News stories by Analysis by David Cronin

Strategists with NATO are eager to maintain the strong bonds they have developed with Israel in recent times, even though its forces last week attacked a ship flagged in Turkey, a steadfast member of the alliance.

Within three days of Israel’s attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Monday, the pro-Israel lobby in Brussels was already seeking to deflect attention from the killing of nine peace activists in international waters.

One topic regularly addressed by the public relations industry is how to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Dominique Straus-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, might offer a case study on rising to this challenge.

The world's poor appear to have become pawns in a political battle over the European Union's (EU) new diplomatic corps.

For 329 million, people shopping with the euro is a part of everyday life. Since its notes and coins were introduced on New Year's Day 2002, this single currency has made it possible to travel across a 16-country zone stretching from Cyprus to Ireland without having to change the money in one's pocket or handbag.

Israel's relations with the European Union were tense for most of 2009 - if newspaper headlines are to be believed. In the past week, a British court drew fierce criticism from Israeli politicians after it issued an arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign minister, following a complaint that she had authorised war crimes in Gaza.

The global recession has exposed the ideological fissures at the highest level of officialdom in the European Union.