Europe

Mired In Recession, EU Eases Some Austerity Measures

3:39pm June 03, 2013

by John Ydstie

This week, the European Union gave some of its member nations more time to meet deficit-reduction targets — in other words, to ease back on austerity. The programs have crushed growth and sent European unemployment to a record high 12 percent.

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France Celebrates First Same-Sex Marriage, But Not Everyone Is Happy

6:39am June 01, 2013

Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon speaks with French sociologist Michel Wievorka about the wave of popular opposition in France to gay marriage. This past week, for the first time under the new law allowing gay marriage, two men wed in the city of Montpellier.

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Swedish High School Flubs Graduation Requirement

10:47am May 29, 2013

School officials broke the news to seniors that they forgot to offer a religion course that's required for students to graduate. The school admits fault. The principal said to graduate on time, seniors had just a few days to complete all the requirements for the yearlong course.

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A portrait of Italian philosopher, writer and politician Niccolo Machiavelli (Florence, 1469-1527) by Antonio Maria Crespi. Half a millennium after he wrote The Prince, the slim volume continues to play an important role in political thought and evoke str

World News

At 500, Machiavelli's 'Prince' Still Inspires Love And Fear

5:52pm May 28, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

Niccolo Machiavelli is synonymous with political deceit, cynicism and ruthlessness. He called his most famous work, The Prince, a handbook for statesmen. An exhibit in Rome celebrates the 500th anniversary of what's still one of the most influential political essays in Western literature.

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Sheep used to replace gas-guzzling lawn mowers graze at a truck warehouse at Evry, south of Paris.

World News

Let Them Eat Grass: Paris Employs Sheep As Eco-Mowers

6:02pm May 27, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

City officials in Paris are experimenting with an unconventional way to keep urban lawns trimmed. They are using sheep as a "green" alternative to gas-powered lawn mowers.

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A memorial outside Paris honors members of the Lafayette Squadron, which was started by a group of young American men in 1914 who wanted to fight for France when World War I broke out. The U.S. had not yet entered the war.

World News

France Pays Tribute To Early U.S. Fighter Pilots

8:47am May 27, 2013

by Eleanor Beardsley

Every Memorial Day weekend just outside Paris, a ceremony is held to honor a group of Americans who fought for France during World War I. Before the U.S. entered the war, a group of American pilots formed the Lafayette Squadron and flew with the French Air Service.

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World News

Attackers Hack To Death Man On London Street

12:54pm May 24, 2013

Authorities in London are investigating what British Prime Minister David Cameron says is likely a terrorist attack. On Wednesday, two suspects brutally attacked a man near a London military barracks.

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Germany's Beer Makers Come Against Fracking

8:01am May 24, 2013

Fracking is a way of bringing up natural gas by pumping water and chemicals into the ground. Germany's powerful beer industry is worried that fracking would pollute groundwater.

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World News

Why Apple (And Lots Of Other Companies) Wound Up In Ireland

9:35am May 22, 2013

by Zoe Chace

It goes back to a single page in a report written decades ago by U.S. consultants, and funded by the U.S. State Department.

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Young People Cast Out Of Italy's Welfare System

11:13am May 21, 2013

by Sylvia Poggioli

In Italy, the youth jobless rate is nudging 40 percent, a record high in post-war history. Demographer Stefano Rosina says the Italian welfare system has always been skewed toward the middle-aged and elderly, leaving Italian youths with no political or trade union representation.

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