Your news, nutshelled

Canada is approaching dissolution, as separatists in both Alberta and Quebec grow stronger in response to the ruling Liberal party's corruption and scandals. Conservatives recently lost a semi-no-confidence vote (153 to 152, the last vote was a tiebraker by the liberal Speaker of the House), but are looking forward to the weeks or months that they now have to consolidate support in order to overthrow the Liberal government (that means some party other than Liberals will come to power, it won't be an actual revolution). Alberta, Canada's by-far most successful economy (it has more oil than Saudi Arabia) would likely support a movement to separate from the rest of Canada. Alberta is the only province run by Conservatives; everywhere else has been dominated by Labor or Liberals. Alberta is ticked off that money is being taken from it to support useless social programs in Ontario, a liberal stronghold, like a gun registry (how many Canadians actually have guns?), free daycare, and efforts to keep Quebec in Canada. If Alberta separates, it will be the most prosperous (per capita) nation on Earth. Quebec, the home of the Bloc Quebec party, has attempted to separate for several years, but did not regain momentum until recently, due to Liberal corruption focused mainly in Quebec. The Gomery Inquiry has cited $250 million abused by the Liberals (multiply by ten to convert to American proportions), but the investigation has yet to finish – this is the main scandal/corruption in Canada, though it certainly is not alone. Conservatives and Bloc Quebecies have formed an alliance that leaves them one seat short of enough votes to overthrow the Liberal government, and they will each likely gain seats in the upcoming elections.
Some wonderful summaries here and here, and The Economist has a few comments here.

France is on the brink of rejecting the EU constitution that it helped found. The "non" ("no") side is supported by 52% of those who say they have already made a decision on the referendum, and opposition parties have come out of the woodwork to oppose the referendum. Some of those parties are from the extreme right, which usually operated silently, but held rallies over the last few days; and socialist and communist parties. Many have blamed France's poor economy (10%ish unemployment, slow growth) on the cheaper labor provided by Eastern Europe. President Jacques Chirac himself blamed the former-Soviet satellites for Frances problems until he realized that France could refuse the EU Constitution. Recently, some political leaders have cited France's historic role in the world, rather than just Europe, as a reason to preserve a French identity, rather than a conglomerate European identity. Others have attacked the idea of 450 million Europeans being governed by a group of 18 bureaucrats in Brussels, Belgium.

In Germany, chancellor Gerhart Shroder is seeing his Socialist Democrat party erode. The party suffered a defeat in the powerful North Rhine-Westphalia state (the most populus in Germany) – it had 37% of the vote while the main opposition, Christain Democrats, took 45%. The Social Democrats have lost votes throughout Germany, with most of those votes going to the Christian Democrats. Analysts believe that Schroder is losing support due to his failing welfare reform programs, high unemployment, and near-nil economic growth. Over the last 4 years, German economic growth passed 1% only once. The US has 3-4% growth per year. Schroder has tried to improve the German economy by cutting corporate taxes and improving the business climate, but those efforts had no effect except to shrink Schroder's support. Schroder is expected to continue leading the Social Democrats, and his main competition is Angela Merkel, the expected leader of the Christian Democrats, who will become Germany's first female chancellor if Schroder cannot consolidate his support.
Good article on the subject.

Those are the most important stories of the day, though China's domestic problems also deserve a mention. And, by the way, make sure you watch the Star Wars Episode 3: A Lost Hope spoof. Many times. Probably the funniest 6 minutes of the year.