Europe at a glance

Regensburg, Germany
Bishop lined: A controversial Catholic
cleric has been lined £10.000 by a court in
Regensburg for denying (he Holocaust.
Bishop Richard Williamson, a British
member of the ultra •conservative St Pius X
Society, stated on Swedish television last
year that there were no gas chambers and
that "only 200,000 to .(00,000" people
died in Nazi concentration camps, rather
ih.iu the 6 million generally agreed by
historians. The interview gained
widespread attention because just days
after it was broadcast, Williamson was
welcomed back into the Roman Catholic
church, which had excommunicated him in
19SS after he was ordained without papal
consent. The Vatican said ii had been
unaware of his views on the Holocaust.
Imposing the tine. Judge Karin Lrahni said
the amount had been reduced because
Williamson had not known that his views
would be broadcast in Germany, where
Holocaust denial is a crime.

Krakow
President laid
to rest: The
President of
Poland, Lech
Kaczyiiski. and
his wife Maria
were buried on
Sunday in a
stale funeral in Krakow (above). Their
bodies were interred in the crypt of Wawcl
Cathedral, ihc traditional resting place of
Polish kings and heroes. The ash cloud
over Europe prevented many leaders from
attending, bur Russia's President Dmitry
Medvedcv was at the service, where
Cardinal Stanislaw D/iwisz expressed hope
that the disaster would lead to reconcili-
ation between "our two great Slavic
nations". Russian sources have said that
the plane's black box makes it clear that
pilot error was to blame for the crash, and
that there is no evidence that VIPs
ordered the pilot to land in thick fog.


Moscow
Moiorisi anger: The Russian parliament is
considering a bill that would limit the use
of migalki - (lashing blue lights on top of
cars that enable drivers to flout traffic
laws wiih impunity. Deeply resented by
ordinary motorists, the sirens arc supposed
only to Ik- issued to high-ranking civil
servants, reports The Independent. But
campaigners say that officials are accepting
bribes to issue them to all sorts of
well-connected people, who use them to
speed through traffic jams and down
one-way streets - and cause numerous
accidents. The new bill, which follows a
scries of recall protests, would introduce
fines for drivers who use their sirens when
they arc not on urgent official business.




Paris
Fool bailer*
questioned: Four
leading French
footballers are
suspected by
police of having
had sex with an
underage
prostitute, in a
scandal that
threatens to
undermine
France's preparations for this summer's
World Cup in South Africa. The players in
question include Baycrn Munich's Franck
Ribcry (above), who is widely regarded as
France's best footballer, and Lyon's Sidney
Govou. Ribcry. who is married, is said to
have admitted to having had regular sex
with the girl, a French Moroccan, but
denied knowing that she was not yet 18.





Athens
Marker unease: The yields on Greek
government bonds hit a series of record
highs as officials from the EU and the
International Monetary Fund met to
negotiate a €30bn bail out for the country
and a new IMF lending facility. In a sign
that Greece would struggle to keep
borrowing money from the international
markets without support from fellow EU
members, the interest on ten-year govern-
ment bonds rose to 8.28%, the highest
levels since Greece joined the euro/one in
2(1(11. I he process of agreeing details of
two international rescue packages - one
from the EU, the other from the IMF - is
expected to last until the end of next week,
when Greece will formally request the
money, which is thought to be sufficient to
pay the country's creditors until the end of
the year. In a separate report, the IMF said
that the Greek crisis, if unchecked, could
lead to a "contagion" across Europe.


Valletta -
Pope weeps: Pope Benedict XVI shed fears
last weekend at a private meeting in Malta
with eight men who claim they were
sexually abused by Catholic priests while
growing up at an orphanage in Santa
Venera. According to a Vatican statement,
the Pope told the men of his "shame and
sorrow" about what they and their families
had suffered, and promised to introduce
"effective measures" to safeguard
vulnerable children in future. "I saw the
Pope cry with emotion and I felt freed of a
great weight," said one of the men at the
35-minute meeting, Lawrence Grech. "I
hadn't been to Mass for a long time and I'd
losr my faith, but now I feel a confirmed
Catholic." Asked if the Pope had
apologised personally for the abuse, he
said: "He did not have to say sorry,
because the abuse was not the fault of
one person. Fie should not carry the guilt
of others."



Nicosia
Hardliner elected: Prospects for the
political reunification of Cyprus receded
this week with the election of the
conservative hardliner Dervis Eroglu to the
presidency of the Turkish north of the
island. Eroglu took just over 50% of the
vote, defeating Mehmet Ali Talat, the
left-of-centre incumbent. Talat - who had
spent the previous 18 months negotiating
with his Greek Cypriot counterpart - had
promised voters a deal that would lead to
the creation of a two-zone federation by
the end of the year, but his plea for a fresh
mandate was rejected. F.roglu has stated
that he will continue the talks, hut has
shown no willingness to moderate his
hardline stance. He favours a two-state
solution that would largely preserve the
status quo, and has rejected suggestions
that dispossessed Greeks could be allowed
to return to the north and reclaim property
lost to the Turks after 1974.