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Note: The following text is a quote: November 6, 2009 U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and World Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya announce preliminary results of largest global cash smuggling operation BRUSSELS - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya today announced the preliminary results of Operation ATLAS-the largest multilateral operation in history targeting cash smugglers which took place from Oct. 26-30. More than 80 countries participated in Operation ATLAS (an acronym for Assess, Target, Link, Analyze and Share)-leading to more than $3.5 million in cash seized and...

From Gloucester to Afghanistan: the making of a shoe bomber Saajid Badat this week pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up a plane. What drove this quiet football fan to thoughts of terror? Mark Honigsbaum and Vikram Dodd Saturday March 5, 2005 The Guardian He seemed the model British Muslim citizen - a poster boy for integration whose knowledge of the Qu'ran and achievement at grammar school made Gloucester's close-knit Islamic community proud. When in November 2003 anti-terrorist police turned up at the terraced house in the Barton and Tredworth district of the city that Saajid Badat shared with his...

Brussels, May 18th: Libertas, the pan-European people’s movement for a democratic, accountable and transparent European Union, is to-date backing 613 candidates for the European elections next month. This makes Libertas the single largest group ever to run for the European elections. 488 of the 613 candidates are running directly as Libertas candidates. A further 125 are running for parties with which Libertas has formed alliances. France, Spain, Italy, Poland and the UK have the highest number of candidates. Candidates include a former Prime Minister (Latvia), a former finance minister (Czech Republic), former presidential candidates (France), a former head of an...

Libertas, the movement that led the successful campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland, is to run candidates in the UK for the European Elections. The party will also contest elections in countries across Europe to get the voters' mandate to bring more democracy, accountability and transparency to European Union governance. Announcing the UK campaign today, party chairman Declan Ganley said "Almost 80% of laws that change the daily lives of Britons come from Brussels, and those laws are drafted by unelected, unaccountable civil servants. Brussels does not want to answer to the people of Europe. We want to bring...

EU recognizes new party dedicated to ‘a culture embracing life’ Declan Ganley Dublin, Feb 11, 2009 / 12:43 am (CNA).- A leader of Libertas, a new European Union political party dedicated to “individual freedom, democracy, and a culture embracing life” says the party has now been formally recognized despite “the best efforts by Brussels.”Ganley made the comments over the weekend at a conference’s panel discussion in County Roscommon, Ireland. The conference was organized by the John Paul II Society in Ireland and co-hosted by the pro-life group Human Life International. Libertas founder Declan Ganley said the party is now recognized...

SNIPPET: "The fundamental truth is that Hamas' road to Iran runs through the international Muslim Brotherhood, and has for two decades. What is often missing in the discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood is that Hamas, according to its own founding charter, is an integral and armed part of the Ikwhan, not separate from it."

Tension in Gaza leads to extra measures in Belgium The Jewish community in Belgium is receiving extra protection. The Jewish community in Belgium is receiving extra protection due to the escalating tension which is spilling over to Belgium from Gaza. Police presence during demonstrations will also be heightened. This was decided by the new Home Affairs Minister Guido De Padt. The concrete measures were discussed at a meeting at the Home Affairs crisis centre, organised by Minister De Padt. The impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza and consequences for Belgium were discussed and analysed. In the police zones of...

FOURTEEN suspected al-Qaeda terrorists were detained in Brussels today before Gordon Brown was due to meet EU leaders. The sweep came just hours before a summit brought together the heads of the 27 EU countries in Brussels. One of the suspects is believed to be a suicide bomber mounting an operation "from which he was not expected to come back". It is thought a terror attack was being planned – but the target has not been revealed. Nearly 250 police officers raided 16 locations in the capital and one in the eastern city of Liege overnight. Computers, data storage equipment...

"Belgian police arrest Al Qaeda terror suspects," from Agence France-Presse, December 11 (thanks to Alex): AFP - Belgian police on Thursday arrested 14 suspected Al-Qaeda members, including a man believed to have been planning a suicide attack, officials announced, as EU leaders gathered in Brussels. "We don't know where the suicide attack was to take place," federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle told reporters. "It could have been an operation in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but it can't be ruled out that Belgium or

US President George W. Bush will not attack Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program before his term ends in January, David Wurmser, a key national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney up until last year, has told The Jerusalem Post. "No, Bush won't go," Wurmser said when asked whether he thought the US president would want to take military action before he left office. Wurmser's comments came after a day-long roundtable this week in Brussels on nuclear nonproliferation sponsored by the European Jewish Congress. "Two things have to be in place for there to be an attack," Wurmser...

Patients will be able to escape NHS queues by demanding treatment anywhere in the European Union without the prior approval of a doctor, under proposals to guarantee health rights unveiled today in Brussels. The NHS would then be duty bound to refund the British cost of the procedure under the new rules for cross-border healthcare. Today’s proposed EU directive will give patients in all 27 member states the same rights to treatment on the NHS as British patients. It also guarantees that the full cost of treatment abroad will be refunded when an NHS professional has agreed that it...

PARIS (AFP)--French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned Monday that Ireland would pay a high price if it rejects a new European treaty in a referendum this week. Kouchner said a 'no' vote from the Irish would be greeted with "gigantic incomprehension" from the rest of Europe. "The first victims would be the Irish. They have benefited more than others," Kouchner told RTL radio. European governments are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the referendum on Thursday as the latest opinion polls show the result could go either way. Kouchner argued that the "Irish would be penalizing themselves" by rejecting the Lisbon...

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

Behind closed doors, over diplomatic dinners, in the corridors of departments, embassies, ministries and chanceries, Europe’s rulers are playing a “once in a lifetime” game for the future of the European Union. As I have already noted, here and here, this is a power play to which the public is not even a spectator. Substantial negotiations are underway on the biggest European job carve up package, including Nato, in the EU’s existence. The rules of the game, the players and the running score are known only to a tiny group of EU leaders and their most senior civil servants. The...

Like pensions and insurance, defence is one of those subjects to which too many people only pay attention when things go wrong. You might think, in the light of the past decade, that this would have changed. But you would be sadly mistaken. Even today, even after Iraq, few mainstream MPs without an immediate personal or constituency interest in the subject turn up in the Commons for defence debates. Many politicians who are thoughtful about a range of domestic issues still pass by on the other side when the conversation gravitates to the military. In this they reflect the British...

London - You might want to take that vacation in England just as soon as you can – before its 1,000-year run as a sovereign nation comes to an end. This winter, 27 nations of the European Union (EU) signed the Treaty of Lisbon. You may think, "Innocuous enough," as Portuguese-inspired visions of the Tagus River and chicken piri-piri swirl before your eyes. But for England (Britain, actually) the Treaty of Lisbon isn't that appetizing. That's because, if ratified, it will become the decisive act in this creation of a federal European superstate with its capital in Brussels. Britain would...

No Brussels Fireworks Amid Terror Threat Published: 12/30/07, 10:05 AM EDT BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Traditional New Year's Eve fireworks in central Brussels have been canceled due to a continuing terror threat in the Belgian capital, officials said Sunday. The popular downtown Christmas market will close early, at 6 p.m., on Dec. 31 rather than staying open all night, and the adjacent skating rink will shut at 8 p.m. Authorities warned of an increased risk of attack after police last week detained 14 people suspected of plotting to help an accused al-Qaida militant break out of jail. The inmate, Nizar...

Excerpt - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian authorities plan to step up security measures following a terrorist threat, officials said on Friday. They made the announcement at a news conference held by the Belgian federal prosecutors and the country's crisis coordination centre. ~ snip ~

Bucharest and Brussels, 16 Nov. (AKI) - Romania, one two countries accused by Europe's top human rights watchdog of hosting secret CIA jails used to interrogate Islamist terrorism suspects, says it has written to the European Union executive denying the charges. The letter to the European Commission is a response to a request from EU justice and security commissioner Franco Frattini asking Romania and Poland - the other country implicated by the Council of Europe - for an explanation. A Romanian spokeswoman in Brussels, Doris Mircea, said that a committee of inquiry set up by the government concluded that the...

Europe’s no-go zones or SUAs (“sensitive urban areas”) are multiplying. These are areas where the police no longer dares to venture and where Islamists hold sway. Every night since the beginning of last week, immigrant youths have been torching cars and clashing with police in Amsterdam’s Slotervaart district. The incidents started on Oct. 14 when a policewoman shot dead Bilal Bajaka, a 22-year old ethnic Moroccan, whilst he was stabbing her and a colleague with a knife. The officers were stabbed in the breast, face, neck and back. Surgeons could only narrowly save their lives. Since the incident, Slotervaart has...

Diana West brings to our attention a dismaying story from Brussels -- the brutalizing by Belgian police of peaceful demonstrators from a group called Stop the Islamization of Europe, including a member of the European parliament. It seems that European states not only increasingly accommodate Shariah (Islamic law), but are taking sides against those who exercise what (outside of Islamic law) is their right to protest this development. JOHN adds: Here's the video. The The distinguished-looking guy who gets roughed up by the police first is Luk Van Nieuwenhuysen, the Vice-President of the Flemish Parliament..... (Go to Powerline to see...

The bad news is that the police ruthlesly crushed a pro-American 9/11 demonstration. The good news is that many in Europe are taking seriously the Islamofascist threat and taking steps to end it.

Riot police called after Polish shipyard workers enter EU headquarters ASSOCIATED PRESS 12:26 p.m. August 30, 2007 BRUSSELS, Belgium – Belgian riot police were called Thursday after several Polish demonstrators entered headquarters of the European Union before a protest against EU plans to reduce state subsidies to the Gdansk shipyard. About 30 protesters entered the foyer of the building where the public has free access. They left peacefully when police arrived. The workers chanted “Solidarity” as they went out – the name of the trade union that launched Poland's peaceful anti-communist revolt in 1980. “We were just being tourists and...

Brussels Mayor Warns: 9/11 Demonstrators Are Criminals From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Mon, 2007-08-20 10:56 A quote from Freddy Thielemans, the Mayor of Brussels, in an op-ed piece in the Brussels newspaper De Standaard, 20 August 2007:   I decided to forbid the September 11 demonstration “against the islamicisation of Europe.” […] Since 2001 I have allowed over 3,500 demonstrations. This is only the sixth one which I forbid. […] The right to demonstrate exists only inasmuch as it does not cause a disturbance of the public  peace and order. […] First and foremost the organizers have...

BRUSSELS — Brussels mayor Freddy Thielemans has banned a planned protest against the so-called "Islamization of Europe" on September 11, the 6th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. "The danger to public order is too high," to allow the Brussels protest to go ahead, said the mayor's spokesman Nicolas Dassonville, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) late on Thursday, August 9. The "Stop the Islamization of Europe" (SIOE) group announced plans for the demonstration in front of the European parliament building last month to protest what the group says "Islamization of Europe". The group is also planning several protests...

Gordon Brown’s first Washington visit as Britain’s prime minister has prompted tea-leaf reading about the strengths and weaknesses of the US-UK relationship. Momentarily diverting – and probably unavoidable – as the frenzy of speculation is, the real tests lie ahead. Actions ultimately trump semiotics in national security affairs. Moreover, as contentious and important as Iraq is, it is a mistake to think that disagreements on that issue represent a fundamental change in the US-UK relationship. Tony Blair and President George W. Bush disagreed on global warming, as will Mr Brown and Mr Bush, but in neither case does the disagreement...

Tony Blair, the British prime minister, could end up swapping Downing Street for a job as the first full-time European Union president, under a plan being actively touted by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. Mr Sarkozy is understood to have discussed the idea with other EU leaders ahead of next week’s European summit, Mr Blair’s last major international event as prime minister. His support for Mr Blair taking on a big European job is a remarkable sign of Anglo-French rapprochement since Mr Sarkozy replaced Jacques Chirac as president last month. German diplomats say Mr Sarkozy put his plan to Angela...

By Mark Mardell BBC Europe editor Angela Merkel is in the driving seat and going at breakneck speed Straight after the signing, Germany's leader nearly got left behind. As the other 26 leaders waited on the bus that was to take them to the Brandenburg gate, Mrs Merkel had to push her way through the crowd, waving slightly anxiously, trying to catch up. But this in no way works as a metaphor. Politically speaking Mrs Merkel is behind the wheel, driving at breakneck speed. The Germans want a new treaty to renew the political shape of Europe and "renew...

European Union officials yesterday blamed "mixed up" people for letting emotions get in the way of a proper appreciation of the euro. The remark came in response to a new FT-Harris poll which shows that most of the eurozone's citizens would like to have their old, comfortable national currencies back. Feelings are particularly strong in Germany, the present holder of the EU's rotating presidency and Europe's largest economy. Two thirds of Germans now prefer the Deutschmark to the euro and more than half believe that the European single currency has damaged their country's economy. But the European Commission insists that...

BRUSSELS -- At a slaughterhouse here last week, Mohamed Mimoun wrestled a sheep between his legs and took a number. He gasped: It was a two-hour wait to sacrifice his animal for Eid al-Adha, an important Islamic religious festival. "I should have done this at home, like everyone else," he moaned. That would have saved Mr. Mimoun a long wait in drenching rain, but it would have been against the law. Killing an animal at home to eat it is legal in Belgium. But a 1988 law expressly forbids the ritual slaughter of animals at home. Living cheek by jowl...

Since last Sunday’s local elections in Belgium more than one fifth (21.8%) of the municipal councillors in Brussels, the capital of Europe, are immigrants of non-European origin. Most of them are Muslims, and most of them have been elected as Socialists. The non-European immigrants vote overwhelmingly Socialist, owing to the fact that many of them are rentseekers who migrated to Western Europe attracted by the subsidies of its generous welfare states. The immigrants have become the electoral life insurance of European Socialism. The Brussels borough of Sint-Joost-ten-Node (where the party headquarters of the Vlaams Belang party is located) has 19...

Last night Brussels police arrested 39 youths, including 15 minors, in the Marollen neigbourhood. The area had seen heavy rioting the previous nights. Some of the arrested immigrants were carrying combustibles. One schack was set alight and one car was torched. The police said there were no serious incidents. Yesterday afternoon Freddy Thielemans, the Mayor of Brussels, told journalists at a press conference that of the 45 youths arrested the previous night 31 were known to the police for a total of 242 crimes. The Mayor emphasized that the riots were the work of youth gangs and cannot be compared...

It looks as if immigrants youths want to turn nightly rioting during the Islamic holy month of ramadan into an annual tradition. Around 8:30pm last night violence erupted again in Brussels, the capital of Europe. The riots centered on the Brussels Marollen quarter and the area near the Midi Train Station, where the international trains from London and Paris arrive. Youths threw stones at passing people and cars, windows of parked cars were smashed, bus shelters were demolished, cars were set ablaze, a youth club was arsoned and a shop was looted. Two molotov cocktails were thrown into St.Peter’s hospital,...

Brussels 'to seize data on property ownership' By David Rennie in Brussels (Filed: 04/09/2006) The Government yesterday denied claims by a leading Conservative MP that the European Union is planning to seize control of information about the ownership and value of private property in nation states, as a first step to what could become an EU-wide property tax. Eric Pickles, a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party and shadow minister for local government, had expressed alarm at a European Commission proposal, known as Inspire — Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe — that would force national mapping agencies such as...

Germany wants to bind Russia to EU 01.09.2006 - 09:41 CET | By Honor Mahony Germany is considering a revamp of the bloc's policy towards the east with Berlin looking at how Russia can be "irreversibly" bound to the EU. It wants to push the new policy when it takes over the presidency of the EU in January - the six-month stint at the helm of the bloc allows the country to promote particular themes. "The goal must be to make the political, economic and cultural ties between the EU and Russia – its anchor in a wider Europe –...

BRUSSELS (EJP)--- Around 8,000 people marched through the centre of Brussels on Sunday to protest Israel’s military actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon. It was the second consecutive weekend that protestors, mainly of Arab origin, held a demonstration in the Belgian capital, seat of the European Union institutions. This time, however, observers noted that many more Belgians joined members of the ethnic minorities at the protest. And more middle aged and older people participated than at the first peace demonstration on 30 July. Activists chanted anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans and demanded an immediate halt to the fighting. « Israel out of...

A European company has the right to refuse employment to smokers, European Commissioner for employment and equal opportunities of Employers Vladimir Spidla has confirmed. Scottish Labour MEP Catherine Stihler brought the issue to the commission after Irish call-centre company Dotcom Directories had advertised for a worker but said smokers needed not apply. "If people are smoking on a coffee break or in their own time they come back into the office and they stink. We have a small office here and it would make things unbearable for the other staff", said Philip Tobin, director of Dotcom Directories in a radio...

BRUSSELS (EJP)--- Police patrols have been strenghtened at Brussels international aiprort after police found a letter threatening attacks against the Israeli airline El Al. The letter was found at the airport over the weekend, a police spokeswoman said on Monday. "I can confirm we found a letter in a toilet room of the Zaventem airport on Sunday," said federal police spokesperson Evie Claes. She declined to give more details on the letter but according to the press reports it referred to Israel’s offensive in Lebanon. "It’s a threat just like many we receive. We will follow this one up," a...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union regulators fined Microsoft (MSFT) 280.5 million euros ($357.3 million) on Wednesday for defying a 2004 antitrust ruling, and warned the company to comply or face bigger fines from next month. The tough new penalty is the first of its kind and comes on top of a record 497 million-euro fine the Commission imposed in its landmark antitrust decision against Microsoft in March 2004. "Microsoft has still not put an end to its illegal conduct. I have no alternative but to levy penalty payments for this continued non-compliance," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. "No company is...

Tehran, July 5, IRNA Iranian delegation led by Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani cancelled a visit to Brussels on Wednesday for security reasons. "Following reports on formation of terrorist squads in Brussels by Israel and certain European states for assassination attempts on members of the Iranian delegation scheduled to visit Brussels on Wednesday, the Iranian delegation cancelled the visit," a security official told IRNA. He said that the European partner gave assurances about security of the Iranian delegation and the visit will take place on July 11. The official said that the European Union Foreign...

Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt has ordered a probe into whether a Brussels-based banking consortium broke the law when it provided US anti-terror authorities with confidential information about international money transfers. The consortium known as SWIFT – society for worldwide inter-bank financial telecommunications – was brought into the limelight when the New York Times last week reported that officials from the CIA, the FBI and other US agencies had since 2001 been allowed to inspect the transfers. Prime minister Guy Verhofstadt asked the Belgian justice ministry on Monday (26 June) to investigate whether SWIFT acted illegally in allowing US...

The original sin is attributed to Charles de Gaulle. Disappointed by the loss of the French colonies in Africa and the Middle East, as well as with France's waning influence in the international arena, the president of France in the 1960's decided to create a strategic alliance with the Arab and Muslim world to compete with the dominance of the United States and the Soviet Union. This alliance became the position of the European Community (pre-European Union) during the course of the 1970s, when an extensive European-Arab dialogue developed. However, this alliance, in the context of which Europe allowed the...

The embattled French president, Jacques Chirac, is facing a revolt among EU politicians against French-imposed treaty rules that oblige the European Parliament to travel to Strasbourg every month.There has long been resentment at the Strasbourg "travelling circus", involving not just aircraft and trains but thundering convoys of lorries carrying parliamentary paperwork, which costs taxpayers more than £130 million a year. Now, a "perfect storm" of opposition to Strasbourg has formed, after it recently emerged that the city of Strasbourg quietly pocketed £54 million from rent paid by the parliament since 1980 for its Strasbourg office buildings, which are owned by...

Full steam ahead: Brussels draws up plan for 'EU navy' By Justin Stares in Brussels (Filed: 21/05/2006) The European Commission has drawn up plans to set up a European coastguard, which critics fear is a back-door attempt by Brussels to create an EU navy with its own powers to stop and search shipping. Plans to upgrade the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) into a fully-fledged coastguard are buried in a document revising European Union (EU) transport policy that is due to be published next month. Armed coastguard will be embryonic naval service They come on the back of other "empire...

Today the EU-Commission will launch its improvement-report concerning the entry of both countries into the union. Both countries of the Balkan seem to have massive problems. Is the final decision about their join-in postponed to the January 2007??! Hamburg - Example Bulgaria: About 173 contracted murders happened since 1990. Last week the businessman Ivo Markov was shot in Sofia on the street. In February the supposable underworld chief Iwan Todrow was hit by deathly bullets. In the last 6 years more than 120 murders or murder attempts happened in Bulgaria and not a single one was cleared up. In mid...

Today, some 80,000 people participated in a silent march in Brussels to commemorate 17 year old Joe Van Holsbeeck, who was knifed on 12 April because he refused to hand over his MP3 player to two North African youths. The murder happened during the evening rush hour in a crowded Brussels central station. The murderers were filmed by security cameras, but it took a full week before the authorities released the footage. The assassins are still at large. This BBC report about the march, which was the largest protest in the country since 1996 when 300,000 marched through Brussels in...

20 EU states warned to toe Brussels line By David Rennie in Brussels (Filed: 05/04/2006) The European Commission launched a barrage of legal proceedings against more than 20 member states yesterday, demanding that they obey EU laws on everything from energy monopolies to subsidies for airlines. Fearing for the health of the single market after an outbreak of protectionism in various countries, the Brussels commission challenged a French decree blocking foreign ownership of firms in 11 "sensitive sectors", from cryptology and arms to casinos. The decree, which came into force on Dec 31 last year, was part of the policy...

Europe’s Ailing Social Model: Facts & Fairy-Tales From the desk of Martin De Vlieghere on Thu, 2006-03-23 08:43 This article was written by Martin De Vlieghere, Eric Verhulst and Paul Vreymans of the Flemish think tank Work for All. On 23 and 24 March the European Council is meeting to discuss the future of Europe’s social model. The very essence of the welfare state is at stake. Europe’s present social model is unable to tackle the modern challenges of globalization, and has left Europe with gigantic problems: an unsurmountable public debt, a rapidly ageing population, 19 million unemployed, and an...

Poland and Hungary are quarrelling over the definition of vodka. For the Poles vodka is “an alcoholic beverage derived from cereals or potatoes.” Historically vodka is a colourless liquor made from grain. Traditionally it was made in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and Scandinavia. However, the fact that potato vodka is also considered to be vodka, though potatoes were only introduced in these regions in the 18th century, indicates, according to some, that vodka can also be distilled from other products than grain or potatoes

Posted: 20-02-2006 , 12:59 GMT Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with officials of the European Union on Monday as well as his Belgian counterpart, Karel De Gucht, in Brussels in an attempt to resolve the crisis surrounding Iran's nuclear program. Amongst the European delegation was EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Belgian Foreign Minister and head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Karel De Gucht. Mottaki stated during the talks, according to IRNA, that the "Zionist regime is an illegal regime." De Gucht, for his part, described Iran as a "very important country," and said...