What if the Pope could vote?

The Vatican is not usually a hotbed for political intrigue, but this just came in: If the Holy See were to vote in a secret ballot for the American president, John Kerry would likely beat George W. Bush 60-40. Surprisingly, not religion but politics seems to be the deciding point in papal politics. Quite simply, it's the fact that the Vatican -- despite its unique status -- is a consummately European institution and many of its employees share the overwhelming European consensus that Bush has to go. Well, almost. In interviews with more than two dozen Vatican officials, John Allen Jr., an influential reporter for the National Catholic Reporter divides  the Vatican into "blue" zones and "red" zones to match the American states voting for Kerry (blue) and those for re-electing President George W. Bush (red). The Pope, who never endorses political candidates, did not take part in the survey. (2:39 p.m. CET)

Crisis in Legoland

Are PCs killing Legos? The Danish company is reporting this week it will lose up to €270 million this year because of weak plastic brick sales. The company has already cut 1,000 jobs this year, but Lego's new CEO, 35-year-old Jorgen Vig Knudstorp has warned the remaining 8,000 employees that even tougher times are still to come. Among the painful measures being considered to save the world's fourth-largest toymaker is shifting production from Switzerland, the US and the Czech Republic to China. The Kristiansen family, whose patriarch founded Lego (short for the Danish "leg godt," or "play well") in 1932, has also said it would seek a buyer for the company's popular but financially limping Legoland theme parks. The bigger question is how long Lego can remain independent. Danish financial newspapers say the company will likely be sold if it doesn't turn a profit in the next two years. Analysts say that for all the color and creativity Legos bring to children, the company still hasn't figured out how to maintain the toys' popularity in a computerized world. (2:10 p.m. CET)

Happy Birthday, SPIEGEL ONLINE!

Its English pages may still be wet behind the ears, but SPIEGEL ONLINE became an Internet veteran on Tuesday with the celebration of its 10th anniversary. What began in 1994 as a project created by ambitious editors at newsmagazine DER SPIEGEL has today transformed itself into an indispensable information source for hundreds of thousands of users. In recent years, SPIEGEL ONLINE has become Germany's most important news site -- in part due to the criticism and participation of its users, like German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who's been reading the site since he took office. Fischer said he relies on SPIEGEL ONLINE because it is "fast, available around the clock and has clearly structured information, precise cross-references and a large offering of links." The foreign minister added that he hoped SPIEGEL ONLINE would factually and critically accompany the current government during its "next 10 years in office." (1:20 p.m. CET)

Retiring the Budget Deficit

For three years in a row, Germany has violated the 3 percent deficit ceiling laid out in the Growth and Stability Pact that regulates the euro. In order to avoid a hugely embarrassing violation for a fourth year, German Finance Minister Hans Eichel is desperately seeking ways to plug the holes in his budget. The latest trial balloon he's floating is a plan for the federal government to take over the long-term pension obligations for employees of Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Post -- both partially owned by the government -- in exchange for several billion euros that could be used to bring the budget in line with European Union norms. "This is something we can do that will also increase the companies' attractiveness for shareholders," an unnamed government official told the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper. Eichel's French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, recently announced a similar transaction with French public utility provider Electricite de France in which Paris will pay the company's pensions in exchange for €7.7 billion during the next 20 years. (1:10 p.m. CET)

High Heels and High Camp

It's the country that brought us fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier and camp artists Pierre et Giles. Now it brings us "Pink TV," France's first-ever gay pay channel, complete with a transsexual sports anchor and re-runs of apparent lesbian icon "Wonder Woman." From morning until midnight, the station broadcasts entertainment programs like the American series "Queer as Folk." After the witching hour, the station gets a bit more risqué, with erotic fare. "Pink TV" comes at what appears to be a major renaissance for gays and lesbians in Roman-Catholic France, which in 1999 for the first-time recognized same-sex relationships and in 2001 elected the openly gay Betrand Delanoe as mayor of Paris. The newspaper Le Parisienne is calling the trend the "gay wave." In addition to making good television, "Pink TV" is also hoping to earn a few pink euros by drawing 180,000 subscribers from the estimated 3.5 million gays and lesbians living in the country. The service will cost €9 a month -- about the price of a Croque Monsieur and a coffee. (12:50 p.m. CET)

Mr. Bush's Wild Ride

Former US president Jimmy Carter says the current man in the White House has been "adroit" at exploiting the terrors of 9/11. That exploitation, he continues, has fuelled serious and deep sentiment in the Arab world against the United States and Britain. "Nowadays, because of the unwarranted invasion of Iraq by Bush and Blair, which was a completely unjust adventure based on misleading statements, and the lack of any effort to resolve the Palestinian issue, (there is) massive Islamic condemnation of the United States," he told Britain's Guardian newspaper. Carter, who has been widely criticized for his own bungling of the US hostage crisis in Iran, warned that it has "become almost unpatriotic to describe Bush's fallacious and ill-advised and mistaken and sometimes misleading actions." Of course, he made the charge in a European newspaper. That could be because of his open disdain for American media. "It's hard to think of a major medium in the United States that has been objective and fair and balanced, and critical when criticism was deserved," he said. (12:01 p.m. CET)

Trade War -- Europe: 1, US: 0

Outgoing EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy gave Washington a going-away present on Monday by recommending EU governments lift trade sanctions against the US. In March, Brussels imposed the sanctions over the so-called "Foreign Sales Corporation" tax breaks -- part of a tax-reform package supported by President Bush. The provision allowed some 1,800 American companies, including Microsoft and Boeing, to set up P.O. boxes in tax oases like Barbados or the Virgin Islands, saving them as much as 30 percent in taxes. The EU sanctions on steel, paper, textiles and other products are expected to cost US companies up to $315 million this year alone. Congress repealed the provision two weeks ago in a move Lamy described as "good news for multilateralism." However, Brussels said it was still investigating apparent loopholes for some big companies. The sanctions lift also doesn't affect lawsuits on the table over government aid to Boeing and Airbus -- a tug-o-war expected to start in earnest after next week's presidential elections. (11:20 a.m. CET)

How To Be a Good Catholic

What are the basic social responsibilities for a good Catholic in the new millennium? If you go by the rules laid out in a new catechism released by the Vatican on Monday, you'd have to struggle to find a sin-free Catholic these days. A devout Catholic must stand against therapeutic cloning, reject abortion and artificial insemination and neither live in an extra-marital nor a homosexual marriage. The 500-page tome, the first effort ever by the Catholic Church to compile all of its social rules in a single volume, also takes aim at terrorists, calling Islamic violence "blasphemy." The Vatican also rules out martyrdom for terrorists, stating, "Martyrdom cannot be the treatment given to any person who kills in the name of God." Without naming the US or Iraq, the catechism also states that all preventive wars should be rejected if they do not enjoy broad international support. War, the church wrote, is only acceptable in two cases: as legitimate defense and as a measure for securing peace -- but only if approved by the UN Security Council. (10:50 a.m. CET)

Cuba Bans the Dollar, Encourages the Euro