There’s a tendency to focus on which Europeans snag the best film or best actress prizes. The European magazin Cafe babel presents several trailers of the less famed contenders vying for other Oscars from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which takes place at the Kodak Theatre on 7 March.

The movie Disgrace is based on a prize-winning novel by J.M.Coetzee. It is set in post-apartheid South Africa, but a South Africa that is split into very different urban and rural worlds. The two are connected by 52-year old David Lurie (played by John Malkovich), a white professor teaching classes at university in Cape Town about 19th century British Romantic poets. He abuses his authority by obliging a female student to have an affair with him. She is Cape Coloured, and her black boyfriend and her family take action in different ways against him.

The World Expo will be held in Shanghai later this year. Its theme is “Better City, Better Life”. It is expected to lead up to a Summit Forum on 31 October that focuses on “Urban innovation and sustainable development”. As part of the preparations for this I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at one of regional events that have been held around China in preparation for the Expo.

Baltic Sea Region programme secretariat released a brochure including info about 22 brand new projects launched in the program during the 2nd call. 380 partners altogether will be contributing to 4 pillars and 15 priority areas of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Trans in Form project is also among them with its goal to transform rural regions by launching scenarios, new narratives and attractive urban design. Moreover, TiF is the only one program project with a lead partner representing Norway. Please download the brochure and learn about all 22 projects.

Kirkenes city is organizing Barens spektakel for the 7th time. This year it will take place 3-7 February. As always, Kirkenes city days are going to have activities connected to music, theatre, sports and many others. Some of them are very creative and some events can only take place in the arctic. In 2010 the festival will focus on the knowledge and experiences the Circumpolar Arctic offers.

Over 100 young people from 53 regions and 26 countries have gathered in Paris for the third meeting of the Assembly of European Regions’ (AER) Youth Regional Network (YRN). During the two-day meeting hosted by Disneyland Paris, young representatives from regional youth organisations, councils and parliaments was discussing the most crucial theme for young people today: “Youth employment in times of economic crisis”.

How do other parts of the world view the climate change meeting in Copenhagen? We know that 15,000 or more politicians, diplomats, scientists and campaigners are in the capital of Denmark to try to reach an agreement. However, the media here in Europe gives us a European slant on the negotiations. I was in Trinidad last month at a major Commonwealth meeting. Climate change was high on the agenda, and the views of governments in the Caribbean were put over strongly. The question in Copenhagen is whether agreement can be reached on measures to deliver cuts in emissions that will keep the rise in temperatures below 2 degrees. In the Caribbean the call is for a more stringent target.

On November, 26 – 27 a “Become a winning region – through Innovation and New Urbanism” conference took place in Siauliai Business Incubator with about 50 participants from Lithuania, Norway, Latvia and Russia. The organizers of the conference were – Siauliai Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts together with Siauliai City Municipality and Innovation Circle Network. The conference was an appendix to the trade fair “Siauliai-09”.

At the EU-Russia Summit Yesterday Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and the Russian Minister for Regional Development, Viktor Basargin, signed the Financing Agreements for five cross-border co-operation programmes (CBC). These financing agreements are central to the implementation of cooperation programmes between the border regions of the European Union and Russia.

European Parliament invites youths aged 16 to 30 participate in a European Charlemagne Youth Prize 2010 competition. The main idea is to elect the best project dealing with European development, integration or identity. The winner will be announced on 11 May in Aachen, Germany and will get the prize of 5000EUR. The second and the third winners will be awarded 3000 and 2000 EUR. As part of the prize, the laureates will be invited to visit the European Parliament (in Brussels or in Strasbourg). The deadline for entering is 22 January.