Italian Hitler wine bottles 'offensive'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9462729/Italian-Hitler-wine-bottles-offensive.html

Michael Hirsch, a lawyer from Philadelphia, complained to local media after he found a supermarket near his hotel was stocking wine bottles with Hitler in various poses and another bottle featuring an image of Pope John Paul II.

"It is very shocking and startling to us," Mr Hirsch told The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday. "We would think of it as neo-Nazism It makes you wonder about the sympathies of the local people."

One bottle features Hitler with his arm raised in the Nazi, another is labelled 'Mein Kampf" and another was labelled "Ein volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer" (one people, one empire, one Fuhrer), Mr Hirsch said.

Local prosecutors said they have opened an inquiry into the sale of the wine bottles.

Belgium's Gijs Van Hoecke sent home from London 2012 after drunken night out

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9464516/Belgiums-Gijs-Van-Hoecke-sent-home-from-London-2012-after-drunken-night-out.html

The pictures show Van Hoecke, who came 15th in the men's omnium on Sunday, with his eyes closed being carried by two others, including team mate Jonathan Dufrasne, with his trousers and shirt covered in liquid.

"The Belgian Olympic Committee and the Royal Cycling Federation deplore this incident, which fortunately did not affect life in the Olympic Village and athletes trying to rest ahead of their competition," the sporting body said in a statement.

Van Hoecke, 20, had been sent home immediately, the statement said.

Belgian daily newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws said Van Hoecke regretted the incident.

"I made a big mistake. I'm happy my parents didn't tell me off. They understand that I needed this," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Belarus pulls embassy staff from Sweden over toy bear drop

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/08/us-belarus-sweden-idUSBRE8770AB20120808

Though a foreign ministry statement said Belarus was not severing relations with the Nordic country, the move marked an escalation in the dispute and looked certain to worsen the already strained ties with the European Union.

Belarus expelled Sweden's ambassador on August 3 following the July 4 escapade in which about 800 toy bears bearing pro-democracy messages were parachuted into the hardline former Soviet republic from a light aircraft chartered by a Swedish public relations firm.

The incident was a humiliation for President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994 and is on poor terms with the West because of his harsh policies towards the political opposition.

The Belarussian ambassador to Stockholm was also withdrawn.

The foreign ministry said Minsk was pulling out its remaining embassy staff because Sweden had aggravated the situation by expelling two more diplomats and had refused to allow a new Belarussian ambassador to take up his post.

[...]

Lukashenko subsequently sacked his air defense chief and head of the border guards and reprimanded the state security agency for lapses in vigilance. He told the incoming border guards chief not to hesitate to use weapons to stop any future air intrusions from abroad.

Polish president accuses Obama of betraying Poland

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/9456610/Polish-president-accuses-Obama-of-betraying-Poland.html

Reflecting Warsaw's long-standing anger over the 2009 cancellation of a controversial Bush-era anti-ballistic missile system President Bronislaw Komorowski said Poland should build its own missile shield to ensure national defence.

"Our mistake was that by accepting the American offer of a shield we failed to take into account the political risk associated with a change of president," said Mr Komorowski in a magazine interview. "We paid a high political price. We do not want to make the same mistake again. We must have a missile system as an element of our defences."

[...]

Chick-fil-A Has 'Record-Setting' Sales on Appreciation Day #2

See:
http://polandball-news.blogspot.de/2012/08/chick-fil-has-record-setting-sales-on.html

Chick-fil-A Has 'Record-Setting' Sales on Appreciation Day

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/chick-fil-record-setting-sales-appreciation-day/story?id=16912978#.UB6O2edex8E


Chick-fil-A posted "record-setting" sales on Wednesday as thousands of people swarmed the chicken chain for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day after the chain's chief made anti-gay comments.

"While we don't release exact sales numbers, we can confirm reports that it was a record-setting day," Steve Robinson, Chick-fil-A's executive vice president of marketing, said in a statement.

At least one location had to close early after nearly selling out of chicken. At others, lines snaked around buildings and patrons waited upwards of two hours to snag their chicken sandwiches and show their support for Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy's comments supporting traditional marriage.

[...]

Chile Bans Marketing of Toys in Children's Food

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fast-food-chains-sued-chile-outlaws-happy-meals-16908972#.UBnPdJ9ex8E

McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and other fast-food companies are being accused in Chile of violating the country's new law against including toys with children's meals.

These and other companies are knowingly endangering the health of children by marketing kids' meals with toys more than a month after the law took effect on June 7, Sen. Giudo Gerardi said as he filed a formal complaint Wednesday seeking a health ministry investigation.

Gerardi said he's also targeting the makers of cereal, popsicles and other products that are sold with toys, crayons or stickers as a way to attract children, as well as the markets where these foods are sold.

[...]