Death Toll Rises in European Cold Snap

Nine of 17 member states post a fall

(NEWSER) - For the first time since 2009, the eurozone economy contracted last quarter. The fourth quarter of 2011 saw the GDP shrink 0.3% compared to the third quarter; the last quarterly contraction occurred during the second quarter of 2009 when the GDP dropped 0.2%. Meanwhile, the GDP grew just 0.7% compared to a year earlier, the smallest gain since the fourth quarter of 2009. Nine of the 17 member states posted a fall, and economists are forecasting more contraction to come, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Europeans may have longer lives and longer vacations, but red-blooded Americans don't want their socialist ways on this side of the ocean, right wing media mouths are eager to remind everyone, MIchael Freedman writes in Newsweek. Underlying much of the opposition to health care reform is the fear that it's part of an anti-American conspiracy to transform the US into a "European social welfare state," according to Rush Limbaugh. More»

Military flies in emergency food aid

(NEWSER) - Authorities declared an alert in Eastern Romania today, as military planes flew in emergency aid to towns and villages that have been cut off from the rest of the country for days by staggering quantities of snow. In some places, people have had to dig tunnels through up to 15 feet of snow in order the leave their homes, the AP reports. A dozen major roads have been closed, 300 trains canceled, and 1,000 schools closed. More»

Austerity measures violate basic economic tenets: Paul Krugman

(NEWSER) - Europe has been lauded for its commitment to austerity measures as a means of restoring its economies. But a quick look at the state of those economies reaffirms what any economist should already have known, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times : The effort is backfiring. Krugman explains that by one key measure of economic health—"changes in real GDP since the recession began"—Britain is in worse shape now, four years after the start of the recession, than it was four years into the Great Depression. Italy is in a similar state, and Spain is poised for a double-dip recession. More»

Even healthier countries now feeling pinch

(NEWSER) - Financial crises in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal have stoked fears for Italy, Belgium, and the more robust Germany as Europe struggles to find a solution, the New York Times reports. Worry that Germany may have to pay the brunt of bailout costs have prompted the sale of its debt; investor concerns are marked by a euro rapidly sinking against the dollar. More»