EUROPE NEWS AT 1800 GMT
UPCOMING COVERAGE FOR FRIDAY, JULY 31:
FRANCE-EARNS-TOTAL
PARIS — Oil company Total SA reports second-quarter results.
FRANCE-EARNS-MICHELIN
PARIS — Tire maker Michelin reports first-half results.
FRANCE-EARNS-PPR
PARIS — Retail giant PPR reports first-half results.
CROATIA-SLOVENIA-EU
TRAKOSCAN, Croatia — Croatian and Slovenian premiers meet to discuss border row which prompted Slovenia to block its neighbor's European Union negotiations. AP Photos. Statements expected at 1200 GMT. Filing on merits.
MOVED THURSDAY:
SPAIN-EXPLOSION
PALMA DE MALLORCA, Balearic Islands — A powerful bomb on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca killed two police officers in their patrol vehicle Thursday, the second attack blamed on Basque separatist group ETA in two days. By Manuel Mielniezuk.
AP Photos DO105, DO104, DO103, DO102, DO101, GFX609, LON830, DO102, DO101. AP Graphic SPAIN BOMB.
MOLDOVA-ELECTIONS
CHISINAU, Moldova — A day after their convincing victory in a parliamentary vote, four center-right opposition parties are setting about forging a governing alliance to steer Moldova out of Russia's loose orbit. It's a potentially momentous shift for the last nation in Europe to be run by the Communist Party, which has held power here since 2001. By William J. Kole And Corneliu Rusnac.
AP Photos JMC115, JMC101, JMC107, JMC114.
ITALY-AFGHANISTAN
ROME — Italy will be looking for an exit strategy from Afghanistan after the presidential election there next month, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said in the first suggestion of a possible pullout of Italian troops.
BRITAIN-IRAQ INQUIRY
LONDON — Britain launched its first sweeping inquiry into the unpopular Iraq war on Thursday — a potentially explosive national reckoning that will call ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair as a witness, and seek evidence from former White House staff. By David Stringer.
AP Photos LMD104, LMD110, LMD108, LMD107, LMD106.
BRITAIN-OLDEST MAN
BRIGHTON, England — Henry Allingham understood the cost of war in his heart, his guts and his bones — and made it his mission to share that knowledge. It seems he succeeded. Politicians, military chiefs, a large extended family and hundreds of respectful strangers bade farewell Thursday to Allingham, the world's oldest man and one of Britain's last survivors of World War I. By Sang Tan.
AP Photos LON115, LST103, LST102, LST101, LST105, LST114, LON109, LON110, LON114, LST117, LON112, LON111, LON108.
NATO CHIEF
BRUSSELS — Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen takes over as NATO's new secretary-general on Monday as part of a new team assembled by President Barack Obama to lead the war effort in Afghanistan.
PORTUGAL-FUGITIVE CAVEMAN
LISBON, Portugal — A fugitive murderer spent 16 years hiding in caves around his home village in northern Portugal before he was recaptured looking "like Robinson Crusoe," police said. By Barry Hatton.
ALBANIA-GAY WEDDINGS
TIRANA, Albania — Albania's governing Democrats proposed a law allowing same-sex civil weddings in the small, predominantly Muslim country.
FRANCE-DRIVERS BEWARE
PARIS — Drivers beware! As millions of French people take to the highways on the busiest weekend for summer vacation departure, police are warning them to go easy on the gas after an especially deadly month of June. French police also will have their eyes out for foreign drivers, especially the heavy footed Germans, Dutch and Spaniards who may be caught speeding though the historical lands of Gaul. By Deborah Seward.
BUSINESS & FINANCE:
GERMANY-EARNS-VOLKSWAGEN
BERLIN — German automaker Volkswagen AG said that its second-quarter net profit plummeted 83 percent on lower sales of its cars — from Audis to Skodas — as consumers around the world put off big purchases during the recession. By Matt Moore. AP Photos.
GERMANY-EARNS-SIEMENS
FRANKFURT — German conglomerate Siemens AG said net profit for its fiscal third quarter fell 7 percent as the global recession hurt the company's industrial equipment and health care sectors, prompting it to announce some 1,600 job cuts across Europe. By George Frey. AP Photos.
NETHERLANDS-EARNS-SHELL
AMSTERDAM — Royal Dutch Shell PLC said its net profit fell 67 percent in the second quarter to $3.82 billion, reflecting a sharp decline in oil prices and smaller profit margins in its refining business. By Toby Sterling.
FRANCE-EARNS-ALCATEL-LUCENT
PARIS — Alcatel-Lucent surprised its investors by posting its first profit since the company's creation in a trans-Atlantic merger in 2006, as gains on asset sales helped the telecommunications equipment maker's bottom line. By Greg Keller.
GERMANY-EARNS-BASF
BERLIN — German chemical company BASF SE warned of a significant drop in sales and earnings this year and said its second-quarter net profit plummeted nearly 74 percent to €373 million ($526.1 million). By Matt Moore. AP Photo.
BRITAIN-EARNS-ROLLS ROYCE
LONDON — Aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce PLC reported a six-fold surge in first-half profit to 1.86 billion pounds ($3 billion) as it marked up the value of foreign currency hedges on its books. By Louise Watt.
BRITAIN-EARNS-BAE
LONDON — European defense contractor BAE Systems PLC shrugged off worries about U.S. defence spending cuts, forecasting "good growth" this year even as it swung into the red in the first half. By Jane Wardell.
BRITAIN-EARNS-REED ELSEVIER
LONDON — Reed Elsevier Group PLC, the London and Amsterdam-based educational publisher and owner of the LexisNexis information service, reported its first-half profit fell 48 percent and said it would sell new shares to raise money to cope with debt from its acquisition of ChoicePoint Inc. By Louise Watt.
___
The AP
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
