European Union

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French Economy Enters Recession

After Ireland, it's the second EU nation in economic trouble

(Newser) - France has entered a recession. The national statistics agency projects that the economy will contract by 0.1% in the third and fourth quarters of 2008, meeting the generally accepted definition. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde blamed the troubles on high oil prices, the strength of the euro earlier this year,...

Somali Standoff Continues as Nations Move to Fight Piracy

EU plans force to combat maritime criminals, who took $30M in ransom in '08

(Newser) - With pirates still holding a munitions-laden ship off Somalia’s coast, the European Union plans a security force to crack down on maritime crime in the area, the BBC reports. The US Navy has surrounded the MV Faina to ensure the weapons aboard are not given to terrorists, and Somalia...

Russia Lets EU Monitors Into Georgia Buffer Zone

Unarmed patrol allowed near, but not in South Ossetia

(Newser) - Russian troops allowed unarmed EU monitors into the buffer zone around South Ossetia for the first time today, after France helped negotiate a truce between Russia and Georgia. The blue-beret-sporting French troops spent 90 minutes touring the heavily guarded area, the Guardian reports. The EU will be sending its monitors...

Hefty Carbon Tax Raised Norway's Emissions
Hefty Carbon Tax Raised Norway's Emissions
ANALYSIS

Hefty Carbon Tax Raised Norway's Emissions

Greenhouse gases up 15% despite system aimed to curb them

(Newser) - In 1991, Norway enacted a punishing carbon tax, but things haven’t turned out quite as expected, the Wall Street Journal reports. Greenhouse-gas emissions have actually risen 15%, and industries deemed vital to the nation’s economy or image were spared the tax or given sweet deals. Though the oil...

Georgia: Russian Spy Plane Downed

Moscow denies sending camera-equipped drone

(Newser) - Georgia says it shot down a Russian military drone yesterday just south of South Ossetia, the Moscow-backed breakaway province. Moscow officials deny the charge and have called the episode "the latest media provocation" by Georgia to "destabilize the situation," Reuters reports.

US Takes Early Ryder Lead
 US Takes Early Ryder Lead 

US Takes Early Ryder Lead

Americans haven't had a strong opening since 1991

(Newser) - For the first time since 1991, American golfers lead the Ryder Cup at the end of the opening session. The US is up 3-1 on the Europeans after the morning matches. Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan claimed the first point for the US, Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim rallied to...

Italians Protest English Words
 Italians Protest English Words 

Italians Protest English Words

Society not 'OK' with native speakers using Anglo shortcuts

(Newser) - One cultural institution is not "OK" with Italians speaking Anglitaliano, the BBC reports. "Weekend" and "OK" topped a list of least-favorite foreign words among visitors to the Dante Alighieri Society website. It shows Italians want more respect for their language, the group says.

EU Won't Put Ukraine on Membership Fast Track

Amid worries over Russian ambition, Sarkozy acknowledges 'European destiny'

(Newser) - Ukraine’s president left a summit with European Union leaders today without a firm promise of EU membership, the Guardian reports. While French President Nicolas Sarkozy offered Victor Yushchenko an “association agreement” and affirmed Europe’s commitment to Ukraine’s territorial rights, dissent from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands...

Russia Agrees to Leave Georgia Within Month

But Medvedev says nothing about South Ossetia, Abkhazia trouble spots

(Newser) - Russia promised to remove its troops from Georgia within a month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced today after meeting with Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev. But Medvedev made no mention of troops in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia or Abkhazia, promising only to remove them from the rest of the...

Brits Working Longer Days
Brits Working Longer Days

Brits Working Longer Days

UK employees put in 41.4 hours a week, up from 40.7 in 2006

(Newser) - Britons are among the hardest working Europeans, with only Romanians and Bulgarians working longer than the 41.4 hours our former colonizers put in at the office weekly. That's 2 more hours than the average European, the Telegraph reports, and it's up from 40.7 hours in 2006. Workers in...

EU Snubs Talks on New Russia Pact

Retaliation for invasion of Georgia

(Newser) - Europe has backed out of talks on a new partnership agreement with Russia in the wake of the invasion of Georgia, the BBC reports.  The decision followed an emergency European summit in Brussels. The commission president said Europe could not continue with negotiations "as if nothing had happened....

EU Holds Emergency Summit on Georgia

No sanctions or radical changes expected

(Newser) - European Union leaders gather in Brussels in an emergency session today to review their stance on Russia’s invasion of Georgia. It's the first emergency EU meeting since the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003. With conflicting positions from the UK, France and Germany, analysts say the summit will...

Georgia Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Moscow

Nation withdraws embassy staff from 'aggressor nation'

(Newser) - Georgia pulled its diplomats from Moscow today, charging that it cannot engage in diplomacy with an “aggressor country,” the AP reports. A spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the Georgians’ cutting of diplomatic ties would not benefit relations between the two countries. Russian troops remain in Georgia,...

EU Threatens Sanctions on Russia
EU Threatens Sanctions
on Russia

EU Threatens Sanctions on Russia

Asian alliance, including China, condemns aggression

(Newser) - The European Union is considering sanctions against the Great Bear over its incursion into Georgia, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said today, as EU leaders head to an emergency summit. And a Russian plea for support from the East was strongly rebuffed by members of an Asian alliance that includes...

West to Put Screws to Russia
 West to Put Screws to Russia

West to Put Screws to Russia

New fury at Russia's formal recognition of breakaway states

(Newser) - The West is preparing to crank up diplomatic pressure on Russia after its challenging move formally recognizing breakaway Ossetia and Abkhazia in the wake of its invasion of Georgia. The US, Europe and NATO have condemned the action, but Russia remains defiant. "We are not afraid of anything, including...

Georgia Is the Victim, So Blame Russia
 Georgia Is the Victim, 
 So Blame Russia

opinion

Georgia Is the Victim, So Blame Russia

History reveals Russia as the aggressor

(Newser) - Why blame Georgia for Russia's invasion when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is clearly at fault? Putin has been seething ever since pro-Western Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in Georgia 3 years ago, writes Matthew Continetti in The Weekly Standard. "Putin has been pressuring Georgia for years," writes...

European Unity Threatened by Economic Slowdown

Slowdown in Spain is representative of the EU's growing economic ills

(Newser) - Europe seems to be catching the economic malaise that has already affected the US, and the downturn is putting a damper on member nations' enthusiasm for the 15-year-old Economic Union, the Washington Post reports. Revised projections show European economies slowing down as much, if not more, than the US over...

Paper Money Often Has Traces of Cocaine

Spanish study gives new meaning to 'drug money'

(Newser) - Chances are, you're carrying cocaine in your wallet. Trace amounts of it, anyway. A new Spanish study finds that paper money around the world is often contaminated with cocaine, LiveScience reports. Though concentrations vary by year and city, US bills had an average of up to 28.8 micrograms of...

Bush Expands Zimbabwe Sanctions
Bush Expands
Zimbabwe Sanctions 

Bush Expands Zimbabwe Sanctions

Thwarted at UN, president follows EU in trying to clamp down on Mugabe regime

(Newser) - President Bush is expanding US sanctions against Zimbabwe, the New York Times reports, two weeks after Russia and China vetoed his call for UN action. “No regime should ignore the will of its own people and calls from the international community without consequences,” Bush said today.

European Demands Vex Obama Camp
European Demands Vex Obama Camp
ANALYSIS

European Demands Vex Obama Camp

Suggestions tour lacks substance add sour note to fawning press

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s campaign is frustrated that his Berlin visit tomorrow is being over-analyzed, Der Spiegel reports—with Europeans complaining that he’s giving a mere stump speech, or that his address might lack substance. Obama is dropping in to outline his vision for trans-Atlantic alliances—he’s expected to...

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