Malta says 'I do' to divorce

By a slim majority, the Maltese voted to legalise divorce in a referendum held Saturday in the tiny Mediterranean island nation. 52.6% of people voted 'yes' to make it legal to divorce your spouse, and the conservative prime minister, who campaigned for a 'no' vote, conceded that he will respect the will of the people and change the law. Malta is the only EU country in which divorce is illegal.

The referendum's result is being heralded as much more than a change in the country's marriage law. For many inside and outside of Malta the vote signals that the island, which for hundreds of years was run by a Catholic religious order with origins in the crusades, is ready to shed its identity as a 'Catholic state'. Apart from the Phillipines, the only other country in the world where divorce is illegal is Vatican City.

The country's Labour opposition leader called the vote, "the birth of a new Malta." The Malta Star wrote on Sunday, "The people haven’t just voted ‘Yes’ to divorce, they have signalled they are happy to embrace the modern age. The new Malta isn’t condemning and stifling, it is relaxed and open.” Saviour Balzan of Malta Today told the Associated Press that the vote will bring Malta closer to Europe culturally. "This is a conservative society, but Maltese still live like Europeans," he said. "This regularizes their lives."

Mladic arrest: Green light for Serbia in EU

Ratko Mladic, the Serbian general who orchestrated the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II in the 1990's, was arrested in Serbia yesterday. His continued freedom was the biggest issue blocking Serbia from being considered for entry into the EU. But the suspicious timing of the arrest, coming literally just as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was arriving in Belgrade for a planned state visit, has some commentators saying Serbia has not adopted an attitude of contrition but is instead being dragged along unwillingly by the necessity of EU membership.

Mladic led the Bosnian Serb military force when that country was rocked by its religious civil war from 1992 to 1995 between the Catholic Croats, Muslim Bosniaks and Orthodox Serbs. He orchestrated not only the brutal three year siege of the capital Sarajevo but also the Srebrenica Massacre, where 8,000 Muslim men and boys were systematically slaughtered by Serb forces. He was indicted in asentia for crimes against humanity after the war, but he was harbored by the Serbs until 2002 when the country said it would cooperate with the international criminal court in The Hague. He then went into a sort of 'hiding in plain site'. He was spotted often at weddings and football games and even filmed at them. This despite a $5 million dollar reward for information leading to his capture.

He likes us, he really likes us!

Barack Obama has just concluded an unprecedented address to both houses of the British Parliament in Westminster Hall, and the British press is already elated. He's the first US president to ever give a speech in this ancient coronation spot of kings and queens. From the adulation being heaped upon him by the British press, one might think Obama had a coronation of his own. But the reaction shows just how much the British, and Europe in general, needed to hear those three magic words from the US president- 'I like you'. After a series of snubs, Europe was beginning to doubt his affection.

Today's speech was the key communication of Obama's six-day, four-nation European fence-mending (and domestic politicking) tour. The centerpiece is tomorrow's G8 meeting in Deauville, France. But today's visit to the UK was all about reassuring the Brits that they still enjoy a 'relationship' with America - though the exact nature of that relationship seems to be being redefined.

The British press and political class spends an inordinate amount of time fretting about whether their country still has a "special relationship" with the United States. In the US, this term is virtually unheard of (which should answer their question). Earlier this year the British media was sent into a tizzy when Obama said during a state visit by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, “We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy and the French people.”

Music wars on the Brussels metro

If you've ever ridden the Brussels metro subway system you may have noticed that your journey is accompanied by catchy pop tunes. In fact this past Monday was 'Lady Gaga Day' on the metro, when the gaag was played all day long, non-stop. I've pretty much gotten used to the music and I barely notice it any more, but there's one aspect of it I never thought to question - the songs being played are almost always in English.

I never thought to question it because, as is the case in most European countries, the majority of songs on the radio are always in English as well. But I had never noticed before that despite the fact that this is a Francophone city, I have never heard a song in French. Nor have I ever heard a song in Dutch, the city's other official language (spoken as a primary language by 7% of the Brussels population).

Apparently there is method to this madness. According to an article today in FlandersNews, the Brussels public transport company STIB has a policy of only playing English songs on the metro, with a smattering of Spanish and Italian songs thrown in for good measure. French and Dutch songs have not been played for fear of aggravating tensions between the two sides of the language divide here.

Berlusconi: Milan will be 'full of Muslims and Gypsies' if Left takes power

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi may have outdone even himself with his latest inflammatory comments. Rallying supporters in Milan ahead of local elections later this month, he warned people that if the centre-Left candidate for mayor wins, the city will be handed over to Muslims and Gypsies. According to Italian news agency AKI he told the Milanese,

"Milan can't become, on the eve of the Expo 2015, an Islamic city, a city of Gypsies, full of Roma camps and swamped by foreigners, a city that gives voting rights to immigrants in municipal elections."

The comments, which were not an off-the-cuff remark but rather part of a prepared speech that was also posted on the website of Berlusconi's conservative People of Freedom party, were met with open-mouthed disbelief by the leader of Italy's largest centre-left opposition Democratic Party. "Your words are laughable..you're going to need to wear a burqa to avoid people recognising you in the street," he told the Italian leader.

Germany still punching below its weight

Europe hasn't wasted any time in getting its ducks in a row for the upcoming battle over naming a new IMF chief, with capitals across the continent voicing support over the weekend for French finance minister Christine Lagarde. That Europe so quickly agreed the monetary fund leadership should yet again go to someone from France reflects the political realities of Europe today. Britain can't be bothered, and Germany is too timid to take a leadership role.

Lagarde, who would be the first woman running the fund, received the backing of the British, German and Italian finance ministers over the weekend - with Luxembourg and Austria following suit. Chancellor Angela Merkel has yet to make her feelings known, but her finance minister would likely not have made the comments of support without her blessing.

The fund has been run since 2007 by Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has made it a mission of the fund to save Europe's faltering common currency. But following Strauss-Kahn's arrest on rape charges in the United States last week, countries like China and Brazil have signalled they intend to pressure the fund to take on a new leader from the developing world.