Foreign Updates: Portugal, Haiti, Italian Crucifixes in Schools

     The opposition of the minority conservative party to the Portuguese government's austerity plan will plunge Portugal into a political crisis.  As I had posted previously, the conservatives objected to the Socialist-led coalition government's plan to raise taxes on the poorer classes.  The political crisis will probably tip Portugal toward asking for a financial bailout from the European Union.

     Haiti's former dictator, Jean Bertrand Aristide, has returned to his home country from exile.  I hope that he will share the same fate as Jean Claude Duvalier, who was arrested by the Haitians, as I noted in my post in February.

     Italy won its appeal to the full panel of the European Court of Human Rights on the issue of crucifixes in public schools.  I had posted about this subject several times.  Backed by numerous predominately Catholic and Orthodox secular states, the Italians were successful in arguing that the crucifix is a symbol of Western Civilization, from which European values arise, not the imposition of any religious belief.  The Holy See had argued that Europe needs to reaffirm the Christian roots of its culture.