* The euro crisis has undermined Europe...transforming it from a reliable global problem-solver to a problem itself. * The EU is regulating "every financial actor, financial market, financial activity and product," line by line. * Starting with Sputnik in 1957, Americans have suffered periodic bouts of competitiveness anxiety. * White
* Frantic gestures by top Iranian officials arrive at tense time, and are read by some as provocations. * Fake news of Putin's arrest goes viral. * Italy's financial reforms can be praised, but political reform must follow. * Sarkozy joins Twitter. * Headlines editors shouldn't use to discuss
* Pew finds electronic registration would trim two million deceased voters from U.S. rolls. * Groups hope to recycle the 25 million pounds of beads thrown at Mardi Gras every year. * Trustees may revive a 40-year-old "urban laboratory" in the Arizona desert as a retirement resort. * With
* Governments begin to use lotteries to encourage good citizenship. * Travel agents routinely beat online sites for finding cheaper fares; if the agent has a horrible website, they're probably legit. * Long investigation into how iPhone apps use information stored in your address book. * Critique of journalism, PR, and attack
* Roche issues an alert that a fake version of its cancer drug, without its active ingredient, is circulating in the U.S. * Document leak reveals a libertarian thinktank's strategy to discredit climate-change science. * The Colorado River rarely reaches the sea; now U.S. and Mexican officials are
* Homs shelled for the 10th day; Assad emboldened by Russia's UN tactics and arms supply. * Book alleges CIA used Kashmir earthquake to cover smuggling agents into Pakistan. * New James Joyce children's book published, but his foundation cries foul. * Graduate student mounts defense of secret habit: audiobooks.
* Monsanto found guilty in French court of poisoning a farmer with weedkiller. * Five places where Valentine's Day is forbidden. * We're all out of money, but not love: proposing National Love Day, the anti-Valentine's. * Until the 1930s, Taiwanese aborigines often would bestow their loved
* In 12,000 words, James Fallows reviews Obama's first term. * Fantastic Economist summary of the Syrian situation. * State Department photographs show al-Assad's artillery pointed toward major protest centers. * The World Press Photo of the Year for 2011 shouldn't be used to illustrate news
* Those Americans who benefit most from the government safety net are also some of its most ardent critics. * UK immigration officials prevent 70 sham marriages in one month by surveilling a busy registration office. * Study finds New York hospitals aggressively collect on those who cannot pay, despite receiving charity funds
{image-1} Every Friday we take a look back at the week’s headlines, centering on a theme we’ve singled out as particularly important. This week, despite the apathy that greets the idea that meaningful change is possible, protestors continued to make their voices heard. And beyond the streets
