House of Conmen
Britain’s expenses scandal looks set to run and run. “MPs finally published their expenses claims yesterday but with vast chunks of documents censored,” reports the Independent. It has nevertheless come to light that two days before quitting power, former Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed £6,990 for roof repairs. In the wake of Gordon’s Brown recent cabinet reshuffle, details have surfaced about Ben Bradshaw, the new Media and Culture Secretary, who claimed £20 for an engineer to plug a cable into his television. The new Defence Secretary, Bob Ainsworth also claimed for repainting his gates in 2004. Other MPs claimed back 48p for a stamp, and 1p for a mobile phone call. The heavily-edited records of over one million claims in 5,500 files have been posted on the British parliament’s website seven weeks after The Daily Telegraph started to publish full details. “No wonder they wanted to keep us in the dark,” says the Independent.
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. 
Agree to new austerity measures or risk being kicked out of the eurozone: that’s the alternative presented to Athens on the day the euro group is meeting. It’s a situation Greek politicians have failed to avoid, regrets To Vima. 
At a time when Athens is still involved in debt restructuring negotiations with its private creditors, Neelie Kroes’ recent allusions to a Greek exit from the euro are a sign that European leaders are intent on preparing the terrain for such an eventuality.