Czech Republic

Czechs cast first votes for European Parliament

In another historic first for ex-communist eastern Europe, Czechs voted Friday for representatives of the European Parliament.

For many who fear the country gave up its cherished sovereignty when it joined the European Union last month, the vote was a way to ensure a voice in continental affairs. The EU expanded to 25 nations and 450 million people when it took in the Czech Republic along with seven other former Soviet bloc nations and Cyprus and Malta on May 1.

A total of 732 representatives were being chosen Europewide in four days of voting that began Thursday in Britain and the Netherlands and runs through Sunday, with issues ranging from national sovereignty to the war on terrorism and Europe’s role in Iraq.

ROME

‘Prince’ of high fashion von Furstenberg dies

Egon von Furstenberg, an aristocrat and eccentric designer known as the “prince of high fashion,” died Friday in a hospital in Rome. He was 57.

His fashion house confirmed his death, but gave no details pending release of a statement.

Von Furstenberg was born in Switzerland, on his father’s side the descendant of a noble German family. His mother was an Agnelli, the Italian family that controls Fiat.

He married the Belgian-born fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg in 1969, but they divorced soon after son Alexandre and daughter Tatiana were born. She married American media mogul Barry Diller in 2001.

UNITED NATIONS

U.N. unanimously OKs Sudan peacekeeping

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Friday authorizing preparations for a U.N. peacekeeping operation in southern Sudan and calling for a halt to fighting in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

The resolution welcomed the signing of a landmark, power-sharing declaration by the Sudanese government and southern rebels, covering the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan and committing to a peace deal.

The deal cleared up the last remaining political issues blocking a final accord to end Sudan’s 21-year civil war. The two sides must now negotiate the details of a comprehensive cease-fire and a timeline for implementing it.

Thailand

Assailants slash guard, seize guns from school

Hooded assailants with assault rifles slashed the throat of a night guard outside a government school in Thailand’s Muslim south and seized weapons from other security personnel who were inside, police said Friday.

The guard, Abdulnasae Katoolae, 42, was in serious condition after the attack Thursday night at the school in a rural part of Pattani province, police Lt. Col. Sophon Phansomtrong said.

The assailants were believed to be Muslim separatists who have been blamed for attacks in Pattani and two other southern provinces, Narathiwat and Yala. The provinces are the only Muslim-majority areas in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

South Africa

White extremist leader released from prison

Eugene Terre’Blanche, the leader of the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement, was released Friday from the prison where he was serving a five-year sentence for attempted murder and assault.

Terre’Blanche, a white extremist well-known in South African politics for two decades, was paroled for good behavior after serving three years for the savage beating of one of his black workers for eating on the job.

About 400 supporters, including one waving the old apartheid-era South Africa flag, gathered outside the Correction Services office and cheered Terre’Blanche when he was released.

Egypt

Columnist says Gadhafi should be overthrown

Moammar Gadhafi should either step down or be removed from power because he has “ruined Libya,” a respected Arabic newspaper columnist wrote Friday.

Columnist Jihad al-Khazen compared the Libyan leader to Saddam Hussein, saying both had equivalent “evil intentions.”

His column was published in Al Hayat on Friday, a day after U.S. media reported Gadhafi had plotted to assassinate the Saudi crown prince.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam has denied the reports. President Bush said Thursday the United States was trying to establish whether there was such a plot.