In their hands they hold plastic bags filled with letters from German authorities and reminders from debt collection agencies, most of them unopened. "Why do Germans write so many letters?" asks one Bulgarian woman, shaking her head in disbelief as she stands in a long line outside the Verikom advice center in Hamburg. "In our village we didn't even have a mailman," she says.

To ease her frustration, she has sorted her baffling assortment of mail. Yellow envelopes are overdue payment notices and therefore dangerous. Letters bearing a heraldic eagle are from the state. Colored logos usually mean bills from telephone companies. Worlds have been colliding ever since increasing numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians began streaming into Germany. In many ways the authorities are just as overwhelmed by the often penniless European Union citizens as the immigrants themselves are by the realities of life in Germany.

This week, the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR) will present its 2012 evaluation. The annual report, which analyzes collaboration on integration policy between national, regional and local authorities, comes to a sobering conclusion: Coordination is inadequate, while effective cooperation is largely non-existent.

Banks and building societies are desperate for savers’ cash to fill their coffers. Other sources of funding — such as using the investment money markets — have dried up, and rule changes are forcing banks to back up the loans they make with more of savers’ money. The problem is customers are becoming increasingly savvy, and will move their money from a poor deal at the earliest opportunity. To combat this, banks and building societies are trying to manufacture loyalty by banning savers from getting to their money.

They are using three key tricks to bully savers into keeping their money at a bank:

• Hundreds of accounts demand up to four months’ notice if you want to get at your cash;

• More than 70 new deals permit just a handful of withdrawals each year;

• Some so-called ‘easy-access’ accounts actually clobber savers with harsh penalties when they dip in to their funds.

Over the past three years, the likes of Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC have steadily hiked the price they charge each other to borrow money — despite the Bank of England base rate remaining unmoved at 0.5 per cent. It has made collecting deposits on the High Street a more attractive way for banks to fund mortgage and credit card loans, which yield a juicy profit.

It was shortly before his departure to Brussels when the chancellor was overpowered by the sheer magnitude of the moment. Helmut Kohl said that the "weight of history" would become palpable on that weekend; the resolution to establish the monetary union, he said, was a reason for "joyful celebration." Soon afterwards, on May 2, 1998, Kohl and his counterparts reached a momentous decision. Eleven countries were to become part of the new European currency, including Germany, France, the Benelux countries - and Italy.

Now, 14 years later, the weight of history has indeed become extraordinary. But no one is in the mood to celebrate anymore. In fact, the mood was downright somber when current Chancellor Angela Merkel met with her Italian counterpart Mario Monti in Rome six weeks ago. Even as the markets were already prematurely celebrating the end of the euro crisis, the chancellor warned: "Europe hasn't turned the corner yet." She also noted that new challenges would constantly emerge in the coming years. Her host conceded that his country had not even overcome the most critical phase yet, and that the fight to save the currency remained an "ongoing challenge."

It didn't take long for the two leaders' concerns to prove justified. The Spanish economy has continued its decline, interest rates for southern European government bonds are rising once again, and election results in both France and Greece have shown that citizens are tired of austerity programs. In short, no one can be certain that the monetary union will survive in the long term. Many of the euro's problems can be traced to its birth defects. For political reasons, countries were included that weren't ready at the time. Furthermore, a common currency cannot survive in the long term if it is not backed by a political union. Even as the euro was being born, many experts warned that currency union members didn't belong together.

Some banks have raised estimates of the likelihood of Athens quitting the euro. But after a year of investors shedding bonds issued by highly indebted euro zone countries and big injections of central bank cash, they said the damage could be contained. Spanish and Italian government bonds initially sold off, the euro fell and European shares slid on Monday, the first trading after the elections. However, all these assets recovered somewhat by the end of the day despite the deep uncertainty.

"This makes you wonder whether Greece is still a systemic threat or whether Greece is more of a Greek problem and a political problem for the rest of Europe," said Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, head of strategy at ING Investment Management.

"Unless you have strong contagion into Spain and Italy, it's unlikely to be really an issue that would undermine the whole euro zone."

For US investors, it means a return to the volatile period that dominated the better part of last summer and fall, when fund managers scrambled to stay ahead of developments in Europe's debt crisis. Now, just two days after voters in Greece and France chose candidates that rejected the austerity measures imposed to rein in Europe's debt crisis, markets are already swinging with the shifting political tides.

After largely taking the election results in stride on Monday, stocks and the euro fell on Tuesday as concern heightened over whether a new government in Greece will maintain a commitment to the country's bailout pledges. And with more votes expected in Greece and other nations, the day-to-day anxiety is expected to rise. "This really just prolongs the possibility of recovery because now there is going to be a political debate about what's the best way to proceed," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston.

On Tuesday, the leader of the Left Coalition party, which benefited from rising anger over austerity to take second place in Sunday's poll, declared Greece's policy pledges under its EU/IMF rescue null and void.

As Europe's largest economy, Germany has contributed the biggest share of the financial guarantees under Greece's bailout, which is paid out in instalments on the condition that Athens meets specific savings goals. "The agreements must be respected. I don't think we can or should renegotiate," said Martin Schulz, a German politician and president of the European Parliament, on a visit to Berlin.

An inconclusive election on Sunday has left Athens in political disarray, with no clear path to form a government, a new election likely within weeks and speculation escalating that Greece could be pushed out of Europe's single currency bloc. Voters enraged by economic hardship repudiated the two parties which led Greece for decades - conservative New Democracy and Socialist PASOK - the only groups that back the 130 billion-euro bailout which saved Greece from bankruptcy.

The remote chance of Tsipras forming a coalition faded even further on Tuesday when New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras promptly rejected his demand to scrap the bailout, warning such a move could drive the debt-choked country out of the euro. "Mr Tsipras asked me to put my signature to the destruction of Greece. I will not do this," Samaras said. "The country cannot afford to play with fire." If, as increasingly seems likely, no politician is able to cobble together a majority in the 300-seat parliament, a new election would have to be held in 3-4 weeks. Samaras may be hoping Greeks will give him a stronger mandate in a new vote.

The Saudi intelligence service played a particularly important role in penetrating al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen and recovering the explosive device, according to officials, who described an elaborate espionage operation in which the CIA tracked the bomb’s movements for weeks and then killed suspected plotters in a drone strike after the device was seized. Senior US officials continued to withhold certain details, including the location and status of the individual — described by officials as a Saudi informant — who penetrated the terrorist group posing as a bomber and then turned over the device to authorities after leaving Yemen.

But comments by White House counterterrorism adviser John O Brennan and others made it clear that the involvement of the CIA and its partners went well beyond simply watching the plot unfold. “We’re confident that neither the device nor the intended user of this device posed a threat to us,” Brennan said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We had the device in our control, and we were confident that it was not going to pose a threat to the American public.”

The bomb arrived at an FBI laboratory in Quantico about a week ago and is being examined by explosives technicians, law enforcement officials said. One said the explosive was made from a chemical compound that was “built to get around US security and had the potential to do that.” The emerging details help to illuminate the evolving tactics being employed by both sides in what US officials have come to regard as the most critical counterterrorism front.

Several well-known experts are presenting their proposals on the role German hegemony should play. In addition to advocating Germany's global engagement for free trade and "human rights," experts are proposing that, with its "global political mission," Germany has to reconstitute "the West," ie an alliance with the USA. On a par with Washington, Germany should help this alliance experience a "renaissance."

To achieve the necessary political weight, the EU's instruments of power should be used to have "leverage for German foreign policy interests." For the first time, with its current edition, "Internationale Politik" is launching a larger public debate on Berlin's hegemonic policy. Even though this policy is already being applied, until recently, it was officially denied, to avoid humiliating other EU countries.

"Taking the Lead" is the title and focus of the current edition of "Internationale Politik." As the "European Union's most important shareholder," as its "biggest beneficiary" and particularly as an "economic powerhouse," Germany has "a duty, to take the lead," alleges the journal's editor in chief in her editorial. "Whoever leads, has to show the direction and convince the others of the chosen path," writes the editor in view of the Federal Republic of Germany's European hegemonic ambition.

The journal is presenting a series of proposals for a "German leadership" role. For the first time, the Berlin establishment is launching a larger public debate on the German hegemonic policy that, so far, has been covered in official silence. "Internationale Politik" has a considerable circulation in professional circles inside and outside Germany and is seeking to attract a larger public. For several years, it is not only available by personal subscription, but can also be bought at news stands.

It was one of those puzzling sentences that central bankers like to leave hanging in the air. The temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the rescue fund for cash-strapped euro-zone countries, has not been very successful, admitted European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi at a press conference in Barcelona last Thursday. "Its functioning fell short of both expectations and needs," he said.

Draghi left it up to the journalists in the audience to interpret what is wrong with the fund and what needs to be changed. Furthermore, the Italian banker failed to mention that his organization has long been exploring ways of expanding the scope of the EFSF, or its permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), to give the bailout mechanism more firepower.

Euro Group chief Jean-Claude Juncker had asked Draghi for his advice in the matter two weeks earlier. Originally, the ESM, which will be launched in July 2012, was only intended to help out debt-ridden governments, which would have to meet strict requirements in return. But recently, there have been serious closed-door discussions about direct aid for banks. In Brussels, a working group is also looking at this delicate subject.

Time is running out. With the financial crisis now in its fifth year, the banks' problems remain unresolved, and in some countries they are even jeopardizing the stability of the state - and the future of the European common currency.

The new projection, released here Monday, warns that 42% of Americans may end up obese by 2030, and 11% could be severely obese, adding billions of dollars to health care costs."If nothing is done (about obesity), it's going to hinder efforts for health care cost containment," says Justin Trogdon, a research economist with RTI International, a non-profit research organization in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.

As of 2010, about 36% of adults were obese, which is roughly 30 pounds over a healthy weight, and 6% were severely obese, which is 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight. "The obesity problem is likely to get much worse without a major public health intervention," says Eric Finkelstein, a health economist with Duke University Global Health Institute and lead researcher on the new study. The analysis was presented at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Weight of the Nation" meeting. The study is being published online in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Responding to the gift, Monsignor Newton said, “I am very grateful to the (Pope) for his generosity and support. This gift is a great help and encouragement as we continue to grow and develop our distinctive ecclesial life, while seeking to contribute to the wider work of evangelization in England and Wales."

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established in January 2011 to allow Anglicans to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church while retaining essential elements of their heritage and tradition. It is so far comprised of about 1,200 lay faithful and 60 clergy spread across the United Kingdom.

The apostolic nuncio in the United Kingdom, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, spoke of the gift as "a clear sign of [the Pope's] personal commitment to the work of Christian Unity and the special place the ordinariate holds in his heart. I pray for the continuing success and development of the ordinariate." Speaking of the need for further fundraising, the nuncio added, “I urge all those who share (the Pope's) vision to lend their spiritual and material support to the ordinariate, especially in these early days."

“You could safely say that Iceland holds the world record in household debt relief,” said Lars Christensen, chief emerging markets economist at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “Iceland followed the textbook example of what is required in a crisis. Any economist would agree with that.”

Iceland’s special prosecutor has said it may indict as many as 90 people, while more than 200, including the former chief executives at the three biggest banks, face criminal charges. The Securities and Exchange Commission said last year it had sanctioned 39 senior officers for conduct related to the housing market meltdown.

Larus Welding, the former CEO of Glitnir Bank hf, once Iceland’s second biggest, was indicted in December for granting illegal loans and is now waiting to stand trial. The former CEO of Landsbanki Islands hf, Sigurjon Arnason, has endured stints of solitary confinement as his criminal investigation continues. That compares with the US, where no top bank executives have faced criminal prosecution for their roles in the subprime mortgage meltdown.

She said: “Malvinas are Argentinian. I mean, the islands belong to Argentina, they are in our continental shelf so there’s nothing wrong with an athlete training there. I don’t really want to go into a small discussion, I would like to go into a broader discussion and the discussion is why can’t we sit and talk?”

“The international community is calling for a settlement of this conflict in a peaceful and permanent solution.” Ms Castro, in a sarcastic sideswipe at Britain, added: “We are very happy having this colonial enclave in the south of our country. It’s not an Argentinian cause, it’s a regional cause. The United Kingdom, by not wanting to have a proper dialogue with Argentina, is turning its back on Latin America as a whole.”

“If it’s true Britain wants to improve its relations with Latin America, they have to settle this dispute.” The 90-second clip shows Zylberberg exercising on the Great War Memorial, which honours British sailors who died in the First World War.

Eurocrats, too, are tiptoing away from cuts, belatedly aware of how outrageous it sounded to argue for austerity in the 27 member states while demanding a 6.8 per cent budget increase for themselves. We can expect a very different strategy now, one based on higher spending and deeper European integration. Stand by for Eurobonds, a common finance minister, pan-European taxes, EU-wide stimulus packages etc.

This was, of course, the approach which brought Europe to its present unhappy condition. So why do voters hope to solve the crisis by accelerating the policies which led to it? Much of the blame must attach to the Centre-Right parties currently in office in most national capitals. Though they talk of fiscal prudence, many of them are in reality locked into Euro-corporatism. With a handful of honourable exceptions, they have presided over crony capitalism, more spending, more taxes and more debt.

Their failure has opened the door to the angry and populist Left. When the 'Right' is represented by Samaras and Sarkozy, it's no surprise that voters cast around for radical alternatives. After all, when it comes to the euro, the Trotskyists have been proved right. They argued all along that, while the single currency would suit the suits, working people would suffer.

As long as Europe's élites remain determined to keep the euro, the economic situation will deteriorate. And the worse things get, the likelier people are to demand the high-tax, high-spend policies which caused the mess. THE EUROZONE IS NOW IN A VICIOUS CIRCLE.