The new Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, and the Patriarch Alexius II of Moscow and all Russia, will be two of the official guests of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which will be convened again in Strasbourg from Monday 1st to Friday 5th October. Many are the items on the agenda, including a debate on the decriminalisation of slander, the "dangers of creationism in the sphere of education”, the “theory of preventative war", and the plans for the legalisation of illegal immigrants. In addition, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will "appoint specifies a release from the Council of Europe some of the judges of the European Court for Human Rights and will discuss the commitment of the member states which will have to cooperate with the Court”. Speakers will include the president of Montenegro, Filip Vujanoviæ and the Prime Minister of Serbia, Vojislav Kotunica (currently the president of the Committee of Mayors). The opening address will be given by the president of the Assembly, René van der Linden.
