Harry Reid: Two years of Scots history sealed our allies and future. THE years 1559 and 1560 were the most momentous in Scotland's long and turbulent history. The Scottish Reformation was not finally secured until well into 1560. Our Reformation was one of the later European Reformations; it was less bloody and more complete and more socially responsible than most.
It is too often forgotten that its presiding genius, John Knox, was a social visionary. The key document of the Scottish Reformation is not the Scots Confession of Faith of 1560, but the First Book of Discipline, which Knox and five colleagues produced in the same year. Despite the off-putting title, this was nothing less that a utopian blueprint for a new society. It adumbrated advanced notions of public welfare and was informed by what, for the 16th century, was remarkable social concern. Among the many provisions of the First Book were that every parish was to have a Kirk session to oversee social and spiritual discipline. Crucially, there was to be a school in every parish. Greece's debt crisis: Trichet the intransigent. Angela Merkel soutient finalement Draghi pour la BCE. L'Italien Mario Draghi a désormais toutes les chances de succéder à Jean-Claude Trichet à la tête de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) à l'automne, la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel lui ayant finalement accordé son blanc-seing.
"Je connais Mario Draghi. C'est un homme très intéressant et expérimenté. Il est très proche de nos conceptions d'une culture de la stabilité et d'une économie solide. L'Allemagne pourrait soutenir sa candidature pour le poste de président de la Banque centrale européenne", a-t-elle dit, selon un extrait diffusé à l'avance d'un entretien avec l'hebdomadaire Die Zeit, qui paraît le jeudi. La chancelière allemande a beau user du conditionnel, c'est la première fois qu'elle prend publiquement position pour Mario Draghi, dont la nomination paraît désormais acquise.
Problème de communication Alors que le président français Nicolas Sarkozy l'avait fait officiellement dès le 26 avril dernier, le silence d'Angela Merkel se prolongeait. Un Italien "prussien" 05-04 Bulgarian Media: Lacking Money and Morals. May 3, Global Press Freedom Day Bulgaria’s ranking in freedom of press, published by Freedom House on the eve of May 3, the global press freedom day, is slipping down once again. Even though the country went down by just one spot, compared to last year, the trend that began in 2005 is continuing. A trend which can be noticed in the rankings of another large human rights organization “Reporters without Borders.”
The reasons for this trend are complex and have been analyzed in detail in the report on Bulgaria of Reporters without Borders, published in February 2009. It stresses on “power reflexes,” inherited by the totalitarian pass; economic pressure on journalists; murky ownership of large media and the role of the shady groups, striking terror of physical retribution with the non-conformists. Political parties, paying journalists, publishers and TV producers under the table for interviews and news stories, are the main corrupting factors, journalists have shared with the Ambassador.