Ireland can drink to forget
9 December, Ireland braces itself for the most draconian budget in the history of the state. In order to keep international bond markets sweet, the government plans to reduce the debt-ridden nation’s public deficit – more than 12% of GDP – by €4bn. First up for the drop today is the public sector, which can look forward to a €1.3bn slash in pay. According to the Irish Independent, social welfare will be also be walking the plank with Taoiseach Brian Cowen planning a plethora of cuts, including 10% on child benefit. The only good news, as the Dublin daily’s front page reveals, is that excise duty on alcohol will also be reduced. This should lead to a 10% reduction in the price of a pint, and contribute to public amnesia as to how successive Fianna Fail governments mismanaged the nation’s finances during the Celtic Tiger years.
In a time of crisis with high unemployment, young Lithuanians are following in the footsteps of their emigrant ancestors. Tens of thousands have left the country in search of a better life, mainly in the British Isles and Scandinavia. The weekly Veidas reports: 
The new Eurogroup meeting on February 9 is not enough to banish the spectre of a Greek bankruptcy. While Athens may largely be responsible for the crisis, the EU and its partners are not blameless themselves. La Stampa argues that their confused messages and the absence of any strategy have transformed a resolvable problem into an explosive chaos. 
Two camps, two theories, and two visions of France: 18 years after the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis, the precise role played by Paris is still the subject of heated debate, fueled by the findings of successive criminal investigations.