France, Poland Backtrack on Polanski Support

Obama, Jay-Z, Steve Jobs help win crown

(NEWSER) - When it comes to foreign policy, perhaps Americans aren’t the world’s favorite nationality. But the US has clearly cornered the market on coolness. Just ask the 30,000 people from 15 different countries polled by social networking site Badoo.com. When asked to choose the coolest country, America came first, Reuters reports. “We hear a lot in the media about anti-Americanism,” says a rep for the site. “But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool.” More»

Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland call for citizens' savings

(NEWSER) - As European governments seek new sources of revenue, private retirement plans are taking a hit. Since most are organized by the state, "European ministers of finance have a facilitated access to the savings accumulated there, and it is only logical that they try to get a hold of this money for their own ends," writes Jan Iwanik for the Christian Science Monitor . Iwanick highlights five such schemes:

• Hungarians last month had to choose between handing the government their retirement savings or giving up their state pensions.
• In Bulgaria, the government called for $300 million of private early retirement savings to be moved to state pensions; trade union protests weakened the plan.

Rape of a 13-year-old 'is not a technicality'

(NEWSER) - The US is "deeply disappointed" by the Swiss decision to free film director Roman Polanski, and authorities are considering what action to take, said a Justice Department official. Polanksi, 76, was freed after 9 months under house arrest when the Swiss Justice Ministry refused to comply with America's "flawed" extradition request that the director be sent back to Los Angeles to serve his sentence for sex with a minor, reports CNN . The US "believes that the rape of a 13-year-old child by an adult is a crime," and will continue to seek justice, declared Assistant Secretary of State PJ Crowley. More»

Confessed rapist 'has never shown remorse'

(NEWSER) - The Swiss government's decision to free Roman Polanski on a technicality is bad enough; the fact that a lawyer for the filmmaker and confessed rapist called the move "a great relief after the pain suffered by Roman Polanski and his family" is "the definitive textbook example of unmitigated gall," Eugene Robinson writes for the Washington Post . "As long as he steers clear of US justice, why don't we steer clear of his movies?" More»

US didn't make case for extradition on 33-year-old charges, say Swiss

(AP) - It's over: The Swiss government declared Roman Polanski a free man today after rejecting a US request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. The Swiss blamed US authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-1978. The Justice Ministry also said that national interests were taken into consideration in the decision. More»