Free Republic

Soaring sovereign debt has called into question the existence of the eurozone. Investors however respond differently to each country's debt burden and deficits. But it isn't just major European countries that made this list. Island nations like St. Kitts & Nevis have amassed massive public debt. We've ranked the 15 states with the worst debt to GDP ratios, and added CDS prices (where available) to point out what the market thinks of their outlook. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE LIST ( one country on the list Surprised me, and one country NOT on the list surprised me too )

Tax attacks on the rich may seem extreme in the U.S., but around the world rates are far more aggressive. A report by KPMG highlights 2010 individual income tax for countries around the world. We ranked the countries based on the income tax rate on $300,000 of gross income and included the income level at which the top marginal rate kicks off. As a point of reference, America's top marginal rate starts at $373,650 and its percentage 27.9%. That keeps the U.S. out of the top 20.

Everyone likes to think they work harder than everyone else, but the latest OECD data may surprise some Europeans and Americans who expected to be at the top of the world's hard work list. The latest data from the OECD sheds light on not just paid work, but also unpaid work such as cooking and other housework. Notable absentees from the top 14 include Germany, France, and the UK. All of the countries listed have a work day longer than the OECD average. Note: This list only considers OECD countries. Data released April 12, 2011. CLICK THIS LINK for the...

This list of countries that consume the most alcohol per capita in an average year includes beer, wine and spirits. Based on a 2011 report by the World Health Organization surveying citizen over the age of 15.

Chief PLO negotiator says Palestinian missions abroad are a step closer toward becoming embassies of an "occupied state with defined borders." Some 10 EU countries are scheduled to upgrade the status of Palestinian representative offices in their capitals in the near future, Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat declared on Sunday. The move means that Palestinian missions would move a step closer toward becoming embassies whose workers enjoy full diplomatic immunity. Erekat said that the move follows Norway’s recent decision to upgrade the status of the Palestinian representative office. Moreover, the move comes in wake of three South American countries to...

With such a huge range of nations in the world, the question of whether there is a best place to live seems both simple and elusive. With that idea in mind, NEWSWEEK offers this list of best countries. Given that there are so many ways to measure achievement, we chose the five we felt were most important--health, economic dynamism (the openness of a country's economy and the breadth of the size of its corporate sector), education, political environment, and quality of life. And because it's easier to improve quality of life if you're tiny and rich like Finland, for example,...

As the financial markets rebounded in 2009 and developing markets continued to grow, lost wealth around the world returned. Despite the volatile global economy, many households gained or regained millionaire status last year, according to a new report by the Boston Consulting Group. The study finds global wealth increased 11.5 percent in 2009, to $111.5 trillion, just short of 2007 levels. When measuring assets under management -- cash deposits, money market funds, listed securities, and onshore and offshore assets, but not wealth attributed to investors' own businesses, residences, or luxury goods -- the U.S. continued to lead with more than...

Dubai's economic meltdown was a warning sign of further sovereign default troubles for other governments. CMA, a credit information specialist, tracks the world’s most volatile sovereign debt issuers according to percentage changes in their 5 year Credit Default Swaps. On top of their list for the greatest sovereign risks are countries from the former Russian Eastern Bloc, conflict-torn nations, and an oil-rich dictatorship. #1 Venezuela Cumulative Probability of Default: 60% WSJ: "one week ago, the government was forced to begin shutting down seven small banks that together represent up to 12% of banking system deposits, after the public began to...

GENEVA – Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery — essentially, a ban on blasphemy. .. Algeria and Pakistan have taken the lead in lobbying to bring the matter to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly. Such a ban would face great resistance in Western nations .. The countries that form the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference are currently lobbying a Geneva-based U.N. committee to accept its plan, .. If that occurs, Muslim countries and their allies in the developing world would stand a decent chance of...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Just 22 countries out of 192 -- 11.4 percent -- are paid-in-full members of the United Nations, a U.N. official said on Wednesday. Those nations have paid all of what they owed for the world body's 2008/09 core budget, peacekeeping, international tribunals and renovations to U.N. headquarters in New York, said Angela Kane, U.N. under secretary-general for management. They are Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Congo, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, New Zealand, Niger, the Philippines, Singapore, Italy, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and Tajikistan. The rest including the United States -- the top contributor...

http://www.wimp.com/flipcash/

Generally, political issues are solved through negotiations, but sometimes the real battle begins.Mexico Italy India Turkey Russia Ukraine Taiwan South Korea Somalia

(IsraelNN.com) Jews living in majority-Muslim countries are in a precarious situation as Israel fights the Islamist Hamas regime in Gaza. While pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic rallies and sporadic attacks are continuing worldwide, Jews in Muslim lands face an additional danger as a vulnerable minority. In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, that nation's only synagogue was forcibly shut down and sealed. Located in an ethnic Arab neighborhood of Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, the synagogue became the focus of a Muslim mob last Wednesday following a "free speech forum" held in the city. The small Indonesian synagogue, without benefit of a Torah...

<p>GENEVA (AP) - Islamic proposals to ban criticism of religion, which have gathered strength since the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad two years ago, threaten to derail an already troubled U.N. anti-racism conference planned for next year. The European Union rejects suggestions by Algeria—backed by other Muslim and African countries—that limits on free speech are needed to stop the publication of offensive articles and images.</p>

And now for a world government By Gideon Rachman Published: December 8 2008 19:13 | Last updated: December 8 2008 19:13 I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US. I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible. A “world government” would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws. The European Union has already...

PARIS (AFP) - Nordic countries take the greatest care of their environment and their people, according to a ranking published on Thursday by the publication Reader's Digest. An aerial picture shows the port in Helsinki in 2006. Nordic countries take the greatest care of their environment and their people, according to a ranking published on Thursday by the publication Reader's Digest.(AFP/File/Pekka Sakki) Finland comes top of the 141-nation list, followed by Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and then Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and Australia. At the bottom of the list is Ethiopia, preceded by Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Chad. The...

ROME (AFP) - Despite projections of a bumper grain crop this year, 33 countries will not have enough food, with Iraq and Zimbabwe among the hardest hit, the UN food agency said Tuesday. Countries with "widespread lack of access to food" include Afghanistan, North Korea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Liberia, Mauritania, Nepal, Niger and Sierra Leone, according to the April issue of the Food and Agriculture Organisations "Crop Prospects and Food Situation" report. Hardest hit, with an "exceptional shortfall" in food production and supplies, are Iraq, Lesotho, the Philippines, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, the FAO said. In eastern Africa, millions "still depend...

UN predicts huge migration to rich countries By David Blair Last Updated: 1:39am GMT 15/03/2007 At least 2.2 million migrants will arrive in the rich world every year from now until 2050, the United Nations said yesterday. The latest figures from the UN's population division predict a global upheaval without parallel in human history over the next four decades. There will be billions more people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Of these, tens of millions will migrate to Europe and America, while the indigenous populations of most countries in the rich world will either stagnate or decline. In...

Yeah, we're childish. But these are exactly the kinds of questions that pop into our head all the time -- especially as Cathy is forcing us to watch Extra or somesuch. So we decided to put this list together and welcome your input. Here are the ground rules: 1. By "countries," we mean current countries based on current boundaries. 2. Any past accomplishments are credited to the current country; modern Iraq, for example, gets credit for Mesopotamia. 3. Seminal achievements score the biggest points; however, some points are deducted for long periods of backwardness. 4. For our descriptions, our own...

Countries under-report bird flu By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC News, Rome Under-reporting may be due to inadequate compensation fundsChina, Indonesia and Africa are under-reporting incidences of bird flu, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). A lack of adequate compensation schemes for farmers with infected poultry is the major factor, said the OIE avian influenza coordinator. She is urging developed countries to provide the funding for such schemes. The call came at the end of a two-day international conference to discuss the spread of avian flu. Speaking at a news conference, Dr Christianne Bruschke said that under-reporting...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2006 – The international community must stay united to fight the terrorists who have declared war against all free nations, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in Germany Feb. 4. "We have an opportunity to help to write a new chapter in the history of freedom while these enemies are on the defensive," Rumsfeld said at the 42nd Annual Munich Conference on Security Policy. "This is, as it has been in earlier decades, a time to work together closely," the secretary said. "No nation can succeed in the war on terror without close cooperation with other nations."...

EU and Muslim countries fail the terror test By Anton La Guardia in Barcelona (Filed: 29/11/2005) European countries and their Muslim neighbours vowed to unite in the fight against terrorism yesterday, but only after papering over a deep disagreement about who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter. Tony Blair, who was co-chairman of the Euromed summit in Barcelona, hailed the joint code of conduct on tackling terrorism as "a very important moment". The leaders of the European Union and Mediterranean countries agreed that "terrorism can never be justified", promised to "condemn terrorism in all its manifestations without...

Sept 2 (Reuters) - Hurricane Katrina has devastated New Orleans and other parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing hundreds of people and possibly thousands, and drawing pledges of support from all over the world.

Jihad is the ‘evil ideology’ that is driving terrorism. Muslims should take the lead in rooting out this barbarism. Early reports indicate that there were no fatalities from four coordinated explosions that again targeted Londons’ transit system yesterday, July 21, 2005, exactly two weeks after the Islamikaze carnage of July 7, 2005 that killed over 50 persons. Perhaps we will also be spared the surreal drama that is enacted each time there is a major Islamikaze terrorist attack: politicians and various other “experts”—non-Muslim and Muslim alike—start praising Islam. They tell us that Islam is a noble religion that stands for...

New York, 1 July (AKI) - UN secretary general Kofi Annan has urged Islamic nations to play their full role in tackling issues from terrorism and human rights abuse to UN reform, in a message to foreign ministers of Islamic countries meeting in Sanaa, Yemen. "The international community has reached a fork in the road. One path leads to a more anarchic, conflict-ridden world of entrenched poverty. The other leads to increased global cooperation and solidarity," he said in a message delayed by his envoy Ali Alatas to Foreign ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which ended...

The Iraq War is replacing the attacks of September 11, 2001, as fodder for conspiracy theories emanating from the Middle East - in particular, questions surrounding Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi. Does he exist? Where is he hiding? Is he actually an American or Jordanian agent? Is he dead? Print and television reports in the Arab and Iranian press regularly question Mr. al-Zarqawi's existence. A member of the former Iraqi Governing Council, Fadhl al-Rube'i, was interviewed on the Lebanese channel New TV, on May 16, 2004. He called Mr. al-Zarqawi mythical and a creation of the Pentagon's "disinformation" center. The spokesman for...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday called 2005 "a make-or-break moment" for the world's poor and urged all rich nations to follow the European Union and boost aid, improve trade and provide debt relief. With more than 1 billion people living on less than $1 a day, 815 million having too little to eat, and more than 115 million children not going to elementary school, he said U.N. development goals won't be met unless world leaders take "concrete steps" this year. Annan didn't single out any countries but his message was clearly aimed at the United States...

The Pentagon has acknowledged five instances in which guards or interrogators at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, handled the Koran in such a way as to cause offense to some who believe it is the revealed word of Allah. Three are said to have been three deliberate and two unintentional. Amnesty International has put the United States high on the list of countries it says are guilty of prisoner and human rights abuses because of the way suspected terrorists are treated. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, rebutted the notion of inappropriate treatment...

Every Memorial Day, when we honor the soldiers who have sacrificed so much for the greater cause of liberty, I think about Uncle B. My grandmother’s brother served in Europe during World War II. I remember him playing Chinese checkers with us kids in the 1970s, not knowing then that he was almost incapable of relating to anyone older. Physically whole, Uncle B suffered from the quiet disease we used to call “shell shock.” The military today makes great efforts to help veteran troops deal with the transition away from the heavy psychological burden of combat. Sadly, not all vets...

Otherwise eco-activists will keep the world’s poor impoverished, hungry, and disease-ridden. The litany of alleged offenses follows a script: fragile ecosystems, environmental devastation, irresponsible investment, huge profits, human rights violations, indigenous people imperiled. So do the demands: transparency, accountability, ethics, social responsibility. The tactics are equally familiar. Launch website, issue denunciations. Enlist grade school teachers whose students can write letters to the CEO. Harass the CEO at home. Stage protests at corporate offices. Claim to be stakeholders who must be given a role in all decisions, so that company policies henceforth reflect activist demands. Confrontational? Disingenuous? Of course. Effective? Absolutely....

Despite harsh words, condemnations and calls to boycott the Jewish State, Arab countries purchase much of their medical equipment from Israel. Arab countries purchase a wide array of medical supplies and equipment from 24 different Israeli companies. The countries include Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf emirates, and Iraq (US Military stationed there). Overall, Israeli exports of medical equipment are on the rise. Exports rose by 7.2% in 2004 to $1.09 billion and, according to the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute, will rise by another 5-7% by the end of 2005. Israel is one of the world’s leaders...

RABAT, Morocco (AP) - Officials from more than 20 Islamic countries said Saturday that political, economic and social reforms must go hand in hand with steps toward settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The commitment to reforms came during a four-hour meeting that included those Muslim nations, industrialized democracies, the Arab League and other groups. The United States, a driving force behind the conference, sees the changes as a way to make these societies less of a breeding ground for political extremism. At a news conference after the discussions, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was not disappointed that the Muslim...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnam has prohibited an outspoken U.S. Congresswoman from visiting the communist country, saying a trip "would not serve Vietnam-U.S. relations," officials said Friday. Rep. Loretta Sanchez from Santa Ana, California, was told in a letter sent via the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi that her visa application was rejected because she "altogether lacks objectivity and goodwill toward Vietnam," according to a statement from her office. "The Vietnamese National Assembly and Vietnamese public opinion share the view that a visit to Vietnam by Ms. Loretta Sanchez would not serve Vietnam-U.S. relations," according to a reprinted version of the...

On July 9, 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel's security barrier was a violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law. Eleven days later, the United Nations General Assembly voted 150-6 to condemn Israel and demand removal of the barrier. All twenty-five members of the European Union supported the motion.[1] The EU position would not have been so offensive had it not then undertaken an act of stunning hypocrisy. In August 2004, the EU put out tenders for companies to construct a European separation fence to prevent migration into the EU from countries excluded from...

Editors' preface: A noted historian of the Middle East has said the following about the legacy of scholars who devoted their careers to the study of the region: The giants of the recent past tend to be largely forgotten as soon as they are dead if not before, especially if what they have written isn't what is now considered fashionable or central … They are criticized when they are in error, but their achievements are forgotten.[1] While this is largely true in the English-speaking countries, it is not true in France, where a few French "giants" of Islamic and Arab...

DALLAS (AP) - A federal jury on Wednesday convicted five Middle Eastern brothers of illegally selling computers to countries that supported terrorism. The men, who ran a computer company called InfoCom Corp, were convicted of conspiracy to violate export regulations and sanctions against Libya and making false statements on export shipping documents. The jury of nine women and three men deliberated nearly three days after a four-week trial. The brothers faced a total of 23 counts. One was convicted of all 23 charges; the others were acquitted on some allegations. Each charge carried a maximum penalty of five or 10...

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that one or more countries may follow Spain's lead and withdraw peacekeeping troops from Iraq "based on their own political situation." Hours later, Honduras said it was pulling out its 370 soldiers. ... Powell dismissed Woodward's suggestion that Bush already had made up his mind by Jan. 11 last year to go to war against Iraq and that Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar, had been informed of the decision that day.

Countries unite in swoop on Turkish terrorists By Amberin Zaman in Ankara and Bruce Johnston in Rome (Filed: 02/04/2004) Dozens of suspected members of a far-Left Turkish terrorist group - including two reported to be linked to plans for suicide attacks - were arrested yesterday in co-ordinated dawn raids across Europe. Italian police arrested five Turkish terror suspects Police in Turkey, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium took at least 49 suspected extremists belonging to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) into custody amid fears that they were planning a wave of attacks on western businessmen and diplomats. Turkish interior...

I saw a letter to editor in the Jan. 26 edition of TIME magazine which I thought went right along what Bush said about not ignoring the sacrifices made by the other countries. The 4th letter on the 10th page was written by Marek Witko from London who expressed that he was "extremely upset" that TIME selected the American Soldier as the Person of the Year. He noted that Italy, Spain, Britain, and Poland all have lost guys in Iraq and asks "Why weren't their lives and sacrifices recognized as noble and noteworthy like the Americans?" Here is a citizen...

Poor Baby Axis of WeaselBarred from Iraq Contracts By Andrew L. Jaffee, December 10, 2003 Home   Search   Forum   Terms The U.S. today barred Axis of Weasel countries (like Russia, Canada, France, and Germany) from bidding on $18.6 billion in contracts for rebuilding Iraq. These countries all opposed the U.S.-led coalition's liberation of Iraq. It seems only reasonable for U.S. taxpayer money to be spent on countries that support the U.S. in bringing democracy to the Middle East. French, Canadian, Russian, and German soldiers aren't being killed in Iraq now. Remember how vociferously these countries defended Saddam? Why should they be rewarded for...

WASHINGTON, September 22 (IslamOnline.net) - U.S. Presidential hopeful Wesley Clark, the former general who led NATO forces during the Kosovo campaign, revealed on Monday, September 22, that the Bush administration had set-up a five-year plan to invade seven Muslim countries after the 9/11 attacks, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and finally Sudan. In his book "The Clark Critique" excerpts of which were published by this week's Newsweek edition, the four-star retired general wrote that following the September attacks, the U.S. administration became preoccupied with the idea of "state sponsorship" and "draining the swamp" of terrorism. "In...

Source: University Of California - Berkeley Date: 2003-06-13 SARS Death Rate Lower In Countries Responding Aggressively To Initial Outbreak Berkeley - Three months after SARS began its spread out of southern China, it is clear that a country's response to the epidemic can have a major impact on the percentage of infected people who die, according to epidemiologists at the University of California, Berkeley. An analysis accepted for August publication in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases indicates that countries that quickly initiated control measures against SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) saw a slower spread and a lower fatality rate. "The...

No Big May Day Celebrations in Lithuania TodayBy Andrew L. Jaffee, May 1, 2003 You won't find any big May Day celebrations today in downtown Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. This country suffered brutal Russian communist occupation for 46 years. How many other peoples suffered (or are still suffering) under "socialism?" Why aren't Lithuanians celebrating May Day? There are still those die-hards clinging to the Marxist dream of a proletarian paradise. Today, those dreamers are celebrating May Day. In Berlin and London today, the dreamers got violent. Strange that people in developed, democratic societies overloaded with social programs and...

SECRETARY of State Colin Powell has said 45 nations are backing the United States in the coalition that may soon go to war with Iraq. Powell: we are not alone Powell said 30 of those countries - who had offered troops, overflight rights, logistical support and assistance and Iraqi reconstruction projects - were willing to be named publicly, while 15 preferred to remain anonymous for the present. "Thirty nations have publicly said they can be included," he said in a State Department interview with international news agencies. The 15 others "will be known in due course". The department later released...

Dozen countries now fear fatal pneumonia 18:55 17 March 03 NewScientist.com news service The spread of a highly infectious and deadly pneumonia continued around the globe on Monday, with the number of countries with confirmed or suspected cases rising to 12. Unconfirmed cases have now emerged in the UK, Australia, Switzerland and Slovenia, all connected with travel to the Far East. Health authorities on all continents are taking the risk of importing the disease extremely seriously. The US, South Africa and Russia, amongst others, have put their health authorities on nationwide alert. Eight cases in Canada, including two deaths, and...

I have a simple question... What countries have agreed to stand by us if we decide to attack Iraq without UN consent? Is there a list of countries somewhere that shows who our allies are as of right now? I'd love to see a list... or some sort of map too. I like pictures. :) Anyway, someone help start a list or post one. Thanks!!! :)

'To countries allied with the Americans. . .' (Filed: 14/11/2002) The following are extracts from a tape purported to contain the words of Osama bin Laden, broadcast by al-Jazeera television.From the worshipper of God, Osama bin Laden, to the people of the countries that are allied with the unjust American government: the road to safety starts with stopping aggression and it is only fair to establish equal treatment. The events since the New York and Washington raids until today - such as the killing of Germans in Tunisia and the French in Karachi, the blowing up of the French supertanker...

“Ten weddings and two funerals”: this is the formula used in the Brussels circles to describe the current path in the enlargement process. Ten candidate countries are on the way to signing their accession to the European Union by the end of the year, and join in 2004. Two other candidate countries, Romania and Bulgaria, are expected to be told they have to work more to improve their economic performance before being accepted. However, Bucharest and Sofia are set to fight to transform the funeral into an engagement. Roadmap and entry date The two countries will seek to get a...