Youpe Last Week

Don't Touch That Monkey

Another week and another look at another week’s goings-on in Europe, or as Grandma Riva, born in Horadenka, Ukraine, circa 1888 — featured here holding a very young Jack Friedman after being called away from her weekly poker game — called it, “Youpe.”

The Entry-Exit System (EES) for entering and exiting Europe is still causing problems, and airlines are calling for the new system to be put on hold until after summer. The system will eventually replace passport stamps with a digital system that records when travellers enter and exit the Schengen Area — those 29 European countries that have abandoned internal border controls — for short stays, collecting biometric information such as facial images and fingerprints, along with personal data from travel documents. US President Donald Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and the suspension of American striker Folarin Balogun was lifted, allowing him to play in tonight’s match against Belgium. Uefa, European football’s governing body, issued a statement that the president’s actions “crossed a red line” and were “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable.” Belgium’s foreign minister Maxime Prevot said, “If a phone call is really the reason for this incomprehensible decision, it would be a blatant violation of the most basic rules of football and sport,” while also in Belgium, the country placed two pizzerias, La Pizza è Bella and La Piola, among the 50 best in Europe, as compiled by 50 Top Pizza Europa.