The week at a glance...Europe

Paris

Who killed the Kurds? Turkey’s attempts to restart negotiations with the Kurdish militant group PKK grew complicated after three militants were murdered last week in Paris. The three prominent PKK women—including Sakine Cansiz, a co-founder of the group—were killed just days after the Turkish government announced it had begun cease-fire talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is seeking Kurdish regional self-governance and full minority rights. French investigators believe the killings were either an assassination ordered by Turkey or the result of a PKK power struggle. “There is no question that this was a warning—it shows just how difficult a peace process is going to be,” said Sezgin Tanrikulu, a Kurdish member of the Turkish parliament. The three-decade conflict has killed some 40,000 people.

Isola del Giglio, Italy

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Massive wreck rots: A year after the cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy, hundreds of workers are still engaged in the largest salvage operation in history. The 114,000-ton ship, listing precariously for months, has been secured with giant cables, and in a few months huge metal platforms will be erected under the ship so it can be rolled upright this summer and eventually towed to a shipyard. “There is a lot of calculating, recalculating, and validating the calculations in an operation like this,” said Nick Sloane of Titan Salvage. “There is no room for mistakes.” Since the grounding, thousands of pounds of food have been rotting in the hull, and the stench now reaches the surface. Prosecutors said they will ask a judge this month to indict Capt. Francesco Schettino on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.