Tourism in Europe

Tuesday, 12 Aug 2009 - On a wind-swept peninsula where shells lobbed from a German battleship ignited World War II 70 years ago, European leaders vowed Tuesday never to forget the lessons of the 20th century’s bloodiest conflict.

Evidence of continued animosity was not far from the surface, however, as Poland pushed for greater acknowledgment from Russia of its role in starting the war, while Russia sought to minimize the impact of Moscow’s 1939 pact with Berlin.

At dawn on Gdansk’s Westerplatte peninsula, Poland’s leaders marked the hour the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein shelled a tiny Polish military outpost housing the navy’s arsenal. It was the war’s opening salvo.

Red and white Polish flags fluttered in a breeze as the officials opened the ceremony at 4:45 a.m. (0245GMT). Later, Poland’s president, prime minister and others placed wreaths at the foot of the towering granite monument to the defenders of Westerplatte as an honor guard looked on.

The blitzkrieg on Poland launched nearly six years of war that engulfed the world and left more than 50 million people dead as the German war machine rolled over Europe.

Poland alone lost 6 million citizens, half of them Jews. During the German occupation, the country was used as a base for the Nazis’ genocide machinery: It was home to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Sobibor and other death camps built by the Nazis to annihilate Europe’s Jews.

“Remembering the cruelty, remembering the extermination of peoples and nations, is perhaps the most important and most effective shield against the danger of another war,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a solemn afternoon ceremony with European and American officials along the waterfront on Westerplatte.

“Nobody in the world who will remember the events here in Gdansk in 1939 and the horrible events around the world in the years that followed … will ever do anything to allow that nightmare to return.”

A Polish sailor bugled Taps as a wreath decorated with the red and white of Poland’s flag was placed in memory of the war’s victims.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel apologized for her nation, saying that remembering the war and its victims was its “everlasting historical responsibility.”

“There are no words that can even approximately describe the suffering of this war and the Holocaust,” Merkel told dignitaries, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, French Premier Francois Fillon, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones, as well as Tusk and Poland’s president, Lech Kaczynski.

“I bow before the victims.”

Many historians see the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact a week before the hostilities began as a critical development in Berlin’s march to war.

The pact, formally a treaty of nonaggression, was signed Aug. 23, 1939, in Moscow by Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop, the foreign ministers of the two countries.

In addition, the treaty included secret protocols that divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. The Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east sixteen days after the Nazis invaded from the west.

Putin sought to downplay the treaty’s importance, saying it was only one factor to be considered in the context of the western powers’ appeasement of Hitler, along with agreements signed by other countries with the Nazis, including a Polish-German nonaggression pact.

“All of these acts brought about this tragedy, the start of World War II, and naturally we need to admit such mistakes,” Putin said. “Our country has done so. … Our parliament has condemned the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and we are right to expect that other countries that made deals with the Nazis should do the same.”

Kaczynski defended Poland’s nonaggression treaty, saying that it had also signed one with the Soviet Union, and that neither could be “compared in any way” to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.

He said that Poland has a right to “access the truth” about its history — including the murder of some 22,000 Polish officers by the Soviets in the Katyn forest during the war.

“You cannot adopt the principle that only those who were defeated must speak of their darkest episodes, and the victors do not,” he said. “There is one truth.”

Tusk, who met with Putin earlier in the day, took a softer approach, acknowledging the Red Army’s defeat of the Nazis in Poland and vowing his nation and Russia would investigate together the “painful elements of our common history.”

“If, in the past, it was possible for the Poles and the Germans and the Russians and the Germans, for God’s sake, why isn’t it possible for the Poles and the Russians?” he said.

At the height of the war, the European theater stretched from North Africa to the outskirts of Moscow, and pitted Germany and its allies, including Italy, against Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States, along with a host of other countries, including Polish forces in exile.

The war in Europe ended May 8, 1945, with Germany’s unconditional surrender.

President Barack Obama, who was not at Tuesday’s ceremonies, sent a message noting that today, as a NATO member, Poland is protected by a treaty that says an attack on one is an attack on all.

“We celebrate together the determination of the people of Poland to fight authoritarianism and to choose democracy and freedom,” Obama said in the message to Poland. “Today, we live in a different era in which the United States and Poland are close allies, partners in meeting global challenges to our security and prosperity, and in supporting fundamental human rights around the world.”

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDof3G_ETYcgo7UUPYmVbRfbn_XAD9AELFH80

Wednesday, 12 Aug 2009 - So you’re looking for a unique vacation — something where you’ll get to see a lot of sites for not a lot of cash.

How about a slow boat to China? (Or Brazil or Europe or Australia…)

A number of cargo ship companies make their freighters available for a limited number of guests — traveling to a number of exotic destinations, sometimes for less money than a conventional cruise. And don’t worry, you won’t have to swab the decks.

Many ships that take on passengers are more equipped than one would think. You’ll have you’re own room and generally some other perks including TV and movies, reading and exercise rooms. And often with less than 10 passengers, you’ll likely get very personal attention — including sharing meals with the ship’s crew and personal tours of the ”guts” of a working freighter.

Heck, some even have a pool.

There’s also the enjoyment of peace and quiet on the high seas — lounging on the deck all day with no real planned activities other than meals. Though, you’ll have to share that deck with massive cargo containers that sometimes make for a less-than-majestic view.

Sure, it’s not for everyone. There’s no Elvis impersonator, bingo games or formal dinner here. These aren’t five-star accommodations with turndown service. But there are interesting experiences to be had, and a look at life that you might otherwise never get to see.

But cargo ships don’t take direct routes to postcard-perfect sunny destinations. Cruises range from two weeks to five months, depending on the locations and number of ports.

And when you get to these far off destinations, don’t expect to land in a sea of souvenir shops on a combed white-sand beach. These freighters are hauling cargo, and they often dock in industrial ports far off from major tourist destinations.

But most ships will let passengers disembark for sightseeing depending on the length of call.

How to book

Cargo cruises will require a little more advanced planning than a traditional sea jaunt. Many require at least 4 months advanced booking. And they also aren’t as easy to find as traditional cruises. Cruises are available through a select number of travel agents and Web sites, though.

Sites like FreighterCruises.com and FreighterWorld.com have huge databases of shipping companies that carry passengers, as well as shipping lines sorted by destination and duration.

The bottom dollar

A trip on a freighter will generally run you around $100 per day, which is comparable to traditional cruise — although prices have fallen as demand has been snipped in the recession.

All your meals are included as with a traditional cruise line — and you’ll get to eat with the crew, which can be an experience all in itself. But although meals are generally hearty and varied, special diets often can’t be accommodated.

But trips from the ship into towns aren’t included in most packages. Passengers have to arrange their own travel once the ship reaches its various ports.

Some sample fares

Freighter World Cruises Inc. offers short cruises of nine- or 12-days all the way up to 124-day excursions, some including airfare and sightseeing in various ports. There are plenty of cheap options including a 28-day tour of the Mediterranean for as little as $3,192 for double occupancy. The 124-day journey runs as high as $17,925 for a suite.

Monday, 18 May 2009 - Initial tests show that Greece has its first case of swine flu, a Greek Health Ministry spokesman said on Monday.

“The initial tests show that Greece has the flu,” a ministry spokesman said. “It is expected to be confirmed in a second test in a few hours,” the spokesman told Reuters.

The tests concern a Greek man traveling from the United States, he said, adding that he was not being hospitalized at the moment and was staying home.

The H1N1 flu strain is spreading fast in Japan and the world may be seeing an influenza pandemic unfold, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

Most of those cases have been deemed related to travel or restricted within schools, and not examples of the new virus spreading freely in broad communities, according to the WHO.

The Greek Health Ministry has said the country has enough “strategic stocks” of Tamiflu and other antivirus medicine to treat 12 percent of the country’s 11 million population. Two hospitals in Athens were equipped to treat swine flu patients.

Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/internal_ReutersNewsRoom_ExclusivesAndWins_MOLT

Monday, 18 May 2009 - Germany and France will test investor appetite for bonds this week as the governments sell as much as 17 billion euros ($23 billion) of securities the same day.

Germany will auction as much as 7 billion euros of new 10- year bunds on May 20, according to the Federal Finance Agency. The French Treasury will issue as much as 8 billion euros of 2011 and 2014 notes and 1.5 billion euros of inflation-protected debt maturing in 2017 and 2020. Britain will offer a record 5 billion pounds ($7.6 billion) of 2014 bonds a day later.

Euro-area governments are selling record amounts of debt this year to make up for a shortfall in tax revenue sparked by the global recession. Bond sales in the region may reach 20 billion euros this week, part of 845 billion euros ING Groep NV predicts will be sold this year.

“It’s not going to be an easy week,” said Sean Maloney, a fixed-income strategist in London at Nomura International Plc. “Germany and France will sell a massive amount in one day. The bond market may need to trade at a deep concession going into the auctions for the new supply to be taken down successfully.”

Coupon payments this week of as much as 2.7 billion euros are unlikely to support the sales, Maloney said. Euro-region governments sold 15.6 billion euros in securities last week. The weekly average in the second quarter is almost 12 billion euros, said Calyon, the investment-banking unit of Credit Agricole SA.

Belgian Sale

Belgium sold 2.5 billion euros of bonds maturing in 2014, 2015, 2019 today. The securities were sold at an average yield of 2.873 percent, 3.298 percent and 4.001 percent, respectively.

Ireland, whose credit rating was lowered to AA+ by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings this year, will sell as much as 1 billion euros of bonds due in 2014 and 2019 tomorrow. The nation’s economy may contract about 8 percent this year, the most of any euro-area member, according to government figures.

Britain will offer investors as much as 6.3 billion pounds of debt, including 1.3 billion pounds of 4.75 percent 2038 bonds in a so-called mini-tender tomorrow. The Debt Management Office, which handles sales for the Treasury, will announce its issuance calendar for the June-through-September period on May 22.

The agency may say then it will sell securities through banks, or a syndicate, for the first time in four years, according to Richard McGuire, a senior fixed-income strategist in London at RBC Capital Markets, one of 16 primary dealers that participate in U.K. bond sales.

Source:http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/17/Obama-to-travel-to-Russia-Italy-and-Ghana/UPI-78831242564030/

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to discuss nuclear issues during a summit in Moscow.

Obama will travel to Moscow July 6 at Medvedev’s invitation for talks on reducing nuclear weapons, cooperating on missile defense and addressing mutual threats and security challenges, the White House announced.

Obama will then attend the G-8 summit from July 8-July10 in L’Aquila, Italy, where he will chair a meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, will travel from Italy to Ghana July 10, where the president plans to discuss bilateral and regional issues with Ghanaian President Mills.

Source:http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/17/Obama-to-travel-to-Russia-Italy-and-Ghana/UPI-78831242564030 /