EU-DIGEST

Juventus has gone from emergency-mode to a state of joy and back to crisis in the space of three days. The current state could last a while, even if the Turin power manages to win at newly promoted Bari on Saturday. A devastating 4-1 home loss to Bayern Munich on Tuesday eliminated Juventus from the Champions League, three days after the Bianconeri managed to beat Serie A leader Inter Milan.

David Trezeguet, who had been doubtful to start with a calf injury, scored in the 19th minute. Bayern pulled level when Jorg Butt put aside his goalkeeping duties to fire home a 30th-minute penalty and Ivica Olic gave them the lead six minutes into the second half. Van Gaal could finally rest easy when Mario Gomez made it 3-1 with seven minutes to go before Anatoliy Tymoschukto added a fourth in the last minute to send Bayern through from Group A with Bordeaux.

Labels: Europe, Juventus, Soccer

Traveling in Europe and looking for wifi (preferably free?) or wifi hotspots?. It is difficult to know where to go, especially when you may be unfamiliar with the language or city customs. But if you still need to connect - to work, or keep in touch with loved ones at home - and plan more of your trip! Go to the WiFinder for a list of wireless- WIFI hotspots in Europe for you - most of them are free. They are listed them alphabetically Just click on this link to see the listing). Some cities have wifi, others depend on cafes, libraries, and hotels.

Labels: Europe, WiFi

In an interesting and animated presentation by Ernst & Young at the World Trade Center in Almere, the audience heard that based on information collected by this Global Accounting and Consulting firm Europe's future growth will probably spring from the knowledge and intelligence assembled in its large cities. Urban development is showing to be a powerful global growth trend based on the fact that world's cities are adding 200,000 citizens a year, and that by 2030, 60 or 80% of the world's population will be urban. Cities are increasingly where wealth creation and origination of products and services is happening. Already, 75% of global added-value is produced in cities and their inhabitants generate 9 out of 10 innovations.

Looking at the big picture Ernst and Young says Europe is considered - by risk-averse investors - to be the most attractive business location today, and ranks ahead of China in its perceived ability to overcome the economic crisis. Business decision-makers however believe the post-crisis world will also see the eastward shift continue. For the long term a total of 74% of the Ernst and Young respondents said they are very confident, or at least fairly confident in Western Europe's ability to tackle the financial and economic meltdown. It is apparent now that Europe's advanced regime of "flexicurity" can be viewed as having been an advantage; cushioning the downturn and drop in demand, by keeping more people at work, avoiding home foreclosures, and providing social security payments to the jobless.

Overall, the future outlook for Europe, based on the Ernst & Young survey is looking good. The report also indicates that in the coming three years the ranking of the economic players on the world scene will change, with the six most attractive investment regions being: 1.Central and Eastern Europe 2.China 3.India 4.Russia 5.Western Europe and 6.Brazil.

For a copy of the Ernst and Young report click on this link.

Labels: Ernst and Young, Europe, Investment opportunity, World Economy

Check out Europe's Contestants Miss Universe 2009: Miss Denmark, Miss Universe Albania, Miss Poland and more European Miss Universe Contestants

Make your choice who the next Miss Universe should be at this weeks Miss Universe 2009 contest on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

Labels: Bahamas, Europe, Miss Universe

Miami Beach Real Estate Attorney Opens Miami Brokerage Agency To Service European and other International Buyers For Properties Of Sellers in Distress

Cash buyers from Europe, Canada, and Russia requiring confidential, direct buyer representation for a luxury Miami Beach condo or waterfront home are now able to use specialized services of a Board Certified real estate attorney and Lic. Real Estate Broker. Christian N. Folland, Esq. Folland, acting as Miami Beach real estate broker and real estate attorney exclusively for premium property buyers, says he can greatly simplify the transaction, providing a smooth, secure process from property selection and initial contract negotiations to closing of the sale. "Cash buyers rule the current market" notes Folland, adding "luxury buyers feel now is the best time to buy ultra premium properties in Miami Beach". Folland also points out that international buyers have always been interested in Miami Beach, Florida, but until now, property prices have been too high to make it a quality investment as opposed to just visiting and staying at a five-star hotel. When asked why they are purchasing now, international clients often cite the many months of negative real estate media headlines leading to substantial decreases in listing and sales prices, the slowdown in the US economy, the number of foreclosures, and the weak dollar.

Labels: Europe, Miami Beach, Real Estate, US

Alternative Energy:: First floating wind turbine buoyed off Norway - by Martin LaMonica

So far development of offshore wind farms has been restricted to places where turbines can be attached to the sea bed. But earlier this week, Siemens and energy company StatoilHydro installed what they call the first large-scale floating turbine. The installation is off the coast of Norway, and testing is expected to last for two years. The Hywind turbine will still have a ballast that is tied to the sea floor with cables. Wires will transfer the electricity produced to the mainland grid starting in July.

If successful, the project could open up offshore wind to countries that don't have relatively shallow waters of 100 feet to 165 feet off their coasts. The Hywind is suitable for depths of about 400 feet to more than 2,200 feet. "Hywind could open...new opportunities for exploitation of offshore wind power, as the turbines could be placed much more freely than before," Henrik Stiesdal, chief technology of the Siemens' Wind Power business unit, said in a statement. The turbine in Norway will be 7.4 miles offshore where the water is 721 feet deep. It will be utility-size turbine, with a hub height of about 100 feet, capable of generating 2.3 megawatts of electricity.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Europe, Norway, Offshore Wind Energy

Barcelona wins European Champions Soccer League against Manchester 2-0

In a match which Barcelona controlled throughout the game with perfect ball control Manchester was unable to get a grip on the game. Striker Samuel Eto'o made the first goal for Barcelona ten minutes into the game, with Manchester's Dutch goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, touching the ball but unable to stop it going in. Lionel Messi clinched the game for Barcelona with a brilliant second goal well into the second half. Barcelona has now wsold out crowd of about 83.000 people with some 350 million people watching the game on TV.

Labels: Barcelona, Champions League, Europe, Manchester, Soccer

Tonight - Manchester Barcelona fight for Europe's top soccer title in Rome

Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs has called their Champions League showdown with Barcelona in Rome the "dream final". Barcelona duo Thierry Henry and Andres Iniesta continued their respective bids to be fit for the Champions League final as they returned to squad training, albeit not at the same level as their team-mates. Following on the heels of the European Song Festival Final this will be another huge soccer event watched by millions all over the world. The soccer spectacle between Barcelona and Manchester starts tonight 20.30 CET at the Olympic stadium of Rome.

Labels: Barcelona, Champions League, Europe, Manchester, Soccer

Europe's HIV followed holiday routes - by Ewen Callaway

HIV's European tour may have begun in the Mediterranean. A new genetic map plotted from viruses in hundreds of people suggests that many European strains of HIV trace their ancestry to Greece, Portugal, Serbia and Spain. Sun-seeking tourists from northern and central Europe might account for the pattern, the study's authors say. The vast majority of the study's participants said they acquired their infections in their home country, so the patterns could be a vestige of HIV's emergence and early spread through Europe in the early 1980s, probably after arriving from the US.

That's not certain, though, and the patterns could also be a result of more recent transmissions, says Dimitrios Paraskevis, a virologist at the University of Athens, Greece, who led the study of viruses from 16 European countries and Israel. The story is unclear because his team's analysis was not designed to pin a date to the spread of HIV through Europe.

Labels: Europe, HIV, Sexual transmissible disease

The European Space Agency's Herschel and Planck spacecraft launched deep into space to be the worlds eye in the Universe

For the complete report from BBC NEWS click on this link

Space the New Frontier - Lift-off for European telescopes - by Jonathan Amos

Europe's Herschel and Planck telescopes have blasted into space on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana. The satellites are being sent into orbit to gather fundamental new insights into the nature of the cosmos. The Ariane lifted clear of the launch pad at 1312 GMT (1412 BST) on a flight that lasted just under half an hour. Mission controllers in Germany made contact with the telescopes just a few minutes after they had separated from the rocket's upper-stage. The ascent through the Earth's atmosphere was just the first stage in what will be a long journey for the astronomical satellites. They will spend the next two to three months making their way out to observation positions some 1.5 million km from Earth on its "night side". The long cruise will allow engineers to check out sub-systems and commission the telescopes' instruments.

Herschel is the largest telescope anyone has yet tried to put in space. Its 3.5m-diameter primary mirror is one-and-a-half-times the size of Hubble's main reflector. Today's launch was also the 30th consecutive success for the Ariane 5, Europe's heavy lifter rocket.

Labels: Ariane5, ESA, EU, Europe, Space Exploration

Cinema: Star Trek rules international roost with $35.5m overseas launch - by Jeremy Kay

Star Trek, J J Abrams’ franchise reboot from Paramount/Spyglass Entertainment, coaxed a sturdy $35.5m from more than 5,000 sites across 54 territories in its maiden voyage according to PPI estimates, ranking number one in 23 markets. In Europe weekend results were led predictably enough by the UK where Star Trek grossed $8.8m (£6m) from 501 venues. Excluding of £800,000 in previews this came in roughly 6% ahead of the £4.8m debut of Wolverine last weekend. Germany delivered $4.6m (€3.4m) including €430,000 in previews from 693 sites, roughly 17% ahead of the €3m for Wolverine, while Australia produced $3.4m (A$4.5m) from 210 venues. Star Trek grossed $2.8m (€2.1m) from 492 sites in France, $2.3m (Roubles 74m) from 450 locations in Russia.

Labels: Cinema, Europe, Star Trek

Ban petrol cars from 2015, says Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen - by Alister Doyle

A PROPOSAL to ban sales of new petrol-powered cars in Norway from 2015 could help spur struggling carmakers to shift to greener models, Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said. "This is much more realistic than people think when they first hear about this proposal," she said, defending a plan by her Socialist Left Party to outlaw sales of cars that run solely on fossil fuels in six years' time. "The financial crisis also means that a lot of those car producers that now have big problems ... know that they have to develop their technology because we also have to solve the climate criss when this financial crisis is over," she said. "That is why we would like a ban from 2015."

Labels: Alternative Energy, Car Industry, Economy, Europe, Norway

WELCOME TO EUROPE MR.AND MRS. OBAMA - the G20 Summit Build-up

As Mr. and Mrs. Obama arrived in Europe to participate and lead in the G20 Summit, Mr. Obama will find that at least 17 of the participating nations, including the United States, who had promised to fight protectionism at the last G20 Summit, have taken some preliminary actions to limit imports or to make sure that their stimulus money is spent at home.

Mr. Obama therefore has a very difficult task ahead as leader of the worlds most important economic nation in trying to honor his campaign promise for a new form of engagement on the international scene. He and his aides have been working dilengently these past weeks to find, among all the domestic problems they are also facing, a right mix which expresses not only humility but also exercises the US power of influence. It certainly will be a delicate diplomatic posture for Mr. Obama and what makes it even more difficult is that success is not guaranteed and failure is not allowed. Whatever the rhetoric or differences, keeping the firmly established Atlantic alliance between Europe and the US thriving is an essential pillar for the economic well being of the world. So as this G20 gets underway we welcome Mr. and Mrs. Obama and all the other leaders to the European continent - the whole world will be watching this G20 Summit and hoping the results will not be more rhetoric but a first step towards change for the better for all.

Labels: Barack Obama, Britain. EU, Europe, G20, US

Daylight Saving Time starts today in Europe

This weekend, the second of three time-changes for Spring 2009 will occur. Europe including the European Union and Turkey will go onto DST early Sunday morning. Other Daylight Saving Time changes occurring this weekend: Russia, and Western Australia will return to Southern Hemisphere Standard Time. The last time-change for Spring 2009 will occur one week from today, on Sunday, April 5 when New Zealand and South-Eastern Australia return to Southern Hemisphere Standard Time, and Mexico goes onto Daylight Saving Time.

Labels: Daylight Saving Time, EU, Europe, Russia, Turkey

Obama not immune to criticism overseas -- by Christi Parsons

At the heart of President Barack Obama's approach to foreign policy has been a promise to end the "unilateral" strategies of his predecessor and to heal bruised relations with America's allies. But as Obama makes his presidential debut on the diplomatic stage at the G-20 summit in London this week, he faces an array of world leaders from Europe and Asia who have already rejected some of his most important proposals for rescuing the global economy. That means Obama's vision of himself as the great conciliator will face severe challenges right from the start, despite the diplomatic niceties that will surround the sessions. As Obama is discovering at home, so in foreign affairs, enormous personal popularity does not automatically turn specific policies and proposals into reality. German and French leaders have shunted aside the president's call for increased government spending to stimulate their economies. The Czech Republic's prime minister and EU President even characterized the American proposal as charting "the road to hell." Instead of more stimulus spending, European and Asian leaders want more government regulation of the financial system.

Labels: Barack Obama, Europe, G20, US

Is Europe Falling Out of Love with Obama? - by Leo Cendrowicz

Europeans were among the loudest cheerleaders for Barack Obama during his presidential campaign. Soon after he won the Democratic candidacy 200,000 people turned out in Berlin to hear him speak. But now that he is settled in the White House, many Europeans feel snubbed."Europeans never miss an opportunity to read bad omens in a new President," says Daniel Korski Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

Vice President Joe Biden told a security conference in Munich last month that although Washington was ready to listen, it expected more from Europe in return. When it comes to Afghanistan, European nations are still dragging their feet on troops. And on trade, Obama narrowly avoided an early confrontation with the E.U. when he changed the language of the 'Buy American' clause in the financial stimulus bill just days before the Congressional vote.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Europe

European Cinema: Oscars - Dickens Meets Bollywood in Slumdog Millionaire

"Slumdog Millionaire" is the underdog that did make it to the top with eight Oscars. The film about a young slum kid rising to the top of the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" is as much a rags-to-riches story as it is about an India that's changing before our eyes. Director Danny Boyle had never been to India before making "Slumdog." He spoke to NAM editor Sandip Roy on the radio show New America Now long before the film became a monster hit."Slumdog" remained a hit in Europe over the weekend. Pic, which bagged seven BAFTA awards on Feb. 8, leapt up 15% in its sixth frame to gross $2.6 million at 410 for an exceptional income of $28.5 million for Pathe.

Note EU-Digest: Seven films funded by the EU's MEDIA film support program will compete in thirteen categories at this year's Academy Award ceremonies, to be held on Sunday 22 February. One of these MEDIA funded nominees, Slumdog Millionaire, will compete in the prestigious Best Film and Best Director categories. The MEDIA program will also be represented by three of the nominees for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, including Entre les Murs ("The Class", France), winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes film festival (IP/08/800). Last year, two films funded by MEDIA, the EU film support program, brought home Oscars. In the last three years, MEDIA funded films have won a total of eight Oscar awards. Seven films funded by the EU's MEDIA film support programme have been nominated for Oscars at this year's Academy Awards: Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany, Uli Edel), Entre les murs (France, Laurent Cantet), Waltz with Bashir (Israel/France/Germany, Ari Folman), Happy Go Lucky (UK/Mike Leigh), The Duchess (UK/France/Italy, Saul Dibb), Slumdog Millionaire (UK/US, Danny Boyle) and the award-winning documentary, Man on Wire (UK/US, James Marsh)

Labels: EU, Europe, Oscars

U.K. Presses Europe for More Afghan Troops After Obama’s Surge- Kitty Donaldson and Mark Deen

Defense Secretary John Hutton rebuffed suggestions that the U.K. needs to bolster its presence in Afghanistan, calling on European allies to do more after President Barack Obama sent another 17,000 U.S. troops there. After years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the British military is already overstretched and unable to add troops immediately, officers say. “The ball is absolutely in Europe’s court now, and we need to pick it up if we are going to be seen to be responsible, effective allies of the U.S. who are doing all the heavy lifting in Afghanistan,” Hutton said. The U.K. already has almost 8,300 troops in the theatre, the second-biggest contingent after the U.S. The U.S. currently has about 37,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Note EU-Digest:The EU (Europe) is right in being hesitant on Afghanistan. NATO has no serious long term plan as to "how to proceed on Afghanistan". There is a corrupt government there and the financial priorities of our own continent presently outweigh any further expenditures on nebulous military activities.

Labels: Afghanistan, Britain, Europe, Nato, US

David Beckham's failed American adventure - by Dave Larzelere

David Beckham’s relatively short stint in the MLS appears to be over, as AC Milan director Umberto Gandini plans to fly to Los Angeles tomorrow with a team of lawyers aimed at securing Beckham’s services for at least the next year. If that deal goes through, which seems likely given Beckham’s resolve to stay in Milan, it’s hard to imagine that we’ll ever see Becks playing soccer here in the States again, unless it’s on tour with Milan or some other high-profile European club.

And so ends Beckham’s big Hollywood gambit. By all accounts, it has been an enormous bust, for Beckham, for the Galaxy, and for MLS.

Labels: David Beckham, Europe, Soccer

Soccer Clubs Europe: Big Money, Growing Woes - by Mark Scott

American billionaires George Gillett and Tom Hicks were in the vanguard of sports investing when they shelled out $310 million in 2007 to buy Liverpool FC, one of England's biggest and richest soccer clubs. Money was easy, so they took on $500 million in debt to build a big new stadium and cover the team's operating costs. The payout looked promising.Then the global credit crunch hit and the math started to fall apart. The stadium was postponed and the Americans finagled a six-month extension on their loan. But the $500 million comes due in July 2009, and refinancing in the current climate seems implausible. Instead, Gillett and Hicks hope to sell the club for as much as $700 million—still not a bad return on investment—to Middle Eastern buyers.

Labels: Europe, Soccer

Army rethinking plan to reduce US troops in Europe

The U.S. Army is reconsidering again its plan for drawing down troops in Europe and thinking of leaving more troops there than planned. Gen. Carter Ham, the Army commander in Europe, said Thursday that because U.S. troops in Europe have been used so much in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they do not get to participate in exercises with European allies as much as he would like. Currently 42,000 American soldiers are in Europe, but a plan already approved by the military would reduce that number to 32,000 within five years.

Note EU-Digest: There is no valid reason for US troops to continue to be stationed in the EU or the rest of Europe. If anyone can explain why they need to be they are welcome to say so.

Labels: EU, Europe, US Military

Agriculture/Tomatoes:Turkey's southeastern city to export tomatoes to Europe

Turkey's Sanliurfa province aims to export tomatoes to Germany and Russia, and earn 1 million USD from its exports, the head of a local association said. "We are making use of geothermal energy in seven facilities in Sanliurfa's Karaali village and growing vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and cucumbers under modern conditions," Muslum Yanmaz, the head of the Greenhouse Business Association in the Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP) region, told AA correspondent. Sanliurfa is at the top of provinces producing cotton, wheat, red lentil and corn in Turkey. In recent years, greenhouse industry has developed in this city. Earlier, Sanliurfa used to sell only cotton and cereals produced in agricultural areas. However, in recent years, this province is producing vegetables in greenhouses and selling them to not only other Turkish provinces but also exporting them.

Labels: Agriculture, EU, Europe, Tomatoes, Turkey

Tourism: Europe feels U.S. financial crisis in absence of tourism -- Christine Spolar

American Express has shuttered two decades-old offices in major tourist cities. Taxi drivers are wailing that Americans and their big tips are nowhere to be seen. Clerks at the upscale clothiers along Via dei Condotti are helping buyers from Russia and China—the only holiday travelers found sifting through their racks one day last week. "Americans just aren't here," said driver Piero Capotosti, who used to draw a dependable income from Americans. He estimates his traffic has dropped as much as 40 percent from last year. "They don't have the money. You can really feel it," he said. "Now a lot of tourists are taking low-cost tours or coming from Eastern Europe. We have a name for them: The 'tight-fisted tourists.' "

Labels: Economy, EU, Europe, Tourism

Real Estate - Exchange advantage - by Faith Glasgow

The dramatic slide of sterling against the euro and other currencies since the start of last year has created big winners and big losers in the world of residential property. In the former category are international buyers in the UK, and especially in London, who are combining falling prices with improved exchange rates to secure deals that cost them 40-50 per cent less in their own currencies than they would have a year ago. In the latter are British buyers abroad, who can no longer afford the gîtes and haciendas they once coveted or have found themselves struggling to cover the monthly payments on their foreign-currency-based mortgages.If that is one silver lining to the euro’s strength, another is that European developers are also now offering “generous discounts” to sterling buyers, says James Hickman of Caxton FX. “Others have introduced a scheme where buyers pay a small deposit but then defer the rest of the payment for up to five years and pay only interest on it meanwhile,” he says. Julian Cunningham of estate agency Knight Frank confirms that such “solutions” are increasingly common. “It depends on the developer’s situation but typically at least 75 per cent [of the purchase cost] is postponed,” he says. “That gives buyers time to plan their finances. It’s not a new initiative but now it’s a key element of any deal.”

Labels: Economy, Europe, Real Estate

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer out - A contest to lead NATO - Who can unite the allies? -

NATO’s hot war, in Afghanistan, is going badly and the alliance is at odds over further expansion. Relations with its neighbor in Brussels, the European Union, are paralyzed even though many countries are members of both. Poland’s foreign (and ex-defense) minister, Radek Sikorski, is an early front-runner. Another eastern possibility is Solomon Passy, the Trabant-driving former foreign minister of Bulgaria. Many allies want a secretary-general with political clout, “somebody whose phone calls will be answered when he calls European leaders”, as a NATO insider puts it. Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s has this clout. As Danish prime minister since 2001, he sent his country’s troops to serve alongside American ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Mr Fogh Rasmussen is thought to be more interested in becoming the EU’s first permanent president, if that position ever materializes.Two Canadian possibilities are Peter MacKay and John Manley, defense and former foreign ministers respectively. One contender is Britain’s soft-spoken former defense secretary, Des Browne. But Britain is detested by jihadists even more than Denmark.A French candidate might seal that country’s re-entry into NATO’s military structure, which will be confirmed at the April summit. Some NATO insiders think the best way to stop Berlin from becoming the new Paris might be to appoint a senior German with solid pro-American credentials to NATO’s top job—in effect, not Germany’s man at NATO, but NATO’s man for Germany?

Note EU-Digest Among all the soul searching that is being done about NATO maybe some serious thought should also be given to replace the NATO structure by a European Defense Alliance which includes Russia as a full member? Providing more of a focus on European strategic interests but nevertheless in close cooperation with the US military establishment.

Labels: EU, Europe, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato, Russia, The Netherlands, US

USA - The consumer party is over - Shoppers find much to dislike about malls

Close your eyes and you could be in any mall, anywhere. At each end is an overstuffed department store with roving fragrance spritzers and makeup artists. In between are children's stores showing pink clothes on the left, blue on the right, interspersed with teen clothing stores where the lighting is dim and the salespeople are rail-thin. Throw in numerous shoe stores. Hungry? Don't fret -- somewhere in this mall are warm cinnamon buns.Today's mall shoppers are underwhelmed by the nation's 1,200 enclosed and open-air lifestyle centers, filled with chain stores designed specifically for success in the mall environment. "People go to the mall and nothing stands out or makes the experience fun or exciting," Hoch adds. "There is no sense of discovery. Nothing catches the eye. It's the same restaurants and the same stores in every mall." Hoch predicts as much as 10 percent of the nation's retail infrastructure could disappear by the time the current recession ends.

Labels: Consumerism, Europe, USA

Norway - a paradigm for anti-Semitism - by Manfried Gerstenfeld

Last week, on four consecutive days, there were anti-Israeli articles in Norway's second-largest daily Aftenposten. The first called for a general boycott of Israel. The second promoted an academic boycott, falsely accusing Israeli physicians of participating in torture and the Israeli Medical Association of remaining silent about it. Any honest debater would have reported that Israeli hospitals routinely treat Palestinian children, some of whom express joy when suicide bombers kill Israelis. One wonders whether any other country would allow this. The third article stressed the right to criticize Israel. This is a typical attack on a "straw man," as nobody denies this right. The fourth claimed that Israel is not a democracy. Only thereafter a pro-Israeli voice was heard. Two years ago the conservative Aftenposten got international attention when it published an op-ed by Jostein Gaarder which until this day remains the vilest anti-Semitic article published in a European mainstream paper since the Second World War.

Note EU-Digest: It is all a question of perception - Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, should be the first to understand that freedom of the press includes being able to accept critique about anything the press can come up with, including acts of arrogance. Unfortunately arrogance and calling anyone who does not agree with Israeli policies anti-Semitic seems to have become a trademark of successive Israeli Governments and some of their supporters.

Labels: anti-Semitic, Europe, Freedom of the Press, Israel. Norway

Europe's Road Ahead - by Michael Elliott

If Obama is as wise as he seems, non-Americans will appreciate soon enough that he has just been elected President of the United States, not Secretary-General of the United Nations. For Europe's great and good, this will not be easy. Europeans love thinking about America, part in longing, part in envy, part in disdain. You could spend a nice year trotting from Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire to Salzburg, from the Italian lakes to German castles, doing nothing but ponder in earnest detail the state of the Atlantic alliance. It's a monumental waste of time. Nearly six years after those passionate disagreements on the invasion of Iraq, U.S.-Europe relations are just fine, with a clutch of Atlanticists heading the governments of Britain, France and Germany — and leading the European Commission in Brussels, too. The thing now is to figure out what the world's collection of rich democracies can do with their substantial power. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the New York Times recently that she once said to European leaders, "Can we take the trans-Atlantic relationship off the sofa? And stop analyzing it and analyzing whether it's healthy, and actually put it to work in common causes?" She has a point.

Many in Europe know just what to do with this peace and prosperity: lie back and enjoy it. As Gideon Rachman argued in a provocative column in the Financial Times in May, Europe has become a "giant Switzerland." Its people do not consider themselves threatened by the turmoil in the world around it, and see little point in going out looking for dragons to slay. Barack Obama may be Europe's darling, but he will find that his suitor's ardor cools pretty quickly the moment he asks European parents to volunteer their sons and daughters to beef up NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, EU, Europe, USA

The Cordoba Great Mosque

For more reports related to Europe click on this link

Europe's Muslim Legacy

In a fascinating book, God's Crucible: Islam and the making of Modern Day Europe, by David Levering Lewis one will quickly agree with the author that it took two ingredients to make Europeans believe in themselves as the center of civilization. One was the creation of the vast Holy Roman Empire by Charlemagne. The other was the development of the Muslim culture in what is now known as the region of Andalusia, Spain. The Arabs called it al-Andalus with the Great Mosque as the most striking physical example of this Muslim foothold in Europe. What probably was even more impressive, leaving a lasting mark on Europe were the Muslims intellectual and cultural achievements. Hundreds of mosques, thousands of palaces, scores of libraries were build in Córdoba alone. Towards the end of the ninth century, those libraries had acquired hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. Nothing else on the continent of Europe could compare. Just imagine the university of Córdoba was established more than one hundred years before the one in Bologna, Italy, considered today as the first European university.

Al-Andalus was already a truly regional cosmopolitan agglomeration of cities, when the rest of Europe was still a feuding environment of country estates and small towns. Towards the end of the millennium, Córdoba had a population of more than 90,000, many times the size of any town in the territories occupied by Charlemagne. Those Andalusian cities also became a great ethnic melting pot of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Berbers, Germanic, Slavs, and countless other cultures. These eventually spread throughout the continent and transformed a barbaric Europe into a more enlightened and modern European society.

Maybe Europe's far right politicians, including Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, French "Front National" leader Jean-Marie le Pen and Belgian far-right politician Filip Dewinte should take the time to read God's Crucible: Islam and the making of Modern Day Europe, by David Levering Lewis. Who knows, they might realize al-Andalus showed Europe that what must empower man should always be compassion not hate.

Labels: Andalusia, Christianity, Cordoba, EU, Europe, Filip Fewinte, Geert Wilders, Islam, Jean-Marie le Pen, Spain

Europe: Credit Card Fraud Ring Funnels Data From Cards to Pakistan - by Siobhan Gorman

European law-enforcement officials uncovered a highly sophisticated credit-card fraud ring that funnels account data to Pakistan from hundreds of grocery-store card machines across Europe, according to U.S. intelligence officials and other people familiar with the case. Specialists say the theft technology is the most advanced they have seen, and a person close to British law enforcement said it has affected big retailers including a British unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tesco Ltd. The account data have been used to make repeated bank withdrawals and Internet purchases, such as airline tickets, in several countries including the U.S. Investigators haven't pinpointed the culprits. Early estimates of the losses range of $50 million to $100 million, but the figure could grow, said the person close to British law enforcement.

Labels: Credit Cards, Europe, Fraud

A chance to change Capitalism - by **Will Hutton

"This is a crisis that has been 30 years in the making - a Gordian knot of libertarian free-market fundamentalism, unregulated globalism, the collapse of social and political forces committed to fairness, the explosive impact of financial innovations such as 'secularization', and sheer greed. In the United States this first manifested itself in Newt Gingrich's 'Contract with America', that gave free license to the anti-tax, anti-government, pro-deregulation instincts of an increasingly fervent Republican party. That wasn't all. The financial markets were exploiting the new freedoms to insist that governments did Republican things. The Bush presidency sealed the market fundamentalists' victory.

In the early Nineties came a breakthrough that would transform the financial landscape. Goldman Sachs took the concept hitherto used by mortgage companies of packaging up mortgage payments and selling them as a financial security and applied it to an Arizona trailer park. The site pledged its income to a new company, specially set up, which then issued securities - backed by Goldman. The market bought them. 'Secularization' took off: there are more than $8 trillion of securities backed by a weird and wonderful range of income streams. America, followed rapidly by Britain, did not have to worry that it did not save enough cash to support its borrowing ambitions; it could sell these securities to all bidders from all over the world - especially in Asia and to China's central bank - to finance ambitions to borrow. Each has contributed to the fiasco - and all now need to be unraveled if the economy is to have a sustained recovery.

What we are witnessing now is a system failure that requires a systemic response – the creation of a new system that sponsors a fairer, more productive capitalism in its place, while maintaining high flows of credit and debt. Banks issued bonds allowing huge takeovers. Hedge funds and private equity companies blossomed. Money flowed into residential housing. New York and London were in an unseemly race to regulate less. And if regulators raised an eyebrow they were told not to worry. The securitized bonds - this packaged income - could always be sold to raise cash; and on top of that banks took out insurance against the risk of default. Nor should regulators worry if banks directed the investment funds under their management to buy any unsold bonds which might look like a fraudulent conflict of interest; one day they would rise in value. So confident did bank directors become that they authorized their managers to run hidden portfolios of securitzsed assets offshore in secret tax havens; thus would profits be boosted at no risk. Bonuses also grew larger and larger, residential and property prices kept rising, fees from ever-bigger deals became juicier and juicier. And when there were setbacks, such as the dot.com bubble bursting, the then chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan was on hand to flood the markets with cheap money. The free-market fundamentalists seemed to be right. Markets never did make mistakes, financial business kept booming, leverage became astronomical. The ever more extravagant school fees were easily paid and Britain's Home Counties - like New York and the Hamptons - became home to parties of astounding luxury and lifestyles of grotesque opulence. Gentlemanly capitalism became super-gentlemanly capitalism. The Financial Times' How to Spend it magazine is studded with dresses that cost up to euro 40.000. Private submarines, jets and yachts became the rage. Some hedge fund managers even considered themselves underpaid at euro 150 million for one year's work.

The left's critique of capitalism - that markets delivered instability, booms and busts, monopoly and gross inequity that paradoxically undermined the values of integrity and trust that bind markets together - was proven wrong. There should not even be a mixed economy between private and public sectors. The job was to enlarge the role of markets. There was no effective opposition. The left and organized labor collapsed as intellectual, social and political forces; there was no conviction that any alternative to this shareholder value-driven, financial, 'securitised' capitalism existed, or any political muscle to support it, even if there were. Mainstream culture moved away from public purpose and fairness; the new priorities were individual self-fulfilling, personal experience and loyalty to self. The past 20 years also saw an unparalleled boom in the money markets. As the free market blossomed, so too did cheap debt, huge bonuses and ostentatious wealth.

Now, as the world financial system lies on the brink of collapse, it is time to build a new one, based on fairness instead of naked greed, and with long-term commitment to building businesses and supporting investment. This is a terrifying moment; but it is also our generation's once- in-a-lifetime chance to change world capitalism.

**Will Hutton was the former editor-in-chief for The Observer in London and is currently the Chief Executive of The Work Foundation (formerly the Industrial Society). The analysis in his books is characterized by a support for the European Union and its potential, alongside a disdain for what he calls American conservatism. He is a governor of London School of Economics, a visiting professor at the University of Manchester Business School and Bristol University, a visiting fellow at Mansfield College Oxford, a trustee of the Scott Trust that owns the Guardian Media Group, rapporteur of the Kok Group and a member of the Design Council's Millennium Commission.[2] . Hutton's most recent book The Writing On The Wall' was released in the UK in January 2007. The book examines Western concerns and responses to the rise of China and the emerging global division of labor, and argues that the Chinese economy is running up against a set of increasingly unsustainable contradictions that could have a damaging universal fallout. On February 18, 2007, Hutton was a featured guest in BBC's “Have Your Say program” discussing the implications of China's growth.

Labels: Capitalism, EU, Europe, The US economic meltdown, World Economy

Does European Social Democracy have a Future?

There is one impressive exception to the conventional wisdom among European social democrats that if you ignore or demonize the new left it will go away. Wouter Bos is the leader of the Dutch Labour Party and currently finance minister in the coalition government that was formed after the last Dutch general election. A young man who two years ago was an unrepentant modernizer in the Tony Blair/Gordon Brown mold, he has been thinking long and hard about the social democratic predicament. Above all, he is concerned about what the threat from the left means, not just for his own party but for the political future of social democracy across Europe. The value of Bos’s analysis—which he presented to the Hertfordshire conference—is that it goes far below the surface of what some seem to regard wrongly as transient and superficial shifts in electoral commitments and preferences. The word crisis is overdone and may still be too strong to describe the outlook for social democracy in Europe, but fundamental social and economic trends suggest it faces an uphill struggle if it hopes to make a strong and effective comeback in the years ahead.

Bos has gone so far as to suggest that European social democracy in its present modernizing form is facing a new and formidable political challenge that threatens its historic dominance on the continent’s center-left. He is concerned with what he sees as the growth in diversity and fragmentation in European societies that are caused mainly by the impact of the dynamic and destructive forces of globalization on everyday life. People are becoming more divided in their own perceived interests and not just by class and gender but by ethnicity, religion, education, family, work, and career patterns as well as in their incomes and the amount of wealth and power they enjoy. National borders in Europe are growing more porous and less relevant with the free movement of capital, goods and services, and now labor through mass migrations.

Labels: Europe, Social Democrats, Wouter Bos

The Limits of Obamamania in Europe — by Victor Davis Hanson

I recently returned from a trip this summer to the battlefields of Europe’s past—among them Waterloo, Verdun, and Normandy—and had a number of discussions with Europeans of all sorts. I can report that Obamamania is still sweeping Europe. With his youth, optimism, and charisma, Senator Barack Obama is hailed as the quintessential “good American,” a rare New Frontiersman in the mold of John F. Kennedy. Better yet, his biracial background and perceived hipness make him a glamorous 21st-century advocate of increased taxes, larger government, more entitlements, and a multinational foreign policy—all dear to the hearts of European socialists. In Obama’s America, there will be no more of the hated George Bush’s anti-abortion, pro-gun, and twangy evangelical primordialism. The Illinois senator also sounds more antiwar than do even European statesmen. And he has surrounded himself with a number of advisers, past and present, who seem pro-Palestinian and eager to talk to Iran, Venezuela, and Syria.

Labels: Europe, Obama

What Iceland Can Teach America - by David Yarnold

Iceland's commitment to harnessing renewable energy resources is absolutely inspirational. Their use of geothermal power is groundbreaking. As much as 70% of Iceland's total energy (and 100% of its electricity and heat) comes from renewable energy. This is the highest percentage of any country in the world and puts Iceland on track to meet its goal of providing 100% of its energy needs from zero-emission renewable energy sources before mid-century.To complete their mission, Iceland plans to use geothermal electricity to split hydrogen from water and use hydrogen fuel cells for its fishing fleets and transportation sector, the last industries in Iceland still using fossil fuels.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Europe, Iceland, US

Labels: EU, Europe, Russia

Labels: Energy, Europe, Russia

Turkish motorists pay the most for gasoline in Europe

Turkish drivers pay Europe’s highest prices for gasoline due to the loading of gasoline in Turkey with the highest taxes in Europe, a recent survey has shown.

Labels: Europe, Gas Prices, Turkey

Labels: EU, Europe, Fashion

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, Europe, Georgia, Russia

The Hour of Europe - by Anne Applebaum

Way back in 1991, when an otherwise forgettable foreign minister of Luxembourg infamously pronounced that sentence, it seemed to portend great things. "This is the hour of Europe": That meant that in the post-Cold War world, Europeans, not Americans, would resolve the conflicts that were about to become the Bosnian war, and maybe a lot of other things, too. Yet he was wrong. Those Balkan conflicts were eventually "resolved," up to a point, not by Europe but by the United States and NATO. European influence in Washington dwindled -- and then dwindled further during the Bush administration, which mostly treated the very idea of "Europe" as a kind of pointless distraction.

As the election draws closer, the anxiety will grow. In a strange sense, Bush's catastrophic diplomacy was a gift to Europe's politicians. "Bush allowed them to explain away radical Islam as an understandable, even legitimate, response to the hypocrisies and iniquities of American policy," one British columnist wrote this week. Bush also allowed them to blame American "unilateralism" for their own lack of initiative, to use bad American diplomacy as an excuse for doing nothing.

Labels: EU, Europe, Political

Europe's 10 Best Places To Live - by Vidya Ram

The cost of living in Europe may seem astronomic--$6 for a cup of coffee in Copenhagen, Denmark, anyone? But in many cities, you get what you pay for. Take Frankfurt. Germany's financial capital is home to some spectacular architecture, including the Old Opera House and Saint Bartholomeus Cathedral, and a vibrant cultural scene. The city has excellent hospitals and shops and a thriving economy (with Europe's second-largest stock exchange and banks such as Deutsche Bank (nyse: DB - news - people ) headquartered there). What drags it to the No. 7 spot--tied with another German city, Munich--in Mercer Consulting's 2008 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, which we used to compile our own list, is the city's dearth of high-quality housing close to the city center and heavy traffic.

The number one sport - Zürich's tiny population--376,815 at the end of 2007--is spoiled with over 2,000 bars and restaurants, (including one with original Picasso and Cezanne paintings on the walls) and a breathtaking view of the Alps and Lake Zürich. Taxes are also among the lowest in Switzerland, and residents pay no inheritance tax. The city has top scores practically across the board, whether for its medical facilities or international banking services, though its gloomy weather and traffic bring it down.

Labels: Europe, Quality of life

The World from Berlin: Will Europe's Adulation of Obama Soon End?

US presidential candidate Barack Obama will speak in Berlin on Thursday. Germans are infatuated with the Democrat, particularly because he isn't George W. Bush. But German commentators doubt the love affair will survive this week's foreign policy speech."One shouldn't forget that the campaigner Obama simply wants to hold a major foreign policy speech for the benefit of his voters in America and wants a fitting backdrop. Nothing more. It isn't the place that creates dignity, rather that which happens at the place."

'Dear Europeans, dear Germans, should I be elected, I am going to take you at your word. More international cooperation means more European engagement in crisis regions.' Obama, should he become the superpower's next president, will not suddenly transform into a dove. He too will use the US military to reach his political goals."

Labels: Europe, Obama

Europe prepares for Obamania

US presidential front-runner Barack Obama will tour Europe and the Middle East next week, making much anticipated stops in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Berlin, Paris and London. His exact itinerary has been kept a secret for security reasons, but his campaign says he will be in Amman, Jordan on Monday; Tuesday and Wednesday in Israel and the West Bank; Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Europe; and somewhere in all this, fact-finding missions to Iraq and Afghanistan. He will be accompanied to the war zones by two US Senate colleagues, Democrat Jack Reed and Republican Chuck Hagel, an outspoken critic of president George W Bush and the Iraq War.

Quinnipiac University Poll, conducted from July 8 to July13, 2008, showed Obama leading McCain by 9% points – 50% to 41% among the registered voters nationally. Reuters/Zogby Poll, conducted from July 9 to July13, 2008, showed Obama leading McCain by 7% points – 47% to 40% among the registered voters nationally.

Labels: Barack Obama, Europe, US elections

Sex in Europe - European Sex and Prostitution - by Durant Imboden

Forget history and culture: To judge from what readers are ogling on my travel site, sex and prostitution are the main reasons for visiting Europe. Of the more than 2,500 pages at Europe for Visitors, only a few (perhaps a dozen) are about sexual topics. Yet those pages are among my most popular--a fact that probably shouldn't be surprising, since most guidebooks and online travel sites give short shrift to Red Light Districts and other topics that earlier generations might have termed "racy."

Labels: Europe, Sex

Obama to visit Europe, Middle East

Barack Obama will visit Europe and the Middle East ahead of August's Democratic nomination convention, his campaign has said. The trip to France, Germany, Great Britain, Jordan and Israel will focus on issues such as terrorism and nuclear proliferation.In a statement, Mr Obama said: "This trip will be an important opportunity for me to assess the situation in countries that are critical to American national security, and to consult with some of our closest friends and allies about the common challenges we face.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Europe, US elections

Afghanistan: No 1 Heroin Producer in the world: "A bottomless Pit which is hard to sell in Europe" - by Celestine Bohlen

As allied casualties mounted - more than 840 at last count - popular support for the war has waned in Europe, limiting the ability of government leaders to respond to urgent pleas for help from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which leads the international force. Continued involvement hinges on a comprehensive plan for the country's reconstruction, which was the focus of an international conference in Paris last week. European leaders "want a new strategy that's more saleable at home," says Daniel Korski, author of "Afghanistan: Europe's Forgotten War" and a senior fellow at the London-based European Council on Foreign Relations. "It is part of an outreach to the domestic audience that there's more to this than the military component." When the war was started in late 2001 in response to the attacks of Sept. 11 against New York and Washington, the fight against Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies had broad support in both the United States and Europe, in stark contrast to the more divisive, costlier and deadlier Iraq war that began two years later. Since then, Afghanistan has increasingly been caught in a spiral of violence and corruption, fueled by a booming opium trade that has put local officials in thrall to a criminal narcotics racket.

Heroin production in Afghanistan has tripled since 2001 and now accounts for 90 percent of the world supply, according to U.S. figures. Profit from the drug trade helps fund Taliban insurgents, who have stepped up attacks. In 2003, there were three suicide bombings. In 2007, there were 130.

Labels: Afghanistan, Europe, Heroin, Nato, Taliban

In Europe, Bush encounters more disregard than disdain - by Geraldine Baum

In his sweep across Europe last week, President Bush found a continent that has largely moved beyond him. The American president who enraged and infuriated Europeans over everything from military intervention in Iraq to climate change and once provoked massive street protests was greeted this time like a former boyfriend who is no longer even worth fighting with.

Labels: Bush, Europe

Europe shows love for Barack Obama - unfortunately it has no vote -

If Barack Obama was taking on John McCain in a global election he would already be on his way to the White House. A recent worldwide poll showed him beating the Republican by more than three to one. In Europe, his margin of victory would be even greater: Mr McCain would get only 6 per cent of the vote in Germany, where a government spokesman has waxed publicly about the attraction of Mr Obama's “mixture of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy”. Just about the whole of France is backing Mr Obama. He is, in the words of Jack Lang, the former Socialist Culture Minister, “the America we love ... the youth and racial mix of an America under transformation and in movement”.

Labels: Barack Obama, Europe, US elections

U.S. profits in jeopardy if Europe slumps -- by Rachel Beck

Big corporate profits fueled by strong international sales could disappear fast if Europe's economy begins to falter, stripping many multinational companies of a huge source of earnings growth. Europe accounts for almost half of U.S. companies' foreign sales, according to Citigroup. That's something you can't ignore when domestic sales are faltering under the weight of higher prices for oil, gas and food.

Labels: Europe, US Economy

Think Gas is High in US? Try Europe - by Bruce Crumley

American motorists are understandably grumbling over skyrocketing gas prices as the summer travel season approaches. But their pain hardly registers against the rage afoot in Europe these days. Fishermen, truck drivers and farmers are threatening to bring entire economic sectors to a halt with protests against crippling fuel costs. The wave of angry action is expected to spread further across Europe in coming days, despite efforts by political leaders to feel the pain and figure out how to alleviate it.

Note EU-Digest: Even though a EURO is worth more than $1.55 dollars, gas prices at the pump in Europe are going up just as fast as in America. Is their something wrong with the mathematics here? How come no-one seems to be able to deal with the oil companies?

Labels: EU, Europe, Gas Prices, oil companies, UK

Wind power could make Norway Europe's battery - by Alister Doyle

Norway could become "Europe's battery" by developing huge sea-based wind parks costing up to $44 billion by 2025, Norway's Oil and Energy Minister said on Monday. Norway's Energy Council, comprising business leaders and officials, said green exports could help the European Union reach a goal of getting 20 percent of its electricity by 2020 from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro or wave power.

Labels: Alternative Energy Resources, Europe, Norway

In the interest of clarity, I’d like to point out a few facts about racing across the pond. There are some similarities to U.S. racing: We do have racing all year long; the most lucrative purses are for 2- and 3-year-olds and horses here run about the same number of races as horses in America. The average horse in the U.K. started 6.3 times in 2006, according to the most recent statistics available from the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. That is exactly the same average start for horses in the United States. Horses in France raced slightly less, with an average of 5.8 starts. In Hong Kong, the average number of starts was 7.8. The big difference is when it comes to fatal accidents. In the United States, there are 1.5 fatal accidents for every 1,000 starts, according to an estimate from the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center. In Britain, the rate is 0.65 per 1,000 starts, according to the Animal Health Trust, and in Hong Kong, where horses face the heaviest schedule, the rate is 0.35 0.00035 percent, according to Hong Kong Jockey Club figures.

Labels: EU, Europe, horse racing, US

Oil painting 'invented in Asia, not Europe' - by Roger Highfield

The idea that oil painting was invented in Europe is overturned today by a remarkable discovery made as a result of one of the worst examples of cultural vandalism in recent years.Scientists have proved, thanks to experiments performed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, that the paints used were based of oil, hundreds of years before the technique was "invented" in Europe, when artists found they could use pigments bound with a medium of drying oil, such as linseed oil.

In many European history and art books, oil painting is said to have started in the 15th century in Europe. But the team that used the ESRF, an intense source of X rays, found the Bamiyan paintings date back to the mid-7th century AD

Labels: Art, Asia, Europe

U.S. housing collapse spreads overseas - - by Mark Landler

In Ireland, Spain, Britain and elsewhere, housing markets that soared over the past decade are falling back to earth. Experts predict that some countries, like Ireland, will face an even more wrenching adjustment than the United States, with the possibility that the downturn could turn into wholesale collapse. To some extent, the world's problems are a result of American contagion. As home financing and credit tighten in response to the crisis that began in the U.S. subprime market, analysts worry that other countries could suffer the mortgage defaults and foreclosures that have afflicted California, Florida and other states. Citing the far-flung reverberations from the American housing bust and credit squeeze, the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast Wednesday for global economic growth this year and warned that the malaise could extend into 2009.

Labels: Europe, US Economy

VIP guests at opening of Norway's new opera house

Norway is celebrating the opening of a new national opera house and to mark the occasion it has invited some notable guests from abroad. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among those at the inauguration of the futuristic structure on the shores of the Oslo Fjord. She joined royalty from Norway, Denmark and Sweden for a gala first night performance.

The construction of the white marble building marks the realisation of a long-held dream in the Nordic nation. Built at a cost of more than 500 million euros, the opera house is set to become a major architectural landmark.

Labels: Culture, Europe, Norway

Europe challenge at Augusta would lift Faldo - by Matt Dickenson

Only one thing may shock more than seeing Tiger Woods knocked off the top of the Masters leaderboard on Sunday and that is seeing him usurped by a European. No wonder Nick Faldo has laughed off being called “a prick” by Paul Azinger. The Europe Ryder Cup captain has more important things to worry about.

Labels: EU, Europe, US Open

Space Station crew enters Europe's Jules Verne ATV

The astronauts on board the International Space Station performed final ATV hatch opening at around 10:30 CEST (08:30 UT) Saturday morning, clearing the way for the crew to start unloading Jules Verne’s cargo delivery. The hatches between ISS and Jules Verne ATV were opened for the first time at around 12:15 CEST (10:15 UT) on Friday, at which time the crew briefly entered ATV to place an air filtering device. The so-called ‘air scrubber’ was left to run for 8 hours removing any unwanted gasses or small particles of debris that may be floating around. Immediately after hatch reopening this morning, the lights inside Jules Verne ATV were turned on and the air scrubber dismounted. The crew will now install portable breathing apparatus, a fire extinguisher and the handrails which help the astronauts move around inside ATV.

Over the next weeks the crew will remove the 1150 kg of dry cargo delivered by Jules Verne – including fuel, clothes, equipment as well as two original manuscripts handwritten by Jules Verne and a XIXth century illustrated edition of his novel ‘From the Earth to the Moon’. In addition the crew will pump 856 kg of propellant, 270 kg of drinking water and 21 kg of oxygen into Zvezda’s tanks.

Labels: Europe, Space Exploration

RosCosmos and ESA to Build a Manned Spacecraft

Russian Federal space agency RosCosmos and European Space Agency discuss a possibility of joint project, resulting in a manned space vehicle. RosCosmos press service reports that engineers from both countries talk about joint piloted spaceship for Russian and European needs. Realization of this ambitious project requires top level decision and interstate agreement, since countries would have to depend on each other in many aspects. After scientists finish their discussions, governments will start negotiations.

Labels: Europe, Russia, Space Exploration

European Soccer - Deivid crowns Fenerbahçe fightback

Fenerbahçe SK 2-1 Chelsea FC. Having scored an early own goal, Deivid redeemed himself with a superb late effort to settle the first leg of their European Cup quarter finals match.

UEFA club competition record
Competition Pld W D L GF GA
eccc 78 26 11 41 87 137
ecwc 9 3 1 5 11 11
ucup 54 18 10 26 72 91
scup 0 0 0 0 0 0
uic 0 0 0 0 0 0
eusa 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 141 47 22 72 170 239

Labels: EU, Europe, Soccer

Old Europe is fighting back. Last week’s hopes that the dollar had at last hit rock bottom foundered on Wednesday on the sheer weight of optimism coming from Europe. The Ifo survey of German business conditions found growing optimism about the outlook, with current conditions far more favourable than they had been for most of this decade. French business confidence also improved. The contrast with surveys of US sentiment, which suggest executives are about to head for the hills, is stark.

Labels: EU Economy, Europe

Bin Laden Threatens Europe Over Mohammed Cartoons

In a new message, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned Europe of a "reckoning" for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. Intelligence officials said there was no indication when a possible attack might occur. Bin Laden's audio message, heard over a video image of him holding an AK-47 automatic rifle, coincided with the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. It was posted on al Qaeda's Web site on Wednesday, March 19, which is also the day observed in the Muslim world as Mohammed's birthday. The militant leader said publishing the controversial caricatures of the Muslim prophet was a greater offense than the "bombing of modest villages that collapsed over our women and children," in a reference to the invasion of Iraq by US and European forces.

Note EU-Digest: Mr. Bin Laden who calls himself a Muslim would do himself and the world some good in reading what the Qur’an (القرآن ‎ al-qur'ān) says about violence. Any Muslim who accepts Mr. Bin Laden as the spokesperson for Islam is probably just as crazy and fanatical as he is. Mr. Bin Laden has got the blood of many innocent civilians, including large numbers of Muslims on his hands. Finding him (if he is still alive) and bringing him to justice is essential.

Labels: Bin Laden, Europe, Islam, Muslims

60 Ideas for Europe- Building together the Europe of the Future

Isabel Aspe-Montoya wrote: "Immigration is currently one of the largest challenges facing European societies. This has been declared the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, and one of its objectives is the promotion of interaction between Europeans and different cultures, languages, ethnic groups and religions on the continent and elsewhere. Erasmus has proved to be one of the most important ways to strengthen European identity and the creation of new personal and long-lasting bridges between different cultures, countries, languages and traditions. This important Year of Intercultural Dialogue demands a new Erasmus: an Intercultural Erasmus. This programme for university studies would be especially related to specific regional areas defined by the European Commission, such as the Mediterranean, Latin America, Russia and candidate countries. This will enable both Europeans and the societies providing the immigrants to get to know and respect each other and create the possibility of working together for a better world."

Labels: EU, Europe, Unity

Labels: EU, Europe

Wiretapping US: House approves Democratic surveillance bill that denies immunity to companies for spying on Public on behalf of US Government

A terror surveillance bill that President Bush has promised to veto is on its way to the Senate. The House bill approved this afternoon doesn't grant immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the government spy on Americans after September 11th without warrants. The Senate has passed its own version, and it includes that immunity. Bush says the companies shouldn't be punished for helping the government, and that he'd veto the version approved by the House. The majority say a judge should decide if laws were broken. About 40 lawsuits are pending before a single federal judge in California. Telecommunications companies are being sued by people and organizations alleging the companies violated wiretapping and privacy laws.

In Europe the fact is that in most of the countries there wiretapping is still de rigueur—practiced more regularly and with less oversight than in the United States. Most Europeans either don't know about this or, more likely, simply don't care. The extensive European taps are not new developments, made in the heat of passion after the London and Madrid bombings. European governments have been bugging phones for decades.

Recently Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Britain gave the green light for wiretap evidence to be used in court cases, "provided strict conditions" are met. The move would end an unusual culture of secrecy surrounding telephone taps in Britain, one of the few countries where secret tapings are not used to secure convictions.

In theory, the European Convention on Human Rights forbids "arbitrary wiretapping," but, as we've learned in the United States, "arbitrary" is in the ear of the wiretapper. In this case credit must be given to the US House of Representatives for attacking the Bush Administrations infringement on the citizens right to privacy while the EU Parliament is backing away from tackling the problem.

Labels: EU, Europe, Human Rights, security, US Congress, Wiretapping

Germany pours cold water on Sarkozy union - by Ian Traynor

President Nicolas Sarkozy was last night forced to back away from an ambitious scheme to launch a French-led "Mediterranean Union" linking the EU's southern states in a political club with the Maghreb, Turkey and Middle Eastern countries including Israel. Sarkozy had planned to launch the bold new union when France took over the presidency of the EU in July, but climbed down after fierce opposition from Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. At an EU summit in Brussels last night, Sarkozy and Merkel jointly proposed a much looser grouping, to be initiated at a summit of EU and Mediterranean countries in Paris in July. Worried that the Sarkozy scheme would split the EU while leaving the wealthier countries of Germany and Scandinavia footing the bill for an exercise in French aggrandisement, Merkel was said to have threatened to boycott the Paris summit unless Sarkozy scaled back his plans.

Labels: EU, Europe, Mediterranean region, Merkel, Sarkozy

What France Does Best — y Reuel Marc Gerecht & Gary J. Schmitt

Two waves of terrorist attacks, the first in the mid-1980s and the second in the mid-1990s, have made France acutely aware of both state-supported Middle Eastern terrorism and freelancing but organized Islamic extremists. In comparison, the security services in Great Britain and Germany were slow to awaken to the threat from homegrown radical Muslims. Britain’s gamble was that its multicultural approach to immigrants was superior to France’s forced-assimilation model. But with the discovery of one terrorist plot after another being planned by British Muslims, as well as the deadly transportation bombings that took place in London on July 7, 2005, the British have begun to question the wisdom of their “Londonistan” approach to Muslim immigration.

Similarly, until recently, the belief in Berlin was that Germany was safe from homegrown Muslim terrorism; but two major bomb plots over the past year and a half—one aimed at German trains, the second at American installations and interests in Germany—have raised serious doubts in the minds of many German security officials about that previous assumption. And French scholars and journalists have been way ahead of their European and American counterparts in dissecting Islamic extremism and in analyzing the phenomenon of European-raised Muslim militants. French officials who work in counterterrorism are well apprised of this intellectual spadework, often maintaining friendly relationships with scholars and journalists working in the field. The French interior ministry and prison system, for example, were remarkably helpful to the Franco-Iranian sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar in his interviews of jailed al-Qaeda members.

Labels: EU, Europe, France, Terrorism

Non-European PhDs In Germany Find Use Of 'Doktor' Verboten - Craig Whitlock and Shannon Smiley

Americans with PhDs beware: Telling people in Germany that you're a doctor could land you in jail. At least seven U.S. citizens working as researchers in Germany have faced criminal probes in recent months for using the title "Dr." on their business cards, Web sites and r¿sum¿s. They all hold doctoral degrees from elite universities back home. Under a little-known Nazi-era law, only people who earn PhDs or medical degrees in Germany are allowed to use "Dr." as a courtesy title.

Labels: Education, EU, Europe, Germany

Iraq cuts oil price to Europe, ups US - Energy - by Simon Webb

Iraq has cut the official selling price of its Basra Light crude for April loading by $2.20 a barrel to European buyers and raised prices for the US, an Iraqi oil official said on Thursday. The April Basra Light price for European buyers was set at BFOE minus $6.25 versus $4.05 in March.

Labels: EU, Europe, Iraq, Oil

EU business backs SWF code, Denmark wants rules

The European Union's top business lobby backed the idea of a voluntary code of conduct for cash-rich state-owned wealth funds but Denmark said it should only be a first step to mandatory rules. Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) hold an estimated $2.5 trillion generated by booming commodity and energy exports as a massive treasure chest for investment in companies. SWFs from Russia and China have been eyeing EU firms, prompting France and Germany to fear that such funds were more interested in influencing strategic sectors than by profit.

Labels: Denmark, Economy, EU, Europe

EU- More than 900 Africans died in 2007 on way to Spain

At least 921 would-be immigrants died in 2007 in attempts to cross over clandestinely from Africa to Spain, a Spanish human rights group said in a report made public on Thursday. The figure only reflected officially confirmed deaths, the Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos Andalusia (APDH-A) said, estimating the real death toll at a minimum of 3,500. The victims usually drowned or died of thirst, hunger and exposure on board their vessels. The APDH-A said 189 of the victims died off the Spanish mainland or the Canary Islands, and 732 off the West African coast.

Among the victims, 287 came from Maghreb countries such as Morocco or Algeria, 629 from other African countries and five from Asia.

Labels: EU, Europe, Immigration

EU price-fixing probe spreads to Air France - by Steve McGrath and Geraldine Amiel

AIR France, a unit of Air France-KLM, said yesterday it was questioned by European Union regulators about traffic between the EU and Japan, a day after the airline's Dutch unit KLM and German carrier Lufthansa said they were part of an investigation. Air France said it was providing the European Commission with its full co-operation. The commission, the EU's executive arm, said that EU anti-trust officials had raided the offices of a number of international airlines in an investigation into suspected price-fixing. Lufthansa said the EU commission had information that European and Japanese passenger airlines, including Lufthansa, "may have taken part in anti-competitive price fixing and collusive behaviour in traffic between the EU and Japan".

The German airline said its offices had been searched by anti-trust officials and it was co-operating with the commission. KLM also said it was involved in the probe and was co-operating with the EU.

Labels: EU, Europe, Price Fixing

Cruise execs not worried about downturn - by Martha Brannigan

Cruise execs not worried about economic downturn - Europe major focus for growth - by Martha Brannigan

Top executives at six major cruise lines concurred that their industry's outlook remains bright in the face of a sour economy with challenges including a bleak housing market, a weak dollar and record fuel prices.

The cruise industry continues to grow at a brisk pace and expects to introduce eight new ships during 2008 and a total of 36 new ships from 2008 through 2012.

The cruise industry expects to carry 12.8 million passengers in 2008, up from 12.6 million in 2007, said Hanrahan, who serves as marketing committee chairman for the Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group. Cruise lines continue to fill their ships to more than 100 percent occupancy, he noted. About 86 percent of cruise agents surveyed said they believe sales will be as good or better in 2008 as they were in 2007, Hanrahan said. They say the value of a cruise compared with a land-based vacation gives the industry an advantage, several cruise executives said. And the global nature of the business enables the cruise industry to shift capacity to stronger markets during economic downturns. Presently Europe, for instance, is a major focus for growth for the cruise lines."Cruising clearly is catching on in Europe", said Carnival CEO Gerald Cahill.

Labels: Cruise Industry, Economy, Europe

Tourism - Europe's Can't-Miss Cathedrals - by Rebecca Ruiz

Upon entering the dimly lit Notre Dame for the first time, the 19th-century architecture critic Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc heard organ music and thought it was emanating from the sky framed by the Parisian cathedral's rose stained glass windows.While today's visitors may not experience the same reaction, the towering spires, impressive arches and historic relics of many European cathedrals are nothing short of awe-inspiring. And since there are thousands of them, it's often difficult to determine which are must-sees.

Labels: Christianity, EU, Europe, European Culture, European Tourism, Religion

U.S. is world's biggest jailer as more than one in 100 adults languish behind bars-Russia highest number of inmates Europe

More than one in every 100 American adults is in prison, making the United States the world's biggest jailer, according to a Pew report published today.The numbers - based on January statistics released by the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College, London - put U.S. prison numbers far above those of China, which has 1.5 million people behind bars even though its total population is more than four times bigger than the United States'. South Africa has 341 prisoners per 100,000 citizens, Iran has 222 per 100,000, and China 119, according to the King's College centre's World Prison Brief. The 50 U.S. states spent nearly $49 billion (£25 billion) on prisons last year, up from less than US$11 billion 20 years earlier, the report said.Prison spending has risen six times faster than higher education spending, the Pew Centre said, and has actually overtaken it in Vermont, Michigan, Oregon and Connecticut."These sad facts reflect a very distorted set of national priorities," said Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.

Russia and other former Soviet republics had the highest rates of incarceration in Europe. Russia, with a total of 890,000 people in prison, has 628 inmates per 100,000 people, followed by Belarus with 426 per 100,000, Georgia with 401 per 100,000 and Ukraine with 345 per 100,000.

Labels: China, Europe, Jail, Prison, US

Oscars - For Bollywood Oscars a big yawn again - Academy tends to favor European films as foreign nominations - by Priyanka Khanna

While the 80th Academy Awards for Merit has the global entertainment industry electrified, it has yet again bypassed India , the world's largest producers of films. Known as the world's most prestigious movie award, the glittering 13.5-inch statuette of a knight holding a crusader's sword on a reel of film continues to evade India , a land where filmmaking began at about the same time as the rest of the world. "Eklavya - The Royal Guard", India 's official entry this year for the Academy Award in Best Foreign Film category, failed to make it to the final list. It does seem the Academy tends to favor European films with France leading the foreign language film nominations with 34 in total and having bagged nine Oscars, and Italy following with 27 nominations and 10 wins. But the Oscar has also gone to movies with people from Arab, Far East and Slavic backgrounds.

Indian films never seem to have fitted the Oscar bill. Satyajit Ray, whom the Academy conferred with the "Lifetime Achievement Award" on his deathbed, never bagged a film-specific award. His "Pather Panchali" won 11 international awards, but no Oscar.

Labels: Bollywood, EU-Digest, Europe, Oscars

Letter to Our European Friends - by P.J.Orourke

US elections: Letter to Our European Friends - by P.J.Orourke

America is in the midst of an all-important electoral campaign. But, talking to Europeans, I've discovered that there is puzzlement and misinformation on your continent about what's happening on ours. Europeans feel an understandable confusion when faced with a political system consisting of two houses of Congress and a White House, and nobody is home in any of them.Also, America's political parties are indistinguishable to the European eye. A British journalist once described the situation thus: "America is a one-party state, but just like Americans they've got two of them."

The difference between American parties is actually simple. Democrats are in favor of higher taxes to pay for greater spending, while Republicans are in favor of greater spending, for which the taxpayers will pay. There are two factors in American politics that may seem strange to Europeans, race and religion. You, of course, don't have any religion. Except every now and then someone who came to Europe lately and is a Muslim blows himself to bits. But I understand that you have EU funding to address these social problems and help Muslims build bombs that release fewer pollutants and less carbon dioxide, reducing the threat of global warming.

Labels: EU, Europe, US elections

CIA set up 12 bogus companies mostly in Europe after 9/11: report

Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, the US Central Intelligence Agency set up 12 bogus companies in Europe and other parts of the world in the hope of penetrating Islamic organizations, The Los Angeles Times reported on its website late Saturday. But citing current and former CIA officials, the newspaper said the agency had now shut down all but two of them after concluding they were ill-conceived. The firms were part of an ambitious plan to increase the number of CIA case officers sent overseas under what is known as "nonofficial cover" in order to increase the agency's potential for penetrating Islamic networks, the report said. According to the paper, the agents posed as employees of investment banks, consulting firms or other fictitious enterprises with no apparent ties to the US government.

Labels: CIA, EU, Europe

NBA aiming to set up in Europe

The NBA is weighing up a plan to create up to five European teams to play in their league, U.S. media reported on Wednesday. Sports Illustrated's Web site SI.com (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com) said they had been told by a source that NBA commissioner David Stern will announce the proposal at a news conference on Saturday. A spokesman for the NBA told Reuters that the idea had been circulating within the organisation but could not confirm details. "We have been talking about this for some time as a possibility or as one of many scenarios," he said. According to SI.com, the idea is to create five new teams in large markets to create a fully-fledged European division within the NBA. The teams would participate in the entire 82-game schedule and compete for the title as any other team would.

Labels: Europe, NBA

How can we get our children to "kick the habit" of electronic addiction and to being normal children again?

Alarmed by a study that said teens spend less time with books, which is helping to create a nation of poor readers, English teacher Brenda Durkacs at the Coral Springs High school in Florida challenged her students to step away from the computer keys for a full week as part of a project she began in November to get students to read, react and question.

During this project, she helped her class develop an awareness of technology's sometimes intrusive nature, pointing not just to the number of hours video games, text messaging or television can drain out of a day, but also to serious concerns about how technology can invade privacy.

Many students found it very hard to "kick the habit" because as one of them said "It just feels so natural to use technology for everything".

Brenda Durkacs got the idea last year when a friend e-mailed her an analysis from the National Endowment for the Arts. The study showed that as young people read less, their comprehension skills deteriorate. Part of the problem is that there are so many things vying for students' leisure time. Instead of picking up a book, students now turn on the computer, DVD player or iPod — maybe all three simultaneously, the study said.

As part of her program Brenda Durkacs had her students document every text-message, phone call and download they used for one week in November. During this exercise some students even found out they played Xbox, used the computer and watched the TV at least 10 hours if not more a day.

Soon Brenda Durkas got the class even more interested to abstain from using the electronic equipment after she made them read Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's science fiction novel, where books are burned, critical thought suppressed and television reigns supreme.

It was extremely difficult to for us to "kick-off" some of the students said, but despite their urges to check e-mail, they realized the benefits of occasionally disconnecting. Some students voluntarily deleted their MySpace accounts, put down their video games and turned off the television. Instead, they started playing football, soccer and other sports, but best of all many picked up reading again.

One student commented "If you can't read, then you can't write. And if you can't write, then you can't express yourself", as she looked up from a copy of 1984, the class' current assignment about the technological balance between personal privacy and state security.

In another assignment the students had to read George Orwell's novel about the peeping eye of "Big Brother". Following that assignment the students were told to chart the technology they could identify in their own local area, which was used to watch, spy and track them. Their lists quickly filled with items such as security cameras at the gym, toll-road transponders, ATM camera's, and personalized spam e-mails. As the program progressed the students also realized that they had been ignorant to the fact that all privacy is relative. Computer systems can match images caught by security cameras against digital mug shots of criminals. The ink from some color printers acts as a digital license plate, helping identify the machine. Some of them also heard for the first time that the US federal government and other countries in the world have secret wiretap programs.

For a generation of students who have been growing up on-line, logging off for a week seems almost impossible. Our hat goes off to salute Brenda Durkacs and her class of freshmen at Coral Springs High School in Florida. They managed to survive seven days of writing with ballpoint, pencils and paper, reading books, chatting face-to face and actually going outside to play. It is an example we should also follow in Europe, where the addiction of kids to electronic games and a host of other electronic gadgets has also gone totally out of control.

Labels: Addiction, Computer Games, Computer industry, e-mail spam, Education, electronic equipment. reading skills, EU, Europe, US