• ECONOMY TAKEOUT: Even after a $1 trillion bailout plan, the euro fell to its lowest level in four years for a brief moment last week, causing bank shares in Europe to plunge. Wall Street followed suit. We talk with Dr. Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics, about how Europe's economic woes could impact the U.S.
• SPORTS TAKEOUT: Last night's NBA and NHL playoffs are recapped by Takeaway Sports Contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, who also tells us about a Canadian doctor charged with supplying performance-enhancing drugs to professional football players. 

A massive cloud of ashes has kept thousands of fligfhts on the ground in Northern Europe yesterday after a volcano in Iceland erupted a second time this month, spewing huge amounts of silicate ash into a busy airspace for travellers in the region. Some of Europe's busiest airports have closed down in what appears to be the biggest shutdown of flights since 9/11.

Hundreds of sexual abuse cases against Catholic priests have been surfacing in Ireland over the past weeks and the Pope said he will address the crisis in a repentance letter tomorrow.

But his efforts could be undermined by a scandal of his own. Last week, a senior church official said when the Pope was Archdiocese of Munich, he made “serious mistakes” in handling one specific priest accused of molesting boys back in the early 1980s.

 

Newsweek columnist, Dan Gross, tells us how the European Leaders' agreement to give Greece some debt relief may affect the U.S. markets. Among other things, Gross says it might be good news for Americans traveling overseas.

 

What side is Sweden on in the ongoing conflict between Tiger Woods and his much-beloved Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren? With reports that Elin and the children are heading back to Sweden, we call Stockholm to talk with Swedish journalist Britta Svensson, columnist with Swedish newspaper "Expressen."

All year long, people around the world have been recalling the events of 1989, 20 years ago, when the Soviet Empire in Europe collapsed, country after country.  They were generally known as "Velvet Revolutions": in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the embrace of democracy all across central Europe, culminating with the final collapse of the Soviet Union itself, early in the 1990s. But shortly before Christmas 1989, the revolution came to the closed, bizarre dictatorship of Romania's Nicolai Ceauşescu ... and there, the revolution wasn't so velvety.  We talk with Nick Thorpe, BBC Central Europe correspondent and author of "'89: The Unfinished Revolution," from Opera Square in Timişoara, where the revolution happened 20 years ago.

The U.S. and its allies are united in their public concerns about Iran's secret nuclear ambitions. But The New York Times reports that U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies disagree on one big point: how far Iran's attempts to design or acquire a nuclear warhead have come. U.S. officials say that Iran halted work on weapons design in 2003, but Germany, France and Israel think differently. We get the story from New York Times defense correspondent Mark Mazzetti.

Yesterday President Obama announced that he is scrapping the Bush administration's plans for a land-based missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. He's opting instead to focus on a defense system that would intercept shorter-range missiles from Iran. This move has upset Poland and the Czech Republic, but pleased Russia, who was against Bush's plan. Is this an intelligent decision based on new information about Iran's weapons? Or will it empower Russia and Iran at the expense of American allies? We speak to former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, who served under President Bush, and to Alexander Cooley, professor of International Relations and Foreign Policy at Barnard College. (Click through for a full interview transcript.)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will launch an inquiry into the Iraq War. Britain backed up the U.S. during the invasion of 2003 and British soldiers fought in Iraq. The war was unpopular in the U.K. and hurt the political standing of Brown's predecessor Tony Blair. Joining The Takeaway is BBC Political Correspondent and a Former BBC Pentagon Correspondent Nick Childs to talk about the inquiry.

As residents of the central Italian city L'Aquila slept on Sunday, a deadly earthquake hit the surrounding region. Entire blocks of buildings were destroyed, rendering an estimated 17,000 people homeless and causing the deaths of 179 people. According to the U.S. Geological Survey the quake registered a 6.3 magnitude, while Italy's National Institute of Geophysics recorded it as a 5.8. Aftershocks and inclement weather have been interfering with rescue efforts and an estimated 37 people are still missing. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency for the Abruzzo region, approximately 60 miles from Rome. For more we turn to the BBC's Rome Correspondent David Willey.

Watch Italian rescue teams sift through rubble in the aftermath of the earthquake in L'Aquila.

As residents of the central Italian city L'Aquila slept, a deadly earthquake hit the surrounding region, killing at least 50 people. Entire blocks of buildings were destroyed, displacing around 10,000 people. According to the U.S. Geological Survey the quake registered a 6.3 magnitude, while Italy's National Institute of Geophysics recorded it as a 5.8. For more we turn to the BBC's Rome Correspondent David Willey.

Watch CNN's footage of the devastating earthquake in the clip below.

French police have clashed with anti-Nato protesters in Strasbourg, firing tear gas and rubber bullets to stop a crowd getting to the city center. Masked protesters smashed bus shelters and set fire to rubbish bins. There are reportedly some 25,000 police are on duty to control the tens of thousands of protesters expected to attend.



Despite the ruckus in the streets, speaking at the start of the celebration and meeting, President Barack Obama hailed NATO as the most successful alliance in modern history and a central pillar is strong European defense:

There's been plenty of outrage in the U.S. over collapsing banks, bailouts and bonuses, but the financial crisis is turning violent in Europe. Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the ailing Royal Bank of Scotland, had his house and car vandalized this week and the manager of a 3M factory in France was barricaded in an office by workers demanding better severance packages for employees being laid off. All this comes ahead of the G20 meeting in London next week, where some protesters are planning to hang effigies of bankers from lamp posts. Damian McLoughlin, managing director of the security firm Guardian GS, joins us for a look at the security concerns for bankers in this environment.

For a look at the vandalism on Fred Goodwin's home in Edinburgh watch the video below.

Back in 1981, in the United Kingdom, a group of men from the Irish Republican Army made headlines. They were imprisoned in a British jail in Belfast, Ireland. They said they were political prisoners. Margaret Thatcher said otherwise.The award-winning film "Hunger" tracks the last six weeks in the life of Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands. Sands starved himself to death at the age of 27, in a brutal Belfast prison called The Maze. His death raises questions about out notions of martyrdom and fanaticism. The Takeaway is joined by visual artist Steven McQueen, who directed the film.

Over one million French workers are expected to join the country's second nationwide strike in two months. They are protesting French President Sarkozy's handling of the economic downturn. As unemployment has reached almost two million, organizers predict the protest will be even bigger than the last one in January. For more we turn to Hugh Schofield, the BBC's Paris correspondent.

Two soldiers and a policeman have been murdered in Northern Ireland in the past few days. It’s brought a shock to the province which—in the most part—has enjoyed peace since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, that led to power-sharing. The murders have been claimed by two Republican splinter groups—the so-called Continuity IRA, and the Real IRA—who are both against the peace process.

Seasoned Northern Ireland watcher Kevin Cullen at the Boston Globe discusses the significance of what’s happening in Northern Ireland, and how this story is being viewed by Irish Americans in Boston. John Hockenberry hosts from Boston.

Germany is Europe's largest economy and like much of the world it has been hit in the financial crunch. Senior members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government have agreed on an enormous economic stimulus package for the country. The stimulus package is worth 50 billion euros and is in addition to a plan passed last month that was worth 23 billion euros. This adds up to one of the strongest stimulus plans so far in Europe. Bertrand Benoit is following the story for the Financial Times and joins us from Berlin.