
As Louis Armstrong once crooned, baby, it’s cold outside. With Europe in the grip of a bitter cold snap, meteorologists have predicted below freezing temperatures over the weekend in several major cities across the continent. One might think the wintry weather would send the masses scurrying indoors for warmth, but a number of amateur photographers and videographers have braved the cold to bring us these images. Read more…




Dimitri Medvedev was inaugurated as Russia's new president today. Evguenia Obitchkina, an international relations lecturer in Moscow, explains that the conflict between Russia and the West might have more to do with the hydrocarbon trade than human rights. Read more...
Osama bin Laden released a new video Wednesday in which he threatened the European Union with a "reckoning" and reignited the Danish cartoon affair. One of our Observers, an al Qaeda specialist, explains why this message could see a new wave of terrorist action in Europe. Watch Bin Laden's message and read the comment from our Observer.

Bristol, UK. Posted by 'Dr Dog' on flickr, 6 February 2006
When the idea of Tony Blair as president of the Council of Europe emerged, so did an online petition against the idea. The European Tribune blog launched the ‘Stop Blair' petition on Tuesday. Already signed by 3600 people, the whole blogosphere is talking about it. Here we publish commentary from Jérôme Guillet, one of the campaign's organisers, and the reaction of a British blogger specialised in European issues, for who Blair ‘would have been a good spokesman for the EU ten years ago'. Read more...