■HUNGARY
Ex judo Olympian arrested
A former judo international who took part in the 2000 Sydney Olympics has been arrested for allegedly making bombs, police in Budapest said on Sunday. The 33-year-old wasn’t named by the authorities, but a national radio report claimed the man was Krisztian Tolgyesi, who is suspected of being a member of a far-right organization “Lelkiismeret 88” (“Conscience 88”). “On Saturday, we placed the person, whose car contained homemade bombs, under arrest,” said Laszlo Bartha, the spokesman for the national bureau of investigation. The devices, designed to be activated by remote control, were discovered on Thursday in the ex-judoka’s car in Budapest during demonstrations being staged to celebrate Hungary’s national day.
■GERMANY
Alternative housing project
A housing project, which will provide homes exclusively for gays, lesbians, transsexuals and their families, is being set up in Cologne as an experiment in multigenerational living. Villa Anders (alternative villa) in the working-class district of Ehrenfeld, Cologne, is the first project of its kind in the country. Once the 6.7 million euro (US$8.3 million) building is complete, its 35 flats will offer people of all ages the chance to live in a discrimination-free environment, say the organizers, the Gay and Lesbian Living Association. More than half of the homes have been sold.
■ITALY
Last WWI veteran dies
Delfino Borroni, the last surviving Italian veteran of World War I, died on Sunday in a rest home at age 110, Italian television reported. Born Aug. 23, 1898, in Turago Bordone, a small northern village, Borroni had fought on the Italian-Austrian front as a soldier in the light infantry Bersaglieri corps. He returned home for Christmas in 1918 before finding a job three years later as a trolley driver in the Milan region. After retiring, he continued to use his talent to fix bicycles for which he had a passion. His passing comes after the deaths this year of two other World War I veterans, Francesco Domenico Chiarello and Lazarre Ponticelli.
■EGYPT
Police arrest swingers
Police have arrested a couple for allegedly swapping sex partners with other married couples, security officials said Sunday. The two — a civil servant and his teacher wife — allegedly solicited other couples over the Internet and invited them to their home, the officials said. The couple allegedly held at least three such sex parties, and police are looking for the others who participated, said the officials, who are involved in the investigation. Sex out of wedlock is illegal in Egypt, where the Constitution says Islamic law is the main source of legislation.
■GERMANY
Biggest mosque opens
The opening of the biggest mosque on Sunday is intended to help break down barriers between Turks and Germans and ease sometimes strained community relations, politicians and Muslims said on Sunday. About 8,000 people joined celebrations in the Marxloh suburb of the industrial northwestern city of Duisburg to mark the opening of the Merkez Mosque, with its 34m-high minaret and room for 1,200 worshippers. In contrast to openings of mosques elsewhere, notably one in Berlin earlier this month that drew heavy protests from local residents, the ceremony went off with no demonstrations. Instead, buoyed by a festive atmosphere, Muslims and Christians ate donor kebabs and drank tea.
RSS