EU
reform treaty passes last test - 3 November
The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, has signed the EU's
Lisbon Treaty, the final step in the charter's ratification. The treaty
was drawn up to streamline decision-making in the EU, and is a
watered-down version of a draft EU constitution rejected four years ago.
Among its measures, it creates a European Council president and alters the
way member states vote. The treaty could now come into force as early as
December. - BBC News website
Bosnia Herzegovina
Lone
Karadzic finally appears - 3 November
Trial Chamber 3 at The Hague is a small, almost intimate courtroom. But
there was little warmth as Radovan Karadzic squared up to the prosecution
team at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. - BBC
News website
Court
imposes lawyer on Karadzic - 5 November
The UN's Yugoslav war crimes court has appointed a lawyer to represent
ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic whenever he fails to appear in
court. It also adjourned his trial to 1 March to give his counsel time to
prepare. - BBC News website
Germany
Cat
banned from visiting Buddhist bank robber in jail - 3 November
Peter Keonig is serving five-years for armed robberies in Werl, Germany.
He went to court this week demanding the right for his cat Gisela to be
allowed to visit him in jail "because she is my dead mum". But
the court turned him down. The court did say he would be allowed to
write to the cat. - Telegraph
website
Italy
Italy
challenges ruling that crucifix in class violates religious freedom -
3 November
Italy said today that it would challenge a ruling by the European Court of
Human Rights in favour of an Italian woman who opposed the display of a
Catholic crucifix at a state school attended by her two children. Soile
Lautsi, from Abano Terme, near Padua, had taken the issue to Strasbourg on
the grounds that displaying crucifixes in classrooms contradicted the
separation of Church and state in Italy. She was awarded €5 000 (£4
473) in damages. The court said that the school had violated religious and
educational freedoms guaranteed under the European Rights Convention. The
ruling could encourage a review of the use of religious symbols in state
schools throughout Europe. - Times
Online website