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Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, one of the most influential Brexit spokesmen, had a meeting with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier yesterday. Although Barnier didn't want to meet with Farage initially, he eventually relented to the British politician's requests. Their meeting was scheduled, and the two men spoke about the negotiations between Britain and the EU about the former leaving the union. Farage was adamant about speaking personally with Barnier because he wanted "to make sure Barnier heard some pro-Brexit views that I suspect the Conservative government has not yet explained to him." It became clear early on in the...

Donald Trump wants to ban Muslims from entering the United States? Well, it turns out lots of Britons want to ban him from the United Kingdom. Trump detractors across the pond have started an online petition on an official government website asking British officials to block the GOP presidential front-runner from visiting. "The signatories believe Donald J. Trump should be banned from UK entry," the petition reads. "The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK," the petition says. "If the United Kingdom is to...

A World Net Daily article (is) claiming that fearful Europeans are making a run on their local gun stores in response to the flood of young, mostly male Muslim “refugees� that are flooding into Europe in what many see as nothing more or less than an invasion. A Czech TV report confirms that long guns – shotguns and rifles – have been flying off the shelves in Austria, and Austrians who haven’t already purchased a gun may not have a chance to get one for some time. They’re all sold out. And those arming themselves are primarily women. “If anyone...

<p>LONDON -- One of London's fastest-changing neighborhoods is echoing to the snap, crackle and pop of conflict.</p> <p>An East End cafe that serves 120 varieties of breakfast cereal — along with 30 kinds of milk — has become a surprising flashpoint for protest in a city increasingly polarized between rich and poor.</p>

Allies of former prime minister regard darling of Tea Party movement as a frivolous figure unworthy of an audience Sarah Palin wants to show to the Republican right that she is the true keeper of the Ronald Reagan flame by meeting the late president's closest ally on the world stage.

Its been said that life often imitates art. However, I never imagined that the satirical airbrushing campaign undertaken by the rabid anti-smoking lobby at the end of “Thank You For Smoking” would ever actually be replicated in real life. Apparently, as the Daily Mail reports, I was wrong (h/t Adam S Baldwin): It seems the man who steered Britain through the most dangerous period of its recent history may have fallen victim to the modern curse of political correctness. (pictures within link)

The angry comments attributed to Mr Wolfowitz came from damning testimony by Xavier Coll, head of human resources at the bank, who provided investigators with his notes of a meeting with Mr Wolfowitz last year. The notes directly contradict Mr Wolfowitz's assertions that the details of Ms Riza's treatment were properly shared with senior bank officials. In March last year, when a mention of Ms Riza's secondment outside the bank to avoid rules about partners was first published in the magazine US News & World Report, an angry Mr Wolfowitz accused Mr Coll of leaking the information. According to Mr...

The approach of the New Year and departure of the old inevitably brings a flurry of "year's best" lists. This even applies to nations, which some organizations make it their business annually to rank in order of wealth, quality of life, and what-have-you. Surprisingly often, the Nordic countries come out on top. This placement is usually a reflection less of objective reality, however, than of the list-makers' enthusiasm for the Nordic welfare-state model. The criteria, in other words, are formulated in such a way that the Nordic countries will inevitably end up on top. Hence Norway, for example, is repeatedly...

Davids Medienkritik discovered deep condescension toward America from a German executive whose company makes most of its money here. Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking defends the German “social model” of capitalism, and implies that we Americans are barely out of the backwoods with our rifles. Europe’s culture is decidedly older than that of the USA. The Fuggers were doing business, while hunting was still the order of the day in America. Right now 37 million people in the USA live below the poverty line. The gulf between poor and rich has widened brutally. Do we want to have a situation like...

VIENNA, Austria - The mayor of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Austrian hometown on Tuesday begged the California governor to reconsider his decision to end ties to the city after locals assailed him for his death penalty stance. Siegfried Nagl, mayor of the southern city of Graz, said he dashed off a letter to Schwarzenegger pleading with him not to return a ring of honor bestowed on him by officials in his birthplace in 1999 and reassuring him that most residents still admire him. "I hope that very soon we'll hear you say, 'I'll be back,'" Nagl told the actor-turned-politician, one of Austria's...

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Political parties in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's hometown have started a petition drive to remove his name from a sports stadium. The dispute stems from the governor's decision this week to deny clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams. The co-founder of the Crips gang was executed early Tuesday in San Quentin State Prison for four 1979 murders. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria, and the once-popular Schwarzenegger has lost much of his shine since becoming California governor for refusing to spare convicted murderers on death row. The outcry was especially sharp this week after the...

The Arnold Schwarzenegger Football Stadium in Austria's second-largest city Graz is to be renamed as a sign of displeasure with the city's most famous son,. A majority of members on Graz City Council voted to rename the stadium after the Austrian-born governor of California approved the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, according to newspaper Kleine Zeitung. The Terminator-turned-governor was born six kilometres outside Graz in the community of Thal. http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/arnies-terminated/2005/12/16/1134676432847.html

Furious politicians from Arnold Schwarzenegger's home city have turned on him over his refusal to stop the execution of a reformed gangster. Councillors in the Austrian city of Graz yesterday voted to remove the California governor's name from the local football stadium. The move comes after the Terminator star denied clemency to convicted murderer Stanley 'Tookie'Williams, 51, the co-founder of Los Angeles' notorious Crips gang. Graz deputy mayor Walter Ferk said: said: 'It is annoying that we are being criticised because of Schwarzenegger's actions in California. 'It is not exactly admirable for us to be connected with the death penalty....

California’s execution of a murderer this morning outraged many in Europe who regard the practice as barbaric, and feelings ran particularly deep in state Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s native Austria. At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI’s top official for justice matters denounced the death penalty for going against redemption and human dignity. “We know the death penalty doesn’t resolve anything,” Cardinal Renato Martino said. “Even a criminal is worthy of respect because he is a human being. The death penalty is a negation of human dignity.” Capital punishment is illegal throughout the European Union, and many Europeans consider state-sponsored executions...

"Down with America" is the title of a recent song by the popular Belgian musician Raymond van het Groenewoud. Written in Dutch and published by EMI , "Weg met Amerika" ("Down with America") will be available in record shops as of next week, and was played on Belgian state radio last Thursday and Friday. Here is a quote from the lyrics of the song: Hamburgers and coke, yes you already knew But do you also know the cause of the general decay? Short-sighted thinking, loud talking Sticking to one-liners forever Down with America! Down with the jerks from America Down...

Linda McQuaig says standing up to U.S. will gain us respect abroad It's now clear how the Bush administration sees things: Canadian sovereignty exists only at its pleasure. If we do what Washington wants, we retain our sovereignty. If we don't, all bets are off. This is what U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci clarified last week in his angered response to Paul Martin's announcement that Canada won't join the U.S. missile defence scheme. Cellucci noted that Washington would simply deploy its anti-missile system over Canadian airspace anyway, and expressed puzzlement over Canada's decision to "in effect, give up its sovereignty." No...

European Union justice and interior ministers agreed Friday that new immigrants to the 25-nation bloc should be required to learn local languages, and to adhere to general "European values" that will guide them toward better integration. Dutch immigration minister Rita Verdonk, who chaired the meeting, said all countries agreed to make integrating newcomers a priority, considering the growing ethnic tensions as EU nations struggle to absorb a steady stream of poor, mostly Muslim immigrants. Just this month in the Netherlands, the slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Muslim radical unleashed a wave of attacks against mosques, churches...

Sneering, insults, condescension – it's not so much fun being an American in London since the election There was a moment when we Americans living in Britain, all 200,000 or so of us, thought we were home free. The years of being mocked and antagonised for our country's leader were coming to an end. "Actually, I'm voting for Kerry" was the simplest way of getting out of a difficult conversation. The truth is that many Americans in Britain probably voted for Bush, but have kept it to themselves. It's about as fashionable as admitting to having the clap. "Every meeting...

VIENNA, Austria - The U.N. nuclear agency said Thursday it warned the United States about the vulnerability of explosives stored at Iraq (news - web sites)'s Al-Qaqaa military installation after another facility — Iraq's main nuclear complex — was looted in April 2003. Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, told The Associated Press that U.S. officials were cautioned directly about what was stored at Al-Qaqaa, the main high explosives facility in Iraq. Some 377 tons of high explosives — HMX and RDX and PETN — are now missing from the facility, and questions have arisen about...

So badly have relations deteriorated that the U.S. ambassador to Spain, George Argyros, opted to go hunting last week instead of attending national day celebrations in Madrid -- where French troops pointedly marched in a morning parade instead of American ones.[snip]For its part, the Bush administration has shown it has a long memory when it comes to diplomatic slights. Even as he acknowledged that "mistakes can get made," Ambassador Argyros criticized Zapatero's refusal to honor the American flag in protesting the Iraq war. "It was a real insult to the American people," Argyros told El Pais newspaper in an interview...