Georgia

President ask Georgians to avoid protests

President Eduard Shevardnadze warned Friday that the round-the-clock opposition protests in the Georgian capital could spark a civil war, and asked that people stay away from a rally scheduled for later in the day.

Shevardnadze’s appeal came after opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili called on all Georgians to join the protesters outside parliament later Friday. The demonstrators want Nov. 2 parliamentary elections declared invalid and say Shevardnadze should resign.

Shevardnadze went on state television to urge people against going to the rally, warning of the consequences if protesters get out of control. The protests have ranged in size from several hundred people to several thousand.

Berlin

Germany starts historic nuclear-power shutdown

Germany began phasing out nuclear power Friday when a 32-year-old power plant was switched off forever, the first step toward a historic shift in the energy supply of Europe’s biggest economy.

Eighteen remaining plants are to be closed in the next two decades under an accord between utilities and the government that bears the stamp of the environmentalist Greens party, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s junior partner.

Germany’s second-oldest nuclear plant at Stade in northern Germany, operated by the E.On Kernkraft utility, was powered down at about 8:30 a.m., the Lower Saxony state environment ministry said.

Plans call for the 660-megawatt plant to be torn down starting in 2005.