Portugal's mothers make "bank" a success
One year after PM Jose Sócrates announced the creation of Lusocord, a public stem cell bank, Portuguese daily Público hails its success, topping 1400 donations of umbilical cord blood since the beginning of 2009. Cord blood is collected because it contains stem cells, which can be used in the treatment of blood diseases and genetic disorders. By the 2010, end the Centro de Histocompatibilidade do Norte (Northern Histocompatibility Center) – the bank’s Oporto-based administrator- hopes to reach three thousand donations. By the end of this semester, Lusocord storage will be used throughout the world for research, transplants and to treat children suffering from leukemia. The continued success of this bank relies only one thing only – the generosity of the nation’s pregnant women, the Lisbon daily notes.
“Hitler”, “Occupying Power" – it’s always the same. Berlin is asserting its stance on the euro crisis and, in turn, is being abused with comparisons to the Nazis. Die Zeit ponders how Germans should respond. 
France’s second city will be European capital of culture in 2013. But for the moment, news from Marseille is dominated by feuds among Kalashnikov toting drug dealers who hold sway over entire neighbourhoods. 
A Greek default can still not be ruled out, and it would place the European Central Bank in considerable danger. To avoid this, states should pay up and provide guarantees, believes economist Melvyn Krauss.