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EUROPE NEWS

Guns Found In Home of Palestinian Diplomat

PRAGUEInvestigators searching the official residence of the Palestinian envoy to t h e Czech Republic after he was killed in an accidental explosin there on New Year's Day found unregstered guns in t h e home, plice said. "Plice have gathered several pieces of evidence at t h e site and weapons were among them," the head of plice in Prague, Martin Vondrasek, told t h e news portal idnes.cz on Thursday. "We can say [the weapons] haven't been registered in t h e Czech Republic." Mr. Vondrasek couldn't be reached for further comment but plice spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova confirmed his statement. Ms. Zoulova declined to specify the type and number of weapons collected but said they included firearms and were being inspected by plice gun experts. The Czech Foreign Affairs Minist r y expressed concern about t h e find, which it said "may constitute a breach of diplomatic conventions." J o h a n a Grohova, a spokeswoman, said the ministry would "demand an explanation on this f r o m t h e Palestinians." Jamal al-Jamal, t h e 56-year-old Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic, died Wednesday from injuries sustained when the safe he was apparently trying to open exploded. The safe had been installed years ago in the house, which he had only recently moved into, plice said. They have described the explosion as an accident and so far ruled out foul play. However, Ms. Zoulova said they are investigating the illegal gun possession. Czech plice suspect the safe was fitted with an antitampering device, Ms. Zoulova said. The remnants are being inspected at t h e Czech Plice Criminology Institute in Prague. "We'll seek to determine what kind of explosive material caused t h e blast," t h e institute's director, Pavel Kolar, said. Palestinian security and foreignministry officials are in t h e Czech Republic to follow up on the local investigation, t h e Czech Foreign Affairs Ministry said. The newly opened residence in t h e western Prague suburb of Suchdol is p a r t of a n e w embassy compound t h a t was scheduled t o open formally in a few weeks. Mr. al-Jamal had lived in Prague in the 1990s as t h e Palestinian Authority's charg d'affaires and took up t h e p o s t of ambassador in October.

TV3 was criticized for alring interviews with boys and girls uttering separatist slogans on the Sept. 11 regional day. Above, a boy at a Barcelona rally the day before.

What's on Catalan TV? Separatists

BY DAVID ROMN

SANT JOAN DESPI, S p a i n - I f you are a thug, a prostitute or a lowlife in a show aired on the Catalan-language TV3 network, chances are you speak Spanish. And if you're a viewer, chances are you've noticed the network's decisive tilt in favor of Catalonia's independence from Spain. Network officials and employees say the programming reflects rising separatist fervor among the Catalan region's 7.5 million people, including TV3's staff of 1,700. Regional authorities want to hold a referendum this year and recent polis show strong support for independence. "This is Catalonia's public and national TV," said Nuria Amat, a unin representative at the network, which is run from this Barcelona suburb by an appointee of t h e regional government. "The way we see it, we are a nation without a state." In recent months, however, the network has come under fire for what critics, including some current employees and former executives, cali excessive bias. TV3 does offer a counterpoint to the dominant line heard on the nationwide, Spanish-language channels that reach three-fourths of t h e

televisin audience in Catalonia. Those channels largely ignore the independence movement and emphasize the view of the central government in Madrid, which says that t h e planned referendum is illegal. TV3 was nonetheless criticized widely in Catalonia for its coverage of the last regional day, on Sept. 11, when Catalans formed a 400-kilometer human chain. It aired interviews with boys and girls as young as 11 uttering separatist slogans while ciad in the red, white and blue colors of the independence movement. "Sometimes TV3 is worse than Soviet TV was," said Alfons Quinta, who was TV3's managing director in the 1980s and is now retired. "I watch Cubavisin, and i f s no worse than TV3." TV3 was launched in 1983, eight years after t h e end of the Franco dictatorship, to promote the Catalan language. Franco had sharply restricted languages other than Spanish on TV. Its evolution over the past decade as a more overtly political voice exemplifies how regional governments in one of Europe's more decentralized countries promote . regional identities and agendas. Most of Spain's 17 regions fund their own public TV networks with taxpayer money, and many use

t h e m to air political views supportive of the party in power locally. In November, Valencia's cashstrapped government made headlines by shutting down its regional TV network, saying it would rather keep schools or hospitals open. A shutdown of TV3, however, would be unthinkable. The network, which will cost Catalan taxpayers 225 million ($310 million) this year, is part of what t h e regional government calis a "nation-building" campaign, and has been protected from large-scale budget cuts. It receives no federal funds but does have advertising revenue in the tens of millons. Like other Catalan media, TV3 is monitored by a regional government agency for balance and standards. Employees defending TV3 note that it has its own standards committee as well to safeguard its editorial independence. Critics say that Catalan nationalists have been promoted to snior network positions for years, making interference from the government unnecessary. Some employees concede that at times the pro-independence programming has been excessive. The night of the human-chain demonstraron, TV3 broadcast a laudatory biography of pro-inde-

pendence activist Eric Bertrn, who at age 14 threatened to vandalize shopping centers if they didn't replace Spanish-language signs with Catalan signs. And last year TV3 broadcast "Hola, Europa," in which 31 prominent Catalans expressed support for independence. The program was billed as a documentary, but not a single critic of pro-independence positions appeared in it. "The honest thing for TV3 now would be to broadcast a documentary with people expressing anti-independence views," said Ramn Espany, a imion representative. As for the Spanish language, it is rarely heard on TV3. Josep Mara Guardia, a popular blogger, recalls that t h e only Spanish speaker in the network's first soap opera, produced more than 20 years ago, was a servant with little education. Lower-class characters today account for most of those who speak Spanish in locally produced TV3 shows. Spanish-language movies are dubbed into Catalan. TV3 employees say th predominance of Catalan reflects social reality. But Mr. Guardia, who calis hiniself a wavering member of the pro-independence camp, said most Catalans speak Spanish at least as well as Catalan, if not better.

Euro Zone's Manufacturing-Sector Gains Continu

BY ILONA BILLINGTON

The euro zone's manufacturing sector expanded for a third straight month in December, despite f u r t h e r weakness in France, final d a t a showed Thursday, providing f u r t h e r evidence that the economic recovery is continuing and is being boosted by an increasing number of countries. The gain is in contrast t o a disappointing slowdown in g r o w t h in

China's manufacturing sector and is s u p p o r t e d by a broad-based ulerease across t h e euro zone, with new orders rising to a 2%-year high, data firm Markit said. The final December manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 52.7, unchanged from the preliminary reading and u p f r o m November's 51.6. The index w a s above t h e 50 mark that denotes growth for all of t h e second half.

"A strengthening u p t u r n in the manufacturing sector is helping the euro-area recovery become firmly established," said Chris Williamson, Markit's chief economist. While Germany led the f u r t h e r improvement, there were also gains r e p o r t e d by more euro-zone members, with particularly healthy performances f r o m Italy, Ireland and t h e Netherlands. And, in a f u r t h e r sign that Greece could be starting to

climb out of a six-year recession, t h e manufacturing PMI there hit a high of more than four years in December, rising to 49.6. "Most individual euro-zone countries saw improyed manufacturing activity in December," said Howard Archer, chief euro-zone and U.K. economist for EHS Global Insight. "It was particularly welcome news to see Italian manufacturing activity picking up t o a 32-month high, and

Spanish manufacturing r e t u r n to growth." New growth in orders was underpinned by an improvement in export demand and firms were more able to raise their prices. France remains a fly in the ointment, posting a steeper-than-expected decline in its final manufacturing PMI to 47.0 in December from November's 48.4. The preliminary reading had been 47.1.