The week at a glance...Europe

Turin, Italy

Don’t kiss the cop: An Italian student is being investigated for sexual assault because she kissed the helmet of a police officer during a protest. Nina de Chiffre, 20, was demonstrating against a railway extension last month when she was photographed planting her lips on the clear plastic faceplate of a policeman’s riot gear helmet. The photo went viral on social media as a symbol of peaceful protest. Last week, the police union lodged a complaint with the prosecutor’s office charging sexual violence and insulting a public official. “If the policeman had kissed her,” said police union head Franco Maccari, “World War III would have broken out.”

Vatican City

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Pope dismisses U.S. cardinal: Pope Francis has demoted an ultraconservative U.S. cardinal who outspokenly disagreed with his attempts to focus the church less on issues like abortion and more on spreading the faith and caring for the poor. Cardinal Raymond Burke was removed from the body that helps choose bishops after giving an interview questioning the pope’s views. “He thinks we’re talking too much about abortion, too much about the integrity of marriage as between one man and one woman,” said Burke. “But we can never talk enough about that.” Burke, the former archbishop of St. Louis, is best known for saying in 2004 that he would deny communion to then–presidential candidate John Kerry because Kerry is pro-choice.

Kiev, Ukraine

Russia to the rescue: Defying a continued mass protest over its refusal to deepen relations with the European Union, the Ukrainian government this week accepted a lavish Russian bailout. “The crisis moment has passed,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said. “Now, nothing threatens the financial and economic stability of Ukraine.” The country’s embattled president, Viktor Yanukovych, abruptly pulled out of an EU political and trade agreement last month, partly because of pressure from Russia, Ukraine’s leading trade partner and energy supplier. The Russian deal, which includes cheap gas and could be worth more than $20 billion, salvages the teetering economy in the short term but leaves Ukraine dependent on Russia and with little incentive to make crucial economic reforms.