Germany has no shortage of events to celebrate in 2009. This fall, it will be exactly TWO DECADES SINCE THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL, THE LANDMARK EVENT WHICH LED TO THE REUNIFICATION OF GERMANY. And on Saturday, the country will mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the democratic Federal Republic of Germany. Indeed, the latter is just as astounding as the collapse of communist East Germany. After Germany was thoroughly devastated in World War II, an economic phoenix rose from the ashes.

The new constitution was signed on May 23, 1949 in Bonn, which would be West Germany's capital until it ceded to post-reunification Berlin in 1999. At the time, the country was in worse shape than it had ever been. World War II and the Holocaust had transformed Germany into a pariah among nations. What had once been the home of poets and thinkers, admired across the world, was now denounced as the refuge of inveterate warmongers, murderers and barbarians. Wherever they traveled, Germans were looked upon as criminals. Their country was divided among the war's victors, and it barely escaped being completely broken up and transformed into an agrarian state with no industry.

SIXTY YEARS LATER, GERMANS ARE LIVING IN PEACE WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS. Together they share a common currency - the euro - as well as the political institutions of the European Union. From a heap of bomb-destroyed ruins, GERMANY HAS EVOLVED INTO THE WORLD'S THIRD-LARGEST INDUSTRIAL NATION AND THE WORLD'S LEADING EXPORTER. In one half of the divided country, West Germans built up a model democracy, remarkable for its stability. Once the citizens of East Germany tore down the Berlin Wall in 1989, the division of Germany came peacefully to an end. It was one of the final bits of the Iron Curtain to fall.

Police said they would investigate the allegation that an officer tore up an Iraqi migrant's Koran while checking his identity papers in Athens last week. "But this isolated incident cannot justify these acts of violence," said Interior Minister Christos Markoyiannakis.

Waves of illegal immigration in recent years have led to an influx of Muslims, mostly from Pakistan and Afghanistan, living in run-down parts of central Athens.

The Pope affirmed this today when he received in separate audiences the presidents of BULGARIA AND THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA, together with their delegations. The presidents' visit to the Pontiff has become a tradition to celebrate the co-patrons of Europe, Cyril and Methodius.

Speaking in French to Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, the Pope expressed his wish that Bulgaria would "effectively contribute to the BUILDING UP OF A EUROPE THAT REMAINS FAITHFUL TO ITS CHRISTIAN ROOTS." May "the values of solidarity and justice, liberty and peace, constantly reaffirmed today, find effectively even more strength and solidity in the eternal teachings of Christ, translated in the lives of his disciples in every age," he added. Sts. Cyril and Methodius are "founts of light and hope," the Pontiff continued, and emphasized that "their spiritual legacy has marked the lives of the Slavic peoples."

Then, in his meeting with Macedonian President Gjeorge Ivanov, Benedict XVI said in English: "The annual celebration of the feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, teachers of the faith and apostles of the Slavonic peoples, INVITES ALL OF US WHO ARE UNITED BY THE ONE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, to contemplate their heroic evangelical witness. At the same time we are challenged to conserve the patrimony of ideals and values that they have transmitted by word and deed. In fact this is the most precious contribution that Christians can offer to THE CONSTRUCTION OF A EUROPE OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM, which aspires to a future of progress, justice and peace for all."

Emergency services estimated that 21,500 people were isolated by the flooding, which has caused widespread evacuations from the Gold Coast in Queensland to the northern rivers region of New South Wales (NSW). One man, aged 70, died when his car was swamped by raging torrents that swept through the NSW town of Coffs Harbour, 340 miles north of Sydney, overnight.

Flood warnings were in place for ten rivers in northern NSW. Residents of the coastal town of Kempsey were ordered to evacuate in the early hours of the morning before the Macleay River breached its levy, cutting off the town. Nathan Rees, the NSW premier, has declared seven local government areas in the north of the state as disaster zones.

Large parts of the region's road network, including the Pacific highway which runs from Sydney to Brisbane, were also under water, further hampering evacuation efforts. It is the third time in recent months that some towns have been swamped by heavy rain. THE FLOODS FOLLOW A ONCE-IN-A-CENTURY HEATWAVE in southeastern Australia, in which more than 2,000 homes were razed by major wildfires and 173 people died.

Writing in the Times, he said: "Many will now be wondering whether the point has not been adequately made." The archbishop's comments come after Tory MP Nadine Dorries complained of a "McCarthy-style witch-hunt" for MPs. The archbishop said: "THE CONTINUING SYSTEMATIC HUMILIATION OF POLITICIANS ITSELF THREATENS TO CARRY A HEAVY PRICE IN TERMS OF OUR ABILITY TO SALVAGE SOME CONFIDENCE IN OUR DEMOCRACY."

But Labour MP John Mann told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the public had "a right to know" about MPs' expenses and that, ultimately, British politics could be strengthened by the affair. He said: "Clearly there's major embarrassment, there will be casualties, we don't know politically who the casualties will end up being, and so it's major trauma for the political system and for politicians."

"But if we handle it well from now on, we'll recover confidence and we could have a far better political system even within a matter of months." Mr Mann was speaking after Tory MP Nadine Dorries described the situation at Westminster as "completely unbearable" and suggested an MP might commit suicide under the pressure.

He claimed that he acted because campaigners were being frustrated in their attempts to access full details of how taxpayers' money was being spent. And so much of the information which Parliament was preparing to release this summer was red-acted that many of the worse scams and claims would have gone undetected.

Mr Wick – who commanded a British anti-terrorism team during his ten-year military service – is now the head of a corporate intelligence company which specialises in negotiating the release of hostages in foreign war zones.

SUGGESTING HE HAD BEEN MOTIVATED BY THE GROWTH OF THE SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY, he said: 'We've reached a stage where they want to know everything about us – I THINK WE'RE ENTITLED TO KNOW ABOUT THEM.' He added: 'Parliament will be a better place, society will be a better place. I have played my part in history

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 5.7 and was centered 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of the capital. The Mexican seismological service measured it at 5.9. Many ran outside across the metropolis of 20 million. Evacuation officials steered crowds away from power lines and other potential hazards, and anxious people waited for several minutes before returning indoors.

FRIDAY'S EARTHQUAKE WAS STRONGER AND CLOSER TO THE CAPITAL THAN ONE THAT HIT LAST MONTH. But Bruce Tresgrave of the U.S. Geological Survey said it was 35 miles (56 kilometers) below ground — deeper than normal — and thus unlikely to cause major damage.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard also said no damage was reported, and the capital's water system, hospitals and subway were not affected. Officials were conducting a more detailed survey. The capital has lived through powerful earthquakes, including one in 1985 that killed as many as 10,000 people. Parts of Mexico City rest on the shaky soil of a former lake bed, which tends to magnify the effect of earthquakes.

The latest banks seized were Strategic Capital Bank and Citizens National bank, both in Illinois. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp will continue to insure regular deposit accounts of up to $250,000 at both banks. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation's banking division took over Strategic Capital Bank, based in Champaign, Illinois, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency took control of Citizens National Bank, based in Macomb, Illinois. The FDIC was appointed receiver of both banks.

The closures brought this week's total to three, after federal regulators seized struggling Florida thrift bank United FSB on Thursday. That closure was expected to cost the FDIC $4.9 billion, representing the second-largest hit to the FDIC's insurance fund since the financial crisis began felling banks last year.

The costliest was last year's seizure of California lender IndyMac Bank, on which the bank insurance fund is estimated to have lost $10.7 billion. The closure of Strategic Capital Bank is expected to cost the FDIC $173 million, while Citizen National Bank's closure will cost about $106 million. The list of bank failures is growing as falling home prices and rising unemployment cause more individuals and businesses to default on their debt. THE 36 BANK FAILURES THIS YEAR (SO FAR) IN THE US COMPARE WITH 25 IN 2008 AND JUST THREE IN 2007.

PA sources said giving up claims to the Temple Mount and handing over control to the 57-member Saudi-based Islamic Conference Organization is conditional on Israel's agreeing to a final status agreement. Iran, which is classified as Persian and not an Arab country, is part of the Islamic group. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has opposed agreeing to a new PA state without knowing ahead of time what it would entail.

THE PA RECENTLY HAS ESCALATED ITS PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN THAT DISASSOCIATES THE HOLY SITE FROM ANY CONNECTION WITH JUDAISM AND CLAIMS IT IS SOLELY A MUSLIM SITE. The PA's official website as far back as 2005 rejected the Jewish connection with the Western Wall (Kotel), the remains of the wall that surrounded the Holy Temple area. Muslim legend claims that Mohammed tied his horse to the wall before ascending to heaven, even though the city of Jerusalem is not even mentioned in the Koran.

Writer Daniel Pipes for several years offered one million dollars to anyone who can find the name "Jerusalem" explicitly written in the Koran. Rabbi Richman said that the PA's denial of the Jewish Temple's existence "is part of a campaign to totally eradicate, erase, and destroy all Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the land of Israel." The PA incitement against Israel, WHICH VIOLATES THE AMERICAN ROADMAP PLAN, also attributes the 1929 Arab pogrom to Jewish efforts to claim ownership of the Western Wall.

Germans have reacted with alarm to the new annual report on POLITICALLY MOTIVATED CRIMES from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the country's domestic intelligence agency. According to the report there were 19,894 far-right crimes reported in Germany in 2008 - an increase of almost 16 percent over the previous year. German commentators were unanimous in their calls on the federal government to do more to fight right-wing extremism.

THE CENTER-LEFT SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG WRITES:
The vast majority of the Germany population supports democracy. They don't allow themselves to be easily seduced by the enemies of the state; indeed, after the experiences of World War II, THEY BELONG TO ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST PEACE-LOVING SOCIETIES. It's hard not to be bothered by the almost accountant-like lack of emotion with which Schäuble delivers the Office for the Protection of the Constitution's report year after year. The rising number of far-right crimes and acts of violence calls for a bit more passion. Without it, it will be hard to reverse this horrifying trend.

THE CONSERVATIVE DIE WELT WRITES:
Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have been spreading with increased vigor since the beginning of the global economic crisis. But to assume from these facts that Germany is somehow heading 'right' would be nothing more than fearmongering. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution puts the figure of far-right extremists in Germany at 30,000, out of whom 4,800 are neo-Nazis. Germany's democracy can bear up against that many cretins.

THE LEFT-LEANING BERLINER ZEITUNG WRITES:
Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble gets all excited when it comes to things like amending the constitution to let Germany combat pirates. And, for him, deploying military forces within Germany is an urgent matter, just like rolling back data privacy protections to aid in the fight against terrorism. YOU WOULD HOPE THAT HE WOULD BRING THE SAME ZEAL TO THE ISSUE OF FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISM - and not just when it comes to gathering information and conducting surveillance.

The United States will face a downgrade in "at least three to four years, if that, but the market will recognize the problems before the rating services - just like it did today," Gross told Reuters.

Gross, the co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co and manager of the Pimco Total Return Fund, which has $154 billion in assets, earlier had told Reuters via email that market declines on Thursday were due to investor fears THAT THE UNITED STATES IS "GOING THE WAY OF THE UK - losing AAA rating which affects all financial assets and the dollar."

Standard & Poor's on Thursday lowered its outlook on Britain to "negative" from "stable," threatening the nation's top AAA rating. Britain faces a one in three chance of a ratings cut as debt approaches 100 percent of gross domestic product.

European shares fell as S&P's potential UK credit cut added to worries sparked by news on Wednesday that Federal Reserve policy-makers had cut their US growth forecasts over the next three years. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares fell 2.1 percent to 857.52 points, breaking five successive sessions of gains.
US equities also slumped, and Treasuries and the dollar - which typically rise on a bid for assets perceived as lower risk when stocks fall - also declined as worries about swelling US deficits soured investors on US assets.

The US Marshals confirmed it disconnected from the Justice Department's computers as a protective measure after being hit by the virus; an FBI official said only that that agency was experiencing similar issues and was working on the problem. "We too are evaluating a network issue on our external, unclassified network that's affecting several government agencies," said FBI spokesman Mike Kortan. He did not elaborate or identify the other agencies.

Marshals spokeswoman Nikki Credic said the agency's computer problem began Thursday morning. The FBI began experiencing similar problems earlier. "At no time was data compromised," said Credic. The type of virus and its origin were not determined. In addition to their external networks, most federal law enforcement agencies have an internal-only network to prevent cyber-snoopers from sensitive data.

In Thursday's incident, the Marshals Service shut down its Internet access and some e-mail while staff worked on the problem. The FBI made similar moves to protect its system.

"JERUSALEM WAS ALWAYS OURS AND WILL ALWAYS BE OURS. It will never again be partitioned and divided," Netanyahu said at the official state ceremony marking Jerusalem Day and the reunification of the capital during the Six Day War 42 years ago. "Only under Israeli sovereignty will united Jerusalem ensure the freedom of religion and freedom of access for the three religions to the holy places," he added.

The prime minister prefaced his remarks with a reference to his meetings with US President Barack Obama and other American officials earlier in the week, saying he had made the same declarations during that trip. In an earlier address, President Shimon Peres said that Jerusalem, while sacred to others, is the only capital Israel and the Jewish people have ever known. "Jerusalem is held sacred by half of mankind [but] it has been and always will be Israel's capital. We never had another and it has never been the capital of any other people."

It means there were 64,715 abortions performed last year where the women had been through at least one previously. The figures show in 2,780 cases the abortion was the woman's fourth, in 739 cases it was the fifth, in 168 cases it was the sixth abortion and 68 women were having their seventh termination and 46 women had already been through seven or more abortions.

The number of children born in England and Wales from mothers originating from outside the UK has reached an all time high, figures showed today. There were 708,708 live births in 2008, the highest since 1973 when there were 725,440, of which 24 per cent of babies were to mothers born outside the UK.

Women are now having 1.95 children each on average, the highest figure since 1973 when there was an average of two children per woman. In 2007, the figure was 1.92 children per woman. The proportion of babies delivered to mothers born outside the UK continued to rise, the data showed, compared with 23 per cent in 2007 and 14 per cent in 1998.