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Reuters reports (via ForexLive) that Italian PM Mario Monti is flying to Brussels unexpectedly, and his office is giving no details about who he's going to meet or what he will while in the European capitol. News of his sudden trip coincided with a momentary drop in the value of the euro versus the dollar below $1.28, a value it hasn't hit since September 2010, according to CNBC. The euro has been falling steadily since Tuesday

Quote: homeland.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-jihadist-use-social-media-how-prevent-terrorism-and-preserve-innovation Subcommittee Hearing: Jihadist Use of Social Media - How to Prevent Terrorism and Preserve Innovation Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence | 311 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 | Dec 6, 2011 2:00pm On Tuesday, December 6, 2011 the Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence will hold a hearing entitled "Jihadist Use of Social Media - How to Prevent Terrorism and Preserve Innovation." The Committee will meet at 2:00 p.m. in 311 Cannon House Office Building. Witnesses Mr. Evan F. Kohlmann Flashpoint Global Partners Mr. William McCants Analyst Analyst for the Center for Naval...

Some of the world’s most powerful investment banks were downgraded by ratings agency Fitch as Germany’s cherished European fiscal compact appeared to be unravelling. [Snip] Credit ratings of the world’s biggest lenders have come under pressure as weak economic growth and concerns about whether European politicians have done enough to end the Eurozone debt crisis. [Snip] Meanwhile, Germany’s attempt to save the Eurozone was hanging in the balance as Hungary and the Czech Republic claimed it would be damaging and protesters in Warsaw demanded Poland stands firm against Angela Merkel. Amid fresh warnings that Europe is triggering a 1930s-style global...

Despite not being a member of the European Union, Switzerland is under intense pressure from Brussels to raise taxes as companies flee high-tax EU welfare states in favor of more business-friendly Swiss cantons. And if the nation refuses to bow down soon, so-called “eurocrats” are threatening retaliation. The Swiss government has been in discussions with EU bosses for over a year regarding Switzerland’s non-compliance with the “EU Code of Conduct for Business Taxation.” The EU’s goal, according to the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, is to eliminate what the supranational regime in Brussels calls “harmful tax practices” — low taxes which attract...

The Federation of Islamic Organizations In Europe (FIOE) has announced that it recently held a celebration in Brussels that was attended by “more than one hundred European diplomats, parliament members, officials, religious leaders and representatives of the civil society and cultural life” including the Ambassador of United Kingdom. According to the FIOE announcement: The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe held a celebration in Brussels on the occasion of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha. The celebration held on Monday evening (21st) was attended by a group of public figures. This high level celebration was also attended by more than one hundred European...

Muslims now make up one-quarter of the population of Brussels, according to a new book published by the Catholic University of Leuven, the top French-language university in Belgium. In real terms, the number of Muslims in Brussels -- where half of the number of Muslims in Belgium currently live --- has reached 300,000, which means that the self-styled "Capital of Europe" is now the most Islamic city in Europe. In practical terms, Islam mobilizes more people in Brussels than do the Roman Catholic Church, political parties or even trade unions, according to "The Iris and the Crescent," a book that...

"EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact."

WASHINGTON: Federal authorities on Monday arrested a prominent US-based pro-Pakistan activist associated with the Kashmiri separatist movement, accusing him of funneling money from the Pakistani spy agency ISI to lobby US decision-makers. In the process, the Obama administration's law enforcement brigade also blew open the Pakistan and its spy agency's two-decade long subversion of the so-called Kashmir cause. The FBI swooped down on the Virginia residence of Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, a well-known representative of Kashmiri separatists in the US and detained him on charges of ''participating in a long-term conspiracy to act as agents of the Pakistani government in...

A solar energy plane made the world's first international flight powered by the sun on Friday to show the potential for pollution-free air travel. The Solar Impulse took off from an airfield at Payerne in western Switzerland on Friday morning and landed at Brussels airport after a 13-hour flight. "The objective is to demonstrate what we can do with existing technology in terms of renewable energy and energy savings," project co-founder and pilot Andre Borschberg told Reuters by telephone during the flight. Borschberg believes such solar-harnessing technology can be used to power cars and homes. "It is symbolic to be...

I am planning a trip through Brussels soon. What are the things to do? Is one day enough or would two days be better?

The chemicals were stored in vats in the basement of an Egyptian restaurant in downtown Brussels. The suicide bomber, a former soccer player who had fallen into drug use and petty crime, had been selected. The target, the American Embassy in Paris, had been scouted. All that remained was the signal from Osama bin Laden's operatives in Afghanistan to strike. The nod was to come from a Frenchman of Algerian origin who was on his way back from training in Afghanistan. But he was arrested in transit, and he talked, spilling to French interrogators details of what could have been ...

Fourteen people arrested in Belgium on suspicion of plotting to free a convicted al-Qaeda member from jail have been released without charge. The suspects were released for lack of evidence after 24 hours in custody. They were suspected of plotting to free Tunisian national Nizar Trabelsi, jailed in Belgium in 2003 for planning to attack US targets. In spite of the releases, the interior ministry said heightened security measures would remain in place. The federal prosecutor's office said searches at suspects' homes had yielded no explosives, weapons or other evidence to persuade the court to keep them in jail. "According...

Wilders’ impact felt as Dutch coalition sworn in By Stanley Pignal in Brussels Published: October 13 2010 17:48 | Last updated: October 13 2010 17:48 A government supported by the anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders is to take office in the Netherlands on Thursday, with plans to harden immigration rules and cut public spending. In a nod to tradition, Mark Rutte, the incoming prime minister, and members of his government will stand on the balcony of the royal palace in The Hague to accept a mandate from Queen Beatrix to form the country’s first minority administration since the second world war.

The European Investigation Order, a term with the genuine ring of totalitarianism, is the latest project to be adopted by the Eurocrats in charge of the Brussels Empire. In essence, it is a measure to place the entire continent of Europe under a system of policing superior to every country’s police force. Prosecutors from any and every country will be granted extraordinary powers, enabling them to bug communications wherever they please, have access to bank accounts and to DNA records, even in matters that are not a crime in the country concerned. The national police forces will be powerless to...

BRUSSELS — The European Commission fined 17 steel producers a total of 518 million euros (635 million dollars) on Wednesday for running a price-fixing cartel, with industry giant ArcelorMittal hit the hardest. The European Union's competition watchdog said the companies ran a cartel that lasted 18 years to fix the prices of prestressing steel, the long, curled steel wires used in construction to make foundations, balconies or bridges.

The Belgian Bishops have opened their churches to illegal immigrants in order to pressurize the Belgian authorities to allow the immigrants to stay in the country. Most of the immigrant squatters in the churches are Muslims. They display banners in the church showing the name of Allah (picture taken in the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Brussels). The Belgian Bishops are so ignorant that they do not see what is going on: their churches are being turned into mosques before their very eyes. The Muslim squatters hold Islamic prayer services in the church. The altar has been moved...

Brussels doesn’t stand for freedom, it sits for its own self-aggrandizement, social engineering, the tyranny of legalisms, and diplomatic argy-bargy. "Joe Biden.” With the exception of “broken teleprompter,” these are the scariest two words in the White House communications shop. One advantage Biden has over Obama is he can always claim he was “just being Joe” whenever he says something controversial. In this way, Biden reminds me a bit of the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat, who would say “nice” things in English and evil things in Arabic. The press would largely ignore the Arabic and take him at his...

Saudi Columnist: Brussels Increasingly Looks Like Any Great Middle East City; 'In Years to Come, [Muslims in Europe] Could Only Grow In Numbers, Coming... In Droves' In a column titled "The Muslims Are Coming!" in the Saudi Arab News daily, Aijaz Zaka Syed, a Dubai-based journalist and commentator, wrote that "no matter what Europeans think of Muslims and other recent arrivals, the continent badly needs new blood and ideas." He adds that "Europe's past is catching up with its present and future."The following is his column, in the original English.[1]Brussels "Increasingly Looks Like Beirut, Istanbul, or Any Other Great...

Joe Biden’s May 6 speech to the European Parliament appears to have been largely ignored by the American media, both old and new. The full performance can be viewed below. The video comes complete with images (at 0:18 of the clip) of Biden puffing out his chest as Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” the unofficial EU anthem, is played. ----click on link for amazing video and analysis

As Joe Biden gaffes go, this one’s a …medium. Biden saluted Brussels, Belgium in the opening of his address to the European Parliament with the traditional, obsequious praise all speakers offer to another country when addressing their legislatures — well, almost all, anyway. However, as Biden is wont to do, he goes overboard, and in the process denigrates his peers in the American political system and his own country:

Even though we refer to Washington, D.C. as the capital of the free world, Vice President Joe Biden suggested Brussels – in Belgium – may well have claim to that title. But would Brussels still exist as a capital for not the allied forces in World War I and World War II? Read the full post including Biden's remarks on video...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates begins another push for Pentagon cuts, NATO is preparing to follow suit. Adm. James Stavridis, the supreme allied commander of NATO, said Monday he will look to make "significant" cuts of both flag officers – generals and admirals – as well as staff for the US and NATO allies. The comment follows a speech by Mr. Gates at the Eisenhower library in Abilene, Kan., May 8, in which the Defense secretary promised significant belt-tightening at the Pentagon – one of the dominant themes of his tenure. In the speech, Gates mentioned the Pentagon's European operations, noting...

Britain could be forced to have its Budget signed off by European leaders under plans to impose an 'economic government of the EU', it emerged yesterday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pressing for 'oversight' of national economies to be included in controversial arrangements that were agreed by EU leaders yesterday. She wants to introduce financial penalties for states with persistently high budget deficits, giving the EU a high degree of control. This could see Britain forfeiting the £2billion annual 'structural funds' paid out to some of the nation's poorer areas by Brussels.

The Cold War-era Western European Union defence alliance, set up in the wake of World War II, is to cease functioning, its assembly's head Robert Walter said on Wednesday. "The WEU as an organisation will be wound down within a year or so," said British parliamentarian Walter, who presides over the Paris-based assembly of the international grouping. The body was initiated by Belgium, Britain, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1948 and later expanded to include Germany, Italy, Spain and others. Its founding principles were "to afford assistance to each other in resisting any policy of aggression," and "to promote...

Follow up to my earlier post about 14 Belgians arrested for being al Qaeda members. It turns out one of them is Malika El-Aroud, who has been arrested in the past for running an al Qaeda support website. If you speak French and hang around the eHadis, you'd probably recognize her from her frequent appearances at the minbar-sos forum.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday that the western military alliance will debate the bloc's nuclear policy in Estonia next month. He said a "discussion" is planned after the foreign ministers of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway requested "a major debate" on NATO's nuclear policy at their next gathering in Tallinn on April 22 and 23. However, Rasmussen stressed that the talks, which come as President Barack Obama mulls a drastic cut in the US nuclear arsenal, will have to balance calls to remove outdated weapons with a need for a strategic nuclear "deterrent." The...

Ukip's European leader Nigel Farage has been fined £2,700 after refusing to say sorry for a colourful outburst against the new European president. Mr Farage used Herman Van Rompuy's maiden speech to the European Parliament last week to describe him as having the "charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk". He was summoned in by EU officials to explain his comments but said his only apology would be to bank clerks. Yves Leterme, Belgium's Prime Minister, has demanded a public apology for the "slander" and Mr Farage's added "insult" that Mr Van Rompuy...

The French daily "Le Monde" broke the news on February 9: Paris had "agreed in principle" to negotiate the sale of one or more Mistral-class ships to Russia. If the sale goes through, it will be the first deal of its kind between a member of NATO and Russia. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin first voiced Russian interest in buying a Mistral-class ship during a trip to Paris in late November. As he spoke, a Mistral was docked in St Petersburg -- part of a carefully choreographed move -- playing host to Russian combat helicopters. Feeling vulnerable, a number of Russia's...

We woke up in a different country today. Alright, it doesn’t look very different. The trees still seem black against the winter sun; the motorways continue to jam inexplicably; commuters carry on avoiding eye contact. But Britain is no longer a sovereign nation. At midnight last night, we ceased to be an independent state, bound by international treaty to other independent states, and became instead a subordinate unit within a European state. Yes, a European state. Take a quick dekko at the definition set out in Article One of the1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States: “The...

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...