http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/europe/ en-us Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:16:13 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047864/posts The price of European emission permits is rising so rapidly that German companies are threatening to leave the country.... And the environment may, in the end, be no better off. They sat silently through two lectures, but then they couldn't control their anger any longer. The civil servants from the Environment Ministry, the Environment Agency and the German Emissions Trading Authority made it sound easy for industry to take up carbon trading. It was just too much for the managers to tolerate. "If that's the shape the trading will take, we will simply move our cement operation to Ukraine," a... Spiegel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047864/posts#comment Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:16:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047800/posts Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will not be making his speech in Berlin before the Brandenburg Gate but at Victory Column, German news agency Deutshe Well said on Friday. Obama will leaving for Europe and the Middle East next week in what pundits say is a bid to bolster his foreign policy and national security credentials. The presumptive Democratic nominee will make the much-awaited speech in Berlin on July 24. Obama will still have the Brandenburg Gate as backdrop since the iconic site sits at the opposite end of a tree-line boulevard from the Victory Column. The... All Headline News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047800/posts#comment Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:35:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047732/posts Morocco is to send more than 170 preachers throughout Europe from September until Ramadan to protect its citizens from extremist speeches, the government said Wednesday. The decision follows a request from King Mohammed VI. The 167 men and nine women have been given the task of "answering to the religious needs of the Moroccan community abroad, to protect them from any speeches of an extremist or irregular nature and shelter them from fanaticism and extremism," according to a government statement. They must also ensure that expatriate Moroccans remain true to their roots and Malikite traditions and instill in them the... Al Arabiya http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047732/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:25:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047694/posts Europe will be challenged by a President Barack Obama to contribute more to global security and will no longer have the "easy out" of pandering to anti-Bush sentiment, according to a top adviser to the Democratic candidate. But the former Rhodes Scholar, who took her Master's degree and doctorate in international relations at New College, Oxford, made clear that an Obama administration would also challenge Europe to do more after a Democratic victory in November's election. "It would signal a return to the more pragmatic and bi-partisan traditions of American foreign policy, which have been lost to ideology in the... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047694/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:19:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036457/posts An imam in Morocco's eastern city of Fez has said that marriages between Moroccan women and European men who are not Muslims are forbidden under Islam. Each summer in Morocco, a growing number of local women are reportedly marrying young European men. "This kind of marriage, between Moroccan women and European men, is forbidden by the Koran (the Muslim holy book) and the Sunna (the way or deeds of the Prophet Mohammed)," Sheikh Mohammed al-Tawil said in a TV interview. "A Muslim woman may not marry an unbeliever while a Muslim man may marry Christian and Jewish women," he told... AKI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036457/posts#comment Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:04:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046957/posts ...I then added that Pomerania had been historically disputed in all sort of wars, but that now, as the rest of Europe, was finally at peace. Instinctively realizing that this latter observation was the perfect leader of a thread for a nice political conversation, I quickly added that such current status of peace in Europe, and, relatively, in most of the world, was the result of America having become the most powerful nation on Earth ever. Bedazzled by my assertion, more in sheer disbelief than in amazement, he bluntly asked me why it was so. I rapidly quipped that wise... Modern Conservative http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046957/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:26:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2046692/posts Land-ice Bridge, New Research Suggests -- Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his students on the creation of Kankakee Sand Islands of Northwest Indiana is lending support to evidence that the first humans to settle the Americas came from Europe, a discovery that overturns decades of classroom lessons that nomadic tribes from Asia crossed a Bering Strait land-ice bridge. Valparaiso is a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research. Dr. Ron Janke began studying the origins of the Kankakee Sand Islands – a series of hundreds of small, moon-shaped dunes that stretch from the southern tips of Lake... ScienceDaily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2046692/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:02:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046205/posts Britons have the second lowest quality of life in Europe caused by high fuel prices, rising energy bills, long working hours and lack of sunshine, according to a new survey. Despite having by far the highest household net income, the UK was ranked nine out of ten in the research, with only Ireland coming lower. Families in the UK pay six 6 per cent more than average for petrol, pay 49 per cent more for gas and 5 per cent more for electricity, according to uswitch.com quality of life index released on Wednesday. Those in the UK have only 28... Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046205/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:11:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045924/posts THIS IS A LONG READ, BUT VERY INFORMATIVE. Let me issue and control a nation's money supply, and I care not who makes its laws." (Mayer Amschel Rothschild, Founder of Rothschild Banking Dynasty) Many prominent Americans such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson have argued and fought against the central banking polices used throughout Europe. Market Oracle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045924/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:54:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045566/posts The eurozone is tipping into a deeper downturn than America itself despite the tremors in the US mortgage industry, and may already be in full recession for the first time since the launch of the single currency. Industrial production for the EMU bloc fell 1.9pc in May, according to fresh Eurostat data. It is the sharpest one-month decline for the region since the exchange rate crisis in 1992. Officials in Berlin have warned that Germany's economy could contract by as much as 1.5pc in the second quarter as export orders crumble. Industrial output in both Italy and Greece has slumped... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045566/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:18:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045538/posts Three British Muslims yesterday admitted plotting to explode a homemade bomb at the Houses of Parliament in protest at the UK's role in Iraq and Afghanistan. The men and two others also admitted conspiring to cause public nuisance by distributing Al Qaeda- style videos threatening suicide bomb attacks in Britain. But prosecutors claimed they made 'inherently improbable' and 'bogus' confessions to these charges to distract attention from the main allegations - a plot to blow up airliners flying from Heathrow to major U.S. cities. They accused the men of being in a gang wanting to kill thousands of passengers by... dailymail.co.uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045538/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:22:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045426/posts Zurich, Switzerland (LifeNews.com) -- A leading government official in Switzerland wants the European nation to stop the infamous practice of "death tourism." That's where residents of other countries come to the mountainous nation to have pro-euthanasia groups help them engage in an assisted suicide.Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf says the practice is giving her nation a bad name."Today somebody can come to Switzerland and already the next day can have an assisted suicide through one of these assisted suicide organizations. This should not be possible," Widmer-Schlumpf told the Sonntags Zeitung newspaper.Widmer-Schlumpf wants to see legislation introduced that would help... Life News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045426/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:00:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2045245/posts Southerners have never been known for tolerance or progressive diversity measures. Some of the country’s most pivotal historical moments and controversial court decisions concern local authorities violating civil rights. If you just rolled your eyes thinking, “What did the Texans do now?” I’m sorry to disappoint you. The setting for this particular incident is thousands of miles to the east, in the south of Italy, where Sicilian authorities forced a man to retake a driving test or have his license suspended because he is gay. The man’s license was renewed for a year, rather than the standard 10 years, because... North Star Writers Group http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2045245/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:45:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045212/posts Spain has suspended an auction of sovereign bonds as investors take fright over the country's property crash and accelerating slide into economic crisis. Spain has suspended an auction of sovreign bonds as investors take fright over the country's property crash and accelerating slide into economic crisis Spanish government officials have been shocked by the intensity of the downturn The treasury pulled an expected sale of 15-year bonds after probing the market informally, saying it would wait until credit conditions began to calm down. "We are not facing financing problems. We placed a successful three-year note on Wednesday," said a spokesman.... Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045212/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:39:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045099/posts France kicked off Bastille Day celebrations on Monday in a whirlwind of controversy as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad joined dozens of leaders to watch the Champs Elysees military parade. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was the guest of honour at this year's festivities and two units of UN blue helmets were to lead off the traditional march from the Arc de Triomphe down to Place de la Concorde. But President Nicolas Sarkozy's invitation to Assad has angered opposition politicians and some in the French military who served in a UN peace force in Lebanon, where Syria for years was... France 24 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045099/posts#comment Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:30:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044848/posts THE HAGUE, 12/07/08 - Fokke Fernhout, the former vice-president of the Maastricht district court, was found guilty Friday of possession of child pornography. But he is not being penalised. Eleven very explicit videotapes with titles such as 'Boys for Sale' and 'Sweet Little Boys' were found in 2001 in the judge's home by a construction worker. He was renovating the floor under which the material was hidden. Fernhout eventually seemed to be facing a jail term. But after numerous appeals, in which the sentence got lower and lower, he now gets away without any penalty at all. In 2004, before... NIS News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044848/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:04:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2044832/posts Compare that relatively small $2.7 million in federal aid to the $310 million originally set aside for a U.S. radar base project in the Czech Republic. It’s totally unjustified to fund unproven missile technologies and radar bases in foreign countries while U.S. roads, bridges, dams, levees and tunnels are in dire need of repair. As Czechs and Americans see U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech officials sign off on a document signaling the acceptance of the Czech government to the installation of a radar tracking system on Czech soil, there are more than a few ironies worth noting. The Prague Post Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2044832/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:52:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044741/posts Imagine yourself to be the PM of the PC kingdom of Sweden, Northern Europe. You'd face a situation of non-european mass immigration gone out of hand, while you simultaneously dispose of government vaults bulging with money donated by/stolen from humane and well educated/obedient and brainwashed Swedish tax payers. What would your decision be? Bribery is immoral, but sometimes it's just too tempting. The article (the source is SR/SVT, Sweden's equivalent to BBC): "Few refugees here are taking advantage of money from the Swedish government to subsidize returns home. Individual asylum-seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia can get more than 3000... www.sr.se http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044741/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:58:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044708/posts The Eurocrats should take heed. A village in southern France has decided to bring back the franc as legal tender in an experiment that it hopes will be followed elsewhere. Collobrières, a village of 1,600 inhabitants in Provence, is motivated largely by profit: accepting the franc has boosted their business. “It’s amazing how many francs people have kept at home,” said Dominique Cardi, a gift shop owner. “Now they can spend them.” There is also a note of protest, however: nostalgia has grown for the colourful old money depicting French national heroes and its reappearance has warmed the hearts of... The Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044708/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:47:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044719/posts Europe's armed forces are underperforming and require Franco-British co-operation to meet future challenges, a think-tank has said. An investigation by the International Institute For Strategic Studies found that only 2.7% of military personnel were ready for overseas operations. In 2007 Europe had some 71,000 military personnel deployed overseas, out of nearly two million service personnel. Europe needs a Franco-British impetus to deal with security crises, it says. Alexander Nicoll, one of the co-authors of the report, said "most European armed forces are unable to live up to their own targets for availability". "The Nato goal - that 40% of land... BBC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044719/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:31:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044605/posts Immigrants will be forced to show they can speak English and understand the British way of life before they can gain citizenship in future. Under proposals to be put before Parliament next week, new arrivals will also be required to contribute to a fund to be spent on lessening the impact of sudden mass immigration on local public services. Ministers are keen that recent arrivals prove they can integrate into general British life, rather than just their own close community, before they are allowed to apply for a British passport. They are concerned that many young women in particular arrive... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044605/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:16:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044582/posts Europe faces Russian nuclear missile threat Mark Franchetti in Moscow Russia is thinking of aiming nuclear weapons at western Europe for the first time since the end of the cold war, according to defence sources in Moscow. The move is being considered in response to American plans to develop a defence shield against missiles from Iran and other countries. The plans under discussion include the possible deployment of ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between the European Union countries of Lithuania and Poland. Kaliningrad has been nuclear-free since America and Russia agreed to scale back their nuclear arsenals at... Times Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044582/posts#comment Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:03:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044541/posts Poland says U.S. shield deal hinges on Patriots Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:17pm BST WARSAW/VILNIUS (Reuters) - Poland is insisting on the permanent stationing of a U.S. Patriot battery on its soil as a condition for hosting part of a anti-missile defence shield, its defence minister was quoted as saying on Friday. Washington wants to install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland, a NATO ally, as part of the shield project, which aims to protect the United States and its allies from attack by so-called "rogue states" and terrorist groups. In return, Warsaw wants hefty U.S. investments to upgrade its air... Retuers http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044541/posts#comment Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:47:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044192/posts Vienna, Jul 10, 2008 / 03:23 pm (CNA).- Human Life International is asking for prayers in response to the “vile attacks” in Vienna, Austria, against pro-life demonstrators by assailants who are being paid to harass them by the owners of abortion clinics. Pro-life demonstrators who are sidewalk counseling outside the clinics have been sexually assaulted, and some of the attacks have been captured on video. According to HLI, the peaceful pro-life protestors are enduring “vile attacks and pressure tactics” solely for praying in front of the Gynmed abortion clinic run by Dr. Christian Fiala. Fiala is president of the International... CNA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044192/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:39:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044505/posts France has denied citizenship to a veiled Moroccan woman on the grounds that her 'radical' Islam is incompatible with French values, a legal ruling revealed. The case will re-ignite debate about how to reconcile religious freedom with other rights, which many in France feel are being challenged by the way of life of some Muslims. Le Monde newspaper said it is the first time a Muslim applicant had been rejected because of personal religious practice. 'She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes,'... dailymail.co.uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044505/posts#comment Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:01:12 GMT