[USMA:16633] Italy News

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2001-12-14   OK, no more negative propaganda on the Euro.  Just positive.  Here is a positive story on the Euro gaining value   The first article is of interest, as it is the first step to a stronger, more united Europe.  I feel this is why the EU will not back down the next time to TABD demands against metric laws.  By 2010, the EU will be strong enough to tell the TABD where to go.   The third story is weird.  -18.8�C is really -1.84�F.  If they wanted to keep the same number of significant digits, they could have reported it that way.  In reality, they could have reported the temperature as -19�C and been just as accurate.  The way it was reported makes the fahrenheit look like the original value and the celsius a conversion.   Some one goofed on the mph conversion.      John               EU SUMMIT ON EUROPEAN REFORMS BEGINS IN LAEKEN Leaders of the European  Union's 15 member states gathered for a two-day summit starting today at the  Royal Palace in Laeken, a suburb near the Belgian capital of Brussels. The  main debate will focus on the EU's future political structure. Key points on  the agenda include the setting of guidelines for the March constitutional  convention on the reform of the Eu's institutions; finding homes for 12 newly  formed EU agencies; and the creation of a rapid common defense force.  Runner-up in the election of convention chairman is former Italian prime  minister Giuliano Amato. The leaders will also discuss the crisis in the  Middle East and the stalled A400M Airbus project. On Thursday, 80,000 trade  unionists, including 3,000 persons from Italy, marched peacefully through the  Belgian capital to remind the leaders to not forget "the social parties of Europe."   EURO GAINS ON DOLLAR AND YEN The exchange rate of the European  Union's 12-nation common currency picked up significantly against both the American dollar and the Japanese yen at the opening of today's market. The euro-dollar exchange rate today was 0,8976, against yesterday's rate of 89.9, which means that today's value of the dollar was lire 2,156. The euro's recovery against the yen was also significant: 114.35 yen against yesterday�s exchange rate of 113.29 yen.   SUB-ZERO TEMPERATURES, ICY CONDITIONS ALL OVER ITALY Severe weather conditions in Italy  paralyzed traffic yesterday. Italians were being discouraged from using their cars  as the worst is yet to come, officials declared. Snow storms created traffic  jams all over Italy's north, especially around Milan an on the Emilia-Romagna  highways. In the South, patches of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway were  iced over. Frozen electrical lines created a black-out in Milan's central train station and paralyzed train traffic for hours. Several airports had to close and the Turin airport registered delays of more than an hour. Mercury  went down to polar levels in the region of Aldo Adige: the Resia Pass  measured  -18.8 C (-2 F). The northern city of Trieste registered  154-kilometer-an-hour winds (155 mph). Even Tuscany was not spared, and, in the region of Abruzzo, several schools closed.