■ ROMANIA
Modern-day Dracula dies
Ottomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prince Kretzulesco, an eccentric German antiques dealer who became a modern-day Dracula after he was adopted by a descendant of the man who spawned the Dracula legend, has died, Romanian news agencies reported on Sunday. He was 67. Kretzulesco died in the town of Schenkendorf, southeast of Berlin, last weekend, of a brain tumor, state news agency Rompres reported. German media also reported the death, citing family members and local authorities. Kretzulesco, born Ottomar Berbig, met Ekaterina Olympia Kretzulesco, a childless descendant of Vlad the Impaler III, in the 1980s. Vlad the Impaler's cruelty inspired the bloodsucking Dracula of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel.
■ ITALY
Bakers defy mob control
Defiant bakers handed out 20,000 free loaves of bread on Sunday in a main square in Naples to protest against the intimidating sway the Camorra mafia holds over their profession. Tourists and residents alike took advantage of the handout which was televised and came after a recent report highlighted the strong presence of the Neapolitan mafia in the baking industry. According to the business and trading group Confesercenti, the mob controls some 2,500 illegal bakers in Naples and surrounding districts. The Camorra, active in Naples and the Campania region, is made up of several clans that regularly fight each other.
■ TURKEY
Kurds clash with police
Police on Sunday used tear gas to disperse hundreds of Kurds demonstrating in Diyarbakir in favor of separatist rebels fighting the government, a correspondent said. About 40,000 people attended a rally organized by the Kurdish Democratic Society Party to denounce legal action seeking the group's closure. The rally turned ugly when about 1,000 protesters marched toward the office of a nationalist opposition party and hurled stones at the building and security forces. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd and detained several people.
■ RUSSIA
Former KGB chief dies
Former KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov, one of the nation's most influential hardline spymasters, has died aged 83, the foreign intelligence service said on Sunday. Kryuchkov was fired as head of the KGB in 1991 for taking part in a failed coup against former president Mikhail Gorbachev. He died in a Moscow on Friday after a long illness. After leaving the KGB, he spent much of his time at a cottage outside Moscow but made sometimes scorching attacks against the US in interviews.
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