This week a deadly tsunami and volcanic eruptions struck different parts of Indonesia within a 24-hour period.  So far, more than 300 people have been killed, hundreds are missing and more than 40,000 people have been displaced.

According to the French Finance Minister, worker strikes associated with last week’s riots over the increase in retirement age are costing France more than $500 million per day (Associated Press, October 25, 2010). Following the French riots, Italian citizens rioted in the Naples region to protest a proposed garbage dump. During the Italian riot, 20 police officers were assaulted, eight police cars damaged, and five garbage trucks and a police car were burned. Calls for Prime Minister Berlusconi’s resignation also rang out (Yahoo News, October 21, 2010).

In an effort to help the French economy recover, President Sarkozy is moving to increase the national retirement age from age 60 to 62 (still one of Europe’s youngest retirement ages). As a result, protests have erupted throughout the nation.

In a recent speech, “Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared the death of multiculturalism in Germany, saying that it had ‘failed utterly’, in what has been interpreted as a startling shift from her previous views.

“Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday outlined his most tangible initiative yet to try to revive Christianity, creating a Vatican office for re-evangelizing Europe and other traditionally Christian regions where the faith is falling by the wayside.