1IRAQ
Official trip plans

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki plans trips to Europe and the Persian Gulf this month, apparently hoping improved security at home will pay dividends in greater international support — including from a country that did not back the U.S. invasion. Also Thursday, a car bombing killed four civilians and wounded 10 others in western Baghdad, police said.

2ZIMBABWE
Seeking protection

About 200 opposition supporters crowded outside the U.S. Embassy in Harare on Thursday, appealing for protection amid new reports of violence aimed at dissenters against the heavy-handed rule of President Robert Mugabe.

3ENGLAND
Suspect out on bail

A terrorism suspect alleged to have deep ties to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida has been set free on bail, British officials said Thursday in the second such case in less than three weeks after courts ruled the men could not be kept in jail indefinitely. Authorities stressed that like the first case, draconian bail conditions deny the suspect any unmonitored contact with the outside world. The 45-year-old Algerian — identified only as ''U'' — may not leave his home or have visitors, except for a lawyer, doctor or social worker.

4FRANCE
New nuclear reactor

France will build a second new-generation nuclear reactor, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday, pledging a ''new industrial revolution'' in an era in which fossil fuels have grown too expensive. France — the country most reliant on nuclear power — has been constructing its first European Pressurized Reactor on the Normandy coast, and it is expected to go into service in 2012. EPRs are meant eventually to replace the aging reactors around the world whose designs date from decades ago.

5GERMANY
Ex-president lauded

Henry Kissinger honored former President George H.W. Bush on Thursday for his commitment to Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification. The Henry A. Kissinger Prize is bestowed by the American Academy in Berlin on an American or European who has contributed to trans-Atlantic relations.

6BULGARIA
Depots explode

A series of powerful explosions erupted Thursday at two army ammunition depots near Sofia, shattering windows in hundreds of buildings, spewing smoke and debris into the sky and forcing Bulgaria's main airport to shut down. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
/p>

7ITALY
Gypsies targeted

Italian authorities have started fingerprinting tens of thousands of Gypsies living in nomad camps across the country — adults and children alike — brushing aside accusations of racism by human rights advocates and international organizations.