"From the political and parliamentary point of view, Berlusconi scored a clear victory," Stefano Folli, a leading Italian political analyst, told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "But on the other hand, the government was weak before this vote and will be weak after it." Frustration among the opposition, though, would appear to be extreme. Scuffles broke out in the lower house during voting on Tuesday when it became clear that some representatives were defecting and throwing their support behind Berlusconi.

When the results of the lower house vote were made public, protests on the streets outside grew violent. Some 100 people were injured in the fracas, which included stone-throwing, torched cars, broken shop windows and tear gas. Police made dozens of arrests. German columnists on Wednesday take a closer look at the political uncertainties in Italy and speculate about what the future might hold.

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"The majority which helped Berlusconi remain in office is not reliable; it is not enough on which to construct a stabile government. It is almost inconceivable that Berlusconi's government will have the power to push through the kinds of economic reforms the country so badly needs - Italy, after all, is being watched closely by the markets. Even if Italy under Berlusconi has experienced the kind of leadership continuity one hasn't always associated with the country, recent years have been lost years. There is little to indicate that that will change... Worry is growing among Italy's European Union partners that Rome's weakness is becoming permanent."

Labor party Member of Parliament Andrew Dismore responded that Choudary himself should be prosecuted. "It's about time he was busted," he added. The House of Commons Counterterrorism sub-committee chairman, MP Patrick Mercer, said the preacher's statements are "weapons being wielded by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban."

Choudary said last September that Britain will become a Muslim country in the future. Last year, he praised the terrorist attack in Mumbai and previously has called for stoning homosexuals and for assassinating the Pope.

Choudary has founded two Muslim groups that the British government later banned as being terrorist organizations. He has threatened British Jews who support Israel, stating that it is an "Islamic obligation upon Muslims everywhere to support the Jihad against those who fight Muslims anywhere in the world or who occupy Muslim land. He added that financial supporters of Israel 'will become part of the conflict'."

Increasingly, there are signs of rising social pressures. Many Western European countries are only just embarking on multi-year deficit-reduction packages, a hard sell in states where expectations have risen for generations. Greek protesters clashed with police in central Athens on Wednesday as tens of thousands marched against austerity measures aimed at pulling the country out of a debt crisis. On Tuesday, Italian rioters and police fought battles in Rome after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi won a no-confidence vote.

Britain saw its worst clashes in two decades last week as students demonstrated over tuition fee rises, with Prince Charles and wife Camilla caught up in the melee. More unrest is expected next year as unions protest against much broader cuts. "It's almost inevitable that there will be more protest in 2011 than 2010, particularly in countries such as Greece and the UK where there are real public divisions over how much austerity is necessary," said Carina O'Reilly, European security analyst at IHS Jane's. "It's going to get nastier. We could well see deaths or serious injuries. We could well have seen deaths in the London riots last week. We were just lucky."

None of the European protests have so far had a major policy impact. But in some countries at least, particularly those with upcoming elections, worries over further unrest will deter the government from more aggressive reforms. "The propensity for civil unrest in France and Italy will act as a check on their governments," said Nomura political analyst Alastair Newton. "Sarkozy may have seen off the unions... but they are angry and will want to reassert themselves possibly around the public sector pay round in the spring."

Spain has elections in 2012 and Portugal's minority government is also seen as lacking the political clout to manage serious street protests - again slowing reform at least as long as markets remain more forgiving than for Ireland or Greece. But at the same time, Portuguese and Spanish unions and many potential protesters are also seen as reluctant to take steps which could spark the downfall of left-of-center governments and usher in the right.

The two Western European countries facing the deepest cuts - Greece and Ireland - have seen very different trends in terms of protest and unrest. Both are being watched closely by wider markets, and any suggestion reforms might be threatened could spook investors worldwide.

The victory ignited running street battles between hundreds of anti-Berlusconi protesters and riot police in which more than 100 people were injured in the tourist-heavy centre of the Italian capital. "What happened yesterday was not an expression of freedom. It was an attack by organised groups of hooligans," Berlusconi said on a news show on Wednesday.

Rome's mayor Gianni Alemanno said the clashes were "shocking" and likened them to the "gratuitous violence that was on the streets of Rome in the 1970s and that I hoped never to see again." Alemanno estimated the damage at 20 million euros (27 million dollars). "The absurd outburst of violence that devastated a part of Rome is an alarm bell because... a rebellion without rules is taking root," Il Messaggero said.

La Repubblica said the violence was "a reflection of the unease, of the insecurity of a country that can no longer be heard, that no longer finds common ground between itself and those that govern it." Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the clashes were caused by 2,000 people who infiltrated a protest by around 20,000.

Hundreds of riot police outside the Kievsky station in central Moscow hauled into police vans mostly young men and teenagers who were shouting racist slogans and raising their hands in Nazi salutes. Some were lined up against buses and searched by police. Officers confiscated an arsenal of weapons, including traumatic guns, knives and metal bars, police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said. Police rounded up about 60 protesters in St Petersburg, where radical groups also planned a gathering Wednesday.

Riot police prevented clashes in Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don, southern Russian cities with large non-Slavic populations where ethnic clashes have been frequent in recent years, officials said. Dozens of mostly young men have been detained in central Russia and Siberia, Russian news agencies reported.

Resentment has been rising among Slavic Russians over the growing presence in Moscow and elsewhere of people from the southern Caucasus region, most of them Muslims. People from other parts of the former Soviet Union, including Central Asia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, also face ethnic discrimination and are frequent victims of hate crimes. Analysts say it was the Chechen conflict, with atrocities and killings of civilians committed by both Russian federal forces and militant Islamists, that triggered the rise of xenophobia and neo-Nazism in Russia - and the growing resentment of Caucasus natives to ethnic Russians and Moscow's rule.

Greece was paralyzed by a general strike and violent protests on Wednesday and trade unions staged demonstrations in France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark and the Czech Republic against government austerity measures one day ahead of what promises to be a fractious European Union summit to agree on a permanent mechanism to handle future debt crises.

In Greece, which has been undergoing radical belt-tightening to meet the conditions of its 110 billion euros bailout by the EU and International Monetary Fund in May, a demonstration by 20,000 people turned violent when masked protestors clashed with riot police, hurling petrol bombs and stones. Police responded by firing tear gas canisters and flash grenades. Flights were grounded, public transport and government ministries shut down and hospitals worked on minimum staff.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Germany's 39-year-old defense minister, is the rising star of German politics and widely regarded as having the makings of a future chancellor. The Bavarian baron is the country's most popular politician - by far - and has a knack for getting his way even on deeply controversial issues such as the suspension of military conscription.

Stephanie zu Guttenberg said she wanted to "get a picture of the situation on the ground as a wife, mother and also as a citizen. The soldiers here risk their lives every day, for our security as well, and I want to thank them for that," she said, adding that the visit wasn't a "fun excursion, this is dead serious."

Opposition politicians beg to differ and accused the Guttenbergs of misusing German soldiers as a backdrop for boosting their glamorous status back home as the country's First Family in waiting.

The conservative daily Die Welt writes: "Some people might find the visit by the baroness, a von Bismarck by birth, to the military camp in her trendy boots and anorak a tad extroverted. But the sympathies conveyed by the minister's wife, on behalf of millions of German citizens, has a value that transcends any criticism of the show business element of this coup."

"The Germans often complain bitterly that Berlin lacks the glamor that conveys an element of theater to the conduct of government in the White House and France's Elysee Palace. The zu Guttenbergs have heard these complaints. The fact that defense policy experts in the opposition are grumbling about it shows how annoyed they are at this display of chutzpah."

Germany needs Europe, and Europe needs Germany. This is still true today, but for different reasons than in the past. In the first few decades after World War II, our neighbors wanted to contain Germany so that they could tame the German demon. The Germans needed Europe so that they could play a role on the international stage once again. Even back then, it was about national interests, but it was also about emotions, because Germany's enemies in the war were called upon to forgive the Germans for many transgressions. The fact that they were able to do so sparked a deep feeling of gratitude among the political generations of Chancellors Konrad Adenauer, Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl, who had also experienced the war. The European Union is probably the biggest product of reconciliation in history.

Merkel, too, is familiar with this gratitude, but she doesn't perceive it as deeply as the members of the war generations. But it isn't even necessary that she does. Germany should not forget the magnanimity of its neighbors, but 60 years have now passed and there is nothing wrong with coolly pursuing interest-based policies. So what are Germany's interests?

In the past, the so-called Atlanticists were at odds with the Gaullists in Germany. The Atlanticists supported close ties with the United States. The Gaullists saw France as the more important partner, and they had a stronger European bent. Today there is hardly any basis left for the trans-Atlantic position, because the entity that was long called "the West" is in the process of dissolving.

Indeed, the rising superpower is cleverly capitalizing on the euro crisis to extend its long-term political and economic influence in Europe. Chinese offers of aid are mainly directed at the shakiest members of the euro zone, the heavily indebted so-called PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain). The People's Republic would like to win them over as long-term allies in the EU.

In the past, China had shown itself to be a "friend" of Greece, Spain and Italy, and it purchased their government bonds at a time when other investors had fled, Premier Wen Jiabao said during a trip to Europe in October. "We will continue to provide aid and help certain countries overcome their difficulties."

Speaking to the parliament in Athens, Wen made a promise to the Greeks. He said that China would purchase Greece's government bonds as soon as they were available again on the financial markets. These were only words, but the jittery markets saw them as a vote of confidence in the euro: They were spoken by the man who helps decide how China invests the largest currency reserves in the world.

By pledging to help the debt-stricken PIIGS countries, China is ultimately boosting its own industry. Beijing also expects the Europeans to be more compliant on the political front: At a summit of EU representatives in Brussels in October, Wen rejected demands to devalue the Chinese currency. China maintains an artificially low exchange rate for the yuan, also known as the renminbi. This allows the Chinese to keep their exports cheap - including to countries in the euro zone.

Blatter and South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, sitting alongside him at a press conference to discuss the legacy of the 2010 World Cup, both laughed awkwardly, as did several journalists present. But the Fifa president's response and that of the assembled audience provoked anger from John Amaechi, the former NBA basketball star who revealed he was gay in 2007. He accused Blatter of "epic ignorance".

Meanwhile, campaign groups said he risked undermining work to combat homophobia in football and called on him to apologise immediately or stand down. Lord Ouseley, chairman of the Kick It Out campaign, who today hosted a House of Lords reception to highlight its work in tackling racism and homophobia within football, said Blatter's comments were outrageous. "The whole thing is potentially calamitous," he said. "We've got some real dinosaurs right at the top end of these world bodies. Blatter talks a lot but doesn't deliver on these issues."

Chris Basiurski, chairman of the Gay Football Supporters' Network, said: "Many LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender] people live in countries where they would face execution or imprisonment if discovered. These people deserve our help, our respect and our support. They, like the rest of us, do not deserve to be laughed at. Mr Blatter should retract his remarks and apologise immediately. Otherwise, he should reconsider his position and resign."

Although China's business with Russia is only a sliver of what it does with the United States, there is room to grow: Russia is the world's largest energy exporting nation, and China a big consumer as the world's second-largest economy, behind the United States. And yet when a railroad tanker of Russian oil crosses the border into China, the transaction is settled in dollars.

The new currency exchange is meant to start changing that. The trading system will operate through the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, or Micex, which is Russia's largest stock exchange and also handles foreign currency transactions. It will be the first trading in the Chinese currency outside mainland China and Hong Kong.

"We are pioneers," a Micex spokesman, Nikita N Bekasov, said in a telephone interview. In the long term, if other nations moved in the same direction, trading in renminbi outside China could diminish demand for the dollar. Chinese companies exporting to Russia or other countries could instead buy local currency directly, without the need for dollars as a common currency to conduct their business.

Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lakin, an 18-year Army veteran from Greeley, disobeyed orders to report earlier this year to Fort Campbell in Kentucky to prepare for deployment, saying he believed the orders were illegal. In videos posted on YouTube, Lakin aligned himself with so-called "birthers" who question whether Obama is a natural-born citizen as the US Constitution requires for presidents.

Lakin said in the videos that any reasonable person looking at available evidence would have questions about Obama's eligibility to be president and that he had "no choice" but to disobey orders. Lakin said he would "gladly deploy" if Obama's original birth certificate were released and proved authentic.

Officials in Hawaii say they have seen and verified Obama's original 1961 birth certificate, which is on record with that state. But birthers have not been satisfied with that assurance or the "Certification of Live Birth" Obama has released, a digital document that is a record of a person's birth in the state but that does not list the name of the hospital where his mother gave birth or the physician who delivered him.

Air China is twice the size of either Delta in the US or Germany's Lufthansa. But despite emerging markets' strength and a broad earnings rebound this year, weak economic conditions in Europe and low margins are acting as a drag on profits, the group warned. "The world is changing in aviation, and it's changing very, very quickly," IATA Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani told a news conference in Geneva. "Rapidly developing markets are shifting the industry's center of gravity to the East." Air China has a market capitalization of $20 billion, followed by Singapore airlines with $14 billion and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific with $12 billion.

China Southern has a market cap of $11 billion, as does LATAM, the Latin American airline recently created from the merger of Chile's LAN and TAM of Brazil. US carrier Delta and Germany's Lufthansa follow with market capitalizations of $10 billion each. IATA said strong growth in developing countries and a rebound in North America are largely responsible for the industry's recovery this year.

Airlines will see net profits of $15.1 billion in 2010, IATA said. This marks a massive turnaround from the $10 billion industry loss in 2009 and $16 billion loss in 2008. Recently introduced air travel taxes in Britain, Germany and Austria, and efforts to introduce a regional carbon emissions trading market harm Europe's competitiveness, he said, noting that these further squeeze profit margins for the continent's carriers.

"One says that we may now have an ecumenical winter," he reflected. "And as a Norwegian I ask back: What's so terrible in the winter? We know that winter can be beautiful... In the winter we have a time to think, to reflect on what we have been through and what we can expect from the future and prepare well."

Part of this future is a newly established annual meeting with the Vatican, set up as a fruit of Tveit's visit to the Pope and members of the Curia. The objective of the annual event is to "define a methodology of common witness and proclamation of the Gospel, to speak to the world with one voice, above all on ethical and theological topics," L'Osservatore Romano explained in a report Wednesday.

The annual meetings will be more intimate than the current workings on relations between the Church and the council. The current commission was created in 1965 and has 36 members, 18 from each side. Tveit and the Pope met privately on December 4 for about 15 minutes, and the pastor reported that the Holy Father offered his support and encouragement. Moreover, Benedict XVI urged putting "the Bible at the center of the theological talks and reflections, to reinforce the visible unity of Christians."

The report quoted one of the Jordanian heads of the project, Zia Madani, as saying that the search would begin in late December. The Russian company that was chosen as a partner for the search has special underwater exploration equipment that can stand up to the extreme salinity of the Dead Sea, the reports said.

Biblical archaeologists have several theories as to where the Sodom and its associated cities were located. According to the Torah, G-d overturned Sodom, Gomorrah, and three other cities because of their degeneration, sin and iniquity, turning a once fertile plain into a stark wasteland. Abraham, who prayed for the cities, was unable to prevent G-d from mandating their destruction. Archaeologists and geologists have suggested that a major earthquake or meteor storm might have been the means by which it occurred. Research has centered on the area around the Dead Sea, and the modern city of Sodom, and nearby Mount Sodom, which is made almost completely of rock salt, is considered the most likely site of the ancient cities.

According to Madani, further evidence that the cities remains are located on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea came after recent NASA photographs of the area indicated that the bottom of the sea is littered with debris and objects not found in other bodies of water. According to the Jordanian, Israel recently sent a submarine down into the Dead Sea in an attempt to explore the bottom of the sea, but discovered that the objects in the NASA photos were on the Jordanian side of the sea. Jordan prevented the Israelis from searching over the border, and now Jordan is seeking to discover what it believes are the remains of the cities by itself.