Spiegel Online - US Economist Kenneth Rogoff: "Germany Has Been the Winner in the Globalization Process"
Spiegel Online reports: "In an interview with SPIEGEL, Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, 58, says it was a mistake to bring all the southern European countries into the common currency. He also argues that Greece should be granted a "sabbatical" from the euro and that a United States of Europe may take shape far sooner than many believe."

My Way News - Catholics ask Israeli leader to help end attacks
My Way News reports: "The custodian of holy places in the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, recalled in his letter sent Sunday to President Shimon Peres that vandals spray-painted 'Death to Christians' and 'We'll crucify you' on the Baptist Church in Jerusalem and similar hate graffiti on a Greek Orthodox monastery in the city."

My Way News - Israeli PM slams Palestinian leader's speech
My Way News reports: "Speaking during a visit to Qatar, Abbas charged that Israel was intending to destroy Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop the remains of the two biblical Jewish temples. It is the most sacred site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam."

My Way News - US: Afghanistan turmoil won't change US war plan
My Way News reports: "In an echo of the Bush administration on continuing the unpopular war in Iraq, the White House and Pentagon insisted Monday that the wave of violence against Americans will not derail the war strategy in Afghanistan or speed up the calendar for bringing American forces home."

My Way News - Bird flu kills 12-year-old Indonesian boy on Bali
My Way News reports: "A 12-year-old boy has died of bird flu on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, bringing the human death toll in the country worst hit by the illness to 154 since 2005, a health official said. [...] Bird flu has killed at least 347 people worldwide since it began ravaging poultry stocks in 2003."

My Way News - Bird flu, pig flu, now bat flu? Human risk unclear
My Way News reports: "The CDC has an international outpost in Guatemala, and that's where researchers collected more than 300 bats in 2009 and 2010. The research was mainly focused on rabies, but the scientists also checked specimens for other germs and stumbled upon the new virus."

My Way News - Putin touts nukes, urges US to be more positive
My Way News reports: "Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is touting Russia's nuclear weapons, saying the country has enough strength that the U.S. should seek a more constructive approach to a dispute over European missile defense plans [...] He countered that Russia has new intercontinental ballistic missiles and put two nuclear submarines into service in the past three years."

My Way News - Violence across Syria on eve of constitution vote
My Way News reports: "Syria has defied international calls to halt attacks on rebel enclaves and at least 89 people have been killed nationwide on the eve of a constitutional referendum that the opposition sees as a ploy by President Bashar Assad's regime."

My Way News - 2 US troops shot in Kabul; NATO pulls workers
My Way News reports: "The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Interior Ministry attack, saying it was retaliation for the Quran burnings, after the U.S. servicemen - a lieutenant colonel and a major - were found dead on the floor of an office that only people who know a numerical combination can get into, Afghan and Western officials said."

My Way News - Al-Qaida in Iraq warns of looming war with Shiites
My Way News reports: "A spokesman for al-Qaida in Iraq said Friday that a Sunni Muslim war against Shiites in Iraq is inevitable and threatened relentless waves of attacks like the one a day earlier that killed at least 55 people [...] His comments played on fears of a new surge in sectarian violence two months after the American military withdrawal from Iraq."

My Way News - At least 50 killed in Syria as regime pound rebels
My Way News reports: "President Bashar Assad's forces pounded rebel-held areas in central Syria on Friday, killing at least 22 people, activists said. More than 60 nations meeting in Tunisia asked the United Nations to start planning for a civilian peacekeeping mission that would deploy after the Syrian regime halts its crackdown [...} While the U.S., EU and Arab League have ratcheted up the pressure on Assad, Russia and China have opposed foreign intervention or sanctions against Syria."

My Way News - UN atomic agency: Iran rapidly expands nuke work
My Way News reports: "Iran has rapidly ramped up production of higher-grade enriched uranium over the last few months, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday, in a confidential report that feeds concerns about how quickly the Islamic republic could produce an atomic bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency report also said Iran failed to give a convincing explanation about a quantity of missing uranium metal. Diplomats say the amount unaccounted for is large enough to be used for experiments in arming a nuclear missile."

My Way News - "Friends of Syria" consider ultimatum to Assad
My Way News reports: "U.S., European and Arab officials were meeting in London on Thursday to craft details of an ultimatum to Assad that diplomats said could demand compliance within 72 hours or result in additional as-yet-unspecified punitive measures, likely to include toughened sanctions. The ultimatum is to be presented at a major international conference on Syria set for Friday in Tunisia [...] Russia and China, the two nations that blocked an earlier attempt at a UN Security Council resolution against Assad, reiterated on Thursday their continued opposition to any foreign intervention in Syria."

My Way News - China urges Iran to cooperate with UN inspectors
My Way News reports: "China on Thursday called on Iran to cooperate with U.N. nuclear inspectors, but declined to criticize the country for blocking recent requests for information and visits to sensitive sites [...] Iran, which says it is using nuclear energy only to generate power, this week rebuffed IAEA attempts to investigate allegations that it is secretly working to build atomic weapons [...] China has extensive economic relations with Iran, from which it imports about 10 percent of its oil."

My Way News - Doctors: Myanmar desperate for HIV and TB drugs
My Way News reports: "Doctors Without Borders warned in its report that the situation in Myanmar could worsen after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria cut funding worldwide because of a shortfall in donations. The money was expected to provide HIV drugs for 46,500 people in Myanmar and help treat another 10,000 sickened by drug-resistant tuberculosis, the report said."

My Way News - Big outbreak of child virus in Vietnam may worsen
My Way News reports: "Vietnam says a large ongoing outbreak of a common childhood virus could worsen this year. The hand, foot and mouth virus has sickened more than 6,000 and killed nine children since January. They died from the strain EV-71, a more virulent enterovirus."

My Way News - Venus, Jupiter, moon offer dazzling night show
My Way News reports: "Stargazers of the world are getting a treat this weekend. On Saturday and again Sunday, Venus, Jupiter and Earth's moon converge for a brilliant night show. Venus and Jupiter already are lining up in the western sky [...] A crescent moon joins the show this weekend for a triple combination. The celestial encounter will be visible from around the world at twilight."

My Way News - EU Council Prez Van Rompuy set to get 2nd term
My Way News reports: "Herman Van Rompuy, who has attempted to guide the European Union through severe financial turmoil, will likely be reappointed president of the European Council at a meeting of the bloc's leaders next week, an EU official said Wednesday [...] But Van Rompuy, 64, has become regarded as a skillful manager of negotiations among the national leaders - a quality essential in an institution where unanimity among the 27 heads of government is required for most major decisions."

Washington Post - IAEA mission to Iran ends in failure; Iran still defiant
The Washington Post reports: "A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said a delegation from the U.N. nuclear watchdog would return home after being blocked by Iran from access to key records and sites."

My Way News - Russia warns against "hasty conclusions" over Iran
My Way News reports: "Russia said Wednesday the world should not draw 'hasty conclusions' over Iran's most recent rebuff of U.N. attempts to investigate allegations the Islamic Republic hid secret work on atomic arms, but the U.S. and its allies accused Tehran of nuclear defiance."

Comment: Iran says they have nothing to hide, but their actions show otherwise. They say their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, just for producing energy. Has Iran been open, transparent, and cooperative with the U.N. authority in charge of "peaceful" nuclear energy projects? No. The failure of this latest initiative by the IAEA means that it's getting harder to make the case that diplomacy and sanctions are having any impact on the nuclear program. An Israeli or U.S. strike on Iran just came one step closer today.

My Way News - Iran says will strike its foes pre-emptively
My Way News reports: "As pressure mounts over Iran's nuclear program, a top Iranian general warned Tuesday that the nation will pre-emptively strike anyone who threatens it."

Comment: Interesting development, they have adopted the Bush Doctrine. How can the U.S. reciprocate this odd gesture in which they mirror American actions? Perhaps if the U.S. sent students into the streets to protest and shout "Death to Iran" it might help balance things out a bit. Seriously though, the danger of miscalculation is increasing on all sides.

My Way News - Dozens killed in Syria, Red Cross urges cease-fire
My Way News reports: "Food and water are running dangerously low in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, with frantic cries for help from residents amid government shelling that pounded rebel strongholds and killed at least 30 people Tuesday, activists said."

My Way News - Chinese leader visits Turkey, Syria to top agenda
My Way News reports: "Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was in Turkey on Tuesday, where he was sure to hear from Turkish leaders about their growing concerns over the raging violence in neighboring Syria. Turkey's government says the world cannot remain silent in the face of Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal crackdown on dissent. But China, along with Russia, has vetoed two Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning Assad's crackdown on protests that killed 5,400 in 2011 alone, according to the U.N."

My Way News - EU and Turkey: talks languish, trade booms
My Way News reports: "If a project has no deadline, is it really a project? What do you call a negotiation process in which the partners can't talk about key issues? These are existential times for Turkey's campaign to join the European Union - an ambitious vision that has become increasingly ambiguous."

Comment: Why will Turkey join the Gog Alliance? Because the EU is fearful of the rising tide of Islamic sentiment in that country and so they are going slow on membership talks. Turkey feels they have earned their place at the table and are now a bit put off at the delay. It won't take much to nudge Turkey into a opposing camp.

BBC News - Eurozone ministers back 130bn-euro bailout for Greece
BBC News reports: "Eurozone finance ministers have reached agreement on a vital second bailout for heavily indebted Greece. The deal, which came after more than 13 hours of talks in Brussels, will provide Athens with loans worth more than 130bn euros (£110bn; $170bn)."

Yahoo! News - Coasts in peril plan ahead for rising seas
Yahoo! News reports: "Scientists warn that by the end of this century, the sea level along North America's west coast will rise by about a meter due to global warming and melting arctic glaciers."

Yahoo News - Iranian ships reach Syria, Assad allies show support
Yahoo News reports: "Russia, China and Iran showed support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, days before an international meeting likely to pile more pressure on him to step down in the face of an increasingly bloody uprising."

Yahoo! News - Syrian forces fire on Damascus protests
Yahoo! News reports: "Syrian forces opened fire with live ammunition on demonstrators in Damascus overnight, wounding at least four, activists said early Tuesday as unrest continued to spread in the capital."

Yahoo! News - Seoul holds military drills despite NKorea threat
Yahoo! News reports: "South Korea conducted live-fire military drills near its disputed sea boundary with North Korea on Monday despite Pyongyang's threat to respond with a "merciless" attack — a threat it did not immediately make good on."

My Way News - UK FM: Attack on Iran has "enormous downsides"
My Way News reports: An attack on Iran would carry huge costs, Britain's foreign minister warned Saturday [...] Hague endorsed European efforts to head off any nuclear weapons program through economic and diplomatic pressure."

My Way News - AP Exclusive: Iran poised for big nuke jump
My Way News reports: "Iran is poised to greatly expand uranium enrichment at a fortified underground bunker to a point that would boost how quickly it could make nuclear warheads, diplomats tell The Associated Press [...] Their comments appeared to represent the first time anyone had quantified the time it would take to reconfigure the Fordo centrifuges into machines making weapons-grade material."