The Irish government will revise the immigration bill expected to pass in the D?il today, says RT?. The bill would permit refusal of entry to those with ‘profound mental disturbance’. As originally drafted, it was feared this provision would bar, e.g., those with Down’s syndrome or autism. The definition will now be narrowed to refer [...]

German minister of consumer affairs Renate K?nast has ordered Deutsche Bahn to pay damages in future to passengers on seriously delayed trains, reports the taz (in German). The German people have not yet begun, though, to say they need a man who can make the trains run on time.

New suspicions of avian influenza in Germany, this time in Dresden. (Link in German.) A Vietnamese man living in that city has fallen ill after returning from a visit home, where he worked on his brother’s chicken farm.

ARTE - a sort of Franco-German cooperative education channel - has been talking about the headscarf debate tonight. It’s a bit weird to watch. First, they showed a documentary about a school in Germany with a large Muslim community. Clearly, it was a relatively poor neighbourhood. The bulk of the documentary [...]

Euro 2004 - Unsurprisingly, UEFA have turned down the Welsh FA’s bid to have Russia disqualified from the tournament after a player failed a drugs test. Wales may still appeal the decision.

It takes two to sambo - Stefan Geens explains how Swedes reproduce through binge drinking

Stomach cancer rates are dropping across Europe, according to a new study.

No avian influenza in Hamburg, reports wire service AFP (link in German). The woman in question appears to be afflicted with, em, human influenza.

Kafka’s Spam - Chris Lightfoot reports on how easy it isn’t to report spammers under the Communications Privacy Directive

According to CNN International, health authorities in Hamburg are examining two women (one of whom had recently returned from Thailand) for signs of avian influenza. Though the authorities stated it was ‘very unlikely’ that either woman was infected, the news was enough to send shares in Lufthansa down a bit. According to German wire service [...]