A Brazilian transsexual caught up in a scandal which prompted the resignation of a senior Italian politician was found burned to death in his home Friday.

Reuters, The Daily Telegraph

This Brenda might be a shemale, to be precise. Plenty of them from Brazil work as prostitutes in Italy.

Stephen Castle & Steven Erlanger | Brussels | November 19

NYT - Leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union on Thursday night chose Herman van Rompuy [wikipedia], the Belgian prime minister, as the European Union’s first president, and Catherine Ashton [wikipedia] of Britain, currently the group’s trade commissioner, as its high representative for foreign policy. The vote was unanimous.

Both are highly respected but little known outside their own countries. After an eight-year battle to rewrite its internal rules and to pass the Lisbon Treaty that created these two new jobs, the choice of such unknown figures seemed to highlight Europe’s problems instead of its readiness to take a more united and forceful place in world affairs.

Terry Macalister | Nov 15

The Guardian - Nuclear disposal put in doubt by recovered Swedish galleonThe plan to use copper for sealing nuclear waste underground has being thrown into disarray by corrosion in artefacts from the Vasa

Plans for nuclear waste disposal could be thrown into confusion tomorrow at a summit because of new evidence of corrosion in materials traditionally used for burial procedures.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) says it will keep careful watch on a meeting organised by the Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste, which will look at potential problems with copper, designated for an important role in sealing radioactive waste underground.

Concerns have risen from a most unexpected quarter. Examination of copper artefacts from the Vasa, a fifteenth-century galleon raised from Stockholm harbour, has shown a level of decay that challenges the scientific wisdom that copper corrodes only when exposed to oxygen.

Milan | Nov 4

Reuters - An Italian judge sentenced 23 former CIA agents to up to eight years in prison on Wednesday for the abduction of a Muslim cleric in a landmark ruling against the "rendition" flights used by the former U.S. government.

Judge Oscar Magi dropped the case against another three American defendants and the ex-head of the Italy's Sismi military intelligence service, Nicolo Pollari, as well as his former deputy.

With the possible exception of Georgia-US-Russia, no US relationship in the former Soviet region is more fraught today than the US-Russia-Ukraine triangle. At a time when Washington and Moscow have variously committed to a relationship reset, a new operating system, and a rerun of the Clinton-Yeltsin strategic partnership, it is disappointing how little substance has followed rhetoric. Meanwhile, Central and Eastern Europe are still reeling from the US Administration’s abrupt and ill-timed reversal on missile defense deployment, and Team Obama is eager for opportunities to demonstrate its commitment to the new Europe, which received no shortage of love from the Bush Administration.

As a European I have started to understand that the diversity on this continent is huge.

This time, again from the country of Hitler, Jörg Heider and Josef Fritzl.

Maybe you remember that when right-wing nut Jörg Heider died in a car accident, there were left behind his wife and the second widow, his male lover. There is yet another twist in the story, when German magazine Bild published the story of his 3rd widow, a 31 year old man called René N.

So it seems that this Austrian politician had a wife and two gay lovers.

Ian Traynor | Oct 15

The Guardian - For a man standing alone between Europe and its future, Vaclav Klaus is playing hard to get. Last week a trip to Albania, this week Russia; the Czech president has performed a vanishing act just when he has the rest of Europe dancing to his tune.

He relishes being at the centre of a showdown. But it appears he is currently more interested in selling copies of his tract on global warming denial.

Last week, as a panicky campaign was launched in Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Stockholm, and Prague to try to force Europe's biggest renegade into line, Klaus was dining by the Adriatic.

For five days he refused to return phone calls from Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister and current EU president saddled with the Klaus emergency. Jan Fischer, the Czech Republic's caretaker prime minister, has an even less enviable task, as mediator between Klaus and the rest of Europe's leaders. But Klaus won't give him the time of day. Fischer admitted he had managed to get him briefly on the phone, but not to arrange a meeting.

Klaus was in Albania to promote Blue Planet in Green Shackles, his book arguing that the only thing man-made about climate change is that it is a myth. Today he decamped to Moscow, promoting a Russian edition of the book.

Tom Kington | Rome | October 13

The Guardian - Documents reveal Italian dictator got start in politics in 1917 with help of £100 weekly wage from MI5

History remembers Benito Mussolini as a founder member of the original Axis of Evil, the Italian dictator who ruled his country with fear and forged a disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany. But a previously unknown area of Il Duce's CV has come to light: his brief career as a British agent.

Archived documents have revealed that Mussolini got his start in politics in 1917 with the help of a £100 weekly wage from MI5.

Simon Hancock | Reykjavik | October 9

BBC - Since the financial crisis, Iceland has been forced to retreat back from high octane bubble living to nature.

Fortunately, there is a lot of that nature to retreat to.

It is a breathtaking world of volcanoes, endless prairies and ethereal winter landscapes.

It's a fair question whether President Barack Obama really deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize. It's just that, in the scheme of things, I don't think it's a very interesting question.

I'm still digesting all of this, of course. Talk about a weekend surprise. But if we go by the usual Nobel standards, I can't see, at the moment, how Obama even comes close to deserving the laurels, which generally reward either a life commitment to changing the world (think Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela) or a huge accomplishment in the cause of peace (think Mikhail Gorbachev, pivotal in ending the Cold War, or Woodrow Wilson, instrumental in the Treaty of Versailles). Not that every Nobel Peace Prize winner has that kind of global veneration; recent recipients include former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and Mohamed Elbaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency. And anyway, I do think Obama has the potential for greatness in leadership -- if someday soon he would gird his loins to lead his party and his wobbly nation.

Rafal Kiepuszewski | Sept 25

Deutsche Welle - A resolution unanimously approved by the Polish parliament this week condemns the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland in 1939. The resolution referred to a series of massacres of Poles in Russia, as well as mass deportations of over one million Poles to Siberia. Poland also called on Russia to condemn the crimes.

Sixteen days after Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on Sept. 1, 1939, troops under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin were sent into eastern Poland. A year later, a Soviet-led massacre in the Katyn forest left over 20,000 Polish officers and intellectuals dead.

The response from Russia warned that the Polish resolution, which said the Stalin-era crimes amount to genocide, was a set-back to improving ties between Russia and Poland.

"The resolution adopted by the parliament deals a serious blow to efforts to develop normal neighborly relations between our countries," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the resolution was "tendentious and politicized."

Polish parliamentary speaker Bronislaw Komorowski said Russia's reaction indicates the country is still coming to grips with its past.

More of the same "Europe is being overrun by Muslims" claptrap.

Then again, what does one expect from a guy who wrote, "Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion."

Paris | Sept 17

AFP - Crazy Horse, the upmarket Paris cabaret that insists its strip show is art, is revamping its decades-old revue to include a number that presents clothes removal as a solution to economic crisis.

The cabaret off the Champs Elysees, which has seen stars like Madonna, U2 and Gerard Depardieu sip champagne in its red velvet seats as they watch women undress, has hired star choreographer Philippe Decoufle to update its show.

Decoufle, who staged the 2007 Rugby World Cup and the Albertville Winter Olympics ceremonies in 1992, will launch the new revue next Monday after months of rehearsals.

"We work with a tiny idea for each number, and for which we put one, two or 12 girls on stage: they're stunning, naked, with high heels and wigs," the 47-year-old said at a press preview of the show this week.

One number features dancer Fiamma Rosa, dressed in a severe business suit, sitting at a desk while stock market prices flit across a screen behind her.

She fields a phone call that, judging by her dismayed reaction, brings bad news for her business. Her response is to begin removing her clothes and dance and drape herself provocatively across her desk.

"Another number is like one of those pens that you turn upside down and the woman's clothes fall off," said Decoufle.

Nicholas Rigillo | Brussels | Sept 18

DPA - For a growing number of foreign observers, Silvio Berlusconi is simply a clown who cannot be trusted.

The prime minister's antics and widely publicised sex scandals have so seriously damaged Italy's standing in Europe that it is no longer viewed as one of the bloc's major powers, experts in Brussels said Thursday.

'Berlusconi is deeply disrespected by the left, but he is also seen as awkward and unpredictable by his conservative colleagues. As a result, Italy's influence has become much weaker, weaker than Poland's,' said Piotr Kaczynski, an analyst at the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies.

At a recent conference in Brussels, for instance, several panelists listed Britain, France, Germany and Poland as the European Union's 'big four,' despite Poland's economy being a fifth the size of Italy.

One thing that annoys me, immensely, about articles such as this one isn't so much all the teeth gnashing about 'relativism' as the writer has some what of a point. What annoys me is the big 800lb gorilla that is not addressed.

First, let me say that I have met a great deal of European Muslims. The vast majority of those European Muslims love their life in Europe. They prefer European values to those of their homeland. I have met very few radical, firebrand Muslims in Europe or from Europe who want to overthrown the European nations and install some kind of Caliphate or Shari'a dominated legal system. That's not to say they don't exist, they do. But they are an even smaller minority amidst a minority.

And here's the 800lb gorilla: many of them are the descendants of people who came to Europe a generation or two ago for a better life--and were accepted into Europe as a pool of cheap labor. And now their children aren't living the European dream. They're an underclass, in essence, and Europe hasn't embraced them.

A good example were the riots and tire burnings in France several years ago. They young men who were doing this weren't Muslim radicals. They were French-born Algerians. And what they wanted was to be considered and accepted as French.

To my mind, this is much more of a problem for Europe as the resentment brooding does lead to Muslim radicalism.

Conservative concern trolls never want to talk about nations not living up to their own higher values, they prefer to blame it all on 'cultural relativism' and 'liberals who are weak at the knees.' Believe me, the Europeans are very aware they have a problem. But there is more to it than simple relativistic mamby-pambyness.

Adam Easton | Warsaw | Sept 1

BBC - There are only a handful of people left who can say they saw World War II start.

Few survive to tell the tale of the German cruiser, Schleswig-Holstein, unleashing a barrage of 280mm and 170mm shells at a Polish fort and shattering the dawn breaking over the Westerplatte peninsula in the free city of Danzig on 1 September 1939.

"I took the telescope and looked out at the channel, first right, then left and then at the cruiser which was moored in the bay," Ignacy Skowron remembered. "At that moment I saw a flash of red and the first shell hit the gate,"

The attack began at 0445. Simultaneously, the German Wehrmacht poured across the frontier of Poland from the west, north and south.

Two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany.

The then 24-year-old Cpl Skowron was one of just 182 Polish soldiers defending the military transit depot on the Westerplatte peninsula. read more after the jump

Both France and Germany reported 0.3% GDP figure for 2Q. I do not remember if France even had a recession.

members of the crew were allegedly assaulted, tied, gagged and blindfolded and some were seriously injured

NYT

Russian warships and nuclear submarines have been scrambled in a full scale pirate hunt for a hijacked ship amid fears that the missing Arctic Sea vessel could be carrying a “secret cargo” of arms or drugs.

Telegraph

Sarah Morris | Madrid | July 29

The Times - More than 60 police officers, their families and neighbours were injured when a car bomb ripped through a barracks in the northern Spanish city of Burgos at about 4am local time today, emergency services said.

No one was killed in the blast, which blew down the wall of the barracks and shattered windows in nearby houses and a local police station. The Spanish authorities suspect that Eta, the armed Basque separatists, carried out the attack.

Reykjavik | July 16

PressTV - Iceland's 63-seat parliament has thrown its weight behind governmental plans to join the European Union as the country struggles to regain financial stability.

Lawmakers voted in favour of the proposal and are set to begin the ascension talks with the EU.

The Economy Ministry in Berlin's experts have come to the conclusion that growth was exactly 0 percent for the second quarter.

Spiegel

US Q2 is expected to be -2%.

Tony Paterson | Berlin | July 12

The Independent -

It's decision day on a chain of solar generators across the desert that could supply a quarter of Europe's power

Concentrating solar thermal plants use an array of mirrors to capture and focus sunlight, which can then heat water and power turbines

The world's most ambitious green energy project is about to take shape. It is a plan for a chain of mammoth sun-powered energy plants in the deserts of North Africa to supply power to Europe's homes and factories by the end of the next decade.

In a few days' time a consortium of 20 German firms will meet in Munich to hammer out plans for funding the giant €400bn (£343bn) project, named Desertec. The scheme is being backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government and several German industry household names including Siemens, Deutsche Bank, and the energy companies RWE and E.ON. The Munich meeting will also involve Italian and Spanish energy concerns, as well as representatives from the Arab League and the Club of Rome think-tank.

In an otherwise interesting article--the main points of which I agree--the author recycles a bit of right-wing, markets uber-alles hogwash:

With the United States brought low by Wall Street and the European economy enfeebled by its welfare state and inflexible labor market, most Asian economies appear in great shape.

I don't even know where to start. Enfeebled by an inflexible labor market? C'mon. It isn't that bad in Europe, not by a long shot. Besides, you gotta ask yourself, would you rather make $20 a hour working in a bakery and have excellent health care and very good retirement and vacation benefits, not too mention feeling some dignity for the labor you do? Or would you rather be a wage-slave, in massive debt, one illness away from bankruptcy sans health insurance and only have two weeks or less a year for vacation?

Really now? Ask yourself what's really important in life? Paying taxes to bomb our 'little brown brothers' or living a decent, dignified life?

June 28

BBC - Russia and Nato have agreed to resume co-operation on security issues, after nearly a year of difficult relations. The deal came at a meeting in Greece of foreign ministers from the two sides.

Ties deteriorated sharply in 2008 after Russia's brief conflict with Georgia. Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said differences over the issue remained.But he said Nato and Russia would nonetheless resume co-operation on issues such as Afghanistan, drug trafficking and piracy.

"We have restarted our relations at a political level, we also agreed to restart the military-to-military contacts which had been frozen since last August," the Nato secretary-general told a news conference in Corfu.

Ludwig Burger, Hendrik Sackmann and Arno Schuetze | FRANKFURT | June 27

Reuters - Porsche fumes at VW, Lower Saxony "extortion"
Sat Jun 27, 2009 12:35pm EDT

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Porsche accused Volkswagen and its key shareholder Lower Saxony of extortion following a magazine report that VW and the regional state had demanded Porsche accept a tie-up of the two carmakers with VW in charge.

Der Spiegel magazine reported in its online edition on Saturday, that Porsche Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking and Chairman Wolfgang Porsche had been pressed to agree by the end of June that VW take a 49 percent stake in Porsche's sports car business for 3-4 billion euros ($4.2-$5.6 billion).