britain and Denmark it was all very hard to swallow. A breaking-point seemed close when in 1990 Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stridently rejected the prospect of more powers being signed over to European institutions, saying: "No.No.No."

That immediate crisis passed when Mrs Thatcher was ousted from power at home.

But the underlying tensions remained. The idea of a "two-speed" Europe took root. Some nations embraced more common policies, such as the currency union, while others stood aside.

End of a dream

And the EU faced another Catch 22: the "widening" of the Union through enlargement clashed with its long-standing commitment to "deepening".

So by the year 2000, as the EU prepared to mark its triumph in bringing Poland and other ex-communist states into the European family, Europe was in other ways already coming apart.

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Hungarian protests turn violent

There have been violent clashes between police and far-right protesters on the streets of Budapest.

The trouble began when nationalist leader Gyorgy Budahazy, who has been wanted by the police since disturbances began last September, was detained.

Police decided to clear the city centre using tear gas and water cannon as the crowd of demonstrators swelled.

Earlier thousands of supporters of the main opposition party held a peaceful mass rally to mark National Day.

There has been tight security, amid fears of a repetition of last October's clashes that marred the 50th anniversary of the anti-Soviet uprising.

The unrest followed Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's admission that he had lied during the electoral campaign about the state of Hungary's finances.

TV siege

The far-right rally began peacefully, with speeches from, among others, British historian David Irving, who was imprisoned until recently in Austria for Holocaust denial.

The rioting began in the early evening after police identified and arrested Mr Budahazy, who is wanted in connection with the siege of a public TV station during last September's disturbances.

As the crowd grew to around 1,000, people converged on the centre of the city, with some clearly looking for a fight with police, others just curious, correspondents say.

There were no immediate reports of serious injuries, although eyewitnesses mentioned that some demonstrators had attacked journalists.

Police drove down the city's main boulevard firing water cannon and tear gas canisters in an attempt to break up the protest, which they consider illegal.

Protesters responded by throwing bottles and stones, and built and set fire to barricades to obstruct the police.

Flag row

At official ceremonies for the holiday, which marks Hungary's brief independence from Habsburg rule in 1848, Mr Gyurcsany was booed by a few hundred protesters, who shouted "Go, Gyurcsany, go!"

Later, Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky, an ally of Mr Gyurcsany, had to be protected with an umbrella against eggs thrown by protesters during his speech.

The main conservative opposition party, Fidesz, held its own rally on Thursday afternoon, attended by tens of thousands of supporters.

Fidesz made it clear it had nothing to do with the far-right protesters.

Organisers asked participants at the Fidesz rally to carry only the official flag and not the traditional Hungarian Arpad flag, a modified version of which was used by the pro-Nazi government of 1944-1945.

Yet some participants still carried the Arpad flag and sang songs lamenting the demise of Greater Hungary after World War I.

Fidesz has been accused in the past of not dissociating itself from far-right elements. The party is in the main centre-right group in the European Union - the European Popular Party - and has vehemently denied that it harbours xenophobic or anti-Semitic views.

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France's Le Pen 'to run' in poll

France's far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has collected the 500 sponsor signatures he needs to run in April's presidential election, his party says.

The leader of the National Front will submit the 500 signatures to the Constitutional Council himself later on Wednesday, the AFP news agency reports.

Every candidate must be endorsed by at least 500 elected officials to stand, and has until Friday to do so. Most of the 42,000 elected officials entitled to sign are mayors. Last week, the front-runner for next month's presidential election, centre-right candidate and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, appealed to uncommitted mayors to sign for presidential hopefuls who were struggling to get the 500 endorsements needed.

Recent polls show Mr Sarkozy has a narrow lead over his Socialist rival, Segolene Royal, ahead of the 22 April poll. Mr Le Pen currently has 13% of the first-round vote, according to the latest poll published on Wednesday. On Sunday, President Jacques Chirac confirmed in a TV address that he would not be seeking a third term in office in the election.

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Chirac will not seek fresh term

Veteran French President Jacques Chirac has confirmed in a TV address that he will not be seeking a third term in office in April's election.

Mr Chirac, 74, has been president since 1995 and has had a political career spanning four decades.

"The moment has come for me to serve you in a different way," he said.

Recent polls show Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has a narrow lead over his Socialist rival, Segolene Royal, ahead of the 22 April poll.

Mr Sarkozy, who has won backing from the governing centre-right UMP party, said he hoped to receive Mr Chirac's endorsement.

Mr Chirac told the nation in his Sunday evening address that he would find new ways to serve France after leaving office.

"In a different way, but with the same enthusiasm, and the same passion to work for you, I will continue to take part in our shared struggles - my life struggle - for justice, for progress, for peace, for the greatness of France," he said.

The president said he was "proud of the work which we have carried out together," citing in particular improvements for the elderly and the disabled, reforms of the pension system and reductions in crime and unemployment.

And he called on France to defend its values.

"France is not a country like others. It has particular responsibilities, the legacy of its history and the universal values it helped create," he said.

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Cameron sets out vision for EU

Conservative leader David Cameron has set out his vision for the EU, saying it should focus on the "things that matter" rather than internal wrangling.

In a rare speech on European issues in Brussels, he resisted calls to lead a Tory retreat from the union.

He promised instead to push for the UK's national interest on issues like climate change and tackling poverty.

Europe in the 21st century needed "more flexibility, not more centralisation", Mr Cameron said.

Some Conservative MEPs are thought to be unhappy about the party leader's plan to leave the centre-right, federalist European People's Party (EPP) after the 2009 European elections.

He is also under pressure from euro-sceptics at Westminster, including a small group of MPs who want British withdrawal from the EU, who say he has broken his promise to pull out of the EPP sooner.

Mr Cameron is attempting to form a new group in the European Parliament, the Movement for European Reform.

'Polite'

Mr Cameron, who is trying to attract like-minded parties to join the new group, spoke at its first conference, which was also addressed by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.

Under EU rules there must be parties from at least five countries to form a parliamentary group.

In his speech, Mr Cameron said the priorities should be the "three Gs" of globalisation, global warming and global poverty.

He reaffirmed his commitment to a referendum on the European Constitution.

'Debris of the past'

He said: "Those who will succeed in the 21st century will be those who can adapt, who can respond quickly, who can innovate.

"The modern world places a premium on diversity over uniformity. It forces a focus on results over procedures.

"The European Union needs to change if it is to be fit for the challenges of the new century, not stuck haggling over the debris of the last."

Mr Cameron added: "Only a decentralised political system will be able to hold Ireland and Turkey, Italy and Estonia in any sort of community

"Some people say that because we are 'widening' Europe we need to 'deepen' it too.

"But that doesn't make sense. Yes - of course we need a new framework to make a bigger EU work.

"But there is no case for the Constitution, or a Constitution-lite."

'Warm words'

Europe minister Geoff Hoon said Mr Cameron's pledge to withdraw from the EPP - a move he said was described by senior Tory MP Ken Clarke as "head-banging" - would reduce Britain's influence in Europe.

"Unless David Cameron now names which other parties he has persuaded to sign up to his new group, his speech will be seen as nothing more than warm words," he added.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Michael Moore said Mr Cameron had isolated his party from Europe because he refused to accept the reality that European countries had to work with each other.

UKIP said Mr Cameron had won his party's leadership contest by promising to be "tough" on Europe in order to attract euro-sceptic supporters but had since let them down.

Commenting on Mr Cameron's speech, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: "If you're in Europe, then you're run by Europe.

"This is the same Mr Cameron who deliberately misled not just his party, but the public, with a vow to withdraw Britain from the Social Chapter, when he knows full well that this is not possible unless Britain withdraws from the European Union."

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Swiss 'genocide' trial for Turk

A Turkish nationalist leader has gone on trial in Switzerland for denying that the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 amounted to "genocide".

Dogu Perincek, 65, is accused under Swiss law of racial discrimination.

The Swiss parliament, along with more than a dozen countries, recognises the killings as "genocide". Turkey firmly rejects the "genocide" allegation.

The prosecutor in the city of Lausanne called for a six-month jail sentence for genocide denial.

Dogu Perincek, head of the Turkish Workers' Party, made the statements in a public speech in Lausanne in 2005.

"I have not denied genocide because there was no genocide," he said in court on Tuesday.

Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed in a genocide by Ottoman Turks during World War I, either through systematic massacres or through starvation. More than a dozen countries, various international bodies and many Western historians agree that it was "genocide".

Turkey says there was no genocide. It acknowledges that many Armenians died, but says the figure was below one million.

A law criminalising the denial of genocide was adopted in 2003 by the parliament in the Swiss canton of Vaud.

Twelve Turks prosecuted in Switzerland on similar charges in 2001 were acquitted.

In a controversial move, Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, who opposes the Swiss law on genocide, met his Turkish counterpart Cemil Cicek in Bern at the weekend.

Mr Blocher, leader of the right-wing Swiss Popular Party, caused a furore in Switzerland when he suggested in October 2006, during a visit to Turkey, that the Swiss law should be changed.

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Hundreds arrested in Danish riots

Danish police have arrested almost 600 people in Copenhagen, in three days of violent protests over the eviction of squatters from a youth centre.

Some 2,000 people attended a peaceful demonstration on Saturday, but police are braced for more clashes overnight.

The riots started after an anti-terror squad raid to evict squatters from the Youth House (Ungdomshuset) building.

Vandals have also painted Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue pink, but it is unclear if this is linked to the riots.

Left-wing activists have occupied the youth centre in the Noerrebro district since 1982, but it was sold by the city in 2000 to a Christian fundamentalist group.

That group obtained a court eviction order last year - but the activists vowed not to leave, saying the council had no right to sell the building while it was still in use.

Foreign activists

Police have been drafted in from outside Copenhagen in readiness for trouble, with activists reportedly using text messages to urge further protests.

Officers in riot gear used tear gas to disperse rioters in the early hours of Saturday, as cars were set alight and petrol bombs thrown.

"In the last 10 years we haven't had riots like we've seen in the past two days," Copenhagen police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said.

Police say scores of those arrested since the protests began on Thursday have been foreigners, many of them from Germany, Sweden and Norway.

Left-wing politicians who spoke at the demonstration in Copenhagen's central square on Saturday appealed to young activists to stop the violence.

The BBC's Julian Isherwood in Copenhagen says parts of the city centre resemble a war zone, with the remains of barricades, dug up cobble stones and burnt-out cars.

As darkness descended on the capital, and despite the detention of many activists, the Danish police authorities were preparing for another night of trouble, he said.

But miraculously, he said, despite widespread destruction to property and vehicles, only two people have been slightly injured.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has condemned the rioters.

Last December, a protest in Copenhagen against the eviction plans turned violent, and more than 300 people were arrested.

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German push for US missile talks

Germany says the US should include its Nato allies in discussions on the possible deployment of a missile defence shield in Europe.

The German Defence Minister, Franz Josef Jung, said "we should discuss developing such a defence measure within a Nato framework".

The US is negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic over the deployment of a radar and 10 missile interceptors.

Russia has condemned the US plan and says it is developing new missiles.

Mr Jung said Russia's concerns should be addressed at an existing forum, the Nato-Russia Council. He was speaking on Friday after an EU defence ministers' meeting in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Caucasus plan

The head of the US Missile Defence Agency, Lt Gen Henry Obering, said in Brussels that a US "forward deployable radar" might also be set up in the Caucasus as part of the defence shield.

Russia reacted coolly to his comments.

"Let them deploy it. It is their problem. We have everything we need to respond to all these deployments in a commensurate way," Russian air force commander Vladimir Mikhaylov told Rossiya TV.

Moscow has warned Poland and the Czech Republic that they risk being targeted by Russian missiles if they agree to host the US defence system.

The US says it wants the shield as protection against missiles that might be fired one day by a "rogue" state such as North Korea or Iran.

The Czech and Polish governments have given their approval in principle to the deployment on their territories of the defence system.

But the political situation, especially in the Czech Republic, is very delicate, as Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has no majority in parliament and on Friday a poll showed that three-fifths of Czechs were opposed to having the US shield on their territory.

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Poles who saved Jews are honoured

More than 60 Poles who saved Jews during the Second World War have been honoured by Holocaust survivors and Jewish leaders.

Poland's three million strong Jewish community was almost completely wiped out in the Nazi Holocaust.

But a number were saved through the bravery of Poles who risked their lives to hide them.

The gathering at a Jewish school in Warsaw was one of the largest in many years.

Miriam Schmetterling, 82, was one of those saved. She attended the gathering.

She met Jozefa Czekaj-Tracz, who was 15 when her family hid Miriam and five other relatives from the Nazis.

They hid in the attic of the Czekaj family's house near Lviv, now in Ukraine, for 10 months in 1941.

Food for the Schmetterlings was winched up on pulleys hidden in the chimney, and Jozefa played the piano whenever visitors arrived, to mask any sounds from the attic.

"I nearly cried. It is very, very emotional for me to be here because they saved my life," said Mrs Schmetterling.

"We got our food and everything through the chimney. They even sent us books to read. They are an example for humanity. There's always hope if there are people like that."

Given the risks, most Poles turned a blind eye to the plight of the Jews during the war. Some even informed on them, the BBC's Warsaw correspondent Adam Easton says.

The Poles at the reunion are recipients of the award known as the Righteous Among the Nations. It is given by the Holocaust memorial agency in Israel to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis.

Poland has nearly 6,000 recipients - more than any other nation.

Before the war Poland was home to the largest Jewish community in Europe. But 90% of that community was killed in the Holocaust.

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Genocide ruling frustrates Bosnia

Bosnian Muslim leaders have voiced disappointment after the top UN court cleared Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide during the Bosnian war.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague said the massacre of 8,000 men in Srebrenica was genocide, but Belgrade was not directly responsible.

But it said Serbia broke international law by failing to stop the killings.

Serbia's president acknowledged the ruling, and urged parliament to condemn the Srebrenica massacre.

The case was the first of a state being charged with genocide. Individuals have been convicted of genocide in Bosnia.

At least 100,000 people died in the 1992-1995 war, triggered by the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Bosnia's Muslims and Croats wanted to cut ties with Belgrade, a move opposed by Bosnian Serbs.

No reparations

The case, Bosnia and Herzegovina versus Serbia and Montenegro, began a year ago.

Bosnia argued that Belgrade incited ethnic hatred, armed Bosnian Serbs and was an active participant in the killings.

Belgrade said the conflict was an internal war between Bosnia's ethnic groups and denied any state role in genocide.

In the ruling, the president of the court, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, said: "The court finds that the acts of genocide at Srebrenica cannot be attributed to the respondent's (Serbia) state organs."

However the court added that the leaders of Serbia failed to comply with its international obligation to prevent the killings and punish hose responsible.

The court also rejected Bosnia's claim for reparations.

"Financial compensation is not the appropriate form of reparation," the ruling said.

The war crimes tribunal in The Hague has already found individuals guilty of genocide in Bosnia and established the Srebrenica massacre as genocide.

Stalled talks

The BBC's Nicholas Walton in Sarajevo says many Bosnian Muslims were hoping for a clear ruling that Serbia as a state was responsible for pursuing a genocide in Bosnia during the 1990s.

The Bosnian Muslim member of the country's tripartite presidency, Haris Silajdzic, told the BBC there was "disappointment" at the outcome.

However he welcomed the fact that the court had "ruled that Serbia and Montenegro had violated the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by not preventing or punishing the perpetrators of the genocide".

In the Serb Republic, Krstan Simic, a senior member of the governing ruling Union of Independent Social-Democrats, said he was pleased that the judges had taken "real facts " into account.

In Serbia itself, President Boris Tadic urged parliament to pass a declaration "condemning the crime in Srebrenica without any doubt".

The German presidency of the European Union urged Serbia "to use today's judgment as a further opportunity to distance itself from the crimes committed by the Milosevic regime".

The ruling comes with Serbia still facing challenges linked to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Admission talks with the EU have been stalled over Belgrade's failure to hand over war crimes suspects for trial.

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Le Pen presents election plans

The leader of France's far-right National Front party - Jean-Marie Le Pen - has presented his campaign platform for April's presidential vote.

At the party convention in Lille, he said he would halt immigration and integration with the European Union.

It is his fifth and probably last bid for the presidency, and correspondents say he has little chance of winning.

Mr Le Pen came a surprise second in the 2002 race, but is currently trailing in the opinion polls.

The 78-year-old politician arrived on stage to chants of "Le Pen, president!" and launched into an attack on the whole French political class who he blamed for leading the country to ruin, says the BBC's Jonathan Marcus in Lille.

'Miserable people'

He told 2,000 supporters that the situation in France was "catastrophic".

"There can not be any economic reform nor a return to growth without putting a halt to uncontrolled immigration of all the miserable people of the planet who are coming to compete with our impoverished workers," he said.

His promise to return illegal immigrants to their countries of origin raised loud cheers from the audience.

He said he would cut off social and health care benefits to immigrants and lower taxes, build more prison cells and boost military spending.

Mr Le Pen beat Socialist Lionel Jospin to the second round of the election in 2002, but opinion polls show him trailing in fourth place this time with about 13% of the vote.

However, the party's deputy leader said the polls were misleading.

"The polls have always been lower than the final result - sometimes not even half of what we finally get," said Bruno Gollnisch.

The centrist Francois Bayrou has jumped to 17% in the opinion polls, potentially sapping support from both the main candidates.

Socialist Segolene Royal and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy from the governing UMP are running level at about 28% in the polls.

Mr Le Pen has not yet collected the 500 signatures from elected officials that will enable him to register as a candidate.

He cannot win the presidency even if he makes it to May's second round vote, our correspondent says, but his legacy will have been to establish his far-right party as a seemingly permanent fixture on the French political scene.

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Italian PM hands in resignation

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has handed his resignation to the country's president after losing a crucial foreign policy vote in the Senate.

President Giorgio Napolitano is now expected to hold talks with political leaders before reaching a decision.

He could accept the resignation or ask Mr Prodi to stay in power.

In the vote, several of Mr Prodi's coalition partners opposed troop deployments in Afghanistan and plans to expand a US airbase in northern Italy.

The BBC's Jonny Dymond says it is not a foregone conclusion that the government will fall.

Mr Napolitano has several options, of which dissolving parliament and calling new elections is the most radical.

A spokesman for the prime minister said Mr Prodi needed the full support of the coalition if he was to continue.

"Prodi has acknowledged this is a serious crisis and he doesn't have a majority in the Senate," Silvio Sircana said.

"He is ready to carry on as prime minister if, and only if, he is guaranteed the full support of all the parties in the majority from now on."

The coalition's leader in the lower house of parliament, Dario Franceschini, said the main parties in the coalition would continue to back him.

"We are ready to renew our full confidence in Prodi," he said.

"Let's hope the consultations will be useful to clear things up."

Dramatic scenes

Mr Napolitano cut short a trip to Bologna to return to Rome for talks with Mr Prodi.

He could also ask Mr Prodi, who took office 10 months ago with a wafer-thin parliamentary majority, to test his support with a confidence vote, ask him to form a new government, choose a different prime minister from the ruling coalition or appoint a government of technocrats.

A statement from the president's office said he "reserved his decision" on Mr Prodi's move.

Consultations with party leaders would begin at 1000 local time (0900 GMT) on Thursday, and in the meantime Mr Prodi would continue in a caretaker role, it added.

Mr Prodi's foreign minister had earlier said the government could resign if it lost the parliamentary motion.

The announcement of the result of the vote was met by shouts of "resign! resign!" by right-wing senators. The sitting was suspended shortly afterwards.

Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema had urged senators to approve the motion - which is non-binding - saying unity was crucial for Italy to retain its place on the world stage.

The motion asked the Senate to approve the government's foreign policy, a policy which it said was inspired by a repudiation of war and respect for the role of the EU, UN and international alliances.

It received 158 votes in favour, just short of the majority of 160 needed for approval, while 136 members of the conservative opposition voted against the motion.

Some 24 senators decided to abstain from the vote.

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French wartime collaborator dead

French Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, convicted of sending French Jews to Nazi camps in World War II, has died, aged 96.

He underwent surgery earlier in the week to adjust his pacemaker after being hospitalised with heart problems.

Papon was the second-highest official in France's south-west Bordeaux region during the German wartime occupation.

In 1998, he was jailed for 10 years for helping to send about 1,500 French Jews to Nazi-run death camps during WWII.

Papon never expressed remorse for his wartime actions but was freed in 2002 because of his age, after serving only three years of his sentence, a move which angered Holocaust survivors.

His appeal for a retrial was rejected by France's highest court in June 2004.

Papon died in his sleep, said his lawyer Francis Vuillemin.

"He fought to the end," said Mr Vuillemin. "He died a free man."

However Benjamin Abtan, president of the French association of Jewish students, said that while Papon died quietly, "that was not the case for all those he sent to their deaths.

"We will remember him not just as a criminal but also as a symbol of the responsibility of the French state in the attempt to destroy Jews in Europe," he said.

Ministerial career

After the war, Papon was not prosecuted and he went on to serve as France's budget minister from 1978 to 1981.

It was only in 1981 that his actions came to light.

In 1998, he was convicted of crimes against humanity for signing deportation orders for 1,690 Jews in Bordeaux in 1942-44.

He is the highest-ranking French citizen to have been convicted in such a case.

After being found guilty, Papon fled to Switzerland, but he was detained there and returned to France to begin his sentence.

He was stripped of his Legion d'Honneur award after his conviction, and was later fined for wearing the medal illegally.

During World War II, about 76,000 Jews were deported from France to German death camps, many to Auschwitz. Only 2,500 survived.

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Italy orders CIA kidnapping trial

An Italian judge has ordered 26 US citizens - most of them CIA agents - to stand trial over the kidnap of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.

Osama Mustafa Hassan was allegedly seized by the CIA and flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

Seven Italians were also indicted, including Italy's ex-military intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari.

The case would be the first criminal trial over the secret US practice known as "extraordinary rendition".

During rendition, people suspected of involvement in terror activities are taken from one country and flown to another, where many claim they are tortured.

Extradition decision

Most of the indicted US citizens are believed to have returned home from Italy.

The Italian government has yet to decide whether or not it wishes to request their extradition.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi is coming under renewed pressure to do so at a time when Italian-US relations are sticky at best, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome.

The US has never commented on the case.

Those indicted include the former station chief of CIA operations in Milan, Robert Seldon Lady, who says his opposition to the proposal to kidnap the imam was over-ruled.

He is reported to be among those who have returned to the US, leaving behind a villa in Italy which he bought with his life savings.

Mr Pollari, the former head of the Italian secret service, SISMI, had already been removed from his job following a parliamentary inquiry into the claims.

Of the seven Italians who were charged, six were charged with abduction and one is accused of withholding information on abductions.

Lawyers say they have compiled thousands of pages of documents and testimony from Italian agents past and present, some of whom have acknowledged working with the US in planning the abduction.

The trial is due to begin on 8 June.

Torture claims

Mr Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, was released from prison in Egypt only on Sunday.

He says that he was repeatedly beaten and tortured during his four years of detention in Cairo.

He described one form of torture in which he was forced to lie on a wet mattress through which an electric current was passed.

Mr Hassan still faces the risk of arrest as a terror suspect if he returns to Italy, our correspondent says, but his lawyer has said that he wishes to come to Milan nonetheless to testify during the trial.

On Wednesday, EU lawmakers endorsed a damning report accusing some member states of turning a blind eye to rendition, naming Italy as one of the countries involved.

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EU endorses damning report on CIA

The European parliament has approved a damning report on secret CIA flights, condemning member states which colluded in the operations.

The UK, Germany and Italy were among 14 states which allowed the US to forcibly remove terror suspects, lawmakers said.

The EU parliament voted to accept a resolution condemning member states which accepted or ignored the practice.

The EU report said the CIA had operated 1,245 flights, some taking suspects to states where they could face torture.

The report was adopted by a large majority, with 382 MEPs voting in favour, 256 against and 74 abstaining.

Vigilance

The final version denounces the lack of co-operation of many EU member states and it condemns the actions of secret services and governments who accepted and concealed renditions.

It is unlikely, the report says, that European governments were unaware of rendition activities on their territory, something the British government, among others, has denied.

"This is a report that doesn't allow anyone to look the other way. We must be vigilant that what has been happening in the past five years may never happen again," said Italian Socialist Giovanni Fava, who drafted the document.

The parliament also called for an "independent inquiry" to be considered and for closure of the US' Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

Human rights campaigning group Amnesty International welcomed the EU lawmakers' vote, but urged member states to carry out independent investigations.

Revealing facts

Although the report has no force in EU law, Mr Fava said during the parliamentary debate that the related investigation, over a year, had uncovered much new evidence.

Many of those taken from EU states were subjected to torture to extract information from them, the report said.

It said there was a "strong possibility" that this intelligence had been passed on to EU governments who were aware of how it was obtained.

It also uncovered the use of secret detention facilities used as the flights made their journey across Europe towards countries such as Afghanistan.

It was not possible to contradict evidence or suggestions that secret detention centres were operated in Poland and Romania, the report said.

'Incommunicado detention'

Centre-right MEPs - the largest group in parliament - have been highly critical of the report, saying it is primarily motivated by anti-Americanism.

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said the commission would act on the truth, even if it were uncomfortable or unpalatable. But he called for a relaunching of the Euro-Atlantic relationship and said Europe must continue to work with its US partners.

During the course of their investigation, delegations of MEPs travelled to countries including Romania, Poland, the UK, the US and Germany to investigate claims of European involvement in so-called extraordinary renditions.

The governments of Austria, Italy, Poland, Portugal and the UK were criticised for their "unwillingness to co-operate" with investigators.

The report defines extraordinary renditions as instances where "an individual suspected of involvement in terrorism is illegally abducted, arrested and/or transferred into the custody of US officials and/or transported to another country for interrogation which, in the majority of cases involves incommunicado detention and torture".

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Portugal will legalise abortion

Prime Minister Jose Socrates has said abortion will be legalised in Portugal despite the turnout for a referendum being too low to be legally binding.

Turnout was about 40%, far less that the 50% required, but of those who did vote, 57-61% backed a proposed change to the current law, exit polls suggest.

The proposal allows all women abortion until the 10th week of pregnancy.

Currently abortions are only allowed in cases of rape, a health threat to the mother or serious foetal abnormality.

"The law will now be discussed and approved in parliament," Mr Socrates said. "Our interest is to fight clandestine abortion and we have to produce a law that respects the result of the referendum."

"The people spoke with a clear voice," he added.

Portugal has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the European Union. Only Ireland, Malta and Poland have such similarly strict legislation.

The mainly Catholic country currently allows abortions up the 12th week to save a woman's life or to preserve her mental or physical health.

In cases of rape, abortions are allowed within 16 weeks. The limit is 24 weeks if there is a risk that the child will be born with an incurable disease or deformity.

'National shame'

As a result many Portuguese women go to Spain for terminations or resort to illegal abortions.

Some women have abortions done in unsanitary conditions and risk ending up with infections or other serious complications from which they may die.

Mr Socrates had called for voters to back the changes to put an end to the "national shame" of back-street abortions.

"The choice placed before Portugal is whether it resigns itself to staying in the group of the most conservative countries or if it embraces modernity and joins the most developed nations," he said on Thursday.

In a referendum held in 1998, voters upheld the existing abortion law by 51% to 49%, but the result was declared void as nearly seven out of 10 voters stayed away.

The Socialists made holding another referendum part of their election platform in 2005.

Jail threat

Voters were being asked to decide whether to make abortion legal in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, if carried out at the woman's request in a registered clinic.

But since the wording says nothing about the woman having to justify her decision, those against the reform say it is abortion on demand.

The idea of sending someone to prison for having an illegal abortion is universally unpopular - the offence carries a jail sentence of up to three years.

But many people in the staunchly Catholic country want the crime on the statute books to stop abortion becoming routine.

The Catholic Church has gone further, saying that Catholics, who account for 90% of Portugal's population, must oppose abortion.

"Whatever the motives that justify this dramatic act in the eyes of a woman, it is always the denial of a place in the world for a human life that was conceived," Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo, the Patriarch of Lisbon, has said.

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EU to get tough on 'green crimes'

Plans to turn environmental offences over to the criminal courts across the EU are set to be unveiled by the European Commission.

It marks an extension of the EU's powers, following a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice in 2006.

It is one of the first times the EU would have the power to make criminal law and set penalties.

Most offences covered by the draft directive relate to the dumping, transport or treatment of waste.

This includes both nuclear material and radioactive substances.

Heavy fines

A draft of the proposal, leaked to the BBC, said "environmental crime often has a transboundary nature...offenders are therefore currently in a position to exploit the existing differences between member states".

The directive also takes in the illegal trade in endangered species, the "unlawful significant deterioration to a protected habitat", and the unlawful use of ozone-depleting substances.

Most of the offences would be punishable by one to three years in prison. However, that could rise to five years if there was negligence or if the offences caused death or serious injury.

And for offences committed intentionally, the maximum penalty foreseen is 10 years in prison. Fines could go as high as 750,000 euros (£500,000).

The environmental pressure group Greenpeace welcomes the plan but says it does not go far enough.

"It will make it easier for member states to prosecute criminal gangs, individuals and companies that make a business out of shady practices such as the trade in endangered species and in ozone-depleting substances," says Katherine Mill from Greenpeace.

But she says the fines are "minimal", compared with the penalties in EU internal-market cases.

"In comparison, 1.5m euros is the recommended starting fine for the release of radioactive material which causes death. This is peanuts for a large company."

The commission appears to agree with the principle, if not the criticism of the fines.

The draft says: "Only criminal penalties will have a sufficiently dissuasive effect...administrative or financial sanctions may not be dissuasive in cases where the offenders are impecunious or, on the contrary, very strong."

But that has set alarm bells ringing among those who fear the EU is taking over the powers of member states.

"It's a significant transfer of power to the commission," says Timothy Kirkhope, leader of the British Conservatives in the European Parliament.

"The decision on whether or not to criminalise offences in Britain should be a matter for Britain, not for the EU. We all support penalties against environmental vandals but this sets an alarming precedent."

Effective laws?

Britain supported earlier proposals to criminalise environmental offences, but on a different legal basis. This would have left it to the member states to set the penalties.

But that framework decision by the EU Council of Ministers was overturned by the European Court of Justice last year. Judges ruled that the EU's competence on environmental law overruled the member states' powers on criminal justice.

In their ruling, judges said: "The European Community has the power to require the member states to lay down criminal penalties for the purposes of protecting the environment."

But how effective would these new laws be? And are they really necessary?

One case recently in the spotlight is that of the Probo Koala. The tanker, chartered by Trafigura, a company based in the Netherlands, left Amsterdam in August, carrying a load of chemical waste.

The waste was offloaded in Ivory Coast by a local contractor. Most of it was dumped in open-air sites. The Ivorian government says 10 people died and tens of thousands needed medical attention. The public outcry forced the cabinet to resign.

Trafigura denies any wrongdoing, and says it is "distressed by the deaths and illnesses which have occurred in Abidjan".

'Normal' waste

It says the slops from the Probo Koala were made up of "spent caustic soda, gasoline residues and water.

"They resulted from normal maritime gasoline trade operations during June and July 2006 and were, as is usual, held in separate waste tanks aboard the ship."

Dutch lawyer Bob van der Goen is working together with British and French lawyers on a claim for damages for hundreds of Ivorians who say their health was damaged by the waste.

He says there are already laws which would cover the case of the Probo Koala, but they are not being properly enforced.

"There is a lot of window-dressing going on," he says. He believes it is a lack of political will, and not a gap in the legislation, which is the biggest barrier to punishing environmental offenders.

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Italian fans face stadium lockout

Italy's football stadiums will not re-open to fans until existing safety regulations are met, Interior Minister Giuliano Amato has said.

Mr Amato said only nine clubs currently meet those standards, and without swift action all other matches will be played behind closed doors.

All football matches in Italy were suspended indefinitely on Friday after a policeman was killed by rioting fans.

A decision on when matches resume will come after cabinet talks on Wednesday.

"Only those stadia that meet the security norms will re-open to the fans. The other stadia will be used to play in but without fans until they meet guidelines," Mr Amato said after an emergency meeting with Italian football federation officials.

"In stadia like that of Catania [where the policeman was killed] I will not admit anyone, I am firm on this."

Mr Amato also outlined tougher controls on supporters.

At the moment, fans who are arrested often escape with a caution, but in the future punishments will be much stronger and those arrested for violence will be processed much more quickly through the courts, within 48 hours.

There will be no block sale of tickets to the so-called "Ultras", the hardcore fans who have been blamed for Friday night's violence, and clubs must end their close relationship with them.

Draft bill

The Italian Olympic Committee, which oversees all sport in Italy, said it would introduce stewards for stadiums, similar to those that control crowds in British stadiums.

The cabinet will meet on Wednesday to put the proposals into a draft bill, and the BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome says that unlike previous occasions where legislation has been ignored, these proposals will be introduced immediately.

Our correspondent says football violence has until now been ignored by the government and allowed to fester - in part because the trouble was contained within Italy, unlike with the travelling hooligans from the UK, who took their violence overseas.

But after Friday's events, our correspondent says, many people are calling for the authorities to look to how British clubs have tackled football hooliganism through the creation of fully seated stadiums, greater use of surveillance cameras and intelligence sharing and strict punishments for anyone involved in violence.

Deadly blow

Earlier on Monday, thousands of people gathered at Catania cathedral in Sicily for the funeral of police officer Filippo Raciti.

Mr Raciti was killed outside the city's Massimino stadium following a match against a nearby rival team from Palermo.

Although he was initially believed to have died when a homemade bomb was hurled into his vehicle, a post-mortem revealed that a blow from a blunt object caused the injuries which killed him.

A senior Italian football official has said deaths are part of football, a comment condemned as "madness" by Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper on Monday, Antonio Matarrese, the president of Italy's Professional Football League Clubs association, said matches should be allowed to start again.

"Deaths unfortunately form part of this huge movement which is football and which the forces of order are not always able to control," Mr Matarrese was quoted as saying.

"Football should never be stopped. It's the number one rule: football is the industry... do you think there's an industry that would close its factories and not know when they're going to reopen?"

'Unacceptable' situation

But Mr Prodi, speaking to reporters on a trip to Luxembourg, said such a view was "unacceptable".

"I read the unacceptable comments this morning about what happened as if it were something that is inevitable. It's madness," he said.

"It is unacceptable that this incident be considered normal. The Italian government will take all the necessary measures."

Gianna d'Avanzo, a supporter of Inter Milan football club, told the BBC that the Italian game was falling foul of groups of hooligans who attended matches simply to fight.

"In the stadiums we have young fighters going there, not to see the football matches, but just to start a fight. So the problem is not with all the supporters but with just a part of it, quite violent people, they're just fanatics and mainly young fascists, willing to fight," he said.

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Holocaust Day marked in Europe

Events have been taking place to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in memory of the six million Jews and other victims of the Nazi death camps.

Most of the commemorations take place on 27 January - the date on which the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945.

Victims of more recent atrocities are also being remembered.

On the eve of the memorial, the UN General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution condemning Holocaust denial.

The resolution, proposed by the United States and co-sponsored by more than 100 countries, says "ignoring the historical fact of these terrible events increases the risk they will be repeated".

The resolution does not mention any particular country, but diplomats said it was aimed at Iran, which has cast doubt on the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War ll.

'Dignity of Difference'

Two years ago, the UN designated 27 January as the date for international commemorations.

Events this year included a ceremony at the former concentration camp of Sachsenhausen in Germany.

There was also a wreath-laying ceremony on Berlin's Putlitz Bridge, where there is a plaque commemorating the deportation of the city's Jewish community during the Nazi regime.

The bridge has been targeted in the past by far-right groups.

At Saturday's ceremony, the head of the Green Party, Claudia Roth, said: "We all have a responsibility to combat anti-Semitic and far-right attitudes."

It was a view echoed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who urged "all courageous democrats" to fight against the far-right NPD party, which is represented in regional parliaments.

On Saturday evening, hundreds of people attended a concert at Berlin Cathedral. The proceeds will go to a group that provides counselling and support for survivors of the Holocaust living in Israel.

Events have been organised in the UK with the message "The Dignity of Difference" and with the aim of educating people about the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of discrimination.

The victims of other atrocities of the 20th Century, including in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo, are also being honoured.

Some six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust - the attempt by Nazi Germany to exterminate Europe's Jewish population during World War ll.

The Nazis also targeted other groups who were seen by them as racially inferior or degenerate, including Slavs, Roma, homosexuals and disabled people.

It is estimated that about 1.5m people were killed at Auschwitz, the biggest of the concentration camps.

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EU constitution 'is still alive'

Ministers from 17 European Union countries are due to meet in the Spanish capital, Madrid, hoping to keep alive the idea of an EU constitution.

The 17 countries have approved the constitution, and want it to come into force with as few changes as possible.

The proposals were rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

Germany, which is currently leading EU efforts to revive the constitution, regards the meeting as unhelpful, and is only sending an observer.

Germany did back the constitution in a parliamentary vote, but its leaders are concerned that the meeting could alienate France and the Netherlands, as well as the seven other countries that have put ratification on hold.

The countries sending ministers to the meeting are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

Observers from Ireland and Portugal, which have not yet ratified the constitution, are also expected to attend.

'One voice'

The Europe Ministers of Spain and Luxembourg, who organised the conference, say the countries that have approved the constitution - with a combined population of more than 270 million - want their voice to be heard.

In a joint article published in a number of European newspapers, Spain's Alberto Navarro and Luxembourg's Nicolas Schmit say that in today's globalised world "a united and capable Europe is more necessary than ever".

"We cannot resign ourselves to Europe being no more than a huge market or a free trade area," they write.

"We want a political Europe that can speak with one voice, and with one minister of foreign affairs and a common foreign service."

They also back the draft constitution's shift towards more qualified majority voting, and the inclusion in the text of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

In an interview with Reuters news agency, Mr Schmit said the meeting would send a message that the constitution was not dead.

"It is a positive action aimed to remind people that Europe needs profound reform and that at this stage the best reforms on which agreement has been reached are those found in the constitutional treaty," he said.

'Crazy timing'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that it would be a "historic mistake" not to complete institutional reforms of the kind envisaged in the constitution by 2009.

But even supporters of the constitution have questioned the usefulness of the Madrid meeting.

The leader of British Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, Andrew Duff, a prominent supporter of the constitution, said there was serious risk of dividing the union.

"The only way this crisis can be solved is if all member states arrive at a common position informed by a debate involving all of them," he said.

Timothy Kirkhope, leader of UK Conservative MEPs, said holding the meeting now was crazy timing.

"It raises false expectations for those who want a constitution and unnecessary fears for those that share the conservative view that Europe doesn't need a constitution," he said.

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Pope offers olive branch to China

Pope Benedict XVI is to write a letter to China's 10 million Catholics and attempt to restore full diplomatic relations with Beijing.

The moves were announced after a two-day meeting at the Vatican to review Church strategy towards China.

Ties have been severed since the 1950s. China's state Church has about four million followers with millions more in organisations loyal to the Vatican.

China has ordained a number of bishops without the Pope's consent.

It is also unhappy that the Vatican has diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Olympics

In a statement, the Vatican expressed a willingness to pursue dialogue with the Chinese authorities to overcome what it called the incomprehension of the past.

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says a compromise might be reached on closing down the papal embassy in Taipei, but that it is difficult to foresee the Vatican backing down on its demand for a final say in all Episcopal appointments.

The Chinese authorities take the view that the Vatican is interfering in Chinese internal affairs when it demands the right to appoint bishops in China.

At least three were appointed without Vatican approval last year.

Our correspondent says there is speculation in the Vatican that both sides are ready to move towards a new relationship, given that they would welcome the possibility of a papal visit around the time of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The Vatican statement did not say what would be in the Pope's letter to his Chinese flock or when it would be written.

It also paid tribute to the Catholics in China who had "without yielding to compromise... kept their loyalty to the Seat of St Peter, at times even at the price of great suffering".

The Rome meeting was attended by leading Chinese Catholics, including outspoken advocate of religious freedom, Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong.

The Pope himself did not attend the talks.

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EU plans 'industrial revolution'

The European Commission has urged its members to sign up to an unprecedented common energy policy, unveiling a plan to diversify the bloc's energy sources.

Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said it was time for a "post-industrial revolution" which would see Europe slash greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020.

But political as well as environmental concerns should spur change, he noted.

EU vulnerability as an oil importer was thrown into sharp relief this week when Russia's row with Belarus hit supplies.

Binding targets

This is the first step towards a common energy policy, says the BBC's Europe editor Mark Mardell.

There are three central pillars to the proposed integrated EU energy policy.

• A true internal energy market
• Accelerating the shift to low-carbon energy
• Energy efficiency through the 20% target by 2020

In addition to the 20% of all EU energy that should come from renewable power by 2020, 10% of vehicle fuel should come from biofuels, said EU energy chief Andris Piebalgs.

The EU wants to make these targets to be binding for the first time, he said.

It also wants to make sure all new power stations are carbon neutral in 13 years - they should be built in such a way that carbon can be captured and buried - as well as ensuring there is a big increase in renewable power like wind and wave energy.

"We need new policies to face a new reality - policies which maintain Europe's competitiveness, protect our environment and make our energy supplies more secure," said Mr Barroso.

"Europe must lead the world into a new, or maybe one should say post-industrial revolution - the development of a low-carbon economy."

Without such investment and energy efficiency measures, the EU report predicts that EU energy imports will rise from 50% of consumption to 65% by 2030, requiring increased reliance on potentially unpredictable sources.

Internal market

Although energy has been a driving factor of the EU, which was born as the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, policy has on the whole remained a national issue.

The EU wants to fully open up the existing energy market to enable half a billion citizens to get their electricity or gas from anywhere else in Europe.

Mr Barroso proposed stopping power generation and power supply being owned by the same company, which is very controversial in France and Germany.

"We have two points of disagreement with the commission, which are the possible eventual abolition of controlled prices and the question of separating asset ownership by integrated operators," AFP cited an official source at the French industry ministry as saying.

Meanwhile the commission's proposal to reduce emissions was lambasted by one environmental pressure group.

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Polish archbishop quits amid row

The controversial Archbishop of Warsaw has resigned, less than an hour before he was due to be installed in his post.

Stanislaw Wielgus has been at the centre of a communist-era spying row, and recently admitted collaborating with the secret police.

He announced the decision in person at a special Mass for his installation, to a mixture of applause and shouting.

The Vatican's mission in Poland said in a statement that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the archbishop's resignation.

The Pope has asked Cardinal Jozef Glemp, Archbishop Wielgus' predecessor, to return to his post temporarily "until further decisions have been taken concerning the archdiocese", the brief statement added.

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the archbishop was under tremendous pressure to resign, but the decision to step down minutes before his lavish inauguration is unprecedented.

Poland's president was expected to attend the event, which has now been turned into a service in honour of Cardinal Glemp.

Shocking

Archbishop Wielgus was consecrated in a closed-door ceremony on Friday.

But he publicly admitted his collaboration, and a statement acknowledging he had not been truthful about the matter in the past was read out in churches throughout Poland on Saturday.

He announced his resignation on Sunday morning, following urgent talks between Polish and Vatican officials overnight.

Announcing his decision at the service with tears in his eyes, the archbishop said he had reached the decision after much reflection.

There was an immediate reaction from the congregation with applause, cheers and shouting.

People who had expected to see him inaugurated reacted by saying: "No, you can't do this."

The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says that in a country where the Catholic Church plays such an important role, this scandal could hardly have been more shocking.

The Polish Church has launched a series of investigations in recent years to identify collaborators.

Krakow Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who heads an investigation in his home diocese, said the communist era had been "a time of persecution of the Church, often bloody and brutal".

'No informing'

The decision to appoint Archbishop Wielgus divided opinion in the staunchly Catholic country.

In one survey, two-thirds of people asked, said Archbishop Wielgus should resign.

His admission came after a Church commission acknowledged he had collaborated with the communist secret police.

Archbishop Wielgus said he had had contacts with security agents, but denied informing on priests.

He said documents suggesting otherwise were drawn up only by communist "functionaries".

Pope Benedict XVI made the appointment last month.

Just before Christmas, the Vatican released a statement insisting the Pope had been fully briefed on Archbishop Wielgus' past and supported his appointment.

The Church plays a very prominent role in Polish society and was highly esteemed because of its leading role in the fight against communism in Poland and worldwide, particularly during the time of Polish Pope John Paul II.

But historians estimate that up to 15% of Polish clergy agreed to inform on their colleagues in the communist era.

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New Polish archbishop in spy row

The Roman Catholic Church in Poland says the new archbishop of Warsaw was a collaborator with the former communist regime, amid an escalating row.

Stanislaw Wielgus has been at the centre of a furore in Poland since a newspaper questioned his past after his appointment by the Vatican.

The archbishop took office earlier and will be confirmed at Sunday Mass.

He has admitted having had contacts with security agents but denied informing on priests.

He repeated on Friday: "I did not carry out any intelligence task. I never inflicted any harm on anyone." He said documents suggesting otherwise were drawn up only by communist "functionaries".

'Secret collaboration'

Polish ombudsman Janusz Kochanowski said the files he examined showed that Archbishop Wielgus collaborated with the Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa (SB) secret police in the 1970s.

Then on Friday the Church's own investigative committee said: "There exist numerous, important documents which show that Father Stanislaw Wielgus said he was ready to collaborate, in a conscious and secret manner, with the communist security services, and that he had begun that collaboration."

It went on to say that there was no clear proof that he caused anyone any harm.

The revelations have triggered calls for his resignation.

The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says Poland's communist authorities were particularly anxious to infiltrate the Catholic Church because they viewed it as a centre of resistance, but most priests refused to inform on their colleagues.

'Agent training'

Last month Pope Benedict XVI appointed Stanislaw Wielgus Archbishop of Warsaw, one of the most senior positions in the Polish Catholic Church.

Just before Christmas, the Vatican released a statement insisting the Pope had been fully briefed on Archbishop Wielgus' past and supported his appointment.

The Church has a very prominent role in Polish society and was highly esteemed because of its leading role in the fight against communism in Poland and worldwide, particularly during the time of Polish Pope John Paul II.

Father Wielgus says he - like all priests - was obliged to meet SB agents.

But Polish media have alleged that he was more involved than most, and was given "special training for agents".

Historians estimate up to 15% of Polish clergy agreed to inform on their colleagues in the communist era.

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Merkel: 'Boost EU-US trade ties'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she wants to see "ever-closer economic co-operation" between the 27-nation EU and the US.<

She told the Financial Times the pair should harmonise their financial market regulations, patent laws and other economic mechanisms more closely.

Germany currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU and year-long presidency of the G8 nations.

She said closer harmony between the EU and US would boost investment flows.

'Expertise'

Mrs Merkel told the FT that her ambition was to create a single transatlantic market for investors.

Such a market would have common rules and standards in a number of areas, including intellectual property and financial regulation.

"We have accumulated a certain expertise about single markets in Europe, which we can apply on the transatlantic level," she said.

"With increasing globalisation, this can be a good basis for transatlantic cooperation."

'Clear advantages'

The chancellor said she would touch on this topic during talks with US President George W Bush in Washington this week.

She enjoys good personal relations with the president, and will tell him the EU and US must "not drift apart, but instead come closer together, where there are clear advantages for both sides".

Germany's relationship with the US hit stormy weather under the previous chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, but has improved since Mrs Merkel took over in 2005.

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Spain says Eta peace talks 'over'

The peace process between the Spanish government and Basque separatists Eta is "finished" following a bombing in Madrid, Spain's interior minister says.

Two Ecuadoreans are still missing in the rubble of a multi-storey car park at Barajas airport that was brought down by a bomb on Saturday.

The government has blamed Eta, which called a "permanent" ceasefire nine months ago.

"ETA has evidently broken off the peace process," Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.

The process was "broken, liquidated, finished", he said.

The government of Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero had earlier been criticised by opposition parties for suspending peace talks, rather than declaring they were over.

Mr Rubalcaba is expected to meet representatives of the major political parties next week to seek consensus on how to end terrorism, the deputy leader of the governing Socialist Party said.

Girlfriend saw blast

The huge car bomb on Saturday brought down the five-storey car park at Barajas airport's terminal four. Eta made three warning calls in the hour before the blast, officials said.

The Ecuadorean men, who were asleep in their car in the car park, are thought to have been trapped when the bomb exploded.

The girlfriend of one of the men, who had gone to pick up a passenger, was returning to the car when she saw the explosion, according to an Ecuadorean immigrants' association.

The bodies of Diego Armando Estacio, 19, and Carlos Alonso Palate, 35, have still not been recovered.

Authorities say it will take several days to clear an estimated 40,000 tons of concrete, under which about 400 cars are thought to be buried.

Madrid's mayor said on Tuesday crews were trying to find the car in which the men were sleeping, and the van in which the bomb was planted, as quickly as possible without destroying evidence and jeopardising the criminal investigation.

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Romania and Bulgaria join the EU

Huge celebrations have been held in Romania and Bulgaria to mark their accession to the European Union, 17 years after the fall of Communism.

Thousands attended concerts in the two capitals, Bucharest and Sofia.

Several European leaders joined in a folk dance in Bucharest, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso delivered a speech in Sofia.

Their entry brings EU membership to 27 - up from 15 three years ago - and a population of half a billion.

"It was hard, but we arrived at the end of the road. It is the road of our future. It is the road of our joy," Romanian President Traian Basescu said, as tens of thousands of revellers cheered.

"We arrived in Europe. Welcome to Europe," Mr Basescu said on stage in University Square, where he was joined by EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and government ministers.

Foreign ministers of Germany, Denmark, Austria and Hungary, who were also attending, wished Romanian citizens a happy new year.

Earlier, the EU flag was raised outside the government headquarters in Bucharest to the European anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

In Sofia, a pyramid of light illuminated the sky, with rays emanating from the city's Orthodox cathedral, its Armenian church, a synagogue, a mosque and another church.

Thousands of people in Battenberg Square cheered as midnight struck. Fireworks lit the sky over the building where the Communist Party once held its headquarters.

In an emotional address to the nation, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov called the country's EU entry a "heavenly moment".

"The day we are welcoming - 1 January 2007 - will undoubtedly find its place among the most important dates in our national history.

"But let's make it clear, our future success as a nation depends not on European funds and resources, but on our own work," he said.

'Falling enthusiasm'

The accession of the two new countries comes amid falling enthusiasm in Europe for the bloc's continuing expansion.

A recent Eurobarometer poll suggested only 41% of people in the 15 states that were part of the EU before 2004 supported further enlargement.

The two new countries will now be subject to strict monitoring, to ensure they make more progress in the fight against corruption and organised crime.

They face export bans on certain foods, and Bulgaria has been warned that 55 of its aircraft could be grounded unless they reach EU safety standards.

Analysts say there is a risk that EU aid will be mis-spent, or just not taken up because the countries' institutions are too disorganised.

There are also fears that the countries' economies will fail to compete with the rest of the EU's once trade barriers come down.

Immigration fears

Both Bulgaria and Romania are much poorer than the rest of the EU, with GDP per capita of about 33% of the EU average, compared with 50% in Poland.

Some Western European member states fear a flood of new immigrants, but officials in both countries say most of those who wanted to work abroad have already left.

Most of the 15 older EU member states have put in place restrictions on the free movement of workers from the two new members - though Finland and Sweden are two exceptions.

Most of the 10 newer member states, including Poland, say they will erect no barriers.

Bulgaria closed two reactors of its Kozloduy nuclear power station in the hours before joining the EU - one of the last remaining conditions of membership.

Also on 1 January, Slovenia became the first of the 10 states which joined the EU in 2004 to adopt the European currency, the euro.

The existing Slovenian currency, the tolar will remain in dual use with the euro for 14 days.

Germany also takes over from Finland for six months as the country holding the presidency of the European Union.

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Garda received JFK death threats

Gardai were alerted to two telephone messages alleging that the US leader would be assassinated during his three-day trip and a third was phoned to the newsdesk at Independent Newspapers.

One threat claimed a sniper armed with a rifle would be waiting on a roof near the president's route from Dublin Airport to the Irish president's residence, Aras an Uachtarain, and would be ready to open fire as the motorcade passed.

The second involved a claim that a bomb would be planted on board an aircraft at Shannon Airport as Mr Kennedy prepared to return to the United States.

The classified files from the Department of Justice in 1963, just released, revealed a threat phoned to Independent Newspapers with a man claiming that an attempt would be made on the president's life at Dublin Airport.

It was treated as a hoax.

A letter was also sent to the American embassy, claiming that a bag of flour would be dropped on Mr Kennedy's head during his trip, but senior gardai assured authorities there was little chance of it happening.

Briefing notes from the garda commissioner's office about security for the president's historic visit said that, although the threats were thought to be bogus, extra security precautions were taken.

Some of the measures included gardai travelling ahead of the motorcade and using binoculars to check all roofs near the route from Dublin Airport.

Officers were also armed with rifles, Thompson guns and revolvers to use if a sniper was spotted.

US Secret Service agents were also allowed to carry side-arms. Permission was granted even though it had been against the law for foreign security personnel to be armed.

As final security arrangements were put together, 10-14 days ahead of the visit, garda commissioner Daniel Costigan warned that "the eyes of the world would be on Ireland".

In a letter the commissioner stated: "(The visit is the) most important visit to this country since the establishment of the state, with worldwide publicity and British journalists are likely to be ready to criticise any fault in arrangements.

"While any attempt on the life of the president is most unlikely, we cannot overlook the possibility of some lunatic, fanatical, communist, Puerto Rican, or some other suchlike person, coming here to try to assassinate the president."

Mr Kennedy's three-day whistle-stop tour of the country ran from 26 June until 29 June 1963, with visits to Dublin, Wexford, Cork and Galway.

The US Secret Service praised the gardai for their efforts to protect the president.

One note stated that Mr Kennedy told assistant commissioner Michael Wymes immediately before boarding his plane in Shannon: "The police did a mighty fine job, thanks very much.

"I would like you to thank them all for me."

And a letter from Commissioner Costigan to the Department of Justice noted: "Mr Jim Rowley, head of the US Secret Service, said to me that in all his experience of presidential journeys, his staff never received from any other police force as much co-operation in planning the security arrangements or as much help in carrying them out as they did here."

The letter added that it was Mr Rowley's considered opinion that An Garda Siochana was the most efficient police force at crowd control, acting on the force of personality and self-confidence.

The papers also revealed that on the night of JFK's arrival in Ireland almost half (42%) of the country's gardai were deployed on duty between the airport and the Irish presidential residence.

Over each day of the visit, an average of 2,969 gardai were deployed. The documents noted that Mr Kennedy was mobbed on three occasions by massive crowds, but on each occasion it was his eagerness to great well-wishers in person rather than the fault of the gardai.

But in a letter from JFK's secretary, he expresses sincere appreciation and gratitude for the many splendid public receptions.

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Irish language to get EU status

The Irish language (Gaeilge) is set to get official status in the EU on 1 January, bringing the total to 23.

The European Commission says Bulgarian and Romanian are expected to get official status on the same day, when the two Balkan countries join the EU.

According to Ireland's 2002 census, 1.57 million of the four million population can speak Irish.

The commission says the EU will not have to translate all legislation into Irish, "mainly for practical reasons".

The EU will have a team of 29 translators and editors to handle Irish, as well as 450 freelance interpreter days annually, costing some 3.5m euros (£2.3m; $4.6m).

Despite the resurgence of interest in Irish, increasing numbers of students are choosing not to sit exams in Irish, the commission says. The language is compulsory in Ireland's schools.

The commission describes linguistic diversity as a "key theme" in the EU, noting that Catalan, Basque and Galician have been granted semi-official status.

If they become official the costs will probably be incurred by Spain, it says.

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Pope Makes Christmas Appeal For Children

(CBS/AP) Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Christmas Midnight Mass in the splendor of St. Peter's Basilica early Monday with an appeal for abused children around the world, including child soldiers, beggars and others deprived of sustenance and love.

"The child of Bethlehem directs our gaze toward all children who suffer and are abused in the world, the born and the unborn," Benedict said in his homily, referring to the church's stand against abortion.

In celebrating Jesus' birth, he said people should direct their thoughts toward children forced to serve "as soldiers in a violent world, toward children who have to beg, toward children who suffer deprivation and hunger, toward children who are unloved.

"Let us pray this night that the brightness of God's love may enfold all these children," the pontiff said. "Let us ask God to help us do our part so that the dignity of children may be respected."

Earlier, the pope used his weekly Sunday blessing to ask the world to overcome prejudice, while some Christians celebrated amid heightened security due to the threat of terror attacks.

Peace on earth seemed a distant dream this Christmas. Police guarded churches in Pakistan and Indonesia, and in Bethlehem, there were no Christmas carols this year.

Queen Elizabeth II sent a special Christmas message to British troops overseas, telling them "your courage and loyalty are not lightly taken" amid mounting losses in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The pope began the Midnight Mass, broadcast to 44 nations, with a call for peace in Latin: "Pax vobis" ("Peace be with you). The faithful responded: "Et cum spiritu tuo." ("And also with you.")

To symbolize the worldwide reach of the Roman Catholic Church, children in native costumes from around the world -- including Korea, Poland and Burkina Faso -- brought flowers to a figure of the Baby Jesus near the altar.

Benedict told worshippers to "not forget the true gift: to give each others something of ourselves, to give each other something of our time, to open our time to God."

Christmas gift-giving also means giving to those who cannot give anything back, he said.

"This is what God has done," the pontiff said.

Twelve hours after the solemn ceremony, the 79-year-old Benedict was scheduled to deliver the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech �ELatin for "to the city and to the world" �Eto a crowd expected to number in the tens of thousands in St. Peter's Square.

His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, used this traditional Christmas Day message to review progress and setbacks for humanity.

Wearing gold-colored vestments, smiling at the faithful and raising a hand in blessing, Benedict strode up the main aisle to take his place on the central altar, which was decorated with red poinsettia flowers. He walked around the altar, sprinkling incense.

Earlier, Benedict delivered his weekly Sunday blessing to a crowd of pilgrims and tourists gathering in St. Peter's Square, waiting for midnight Mass.

Speaking from a window overlooking the square, the pope said people should strive to "overcome preconceived ideas and prejudices, tear down barriers and eliminate contrasts that divide or worse �Eset individuals and peoples against each other, so as to build together a world of justice and peace."

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Tight security for Mozart opera

The German Opera's controversial production of Mozart's Idomeneo has gone ahead in Berlin.

It had been feared that the revival could prompt violent demonstrations by Muslim groups.

One scene shows severed heads of the Prophet Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Buddha and the Greek god Poseidon. Islamic tradition bans images of Muhammad.

Audience members underwent stringent police security checks. The event passed off peacefully.

Nearly 2,000 ticket-holders filed through metal detectors, delaying the start of the show by an hour.

Several Muslim leaders refused to attend, but the head of Germany's Turkish community, Kenan Kolat, criticised their decision.

"I think it is important to set up a sign for freedom of art and that's why I'm here tonight," he told reporters outside the opera house.

Controversial twist

The opera was pulled from the schedule in September - a decision that triggered criticism from several German leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, who warned against self-censorship by fear.

And while some Muslim leaders praised the move, Mr Kolat branded it as a step back to "the Middle Ages".

The production, by director Hans Neuenfels, received its premiere three years ago, and it was his idea to include the controversial twist with the religious icons.

It gained little attention at the time, but the subsequent riots over Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad meant that Monday's performance generated controversy.

And Mr Neuenfels himself was critical of the revival of his production, insisting his staging was not altered.

The scene in question, where the king of Crete presents the severed heads, was a protest against "any form of organised religion, or its founders", he added.

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EU summit to reconsider expansion

The heads of the 25 European Union states are expected to make it harder for new members to join, when they meet for their annual summit in Brussels.

This, they will argue, will allow time to reform the EU's key institutions.

Arguments are expected over a call by the EU's executive, the Commission, for the veto over justice and home affairs to be dropped, our correspondent says.

The UK, Germany and the Netherlands are expected to oppose the proposal which is meant to help fight terrorism.

'Turkey problem'

EU leaders are expected to call for issues such as judicial reform and fighting corruption to be tackled early on when considering new applications for membership.

The summit comes after EU foreign ministers decided on Monday to partially suspend accession talks with Turkey.

The decision stems from Turkey's refusal to open its sea and air ports to EU member Cyprus, under a customs union pact it signed with the bloc last year.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen who will chair the summit, told Reuters news agency that his purpose was to find some kind of consensus about enlargement.

"Now we can have this general debate about enlargement without this Turkey problem," he said.

National veto

The European Commission has argued strongly that the fight against crime and terrorism needs far closer cooperation between countries.

This, they say, could be best achieved by governments dropping their national veto.

However, the idea was part of the constitution already rejected in the French and Dutch referendums.

That said, Finland - the current EU chair - will ask the 25 prime ministers and presidents to sign up to a statement saying the ideas in the constitution about the veto are the best way forward.

If it is not, those who warn parts of the constitution will be introduced by the back door will feel vindicated, the BBC's Europe Editor, Mark Mardell, says.

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Iran set for Holocaust conference

Iran is hosting a two-day conference which it says will examine whether the Holocaust actually happened.

Organisers say the event will offer a chance to discuss "questions" about the Holocaust without restrictive taboos.

The conference has been condemned by Germany - where denying the Holocaust is illegal - and by Israel and the US.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who backs the conference, has publicly questioned the scale of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed.

Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly downplayed the extent of the killing, describing it as a myth used to justify the existence of Israel and oppression of the Palestinians.

He has called for the dismantling of Israel, branding its leaders "terrorists".

Iran resolutely denies accusations of anti-Semitism, pointing to its 25,000-strong Jewish community.

However, Iran's one Jewish MP, Morris Motamed, told the BBC he opposed the conference.

"Holding this conference after having a competition of cartoons about the Holocaust has put a lot of pressure on Jews all over the world and it can give nations and governments a very negative impression of Iran," he said.

Free speech?

A spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, Manouchehr Mohammadi, said the conference would examine fundamental questions about the Holocaust.

"The first question to be posed is: did the Holocaust actually happen or not? And the second one is: if it did happen, what was the scale of it?

"The allegation that six million Jews were killed or burnt in this event, is it true or not?"

Iran knows this conference is going to cause outrage abroad but it says it wants to test the limits of the West's commitment to freedom of speech, says the BBC's correspondent in Tehran, Frances Harrison.

Iran is drawing a parallel with the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which provoked outrage in the Islamic world but were defended by Western liberals, she adds.

The US state department described the conference "yet another disgraceful act on this particular subject by the regime in Tehran".

Khaled Kasab Mahameed, an Israeli Arab who plans to attend the conference and runs a small museum about the Holocaust in his home in Nazareth, told the BBC that the concept was flawed.

"I think the Iranian president acknowledges the importance and the centrality of the Holocaust in shaping policies in the world.

"He thinks that Israel gets support because of the Holocaust, so his only weapon is to deny it, and that's not good."

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St Paul's tomb unearthed in Rome

Archaeologists working for the Vatican have unearthed a sarcophagus containing what they believe are the remains of St Paul the Apostle.

The tomb dates back to at least AD390 and was found in a crypt under a basilica in Rome.

It has long been thought that the crypt contained the tomb of St Paul but the altar had hidden it.

St Paul was an influential early Christian who travelled widely in the Mediterranean area in the 1st Century.

Excavations at the site began in 2002 and were completed last month.

Ancient pilgrims

The basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls is the largest church in Rome after St Peter's.

For the past three years, archaeologists have been excavating underneath the altar to remove two huge slabs of marble and now, for the first time in almost 1,700 years, the sarcophagus of St Paul is on public view.

The original inscription on the top reads: Paulo Apostolo Mart - Latin for "Paul Apostle Martyr".

The holes through which the ancient pilgrims would have pushed pieces of cloth to touch the relic are clearly visible.

"What we can see at the moment through a grating, a new grating that's been put there, is the side of the sarcophagus of Paul which seems to be white marble-like material," said Father Edmund Power, abbot of the nearby Benedictine monastery.

St Paul travelled widely through Asia Minor, Greece and Rome in the 1st Century.

His letters to the early churches, found in the Bible's New Testament, are arguably some of the most influential on Christian thinking.

St Paul is said to have been beheaded in AD65 by the Roman Emperor Nero.

His sarcophagus will be on public view for the foreseeable future but the church is yet to rule out the possibility that one day the interior itself will be opened and examined.

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Vatican Holocaust claim disputed

The man who later became Pope John XXIII tried in vain to challenge the Vatican's perceived indifference to the Nazi Holocaust, a new study has found.

Papers and diaries show then Archbishop Giuseppe Roncalli posted an urgent telegram in 1944 to Pope Pius XII on the atrocities at Auschwitz.

The telegram's date contradicts the Vatican's official version of when it received a report.

The new insight comes from the papers of a Jewish emissary, Haim Barlas.

He had befriended Archbishop Roncalli, then the papal nuncio to Istanbul, in the 1940s.

Scribbled synopsis

The exchange of letters between Barlas and Roncalli, mostly in French, was recently uncovered in a private collection in Israel.

The letters show that Roncalli was frustrated by the Vatican's silence in the face of what was emerging in Europe.

They show that in 1943, the archbishop took it upon himself to write to the president of Slovakia asking him to stop the Nazi deportation of Jews.

On 23 June 1944, Barlas passed Roncalli a chilling 30-page report.

The document, now known as the Auschwitz protocols, had been compiled by two Jews who had escaped the camp that April.

The archbishop quickly scribbled a synopsis of the report and sent it by telegram.

His message made clear that the camp's purpose was the mass killing of Jews.

The date the telegram was sent contradicts the Vatican's official version that it only received details of the report in October 1944.

Vatican officials, when asked about the alleged discrepancy, suggested the question be directed to historians of the period.

But while all of the archbishop's correspondence with his Church superiors has been preserved in the Vatican archives, the part that could clarify when he sent the details has not been made available to scholars.

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Polish race hate groups spark concern

Racist groups in Poland are forging links with Neo-Nazis in the UK, a race relations conference has been told.

Immigration and high unemployment had led to an upsurge in racist activity in Poland, said Dr Krystyna Bleszynska, of Warsaw University.

And groups banned there were cooperating with Combat 18 and other race hate groups in Germany and the US.

Combat 18 takes its name from Adolf Hitler's initials, the first and eighth letters of the alphabet.

Neo-Nazi groups are outlawed in Poland, as they are in many European countries, but there has been growing concern about skinhead activity linked to football hooliganism.

In July, Polish police working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut down a neo-Nazi website and charged a man suspected of running it.

'Cosmopolitan'

The website published details of people on its hate list - such as left-wing activists, homosexuals and members of ethnic minorities, police said.

It was operated by the Polish wing of Blood and Honour, an international group which originated in the UK. The site used a US-based server.

Asked about Polish attitudes to migration at a Commission for Racial Equality conference in central London, Dr Bleszynska said Poland was a "cosmopolitan" and "multi-ethnic" society with a strong sense of social justice.

But there were also nationalists on both the right and left who had racist views.

"In Poland, we have certain legal and illegal organisations acting against immigrants on the basis of racism and that's really very sad," Dr Bleszynska told the Commission for Racial Equality conference in central London.

She said some of the groups were cooperating with Combat 18 in the UK as well as German, Serbian and US groups such as the Aryan Brothers.

'Nationalistic'

Extremist views were not confined to the political margins in Poland, she added.

"Certain groups of nationalists, which also display also racist attitudes, act in the frame of legal organisations.

"You can find them in the right wings of our parties, or strong left wings, for instance in the League of Polish Families you can meet some political leaders who are nationalistic and racist," Dr Bleszynska said.

Poland had been a multi-ethnic country for centuries, with immigrants from the Ukraine, Belarus and elsewhere, but it had only very recently become a multi-racial society, with the arrival of immigrants from Asia, she said.

Average unemployment was 16% but it was 25% among young people and immigrants were sometimes seen as "people who will take Polish jobs".

Some Polish migrants in the UK, meanwhile, were being supported in their "unpleasant" behaviour by British nationalist and Neo-Nazi groups, said Dr Bleszynska, who is professor of multicultural education at Warsaw University.

'Ghettos'

Many Poles were highly qualified and found it easy to find work in the UK, Dr Bleszynska said.

But others, who were less well-educated, sometimes found it difficult to find jobs and were not accustomed to the multiracial nature of British society.

In particular, they found it difficult to understand "positive discrimination," which they viewed simply as "negative discrimination".

In areas such as Ealing, in West London, Polish "ghettos" were forming, Dr Bleszynska claimed, with some young Poles unable to find work but also unable to return home.

"They are ashamed to come back to tell their friends and family, I am sorry I was not successful," she said.

They sometimes faced "very unpleasant behaviour" when competing for jobs with British people, she said, but their behaviour in response was "also not pleasant".

And they were being "supported by British nationalists and Nazi groups," she added.

About 600,000 people have come to work in the UK from eight nations which joined the European Union in 2004, according to official figures, with the majority, about 447,000, coming from Poland.

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Charles arrives for Nigerian tour

Prince Charles has attended a state reception hosted by the President of Nigeria following a "low key" arrival in the West African country.

President Olusegun Obasanjo flew in just minutes ahead of the Prince, who was then whisked away to a reception, marking the start of his Royal visit.

British High Commissioner Sir Richard Gozney also greeted the Prince at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

This is the prince's third tour of the state, after visits in 1990 and 1999.

New rail network

The prince, who is embarking on the two-day visit without his wife the Duchess of Cornwall, received a warm welcome from the president when he arrived for the reception at the State House banqueting hall in Abuja.

The two men met during Charles' last visit to the country in 1999.

The pair both own farms. President Obasanjo, 69, a former Korea soldier, has a chicken farm, while the prince established Home Farm in Gloucestershire, which is run on organic principles.

It is thought on Tuesday evening, they discussed their mutual interest in agriculture.

The Nigerian government's plans to expand its railway systems was also thought to be among subjects discussed.

Oil exporter

The prince is on the second leg of his tour of West Africa, promoting regional stability, sustainable development and national reconciliation.

He earlier spent a day in Sierra Leone.

His tour of Nigeria will take him to remote villages, religious buildings and meetings with regional tribal chiefs

Years of military rule in Nigeria ended in 1999, when a civilian government came to power, but since then the country has experienced increasing religious and ethnic tensions.

The introduction of Sharia law in 12 northern states, which have a large Muslim population, in 1999 has provoked problems between followers of Islam and Christians.

Outbreaks of violence in Kano in 2000 and Kadena in 2002, left several thousand people dead.

Despite being the world's eighth largest oil exporter, Nigeria is a poor country.

Corruption and misrule has led to many of its population of more than 130m having to survive on very little.

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Berlusconi collapses during rally

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with a minor heart complaint after being taken ill during a speech in northern Italy.

Mr Berlusconi, 70, slumped at the podium at a rally in Tuscany and collapsed into the arms of his aides.

He is spending the night under observation in a Milan hospital but has said he is doing fine.

Twice prime minister, Mr Berlusconi has been leader of the opposition since losing power in elections in April.

Mr Berlusconi - Italy's richest man - went on trial last week for alleged fraud and money laundering and could face up to 12 years in jail if convicted. He denies all charges against him.

The trial is due to resume in Milan on Monday.

'Irregular heartbeat'

Mr Berlusconi had been speaking for about 40 minutes in the spa resort of Montecatini Terme when he suddenly slumped at the podium.

Several members of Mr Berlusconi's entourage rushed to his aid but he was unable to stand up and had to be carried out of the room.

His doctor said he was examined by a cardiologist before leaving the venue half an hour later.

Shortly after he collapsed, former lower house speaker Irene Pivetti told the audience that Mr Berlusconi was recovering.

"He felt unwell due to the tension, he is very sorry and wants to continue but the doctor has told him not to," Ms Pivetti said.

Speaking outside his villa later on Sunday, Mr Berlusconi told reporters he would spend the night in a Milan hospital.

"I collapsed from exhaustion, from the heat, from hard work, from antibiotics I am taking for a knee operation," he said.

An electrocardiogram had revealed "something like an irregular heartbeat", he added, so doctors wanted to keep him under observation.

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Spy death dominates EU summit

There is never a dull moment when the Russian President Vladimir Putin is in town.

Well, that is not entirely true, but there is no doubt that his presence adds a good dose of spice to EU meetings that have been known to drag a little.

In the days leading up to Friday's summit in Helsinki the talk was all of Poland; whether or not it would yield in its demand that the Russian embargo on its meat and vegetable products be lifted, and would allow the EU to start negotiations on a successor to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

By the time the summit had come to Helsinki - flashing blue police lights around every corner and heavy-set men with earpieces at every hotel door - it looked like the EU-Russia meeting was doomed.

Poland had vetoed the start of negotiations; once again the EU's divisions, and its inability to patch them up, were laid bare.

'Cool scorn'

Obituaries for Finland's Presidency of the EU were being written.

The night before the summit Russian officials briefed correspondents.

The briefing took place in a private bar in central Helsinki.

Behind one senior official twin TV screens played Fashion TV, a channel beloved of nipple-starved adolescents the world over.

You could not, or would not, make up such a scene.

Did the president enjoy the summits with the EU, the official was asked; deadpan, he replied that the president understood the importance of such meetings.

But the talk soon turned serious.

Alexander Litvinenko lay dying.

The official poured cool scorn on those who suggested that the Russian government had any responsibility for his poisoning.

The point-blank denial set the tone for the summit.

Dominating the stage

Mr Litvinenko died during the night.

As the summit got started it was clear that there were two sets of meetings going on; one, where officials waded through the discussions on energy, foreign policy and the transport problems on the Russo-Finnish border.

And another, in the press room, where journalists clustered round Russian representatives and peppered them with questions about the life and death of Mr Litvinenko.

The press conference was not long in coming; journalists ran - yes, ran - to grab the best seats.

One seasoned diplomatic correspondent wondered aloud whether it would be the most uncomfortable outing the Russian president would make.

Not a bit of it. Smaller than many on the platform, Vladimir Putin dominated it.

His expression was studiedly cool, almost poker-faced, with a hint of melancholy, a hint of boredom.

Every time he lifted his ice-blue eyes to the audience or skies the camera flashes exploded.

For every probing question he faced from the European journalists, a soft lob would be tossed up by the Moscow press corps.

And when the question about Mr Litvinenko's demise came, the response was classic Mr Putin.

He expressed his condolences. He noted that it was the responsibility of the British authorities to secure the safety of their citizens.

He said it was unfortunate that the death was being used for "political provocations".

And he cast doubt on the veracity of Mr Litvinenko's deathbed accusation.

And that was that. Vladimir Putin stood up, more cameras flashing, and shook hands with the others on the platform.

And then, as the summit ended, he broke into a series of broad smiles.

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Le Pen struggles to find backers

The French far-right leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, says he is having problems gathering enough signatures to stand for the French presidency next April.

Candidates must collect 500 signatures from elected local officials in at least 30 different French regions.

Mr Le Pen accused mainstream parties of exerting pressure on the local officials not to endorse him.

He shocked France during the last elections in 2002 when he went through to the second round of voting.

Mr Le Pen, 78, has until March to gather the signatures.

But age has not diminished the far-right leader's fiery rhetoric, says the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris.

Secrecy call

At a press conference, Mr Le Pen was keen to portray himself as the victim of an "oligarch-like conspiracy between the parties in place and the state institutions to stop the candidate of national opposition from being present".

He said local officials were hesitating to endorse him because they knew their names would be made public and were scared to be seen supporting his National Front.

"I ask mayors to have the courage to carry out the duty assigned to them by the law," Mr Le Pen told reporters at his party headquarters near Paris.

"This is about the fate of the country," he said, calling on the mayors to "overcome their reservations or fears".

He also asked French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to change the rules so his supporters could remain anonymous - an idea the prime minister has rejected.

Yet it seems Mr Le Pen will have no problem persuading a significant number of people to vote for him again, says our Paris correspondent.

Opinion polls show that between 11 and 15% of the French would back him as president.

The far right is attracting many in France who worry about high unemployment and immigration, as well as some who are deeply disillusioned with the French political elite, our correspondent says.

Some fear Mr Le Pen could go through to the second round next time too, especially if the centre-right fields more than one serious candidate, she says.

The governing UMP party is expected to back Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy as its official candidate, although President Jacques Chirac has not yet ruled out standing for a third term in office.

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Dutch Muslims condemn burqa ban

Dutch Muslims have criticised a government proposal to ban women from wearing the burqa or veils which cover the face in public places.

Dutch Muslim groups say a ban would make the country's one million Muslims feel victimised and alienated.

The Dutch cabinet said burqas - a full body covering that also obscures the face - disturb public order and safety.

The decision comes days ahead of elections which the ruling centre-right coalition is expected to win.

The proposed ban would apply to wearing the burqa in the street, and in trains, schools, buses and law courts in the Netherlands.

Other forms of face coverings, such as veils, and crash helmets with visors that obscure the face, would also be covered by a ban.

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, who is known for her tough policies, said it was important that all people in the Netherlands were able to see and identify each other clearly to promote integration and tolerance.

Last year a majority of MPs in the Dutch parliament said they were in favour of a ban.

An estimated 6% of 16 million people living in the Netherlands are Muslims.

But there are thought to be fewer than 100 women who choose to wear the burqa, a traditional Islamic form of dress.

Civil rights debate

The latest move came after an expert committee judged that it would not contravene Dutch law.

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France Socialists vote for Royal

Segolene Royal will be the French Socialists' presidential candidate at elections next year, after beating two rivals in a ballot of party members.

The 53-year-old mother-of-four hopes to become France's first woman leader.

She won a clear victory over former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn and ex-Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, thus avoiding a second round of voting.

Ms Royal said she felt honoured by the result. "To be chosen in this way is something extraordinary," she said.

Speaking shortly before her win was formally announced, she added: "The hour now is for unity."

Both her rivals conceded victory, saying it was important for the Socialists to forget their differences and focus on the presidential campaign.

'Relentless contest'

The BBC's Mark Mardell in Paris says Ms Royal's main opponent from the right is almost certain to be the Home Affairs Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, although he has not officially announced that he is a candidate yet.

The next five months will see a relentless contest to be France's next head of state, our correspondent adds.

Recent polls suggested Ms Royal would stand an even chance of beating Mr Sarkozy in the presidential poll - but her two rivals would not.

The three contenders made bitter attacks on each other during the campaign.

If no candidate had achieved an overall majority of votes, there would have been a second round next week.

But party officials said 60.6% of the party's 220,000 members had plumped for Ms Royal, a former environment minister.

"The results show rather clearly the fact that there will only be one round, and we can say that Segolene Royal is already the candidate for the Socialist Party," said party official Stephane Le Foll, giving early results.

Mr Strauss-Kahn took 20.8% of the vote and Mr Fabius 18.5%, he added later.

'Chauvinistic comments'

Ms Royal's rivals tried to destabilise her campaign during the final days on the election trail.

Teachers reacted angrily after a video appeared on the internet last week featuring a party meeting earlier this year in which she said they should work longer hours in school.

Ms Royal responded by highlighting what she described as "chauvinistic comments" made by her rival candidates, something they strongly deny.

Mr Strauss-Kahn attacked her policies as incoherent.

Meanwhile, Mr Fabius said the destiny of the political left was at stake.

The French government has set 22 April 2007 as the date for the presidential election.

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Brussels sets deadline for Turkey

The European Commission has given Turkey until mid-December to open its ports to Cypriot ships, or face unspecified consequences.

The warning is set out in a report criticising the pace of Turkish reforms in the year since EU entry talks began.

The Commission says it will make "relevant recommendations" to EU leaders if Turkey does not meet its obligations towards Cyprus.

Correspondents say the leaders may opt to freeze Turkey's membership talks.

The decision would be made at a summit in Brussels on 14 and 15 December.

Turkey agreed last year to extend its customs union with the EU to Cyprus, which joined the bloc in 2004, but has not done so, with the result that Turkish ports and airports remain closed to Cypriot traffic.

"Failure to implement its obligations in full will affect the overall progress in the negotiations," the report says.

"The Commission will make relevant recommendations ahead of the December European Council if Turkey has not fulfilled its obligations."

Turks tiring

Finland, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, is trying to persuade Turkey to open its ports to Cypriot shipping, by linking it to attempts to start direct trade between the Turkish Cypriot community and EU states.

Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, has so far blocked all proposals for direct trade.

"We decided to give a chance for the diplomatic efforts to find a solution," said the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.

The Commission's report on Turkey raises serious concerns about allegations of torture, freedom of religion, women's and trade union rights, civilian control over the military, and the rights and freedoms of the Kurdish population.

It also says Ankara must ensure freedom of expression "without delay" by repealing or amending article 301 of the penal code, which has led to the prosecution of numerous writers for "insulting Turkishness".

Correspondents say Turks are tiring of the constant pressure from Brussels and are increasingly convinced that the EU does not see the country as a future member.

Some polls show support for EU membership plummeting as low as 30%.

Nevertheless, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said his country was committed to EU membership and remained "determined to meet all criteria set by the EU".

He said all sides must "take a step forward" to resolve the dispute over Cyprus.

Further expansion

Another European Commission report summing up the state of play with the EU's enlargement policy, says the 2004 expansion of the EU, which took membership from 15 to 25 states, has been a "considerable success" increasing prosperity across the bloc.

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France to declassify Rwanda files

France says it will release classified documents on the Rwandan genocide, after claims that French troops were complicit in the 1994 massacre.

Some 105 documents will be given to a magistrate investigating the claims by four genocide survivors.

Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie took the decision on the recommendation of France's defence secrets commission.

The plaintiffs accuse soldiers of rape, murder and complicity "in genocide and/or crimes against humanity".

The Rwandan Tutsis, aged between 25 and 39, have brought their case against the French military in the French courts.

During the genocide some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists.

French troops were sent to Rwanda as part of a United Nations force.

Rwanda has repeatedly accused Paris of complicity in the genocide. France has denied any role.

The four survivors say French troops committed crimes themselves, and also let Hutu killers enter refugee camps under their protection.

An inquiry began last month in Rwanda into alleged French complicity in training and arming the Hutu extremists.

After hearing testimony from witnesses, the Rwandan panel will rule on whether to file a suit at the International Court of Justice.

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Woman burned in France bus attack

A woman has been seriously burned and three others are suffering from smoke inhalation after youths set fire to a bus in the French city of Marseille.

A group of teenagers reportedly forced open the doors of the vehicle and threw flammable liquid inside before fleeing.

There have been several attacks on buses over the past week, coinciding with the one year anniversary of riots in poor suburbs across the country.

The riots were sparked by the deaths of two teenagers in the capital, Paris.

Minor skirmishes were reported in Paris on Saturday. An additional 4,000 officers had been deployed - six were injured and 47 people were arrested, according to the interior ministry.

At least six buses have been set on fire in suburbs around the capital this week in an upsurge of violence ahead of the anniversary of the riots.

'Calm and dignity'

Earlier, about 500 people marched in memory of two teenage boys, both from immigrant families, who died in 2005.

Their deaths and the suggestion they had been running from police triggered three weeks of suburban clashes.

During the violence last year - between youths of mainly North African origin and police - more than 10,000 cars were set ablaze and 300 buildings firebombed.

The families of the two dead youths, Bouna Traore and Zyed Benna, laid wreaths at the electricity sub-station where they were electrocuted.

A monument to the boys was unveiled and the local mayor appealed for calm.

"Once again France, and even the world, is watching us and waiting to see what we do. So I appeal solemnly for calm and dignity to prevail here," said mayor Claude Dillain, quoted by the Associated Press.

But others have warned that the factors which played a key part in the riots - high unemployment, discrimination and youth alienation from mainstream society - remain unchanged.

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French police put on high alert

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered police to be on maximum alert in areas where outbreaks of violence could occur.

Several buses have been torched in the run-up to the anniversary of last year's widespread rioting in suburban areas.

Mr Sarkozy said that all "sensitive" bus routes would be protected.

"We will do everything possible to ensure that public services are not disrupted anywhere," he said.

This time last year saw three weeks of violent clashes between youths of mainly North African origin and police in suburbs throughout France, when more than 10,000 cars were set alight and 300 buildings firebombed.

Thursday saw armed youths hijack and set fire to a bus in the suburbs of Paris, while hooded gangs torched two others on Wednesday night.

'Copycat' fears

Mr Sarkozy, a conservative front-runner in next year's presidential election, said the media should act responsibly in reporting on the anniversary of last year's violence, to avert "copycat" crimes.

"We should not give any publicity to people who want nothing else," he said.

A security services report leaked to a French newspaper this week said that the conditions that led to last year's riots were still in place.

Law and order has become a major issue, with presidential elections due next year. Candidates from the two biggest parties have promised a tough approach to crime.

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European ministers discuss terror

Challenging extremist ideas and finding ways to pre-empt terror attacks will be discussed when six European interior ministers meet in the UK.

Home Secretary John Reid will host his counterparts from Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland for two days.

The ministers will also discuss how to encourage dialogue with Muslim communities, transnational organised crime and illegal migration.

The Home Office said the meeting would "explore how they can work together".

The meeting was aimed at sharing ideas and "best practice" rather than taking concrete decisions, it said.

On Thursday, the ministers will discuss how to shut off illegal immigration routes and how to work with unspecified third countries to control migration flows.

They will also debate how to reduce the harm caused by organised crime, including value added tax (VAT) fraud and trafficking of drugs and people.

Known as the G6, the group has no formal decision-making powers, nor any direct impact on EU policy, but they do show the position of the countries which together account for three-quarters of the EU's population.

Past attacks

The Madrid train bombings of 11 March 2004 claimed the lives of 191 people.

And suicide bomb attacks in London on 7 July 2005 killed 52 people and injured hundreds of others.

The G6 meeting comes just days after counter-terrorism officials revealed their belief that Al-Qaeda has become more organised and sophisticated and has made Britain its top target.

They told the BBC that the network is now operating a cell structure in the UK - like the IRA did - and sees the 7 July bomb attacks "as just the beginning".

The G6 group was established in 2003 - initially as G5 before Poland joined - and meets two to three times a year.

Britain holds the group chair and the meeting is to be held in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

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Hungary remembers 1956 uprising

Hungary has begun ceremonies to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the uprising against Soviet rule.

President Laszlo Solyom spoke at a ceremony on Sunday, calling for national unity in a country that has seen bitter recent political divisions.

On Monday, events will include the unveiling of a huge monument in Budapest's Heroes Square to those who died in the events of 1956.

Soviet troops put down the uprising in 12 days amid bloody fighting.

Boycott

Speaking at the Hungarian State Opera, President Solyom said some Hungarians were using the commemorations to serve their own interests.

"[Politicians] are not only celebrating apart, they are celebrating different things... I however say: there is only one revolution of 1956," he said.

Austrian President Heinz Fischer, speaking as a representative of the foreign presidents, prime ministers and kings attending the events, echoed Mr Solyom's words, saying: "Parties are important, but the country is even more important."

The main opposition Fidesz party has said it will boycott official anniversary events at which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany is speaking.

Mr Gyurcsany caused political uproar recently when he admitted he had lied to the public about the economy.

Swift response

The uprising started in Budapest on 23 October 1956, with a crowd of 23,000, the reading of a pro-democracy manifesto and the singing of banned national songs.

By evening, there were 200,000 people in the centre of Budapest.

A giant statue of Stalin was pulled down, leaving only the dictator's boots on the pedestal.

The Soviet response was swift.

Air and artillery assaults on Hungarian cities preceded an armoured invasion by 17 tank and infantry divisions.

Imre Nagy, the reforming Prime Minister, made a final impassioned plea to the outside world by radio.

He and hundreds of others were arrested and executed, among thousands of Hungarians who died.

On Sunday, Mr Gyurcsany and Serbian President Boris Tadic unveiled a memorial at the Serbian Embassy, where Nagy had sought asylum.

"For many, this building was first the home of hope," Mr Gyurcsany said. "Unfortunately, the road of lies began here."

The BBC's Alan Little says the uprising was the moment the world accepted the post-war partition of Europe and the apparent permanence of what Winston Churchill had called "the Iron Curtain".

On Monday, there will be a ceremony of remembrance at the statue of Imre Nagy.

The national flag will be hoisted in a ceremony outside parliament and the Budapest 1956 Freedom Declaration will be signed inside.

Then a memorial will be unveiled at the site where Stalin's statue was toppled.

The Fidesz party will hold its own rally close to the state radio building, the scene of bitter fighting in 1956.

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EU to discuss energy with Putin

European Union leaders are meeting in southern Finland to discuss how to ensure stable supplies of energy.

They will be joined for dinner by Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country supplies a quarter of the gas and oil consumed in the EU.

The leaders will urge Mr Putin to improve conditions for EU companies to invest in Russian energy projects.

They will also call on Russia to find the killer of the murdered journalist, Anna Politkovskaya.

The summit's Finnish hosts say its purpose is to encourage the EU to "speak with one voice" in its energy dealings with Russia.

Good atmosphere

They, and the European Commission, want to avoid a situation where Russia sells energy to one EU country on one set of terms, and to another on less advantageous terms.

They also want European investors to have the same access to the Russian energy market as Russian companies have to Europe's market, and the ability to use Russian pipelines to export any gas and oil they produce in Russia.

Before they meet Mr Putin, the leaders will also discuss proposals for increasing energy imports from the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caspian, Middle East and Gulf regions.

A Russian official quoted by Reuters said Mr Putin was ready to address European concerns about energy and that Moscow expected the discussion would take place in the "traditional good atmosphere".

Immigration

Other items to be discussed at the informal summit include:

• Climate change, which the UK and Dutch prime ministers said on Thursday was close to a "catastrophic tipping point"
• Ways of improving innovation in Europe, turning inventions into new products, jobs and patents
• A European Commission proposal for European Institute of Technology, which would pool Europe's resources and help universities and business collaborate
• A plea from Spain and Italy for more help to deal with a large flow of African immigrants arriving by boat
• The problem of Darfur, and appeals for the EU to put more pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the killing of civilians

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, who currently holds the EU presidency, has said he will raise the subject of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow earlier this month, at the beginning of the dinner.

"As you well know, we have from the EU side a demand to make a full investigation about the murder and we are expecting that Russian authorities can find the murderer," he said.

Correspondents say it is possible that the leaders will also ask Mr Putin to explain his country's latest actions against Georgia.

EU foreign ministers issued a statement on Tuesday expressing "grave concern" about the economic, political and humanitarian consequences of Russia's sanctions against Georgia, and urging Moscow "not to pursue measures targeting Georgians in the Russian Federation".

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Turkey condemns 'genocide' vote

Turkey has condemned a French parliamentary vote which would make it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered "genocide" at the hands of the Turks.

Turkey called it a "serious blow" to relations and has threatened sanctions. The vote was also criticised by the EU.

The bill, tabled by the opposition but opposed by the French government, needs approval from the Senate and president.

Armenia says Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people systematically in 1915 - a claim strongly denied by Turkey.

There are accusations in Turkey that the Armenian diaspora and opponents of Turkey's European Union membership bid are using the issue to stop it joining the 25-member bloc.

'Unfounded'

Turkey has been warning France for weeks not to pass the bill which was sponsored by the opposition Socialist party.

It provides for a year in jail and a 45,000-euro (£30,000) fine - the same punishment that is imposed for denying the Nazi Holocaust.

"Turkish-French relations, which have been meticulously developed over the centuries, took a severe blow today through the irresponsible initiatives of some short-sighted French politicians, based on unfounded allegations," the Turkish foreign ministry said.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says many Turks are angry at what they see as double standards in the EU, where opinions are sharply divided about whether Turkey should be allowed to join.

The European Commission has said that if the bill becomes law it will "prohibit dialogue which is necessary for reconciliation" between Turkey and Armenia.

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European Union 'faces TB crisis'

Drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis in Eastern Europe and central Asia are putting EU states at risk of a deadly outbreak, health officials have warned.

The Red Cross called it the most alarming tuberculosis situation since World War II and urged EU leaders to do more to combat the threat.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the "hottest zones" of new strains were all on the borders of the EU.

Of 450,000 cases in Europe and central Asia annually, 70,000 are new strains.

'Wake up'

The health groups' warnings came as they launched the Stop TB Partnership in Europe to try to fight the epidemic.

Markku Niskala, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the message for EU leaders was: "Wake up, do not delay, do not let this problem get further out of hand."

"The drug resistance that we are seeing now is without doubt the most alarming tuberculosis situation on the continent since World War II," he said.

The WHO has found high levels of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Baltic countries, Eastern Europe and central Asia.

And studies in Latvia showed 18% of drug-resistant cases there are the most extreme variant.

"The hottest zones of drug-resistant tuberculosis are all around the periphery of the European Union," said Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO's Stop TB division.

"Investment in tuberculosis control must reflect the real emergency we are facing and be placed higher on the European agenda, especially in donor countries," he said.

The partnership between the Red Cross and the WHO is designed to boost detection, infection control and treatment of TB.

About 1.7m people die of the disease every year.

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Germans uncover 'Nazi mass grave'

Skeletons of 22 children and 29 adults have been found in a suspected Nazi-era mass grave excavated in Germany.

The remains were exhumed from the cemetery of a Catholic church in the village of Menden-Barge.

Officials said the dead may have been victims of Adolf Hitler's "euthanasia" programme, under which many disabled people were murdered.

Hitler's Nazi regime killed more than six million Jews and other minorities across Europe during World War II.

"We assume that these were victims of the Nazi regime," state prosecutor Ulrich Maass said.

Difficult search

Mr Maass said authorities would search for evidence about the suspected killings and witnesses to any atrocities.

At least one witness, a former church assistant, said he saw corpses brought to the grave by horse-drawn cart.

But he admitted that it could be difficult to find enough strong evidence to bring charges against any individual, 61 years after the end of the war.

Poisons often used to kill victims would be hard to detect after so many years.

The prosecutor said a culture of secrecy surrounded the grave until recent years.

The cemetery is near the site of a hospital once run by Hitler's personal doctor Karl Brandt, who headed the "euthanasia" programme, called Action T4. Victims were killed by lethal injection or by carbon monoxide fumes piped into sheds from car exhausts.

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Victory for Austrian opposition

Austria's opposition Social Democrats have won a surprise election victory, defeating Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's People's Party.

With all but absentee ballots counted, the centre-left Social Democrats won 35.7% of the vote, narrowly beating the the People's Party at 34.2%.

Even as votes were being counted, Mr Schuessel said it would take "a small miracle" for his party to win.

The Social Democrat's Alfred Gusenbauer is likely to become the new chancellor.

The far right Freedom Party, which ran an anti-immigrant campaign, came in at third place with 11%, followed by the Greens at 10%.

The far-right party founded by Joerg Haider, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, seems just to have made it into parliament with 4% - this, despite its split from the Freedom Party last year.

Before the vote, opinion polls had suggested a narrow victory for Mr Schuessel's party.

About 400,000 postal votes have still be to be counted and that could affect the final results, in particular, for the Greens and the Alliance for the Future of Austria.

Coalition negotiations are likely to be time-consuming and difficult, reports the BBC's Bethany Bell in Vienna.

The most obvious alliance is a grand coalition between the People's Party and the Social Democrats, an option preferred by many Austrians.

Otherwise, the conservatives could in theory try to form a coalition with the two far-right parties. But so far, Austria's leading politicians are refusing to commit themselves.

Mr Schuessel took office in 2000 in a controversial alliance with the far-right Freedom Party, then led by Mr Haider. He won re-election in 2002.

More than six million Austrian voters were eligible to vote for the 183-seat parliament.

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Swiss back tighter asylum rules

Voters in Switzerland have backed tougher laws on asylum-seekers.

In a national referendum, some 67.8% of voters supported the new measures, which the government says are needed to combat abuse of the asylum system.

The new laws cut welfare payments to those whose applications are rejected, and restrict applications from those unable to produce identity documents.

The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, described the referendum result as regrettable.

The vote gives Switzerland some of the strictest asylum and immigration laws in Europe.

Justice Minister Christoph Blocher says they will prevent abuse while protecting real refugees.

Ahead of the vote, he said the aim of the reforms was "to uphold Switzerland's humanitarian tradition while at the same time halting abuses".

'Small problem'

But the UNHCR has expressed concern about a requirement for asylum seekers to produce valid identity papers within 48 hours. Many genuine refugees have been deprived of their passports by the very persecutors they are fleeing, it says.

And Swiss church groups say they are determined to ensure that no-one ends up on the streets because of the cut in welfare payments to rejected asylum seekers.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Geneva, says the strong support for the laws is a reflection of a feeling among many Swiss that their traditionally generous treatment of refugees should not be abused.

But she adds that many refugee groups fear these measures are far too harsh an answer to a problem which is actually rather small.

About 10,000 people applied for asylum in Switzerland last year, a sharp drop from previous years.

The measures have already been passed by both parliament and the government, but opponents raised enough signatures to force a national vote.

The laws were supported by a majority of those voting in all of Switzerland's 26 cantons.

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Pope to meet Muslim ambassadors

Pope Benedict XVI has invited envoys of Muslim nations for talks on Monday to try to smooth relations following a speech that offended the Islamic world.

The talks at his summer residence near Rome will be aimed at explaining that the pontiff's recent speech in Germany was misunderstood, the Vatican said.

The Pope has said three times that he regrets the offence caused, expressing "deep respect" for Islam.

Muslim leaders have been demanding an unequivocal apology from the Pope.

Iran's deputy ambassador to the Vatican, Ahmad Faihma, described the Pope's invitation as "a positive signal".

"I know that this [the talks] will improve relations with the Islamic world," Mr Faihma told Reuters news agency.

'Misunderstood'

The Pope invited Muslim ambassadors and leaders of Italy's Muslim community to his residence at Castelgandolfo, the Vatican said.

On Sunday, the pontiff said he was "deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg" in Germany.

On Wednesday, he told pilgrims at the Vatican that his remarks in Bavaria last week had been "misunderstood".

He said his use of medieval quotes from 14th Century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologos, which criticised some teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman", did not reflect his personal opinion.

The Pope said his real intention had been to "explain that religion and violence do not go together, but religion and reason do".

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Pope says he was 'misunderstood'

Pope Benedict XVI has told pilgrims at the Vatican that his remarks on Islam which angered Muslims around the world had been "misunderstood".

He expressed his "deep respect" for Islam during his weekly audience.

He said his use of medieval quotes from a 14th-Century Byzantine emperor, which were critical of Islam, did not reflect his own convictions.

He said he hoped his recent speech in Germany could lead to a "self-critical dialogue" among faiths and cultures.

"I included a quotation on the relationship between the religion and violence. This quotation unfortunately was misunderstood. In no way did I wish to make my own the words of some medieval emperor," he told thousands of faithful.

"I wish to explain that not religion and violence, but that religion and reason, go together. I hope that my profound respect for world religions and for Muslims who worship the one God and which help to promote peace, liberties, justice and moral values for the benefit of all humanity is clear.

"I trust that after the initial reaction, my words at the university of Regensburg can constitute an impulse and encouragement toward positive, even self-critical dialogue both among religions and between modern reason and Christian faith," he added.

'Inhuman'

The Pope is eating humble pie before the world, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

On Sunday, Benedict said he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction in some countries to his speech last week in Germany.

But on Wednesday, he did not retract words uttered during his six-day trip to Bavaria as demanded by his Muslim critics, our correspondent says.

He says it remains to be seen whether his latest remarks are going to be accepted by his Muslim critics.

The Pope has faced calls from Muslims for an unequivocal apology, but has so far only said he regrets the offence his words caused.

In the speech in Germany, he quoted medieval Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologos criticising some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".

The speech sparked several days of protests in Muslim countries.

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Budapest hit by wave of violence

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.

Police used tear gas and water cannon against a crowd who threw bottles and stones, and set cars alight.

After several hours the police withdrew, allowing the protestors to break into the state television HQ.

The protests follow Mr Gyurcsany's admission that his socialist government told lies to win a general election.

The main opposition party, the centre-right Fidesz, says it will boycott parliament on Tuesday.

These are the first clashes to take place between police and demonstrators in Hungary since the fall of communism and the establishment of democracy in the late 1980s.

The BBC's Nick Thorpe, in central Budapest, says the trouble at the state television station began when a small group of protestors who had spent the day outside parliament tried to hand in a petition.

A clash with riot police ensued and the square rapidly filled with mainly young people, some waving Hungarian flags.

A Reuters new agency correspondent in the state TV building said: "They are breaking vending machines ... they are not moving to the studios."

Leaked tape

Mr Gyurcsany's comments were heard in a tape of a meeting he had with his MPs a few weeks after April's election.

It is not clear how the tape was leaked.

In excerpts broadcast on state radio, Mr Gyurcsany says harsh economic reforms are needed.

He thanks "divine providence, the abundance of cash in the world economy and hundreds of tricks" for keeping the economy above board.

In a speech sprinkled with obscenities, Mr Gyurcsany says: "We lied in the morning, we lied in the evening."

On Sunday he appeared on state TV stressing the need "to stop the deluge of lies which have covered the country for many years".

He also defended his language, saying it had been used during a meeting of friends and colleagues and that he was proud of his "passionate speech".

The prime minister has received the backing of socialist MPs who on Monday voted unanimously to support him.

However, Hungary's President, Laszlo Solyom, said Mr Gyurcsany had created a "moral crisis", and opposition parties have called for his resignation.

In two weeks' time, local elections are scheduled. The socialists and their liberal coalition allies are trailing Fidesz in the polls.

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Pope apology fails to end anger

Pope Benedict XVI's renewed apology for comments he made last week on Islam has been welcomed by some Muslim groups but has failed to end the anger.

There were further protests in Indonesia and Iran and one influential cleric called for a day of anger.

The Pope on Sunday apologised in person for causing offence in the speech.

He said the medieval text he quoted, which said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only evil, did not in any way express his personal opinion.

'Stated respect'

The Pope issued his apology from the balcony at his residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome as gave the Angelus blessing.

"I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims," he told pilgrims.

"These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.

"I hope this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with mutual respect."

His clarification was welcomed by a number of Muslim groups, including the Council of Muslims in Germany, where he made the speech.

It said the Pope had taken an important step towards calming the unrest of the past few days.

The Muslim Council of Britain said the Pope's expression of regret was "exactly the reassurance many Muslims were looking for".

In Turkey, the most senior Muslim religious figure, Ali Bardakoglu, said the Pope's stated respect for Islam was a civilised position.

The government said the Pope was still expected to go ahead with a visit to Turkey in November.

But State Minister Mehmet Aydin said the pontiff appeared to be saying he was sorry for the outrage but not necessarily the remarks themselves.

"You either have to say this 'I'm sorry' in a proper way or not say it at all - are you sorry for saying such a thing or because of its consequences?" he asked.

Nun's killing

The Egyptian opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, welcomed what it called the Pope's "retraction", but later warned that it did not amount to a definitive apology and would not be enough to satisfy all Muslims.

Protests elsewhere were stronger.

Influential Qatari Muslim scholar, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, called for a day of anger on Friday, saying the Pope had not apologised.

At least seven churches have now been attacked since the speech in areas under the Palestinian Authority.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, which controls the Palestinian parliament, said: "We do not view the statement attributed to the Pope as an apology."

There was concern that the killing of an Italian missionary nun by gunmen in Mogadishu, Somalia, was in retaliation for the comments.

In the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, a spokesman for the Islamist group, Hizbut Tahrir, told a rally that the Pope's statements had been fuelled by an extreme hatred of Islam, and his expressions of regret were insincere.

In the Iranian city of Qom, several hundred people took part in a protest.

At the UN in New York, the president of the General Assembly, Haya Rashed al Khalifa, the first Muslim woman to head the global assembly, called on religious leaders to promote reconciliation.

She made no specific reference to the Pope's remarks but said religious forces could advance dialogue, reconciliation and peace and help people embrace difference.

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Muslim anger grows at Pope speech

A statement from the Vatican has failed to quell criticism of Pope Benedict XVI from Muslim leaders, after he made a speech about the concept of holy war.

Speaking in Germany, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things.

The head of the Muslim Brotherhood said the Pope's remarks "aroused the anger of the whole Islamic world".

The Vatican said the Pope had not intended to offend Muslims.

"It is clear that the Holy Father's intention is to cultivate a position of respect and dialogue towards other religions and cultures, and that clearly includes Islam," said chief Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi in a statement.

But in spite of the statement, the pontiff returned to Rome to face a barrage of criticism from the Muslim world over the remarks, reports the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

Violence and faith

In his speech at Regensburg University, the German-born Pope explored the historical and philosophical differences between Islam and Christianity, and the relationship between violence and faith.

Stressing that they were not his own words, he quoted Emperor Manual II Paleologos of the Byzantine Empire, the Orthodox Christian empire which had its capital in what is now the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The emperor's words were, he said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Benedict said "I quote" twice to stress the words were not his and added that violence was "incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul".

'Angry and hurt'

The Pope's "hostile" remarks drew a demand for an apology from a top religious official in Turkey - where he is due in November on his first papal visit to a Muslim country.

Ali Bardakoglu recalled atrocities committed by Roman Catholic Crusaders against Orthodox Christians and Jews, as well as Muslims, in the Middle Ages.

In Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood head Mohammed Mahdi Akef said the Pope's words "do not express correct understanding of Islam and are merely wrong and distorted beliefs being repeated in the West".

In a statement, he was "astonished that such remarks come from someone who sits on top of the Catholic church which has its influence on the public opinion in the West".

Sheikh Youssef al-Qardawi, a prominent Muslim cleric in Qatar, rejected the Pope's comments, in remarks reported by Reuters.

"Muslims have the right to be angry and hurt by these comments from the highest cleric in Christianity," Mr Qardawi reportedly said.

"We ask the Pope to apologise to the Muslim nation for insulting its religion, its Prophet and its beliefs."

The 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference also said it regretted the Pope's remarks, and news agencies reported a furious reaction on Islamic websites.

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Pope holds Mass in native Bavaria

Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated an outdoor Mass attended by hundreds of thousands of followers in his southern German homeland of Bavaria.

In his homily, the pontiff suggested that the West could learn lessons about faith from people in Asia and Africa.

The Mass, at a fairground near Munich, was one the highlights of the Pope's six-day visit to Bavaria, which he described as a joyous personal journey.

In the coming days he is due to visit his native village and his brother.

About 250,000 people attended Sunday's Mass near Munich.

The Pope said that in today's world many people were listening to so many frequencies that they "were no longer able to hear God".

He praised people in Africa and Asia for rejecting "the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom and that holds up utility as the supreme moral criterion".

Family visit

The event in Munich will be followed by other open-air Masses in the small town of Alltoeting and in the city of Regensburg.

During his trip the pontiff is also due to visit Marktl-am-Inn, the village where he was born.

He will see his brother, retired priest Georg Ratzinger, and together they will go to the graves of their parents and sister.

On his arrival on Saturday Pope Benedict was greeted by Chancellor Angela Merkel and spoke of his love for his homeland, saying: "My heart beats Bavarian."

While he faces a warm welcome from many thousands of Catholics in Germany, some have been critical of his uncompromising condemnation of gay marriage and abortion, the BBC's David Willey says.

Such criticism has tempered German pride in last year's election of the first German Pope for centuries, our correspondent adds.

This is the Pope's second visit to Germany.

He last visited his native country just over a year ago to attend the World Youth Day celebrations in Cologne.

Pope Benedict taught theology in Regensburg from 1969 until becoming archbishop of Munich in 1977, where he stayed until 1982 before being called to work at the Vatican.

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Spain to build up Lebanon force

The Spanish government has approved plans to send 1,100 troops to Lebanon as part of a UN peacekeeping force.

Defence minister Jose Antonio Alonso has instructed the armed forces to prepare for the deployment, which will be carried out in two phases.

The Spanish parliament is expected to support the plan next week.

Separately, the first group of soldiers from Italy, which aims to deploy over 2,500 soldiers, arrived to the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre.

The Spanish troops will join the 15,000-strong UN force to police the ceasefire that ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The majority of Spanish lawmakers, including the opposition, are expected to support the government's decision.

But the leader of the opposition Popular party, Mariano Rajoy, has criticised the government for being willing to send the military to Lebanon, but not to Iraq, the BBC's Danny Wood reports from Madrid.

In response, Mr Alonso said that the Spanish people fully understand the difference between this troop deployment and the war in Iraq.

Mr Alonso says Spanish soldiers in Lebanon will be on a peacekeeping mission that complies with international law.

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Europeans to provide 'backbone' of Mideast force; U.N. plans Lebanon 'exclusion zone'

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday that Europe had agreed to provide the "backbone" of a peacekeeping force for Lebanon, providing nearly half of a 15,000-member contingent.

European officials said it would take up to three months to get all the troops on the ground.

Speaking after an emergency meeting of European foreign ministers, Annan also said has "firm commitments" from Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh, and was consulting with Turkey about joining the peacekeeping force.

Israel has said it would oppose the deployment of troops from Muslim nations with which it does not have diplomatic ties, saying their inclusion would make it impossible for Israel to share vital intelligence information with the U.N. force.

"Europe is providing the backbone of the force," Annan said. "We can now begin to put together a credible force."

By pledging 6,900 troops, European countries overcame initial concern about being caught in the middle between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, which agreed Aug. 14 to lay down arms under a U.N. brokered cease-fire after 34 days of fighting that claimed hundreds of lives and caused significant damage, especially in Lebanon.

France, in particular, had held back from promising a large contribution and demanded a clearer definition of the mission and the rules of engagement.

Annan said he asked France — which dramatically increased its pledged contribution to 2,000 troops late Thursday — to lead the 15,000-member mission until February 2007.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Annan gave guarantees for the safety of European troops and on rules of engagement, and that France wanted an arms-free "exclusion zone" in south Lebanon.

"We think the best solution for disarming Hezbollah is to make an exclusion zone with the retreat of the Israeli army on one side and the deployment of the Lebanese army on the other, reinforced by the U.N. troops," he said.

"Our objective is clear, to disarm Hezbollah," Douste-Blazy said, but added that military force was not the answer. "The only solution is to have a political solution."

Annan said Hezbollah could not be disarmed by force.

"The troops are not going there to disarm Hezbollah, let's be clear on that," he said.

Douste-Blazy said he hoped all five permanent U.N. Security Council members — the United States, China, Britain and Russia, in addition to France — will send troops to participate in the force.

"The Europeans should not be the only ones. We hope particularly that the permanent members of the Security Council will participate, as well as Muslim countries," he said.

The United States has explicitly ruled out participation in the peacekeeping force. The U.S. often provides logistics for U.N. peacekeeping forces — which it is expected to do in Lebanon — but as a rule it does not provide troops unless it is commanding the force.

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said the entire U.N. force should be in place within two to three months. Annan said he hoped the force would be able to start deploying in "days, not weeks."

The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, called on Israel to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon. Ending the blockade has been linked to forming a U.N. force.

Israel said it would lift the blockade after the Lebanese army and the bolstered international force take control of the country's ports and borders to prevent Hezbollah guerrillas from importing new arms.

"The minute they are there, we will be able to lift it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. The statement left unclear at what point Israel would consider there would be enough troops on the ground to lift the blockade.

Israel is maintaining the blockade, despite the cease-fire, to prevent Hezbollah from rearming with the help of its Syrian and Iranian patrons. Regev said preventing the guerrillas from importing new weapons was a key element of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for the cease-fire.

Regev declined to comment on Annan's statement about the participation of Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh in the peacekeeping force.

In New York, a U.N. official said the world body is expected to hold another formal meeting Monday for countries that have expressed interest in contributing troops to the peacekeeping force. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because there has been no official announcement.

About 150 French soldiers — an engineering team — landed Friday at Naqoura in southern Lebanon. They joined 250 of their countrymen already in Lebanon, and raised to 2,200 the number of peacekeepers already in the south.

Those UNIFIL troops, in place since the 1970s, have been widely considered ineffectual and have been dogged by a vague mandate.

Ambiguities remain in the recent U.N. resolution, but it does considerably clarify the rules of engagement, authorizing the expanded U.N. force to "to take all necessary action" to prevent hostile activities wherever peacekeepers are stationed.

The peacekeepers will help 15,000 Lebanese troops extend their authority into southern Lebanon, which has been controlled by Hezbollah guerrillas, as Israel withdraws its soldiers after a monthlong attack.

Annan said that the U.N. force would be able to deploy along the Lebanese-Syrian border to help prevent weapons shipments to Hezbollah, but only if the Lebanese government asked for such help. Lebanon, to date, has neither asked for this nor ruled it out — but Syrian President Bashar Assad has strongly objected.

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Italy steps in with Lebanon offer

Italy has said it would be willing to lead a force to police the ceasefire in southern Lebanon.

France had been expected to shoulder the task, but has expressed concern about the lack of a clear mandate for the force, and offered only 200 troops.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops shot three men they suspected of being Hezbollah fighters in an incident correspondents say underscores the truce's fragility.

Israel says the men were approaching its troops in "a threatening manner".

Two of the men died and a third was injured in the incident near the Lebanese village of Shama, about 4km (2.5 miles) from the border with Israel, the Israeli military said.

The ceasefire is in its ninth day, but Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and both sides accuse each other of violations.

An Israeli commando raid deep into Lebanon on Saturday was condemned by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a violation of the ceasefire.

'Positive role'

In Italy, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said his country was willing to lead the planned international force.

Italy has indicated it could offer up to 3,000 troops - the most substantial offer so far - but has not given a firm commitment.

Mr Prodi said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan would make a decision on the force by the weekend.

Italy's "positive role" was welcomed by the Lebanese cabinet, Information Minister Gazi Afridi said.

Israel has already said it would be happy if Italy led the force.

But Italy's offer to lead the force appears to be conditional on an agreement being reached on a new UN resolution, the AFP news agency reported.

The agency quoted Mr Prodi as saying a new resolution should provide "a specific mandate, specific contents and a very clear definition of the alliances".

At a hastily-convened news conference on Monday, President Bush announced that the US would boost its aid package to Lebanon to $230m (£121m), and said there was an urgent need for the bolstered force.

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EU ministers in air terror talks

Interior ministers from several European Union countries are gathering in London for talks on last week's alleged airline bomb plot.

They will agree to accelerate EU counter-terrorism action where necessary, according to a statement from the UK's Home Office.

Home Secretary John Reid will also brief the ministers about the "emerging threat and current operation".

Twenty-four people are now in custody in the UK over the alleged plot.

Mr Reid will first hold trilateral talks with the French and German interior ministers.

The three will then be joined by interior ministers from Finland, Portugal and Slovenia, Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini, and EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator Gijs de Vries.

"Investigation after investigation underlines the international nature of this current form of terrorism, and it is through working closely with our partners, both in Europe and beyond, that we are able to respond to the threat effectively," the Home Office said.

Veto question

BBC European affairs correspondent William Horsley says the UK is looking into possible links between some of those arrested in the UK and individuals in mainland Europe.

He adds that the talks in London will also discuss EU plans to counter the radicalisation of young Muslims.

The 7 July bombings in London last year pushed counter-terrorism up the EU agenda, and helped former Home Secretary Charles Clarke clinch a deal to force companies to retain telephone and e-mail data for use in investigations.

The European Commission is currently trying to persuade governments to give up their veto powers in the area of criminal justice, arguing that it will help the anti-terrorism effort.

Mr Clarke was cautiously in favour, but Mr Reid was described as unconvinced before the latest arrests.

'Global threat'

The Commission said the pre-dawn arrests in the UK last Thursday showed that "terrorism is a continuous and global threat" which called for a concerted response.

"The European Union's counter-terrorism policy in all its dimensions, including prevention, protection, prosecution and response, will be implemented with full vigour to this end," Mr Frattini said.

A meeting of European aviation security and counter-terrorism experts has been scheduled for later in the week.

The Finnish Interior Minister Kari Rajamaki is attending because his government holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

The German, Portuguese and Slovenian governments will hold the presidency in 2007 and the first half of 2008.

The UK security threat level was raised to "critical" last week amid fears of a plot. On Monday it was downgraded to "severe", meaning an attack is now considered highly likely but not imminent.

Some European Union governments followed the UK in preventing passengers carrying drinks or gels into aircraft cabins.

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Swiss charged over 2002 air crash

A Swiss prosecutor has filed manslaughter charges against eight employees of an air traffic control firm over an air crash in July 2002.

The Winterthur prosecutor called for jail terms of six to 15 months, alleging "homicide by negligence".

The collision killed 71 people, most of them Russian schoolchildren. It involved a jet of Russia's Bashkirian Airlines and a DHL cargo plane.

Swiss firm Skyguide controlled flights over southern Germany at the time.

The accused, who were not named by Swiss media, denied responsibility for the collision.

An air accident inquiry last year concluded that a catastrophic chain of human error was to blame. It accused Skyguide of organisational failures contributing to the crash.

The collision happened over a German village near Lake Constance.

The investigators found that a single Skyguide air traffic controller on duty had given the pilots just 43 seconds to act.

The controller was fatally stabbed by a Russian man in 2004, in a suspected revenge attack.

The controller had told the Russian pilots to descend, while their onboard collision avoidance system had told them to climb to avoid the DHL cargo plane.

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Pope renews appeal for peace in Mideast

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday issued a new appeal for peace in the Middle East, saying his heart was full of pain for the bloodshed of innocent people.

The pope also made a reference to the Israeli attack last weekend in the southern Lebanese town of Qana.

"Our eyes are filled with the chilling images of torn bodies of so many people, especially children — I am thinking in particular of Qana," the pontiff told pilgrims during a weekly audience in St. Peter's Square.

The attack killed 56 civilians, mostly women and children.

"I want to repeat that nothing can justify the spilling of innocent blood, wherever it is coming from," said Benedict. "With my heart full of pain, I renew once again a pressing appeal for the immediate cessation of all hostilities and all violence."

The pontiff also urged "the international community and those who are more directly involved in this tragedy to lay down conditions as soon as possible for a definitive political solution to the crisis, one that can provide coming generations with a more serene, safer future."

Benedict has issued several appeals in recent weeks, as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon spiraled.

The pontiff, who has transferred to his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, a hill town south of Rome, came back to the Vatican for the audience.

Some 50,000 faithful filled St. Peter's, the vast majority altar boys and girls from Germany, Hungary and elsewhere in Europe.

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Spain tackles civil war fallout

Spain's government has backed a bill to address the grievances of the losing side in the civil war of the 1930s.

The law, which must be approved by parliament, offers the possibility of compensation to victims of the war and dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

The deputy PM said the bill would help Spain to close a "tragic chapter", but it was criticised by the opposition.

About 350,000 people were killed in the three-year war before the Nationalists defeated the Republicans in 1939.

Correspondents say Spaniards remain divided about the causes of the conflict and how to deal with its consequences.

For Spain's military, backed by conservative political forces and the Roman Catholic Church, the civil war was a battle against communism. For the Republican government the conflict was a struggle against fascism.

Republicans were executed, jailed or exiled following the Nationalist victory, and Franco established a dictatorship spanning nearly four decades.

'Rewriting history'

Under the new bill, the use of symbols from the Franco era would be banned on public buildings, and it would be made easier to locate and exhume the bodies of thousands buried in mass graves.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the law would help "to heal wounds without re-opening them".

"And to do this it is necessary to honour and restore everyone who suffered injustices and wrongs," she added.

But the leader of the right-wing opposition Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, said it was a mistake to try to rewrite history.

"Spain has to look at the future and resolve the problems that people are really interested in," he said before the bill was approved.

"The vast majority of Spaniards don't want to talk about the civil war or Franco."

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EU to fund embryo cell research

Ministers from European Union member states have agreed to continue funding research on embryonic stem cells.

Some countries oppose the research, but scientists say the cells are the key to treating diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Last week US President George W Bush used his veto for the first time to limit federal funding for the research.

The EU ministers agreed not to fund activities that destroyed human embryos but said other research could continue.

European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potocnik said the EU would not finance the "procurement" of embryonic stem cells - a process which results in the death of the embryo - but it would finance the "subsequent steps" to make use of the cells.

Stem cells are able to turn themselves into any other type of cell in the body, and it is hoped therefore that they can be used to repair parts of the body or develop new drugs.

Conserving life

The cells are removed from human embryos left over from fertility treatment and earmarked for disposal.

Five countries voted against the decision - Austria, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Slovakia.

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No end to German doctors' strike

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Talks aimed at ending more than three weeks of industrial action by doctors in Germany have broken down.

Around 70,000 doctors in up to 700 municipal clinics have been involved in the dispute, which is over pay and working conditions.

Each day, some 10-15,000 doctors have staged rolling strikes.

The doctors' union, the Marburger Bund, has insisted that emergency care provision will not be affected by the industrial action.

It is a long, hot summer and the patience of Germany's doctors is wearing thin.

All this week, doctors at municipal clinics across the country have staged a series of strikes.

Around 700 hospitals have been affected by the industrial action.

Worst hit are clinics in the southern states of Baden Wuerttemberg and Bavaria.

'Eighty-hour week'

The doctors are demanding a pay rise of up to 17% and better working conditions.

According to the Marburger Bund, a German doctor works on average 60 to 80 hours a week, which is double the number set out in their contract, and these extra hours are often unpaid.

The last round of talks between the union and the local governments broke down this week.

A spokesman for the Employers' Association blamed the doctors' union for not showing any willingness to make a compromise.

Union leaders are now threatening to extend the strikes, but they still say they are ready to get back to the negotiating table.

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'Secret' Euro meetings

Ministers from the UK and the EU's largest states have come under fire for holding meetings on issues about terrorism and immigration "in secret".

The UK House of Lords EU Committee says the public has a right to know what goes on behind closed doors.

The peers claim important decisions are reached, yet no report is ever made to Parliament and no publicity is given about them by the Home Office.

However, the Home Office insists that meetings of the G6 are "transparent".

'Not publicised'

The last gathering of the G6 interior ministers was held in March, 2006.

Then Home Secretary Charles Clarke represented the UK at the meeting, which also included Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland - known as the G6, and who account for three quarters of the EU's population.

Ministers at the talks, which took place over two days at the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm, Germany, discussed their joint response to terrorism, illegal immigration and organised crime.

The peers said they would expect decisions taken at those meetings to "attract wide interest from the media", the European Parliament and national parliaments.

But they complained: "This was not the case.

"They discussed almost every aspect of EU policy of interest to them, and in many cases reached firm conclusions on the action which should be taken and the timetable for it.

"However, in the United Kingdom, the meetings went almost entirely unnoticed.

"The Home Office did not issue a press notice and the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who attended the meeting on behalf of the UK, did not make an oral or written statement to Parliament."

English translation

The peers added: "The Home Office seems on the contrary to have gone out of its way to disclose little or nothing about the meeting."

The meetings have been taking place since 2003, and the next, in October, is due to be chaired by new Home Secretary John Reid.

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Bosnian Serbs face genocide trial

Seven former Bosnian Serb officers have gone on trial at The Hague war crimes tribunal for alleged involvement in the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.

The men are pleading not guilty to a range of charges including murder, persecution and genocide.

The trial, the largest yet staged at The Hague, is one of just a handful dealing with the killing of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the UN safe haven.

The massacre is the only event from the Bosnian war classified as genocide.

Five of the seven standing trial at The Hague face genocide charges, as well as crimes against humanity.

The prosecution alleges that some of the defendants were involved in the "systematic" operation to kill thousands of Bosnian Muslims and then conceal them in mass graves.

Objections

The trial opened in confusion when chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte began to describe a visit to Srebrenica.

"Earlier this week I was in Potocari [near Srebrenica] to mark the 11th anniversary of the Srebrenica atrocity. I stood with thousands of mourners, mostly women..." she said, before being cut off.

Defence lawyers objected to her statement, complaining that it was "emotive", and judges ruled that Ms Del Ponte would have to wait until official opening statements before she could speak.

Although the defendants have entered their pleas, opening statements in the trial are not due until after the tribunal's summer recess.

The case was adjourned until opening statements on 21 August.

Correspondents say the case is one of the most important yet brought before the tribunal.

Just six men have so far been convicted over the Srebrenica massacre, and only two of those on genocide charges.

The two men accused of masterminding the massacre, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, remain at large.

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President Bush in Germany visit

US President George W Bush has arrived in Germany for a two-day visit en route to the G8 summit in Russia.

The visit is the first by the president since German Chancellor Angela Merkel came to power last year.

The two leaders are expected to discuss the Middle East, Iran's nuclear programme and North Korea's missile tests during the trip.

Security has been tightened as thousands of anti-US protesters prepare to demonstrate against the visit.

On Thursday, Mr Bush will spend part of the day in the former East Germany, where Mrs Merkel grew up, in her parliamentary constituency of Stralsund.

The BBC's Tristana Moore in Berlin says the fact Mr Bush has been invited to Stralsund is being seen as a sign of the close personal relationship between the two leaders.

Mrs Merkel has already visited Washington twice since coming to power, and analysts say the US has become Germany's most important partner outside of the EU.

Businesses closed

Security in the area has been stepped up for the US president's visit, which Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said created a "serious security situation".

"We are taking it seriously, and everything has been done for this visit to go well," he told reporters in Berlin.

The historic Old Town in Stralsund has been cordoned off, and businesses inside the cordon will close for the day on Thursday.

Some local residents have complained that the security restrictions remind them of life under the former Communist government.

Residents have been forced to move their cars out of the centre and everything from bicycles to flower pots have been ordered inside, the Associated Press news agency reports.

Officials are preparing for a number of anti-US demonstrations during Mr Bush's visit.

Some 12,000 police officers are expected to be on high alert with helicopters patrolling the skies.

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Train crash kills 35 in Valencia

At least 35 people have died in an underground train crash in the heart of the eastern Spanish city of Valencia.

Two carriages derailed and crashed in a tunnel near Jesus station, forcing rescuers to evacuate 150 passengers.

Officials quickly ruled out terrorism as a cause of the crash. They say high speed and a collapsing train wheel are among the likely causes.

Some 47 other people were injured, with 12 remaining in hospital, in one of Spain's worst accidents of its kind.

Two of those in hospital were reported to be in a "very critical" condition.

Earlier reports said the train driver and a pregnant woman were among those seriously injured.

Painstaking work continued after sunset as forensic experts and rescuers worked at the scene of the accident.

No final casualty figure was available, because recovering and identifying bodies from amid the wreckage was proving difficult, regional government spokesman Vincent Rambla said.

Mr Rambla said Monday had been "one of the saddest days for Valencia".

Special units trained in disaster management were deployed in central Valencia.

Those injured were taken to five hospitals around Valencia.

Briton Graham Moore, who lives in Valencia, described a "chaotic and confusing" scene 15 minutes after the accident.

"There were lots of police running around, kids with their parents. There were people with heads bleeding, cuts and bruises. The injuries appeared to be just head, neck and chest injuries - they were quite seriously injured."

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was expected to cut short a visit to India to attend funerals in Valencia's cathedral on Tuesday evening, officials said.

Spanish King Juan Carlos was also expected to travel to the city, which has declared three days of mourning.

Investigations begin

Local officials and emergency services suggested speeding and defective wheels were likely causes of the crash.

Spain's national police service sent five specialist accident investigation officers from Madrid to Valencia to help establish why the train derailed.

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Row brings down Dutch government

The Dutch government is resigning after losing the support of one of its coalition partners, says Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

D66, the coalition's smallest member, withdrew its support in a row over Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk.

Ms Verdonk had threatened to strip former politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali of her Dutch passport because of false information she gave in 1992.

Mr Balkenende said he would tender the government's resignation on Friday.

"Following this, the remaining ministers and junior ministers decided to tender their positions to the head of state, the Queen. This also counts for me, the prime minister," Mr Balkenende said on television.

U-turn

Mr Balkenende's announcement came after two days of debate in the parliament, where Ms Verdonk had done a U-turn on her stance on Ms Hirsi Ali, claiming she had found a legal loophole that would allow the Somali-born woman to stay.

The D66 party pulled three ministers from the government because Ms Verdonk, known as "Iron Rita" for her tough stance on immigration issues, refused to resign over her treatment of Ms Hirsi Ali.

"A rift was created with my party and I feel there is no other way but to withdraw support for this government," D66 party leader Lousewies van der Laan told parliament today.

Ms Hirsi Ali, 36, became an international figure after writing a controversial film about the treatment of women in Islam, which was directed by Theo Van Gogh, later led to his murder by a Muslim extremist in 2004.

Since admitting to lying in her asylum application, Ms Hirsi Ali has stepped down as a member of parliament and planned a move to the US to work for a think tank.

The resignation of the government could lead to new elections in October.

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No repeat over CIA flights urged

Europe's human rights body has called for steps to ensure terror suspects never again "disappear into thin air" from European soil.

The Council of Europe accused states of colluding with the CIA on secret flights transferring prisoners to third countries where they could be tortured.

It urged governments and parliaments in each state to hold their own inquiries.

The US admits renditions have taken place but denies that people sent overseas are subjected to torture.

"People should not be allowed to disappear into thin air, regardless of the crimes of which they accused," said Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis.

"If we want to be safe we must be fair.

"The only effective measures against terrorism are those which stop more terrorists than they help to recruit."

Investigation 'duty'

Mr Davis said he would be making recommendations to the 46 member states later this year on how to introduce legal safeguards to prevent renditions or other human rights abuses by foreign security agencies.

Earlier this month, Swiss Senator Dick Marty published a report accusing 14 European countries of helping the CIA spin a "spider's web" of disappearances, secret detentions and illegal flights.

The report, based on air traffic logs, satellite images and personal testimonies said there was evidence that Poland and Romania had allowed the CIA to set up secret detention centres on their territory.

Most countries have followed Poland and Romania in denying any wrongdoing.

Critics have pointed out that the report provides circumstantial evidence rather than any hard proof.

But the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved on Tuesday a resolution based on the Marty report, which said it had been "demonstrated incontestably" that secret detentions and illegal flights took place.

It calls for:

• In-depth inquiries at a national level
• A review of the legal framework regulating the intelligence services
• A review of agreements with the US on the use of military infrastructure to ensure they comply with human rights norms
• Efforts to develop "a truly global strategy" against terrorism, with the US

Member states are obliged to respond.

'Scalpel torture'

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini, who took part in the debate, also said the flights were a "fact" which the member states had a duty to investigate.

Mr Davis said his own questioning of member states had revealed that no European country currently had adequate legal safeguards to prevent renditions occurring.

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Germany presses Iran over uranium

Germany's foreign minister has called on Iran to halt uranium enrichment if it wants to resume negotiations with world powers on its nuclear programme.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier was speaking after meeting his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, in Berlin.

Mr Mottaki, for his part, called for "negotiations without pre-conditions".

The two men discussed incentives offered by the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, to try to get Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

Iran is considering the package - which is thought to include trade concessions as well as economic and technical incentives.

German officials had said they hoped Mr Mottaki would give a concrete indication when Tehran was likely to respond to the package.

But the Iranian foreign minister was non-committal after the Berlin meeting.

"We see positive points in the package and parallel to that there are also things that are unclear and we will have questions," he said.

His comments echoed similar statements made by Iranian officials since the offer was conveyed to Iran earlier this month.

Waiting for an answer

The Tehran government has said it is willing to negotiate with the five permanent Security Council members and Germany.

But Mr Steinmeier made clear the Iranians had to halt uranium work first.

"I can only reiterate and urge Iran to implement very quickly a suspension of enrichment," he said.

The BBC's Tristana Moore in Berlin says the German government wants to avoid setting any deadlines for responding to the package, but it is clear that patience is wearing thin.

Many diplomats are hoping that Iran will use the G8 summit in St Petersburg in mid-July as an occasion to give a formal response.

However, Iran's president said this week mid-August would be a more likely date.

After the Berlin talks, Mr Steinmeier said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana would meet Iranian officials again in the next week to discuss the package.

Western powers are concerned Iran may use its programme to build a nuclear weapons capability, but Tehran insists it is for purely peaceful, energy purposes.

Polish minister fired in spy row

Polish Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska has been dismissed amid allegations that she covered up communist-era collaboration.

The prime minister accepted her resignation after a special prosecutor launched court proceedings against her.

In Poland, people who worked for the communist secret services can still hold public office, but it is an offence to lie about it.

Mrs Gilowska denied the allegations, saying she was a victim of blackmail.

Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz told a news conference he had asked her to stand down.

"The principles accepted by this government mean that her resignation must take place," he said.

Replacement named

He named his economic adviser, 46-year-old US-trained Pawel Wojciechowski, to replace her. In 1999-2005 he headed the Polish pension fund arm of the German insurer Allianz.

Following media reports, a special prosecutor said there was evidence to suggest Mrs Gilowska had lied in her 2001 declaration, in which she said she had never collaborated with the communist-era secret police.

The prosecutor, Wlodzimierz Olszewski, said "material gathered suggested a possibility that Ms Gilowska might have filed an untrue screening declaration."

Many, including the financial markets, saw her as a guarantor of fiscal responsibility in Poland's new conservative coalition, the BBC's Adam Easton reports from Warsaw.

Her offer to resign sparked a sell-off of Polish zlotys and treasury bonds, but the markets stabilised once her replacement was named.

Mrs Gilowska blamed the prosecutor's move against her on "lies, blackmail, false accusations" by political enemies.

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Hungary inspires Iraq, Bush says

US President George W Bush has cited Hungary's thirst for freedom as an inspiration to Iraq.

On a visit to Budapest to mark 50 years since an uprising against Soviet rule, Mr Bush said Hungary represented "the triumph of liberty over tyranny".

Iraqis, he said, would take inspiration and "draw hope" from Hungary's success.

Hungary 1956 revolt was crushed by the Soviet army. Budapest finally broke free of Moscow's influence when the Soviet bloc crumbled 17 years ago.

Hungary is now a member of Nato and the European Union.

'Hungarian patience'

After talks with Hungarian leaders, Mr Bush laid flowers in memory of the victims of the 1956 uprising.

"The lesson of the Hungarian experience is clear - liberty can be delayed but it cannot be denied," Mr Bush told an audience at a ceremony on a hill overlooking Budapest from which Soviet tanks had fired into the city.

The Soviet Union had "crushed the Hungarian uprising but not the Hungarian people's thirst for freedom", he said.

Mr Bush praised the new Iraqi PM, Nouri Maliki, saying Hungarians would recognise his spirit.

But, he said, Iraq's democracy was still under threat from "determined enemies".

"Defeating these enemies will require sacrifices and continued patience, the kind of patience the good people of Hungary displayed after 1956," he said.

His speech acknowledged the high cost Hungary paid in its struggle for independence and thanked it for "leadership in freedom's cause".

He also promoted a vision of democratic regimes triumphing with US backing.

Mr Bush said Americans had learned from the experience of people who had stood up to oppression.

Soviet crackdown

The president's day-long trip comes after he attended a US-EU summit in Austria.

His plane touched down in Budapest on Wednesday evening, where he was met by Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz and US ambassador George Herbert Walker.

He was greeted by Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom on Thursday morning, before the pair reviewed Hungarian troops.

Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest in 1956 after a national uprising and subsequent call from Prime Minister Imre Nagy for the country to pull out of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

Thousands of people died in the ensuing crackdown by Soviet forces, while hundreds of thousands more fled the country. In 1958, Soviet authorities announced Mr Nagy had been executed.

Symbolic value

Mr Bush's visit is four months early - the official commemoration is not until October but the US president is unable to attend then.

The symbolic value of a people rising up against a dictatorial regime is close to his heart, says the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Budapest.

But Hungarians underline that they opposed the Soviet power alone, and their appeals for help from the outside world went unheeded, our correspondent adds.

During Mr Bush's visit, Hungary - which joined the EU two years ago - is expected to raise the long-standing demand for it and other recent EU members for visa-free travel to the US.

Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsany said he had discussed with Mr Bush demands to ease visa restrictions for Hungarians visiting the US.

Hungary is one of nine of the 10 new EU member states that do not enjoy the visa waivers granted to most of the bloc's 15 older member states.

"I understand this is a difficult issue," Mr Bush said, adding that the two countries "have developed a roadmap" for resolving it.

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Catalonia endorses autonomy plan

Catalan voters have backed plans to give their region greater independence from Madrid.

Around 75% of voters backed the autonomy plans in a referendum held in the region, results showed.

The result means Catalonia, in the north-east, will become one of Europe's most independent regions.

The plan includes giving Catalans more tax revenues and a greater say over how that money is spent, as well as more control over airports and immigration.

It was backed by the Spanish government, Catalonia's ruling Socialists and moderate nationalists - but opposed by both the conservative Popular Party and by leftists who favoured outright independence.

But turnout was low - only about 50% of eligible voters took part.

Given the low turnout, it is uncertain how strong a mandate the new charter will have, the BBC's Danny Wood in Barcelona reports.

Long process

The referendum was the final step in a process which began in September 2005, when Catalonia's parliament approved a new version of the Statute - the document that organises the relationship and the division of political powers between Spain and Catalonia.

The new version refers to Catalonia as a nation.

"I think it is a step forward for the country [Catalonia]," said 28-year-old "Yes" voter Marc Oliva.

Other supporters said Catalonia deserved the extra powers in recognition of its large economic contribution - accounting for a fifth of Spain's economy even though it is home to less than a sixth of the population.

But "No" voters said Catalan politicians were playing with fire, and other regions could now demand greater independence.

"I don't like the idea of Spain breaking up," said 38-year-old Gabino Escribano.

Some critics of the plan have warned that the Basque country, which suffered from an armed separatist struggle for more than 30 years, may now be encouraged to formulate its own demands.

However, observers say the progress of Catalonia's autonomy plan may have influenced the ceasefire announced by the armed Basque separatists Eta earlier this year.

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Europe's leaders ponder EU future

The 25 leaders of the European Union countries have begun a summit in Brussels aimed at hammering out a future direction for the EU.

They are considering how it should be organised and how much it should grow.

They are expected to extend a year-long period of reflection on what to do with the EU constitution after its rejection by France and the Netherlands in 2005.

Austria is also pushing for a decision that could further slow down the bloc's enlargement to the south and east.

Timetable?

EU countries are split between those who would like to bury the constitution, and those who would like it to be revived, in one form or another.

At this summit, some want to agree on 2008 or 2009 as a target date for institutional changes of the kind mapped out in the constitution, but others want to avoid setting a timetable.

The Polish Prime Minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, made clear he favoured an open open-ended pause.

"I am convinced that at this summit, we will simply extend the period of reflection. We will try not to prejudge how long this extension should be," he told reporters.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said there seemed to be less consensus now on the way forward than there had been before.

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Euro MPs urge Guantanamo closure

The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion calling on the US to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

It follows the suicides of three detainees over the weekend.

Austria, which holds the EU presidency, said it would urge US President George Bush to close the camp when EU leaders meet him at a summit next week.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said the US base in Cuba was "an anomaly".

"The government of the United States should take measures to close Guantanamo as quickly as possible," Ms Plassnik said.

The European motion carries no legal weight but it is an indication of the level of concern in the EU about Guantanamo, reports the BBC's Alix Kroeger in Strasbourg.

The UN human rights agency has also repeated calls for the camp to close, saying the deaths were "not completely unexpected".

"The focus of attention should be on closing Guantanamo," said Jose Diaz, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it plans to make a special visit to Guantanamo in the coming days.

A spokesman told the BBC the purpose of the visit was to assess what happened from the detainees' perspective and to check the overall mood in the camp. It will not be an inquiry into the deaths.

The three men who died - two Saudis and a Yemeni - had been visited by the ICRC, which sends delegates to Guantanamo every six to eight weeks.

However, news of the suicides prompted the Red Cross to tell Washington it wanted to visit the base as soon as possible.

Concerns have been raised over the mental health of the detainees, some of whom have been held for four years.

A former Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo said conditions at the camp were driving inmates to suicide.

"It was bound to happen. The conditions down in Guantanamo were quickly deteriorating way back in 2002 and 2003 when I was assigned there," James Yee told the BBC's World Today.

"And these prisoners are now well into their fifth year of detention - indefinite detentions, lack of due process, no charges.

"That all has to do with contributing to these suicides, in my opinion."

US reaction

The US response to the suicides has come under international criticism.

Base commander Rear Adm Harry Harris described them as an "act of asymmetric warfare waged against us", while deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy told the BBC the deaths were "a good PR move".

She described them as "a tactic to further the jihadi cause".

However, the US state department has sought to distance itself from those comments.

"I would not say that it was a PR stunt," said spokesman Sean McCormack.

There have been dozens of unsuccessful suicide attempts at Guantanamo Bay, which holds some 460 prisoners.

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Czechs study Cold War murder plot

A court in the Czech capital Prague has begun hearing a 50-year-old Cold War murder case in which the wife of a senior French politician was killed.

The hearing was adjourned soon after it opened, so that the judge could decide whether the two elderly suspects were fit to stand trial.

Two former agents of the communist-era secret police are accused of sending a parcel bomb disguised as a cigar box.

It killed the wife of Andre Tremeaud, wife of the prefect of Strasbourg.

Prosecutors say the Soviet KGB got the two Czechoslovak agents to send the bomb in 1957.

Jail unlikely

Mr Tremeaud - the intended target - was working for the EU's earliest precursor, the European Coal and Steel Community.

According to prosecutors, the KGB hoped that by killing him and blaming neo-Nazis, they could destroy the Franco-German rapprochement driving the fledgling European integration.

Only one of the elderly defendants - Milan Michel - turned up in court on Monday.

The other, Stanislav Tomes, excused himself on grounds of ill-health.

The BBC's Rob Cameron in Prague says the case is the result of 10 years of evidence-gathering by a body set up to investigate Communist crimes.

Few Czechs expect the defendants to go to prison if found guilty, he says.

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Hitler's bunker location marked

An information panel marking the site of the bunker where Adolf Hitler committed suicide at the end of World War II has been unveiled in Berlin.

It is the first time the authorities have allowed the site, just 200 metres (220 yards) from Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, to be officially identified.

There had been fears marking the site would attract right-wing extremists.

Hitler killed himself in the bunker at the end of April 1945 as Soviet troops closed in on the city.

The panel at the site shows the layout of the bunker together with archive photos and a chronology in German and English.

It was put together by a history society which runs guided tours of Berlin's network of underground bomb shelters, Berlin Underworlds, and wants to demystify the site.

"This is one of the most symbolic places in Berlin for the crimes the Nazis committed and we want to make sure people know the whole truth about it," said Sven Felix Kellerhoff.

Car park spot

One of Hitler's former bodyguards, 88-year-old Rochus Misch, who was at the unveiling, said people should be informed of history, even when it was the history of a devil.

"During the last 12 days of the war, I was down here with Hitler and the other bodyguards all the time," he said.

After the war, Soviet soldiers blew up most of the bunker, and in the 1980s the remaining foundation and walls were filled with rubble, making it inaccessible.

It is now buried under a car park surrounded by blocks of apartments built by the former East German government.

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Montenegro declares independence

Montenegro has formally declared independence from its union with Serbia in a special session of parliament in the capital, Podgorica.

There were public celebrations, but a fireworks display on Saturday evening was spoilt by heavy rain.

The move officially recognises the result of a referendum two weeks ago, when a slim majority backed the move.

But correspondents say Montenegro is a divided society, with a significant minority backing the union with Serbia.

The last time the region was a country was at the end of World War I, before it was absorbed into the newly-formed Yugoslavia.

The red-and-gold Montenegrin flag, dating back to that period, was flown after the speaker Ranko Krivokapic declared: "Long live Montenegro!"

The anthem "Oh, The Bright May Dawn" was played in the parliament chamber.

Earlier this week, the Montenegro Referendum Commission formally confirmed the result of the referendum, in which 55.5% of the people voted to secede from Serbia, just above the necessary threshold of 55%.

Negotiations between Belgrade and Podgorica on how to disentangle the two states are expected to begin shortly.

They will include everything from property rights and university fees to military facilities and work permits.

Serbian President Boris Tadic sent a message of congratulation wishing the people of Montenegro "peace, stability and overall prosperity".

"Serbia will be the closest friend," he went on.

"I am in favour of preserving family, historic, cultural, economic and political ties, because they present an unbreakable bond between our two countries."

Next week Serbia is expected to declare its own independence, finally bringing to an end the break-up of the six republics of the former Yugoslavia into six fully-fledged states.

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Tony Blair to meet Pope Benedict

Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to have a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

They will discuss how "moderate voices" from the world's main religions need to work together to tackle extremism and reduce the risk of terrorism.

Moves to end poverty in Africa will also be discussed in their first meeting since the Pope succeeded John Paul II in April last year.

Mr Blair has already met Italian prime minister Romano Prodi during his visit.

The prime minister has been on holiday in Italy for a week, and has also met outgoing Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Discussing the topics likely to be covered during the papal audience, a Downing Street spokesman said Mr Blair would want to talk about global challenges such as climate change.

The spokesman added: "The Vatican is an influential player on the world stage and, through all the Catholic communities around the world, has a significant influence on international opinion."

Mr Blair will also stress the importance of the international community during his conversation with the Pope.

Tackling terror

The Downing Street spokesman said: "In particular he will want to discuss with the Pope inter-faith relations and how best inter-faith dialogue can help with conflict resolution and how the moderate voices of the world's main religions need to work together to tackle and confront extremism and terrorism.

"The prime minister will be interested in the Pope's views on key foreign policy issues."

In Mr Blair's last papal audience on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, he explained to the late Pope John Paul the reasons why he thought a military attack on Saddam Hussein would be morally justified.

The prime minister is also expected to extend an official invitation to Pope Benedict to visit Britain, perhaps in 2008.

His talks with Mr Prodi in Rome involved discussing the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq.

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Spanish 9/11 conviction quashed

The Spanish Supreme Court has quashed an al-Qaeda suspect's conviction for helping plan the 11 September attacks.

The court overturned a 15-year jail term given to Syrian-born Imad Yarkas, but upheld a 12-year sentence for belonging to a terrorist group.

Three other suspects were acquitted over alleged links to a terror group.

Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, was arrested in November 2001, about four years after Spanish police began tapping his telephone.

He is believed to have led a Spanish al-Qaeda cell since 1995.

The three men acquitted by the tribunal - Moroccans Driss Chebli, Sadik Merizak and Abdelaziz Benyaich - were released in April at the request of prosecutors.

The reasons behind the verdicts published on Thursday are due to be given at a later date.

Yarkas was jailed in September last year along with 17 other men convicted on charges of aiding al-Qaeda.

At the trial, prosecutors called for him to be jailed for 25 years for each of the 2,973 people killed in the 2001 attacks.

But earlier this year they asked for his conviction to be overturned because of lack of evidence.

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EU court annuls data deal with US

The European Court of Justice has annulled an EU-US agreement requiring airlines to transfer passenger data to the US authorities.

The court said the decision to hand over the data, including addresses and credit card details, lacked an "appropriate legal basis".

The US says the information helps identify potential terrorists.

EU and US officials say they are confident a solution can be found to enable the data transfers to continue.

Stewart Baker, an assistant secretary of state for the US Department of Homeland Security, said: "I am confident that we will find a solution that will keep the data flowing and the planes flying."

The agreement demands that within 15 minutes of take-off for the United States, a European airline must send the US authorities 34 items of personal information about the passengers on board.

Washington had warned that it would impose heavy fines and deny landing rights for any airline failing to comply with the agreement.

The US authorities also said passengers would be subject to long security checks on arrival if the data was not sent in advance.

Parliament opposition

The US demanded tighter airline security worldwide after the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington by suicide hijackers.

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Pope in visit to Nazi death camps

Pope Benedict XVI has made a historic visit to the former Nazi death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau at the end of his four-day tour of Poland.

The German-born Pope had personally insisted on visiting the camps where more than a million people, mostly Jews, were killed in World War II.

He prayed for peace in his native tongue at a ceremony at Birkenau.

It was particularly difficult as a Christian and a German pope to speak from such a place of horror, he said.

"In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence - a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?" he said in a speech in Italian.

"Our silence becomes in turn a plea for forgiveness and reconciliation, a plea to the living God never to let this happen again."

The pope's prayer was the first time he had publicly spoken German during his visit to Poland, and there had been some uncertainty - and controversy - over whether he would use the language at the camps.

Pope Benedict's visit to the camps began when he walked alone under the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate at the entrance to Auschwitz, where he met survivors and said prayers.

He was to have been driven everywhere during his visit, but the BBC's David Willey at Auschwitz said he wanted to walk around the camp and meditate alone.

Death cell

After entering the camp, he said a prayer in front of a reconstruction of the execution wall where Nazis lined up and shot thousands of prisoners.

He lit a candle in memory of the victims of Auschwitz, before meeting 32 survivors who had returned to the camp to greet him.

Pope Benedict, a former involuntary member of the Hitler Youth, then visited the cell where Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe died in 1941, after offering to take the place of a prisoner whom the Nazis had sentenced to death by starvation.

He then left the camp to visit the nearby Centre of Dialogue and Prayer, where he was greeted by nuns from a nearby convent.

The Pope blessed the centre before moving on to the site of the gas chambers of Birkenau, where he stood in reflection at the monument to victims of the camp.

He slowly walked past 22 tablets commemorating the 22 languages spoken by those killed there by the Nazis.

Some 500 people, including former Auschwitz inmates and representatives of Jewish communities around the world, attended the Birkenau ceremony.

The BBC's Adam Easton, who was also at the ceremonies, says the Pope made no apology on behalf of his countrymen, nor did he make a direct reference to anti-Semitism.

Before Pope Benedict's visit, some Jewish groups had said a German Pope speaking the language of the Nazis would insult the memory of the million or more Jews murdered there.

The Pope's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said the pontiff was making his visit to Auschwitz Birkenau as a "son of the German people".

He revealed that the trip was not originally in Benedict's schedule, but that the 79-year-old pontiff had personally insisted on it.

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Pope urges John Paul canonisation

Pope Benedict XVI has said during a visit to Poland that he hopes to see his predecessor, John Paul II, shortly elevated to sainthood.

The Pope's comments came during a visit to John Paul II's home town of Wadowice on the latest stage of his Polish trip.

He later told hundreds of thousands of young people who had gathered to see him in the town of Krakow to remain true to the teachings of Jesus.

Benedict XVI is to visit the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Sunday.

The German-born Pope, who is said to have insisted on including Auschwitz in his itinerary, will honour the memory of some one million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.

Sainthood call

During an hour-long visit to Wadowice, John Paul II visited the house where John Paul, then known as Karol Wojtyla, was born and raised - and which is now a museum dedicated to the Polish pope's life.

He was shown photos and artefacts such as the late pope's skis and camping equipment.

He also stopped in the nearby baroque church where the young Karol was baptised and later became an altar boy.

Crowds in the town's market square sang hymns and waved yellow and white Vatican flags as Benedict appeared.

The 79-year-old pontiff told a cheering crowd that he prayed John Paul II "may soon be elevated to the glory of the altars".

Many Polish Catholics believe the former pope should be declared a saint as soon as possible.

Echoes of John Paul

On Saturday night, Benedict XVI told hundreds of thousands of young people in Krakow that they should model their lives on Christian values.

He urged them to avoid being influenced by secular values that regarded Jesus as "a king of the past who is not for today and certainly not for tomorrow".

The crowd swayed and sang, holding candles in the twilight.

According to the BBC's David Willey, Pope Benedict XVI is copying everything his predecessor used to do - down to greeting young people who gather outside his residence each night.

But, says our correspondent, he does not have the huge charisma of John Paul II - and nor can he ad-lib to the crowds in the way his predecessor used to, for obvious language reasons.

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Poles applaud and sing for Pope

Pope Benedict XVI has been greeted by cheering crowds at the start of a visit to Poland - the land of his immediate predecessor John Paul II.

There was choral singing and applause to mark his arrival, while the streets of Warsaw were festooned with the flags of Poland and the Vatican.

Speaking in Polish, the German-born Pope said he had "come to follow in the footsteps" of John Paul II.

On Sunday he will visit the Nazi German extermination camp at Auschwitz.

More than a million people - mostly Jews - died at the camp, where the Pope will pray for reconciliation between nations and faiths.

Pope Benedict, who was once a reluctant member of the Hitler Youth, will walk, not drive, through the notorious death camp gates, and will refrain from speaking German during the visit.

On the way from the airport to St John's Cathedral in Warsaw he made a detour in his Popemobile to pass by the site of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising, honouring the Jews who resisted the Nazi occupation.

At the monument he briefly made a sign of blessing to more than 40 elderly Poles who risked their lives helping Jews during the war.

Flag-waving crowds lined the 10-kilometre (six-mile) route from the airport.

The pontiff later held a special service for Polish clergy at the cathedral.

He will celebrate Mass in Warsaw on Friday, when more than a million people are expected in Pilsudski Square.

Priority pilgrimage

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Cardinal Primate Jozef Glemp were among the dignitaries who welcomed the Pope at the airport.

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Pope Benedict set for Poland tour

Pope Benedict XVI is due to begin a four-day visit to Poland - the birthplace of his immediate predecessor and mentor, John Paul II.

The German-born Pope will celebrate a public Mass in Warsaw, where numerous posters welcome "our Pope".

His most sensitive stop is likely to be his visit to the Nazi German death camp at Auschwitz on Sunday.

He will pray for reconciliation between nations and faiths. More than a million people - mostly Jews - died there.

'Abide in faith'

Pope Benedict will almost certainly get a very warm welcome after his plane touches down in Warsaw, says the BBC's Adam Easton in the city.

Since his election a year ago, the Pope has been to southern Italy and to his native Germany - but the trip to Cologne had been planned by his predecessor.

"Poland is his choice, the first trip he scheduled," the Polish ambassador to the Holy See said last week.

The Pope - who already speaks fluent French, English, Italian, Spanish and Latin - is said to have taken intensive lessons in Polish.

People are unlikely to have the same emotional connection with the new Pope - but as a trusted aide and close friend of John Paul he is the next best thing, our correspondent says.

More than a million people are expected in the city's Pilsudski Square when Benedict XVI celebrates Mass on Friday.

"We must be strong in the faith," said Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz - echoing the theme of the visit.

During the trip, the Pope is due to stop at John Paul's birthplace to pay tribute to his predecessor.

With the possible exception of Malta, Poland is still the most overtly Catholic country in Europe.

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Germans warned of neo-Nazi surge

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has urged extra vigilance from the public to help tackle a rise in far-right extremism.

He said there should be no "no-go areas" for foreigners, as he presented an official report showing a rise in neo-Nazi violence last year.

A Turkish-born politician, Giyasettin Sayan, is in hospital following an apparently racist assault on Friday.

There has been growing concern about racist attacks ahead of the World Cup.

Former government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye drew criticism from politicians after suggesting that black people should avoid parts of the former communist East Germany.

German police have warned that far-right groups are planning to use the World Cup as a platform to win publicity.

Mr Schaeuble has already warned that the government will take a tough stance against xenophobia during the football tournament, adding that "no one who attempts to attack foreigners, especially people of colour, will succeed".

"We will not tolerate any form of extremism, xenophobia or anti-Semitism," he told reporters on Monday.

Germany's slogan for the World Cup is "A time to make friends" and officials see the 32-nation tournament as a chance to present their country to the world as welcoming, open and tolerant.

The figures in the report by Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution showed a total of 2,448 politically-motivated violent crimes in 2005.

The overall figure for far-right criminal offences was 15,914, compared with 12,553 for 2004. They included 958 violent crimes, up from 776 in 2004.

Extremist violence

The office, which is tasked with fighting extremism and terrorism, also reported that the number of neo-Nazis in Germany rose from 3,800 in 2004 to 4,100 last year.

The number of right-wing extremists ready to use violence also rose from 10,000 to 10,400, although overall number of far-right extremists dropped slightly, the report said.

The number of left-wing extremist acts of violence was reported to have risen dramatically in 2005 - from 375 to 896.

Mr Schaeuble said the violence attributed to right-wing extremists may have increased because they have been holding more organised marches - which in turn attract counter-demonstrations by leftists, often resulting in clashes.

Police unions have called on the government to ban any neo-Nazi demonstrations outside World Cup stadiums.

Image worries

Konrad Freiburg, the head of the police trade union, says these violent scenes could be repeated if the marches are not banned.

"The consequences would be violence and injuries," he said. "But there would also be terrible pictures seen all over the world - in which 200 mad neo-Nazis are being protected by a ring of 1,000 policemen from a counter-demonstration. It's not the image of Germany we want to present."

The suspected racist assault on Mr Sayan in Berlin was just the latest in a series of attacks that have made the headlines this year.

In April, an Ethiopian-born man suffered extensive skull and rib injuries in what was reported to be a racist attack in Potsdam.

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Spain 'ready to begin Eta talks'

Spain's prime minister says he will announce in June the start of direct talks with the armed Basque separatist group Eta.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he would go to parliament to announce "the start of the process of dialogue to achieve the end of violence with Eta."

Eta declared a permanent ceasefire on 22 March. It has been engaged in an armed campaign for more than 30 years.

Mr Zapatero was speaking at a Socialist party meeting in the Basque region.

He said: "Just as I announced, next month I will communicate to the political forces the start of the process of dialogue to achieve the end of violence with Eta."

'Ceasefire scepticism'

In April, Mr Zapatero discussed the ceasefire with Basque leader Juan Jose Ibarretxe.

The two men said Eta must stop using extortion against businesses and politicians.

Mr Zapatero said multi-party talks on the political future of the Basque region could only begin once the Eta ceasefire was confirmed.

His deputy, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, said Eta's banned political wing Batasuna would be excluded from such talks.

The BBC's Danny Wood, in Madrid, says the prime minister's latest announcement of the start of a peace process shows that the government is confident that this ceasefire is permanent.

But the Spanish public is not so sure.

A recent poll conducted by a government-financed agency suggested that most Spaniards were sceptical of the Eta ceasefire.

A total of 53.9% of those questioned said they were doubtful of Eta's intentions, while 43.1% said their reaction to the truce was one of hope, Centre for Sociological Research survey said.

On Friday, meanwhile, reports quoted Arnaldo Otegi, leader of Batasuna, as saying the peace process was in a moment of "extreme gravity".

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Prodi team gets Senate approval

The centre-left government of Italy's new Prime Minister Romano Prodi has won a key vote of confidence in the Senate, two days after he took office.

The upper house approved Mr Prodi's coalition by 165 votes to 155 against.

Crucially all seven senators for life backed his government in the house, where he has only a two-seat majority.

Mr Prodi's coalition narrowly beat former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in April's election. Mr Prodi has a solid majority in the lower house.

On Thursday, Mr Prodi made his first speech to the Senate as leader, calling the war in Iraq a "grave error" and pledging to push for a troop pullout.

Friday's vote was the first of two confidence votes Mr Prodi is facing in the parliament.

If he lost, the new government would be forced to resign.

In the 640-seat lower house - where Mr Prodi faces a second confidence vote next week - he holds a clear 70-seat majority.

The centre-right opposition led by Mr Berlusconi has said it will seek every opportunity to defeat Mr Prodi's administration.

Uproar

On Thursday Mr Prodi announced plans to reverse many of the policies of his predecessor, pledging to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq, and launched a scathing attack on Italy's political climate.

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Iran shuns EU 'reactor incentive'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed a possible European offer of incentives to induce Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme.

He likened the incentives, which European negotiators are said to be considering, to the offer of "walnuts and chocolates" in exchange for gold.

France, Germany and the UK are thought to be discussing plans to offer Iran a light-water reactor.

Iran denies accusations among Western powers that it is seeking nuclear arms.

France, Germany and the UK had been due to meet the US, Russia and China on Friday, but this has been delayed.

A spokesman for the foreign office in London said this was to allow for more detailed discussion of the offer.

The meeting is now expected to be held in the next 10 days.

'Bitter experience'

Meanwhile Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said his government would offer its own economic incentives to Europe to recognise its right to enrich uranium.

"Iran's 70-million population market is a good incentive for Europe," he was quoted as saying by local media.

The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says Mr Asefi's remarks made fun of the Europeans' intense diplomatic efforts.

And speaking to supporters in the central Iranian city of Arak, Mr Ahmadinejad said the Europeans were treating Iran like a child:

"They say they want to give us incentives! Do you think you are dealing with a four-year-old child to whom you can give some walnuts and chocolates and get gold from him?"

Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran simply would not accept suspension of its nuclear work again, having agreed to it for two years and found it was a "bitter experience".

And he warned that the West should not force governments who have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to pull out of it.

Iranian suspicions

On Tuesday, the three EU states were reported to be considering reviving an offer to Iran of a light-water nuclear reactor as part of a package to persuade it to suspend nuclear fuel enrichment and research and avoid possible UN Security Council sanctions.

A reactor was tentatively offered in a previous European package of incentives in August that was swiftly rejected by Iran, says the BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran.

The EU's latest reported initiative comes as the US and some European governments seek a tough resolution on Iran at the UN Security Council.

China and Russia - both veto-holding members of the Security Council - do not want to support any resolution that might eventually lead to further resolutions threatening sanctions or military action.

In Tehran, many suspect the latest package of European incentives is aimed more at wooing Russian and Chinese support than really striking a deal with Iran, our correspondent says.

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EU hopefuls await entry verdict

The European Commission is expected to tell Bulgaria and Romania they can join the EU next year as planned, but only if they fulfil 10 more conditions.

Bulgaria in particular will have to show tangible results in the fight against corruption and organised crime.

A draft report obtained by the BBC also warns that both countries could face serious membership restrictions and cuts to EU funds even after they join.

The report will be presented to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

For Bulgaria and Romania, the answer from the European Commission will be a conditional yes.

The commission does not want to penalise reformist governments in both countries by delaying their entry, but with growing public unease in western Europe over further expansion, it has to keep up the pressure for deeper changes.

So the final assessment will be delayed until the autumn.

Tangible results

Meanwhile Bulgaria has to tackle six areas of serious concern, including high-level corruption and organised crime.

The report calls for tangible results - indictments, prosecutions, trials, convictions and dissuasive sentences.

Romania's to-do list is shorter and more technical, with four points mainly covering food safety and setting up agencies to pay EU farm aids.

The report warns that both countries risk losing billions of euros if these agencies are not in place and that some food exports could be banned to prevent the spread of mad cow disease.

A special monitoring system could also be put in place in the first three years after they join if efforts to tackle corruption and reform the judiciary do not yield results.

Such close monitoring is unprecedented in the EU and some say it could amount to second-class membership.

The president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the enlargement commissioner, Ollie Rehn, will travel to Romania and Bulgaria this evening to reassure both and ask them to make a final push.

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EU and Americas agree closer ties

A summit of European Union and Latin American leaders has ended in Vienna with an agreement by leaders from both continents to build closer ties.

Central American countries agreed to start trade talks with Brussels but the commitment from the rest of Latin America was more lukewarm.

European concerns over energy policy overshadowed the summit of 58 states.

Bolivia's nationalisation of its gas sector and a planned new Venezuelan tax on oil firms dominated the agenda.

The Europeans saw a divided Latin America where their investments would not be secure, BBC Americas editor Simon Watts reports.

Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, warned openly of the dangers of populism. President Vicente Fox of Mexico warned that the continent's progress was at risk.

And, our Americas editor notes, Brazil and Bolivia are barely on speaking terms since Bolivian President Evo Morales accused the Brazilian energy company of operating illegally in his country.

Stark divisions

In the summit's final statement, the EU and six Central American states - Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador - agreed to open negotiations on setting up a free-trade zone.

All states at the summit also agreed to "further promote and strengthen [their] bi-regional strategic partnership".

But with their gas and oil initiatives, Mr Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez undermined the negotiating power of Latin America's majority, our Americas editor says.

Between them, the two leftist leaders have created enormous diplomatic tension, he adds.

They want Latin America to move away from seeking trade pacts with the rest of the world and towards internal economic alliances.

The rest of the region, including nominally leftist governments like Brazil's, are still interested in trading with a large market like Europe's and they want to encourage investors.

Market appeal

Mr Barroso called for Latin America to make its position clear.

"If we want to fully develop the potential of our partnership we also need to know what is your strategic vision," he said at the opening of the summit.

The summit's host, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, stressed the need for open markets.

"Open market societies are better in their performance than closed, restricted structures," he told reporters.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair called on energy suppliers to act "responsibly".

"I don't want to go into the details of what is happening in either Venezuela or Bolivia but I mean all of us have a responsibility to the world community to try to manage this sensibly," he said.

But Bolivia's president remained in combative mood, telling Brazilian TV that some foreign oil companies were no better than "smugglers".

"We said we need partners, not masters," he said.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said he had little confidence in any commitments made by Bolivia at the negotiating table.

"The Brazilian government will defend the interests of Brazilians in a firm manner, without shying away from dialogue, but we do not expect that any agreements reached through that dialogue will actually be respected, or that they will not be undone by a statement the following day," he said.

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Cheney backs greater Croatia role

US Vice President Dick Cheney has pledged strong support for Croatia's bid to join Nato and the EU.

His comments came during a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader in the picturesque city of Dubrovnik.

Mr Cheney flew in for talks on Sunday with the heads of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia on Nato membership.

It is his last stop on a tour that also took in Lithuania and Kazakhstan. In a speech in Vilnius, he accused Russia of backsliding on democracy.

Mr Cheney met Mr Sanader after holding talks with Croatian President Stipe Mesic and touring some of the sights of the Adriatic Sea city with his wife Lynne.

"We are strongly supportive of Croatia becoming a full member of the trans-Atlantic community in terms of working with Nato and the EU," Mr Cheney told his host, as they stood on the terrace of a seaside restaurant.

Sharp rebuke

Croatia began accession talks with the EU in October and hopes to join by 2009.

It also signed an agreement - along with Albania and Macedonia - with the US in May 2003 called the Atlantic Charter, which is designed to facilitate their integration into the organisation.

Mr Cheney flew on to the Balkans after an overnight visit to Kazakhstan, where he met President Nursultan Nazarbayev and a small group of opposition leaders.

On the first leg of his trip, Mr Cheney delivered one of the sharpest US rebukes to Russia in years during a speech at an eastern European regional summit in the Lithuanian capital.

He accused Russia of using its vast energy resources to blackmail its neighbours, and said Moscow had a choice to make between pursuing democratic reforms and reversing the gains of the past decade.

Russia rejected Mr Cheney's remarks as "completely incomprehensible".

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Rendition row 'hurts US-EU ties'

A US official has said claims that the CIA illegally used Europe's airspace to transfer terror suspects are damaging US-EU co-operation on intelligence.

John Bellinger, a legal adviser to the US secretary of state, said there had been only a few such flights in Europe.

Last month, European lawmakers cited a thousand or more cases of such flights.

Washington's critics say the practice amounts to the seizure of suspects by CIA agents for interrogation, including torture. The US denies the accusations.

"The suggestion that intelligence flights are somehow engaged in illegal activity really undermines the co-operation between the United States and Europe," Mr Bellinger told reporters in Brussels.

He was responding to a European Parliament inquiry which concluded that the CIA had run more than 1,000 flights within the European Union since 2001, often transporting terror suspects for questioning overseas.

Guantanamo

Mr Bellinger said that most flights were only carrying officials or forensic evidence, and suggestions that many had detainees on board were "absurd".

"Someone needs to challenge that," he said. "It's not possible for the United States to prove a negative, but responsible European governments or responsible European officials simply need to say this has gotten out of hand."

He also defended the use of the camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of terrorism suspects have been held for up to four years without trial.

However, he admitted the US had perhaps not been clear enough in explaining the legal basis for Guantanamo.

He refused to comment on individual rendition cases, or on interrogation tactics such as sleep deprivation or simulated drownings.

But he said the US did not use torture or get others to do it on Washington's behalf.

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Released hostages to return to Germany Held captive in Iraq for 99 days

Two German engineers were to return home Wednesday a day after they were released unharmed following 99 days in captivity in Iraq, the German government said. Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke were released Tuesday after being held hostage since Jan. 24. The Foreign Ministry declined to provide details on how the pair were freed, citing safety reasons.

German President Horst Koehler and Chancellor Angela Merkel both expressed relief and joy at the news of the men's release.

''Our thoughts are with Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich,'' Koehler said in a statement. ''I wish both of them with all my heart that they are able to swiftly overcome the distress they have suffered.'' Hundreds flocked to the Nikolaikirche, or Church of St. Nicholas, in the pair'shome city of Leipzig where weekly vigils were held throughout their captivity. People embraced, set off fireworks and toasted the news of the release.

Braeunlich, 32, and Nitzschke, 28, both employees of Cryotec Anlagenbau AG near Leipzig, were kidnapped on their way to work at an Iraqi-governm

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Italy's Berlusconi set to resign