World In Brief

Meeting called off over rights boycott

UKRAINE: The government called off a regional co-operation summit of central and eastern European states on Tuesday after several heads of state boycotted it over the alleged abuse of jailed former PM Yulia Tymoshenko.

More than a dozen countries refused to attend the summit on Friday and Saturday in the Crimean resort city of Yalta, after Ms Tymoshenko went on a hunger strike in protest over an alleged beating by prison officials.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it had decided to postpone the summit until a later date.

Police find bombs at May Day parade

GERMANY: Berlin police reported on Tuesday that officers had found three improvised pipe bombs on the sidelines of the city’s huge May Day march.

Spokesman Stefan Redlich explained that the 16-inch-long devices had been filled with an explosive and could have caused fatal injuries within 10 to 15 metres if detonated.

Mr Redlich said the bombs were found on the pavement during a peaceful rally of up to ten thousand leftwingers and trade unionists on May 1.

Militias fire on PM’s offices

LIBYA: Militiamen with anti-aircraft guns attacked the office of interim prime minister Abdurrahim al-Keib in Tripoli this afternoon.

The attackers are believed to be former rebels demanding payment for their part in the Nato-backed regime change operation in the oil-rich country last year.

It was unclear at the time the Star went to press whether Mr Keib was in the offices.

Soldiers kill five Kurdish activists

TURKEY: Soldiers killed five members of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the town of Tatvan on Tuesday.

Turkish state news reported that a clash erupted during a routine search operation on the outskirts of the town in Bitlis province. Two of the dead were female PKK members.

The PKK fights for greater autonomy and cultural rights for Turkey’s Kurdish minority and is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and EU.

MPs agree new centrist coalition

ROMANIA: The new centrist coalition is expected to partially restore public-sector wages and pensions that were slashed by EU-mandated austerity measures.

Parliament approved Victor Ponta’s coalition government of Social Democrats and Liberals on Monday, making him the third prime minister this year after the previous two conservative governments collapsed over the unpopular cuts.