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BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Parliament says that part of the roof of its Strasbourg chamber has collapsed.

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...

STRASBOURG (AFP) - A new extreme-right group, including veteran French firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen and Mussolini's granddaughter, was formally created in the European parliament, parliamentary president Josep Borrell announced. The "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty," group which "slightly changes the political geography of our parliament" has fulfilled the conditions for its formal recognition, said Borrell at the start of a plenary session in Strasbourg. Those rules notably include the requirement that at least 20 MEPs from five EU member states to sign up for the new political group. The formal setting up of the bloc allows it various rights including receiving official...

MILAN (Reuters) - A group of suspected Islamic militants arrested in Italy and Belgium may have been planning an attack on NATO headquarters or the European Parliament, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said on Wednesday. Quoting Italian investigators, Corriere said a suspected planner of the Madrid bombings in March -- among those arrested on Tuesday -- had intended to travel from Italy to Belgium possibly to take part in an attack on a "symbolic" target. Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, known as "Mohamed the Egyptian," was seized on Tuesday with a fellow suspect in Milan, and Belgian police, acting on information...

European Parliament member Charles Tannock said Wednesday the fact that Hamas was elected democratically, like Adolf Hitler, does not mean it should be accepted. “How can we negotiate with them when their charter calls for Israel’s destruction,” said Tannock, a member of the UK Conservative Party. Speaking to reporters at the European Parliament, Tannock launched a scathing attack on Hamas, saying that a political party with the same policy ‘would have been banned in Europe for being involvement in terror and the jihad.’ Commenting on the Iranian nuclear crisis, Tannock said “why does a country with so much oil need...

MEPs fight over anti-abortion exhibit An anti-abortion exhibition organized at the European Parliament by an ultraconservative group of Polish representatives has provoked scuffles between rival MEPs. The anti-abortion exhibition ‘Life and Children in Europe’ opened by League of Polish Families evoked a very strong reaction among social democratic women MEPs in Strasbourg. The photos on display showed not only human foetuses but also children in concentration camps behind barbed wire. This association with the Nazis, was too much for the social activists. They decided to remove the pictures. Since the exhibition was in fact legal, the Polish ultraconservative MEPs didn’t...

Eurozone inflation jumped in September to the highest annual rate since June 2001, revised data showed yesterday - but higher oil prices still show few signs of feeding through into other costs. The leap in inflation, from 2.2 per cent in August to 2.6 per cent last month, means that the European Central Bank is almost certain to maintain the "strong vigilance" stance it adopted at its interest-rate setting meeting earlier this month. Preliminary estimates had put September's inflation rate at 2.5 per cent. In Germany, separate Bundesbank data showed producer prices were rising at an annual rate of 4.9...

CAIRO, February 21, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Pro-hijab activists are taking their case to the European Parliament with a written declaration that, if adopted, would ask European countries to respect the freedom of faith and dressing. The much-anticipated Written Declaration will see the light Wednesday, February 23, in a press conference organized at the Strasbourg-based European Parliament by the London-based Assembly for the Protection of Hijab (Protect Hijab). The event will be co-chaired by MEP Caroline Lucas and a number of her fellow MEPs. “We are really grateful to MEP Lucas and her colleagues,” Protect Hijab’s coordinator, Abeer Pharaon, told IslamOnline.net...

A MAN linked to Al-Qaeda and believed to have helped to mastermind the Madrid train bombings was overheard last month describing a plot for a woman to carry out a chemical or germ attack in America that he said would “wipe out an entire neighbourhood”. The Italian warrant for the arrest of Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, 32, an Egyptian seized in a suburb of Milan last week, details transcripts of bugged conversations and telephone calls in which he not only boasted of his involvement in the Spanish attack of March 11 but also spoke of future plans. The Spanish government...

PARIS, April 27 (AFP) - French extremist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen said Tuesday he was mulling the formation of an alliance with other far-right parties in the European Parliament after elections in June. Le Pen, leader of the National Front (FN) party known for its radical anti-immigration stance, made a visit at the weekend to Wales to support his political counterpart in Britain, the fringe British National Party. The FN holds only five seats in the European Parliament, the EU body which is elected by popular vote and currently has 625 deputies. The party halved its numbers in the last...

Closed because of "Software-Patents" In the next few days, the European Parliament will decide about the legalisation and adoption of so-called "software patents" in Europe, which are already used by large companies in other countries to put competitors out of business. This can lead to the termination of many software projects such as KNOPPIX, at least within Europe, because the holders of the over 30,000 already granted "software patents" (currently without a legal foundation) can claim exclusive rights and collect license fees for trivial things like "progress bars", "mouseclicks on online order forms", "scrolling within a window" and similar. That...

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has apologised to the European Parliament for what he has described as his "ironic" comments about a German member of the parliament. The chair of the parliament says this means the incident is now closed. Last week, following his initial speech to parliament as head of the European Council, Mr Berlusconi came in for sharp criticism from German MEP Martin Schulz. Mr Berlusconi responded by saying Mr Schulz would be perfect to play the role of a concentration camp guard in a film. Italy's junior Economics Minister Stefano Stefani has already invited German Chancellor Gerhard...