WESTERN EUROPE

POPE HAILS ANTI-NAZI BISHOP

VATICAN CITY – A German bishop known as the “Lion of Muenster” for his courageous anti-Nazi sermons during World War II took a step on the road to sainthood when he was beatified yesterday in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Benedict XVI hailed the “heroic courage” of Clemens August von Galen and described the churchman, who condemned anti-Semitism, as a model for those in public roles today.

Von Galen died in 1946, at age 68, a few weeks after Pope Pius XII raised him to the rank of cardinal.

“Von Galen feared God more than man, and this gave him the courage to say and to do things that many intelligent persons did not do in that period in Germany,” Pope Benedict said in his native German.

The pope came to the basilica at the end of the ceremony to greet churchmen, public officials and pilgrims who came from Muenster and elsewhere in Germany.

Von Galen, who joins the Church’s list of the “blessed” through his beatification, dedicated himself to “defending the rights of God, of the church, of man, which the national socialist (Nazi) regime violated in a grave and systematic way, in the name of an aberrant, neo-pagan ideology,” Pope Benedict said.

– Associated Press

MIDDLE EAST

ABBAS-SHARON SUMMIT IN DOUBT

JERUSALEM – A much-anticipated summit between the Israeli and Palestinian Arab leaders was suddenly thrown into doubt yesterday after Israel’s defense minister rejected key Palestinian Arab demands during a preparatory meeting meant to ensure the upcoming session’s success.

Senior Israeli and Palestinian Arab negotiators failed to bridge the differences yesterday, but they agreed to meet one last time in hopes of salvaging the summit.

The summit, tentatively set for tomorrow, would be the first between Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Arab leader Mahmoud Abbas since Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.

The unilateral pullout has raised hopes that peace talks might soon resume. Israeli and Palestinian Arab officials say they want to produce concrete results at a summit, hoping success would lead to formal negotiations toward a peace treaty.

– Associated Press

EGYPTIAN OPPOSITION UNITES FOR ELECTIONS

CAIRO, Egypt – Leaders from 10 of Egypt’s major opposition groups agreed to put aside their deep enmity for one another and join forces against President Mubarak’s ruling party in next month’s parliamentary elections.

Conspicuously missing from the National Front for Change that was formed late Saturday was Ayman Nour, head of the liberal al-Ghad party, who finished second behind Mr. Mubarak in the September 7 presidential election and now claims to be the leader of the opposition.

The National Front includes groups from across the political spectrum and will attempt to mesh organizations that have been deeply critical of each other, if not outright enemies, in an attempt to wrest control of parliament from the 77-year-old Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.

Among those in the alliance, for example, are the leftist Tagammu party, a fierce critic of the Muslim Brotherhood, a long banned Islamist movement that is now an ally. Others signing on were the leftist Nasserites, the liberal Wafd party, the anti-Mubarak movement Kifaya (Enough) and such fledgling political groups as the Islamist al-Wasat and the left-wing al-Karama.

– Associated Press

LATE EFFORT TO WIN SUNNI SUPPORT FOR IRAQ’S CHARTER

BAGHDAD, Iraq – With American mediation, Shiite Muslim and Kurdish officials negotiated with Sunni Arab leaders yesterday over possible last-minute additions to Iraq’s proposed constitution, trying to win Sunni support ahead of next weekend’s crucial referendum.

But the sides remained far apart over basic issues – including the federalism that Shiites and Kurds insist on but that Sunnis fear will lead to the country’s eventual breakup. Copies of the constitution were already being passed out to the public. Though major attacks in the insurgent campaign to disrupt the referendum have waned in recent days, violence killed 13 Iraqis yesterday.

– Associated Press

CENTRAL EUROPE

POLL INDICATES TUSK LEADING POLISH ELECTION

WARSAW, Poland – A pro-market lawmaker and Warsaw’s socially conservative mayor appeared headed for a runoff yesterday in Poland’s presidential election yesterday after neither candidate gained the 50% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff, according to a key exit poll. Final results were not expected until today, the state electoral commission told the Associated Press. Exit polls in Poland have proven in the past to be a reliable indicator of how the final vote will tally.

The state television exit poll indicated that Donald Tusk, a pro-business candidate committed to stimulating entrepreneurship with low taxes and deregulation, finished with about 38%; Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski, a former child actor hoping to preserve a strong safety net, had 32%.

– Associated Press

CAUCASUS

POLICE VIOLENTLY DISPERSE PROTESTERS

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Riot police scattered hundreds of opposition supporters protesting in Azerbaijan’s capital yesterday in defiance of a ban, beating some with truncheons and dragging several away as tensions mounted ahead of parliamentary elections next month.

A riot police unit pushed back dozens of protesters, some carrying red carnations, as they made their way down a narrow street toward one of the squares where opposition rallies were planned in this oil-rich former Soviet republic.

Police hit some protesters in the arms and legs with clubs and appeared to drag at least a dozen away – one with a bloodied head – forcing them into a minibus. Later, police surrounded a protester who was on the ground, hitting him with truncheons and kicking him. “This is how they smother freedom,” said Jafar Bakhash, an opposition supporter leaning on a wooden cane and standing near the fray. “I’m 65, but I will fight to the end of my life.” President Ilham Aliev, who succeeded his strongman father, Geidar Aliev, in a 2003 election that the opposition contends was rigged, has pledged the November 6 elections will be free.

Opposition leaders say they strongly doubt the vote will be fair and have rallied their supporters for pro-democracy protests virtually every weekend despite bans.

– Associated Press