World Watch

Roma Riot For Rights
To protest the halving of their social benefits, thousands of unemployed Roma in eastern Slovakia went on a spree of looting and rioting. Police and military units struggled to restore order, with the worst clashes coming in Trebisov, where groups of Roma threw rocks and bottles. Roma leaders called off protests to prevent further violence and the government agreed to pay the reduced benefits weekly instead of monthly. Prime Minister Mikulás Dzurinda defended the cuts: "For 30 years, there was not enough courage to consider whether it was normal and sustainable for those who don't want to work to make more money than those who do want to work." His comments angered Roma-rights advocates.

"It's not that they don't want to work, there is no work for them," says Kristína Magdolenová, executive director of the Roma Press Agency. Coming just months before E.U. accession, the dispute is an embarrassment, since Slovakia 's membership was once conditional on improving the Roma's lot — Jan Stojaspal

Delayed Vengeance
SWITZERLAND Police arrested a Russian man for the stabbing murder of an air-traffic controller who was on duty when the man's wife and two children died in a midair

MEANWHILE IN SERBIA ... Every Vote a Winner Poll-weary Serbs, whose efforts to elect a new President have been thwarted three times in the past 15 months due to low voter participation, can finally see light at the bottom of the ballot box. Parliamentarians got round the 50% turnout threshold by simply abolishing it, paving the way for a new election as early as this month. DARKO VOJINOVIC/AP A mother lets her son casts her ballot during the recent Serb parliamentary elections.

collision. The July 2002 accident, involving a Russian charter jet and a DHL cargo plane, killed 71 people, the majority of whom were Russian schoolchildren.

Friends Again
GERMANY Frosty relations with the U.S. seemed to thaw as Chancellor Gerhard Schröder met U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House. While Schröder insisted that German troops would not go to Iraq , he also said Berlin will not stand in the way if NATO decides to send peacekeeping troops there, and will lead the way in forgiving part of Iraq's $120 billion foreign debt, a key Bush Administration goal. In one German opinion poll, however, 71% agreed that America 's pursuit of its interests is "inconsiderate and egotistical."

Al-Qaeda Accused
TURKEY Prosecutors charged 69 suspects with involvement in the November suicide bombings in Istanbul that killed 63 people. The indictment called for life imprisonment for five of the accused, and long prison terms for the others. Prosecutors allege that all of the suspects belonged to a Turkish cell of the al-Qaeda terror network.

Out with the Old
RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin abruptly sacked Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and his entire Cabinet, saying he wanted to introduce a new premier ahead of the March 14 presidential election. All of the ministers apart from Kasyanov were asked to stay in their posts on an interim basis. Putin, who has a near-unassailable lead in the polls, has two weeks to name Kasyanov's successor.

Pat on the Back
LIBYA The U.S. government lifted its 23-year ban on travel to Libya as a reward for Tripoli 's decision to abandon its nuclear-weapons program. The widely-anticipated move was briefly put on hold when Libyan Prime Minister Shokri Ghanem denied his country's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, but went ahead when the Libyan government disavowed Ghanem's comments.

Long Wait for Justice
ZIMBABWE The year-long treason trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai came to a close, with the judge not expected to rule for several months. Tsvangirai denies charges of plotting to murder President Robert Mugabe and says the government fabricated the allegations to discredit him.

Better Than Nothing
NORTH KOREA The second round of six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program ended in Beijing without a major breakthrough, although Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi issued a statement saying that all parties had committed themselves to "a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula" and agreed to meet again before July.