Decision day for second Greek bailout despite financing gaps

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece on Monday to try to draw a line under months of uncertainty that has shaken the currency bloc, although work remains to be done to make the numbers add up.

Diplomats and economists say they do not expect the package to resolve Greece's economic problems. That could take a decade or more, a bleak prospect that brought thousands of Greeks onto the streets to protest against austerity measures on Sunday. continue reading here

Greeks strike against IMF/EU austerity before crucial

ATHENS (Reuters) - Striking Greek workers denounced a new wave austerity on Friday as a demand too far by the IMF and EU, but Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told the nation it had to decide within days whether to take the pain and stay in the euro or not.

Police fired teargas as black-masked protesters threw petrol bombs, stones and bottles in central Athens. The biggest police trade union said it would issue arrest warrants for Greece's international lenders for subverting democracy, and refused to "fight against our brothers."
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ReutersBy Karolina Tagaris and Harry Papachristou | Reuters –

Prince William gives UK long-awaited royal wedding

LONDON – Prince William finally became engaged to longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton, giving her his late mother's sapphire and diamond engagement ring, as Britain looked forward to its biggest royal wedding since Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer almost 30 years ago.

Royal officials announced Tuesday that the couple will marry next spring or summer in London, ending years of rumored splits, reconciliations and will-they, won't-they speculation.

William is second in line to the British throne after Charles, his father. Kate and William's first child would move ahead of his younger brother Prince Harry to become third in line to the throne.

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By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Jill Lawless, Associated Press

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom from 16 to 19 September 2010 was the first state visit by a pope to the United Kingdom (Pope John Paul II made a pastoral, rather than state, visit to Great Britain in 1982). The visit was in response to an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II, with the beatification of Cardinal Newman as a "pastoral highlight".

The pope was received in Edinburgh by Elizabeth II; by meeting her in Scotland the pope avoided greeting her in her religious capacity as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. His visit included meetings with First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader David Cameron, and leaders of the other main political parties.

The visit comes at a time when incidents of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests have received prominent media attention: during the visit, Pope Benedict apologised for that and met five abuse victims. more here

Eurovision Song Contest 2010

First of all, I would like to greet Lena Meyer-Landrut for winning this prestigious song contest held in Oslo, Norway last May 29, 2010, the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Congratulations also to all German people for finally winning it again after 28 years. Below are some information about this event.

"The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th annual Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast from the Telenor Arena in Bærum, a suburb of Oslo, Norway. It was the third time Norway has hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1986 and 1996. The 2010 winner was Germany with Lena singing "Satellite" written by American Julie Frost and Dane John Gordon. Second place went to Turkey, third to Romania, fourth to Denmark, and fifth to Azerbaijan.

The semi-finals took place on 25 and 27 May 2010 and the final took place on 29 May 2010. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that the voting system used in the semi-finals would change from previous years to balance jury voting with televoting. A return of accompaniment by orchestra was also proposed but did not happen.

Thirty-nine countries had taken part in the contest, with Georgia returning to the contest and Andorra, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Montenegro withdrawing. Lithuania originally announced its withdrawal from the competition, but was later among the 39 participants confirmed by the EBU. A recent global financial crisis affected how the event was run. NRK sold its rights to 2010 FIFA World Cup to a rival broadcaster to finance its hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. With 246 points, Germany was named the winner of the contest. It was their second win after 28 years and the first time since 1997 that a Big 4 country won the contest." read more here

Iceland volcano sends new tremors, lower ash cloud

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) – The erupting volcano in Iceland sent new tremors on Monday, but the ash plume which has caused air traffic chaos across Europe has dropped to a height of about 2 km (1.2 miles), the Meteorological Office said.

Ash production had fallen and Iceland's coast guard and scientists prepared to fly over the volcano in search of signs its crater was now producing lava, which could indicate the nature of the eruption was changing.

"The situation is definitely better than it was particularly on Saturday, which was a difficult day for us due to heavy ash fall just south of the volcano," said Urdur Gudmundsdottir, a spokeswoman at the foreign ministry.

The appearance of lava could suggest the eruption was moving into a less explosive phase, possibly a good sign for thousands of travelers who have been stranded at airport across Europe for the past five days because countries have closed their airspace over safety fears.
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EU to resume limited air traffic Tuesday

BRUSSELS – European officials carved up the sky Monday, creating three zones to more quickly break the flight deadlock caused by volcanic ash flowing from Iceland over Europe. Many more flights will be able to take off on Tuesday, the bloc said.

European countries can resume airline traffic in designated "caution zones" where the threat of ash is considered less dangerous, French officials said after a meeting of the bloc's 27 transport ministers.

Under the accord, one area — defined by the European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol — will remain entirely off limits to flights. Another area will be open to all flights and a third area will be a caution zone in which some flights will be allowed.

Jean-Louis Borloo, the No. 2 French Cabinet official, said flights in the caution zone will be "very secure" with many tests to make sure jet engines are not damaged by ash.

EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said after a videoconference with EU transport ministers and industry officials that "the decision increases air space available to air traffic. This is the final outcome."
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Polish President, Lech Kaczynski Died in Russia Jet Crash

This news had been aired couple of times over a German radio as we were on our way to Neumarkt, Bavaria, Germany until we drove back home. Polish President, his wife and other Polish leaders were dead in Russia jet crash. below are the excerpts of the news.

Polish leader, 96 others dead in Russia jet crash

MOSCOW – Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 97, officials said.

Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the 26-year-old Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre in Katyn forest of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.

The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland's political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said. continue reading here

What is European Parliament

I just mentioned in my Explore Germany site that today is the European Parliament Election in Germany. I had finally done my part and casted my vote to fully exercise my freedom of suffrage. I guess not all people know what is European Parliament. To give you and idea of what it is, I consulted the experts online for general information. keep reading below!

"What is European Parliament

The European Parliament (Europarl or EP) is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. The Parliament and Council form the highest legislative body within the Union. However their powers as such are limited to the competencies conferred upon the European Community by member states. Hence the institution has little control over policy areas held by the states and within the other two of the three pillars of the European Union. The Parliament is composed of 785 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament), who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (342 million eligible voters in 2004).

It has been directly elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. Although the European Parliament has legislative power that such bodies as those above do not possess, it does not have legislative initiative, as most national EU parliaments do However, it does have de facto capacity for legislative initiative (see Powers and functions below). While it is the "first institution" of the European Union (mentioned first in the treaties, having ceremonial precedence over all authority at European level), the Council has greater powers over legislation than the Parliament where codecision procedure (equal rights of amendment and rejection) does not apply. It has, however, had control over the EU budget (minus agriculture) since the 1970s and has a veto over the appointment of the European Commission.

The European Parliament has two meeting places, namely the Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg, France, which serves for twelve four-day plenary sessions per year and is the official seat, and the Espace Léopold (Dutch: Leopoldruimte) complex in Brussels, Belgium, the larger of the two, which serves for committee meetings, political groups and complementary plenary sessions. The cost of having all MEPs and their staff moving several times a year from one place to another is of concern to some. The Secretariat of the European Parliament, the Parliament's administrative body, is based in Luxembourg.

The President of the European Parliament (its speaker) is currently Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP), elected in January 2007. He presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) and the Party of European Socialists (PES). The last Union-wide elections were the 2004 Parliamentary Elections, however Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007 and elected their members in that year (see European Parliament election, 2007); the next union-wide parliamentary elections are in 2009 (see European Parliament election, 2009). keep reading here.

Horror in Amstetten and the monster named Josef Fritzl

Have you been in Amstetten? Have you heard or read the story about the so-called "monster father" named Josef Fritzl? I have been reading Neumarkter Tagblatt, a local German newspaper here in Germany since Monday about Josef Fritzl. It is always in the front page for 4 days row now. Before I begin with this horrible story let me tell you first a bit about Amstetten.

Amstetten, as you can see in the google map below is a town in Lower Austria. It is the capital of Amstetten District. Why I know this place? During my adventure last June 2007 in Austria, we passed by in Amstetten boarding a train. Me and my friend saw a lot of towns and municipalities as we rode the train from Salzburg to Vienna. That was a very long trip.
What about Josef Fritzl? As described by Neumarkter Tagblatt newspaper, he was called "The monster father" after raping more than thousand times his own daughter and locking her on their basement for 24 years? Can you imagine a life in the basement without seeing light for 24 years? Fritzl's daughter named Elizabeth was raped since she was 11 years old. She also has 7 children with her own father wherein 6 were alive and 1 was dead after some hours of giving birth. The baby was also burned in the oven by his own father and grandfather at the same time.

Can you imagine this horror? How can a father do this to his child? I know we already heard a lot of stories about children who are sexually abused by their own father. But this story is different. It is very horrible, terrible, hideous and dreadful. What else can I say? It totally shocked me and I can't fathom on my mind how can a father do that to his own child? Is he in his normal mind? What can you say about this my friends? I know I can't judge people because I don't have the right to do so. But if ever you have to ask me of the kind of sentence that Fritzl had done, I would say, he must pay for it by being sentenced to life imprisonment. I also can't say that he will be sentenced to death because I believed that only God can take away people's lives. Anyway, today if I'm not he is already sentenced to life's imprisonment. I believed that is a fair and just verdict.

Here is an excerpt of the story;

"Police spokesman Franz Polzer told CNN that 73-year-old Josef Fritzl admitted holding his daughter, Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, hostage in the windowless cell and fathering seven children by her.

"The mother had memories [of the outside world] and got used to the situation," Polzer told a press conference Monday afternoon. "The others knew nothing else."

The main question reverberating from the small Austrian town: How could a man keep his daughter locked in his basement for 24 years, where she gave birth to seven of his children while her mother and three of those children lived upstairs without an inkling of the horrors in the cellar?

Please read the rest of the story here

Lastly, I would like to offer a prayer to the victim and her children and family and to all victims of sexual abuse that they may be given the courage, determination, peace of mind and the strength to continue to face life trials and uncertainties. God bless us all!

Viewpoint: A fair deal for women

Yesterday, March 8 is the commemoration of the International Women's Day. Is there really a so-called "Equality Among People especially between Men and Women". I always heard it that women have equal rights with men but it is really happening? What about racism and discrimination that is happening around the world? Would you think there is really a solution for this? I am sorry guys, I can't even answer this question...better read this article about "A Fair Deal Among Women".

"Equality is enshrined as a principle at the heart of the European Union, yet only about one-third of Euro MPs are women. Gender discrimination remains widespread in Europe.

Here European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom explains why she is campaigning to get more women into senior EU positions. This is part of a viewpoint series ahead of the June European elections.

"I am lucky to come from a country - Sweden - where gender equality is practically taken for
granted.

Margot Wallstrom says politics is still not an easy option for women

"I was first elected as an MP at the age of 24 and held ministerial positions in Sweden before being nominated twice as a European commissioner. It would be nice to think that this is the norm in all democracies, but unfortunately this is far from being the case. In Europe, for example, a fair representation of women in politics and business remains an unachieved dream.

I have been fortunate enough to have had a seat at tables where decisions are made, but in the governments of EU countries, only 24% are women, and most of them are in charge of cultural or social issues. Not even one in four members of national parliaments are women."continue reading here