The Canadian Press:

The photos published by Der Spiegel were among several seized by Army investigators looking into the deaths of three unarmed Afghans last year. Five soldiers based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, south of Seattle, have been charged with murder and conspiracy in the case.

Officials involved in the courts-martial had issued a strict protective order, seeking to severely limit access to the photographs due to their sensitive nature. Some defence teams had been granted copies but were not allowed to disseminate them.

It was not immediately known how Der Spiegel obtained copies.

One of the published photographs shows a key figure in the investigation, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, grinning as he lifts the head of a corpse by the hair. Der Spiegel identified the body as that of Gul Mudin, whom Morlock was charged with killing on Jan. 15, 2010, in Kandahar Province.

[...]

“Today Der Spiegel published photographs depicting actions repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States Army,” the Army said in a statement released by Col. Thomas Collins. “We apologize for the distress these photos cause.”

And Der Spiegel reports the U.S. has known about the coming release of the photos for around 100 days:

NATO, under the leadership of the US Army, has been preparing for possible publication of the photos for close to 100 days. In dozens of high-level talks with their Afghan partners, military leaders have sought to pursue the same strategy used by the US diplomatic corps in the case of the sensitive diplomatic cables released late last year by WikiLeaks. They warned those most directly affected and made preparations for the photos’ appearance in the public sphere. This “strategic communication” was aimed at preventing a major public backlash.

Under Eurozone rules, countries are required to keep total government debt to 60 percent of GDP and government budget deficits to 3 percent, in order to maintain the value of the euro, Eurozone-wide interest rates and general stability. Greece, it turns out, was always fudging its budget deficit numbers by “mistakenly” leaving things out — meaning that its budget deficits were inevitably above 3 percent and, in 2009, closer to 12 percent.

But even those figures aren’t accurate, because the Greeks used complex financial transactions, designed by Goldman Sachs, to kick the debt can down the road even further. Goldman had the Greeks issue bonds, valued in dollars, in yen in exchange for bonds that paid out in euros. But rather than receiving the euro-denominated bonds at market prices, Goldman made up an exchange rate that allowed the Greeks to look as though they were only engaging in a currency swap when, in effect, they were getting more than a billion more than they should have from the trades in credit. The credit wasn’t counted against their debt or deficit limits — though it will be, when the bonds they began issuing in 2002 begin maturing in 2012 and 2017.

It’s likely that Goldman made a killing on the commissions for the swaps, and then sold the swaps to a Greek bank for even higher profits.

The swaps, and the non-disclosure of them, are both perfectly acceptable within the Eurozone reporting rules. But what’s legal, as the United States already found out, isn’t the same as what is good for the economy. The Greek debt — which Goldman not only enabled but expanded — may throw Greece, if not the Eurozone, into a financial tailspin if the crisis isn’t resolved. That crisis is expected to trickle back to the United States, where our economy has only barely started down the road to recovery. And Goldman, with its $13 billion profit in 2009, will still be sitting pretty.

Der Spiegel reports on the shock that has rippled through the German-speaking world after Klaus Emmerich, the “Wolf Blitzer of Austria,” said on a TV talk show, “I wouldn’t want the Western world to be directed by a black man.” Emmerich has refused to apologize, arguing that “blacks aren’t as politically civilized” — but he did call Michelle Obama a “very good-looking woman.”

In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi asserted that Obama would have no problem establishing good relations with Russia because Obama is “handsome, young and sun-tanned.” In response to accusations of racism, Berlusconi called his critics “imbeciles without any sense of humor.”

El Pais, Spain’s leading paper, which has obsessively covered the U.S. presidential election for months, leads its “Estados Unidos” page with a long analysis of Michelle Obama’s election-night outfit.

And Le Monde of France calls Obama the first spammer president under the headline, “With Obama, ‘Yes they spam!’”

Take a look at these and other stories from the Old Continent. Bonus points if you’re bi- or trilingual:

Austrian Journalist Slammed for Racist Obama Rant (Der Spiegel International)

Gaffe su Obama, Berlusconi rilancia “Le critiche? Ci sono tanti imbecilli” (On Obama Gaffe, Berlusconi Retorts, “The Criticisms? They Are All Imbecilic”) (La Stampa)

El vestido de cambio (The Dress of Change) (El Pais)

Avec Obama, “Yes they spam!” (With Obama, “Yes they spam!”) (Le Monde)

Obama’s victory: a change the world should believe in (Financial Times)

Where’s Europe’s Obama? (Der Spiegel International)