VERSAILLES, France: French lawmakers voted Monday in favor of a sweeping revision of France's constitution -- but by a one-vote margin that highlights the controversy behind the vote.

The changes give parliament greater power but also add privilege to the presidency.

The reform was a political hot potato for President Nicolas Sarkozy, but the thin win -- 539 votes for and 357 against -- saved him from humiliation. That is one vote more than the 538 needed to pass the changes.

The vote by both houses of parliament was held in a special session at the Chateau of Versailles.

Sarkozy's conservative party pressed for the reform right up until the vote.

The cost of fuelling Britain's Armed Forces is due to rise by more than £500 million next year as a result of soaring oil prices, forcing military chiefs to consider broad cuts to air force and combat training.

Ministry of Defence calculations of projected fuel bills, seen byThe Times, show a dramatic increase in operating costs, with fuel for aircraft, naval and ground vehicles up by more than 20 per cent on last year.

With the Armed Forces' budget set to rise by just 3 per cent - and the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, warning government departments last week of no additional increases - defence and industry analysts said that major cuts to training programmes such as fighter plane exercises would be inevitable.

The Times understands that Air Chief Marshal Sir Glen Torpy, Chief of the Air Staff, told senior members of the defence industry last week that RAF pilots would do more training in simulators this year because of the budget squeeze.

In Ukraine for the first time on Monday, July 21, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to meet with the former Soviet republic's leaders to discuss energy supply, NATO, and Ukraine's future with the European Union.

Merkel is meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko during a day of talks.

 

According to German and Ukrainian diplomats, Merkel intends to discuss her view of Ukraine's future with NATO and the European Union, and to argue that Berlin's "go-slow" policy towards Kiev was not hostile.

 

The German leader was likely to pitch to Yushchenko and Tymoshenko a plan to give Ukraine associate status with the European Union, while leaving NATO on the back burner, the Sehodnia newspaper reported.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a long-time critic of the European Central Bank's monetary policy, is set to push for a change in the way the Frankfurt-based body is run.

According to the Financial Times, France is working on a three point plan, which should encourage EU states to express their views on the ECB's monetary policy - something that Paris considers "legitimate".

The French president wants greater co-ordination between the ECB and the eurogroup

Mr Sarkozy wants the ECB to publish regular minutes of its governing council meetings where interest rates are set. Currently, this is done behind closed doors.

He would also like to see the development of a permanent secretariat for the eurogroup - representing finance ministers from countries using the euro currency - in order to boost its policy co-ordination with the ECB.

In addition, French leader wants to establish an "economic government" for the eurozone.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission is on Wednesday (23 July) set to strongly criticise Bulgaria and Romania for their failure to take effective action against corruption.

The language will be particularly harsh towards Bulgaria - but neither of the countries will face concrete sanctions at this stage, according to the reports on the justice and home affairs situation in the EU newest member states seen by EUobserver.

Plovdiv - Bulgaria's second biggest city

The Bulgaria report welcomes efforts made by the country in the area, but says they are insufficient as initiatives are rarely followed by concrete results.

Addressing the issue of persistent corruption problems, it also notes that only few cases have actually been effectively dealt with.

Barack Obama's visit to Berlin has upset officials in other European capitals who feel the presumptive Democratic Party presidential candidate is slighting their countries. Germany is not only to be the site of a major trans-Atlantic address, but also the place where he plans to meet the most politicians. The French and British are feeling neglected.

Barack Obama is making Germany the major focus of his trip to Europe this week, a choice that is being viewed with some displeasure in Paris and London. One day after the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee officially announced his plan to hold a speech at the Siegesäule, or "Victory Column," (more...) in Berlin, SPIEGEL ONLINE also obtained information about his preliminary European agenda.

 Candidate Obama: His team views German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Europe's strongest leaders at the moment.

One-on-one meetings for Obama have now been confirmed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. But so far he is only including time in his stops in Paris and London for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. A decision still hasn't been made on whether the Democratic candidate will meet with the foreign ministers of those countries.

The source said this had caused additional irritation in government circles in Paris and London. High-ranking politicians there are already annoyed that the controversy about Obama's desire to hold his speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate had distracted attention from the purpose of his European visit -- to outline his vision for trans-Atlantic relations.

The European Commission intends to respond to the international financial crisis by imposing tougher rules on banks' operations. The financial sector is worried that the plans will restrict lending and make credit more expensive.

 Germany's financial capital Frankfurt. The banks are worried about new EU plans to tighten controls of them. The European Union is ramping up the pressure on the financial sector with plans to tighten regulations under which European banks can invest in global credit markets, the Financial Times Deutschland reported on Monday.

The EU wants to only allow banks to buy so-called securitized loans -- loans repackaged as securities -- if the seller continues to hold 10 percent in his books, the newspaper reported, citing an internal European Commission draft for new bank equity capital rules.

EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy wants to implement the rules in the autumn, the report said. EU governments and the European Parliament have yet to approve the plan.

After meeting with the Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said there was "no miracle solution" to the impasse caused by the Irish rejection of the European Union's Lisbon treaty in June.

Sarkozy, speaking at a joint press conference with Cowen, said he respected the vote of the Irish people and denied meddling in Irish affairs.

 

The French president remained "convinced that with time the European Union would find a way forward."

 

Cowen said that Ireland was at the start of a process of analysis and consultation and that a way would be found to "resolve the current difficulties" in a manner satisfactory to all 27 member states.

MOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the guarantee of full oil supplies to the Czech Republic, and sought to deny that disruptions in July were linked to Prague's role in a U.S. missile defence shield.

"I'm calling on you to treat this matter carefully and work out (the measures) with all the partners so that there are no interruptions," Interfax new agency quoted Putin as telling government officials. "(Disruptions) are not directly linked to Russian oil suppliers," Putin added after being briefed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who blamed trading intermediaries for lower supplies.

Russian state officials have said the cuts in flows to the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline were of a technical nature after analysts said they suspected it could have been a retaliation by Moscow to Prague's decision to host a radar station as part of a U.S. missile shield. Moscow fiercely opposes the radar move.

Bosnian Serb wartime president Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most wanted men for his part in civilian massacres, was arrested on Monday, Serbian President Boris Tadic's office said on Monday.

Government sources said he had been under surveillance for several weeks, following a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service. The arrest of Karadzic and other indicted war criminals, is one of the main conditions of Serbian progress towards European Union (EU) membership.

All eyes are on Geneva on Monday (21 July) as world trade talks open in a last-ditch attempt at reaching a global agreement some seven years after discussions were launched.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, in a statement released on Sunday night as trade ministers from 30 nations met for dinner in the Swiss city ahead of the negotiations, called the talks the "last great opportunity" for a deal, and called on the third world to make greater concessions.

Mr Sarkozy (r) has a different opinion on trade talks to the commission

"For those negotiations to succeed, the other developed countries and the emerging economies in the WTO also have to make a major contribution," he said.

"Europe cannot be the sole banker of this deal," he added. "Moreover, Doha is not just about agriculture -- we also need to make progress on industrial tariffs, and in other areas of the negotiations such as services and geographical indications."

The fate of India's coalition Government and its historic nuclear deal with the United States was hanging in the balance today as parliament began a debate that will culminate in a no-confidence vote tomorrow.

While government and opposition leaders made impassioned speeches before a packed Lok Sabha -- the lower house of the Indian parliament -- backroom dealing reached fever pitch as both sides struggled to make up numbers for the vote.

So close are their tallies -- and so high the stakes -- that the Government has temporarily released six MPs who are in jail for crimes including murder and extortion, and the Opposition is flying in two MPs who are recovering from surgery in hospital.

If the Congress Party and its allies in the ruling coalition lose, the Government will collapse, triggering a snap election as soon as November that could bring the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) back to power.

US forces shot dead the 17-year-old son and another relative of the governor of northern Iraq's Salahuddin province in a raid today, local officials said.

The US military said it shot two armed men and later found out they were both related to the governor.

Governor Hamad al-Qaisi's brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Saad al-Qaisi, said American troops stormed a family house in the town of Beiji, where the governor's son Hussam and his cousin were staying.

Poll: GOP Sen. Ted Stevens Down By Eight In Re-Election Bid
By Eric Kleefeld - July 21, 2008, 3:31PM

A new Rasmussen poll of Alaska has some big news: Democratic candidate for Senate Mark Begich now leads long-time incumbent Republican Ted Stevens by a margin of 52%-44%, in a deep-red state that hasn't sent a Dem to Congress since 1974.

Stevens has been easily re-elected since he was first appointed to his seat in the late 1960s, but his many ethics scandals have slowly but surely dragged his popularity down. He now has only a 50% approval rating to a nearly-identical 48% unfavorable rating, compared to Begich's 63%-34% favorables.

In short, Republicans could be on track to lose this seat unless something drastic happens.

And the Hits just KEEP ON COMING!


If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

Interview with Robert Mabro

should raise a few hackles here.

The United States security coordinator for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, retired general James Jones, is preparing an extremely critical report of Israel's policies in the territories and its attitude toward the Palestinian Authority's security services.

A few copies of the report's executive summary (or, according to some sources, a draft of it) have been given to senior Bush Administration officials, and it is reportedly arousing considerable discomfort. In recent weeks, the administration has been debating whether to allow Jones to publish his full report, or whether to tell him to shelve it and make do with the summary, given the approaching end of President George Bush's term.

LODZ, Poland: People drag-race on the main avenue here in broad daylight, and the police just stand by and watch. That is, until the commissioner steps up to hand trophies to the winners.

Gleaming BMW M3 sports cars mingle with souped-up speedsters incognito in the form of stubby Fiats - and everything in between.

"Are you kidding me? Suzuki never made a blue engine," one of the organizers shouted, after popping a car's hood during the prerace inspection.

A newly flush Poland has a new hobby, cars, and the faster the better. Nowhere is that more clear than here in the country's second most populous city, where municipal officials struggled in recent years to deal with an explosion in the number of illegal races on public streets and a raft of complaints from residents nearly driven off the road by them.

Thousands of people who suffered severe allergic reactions after sitting on their sofas were victims of a toxic gas emitted by an anti-mould agent, a study has concluded.

Hospitals across northern Europe have treated thousands of patients with symptoms which appeared to range from skin cancer and chemical burns to severe eczema.

The British cases have been linked to an estimated 100,000 sofas sold by Argos, World of Leather and Walmsley Furnishing manufactured in China by a company called Linkwise.

A study in Sweden has concluded that the skin conditions were a reaction to the gas created during the sublimation of a chemical called dimethyl fumarate. Sublimation is the conversion of a solid to a gas without passing through a liquid state.

Sachets containing crystals of the chemical were placed between the cover and foam of the sofas to prevent mould developing during shipping.

Senegal may conjure up images of the singer Youssou N'Dour, the Dakar rally or perhaps the football team's successful 2002 World Cup display.

Yet for Ndongo Sylla, his home nation is just another word that can be rearranged in different ways - whether that be 'agneles' (lambed), 'glanees' (gleaned), 'langees' (nappies) or 'sanglee' (strapped).

Sylla, 29, is that Senegalese rarity - a world champion - whose titles have come in Scrabble, a board game where competitors score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles.

He is competing in the 37th Francophone Scrabble World Championships, which are taking place in Senegal this week.

Depressed dachshunds and anxious alsatians can now get their paws on a little pooch-me-up - thanks to the US drugs industry.

Back in the day - before Paris Hilton carried a pooch in her handbag, before professional dog-walking was a serious career, and before "doggy day-care" even existed - the most popular cure for an unhappy canine was, as the nursery rhyme goes, to give the dog a bone.

How times have changed. A surge in the popularity of household animals, coupled with the licensing of several new veterinary drugs, is seeing thousands of American dog owners replace comforting marrow-bones with a chemically enhanced modern alternative: Pet Prozac.

Lifestyle drugs to treat troubled canines for depression, anxiety, bad behaviour and even obesity are being launched by pharmaceutical firms anxious to cash-in on the nation's booming love affair with man's best friend. Most of the new pills are almost identical to those popped by humans - and some are proving very controversial indeed.

This month, the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) annual convention in New Orleans, attended by more than 10,000 of the country's leading vets, saw a heated debate about the doggie anti-depressants Clomicalm and Reconcile, and a product called Slentrol - the world's first canine anti-obesity pill.

ST. LOUIS, July 21, 2008 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the government of Qatar signed an agreement on July 21 for the purchase of the C-17 Globemaster III airlifter to provide new strategic-airlift mobility capabilities for the Qatar Armed Forces (QAF). Qatar will sign a Foreign Military Sales agreement for contractor logistics support with the U.S. Air Force.

Boeing will begin deliveries from its Long Beach, Calif., C-17 factory, in summer 2009.

Qatar ??? What in hell they need that huge plane for?
The only thing I can imagine is the stack of dollars they gain from oil and gas...

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has offered a hug to King Juan Carlos of Spain - who famously told him to "shut up" during a row last year.

The left-wing president, who will visit Spain later this week, said he had already "turned the page" on the spat.

"I'd like to give the king a hug, but you know, Juan Carlos, that I am not going to shut up," Mr Chavez said.

The incident made global headlines last November - inspiring jokes, songs and even mobile phone ringtones.