Key challenges to the ratification of the treaty remain in Ireland, where it will be put to a referendum, and in France, where Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande has announced that he would ditch the treaty. But roadblocks have now emerged in the Netherlands and Germany.

The collapse on Wednesday of a coalition government led by the Social Democrats and Greens in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia opened the way for early elections in May. The vote represents a political challenge to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

...[The FDP's failure] would have a knock-on effect in Berlin, where Merkel is depending on delicate negotiations with opposition parties to obtain two-thirds of the Bundestag, required to ratify the EU treaty.

...In the Netherlands, where the government is a minority Christian Democrat/Liberal coalition, the opposition Labour party has threatened to vote against the fiscal pact if the government insists on meeting a 3% GDP deficit target for this year as required by Brussels.

Former premier Dominique de Villepin said Thursday he was dropping his bid for the French presidency after failing to get enough signatures to qualify as a candidate, a move that could benefit President Nicolas Sarkozy, a fellow conservative.

Fico's Smer party, which governed the country between 2006 and 2010 in a coalition with nationalists and paved the way for Slovakia's entry into the eurozone, won 83 seats in the 150-seat parliament.

Despite his comfortable majority, Fico offered the other parliamentary parties negotiations on possible two-member coalition. He only had one condition - that the partners should support the welfare state.

Centre-right parties accepted the offer to participate in a discussion held yesterday, but all of them ruled out joining a coalition government. Nevertheless, the parliamentary parties discussed support for a constitutional change: the abolishment of criminal immunity for members of Parliament.

...the most important changes can be expected in the sphere of the economy. Only few hours after election results were announced on 11 March, Fico outlined plans to abolish the 19% flat tax rate. The aim is to raise taxes on banks, companies and individuals with high incomes.

Fico plays all statesmanlike and demure for now, which is a welcome change vs. his earlier style. He even said that he is now at the top from where one can fall deep. He even made overtures towards ethnic-Hungarians by promising to defuse the double citizenship issue. At the end of his previous reign, a tit-for-tat law was passed mandating the automatic loss of Slovakian citizenship for those taking up another. The intended targets, those taking up Hungarian citizenship under Hungary's new nationalist citizenship law, were only a minority of those hit. The outgoing government failed to reform this, now Fico says double citizenship will be permitted for those with a permanent residence in another country.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán took a conciliatory tone with the Commission in an effort to obtain "precautionary" financing, just a week after he called "extremely stupid" a move by the EU executive to freeze regional funding as a sanction for his country's budget deficit.

In a letter to Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Orbán pledged to address the Commission's concerns on issues seen by Brussels as a pre-condition for the 'precautionary aid' which Budapest seeks from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as insurance against possible financing difficulties.

A day later he told c. 200,000 of his fans that "we will not be a colony". What's amazing is not his cynical shamelessness (and stupidity in assuming that Brussels won't hear) but that he can be certain that those fans won't notice how his freedom fighter pose is all show.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

EU leaders need to have a high-level political debate on the surge of 'xenophobia' and anti-European attitudes that threaten integration, Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu said during his first political visit to Brussels yesterday (15 March).

"There is concern regarding the way EU policies can be questioned in the national executives and parliaments by the political expression of xenophobia, anti-democratic and anti-European attitudes," Ungureanu said at the end of talks with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

...Together with Poland and Bulgaria, Romania is one of the targets of the xenophobic website (see background) launched by the right-wing Dutch Freedom Party (PVV).

Mobile telecom companies regularly block voice over IP (VoIP) and prevent services such as Skype from functioning on their networks, the group that represents EU telecom regulators (BEREC) says in the preliminary findings of a much-awaited report on internet neutrality.

Gadget fans flocked to Apple stores worldwide Friday as the new iPad went on sale for the first time, beginning in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. Apple has sold more than 55 million iPads since being launched in 2010.

All around Europe, governments are cutting back on spending in reaction to the euro crisis. But in one small city in Germany, locals are bucking the trend. Fed up with austerity, they are planning to spend more, not less, money -- and they are making it themselves.

OAS_RICH('Middle2'); The city of Oberhausen, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is broke. With debts of €1.83 billion ($2.4 billion) the future of the city, best known internationally as the home town of Paul the psychic octopus, is uncertain. But now a Hamburg theater group has come up with a radical solution to reverse the city's ailing fortunes.

This Friday, at a premiere organized in the town, performers of the Hamburg "Geheimagentur" ("Secret Agency") theater group will launch a new currency for the inhabitants of Oberhausen as part of a performance called "Schwarzbank" ("black bank"). The new money is named the Kohle, literally the German word for coal, but also slang for money and a reference to the city's location in the mining heartland of Germany.

Nigeria's government has been in "preliminary talks" with the Boko Haram Islamist group behind a series of attacks in recent months, security sources said Friday. The group has been blamed for violence that has left more than 1,000 dead since 2009.

AFP - Actor George Clooney and several members of the US Congress were arrested Friday outside Sudan's embassy as they staged a protest to demand that government forces end an offensive in South Kordofan.

The "Descendants" star and fellow activists defied warnings to leave the grounds of the mission in Washington's Embassy Row, leading officers to escort them in plastic handcuffs to a waiting police van.

REUTERS - Four members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have decided to join other members and close their embassies in Syria over its violent crackdown on mass protests against President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported late on Thursday.

...Saudi Arabia and Bahrain announced on Wednesday that their missions to Syria would be shuttered. Apart from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the GCC comprises the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait.

A NATO helicopter crashed in Kabul Friday, killing 12 Turkish soldiers. The death toll is believed to be the heaviest loss of life suffered by the Turkish military in Afghanistan.

Iran has purchased 60,000 metric tonnes (66,139 tons) of U.S. wheat, the U.S. government said on Thursday, raising the two-week tally to 180,000 metric tonnes, which industry sources said reopened grain trade ties between the two countries embroiled in a stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

[....]

Iran has purchased some 2 million metric tonnes of wheat from several origins since February as it stockpiles food in response to tough new sanctions aimed at containing its nuclear program.

"If they need something really quick and reliable, the U.S. is there to do it," said a U.S. wheat trader, asking not to be named.

Due turisti italiani sono stati rapiti da un gruppo maoista nello stato indiano dell'Orissa. Lo riferisce la tv indiana Ndtv in una breaking news che appare sullo schermo. Secondo le prime informazioni il rapimento è avvenuto a Kandhamal e i due turisti sono stati portati via da esponenti del gruppo gruppo maoista Basadhara.

Global greenhouse gas emissions could rise 50% by 2050 without more ambitious climate policies, as fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy mix, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says in a new report.

"Unless the global energy mix changes, fossil fuels will supply about 85% of energy demand in 2050, implying a 50% increase in greenhouse gas emissions and worsening urban air pollution," the OECD said in its environment outlook to 2050, released yesterday (15 March).

In a surprise move, Borissov fired Economy and Energy Minister Traycho Traykov and announced that his country would buy the Russian reactor commissioned for the Belene Nuclear Power Plant that is now under construction.

He added, however, that the unit could instead be installed at the existing Kozloduy nuclear plant which now has two functioning reactors (see background).

The developments appear as a showdown after a protracted period, in which Borissov made noises that he was receptive to the advice of his government's allies in Brussels and Washington, who warned that the project will deepen Bulgaria's energy dependence on Russia.

The EU Fisheries Council meeting on Monday will direct Europe's fishing fleets to confine their trawling off the coast of developing countries exclusively to "surplus resources" of fish, according to draft council conclusions seen by EurActiv.

A new computer simulation by scientists at Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Universidad Computense de Madrid has calculated that Greenland's ice is likely to be more vulnerable to global warming than previously assumed.

..."This is not what one would call a rapid collapse," said Alexander Robinson, the study's lead author. "However, compared to what has happened in our planet's history, it is fast. And we might already be approaching the critical threshold."

The scientist said 1.6 degrees above pre-industrial levels was the most likely point in a range between 0.8 degrees and 3.2 degrees of warming.

...The new estimate effectively slashes the threshold in half.

...According to the scientists, the computer simulation was able to correctly calculate both today's observed ice sheets and its evolution over previous glacial cycles.

A new scientific study has confirmed that the healing of the ozone layer is also reducing people's exposure to harmful UV rays from the sun. It will still take years before the ozone layer recovers entirely, but the string of positive news continues.

...The scientists have concluded that the ozone already began healing slightly in 1995. Ironically, during the same period, the fact that more stringent environmental protection measures were implemented in many countries led to cleaner air, thus opening the way for people to be exposed to greater amounts of dangerous UV rays.

But since 2007, that effect of cleaner air and greater exposure to UV rays has been surpassed by a healing ozone layer, Zerefos and his colleagues concluded. They believe 2007 marked a turning point for the protective layer in the atmosphere. Compared to that year, today there is between two and four percent less UV B exposure on the ground. UV B rays can penetrate deeply into the skin and, in high doses, are considered particularly dangerous.

...But even if the danger has been reduced, the all-clear signal hasn't been given yet. Ozone expert Rex warns that dangerous exposure is still possible in Europe and in the northern parts of Asia and North America, particularly during the spring. In recent years, the unusually strong cooling of higher levels of the atmosphere has in several instances led to an extreme, but temporary loss of ozone in the higher latitudes. And in 2011, the areas where the ozone layer had disappeared lurked several times over Europe.

...It seems certain that exhaust from cars and factories have contributed to the temperature drop: Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which warm air near the earth's surface, actually cause cooling in upper layers of the atmosphere. Still, this "inverse greenhouse effect" explains only part of the cool down. Only when all of the CFCs have disappeared from the air will the destruction stop -- but that will still take decades, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

Onshore wind farms add less than £5 a year to household bills

The government's main renewable energy subsidy scheme adds just £15.15 a year to the average household bills, according to new research based on official Ofgem figures. The research aims to dispel the myth that green energy is driving recent increases in energy bills.

The energy watchdog has released its annual report on the Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme, confirming that there was an increase in renewable energy generation across the UK in 2010-11. Some 23.2TWh of electricity was provided by renewable energy sites that are accredited under the RO, an increase of about 15 per cent on the previous year.

In order to comply with the RO scheme, energy firms submitted 25 million Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROC) at a cost of £1.3bn, demonstrating they had sourced renewable energy or paid into the scheme's buy-out fund.

Drawing on the Ofgem figures and official Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) data on the size of the domestic energy market, green energy firm Ecotricity calculated that the total cost of compliance with the RO to households was £398.5million, equivalent to just £15.15 per household.

Moreover, the report's confirmation that 7.7 million ROCs were issued by onshore wind farms allowed the company to calculate that the cost of subsidies handed to onshore wind farms stood at £4.68 last year. The wind farms have been the target of vocal criticism from a number of think tanks and a group of 100 Conservative MPs.
In contrast, previous Ofgem figures have shown that the rising cost of gas imports added about £120 to domestic energy bills last year.

New Zealander George Jaunzemis spent 30 years searching for his true identity. Now, with the help of the International Tracing Service of the Red Cross, he finally knows who he is. But his story, which involves a World War II crime, turns up more questions than answers.

The "WWII crime" is not a war crime as one would guess but a post-WWII kidnapping with a still mysterious background. The story however is a fascinating odyssey.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Friday's Champions League quarter-final draw in Nyon served up a mouth-watering tie between Italian giants AC Milan and cup-holders Barcelona. In other ties, Chelsea take on Benfica, Marseille face Bayern Munich and Real Madrid meet Apoel of Cyprus.

France has banned soldiers from wearing uniforms outside military bases after three paratroopers were killed in attacks this week. An unidentified gunman on a motorbike killed two soldiers in Montauban Thursday and another in Toulouse on Monday.

Keith Richards has apologised to bandmate Mick Jagger and
admitted some parts of his autobiography Life "really offended" the
singer.

The guitarist described the frontman as "unbearable" and revealed his nicknames for Jagger are "Brenda" and "Your Majesty" in the candid memoir published in 2010.

Richards said: "He and I have had conversations over the last year of a kind we have not had for an extremely long time and that has been incredibly important to me.

"As far as the book goes, it was my story and it was very raw, as I meant it to be, but I know that some parts of it and some of the publicity really offended Mick and I regret that."

El 15 de diciembre de 2004 el programa Lo + plus de Canal Plus emitió un vídeo promocional realizado por el cantautor Javier Krahe y Enrique Seseña en los años 70 titulado Cómo cocinar un Cristo. El crucifijo era troceado, untado con mantequilla y metido en un horno, saliendo al tercer día en su punto.

El Centro Jurídico Tomás Moro (CJTM) presentó una querella criminal por escarnio de las creencias religiosas, que correspondió al Juzgado de Instrucción número 3 de Colmenar Viejo. El CJTM acusa al cantautor y a la productora de un delito contra los sentimientos religiosos en virtud del artículo 521.1 del Código Penal. A Krahe y a Fernández se les impuso fianzas de 192.000 y de 144.000 respectivamente.

On December 15, 2004, the TV Program Lo + plus [the most plus] on Canal Plus [TV Station] aired a promotional video made by the singer-songwriter Javier Krahe and Enrique Seseña in the 70s entitled How to Cook a Christ. The Crucifix was chopped, smeared in butter and stuck in an oven, emerging 'just right' on the third day.

The Thomas More Legal Centre (CJTM) filed a criminal complaint for ridicule of religious beliefs, which was assigned to the Investigation Court number 3 of Colmenar Viejo. The CJTM accused the singer-songwriter and the producer [of the film] of a crime against religious feelings according to article 521.1 of the Criminal Code. Krahe and Fernández were given bail of 192.000 y and 144.000 Euros respectively.

NBC: Dehydration, Exhaustion Caused Invisible Children Co-Founder's "Irrational" Behavior: Family

Critical attacks against "Kony 2012" -- one of the most successful videos ever published on the web -- were named as a possible reason for Jason Russell's public nudity, according to a family statement.

Russell, the co-founder of the group behind the video, was reportedly hospitalized after reports that he was caught nude, pounding his fists on the sidewalk and running through traffic in a San Diego intersection, police said.

...

"We'll take care of Jason, you take care of the work," Danica wrote. "The message of the film remains the same: stop at nothing."

(see also)

There are three stories about the euro crisis: the Republican story, the German story, and the truth. -- Paul Krugman