May We Wrap it in a Word - This Happy New Year 2nd edition

As a writer and poet I have been asked to deliver thoughts, ideas and sentiments at weddings, births, funerals and many occasions in between. In that regard the humanities has healing power like that of lay ministry.

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May We Wrap It in a Word -- This Happy New Year?

By W. Calvin Anderson Dec. 25, 2008 (Inspired by Gen.: 2: 7)

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A German court has approved the release from jail of a leader of a radical leftist group involved in high-profile killings in the 1970s and 1980s.

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The suspected military chief of the Basque separatist group, Eta, has been arrested in southern France, the French interior minister has announced. Michele Alliot-Marie said Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, alias "Txeroki", was arrested overnight in the Pyrenees.

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As France assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union on Tuesday, the bloc's wounded plans for reform took another hit , this time from Poland whose president said he would not sign the Lisbon Treaty that was intended to revitalize the EU's institutions.

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Spanish police have arrested five hackers they describe as being among the most active on the internet. The hackers, who include two 16-year-olds, are accused of disrupting government websites in the United States, Asia and Latin America.

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Romanian police said on Friday they briefly detained and then expelled six German "anarchists" allegedly planning to join anti-NATO protests during an upcoming summit of the transatlantic alliance.

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Police have seized pornographic pictures distributed by a car-care company at the Elmia motor show in Jönköping, in central Sweden.

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A virtual desktop aimed at users who access the web via cybercafes is attracting interest from organisations set up to bridge the digital divide Offered by Luxembourgh-based start-up Jooce, it is being billed as a way of personalising any computer.

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It began with a demand by students for the right to sleep with each other. And it ended in one of the greatest upheavals in French society since the revolution. John Lichfield goes in search of the spirit of '68

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Less than one year from now, the European Union will choose its first long-term president. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair appears to be the front-runner right now, but a number of senior statesment have emerged as viable candidates.

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A European political coalition has come out in opposition to the "multinationals" who want to put a stop to file-sharing, and they instead make the claim that file-swapping is "fair."

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Norbert Bisky is one of Germany's hottest young painters. His new exhibition "It Wasn't Me" opens Friday at the Haus am Waldsee in Berlin.

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Nearly 13,000 nurses across Finland are threatening to resign next month in a pay row, trade union officials say. The Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy) is demanding a 24% wage increase for its members over 28 months, rejecting employers' 12% offer.

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One hundred German women braved broken heels and sprained ankles in Saturday's second annual "Stiletto Run" 100-meter race in Berlin. The distance was 100 meters. The field was 100 women. The prize was €10,000. The setting was Berlin. And the shoes were stilettos.

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2007 Supercoppa: Roma's Revenge

The Italian Super Cup (Supercoppa di Lega) is played out every year as a curtain raiser to the Serie A season. It is contested between the previous season's Scudetto winners and the winners of the Coppa Italia.

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Lazio great of the 1970s Giorgio Chinaglia is to go on trial here for allegedly trying to make an illegal bid for his former club.

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Europe must act to prevent a biofuel boom tearing down rainforests to produce the low-emission fuel rich nations want for their cars, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson will say in a speech on Thursday.

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Three women who are keen to break into the male world of gondoliering have failed to make the grade, the Venetian press reported on Tuesday. The women, two Italians and a German, were admitted last month to a course to find 40 substitute gondoliers for the lagoon city.

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160 Kilos of Explosives reported found in a car in France

While the attempted car-bombings in the UK have been making all the headlines, it is easy to have missed the news from France.

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As for the Kosovo-Metohia problem, it is does not immediately lend itself to a coordinated, mutually acceptable resolution.

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It is already the world's biggest country, spanning 11 time zones and stretching from Europe to the far east.

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Sweden is a land known for cheap furniture, meatballs, blonde women and, well, porn. In fact, it seems porn is such a national institution that it can't even be denied to the nation's sex offenders.

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It was more a case of a zebra cross breeding than a zebra crossing when this stunning animal was born in a German zoo.

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The face of the Madonna appears in an Italian house window when the sun's rays catch it at sunset, Italian villagers claim.

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