Despite some new powers and a key role in prompting the resignation of the entire European Commission this spring, the Parliament is still seen as ineffective. So parties have begun taking desperate measures to rally enthusiasm. Britain’s Labour Party has approached Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, the country’s top football club, to help advertise its campaign. Actress Gina Lollobrigida is standing for the Italian Democrats. And former Miss Belgium Anke Van der Meersch, on the list for the country’s Liberal Party, has promised to pose nude in Playboy if elected.
Only the young provide some comfort from the serious-minded skeptics. A poll in Germany showed 56 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds believed the elections were “important.” That compared with just 37 percent of the over-45 set. Just youthful naivete? Or the well-grounded enthusiasm of a generation of New Europeans?
TURKEYAn About-Face
The man sitting in the bulletproof-glass cage did not look or sound like the terrorist chieftain responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people. At his treason trial last week, Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan shocked even his defense lawyers by pleading for his life. He apologized for his campaign of violence and offered to abandon the armed struggle for the independence of Kurdistan. But his words did little to mollify the Turkish public-opinion polls, and man-in-the-street interviews indicate that nine out of 10 Turks want him hanged. And that’s what most expect the tribunal to recommend later this month. Though Turkey has not carried out any of the 30-odd death sentences given by the courts since 1984, Turks call this “the trial of the century,” and many fully expect to see Ocalan sent to the gallows.
FOOD SCARESGuess What’s Not for Dinner
NO CHICKEN, NO PORK, NO EGGS, NO BEEF! ran a banner headline on a Belgian paper. A new food scare swept across Europe last week after traces of dioxin were found in Belgian animal feed. By last Friday South Korea, Greece, Austria and the Netherlands had banned Belgian pork and chicken, and the United States had blocked meat products from the whole of the EU. Two managers of an animal-feed company were arrested on related charges, and two Belgian government ministers were sacked because of an alleged three-month delay in publicizing the scare. Inspectors across Europe scrambled to trace tainted products, and the EU ordered the destruction of millions of pounds of chicken and egg products exported from Belgium since Jan. 15. Meanwhile, Belgians were left wondering what to have for dinner, as everything from burgers to chocolate mousse became suspect.
DIPLOMACYSneak Attack
Bill Clinton last week made use of a rarely employed executive privilege to appoint the nation’s first openly gay diplomat. Conservative Republicans in the Senate had stood in the way of James Hormel’s nomination as ambassador to Luxembourg since 1997. But Clinton skirted them by naming Hormel while Congress was on vacation. He’d considered a “recess appointment” several times before, but never had the political capital to follow through. After a spate of GOP fumbles in Congress, the White House decided the time was right last week. Says one top Clintonite, “The Republican Party has melted into a small pool on the floor of the Capitol.”
BEACH BAGUnto Us Too Much Sun Is Given
The U.S. Food and Drug administration is nixing SPF ratings (a big mistake, say dermatologists). From now on it’s no numbers, just “minimum,” “moderate” or “high.” Be sure to use lots of the stuff. The science, and Peri’s picks:
UVB vs. UVA
UVB rays cause burns and skin cancer. UVA rays (also found in tanning booths) cause skin cancer and weaken the immune system. You need broad spectrum protection from both.
Around the Blocks Vampire Chic: Coppertone’s blue pallor fades with rubbing. Pink Stink: Bubble-gum scents are sickly sweet. Tan I Am: Kiehl’s adds a subtle tint for a glow that washes off. Bikini Accessory: Bain de Soleil’s orange grease still says St-Tropez. Our Pick: Hawaiian Tropic–creamy and chemically correct.
TECHNOLOGYVirtual Love
South Koreans bored with human pop singers now have an alternative: a Japanese cybersinger named Diki. The virtual 19-year-old made headlines in 1996 as the world’s first digital pop star. In March she scored another milestone: first Japanese singer to release a CD in South Korea, thanks to the government’s lifting of a ban on Japanese culture last year. Teenage boys flock to her Web site (www.diki.co.kr) to hear her album “Albatross,” watch her videos, read her diary and pine for her in the chat room.
Diki’s Korean producer, Indecom, plans to make her a cultural envoy. She’s set to “fall in love” with a Korean football player when Korea and Japan cohost the 2002 World Cup. Says an Indecom producer, “Diki will help turn the old hatred between the two peoples into love.”
CHESSThat’s E-Checkmate, Garry
World chess champion Garry Kasparov, undeterred by his 1997 loss to IBM’s Deep Blue computer, is now embarking on a new techno-challenge: he’s taking on the world, via the Internet. On June 21 he’ll make his first move and for the next 24 hours any visitor to Microsoft Gaming Zone (www.msn.com) can counter, by choosing an option offered by one of five young chess whizzes. “I’m going to play a very serious game,” says the champ, who sees this as a forerunner of future mega-player games.
ONLY IN AMERICAA No-Pistol Pew
“The episcopal church welcomes you,” read the denomination’s familiar roadside greetings. But in Utah, Episcopalians are adding door-side signs with a new postscript: “but not your guns.” Legislators recently exempted places of worship from the state’s wide-open concealed-carry laws, but required pastors to notify parishioners that pistols aren’t welcome. Local Mormon leaders have called guns “inappropriate,” without enforcing a ban, and Gov. Mike Leavitt will call a special legislative session to address an outright prohibition. But Episcopal Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish isn’t willing to wait. “After Littleton,” she says, “no more nice lady.”
