Italian Business Faces Lose-Lose Situation in Libya

100 years have passed since Italy invaded the province of Libya to liberate them from the oppressive Ottoman Empire. Now NATO aircraft are flying daily from Italian bases to pound forces controlled by the regime of Qaddafi, Italy's business is starting to take a hit.

Italian businesses are at risk of collateral damages whether the rebels are successful in this war or not. For some small and medium sized businesses in Italy, orders from Libya were the only ones they had. These orders refer to Libyan oil, which was of good quality and was easy to transport back to Italy.

As the war drags on, Italian businesses could lose as much as $140 billion in disrupted trade. It is considered that Italy is at a real risk that a "new Libya" would not be inclined to trade with Italy.

This same scenario also largely applies even if Qaddafi somehow remains in power.

You can read the article here.

Switzerland Decides on Nuclear Phase-Out

The swiss government decided to to abandon all of their plans on building new nuclear reactors to power their country, while other countries in the European Union have decided to stress test all of their own in light of Japan's situation.

An anti-nuclear rally that drew nearly 20,000 people may influenced the officials to make this permanent ban. The Cabinet stated that this decision was made to increase safety for the citizens of Switzerland and to reduce risks.

Eventually, all of the nuclear plants in Switzerland will be shut down. This phase-out process will take considerable time to allow the government to prepare another source of power for the country. This new switch could inevitably save money in the long run because the costs for safety of nuclear power were expected to rise anyway.

You can read the article here.

In Europe, Rift Widens Over Greece

The blame is falling on Greece about ruining the credit rating of all of the countries in Europe. Instead of the wealthier nations in the North however, the struggling countries of the south, Spain and Italy, are complaining to Greece about their economic state. They are worried that Greece's image will also reflect poorly on that of Spain and Italy and as a result their own credit rating will continue to drop.

On May 20th, Italy's S&P credit rating took a negative outlook which fueled their fire against the Greeks. With a debt of 120 percent of GDP, Italy's debt is one of the largest in Europe and they'll definitely be in need of help in the future.

You can read the entire article here.

S&P downgrades the ratings of Greek's bonds; Papademos explains what to do

As of a few days ago, the Wall Street Journal announced that S&P has recently downgraded the rating of a Greek bond from single-B to double-B minus.

Former European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos, who also used to lead Greece's central bank, gives his advice as to Greece needs to know in order to address their debt crisis.

According to Papademos, Greece needs to announce a convincing medium-term fiscal consolidation program that would be more credible in the eyes of the market as well as the Greek public. This program will have to include "haircut" losses to investors of Greek businesses, but overall debt restructure should be avoided.

You can read this article here.

Switzerland takes on American Football

Football (the kind we have in America) as always been extremely unique to the citizens of the United States, and there aren't too many other countries that have organized teams for the sport.

Switzerland, a country known for its strong following of winter sports (e.g. cross-country, bobsledding, and ice hockey) has named football to be the third most popular sport in the country, behind ice hockey at number two and soccer at number one.

The Swiss American Football League has 16 member clubs, including one just across the border in Austria. According to the rules of the league, each team can have up to 6 players from America and Canada, and they may also employ American coaches to help them with the game. One of the stark differences between Swiss football and American football is that the season is played during the spring, when there's no snow on the ground.

The sport was introduced to the country only thirty years previously, but it has become known as a family event, as opposed to soccer when the players often go to drink beer when a match is over.

You can see the article here.

Turkey Cultivates Sites of its Christan Heritage

Alasehir, Turkey. Fourth century chapels are found in the region of Turkey, once known as "Philadelphia," and was once one of the seven churches of Asia minor. Several cities in Turkey are being cultivated so that they may be visited for each of their rich Christian traditions.

Up until this point, faith tourism was solely limited to Muslim shrines, even though several Christian shrines have existed in these towns for thousands of years.

In the ancient city of Laodicea, Turkish archaeologists have unearthed a spectacular church dating to the early fourth century. This church, with 10 towering pillars and covering an area of 2,000 square meters, also has flawlessly preserved mosaic flooring with a walk-in baptismal fountain for mass christenings.

You can see the article here.

Greece needs another bailout, but the UK's not helping

Greece is still in need of a bailout, according to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. It's been about a year since Greece agreed to the 110 billion-euro bailout package funded by the European Union/International Monetary Fund to finance its massive debt, none of which was contributed to by England.

According to the article, Chancellor George Osborne finds it inevitable that Greece will default on its loans that it owes to the rest of the Union. Greece will need to discover how it will be able to borrow money from the market as the European Union is "skeptical" about whether or not Greece will be able to repay its loans.

This news has come about the flurrying rumors that the Greek Government is looking to exit the euro (which has since been denied by Athenian officials).

You can read the article here.