The world at a glance . . . Europe

last updated 8 January 2015

Troop deaths shock country: Italy’s commitment to the war in Afghanistan appeared to waver this week after six Italian soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul. “It seems impossible to export democracy,” said Umberto Bossi, head of one of the parties in the ruling coalition. “I hope that our boys will be home by Christmas.” The attack marked the single greatest loss for Italy’s 3,000 troops in Afghanistan, bringing their death toll to 21. Thousands of people crowded into St. Paul’s Basilica for a televised state funeral, and the nation observed a minute of silence. Like Germany, Italy has a constitution that prohibits troops from firing unless fired upon; its troops are in Afghanistan as peacekeepers.

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Egyptian loses UNESCO bid: Egypt’s longtime culture minister, the heavy favorite to become head of the Paris-based U.N. culture agency, lost his bid for the job this week because of allegations of anti-Semitism. Farouk Hosny would have been the first Arab to lead UNESCO, and he had the strong support of Arab countries. But other nations voiced concern about Hosny’s history of censoring books in Egypt, and they pointed to his remark last year that he would “personally burn” any Israeli book found in the Egyptian national library. After five rounds of voting, marked by allegations that delegates were being bribed by both pro- and anti-Hosny factions, UNESCO settled on Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova. She will become the agency’s first female director.

Refugee camp bulldozed: After years of British complaints, France this week dismantled a refugee shantytown near the English Channel port of Calais. Thousands of illegal immigrants from all over the world cluster in illegal camps around Calais, waiting to be smuggled across the channel to Britain, which offers better social benefits and job prospects than other EU countries. The camp that was raided this week, a tent village known as “the Jungle,” housed mostly Afghans, and French authorities said they would soon clear out nearby Iraqi and African camps as well. British Home Secretary Alan Johnson praised the French action, saying that closing the camps “will disrupt illegal immigration and people-trafficking routes.” Last year alone, British