France tries Somali men accused of piracy

  Six alleged Somali pirates went on trial Tuesday in Paris for hijacking a yacht and taking a French couple hostage off the coast of Somalia in 2008.

The six Somali men, now between the ages of 21 and 35, are accused of seizing the Carré-d'As IV in the Gulf of Aden and holding Jean-Yves Delanne and his wife, Bernadette Bignon, for two weeks. The men allegedly demanded a ransom of $2 million for the release of the couple.

The pirates were arrested and brought to France after French special forces boarded the yacht and rescued the couple September 16, 2008.

The group faces charges of hijacking, kidnapping and armed robbery, according to a court spokeswoman.

The trial -- the first of suspected Somali pirates in France -- is closed to the public and is being held in a juvenile court, since one of the six was 18 years old at the time of the hijacking.

The men face sentences of up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

The trial is expected to last until December 2.

As of mid-November, 11 vessels and 194 hostages are currently being held by pirates, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Incidents of piracy have been on the rise in the past few years, especially along the largely lawless coast of Somalia.

Protesters take to the streets of Spain

Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets of the Spanish capital Sunday, protesting unemployment a week before voters elect a new government.

The march past the world-famous Prado museum and Madrid's city hall ended at the Puerta del Sol plaza, where economic protests began last May.

As riot police passed the demonstrators, protesters shouted "Less police, more education," a criticism of cutbacks in education during Spain's deep economic crisis.

The demonstration was smaller than one held October 15, when at least 10,000 people marched in Madrid on a day when Occupy Wall Street-style protests spread to Europe, Asia and Australia.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais said tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona that day.

Similar protests over the economy turned violent in Italy, with at least 70 people injured and a government building set on fire, but the Spanish demonstrations remained peaceful.

Protester Esteban Guerrero, 25, who's been to a dozen protests since last May, said he was not discouraged by the smaller crowd on Sunday.

"Each demonstration is not just one more," Guerrero said. "Many young people and workers take part. Some are bigger than others but what's important is that thousands turn out each time."

A journalism student in his final year of university, he said his job prospects after graduation are bleak, with the country's youth unemployment rate about 45%, twice the national average.

"It's a very precarious situation for young people in Spain, and getting worse, like it is for youth in Greece and Portugal. There's a big deterioration," Guerrero said.

Next Sunday's election, which the opposition conservatives are expected to win, will not be enough to change things, he added.

"I think it's necessary to vote, but that's not enough. People feel the elections won't change the situation. They won't stop the cutbacks," he said.

That's why people keep coming out onto the streets, he said.

Monti nominated to replace Berlusconi

Economist Mario Monti was nominated Sunday to replace Silvio Berlusconi as Italy's prime minister, presidential spokesman Donato Marra said.

Berlusconi resigned Saturday amid the country's ongoing financial crisis.

In announcing his nomination, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said Monti, a former European Union commissioner, is "gifted, competent, experienced" and well respected in Europe and internationally.

"This is the moment of his test," Napolitano said.
For his part, Monti in brief remarks to reporters, thanked Napolitano "for his trust in me" and pledged to do his best to serve Italy during the economic crisis, speaking of the importance of providing a better future for Italy's children. He said he will work with urgency, but also with scruples.

Monti ultimately will face approval by the Italian Parliament.

He must return to Napolitano within hours or days and accept the nomination fully, at which point he would be sworn in. Within days after being sworn in, Monti will have to go to parliament to present his government -- essentially his cabinet and his government plan. The upper and lower houses of parliament have 10 days from the time Monti is sworn in to separately hold votes of confidence on the new goverment before it would be finalized.

Napolitano met the heads of the Senate and the lower house of parliament Sunday, among other politicians, during the course of a full day of consultations, his office said.

Berlusconi's resignation was greeted with cheers and dancing in the streets, as people waved the Italian flag and sang the nation's anthem.

He is the second prime minister to resign this month over the debt crisis sweeping across Europe. Greece's George Papandreou was replaced Wednesday by Lucas Papademos, a former European Central Bank official.

European Commission President Jose Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy welcomed Monti's nomination in a joint statement.

"We believe it sends a further encouraging signal -- following the swift adoption of the 2012 Stability Law -- of the Italian authorities' determination to overcome the current crisis," the statement said.

Support appeared to be growing this week for Monti to take the helm of a technocratic administration. Other names floated include former Justice Minister Angelino Alfano and Gianni Letta, Berlusconi's chief of staff.

The Berlusconi government will back Monti, with conditions, Alfano, a spokesman for Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, told reporters on Sunday. Those conditions would be that the new government is comprised of technocrats, and that it concentrate on economic reforms, he said. The duration of the new government must be connected to how long those reforms take, according to Alfano.

Left-wing opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani told reporters after meeting with Napolitano that his party supports the new government. "A new and technocrat government is needed ... because the crisis is serious," he said.

Bersani said his party expressed support for the upcoming government to carry out reforms in the electoral law and in the government, and thanked Napolitano for his handling of a "very grave crisis" in which "there was no time to lose."

"We need to do all that is possible to conserve our family and our companies from the global crisis that has hit all the advanced countries," Berlusconi said Sunday in a speech.

Berlusconi has said he does not intend to stand again if new elections are called.

But in a letter to the head of a far-right party, Berlusconi suggested he did want to return to power.

"I hope to be able to undertake with you the path of government," he said in a letter to Francesco Storace, the head of the right-wing La Desta party.

"I'm proud of what we've managed to achieve in these three and half years, which were marked by an unprecedented international crisis," Berlusconi said in the letter which was posted on his Facebook page. It was dated before his resignation.

The 75-year-old business magnate stepped down just hours after the lower house of parliament approved austerity measures aimed at restoring confidence in Italy's economy.

Since entering politics nearly two decades ago, Berlusconi has been one of his country's great survivors, hanging on despite facing numerous trials, on charges ranging from corruption to having sex with an underage prostitute, none of which has resulted in a jail term.

The billionaire was elected for the third time in 2008, under the banner of the newly created People of Freedom party.

In the three and a half years since, his colorful personal life has claimed ever more headlines, as his second wife filed for divorce, he was charged with having sex with an underage nightclub dancer and abusing power, and the so-called "bunga-bunga" parties held at his home gained international notoriety.

On Tuesday, he failed to win a parliamentary majority on a budget vote that should have been routine, and had to face the inevitable: his days at the helm were numbered. In the end, it was his perceived failure to tackle Italy's debt crisis rather than any private scandal which had brought him down.

On Saturday, the Italian lower house of parliament approved a series of austerity measures demanded by Europe to shore up confidence in the country's economy. It passed by a vote of 380 for to 26 against.

The package, which includes spending cuts and proposals to boost growth, was approved by the Senate Friday, resulting in a market surge.

The measures include pension reform, with plans to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67, the privatization of state-owned companies and sale of state-owned properties, the liberalization of certain professions, and investment in infrastructure.

Italy is the the third-largest economy using the euro, and a meltdown would have a massive impact on global markets.

Berlusconi had pledged to step down once the austerity measures passed both houses of parliament after losing his majority.

The structural reforms demanded by the European Central Bank and the European Commission must be brought in without delay, said Emma Marcegaglia, head of the Italian employers' association, Confindustria.

"These reforms are the only thing that can take us out of the current situation," she said. "We have no choice. We cannot wait for three months for the next elections, this would mean the destruction of Italy. "

She said a rapid solution to the political uncertainty in Italy was essential to put it "firmly back on the road to credibility."

She added: "We are not Greece, we are a strong economy, we are the world's eighth largest economy. We have many state assets and have lots of potential. But we have to survive this very difficult situation."

Italian borrowing costs continued to ease Friday, after spiking above 6.75% Wednesday, giving investors hope that Italy is finally starting to make some progress toward addressing its massive debt problems.

Yields on Italian 10-year bonds were trading at 6.5% Friday after dipping as low as 6.43%. While that's still stubbornly above 6%, it's finally moving in the right direction.

It is imperative to keep Italy's 10-year bond yields well below 7% because that was the level that eventually led to bailouts for Ireland, Portugal and Greece.

Currently, Italy -- the biggest bond issuer in Europe -- possesses a massive gross debt of roughly €1.9 trillion and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 120%. The country is widely considered to be too big to fail. But it may also be too big to bail.

Turkey suicide bomb attack

  A female suicide bomber killed two people and herself in an attack Saturday in Turkey's eastern Bingol province, the Turkish state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Bingol Governor Mustafa Hakan Guvencer said 20 people were also hurt when the woman detonated her explosives in the town of Bingol, the agency said.

He told the agency that one of the two victims killed was a woman.

Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said the injured were being treated in hospital.

Turkey has suffered a number of violent incidents in recent weeks.

An attack 10 days ago in the country's southeastern Hakkari province, blamed on Kurdish separatists, left 24 soldiers dead and 18 injured.

Last month, at least three people were killed by an explosion in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara. A Kurdish rebel splinter group later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hundreds of wounded Libyans will treated in Germany

More than 300 wounded Libyans will arrive in Germany to be treated in hospitals within the next 10 days in an operation approved by Libya's interim government, the German Foreign Ministry said Friday.

"Our expectation of the amount of the wounded Libyans treated in German hospitals changes each hour," said Thomas Holz of the German health service Almeda. According to Almeda's marketing chief Michael Blasius, the company expects the number of Libyan patients to rise.

Already, 111 Libyans who arrived in 20 planes are receiving treatment in German civilian hospitals. Four further planes were expected to land in German territory Friday.
"Some of those patients will be transferred to countries like France, Great Britain, Turkey and the U.S.," Blasius told CNN on Friday.

The United States plans to provide treatment for at least 28 wounded Libyan fighters. U.S. officials said Thursday that at least 24 would be taken to a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, because their wounds cannot be treated in Libya. An additional four will go to U.S. medical facilities in Germany, according to Major Janelle Jeffrey of the U.S. Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany.

Libya's National Transitional Council requested the U.S. medical treatment, which is being offered as a humanitarian gesture and support for Libya's democratic aspirations, U.S. officials said.

Almeda said it received the health service request by Libya's new Finance Ministry on October 14. Four days later, the first military plane arrived in Germany with dozens of wounded Libyans.

That was a day after German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler announced Germany would offer medical help to the NTC.

Three so-called "scouting teams" are currently screening Libyan and Tunisian hospitals, searching for heavily injured Libyans who might benefit from treatment abroad.

Almeda told CNN there would be two further scouting teams in Tunisia and Libya at the beginning of next week.

Many wounded Libyans had already received treatment in Tunisia, according to Blasius.

Turkish rescuers pull 2 more survivors from quake rubble

Nearly three days after a massive earthquake shook eastern Turkey, rescuers pulled two more survivors from collapsed buildings Wednesday.

The quake and its aftermath killed at least 471 people and injured at least 1,650 others, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Relief Agency said in a statement on its website.

In the latest rescue, emergency crews pulled a 27-year-old teacher from debris 67 hours after the quake hit, the Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported.

The teacher, Gozde Bahar, had difficulty breathing and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Eyup Erdem, 18, was pulled from a collapsed building where he had been trapped for almost 61 hours and was taken to a field hospital, the semi-official Anatolian news agency reported.

No more information was immediately available on either of the rescues, which occurred in the town of Ercis in the province of Van.

They came a day after crews pulled a baby, her mother and her grandmother alive from the rubble.

The father of 2-week-old Azra Karaduman remained trapped beneath the rubble, officials said. Crews pulled four bodies from the debris after her rescue, but did not say whether they included the infant's father.

Working in temperatures in the 40s (single digits Celsius), teams of rescuers have scoured the ruins for survivors since Sunday's 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

In the town of Guvecli near the Syrian border, the last of the funerals were held Wednesday for the 15 people who died in the town of approximately 2,000 residents. Eighty percent of the 200 buildings were destroyed in the quake and the others were rendered uninhabitable, officials said. Residents were spending the nights crowded into tents, which were in short supply. Residents said aid was arriving sporadically.

In Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that the eastern province would be rebuilt. He said 16 planes carrying search-and-rescue teams arrived in the region during the first two days after the earthquake and that 3,755 public personnel, 422 nongovernmental organization workers, 595 search-and-rescue vehicles and 860 health teams had been sent to the affected area.

Turkey said Tuesday that it would accept international aid, citing a need for tents and prefabricated houses for "the reconstruction phase" that will begin after the search-and-rescue efforts, Anadolu said.

Japan's embassy was the first to respond, promising to send about $400,000, Anadolu said. Japan suffered an earthquake and tsunami in March that killed thousands and triggered a nuclear crisis. Britain, France, Jordan, Qatar, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the United States have also said they could help with reconstruction, the news agency said.

Israel's Ministry of Defense said a plane carrying seven prefabricated buildings and other aid was to depart Wednesday for the stricken region. At least 2,262 buildings were demolished in Van and surrounding villages and towns, the news agency said.

Relations between the two countries have been tense since last year's Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla laden with humanitarian aid. Nine Turkish activists were killed.

Turkey has suffered other major earthquakes in recent years.

A magnitude-7.6 earthquake in Izmit killed more than 17,000 people in 1999, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A magnitude-7.2 tremor in Duzce the same year killed 894 people, the agency reported.

Vatican Calls for New World

The Vatican called Monday for radical reform of the world's financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to manage the economy.

A proposal by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace calls for a new world economic order based on ethics and the "achievement of a universal common good." It follows Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 economic encyclical that denounced a profit-at-all-cost mentality as responsible for the global financial meltdown.

The proposal acknowledges, however, that a "long road still needs to be traveled before arriving at the creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction" and suggests the reform process begin with the United Nations as a point of reference.

Vatican pronouncements on the economy are meant to guide world leaders as well as the global church. United States Roman Catholic bishops, for example, have released a voter guide for the 2012 election that highlights social concerns such as ending poverty.

"It is an exercise of responsibility not only toward the current but above all toward future generations, so that hope for a better future and confidence in human dignity and capacity for good may never be extinguished," the document said.

It highlights that reforms must assure that financial and monetary policies will not damage the weakest economies while also achieving fair distribution of the world's wealth.

The proposal also called for a "minimum, shared body of rules to manage the global financial market," lamenting the "overall abrogation of controls" on capital movements.

While past Vatican pronouncements have condemned unfettered capitalism, the latest criticized "an economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls."

It also attacked "utilitarian thinking," saying what is useful to the individual does not always favor the common good.

British riot police move in to clear illegal homes at the controversy center

British riot police moved in Wednesday morning to clear a controversial group of illegal homes after a long legal battle -- and despite the United Nations' urging for a different resolution.
Smoke rose from the Dale Farm compound in Essex, about 30 miles east of London, as police dragged people out. An elderly woman in a wheelchair was among those removed.
At least one mobile home was set on fire.
The eviction "threatens 83 families with homelessness," residents of Dale Farm said in a statement early Wednesday.


"The only premeditated violence has come from the police. They knew exactly what they were doing when they started beating and tasering people," said Mary Sheridan, a Dale Farm resident left the site and is staying with a relative.
"This is not how a community should be treated by its own Council. It's illegal for us to travel, but illegal for us to settle down here. We're getting hit by the police but we've got nowhere else to go," she said.


There was an air of resignation among the residents who were left a few hours after the police operation started.
Most withdrew to the compound's few plots of land that have legal housing, leaving police facing off against nonresident activists who mounted scaffolding as part of a protest.
"We are now in control of the site, tension has reduced and bailiffs are now starting to actively take steps to clear the site," police superintendent Trevor Roe said by early afternoon.


Seven people were arrested for offenses including violent disorder and breach of the peace, Essex Police said. Police used a stun gun on one person, they said, changing their earlier statement that two people had been shot with stun guns.
Dale Farm has been at the center of controversy for years, with local authorities insisting that the residents -- locally called Gypsies or "travelers" -- leave because they do not have planning permission for permanent residences.


A United Nations anti-discrimination committee last month urged British authorities not to go ahead with planned evictions as the residents lost their case in court.
Police entered the settlement from both sides, local authorities said.
Officers on the scene said they were moving cautiously because the main gate was heavily fortified.


But residents said police were smashing their way in with sledgehammers.
Tony Ball, leader of Basildon Council, said defenders of the settlement fought police with rocks, bricks and iron bars, and set the mobile home on fire themselves.
"These are utterly disgraceful scenes and demonstrate the fact some so-called supporters were always intent on violence," Ball said in a statement.


CNN was not able to confirm independently who started the violence.
One resident said the community was being "ripped apart by Basildon Council and the politicians in government."
"The memory of Dale Farm will weigh heavily on Britain for generations. We are being dragged out of the only homes we have in this world," Kathleen McCarthy said in a statement.
Earlier, the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed "deep regret" that authorities planned to force the residents to leave "before identifying and providing culturally appropriate accommodation."


"Travelers and Gypsies already face considerable discrimination and hostility in wider society and the Committee is deeply concerned that this could be worsened by actions taken by authorities in the current situation and by some media reporting on the issues," the committee said in a September statement.

It's a girl for French President Sarkozy

Carla Bruni, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has given birth to a girl, a very close family friend told CNN on Wednesday.
The mother is doing well, the friend said.
Sarkozy, 56, was seen earlier leaving the French capital's La Muette clinic, where Bruni gave birth, according to French media.


It is the first child for the couple, who wed in February 2008. Bruni, 43, announced in early September that she was pregnant and vowed to keep the child out of the spotlight.
Sarkozy divorced his wife of more than 11 years before marrying Bruni. He has three children from that marriage.
Bruni, a former supermodel and singer, previously dated singers Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger.

Pilot and passenger crash in Switzerland

Swiss police said Saturday that a pilot and a passenger died after their Piper aircraft crashed in a forested area in the country's northwest.
Canton Police said a 29-year-old British resident and a 40-year-old resident of Neuchatel, Switzerland, died in Friday's crash in the outskirts if the village of Fontaines-sur-Grandson, in Canton of Vaud.


The aircraft, a registered Piper, had taken off from the airfield of Colombier was heading to Amiens, France. The plane lost contact with air traffic control 30 minutes after take-off, police said.
Police did not offer any additional information about the two victims.
The cause of the accident remained unknown. Police asked potential witnesses to call a hotline.