Translated material
A woman became the President of India
Pratibha Patil has been nominated for the post of President by the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA). She was born in December 1934 in Maharashtra. Having received a law degree, Ms. Patil practiced law before entering politics. As a young woman, she joined the Indian National Congress (INC), now headed by Sonia Gandhi. From 1962 to 1985, Pratibha Patil was elected to the legislative assembly of the state of Maharashtra from the INC, was the minister of tourism, urban development, education in the state government, chairman of the local branch of the INC, and a member of the lower house of the Indian Parliament. From 1986 to 1988, she was Deputy Chairman of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. In 2004, Pratibha Patil became the governor of India's largest state, Rajasthan, located in the northwest of the country.
Her husband Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat is also a politician. The family has an adult son and daughter. What made the election especially poignant was the fact that Patil's husband comes from the same Rajasthani Shekhawat family as her election rival, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Victor VOLODIN
Al-Qaeda found in Perugia
Italian police announced on Saturday the liquidation of a terrorist school organized in one of the mosques in the capital of the province of Umbria, Perugia. “We have uncovered and neutralized a real terrorist training school that was part of the training system for Islamic militants,” said the commander of the police counter-terrorism squad, Carlo Di Stefano. “During a search of the basement in the imam’s house, various acids, cyanides that were used in training terrorists, as well as instructions for flying a Boeing 747 aircraft were discovered,” said Claudio Galzerano, head of the unit for combating international terrorism.
The imam of the mosque and two natives of Morocco were arrested on suspicion of involvement in preparing terrorist attacks. Police suspect that the arrested Moroccans are related to the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group, which is linked to al-Qaeda and was involved in terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004 and Casablanca in 2003. Police also detained 20 mosque visitors who are suspected of involvement in the school's activities. So far, criminal cases have been opened against them for violating Italian immigration laws. Claudio Galzerano said the mosque raid was the result of two years of police surveillance in Perugia (which has a Muslim community of 10,000) of the city's non-Italian population, including tourists, immigrant workers, and foreign students from the local university. Victor VOLODIN
Albania is headed by a biologist
Today in Albania a new president will be sworn in - the deputy head of the ruling Democratic Party, 50-year-old Bamir Topi (pictured) , a biologist by training and ex-Minister of Agriculture. According to the constitution, the President of Albania, who has mainly representative functions, is elected by members of parliament. Due to the obstruction of the opposition, the process dragged on for several weeks and the country miraculously avoided early elections. The mandate of the current president, Alfred Moisiu, expires tomorrow, and if he had not found a successor by then, parliament would be dissolved. Three rounds of voting were unsuccessful as Prime Minister Sali Berisha's center-right coalition failed to obtain the required three-fifths of the votes. However, the fourth round was a success. Several members of the opposition Socialist Party violated party discipline and voted for Bamir Topi. As a result, he received 85 votes out of 140 - one vote more than the required minimum.
There is no doubt in Tirana that the tough position of the United States and the European Union played a decisive role. Washington and Brussels threatened that the dissolution of parliament would delay Albania's admission to the EU and NATO. The news of the election of Bamir Topi was greeted by his supporters with fireworks in the center of Tirana. In his first speech, the new Albanian leader promised to “respect the constitution, bring the political climate in Albania into full balance and lead the country forward in two main directions - towards integration into NATO and the European family.” The newly elected president is married and has two daughters. Petr ISKENDEROV