EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU and Ukraine on Wednesday (29 October) launched talks on allowing Ukrainian citizens to travel visa-free to the EU, with Kiev hoping to finalise the process by 2012, but Brussels reluctant to commit to a specific date.

This is "really a very remarkable event" for EU-Ukraine relations, Ukrainian foreign minister Volodymyr Ogryzko told journalists in Brussels.

Celebrations of Europe Day in Kiev - a large majority of Ukrainians back their country's EU perspective.

"For us, it is absolutely clear that this [achieving visa-free travel to the EU for Ukrainians] should be done not in decades but in years: it is essentially important to finish this process before 2012," when Ukraine will together with Poland host the next European football championship, he added.

Ukraine itself granted visa-free travel to passport holders from 25 EU states in 2005 to attract visitors for the Eurovision song contest finals in Kiev, extending the deal to Bulgaria and Romania in January 2008.

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has suggested the EU should do more to help UN peacekeepers in Congo, but there is not enough political will among member states to send an EU battlegroup to the conflict-struck African region.

"It's very difficult to say what we can do outside of diplomatic efforts, efforts at persuasion, and efforts so that peace can be achieved by leaning on the two countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda," Mr Kouchner said on Wednesday (29 October).

East Congo - "I hope that the French presidency will make a proposal in the coming days," said French FM Bernard Kouchner

Speaking on behalf of the current EU presidency held by France until the end of December, Mr Kouchner had earlier indicated that Paris would support sending a 1,500-strong military group to Congo to help tackle violence there.

But his suggestion did not receive enough support, as "a certain number of countries refused" the idea, he said on Wednesday, according to AP.

Shaquille was 14 when he bled to death beside a park bench. Ben died aged 16, Robert was 18. A total of 27 youths have been stabbed to death in London this year. Police and politicians seem powerless to stop the violence, which stems in part from a growing gap between the haves and have-nots.

London in autumn is no place for people of a nervous disposition. Fireworks are being set off on street corners ahead of Bonfire Night on Nov. 5, and in the southern borough of Southwark, figures with white-painted faces lurk in the shadows trying to lure tourists into the "London Dungeon," a chamber of horrors.

But young people in Southwark and elsewhere in the British capital are in very real fear of their lives. This year alone, 27 teenagers have been murdered in London, more than in the whole of 2007. Most of the murders have been caused by stabbing. Scotland Yard says knife murders among youths are the second biggest security risk in London after possible terrorist attacks.

Figures from the London police show that Londoners aged 17 to 20 are at an above-average risk of being attacked with a knife. More and more teenagers are carrying knives, usually because they're afraid of being attacked themselves. London police have confiscated 2,600 knives from youths searched in the street this year alone.

Dutch Architect Rem Koolhaas likes to think in S, M and L, but especially in XL. And that pretty much describes his next project -- a think tank to help overhaul the European Union. In an interview, he discusses the need for a stronger EU role in the world and why we need to stop acting superior when it comes to Russia and China.

Renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, whose innovative buildings can be seen all over the world, was asked earlier this month to mull the future of Europe as a member of a new think tank set up by the European Council of Ministers, the European Union body that represents the interests of the 27 member states. Europe faces many long term challenges, but "if Europe wants the world to listen, it will have to stop talking to itself," he says.

 Koolhaas is one of a group of 12 influential Europeans who have been invited to take part in a think tank on the future of the European Union which is expected to come up with a series of proposals for dealing with diverse issues running a gamut of policies that range from energy to security to migration for the period between 2020-2030.

"My job takes me to countries in Asia and the Arab world all the time and there's hardly a European presence there at all," says Koolhaas. "And you can see how badly it's needed. But Europe is too turned in on itself."

A car bomb has exploded in a university car park in Pamplona, northern Spain.

There were no reports of deaths in the blast, which happened at 1110 (1010 GMT), but at least 15 people were injured and some cars were set ablaze.

The University of Navarra is near the Basque Country, where Eta separatists are continuing a violent campaign for independence from Spain.

Local officials said they had received a vague telephone warning, purportedly from Eta, before the blast.

"Eta has once again displayed its vileness," said Jose Antonio Alonso, spokesman for the governing Socialist party.

Trace the rise and fall in crude prices in the last decade

Alistair Darling today called on oil companies to pass on lower costs to consumers by cutting petrol prices as Royal Dutch Shell posted a 71% rise in profits.

The chancellor said that he wanted the recent drop in the oil price, which has halved in recent months, to be passed on to the pumps as soon as possible.

"People are entitled to see the benefit of that falling price reflected in what they actually pay when they fill up the car," Darling told GMTV.

Shell defied the economic gloom this morning and smashed analyst forecasts when it reported a profit of $10.9bn (£6.6bn) for the third quarter of 2008, up from $6.4bn the previous year, thanks to the earlier surge in the price of oil.

A group of Scandinavian European parliamentarians has called for the EU Parliament in Strasbourg to stop using hotels where prostitutes are allowed.

The European Parliament convenes most often in Brussels, but once a month it meets in its official seat in Strasbourg, France.

 

Each time the approximately 800 lawmakers and their staff arrive, the town on the French-German borders sees a boom in prostitution, the German daily news Web site Tagesschau asserts.

 

Now, a letter signed by 37 parliamentarians -- mainly from Scandinavian countries -- is calling for the body to "only use hotels which issue a guarantee that the hotel is not involved in sex trade, and that all staff have written guidelines on this issue

ROME: In his first few months back in office, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has focused on cleaning up Italy's streets - of illegal immigrants, crime and, now, spray paint. Graffiti, he says, must be abolished because "in some of our cities, it feels as though we're in Africa rather than Europe."

His government hopes to issue strict measures Friday that would increase punishments for anyone who marks up private walls or public property.

In the face of shrinking economic growth and a growing dependence on tourism, putting Italy's best face forward is becoming a national imperative. This has not been helped by the recent media coverage of a lingering garbage crisis in Naples, with news photographs showing streets piled high with garbage.

"Italy must recover its image," especially abroad, Berlusconi said Wednesday at a meeting of the Federation of Merchants and Shopkeepers, where he said that the anti-graffiti measures would be discussed at a cabinet meeting  Friday.

Britain is preparing to "sell" Georgia and hand a "victory" to Russia by agreeing to start talks on a partnership agreement between Moscow and the European Union, according to senior European diplomats.

This would amount to a return to "business as usual" and a "clear signal" that Russia had escaped any lasting diplomatic penalty for invading Georgia in August, they said.

Only eight weeks ago, Gordon Brown helped persuade other European leaders to punish Russia for its strike into Georgia by postponing talks on a new "Partnership and Cooperation Agreement" with the EU. Aside from verbal condemnation and a general review of the EU's relations with Moscow, this was the only tangible counter-measure imposed on the Kremlin after the war.

Both the Prime Minister and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, reaffirmed Britain's position during a European summit two weeks ago.

A casual remark by Senator Andreotti on Reagan's attempts to assassinate Gadaffi has been confirmed by the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdurrahman Shalgam. The minister declared that Craxi had warned him through a friend that the Americans would launch an attack against Libya within 48 hours and that Italy would not allow the attack to be conducted from their territiory. According to the minister Gadaffi's life was probably saved thanks to Craxi.

The Libyans retaliated by launching a missile against the island of Lampedusa, an action now justified because the Americans had used the island for their attack.

Libya and Italy have recently signed a controversial treaty of friendship, partnership and cooperation. Either the treaty is at odds with Italy's NATO obligations or Libya is slipping into NATO through the back door.

Libya has also bought into the major Italian bank UniCredit which is perceived as a means of reinforcing the Berlusconi-Geronzi financial axis and prepare the terrain for an entry into ENI. Following the recent visit of Putin to Libya we may be looking at a Putin-Berlusconi-Gadaffi financial triumvirate on the energy mart.

Berliners turned out on Thursday to say their goodbyes to historic Tempelhof Airport, to share a few memories and to protest its closing one last time.

Two vintage airplanes, a DC-3 and a Junkers Ju-52, took off shortly before midnight as the final flights from the airport, which had been the focus of a legal battle that went on for several years.

To those who advocated for its closing, like Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit, Tempelhof was an unprofitable drain on the city's budget. To its supporters it was an architectural masterpiece and a historic monument to freedom.

Tempelhof, although built by the Nazis, is best known as the site of the Berlin airlift of 1948 and 1949, after the Soviets blocked land access to the city. The United States and Britain brought in supplies by air, over 2 million tons of food, fuel and even machinery. It became a symbol of the Allies' commitment to protecting the city and indeed Western Europe.

Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out in favor of preserving the airport earlier this year, and more than 60 percent of the voters in an April referendum said they wanted it kept open. But their numbers fell short of the minimum needed to make the referendum valid. No decision has been made as to what will be done with the airport and its grounds, though the building is a protected landmark and cannot be torn down.

The official events of both of the rival far-right youth movements (the 64 Shires Movement which spawned the rioters, and youth party JOBBIK which spawned the Hungarian Guard paramilitary) had two 'prominent' guests: Nick Griffin and Roberto Fiore.

Yes, the chairman of the British National Party, and his Italian friend (who hid in Britain after he was sought in connection with the Bologna station bombing), who took Alessandra Mussolini's seat in the European Parliament.

I was aware of ties with the Flemish far-right, but not this.

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

PARIS: The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is running as fast as he can, but the European recession is gathering pace. After initially good reviews for his leadership and quick response to the crisis, even Sarkozy's vaunted hyperactivity is starting to seem a little counterproductive, especially among his allies.

He is seen as something of a magician, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to find meaningful rabbits to pull out of a more tattered hat.

He tried again on Tuesday, faced with major layoffs from French companies like Renault, a quarterly decline of more than 23 percent in building permit applications and a sharp drop in consumer confidence, as measured by the government, to one of the lowest levels in 20 years. The signs of economic caution are everywhere here, including even a sudden drop in the sale of bottled water.

Trying to counteract fears of higher unemployment as the economy slows, Sarkozy announced a new program of subsidized work contracts, warned companies not to make unjustified layoffs and promised to loosen restrictions on short-term job contracts and Sunday work.

German joblessness dropped in October, but the news shed little light in the nation's economic gloom. The government plans to pump some 25 billion euros into rescuing the economy.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment data to be released on Thursday, Oct. 30, is expected to show the numbers of out-of-work Germans slipped by another 10,000 this month, leaving unemployment at 7.6 percent.

Unemployment already fell 29,000 in September. But economists see dark clouds on the horizon. They believe the labor market has yet to factor in the global economic downturn, and that it still reflects the strong economic growth rate from the start of the year.

The European Commission has backed the idea of offering car manufacturers €40 billion in low-interest loans to ease the transition to greener technologies amidst the ongoing economic crisis.

After meeting with European auto sector executives, including France's Peugeot-Citroen and Germany's Daimler on Wednesday (29 October), industry commissioner Guenter Verheugen said he believed loans requested by the industry could be provided via the European Investment Bank to help the companies develop cars that meet EU carbon emissions targets.

Industry commissioner Verheugen backs aid to car manufacturers to help make the shift to green technology

"We have to make sure the extra effort they must make to have lower emissions is not settled through subsidies but that it should be possible for them to have proper access to credit," Mr Verheugen told reporters at a press conference in Brussels after the meeting.

"Loan subsidies could be provided via the European Investent Bank," he said.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has unveiled a draft version of its plan for the economic recovery of the European Union, a plan that includes an even more generous boost to the emergency fund for EU economies battered by the global financial crisis than had previously been proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

After tackling the immediate problems in the financial sector, the EU executive aims to deal with the knock-on effects to the economy

"Europe must confront the economic downturn with the same robust and coordinated approach we have taken on the financial crisis," commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday (29 October), after an extraordinary college meeting devoted to the ongoing market mayhem.

As part of the commission's plan - to be published at full length on 26 November - Brussels is proposing to more than double the existing financial facility used to provide loans to EU countries facing difficulties.

The Icelandic economy would be crippled if the country had to pay British savers in its stricken banks the full amount that Britain claims is due, the country's Prime Minister said yesterday.

"I don't want to make comparisons with Versailles, but the debt burden from this type of arrangement would be terrible," Geir Haarde told The Times, referring to the 1919 treaty that left Germany laden with debt and fuelled the rise of Nazism. "It's an enormous number. Everyone has to figure out for themselves whether that would be sustainable.

"There would be no backing in parliament for that kind of a deal," he added, playing what may be his strongest card: that Iceland simply cannot afford to pay the sums that Britain claims it is obliged to find for foreign victims of its financial meltdown. Three weeks after the collapse of its entire banking system, Iceland is locked in a row with Britain over who should compensate savers. Each side is now careful to use cooler language than in the first eruption of insults, but they still clash on their interpretion of Iceland's responsibilities under its membership of the European Economic Area.

The US economy shrank at an annualised rate of 0.3% between July and September, according to figures from the Commerce Department.

The gross domestic product (GDP) figures were better than expected, although they show the sharpest contraction of the economy since 2001.

Consumer spending, which makes up two-thirds of the US economy, shrank by 3.1%, the first contraction since 1991.

The 0.3% fall followed 2.8% growth in the previous three-month period.

Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Brown said their nations will cooperate to keep the global financial crisis from spreading by working to reform international institutions and encouraging banks to restart lending.

Both leaders agreed to "strengthen" the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a new facility on which countries threatened by the global crisis -- especially the emerging economies -- could draw.

 

It was "vital" that further contagion of countries by the current global financial crisis be prevented, especially in eastern Europe, Brown said after the meeting Thursday, Oct. 30, in a reference to recent IMF aid packages for Hungary and Ukraine.

 

Additional resources for the IMF should be provided by countries with "considerable reserves," said Brown. Earlier this week, he said China and the oil-rich Gulf states should be called upon to provide extra money for the fund to alleviate the current global financial crisis.

 

Citigroup Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG are among banks tying corporate loan rates to credit- default swaps, raising borrowing costs and exposing companies to derivatives accused of crippling the financial system.

Banks are toughening terms following $678 billion in writedowns and losses, rising funding costs and a jump in companies drawing on lines they'd already negotiated. Before markets seized up this year, most rates on $6 trillion of revolving loans were based on a borrower's debt rating and priced at an amount over the London interbank offered rate.

The inclusion of the swaps shows that banks are shifting away from setting loan pricing by relying on debt ratings and Libor, a benchmark rate that is set each day in London by tallying the cost of 16 banks to borrow from each other. ...

FirstEnergy, with utilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, agreed this month to link interest rates on a $300 million credit line to the cost of Libor as well as the sum of the spread on its default swaps and those of Credit Suisse, according to a regulatory filing.

Loans from the Zurich-based bank would require total interest payments of about 6 percentage points over Libor if the power company draws on the bank line, according to regulatory filings and Bloomberg data. That's almost 14 times the spread on a $2.75 billion credit line the company negotiated in 2006.

USD LIBOR panelists: Credit Suisse, UBS AG / BoA, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup / Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Norinchukin Bank, Rabobank / Royal Bank of Canada / HBOS PLC, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland / Westdeutsche Landesbank, Deutsche Bank

Tying. Who can say for certain that reporter intended to use this term in this context? I'd say it's intentional. Tying is a well-documented monopoly practice. For example, Shapiro and Varian write in Information Rules:

Certain commercial practices are a red flag to antitrust authorities. Exclusive dealing provisions are in this category: a monopolist who insists that its customers not deal with its competitors is in for some tough questions. Tying is another suspect practice: a monopolist who insists that customers take another product if they want the monopolized item are likely to be challenged. This sounds simple, but it can be devilishly hard to determine whether there really are two products involved instead of one. [1999:309]

www US, EC discursion

Evidently, government banking regulators have conceded "free market" competition to select TBTF corporations. The last semblances of antitrust enforcement is out the door. Cost of capital will pass through to retail.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Troops carrying batons and shields are stationed in Damascus as crowds decry American 'terrorist' raid on border

Hundreds of Syrian riot police surrounded the US embassy in Damascus today as tens of thousands of protesters gathered nearby to denounce a US raid that killed eight people near the Iraqi border.

The crowds converged on Youssef al-Azmi square, about a mile from the embassy -- which was closed for the day because of security concerns.

Troops wearing helmets and carrying batons and shields took up positions around the embassy and the adjacent US residence building. Two fire engines were parked nearby.

There were no signs of violence as protesters formed circles and danced traditional dances

"America the sponsor of destruction and wars," read one banner, as protesters waved national flags and pictures of the Syrian president, Bashar Assad.

HOUSTON - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, says it shattered its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a U.S. corporation, earning $14.83 billion in the third quarter. bolstered

Bolstered by this summer's record crude prices, the Irving, Texas-based company said Thursday that net income jumped nearly 58 percent, or $2.86 a share in the July-September. That compares with $9.41 billion, or $1.70 a share, a year ago.

The 6.4-magnitude earthquake, that hit before dawn on Wednesday, flattened mud-brick houses and triggered landslides in Ziarat in the province of Baluchistan bordering Afghanistan.

Some estimates calculated that up to 600 people may have died and 2,000 homes been destroyed.

"The death toll may be 300 or even more," said a provincial official.

"The search for bodies is still going on," Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation, the country's largest ambulance service, said by telephone from Ziarat, one of the worst-affected areas of Baluchistan province.

"We think by the end of the operation the total number of deaths may approach 400."

There were no immediate reports that any group had taken responsibility for the bombings.

For many years, Assam State has been riven by a separatist insurgency led by the United Liberation Front of Assam, which demands independence for this region of some 26 million people and is often blamed by the authorities for bombings. Last month, ethnic clashes left 57 people dead in the area when indigenous Bodos fought with Bengali-speaking Muslims. <...>

Khagen Sharma, the inspector general of police in Assam State, said the authorities suspected that the attacks may have been orchestrated by the United Liberation Front of Assam working with militant jihadist groups. He said the police had been on high alert after tips that an attack might be imminent. <...>

The blasts in Assam were the latest in a series of bombings in several parts of India as national elections approach. Before Thursday's explosions, about 150 people had died in seven recent attacks around the country. ...

A British scrap metal company has accused Chinese customers of abducting its chief trader for ransom in a case that underlines the challenges of doing business in China. <...>

Goldarrow said Mr Srivastav went to Ningbo this month to seek $1.2m in due payments from Ningbo Yibao and associate companies. It alleged that James Xu, a Ningbo Yibao trader, instead told him he would not be allowed to leave the city until Goldarrow paid compensation for quality problems with a previously delivered scrap shipment. <...>

When Mr Srivastav slipped away to a Shanghai airport to return to the UK, he said, he was dragged from the terminal by a group of men and bundled into a people carrier. "I was shouting, `Help! Help! Help!" he said. "I was totally terrified...one guy pointed his finger like a gun and put it to my temple." <...>

Mr Srivastav said he was taken to a Ningbo police station where he appealed for protection but was returned to Guanghe staff. "I said, `Please put me in jail', but they said, `We can't put you in jail because you haven't committed any crime'."

The embassy in Beijing said it did not become involved after concluding it was a business dispute. Ningbo city police confirmed they had been involved in a case involving Guanghe and a foreigner but declined to give further details by telephone.

... According to Thursday's G.D.P. report, real consumer spending fell at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the third quarter; real spending on durable goods (stuff like cars and TVs) fell at an annual rate of 14 percent. <...>

To appreciate the significance of these numbers, you need to know that American consumers almost never cut spending. Consumer demand kept rising right through the 2001 recession; the last time it fell even for a single quarter was in 1991, and there hasn't been a decline this steep since 1980, when the economy was suffering from a severe recession combined with double-digit inflation. <...>

... if consumers cut their spending, and nothing else takes the place of that spending, the economy will slide into a recession, reducing everyone's income.

In fact, consumers' income may actually fall more than their spending, so that their attempt to save more backfires -- a possibility known as the paradox of thrift. <...>

... the fact is that we are in a liquidity trap right now: Fed policy has lost most of its traction. It's true that Ben Bernanke hasn't yet reduced interest rates all the way to zero, as the Japanese did in the 1990s. But it's hard to believe that cutting the federal funds rate from 1 percent to nothing would have much positive effect on the economy. In particular, the financial crisis has made Fed policy largely irrelevant for much of the private sector: The Fed has been steadily cutting away, yet mortgage rates and the interest rates many businesses pay are higher than they were early this year. <...>

... what the economy needs now is something to take the place of retrenching consumers. That means a major fiscal stimulus. And this time the stimulus should take the form of actual government spending rather than rebate checks that consumers probably wouldn't spend. ...

... [Special Forces veteran and former director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Col. Joseph] Felter and his co-author, Brian Fishman, quote from an interrogation with a member of an Iranian-trained network known as the Special Group Criminals: "Iran does not care about the fight between Shi'a and al-Qaeda. Iran just wants to force Coalition Forces out of Iraq because Iran is afraid Coalition Forces will use Iraq as a base for an attack in the future. Iran is training people to fight Coalition Forces, not al-Qaeda."

Felter notes that in 2004, when Najaf seemed headed toward chaos, "Iran intervened and took strong steps to ensure the continued viability of the electoral political process." Iran would like to see a weakly federated Iraq strong enough to prevent chaos or a Sunni power grab while still giving Iranian leaders a chance to have serious influence in the Shiite-dominated and oil rich region of southern Iraq, Felter said.

Importantly, Felter points out, "The United States and Iran are not engaged in a zero-sum game in Iraq. Both countries want greater stability and democracy, as well as a reduction of U.S. troops. Neither Washington nor Tehran wants a hostile relationship that could lead to unnecessary conflict." These mutual interests are shared by Iraqis as well and, according to Felter, could provide groundwork for potential future cooperation and for compromises in which all sides' interests are better met than with the status quo.

Perhaps paradoxically, Iran may have less influence in Iraq once U.S. forces have gone home, Felter said. At that point, Iraqi Shiite militants will no longer share a common enemy with Iran, and Iraqi nationalism may rise to the forefront, thus exacerbating age-old rifts and animosities between Iraqi Arabs and their Persian neighbors.

Felter's paper, "Iranian Strategy in Iraq: Politics and 'Other Means,'" can be found along with the supporting intelligence documents at http://www.ctc.usma.edu/Iran_Iraq.asp.

This article appears to corroborate Robert Baer's analysis of Iranian influence in Iraq.

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.

DENVER -- Tens of thousands of Coloradans who had been removed from the state's voter rolls will be allowed to vote in next week's election and given extra protections so their ballots are counted, under an agreement reached late Wednesday in federal court here.

The voters' names had been removed by Mike Coffman, the Colorado secretary of state, who said he did so because the voters had moved out of state or were listed more than once on the rolls. But Mr. Coffman was sued by a coalition of voting rights and other groups who said such purges were generally prohibited by federal law within 90 days of an election.

Under the agreement, voters removed from the rolls will be permitted to cast provisional ballots, and those ballots will be counted unless election officials can prove the voters were not eligible. To strike such ballots, county election officials must conduct an extensive records review on each one, a decision that must then be reviewed by Mr. Coffman's office.

"This is unprecedented," said Elizabeth Westfall, a lawyer for the Advancement Project, a civil rights group that helped file the lawsuit. "We are really thrilled that there will be this degree of unprecedented scrutiny and protection for these purged voters when they cast their provisional ballots."

Rekeda [and] his team led Mizuho into a business it knew little about, securities backed by U.S. subprime mortgages, where it lost 672 billion yen ($7.1 billion), more than any bank in Asia. Most of the losses were related to defaults on collateralized debt obligations.

Mizuho expects as much as 20 billion yen in potential further losses on bonds and bad loans related to bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., company spokeswoman Masako Shiono said on Sept. 16. Moody's Investors Service, citing ``questions regarding the effectiveness of Mizuho's risk management and its risk appetite,'' continues to give the bank a negative outlook.

You would think that Japanese would know everything about bad mortgages... At the same time,

Japanese interest rates cut for first time in seven years

In a move some criticized as half-hearted, the bank cut the key interest rate from 0.5% to 0.3% at the end of a meeting that revealed deep divisions among the nine members of the bank's policy board.

Dozens of hedge funds have told investors they cannot get their money back right now as managers try to limit a wave of redemptions to safeguard all their clients' investments -- as well as their own futures.

Only a few months ago, hundreds of the world's estimated 9,000 hedge fund managers made it tough for wealthy investors to put money into their funds by requiring high investment minimums of $1 million or more and charging heavy fees.

Now managers are making it hard for investors to get out.

The head of an Italian museum who offended the Pope by exhibiting a wooden sculpture of a crucified frog has been sacked amid a debate over artistic freedom.

Corinne Diserens, the Swiss director of the museum in Bolzano, in the mountainous north-east of Italy, was dismissed after months of controversy over the bright green, bug-eyed amphibian, which is nailed to a cross and holds a frothing mug of beer and an egg.

She had refused to remove the work by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger despite protests from the Vatican that it was blasphemous.

She said the museum had a right to artistic freedom, and kept the frog on display as originally planned from May to September.

Winegrowers have staged protests across France against new anti-alcohol legislation they say could make the country's age-old tradition of wine tasting illegal.

Vintners demonstrated in wine growing regions including Alsace, the Loire, Bordeaux, and Nantes to protest a part of a draft law designed to tackle the growing problem of "le binge drinking" in France, but which they say could be interpreted as outlawing wine tasting.

Article 24 of the hospital, health, patient and territory bill makes it illegal to offer free alcoholic drinks with a promotional aim. This was drawn up to halt soirées sponsored by drinks companies and the rise of open bars, in which young people - often students - pay an entrance fee to drink as much as they like.

"But as it is written, article 24 amounts to banning free wine-tasting in our wine cellars or in wine fairs," said Patrice Laurendeau, president of the winegrower's federation of the Anjou region.

AS you are reading this article, are you listening to music or the radio? Yelling at your children? If you are looking at it online, are you e-mailing or instant-messaging at the same time? Checking stocks? <...>

While multitasking may seem to be saving time, psychologists, neuroscientists and others are finding that it can put us under a great deal of stress and actually make us less efficient.

Although doing many things at the same time -- reading an article while listening to music, switching to check e-mail messages and talking on the phone -- can be a way of making tasks more fun and energizing, "you have to keep in mind that you sacrifice focus when you do this," said Edward M. Hallowell, a psychiatrist and author of "CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap!" (Ballantine, 2006). "Multitasking is shifting focus from one task to another in rapid succession. It gives the illusion that we're simultaneously tasking, but we're really not. It's like playing tennis with three balls."

Of course, it depends what you're doing. For some people, listening to music while working actually makes them more creative because they are using different cognitive functions.

But despite what many of us think, you cannot simultaneously e-mail and talk on the phone. I think we're all familiar with what Dr. Hallowell calls "e-mail voice," when someone you're talking to on the phone suddenly sounds, well, disengaged.

"You cannot divide your attention like that," he said. "It's a big illusion. You can shift back and forth." ...

It's the most famous chord in rock 'n' roll, an instantly recognizable twang rolling through the open strings on George Harrison's 12-string Rickenbacker. It evokes a Pavlovian response from music fans as they sing along to the refrain that follows:

It's been a hard day's night
And I've been working like a dog

The opening chord to A Hard Day's Night is also famous because for 40 years, no one quite knew exactly what chord Harrison was playing. Musicians, scholars and amateur guitar players alike had all come up with their own theories, but it took a Dalhousie mathematician to figure out the exact formula.

The prime minister of the Czech Republic was not having it when a reporter with a video camera interrupted him as the prime minister was pushing his baby carriage. We think Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek may have overreacted, however. There was really no call for smashing this journalist's head against the wall.

[WATCH]

Nicolas Sarkozy is known to be one of Europe's most status-conscious politicians. That, of course, has made him a ripe target for satire. A new YouTube hit pokes fun at "President Bling-Bling," while a dismissed lawsuit allows a Sarkozy voodoo doll to continue its brisk sales.

Nicolas Sarkozy is known for his hyperactive governing style, but this past week he's outdone himself. He continued steering Europe through the financial crisis, while also making headlining appearances in national court and YouTube.

Sarkozy doesn't like this toy. Admittedly, the French president wasn't personally involved in the production of the animated music video currently coursing through YouTube. But, the hundreds of thousands of people who have watched the clip will have had no trouble identifying the short, cigar-smoking, Rolex-clad man who grinds and raps through the video as Monsieur Le Président. If viewers need a further hint, the Sarkozy look-alike references one of the president's most popular nicknames: "I am the king of Bling-Bling, ok?"

Indeed, the video has struck a chord with the French partly because Sarkozy is said to bear many of the traits -- the inflated ego, the attraction to material wealth and the tendency for his diction to slip into vulgarisms -- of American gangster rappers. The video offers a parody of the president's restless and highrolling lifestyle: the smoky voice of Sarkozy's pop-star wife Carla Bruni is briefly heard near the start of the video before the "king of Bling-Bling" rides through town in a sports car, shows off his array of high-priced cell phones and joins a host of scantily clad women on a nightclub dancefloor.

Date rape should be treated differently from attacks on women by strangers, John Redwood has said.

The former cabinet minister - now a senior Tory party adviser - suggested rape accusations made by women against their partners should be treated as "disagreements" between lovers.

Labour ministers seized on the remarks, which were made in the wake of Tory leader David Cameron's pledge to toughen up rape laws.

Mr Redwood wrote on his website blog: "They [Labour] decided to set date rape alongside stranger rape.