Free Republic

Russian energy giant Gazprom issued a brief statement on June 29 which actually touches on many political problems in the greater geography surrounding Turkey. It said that the company is ready to send more gas to Turkey if necessary, but from 2018 on Turkey could ask help from Azerbaijan as well. Reuters got it right when it called the statement a threat; a threat to both Turkey and Azerbaijan. The date the Russian company named, 2018, is the planned completion date for the TANAP (Trans-Anatolian) pipeline, which will carry Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe, a $7 billion project which was...

European banks would leave London “in very short order” if Britain voted to exit the European Union, a senior Goldman Sachs executive said in a newspaper interview published on Monday. Michael Sherwood, a vice-chairman at the bank, said the prospect of a British withdrawal was a real worry given Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans to hold a referendum on the subject if re-elected in 2015. … Goldman’s Sherwood predicted European banks would quickly relocate if Britain did sever its EU ties. “Forget what we would do. Every European firm would be gone in very short order,” he was quoted as...

Unique Roman Amphitheatre Slumbers Beneath Sofia Downtown Updated on: 20.02.2008, 14:29 Published on: 19.02.2008, 12:13 Serdica - an ancient names of Sofia, was a military, economic and culture centre in the Roman Empire. And while local culture tourism is redirected to Perperikon and other spots dispersed all over this country, a mystic town slumbers beneath Sofia downtown, told from Standart. The excavations under the medieval St. Sofia church started in the 1940s. There is a huge Roman necropolis under the church with dozens of tombs stretching under the building of the National Assembly. Archaeologists and historians reckon the remnants from...

Sliven. Archaeologists discovered a rich Thracian grave from the 1st century AD in a mound in the municipality Sliven in south-eastern Bulgaria. The findings provide evidence for the preservation of burial rites and a strong Thracian aristocracy in the Roman era. The main finding is a 15 cm long bronze amphora, with two uniquely decorated handles. Another valuable discovery is a bronze skillet-shaped patera. One of its side handles ends with a lion's head, while the other ends with an animal combining features of the lion and the goat. Both items served ritual purposes. The archeologists also unearthed a bronze...

Hizbullah’s armed wing wired almost $100,000 (€75,000) to two men wanted over a bomb attack that killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year, a local newspaper reported Friday, according to the AFP news agency. According to the 24 Hours daily, the money was to help organize the blast at Burgas airport on the Black Sea on July 18, 2012, and to carry out reconnaissance in other countries. The attack on the tourist bus also killed the vehicle’s Bulgarian driver—a Muslim—and left 35 people injured. It was the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004. Israel immediately blamed Hizbullah for...

The European Union failed on Thursday to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist group in fear that such a move would lead to instability in Lebanon and the Middle East. Britain’s drive to reach a unanimous decision to blacklist Lebanon's powerful Shiite group has failed to persuade the 27-nation bloc, diplomatic sources said. Diplomats told Reuters that the discussions were not over, but Britain may escalate the issue to a higher level, possibly to a July meeting of foreign ministers. “There was no agreement and the understanding was the issue will be discussed further, but not in this (group),” a diplomat...

A small group of EU countries has again blocked Britain’s bid to blacklist Lebanese group Hezbollah. Diplomatic sources said Austria and the Czech republic led opposition at a meeting of EU countries’ counterterrorism specialists in Brussels on Wednesday (19 June). Ireland, Italy and Poland also voiced concerns. Objections center around shaky evidence that Hezbollah bombed a bus containing Jewish tourists in Bulgaria last year. …

Like flaming demons, Wallachians rushed out of the night and into the Turkish camp, striking terror in an army of terrorists. Leading the charge was a gore-spattered chieftain—hewing and hacking a path to the central tents where the Sultan huddled in fear. On he came, Vlad Dracul, raining down slaughter and raging for Mehmed’s blood.On June 17, 1462, outside Targoviste, Romania, the world was given a rare instance of how the good can be accomplished though the grotesque—for God can deploy His enemies as allies. Vlad Dracul III, Prince of Wallachia, can hardly be considered a warrior of faith; but...

The skeletel remains of ancient warriors with spears and daggers have been uncovered in an archeological site during the construction of the Corridor 10 highway project in south-east Serbia. According to experts the remains date back 2,500 years and were found in the ancient district of Pirot named Suburbium where the ancient Roman road, Via Militaris, headed to what is now the border of modern day Bulgaria. ''We have found three skeletal remains of warriors with spears, daggers and bronze ornaments, and decorations of various kinds,'' said Mirjana Blagojevic, archeologist from Serbia's institute for the protection of cultural patrimony. Predrag...

Snipped--The German government is toughening its stance on economic refugees from Bulgaria and Romania, who it says have become a burden on social services. snipped--Germany will take measures to prevent poor immigrants from the two Eastern European countries from entering the country under false pretences to collect welfare benefits.snip--... give these new arrivals a message: "If you are working here illegally -- no matter how -- then please go back to where you came from!" he said on Friday.

Thousands of demonstrators massed on streets surrounding Istanbul's central Taksim Square, long a venue for political unrest, while protests erupted in the capital Ankara and the Aegean coastal city of Izmir. Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street near Taksim. Primary school children ran crying from the clouds of tear gas while tourists caught by surprise scurried to get back to luxury hotels lining the square. The unrest reflects growing disquiet at the authoritarianism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). Riot police clashed with tens of thousands of May...

ISTANBUL — Police officers attacked a group of peaceful demonstrators on Friday in Istanbul’s Taksim Square with water cannons and tear gas, sending scores of people, protesters and tourists alike, scurrying into shops and luxury hotels and turning the center of this city into a battle zone at the height of tourist season.

The gilded lifestyle of MEPs has been compared to the uncontrolled excesses of ancient Rome after research showed their perks have not been dented despite biting austerity measures. From Italian MEPs who enjoy free haircuts to Maltese ones who get 52 free gallons of petrol a month, the perks—and expenses—continue unabated for the representatives of European Union nations. MEPs from the 27 EU nations are paid salaries of £137 million ($207 million) a year, according to research by German pricing watchdog Preisvergleich.de, and some earn 740 percent more than the average citizen. …

The European Union is to ban olive oil jugs and dipping bowls from restaurant tables in a move described by one of Britain’s top cooks as authoritarian and damaging to artisan food makers. The small glass jugs filled with green- or gold-colored extra virgin olive oil are familiar and traditional for restaurant goers across Europe, but they will be banned from 1 January 2014 after a decision taken in an obscure Brussels committee earlier this week. From next year, olive oil “presented at a restaurant table” must be in prepackaged factory bottles with a tamper-proof dispensing nozzle and labeling in...

Amid growing calls from Tory MPs for David Cameron to respond to the Ukip threat by bringing forward legislation on an EU referendum, Farage warned that his party would not go away even if No 10 "starts singing the same song". William Hague, who famously suffered a major defeat in the 2001 election after tacking to the right, called for a cautious response to Ukip as he warned of the dangers of "quick fixes". Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, said many Ukip voters were "frustrated Conservatives". As the Tories work out their response to Ukip, which won nearly a quarter...

SNIPPET: "BERLIN – Bulgarian police officers last summer arrested a Canadian citizen linked to the Iranian government who engaged in surveillance of the local Chabad center in the capital of Sofia, a well-placed and reliable local source told The Jerusalem Post last week, on condition of anonymity due to security reasons. An Iranian-sponsored female agent in her 50s, holding a Canadian passport, traveled from Istanbul to Sofia several weeks after the bombing of the Israeli tour bus in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas in July 2012. She was arrested on her first day in Sofia after the Bulgarian...

'It was one of the most audacious acts of the Cold War which could have come straight from the pages of a spy novel. Georgi Markov was jabbed with an umbrella which fired a poison pellet into his leg as he crossed Waterloo Bridge. He died three days later – and for almost 35 years mystery has surrounded the whereabouts of his killer. Now the prime suspect has been tracked down to a small Austrian town where he works as an antiques dealer. Francesco Gullino, 66, who was known by his Communist handlers as 'Agent Piccadilly', lives in a rundown...

".....in the past 12 months, 400 Romanians and Bulgarians have moved into the block of 46 flats in Rheinhausen, a once-respectable suburb of the German city of Duisburg. Local officials claim they have migrated here en masse in anticipation of the social welfare they will be entitled to next year. From January 2014, all 29 million citizens of Romania and Bulgaria will gain full rights to live, work and claim benefits here under EU ‘freedom of movement’ rules..... Unable to work or speak German, and with the schools already full, the Romanians and Bulgarians congregate in their dozens outside the tower...

Controversy has erupted over next Tuesday's European Parliament resolution "on eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU", meant to mark international women's day, after libertarian Swedish MEPs from the Pirate Party spotted the call for a ban in the small print. While not legally binding, the vote could be the first step towards European legislation as the EU's assembly increasingly flexes its political muscle within Europe's institutions.

The Obama administration is postponing an award for an Egyptian activist who rallied worldwide attention against forced “virginity tests” on female protesters because of anti-American and anti-Semitic comments discovered on her Twitter account. The State Department announced earlier this week that Samira Ibrahim would be among 10 recipients of the International Women of Courage award presented by Secretary of State John Kerry and first lady Michelle Obama on Friday. But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday the U.S. would hold off on awarding Ibrahim while officials investigate the tweets, which include support for attacks against U.S. diplomatic installations and...