The week at a glance ... Europe

Paris

Crackdown on Roma: President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered a nationwide crackdown on the makeshift camps in which many Roma, or Gypsies, live. The camps are “sources of illegal trafficking, of profoundly shocking living standards, of exploitation of children for begging, of prostitution and crime,” Sarkozy said. Some 300 camps will be dismantled, and Roma found to be in the country illegally will be deported to Romania and Bulgaria. The order was a response to recent riots in the Loire Valley, in which Roma attacked police after a youth was shot dead. The new policy prompted an outcry from human-rights groups, which called it racist. Some French commentators said it was particularly troubling given France’s history during World War II, when Vichy authorities rounded up Roma and sent them to Nazi concentration camps.

Amsterdam

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Out of Afghanistan: The Netherlands has become the first NATO country to end its mission in Afghanistan. The 1,950-strong Dutch contingent pulled out of Uruzgan province this week, as the base radio station blared “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” by the Animals. The Dutch force was one of the few coalition members that engaged in combat operations, and it lost 24 troops during its four-year stint. The mission was hugely unpopular at home, and in February the Dutch government collapsed when one of the parties in the ruling coalition wanted to extend the commitment and the others balked. The Taliban gloated over the Dutch withdrawal. “We hope that other countries with troops in Afghanistan will follow the Netherlands’ example,” said Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadij.