Europe has a religious symbol crisis, too

A crucifix hangs on a wall map of Europe in a school classroom in Rome November 3, 2009. The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Italian schools should remove crucifixes from classroom walls, saying their presence could disturb children who were not Christians.The decision is likely to provoke a controversy in Italy, which is deeply attached to its Roman Catholic roots.REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Dissecting Europe’s crucifix conflict

from cafebabel.com by euro topics

On 3 November the European court of human rights ruled that crucifixes in classrooms violate the religious freedom of schoolchildren. Representatives from politics and the church roundly condemn the judgement, while many media welcome the decision. The Iberian, Maltese and Italian press react

Lisbon era starts in Europe while Merkel makes her historic US address…

A roundup as usual… last updated: 14:30 (4 Nov)

Consensus growing for low-profile EU ‘chairman’

from EurActiv.com

Confirming that EU leaders appear to read the job description of the first-ever permanent Council president as more of a ‘chairman’ than a ‘leader’, agencies reported today (2 November) that the mild-mannered Belgian prime minister, Herman Van Rompuy, is the “most consensual” figure for the top job.

Not easy to choose the Europe’s first president…

On “the President of Europe”

from Nosemonkey’s EUtopia

The proposed President of the European Council is very far from being “President of Europe” – either in terms of profile or power.

Whoever lands the job (and it’s highly unlikely to be Tony Blair) will have practically zero influence on anything, acting instead as little more than a moderator between the governments of the member states as they continue to run the EU show. And will be in office for just two and a half years – which is no time at all in EU terms (hell, it’s just taken more than a decade to get agreement on a treaty which doesn’t solve half the problems it was meant to…)

“G20: a photo essay

Britain’s policing problem, Guy Aitchison

from open Democracy News Analysis – by Guy Aitchison

Britain was once famous for its unarmed and relatively restrained police force, but the death of a man at last week’s G20 protests in London has brought into focus serious concerns with a new aggressive form of policing. Former police chief Andy Hayman today warned that “If left unchecked, we have a more violent crowd in uniform than the one demonstrating.”

An older group of interesting links follow..