Revived Roman Empire News - the E.U.

[Shammu]

Italian, Spanish leaders discuss EU future, immigration
2007-12-05 21:25:36

    ROME, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Italian and Spanish prime ministers began their annual talks in the southern Italian city of Naples Wednesday, focusing on the future of the European Union (EU) and immigration issues.

    Italian Premier Romano Prodi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero were expected to discuss the future of the EU and its role in the world after EU member states sign a new treaty to replace the failed EU constitution later this month.

    The two leaders are also to talk about looming immigration problems. Both lying south on the European continent, Italy and Spain have become the first destinations for African immigrants, just across the Mediterranean. Prodi and Zapatero called it an issue of the whole EU, and asked for more resources for the EU border agency, Frontex.

    Other topics including the Kosovo status, Afghanistan and business cooperation will also appear on the agenda.

    The two leaders' last meeting was at the start of this year, on the Spanish Mediterranean island of Ibiza.

Italian, Spanish leaders discuss EU future, immigration

[Shammu]

A call to Putin puts Sarkozy at odds with his EU allies

Reuters
Tuesday, December 4, 2007

BRUSSELS: President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has telephoned President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his party's victory in the Russian parliamentary elections, putting him at odds with European Union allies who say the voting was deeply flawed.

"The president called Vladimir Putin to congratulate him," Sarkozy's spokesman, David Martinon, said Monday evening during a visit to Algeria.

But Germany flatly called the election "neither free, fair nor democratic" by Western standards, and most other EU governments expressed concern about reports of voting irregularities.

Donald Tusk, the new prime minister of Poland, on Tuesday questioned the legitimacy of the Russian elections, saying that they had not respected democratic standards.

"We in Europe should not be tolerant of a situation when democratic standards are not being respected or are downright broken," he said.

Poland's skeptical attitude toward Russia could aggravate the European Union's already fraught relations with Moscow, analysts said.

In November last year, Warsaw blocked negotiations on a new EU-Russia pact covering energy, economic cooperation and human rights to protest a Russian ban on Polish meat imports. Tusk said he was working to have the ban lifted.

The differing European responses to the vote, in which Putin's United Russia party won a landslide victory, highlighted the EU's problems speaking with a single voice on Russia, its major energy supplier.

After two days of wrangling over the wording, the EU presidency, currently held by Portugal, issued a mild rebuke over the conduct of the election.

The EU regrets "that there were many reports and allegations of media restrictions as well as harassment of opposition parties and NGOs in the run-up to the elections and on election day, and that procedures during the electoral campaign did not meet international standards and commitments voluntarily assumed by Moscow," the statement said. "The EU hopes that investigations will clarify the accuracy of these allegations."

Diplomats said the presidency had had difficulty finding consensus in national capitals on a text. "Some people want one thing, others want another," a Portuguese diplomat said in Lisbon.

The EU regretted that the election monitoring office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had abandoned its mission in Russia, citing restrictions imposed by the Kremlin, removing a reliable basis for assessing the vote.

Since he took office in May, Sarkozy has adopted a more critical tone toward Moscow on human rights than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who cultivated a special relationship with Putin, partly to balance U.S. global power. Opposition politicians have nevertheless accused Sarkozy of putting economic interests above rights.

The French minister for European affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, defended Paris's stance Tuesday: "There's no contradiction between making France's voice on the defense of human rights heard everywhere and assuring our economic development, safeguarding our jobs," he said in Parliament.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said Monday that it was working on a joint EU response to the Russian poll.

Asked what had happened to the joint response, a spokesman, Johannes Laitenberger, said: "I think that there is a common analysis between the member states of the EU on this matter and this common analysis is shared by the commission."

He declined to elaborate except to say: "Everybody is aware that observers have denounced a number of irregularities," and "it is in the interest of Russian democracy, in the interest of a credible and strong Russia, to completely clarify all these allegations of irregularities."

In a similar incident last week, the Portuguese presidency put out a critical statement three days after the arrest of opposition activists in Russia, including the former chess champion Garry Kasparov, only to withdraw it and issue a milder version without explanation.

A call to Putin puts Sarkozy at odds with his EU allies

[Shammu]

Iran a threat, say Europe allies
6 December 2007
Angela Merkel (l) and Nicolas Sarkozy


German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said Iran continues to pose a threat.

The comments came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began talks with European and Russian officials in Brussels on Iran's nuclear programme.

A US intelligence report published on Monday said Iran had suspended a nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

But the report also said that Iran was continuing to enrich uranium, which can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Iran says the aims of its nuclear programme are peaceful.

"Iran continues to represent a threat," Mrs Merkel said during a joint news conference with Mr Sarkozy in Paris.

She did not specifically express support for a new UN sanctions resolution against Iran, which the US is calling for.

'Dialogue'

"We and our partners would like to continue with the UN process," Mrs Merkel said.

"I think we and our partners need to continue to seek dialogue with Iran," she said.

Mr Sarkozy said he agreed with his German counterpart that Iran still posed a danger, and that he supported the push for more sanctions.

"Notwithstanding the latest elements, everyone is fully conscious of the fact that there is a will of the Iranian leaders to obtain nuclear weapons.

"What made Iran move up to now, it was sanctions and firmness," he said.

The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released on Monday reversed earlier statements on Iran by the Bush administration.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the US report a "great victory" for Iran.

Ms Rice, who was in Brussels to urge more international pressure on the Iranians to halt uranium enrichment, said they still needed explain a covert programme up to 2003.

"I don't see that the NIE changes the course that we're on," Ms Rice said while travelling to Brussels, AP reported.

Iran a threat, say Europe allies

[Shammu]

Merkel Rebukes Zimbabwe's Mugabe at EU-Africa Summit
By Leon Mangasarian and Mike Cohen

 Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuked Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at an EU-Africa summit, saying ``time is of the essence'' for his country's people and upbraiding his suppression of political opposition.

``The current situation in Zimbabwe damages the image of the new Africa,'' Merkel told representatives from 80 EU and African states in a keynote speech at the meeting in Lisbon today, with Mugabe among those in the audience. ``Nothing can justify the intimidation of those holding different views and hindering freedom of the press.''

Mugabe's presence came close to wrecking the summit, the first such gathering since 2000. The Zimbabwean leader, who's banned from the 27-nation EU, received a special visa from the Portuguese government only after African leaders said they wouldn't come if he were barred. This prompted a boycott by some European leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who says Mugabe is responsible for ``the collapse of Zimbabwe's society and economy.''

In addition to the U.K., Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Cyprus didn't send heads of state or government to the summit, according to a list of participants from the Portuguese foreign ministry.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Mugabe sat impassively during Merkel's speech in which she labeled the Zimbabwe administration, along with Belarus, Sudan and Myanmar, as ``bad government, violating human rights.''

`No Reaction'

Mugabe ``stayed in the room and I saw no reaction,'' said Reinfeldt, adding that Merkel spoke for ``all the EU'' on the issues raised.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country holds the EU's rotating, six-month presidency, spoke of the ``serious situation in Zimbabwe'' in his opening address.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who made Africa's keynote speech at the summit today, didn't mention Zimbabwe in the text of his remarks distributed at the meeting.

Zimbabwe is in its ninth successive year of economic recession following a land-seizure program implemented by Mugabe in 2000. The southern African nation has the world's fastest- shrinking peace-time economy and the highest inflation rate, estimated at 14,841 percent in October.

``Europe wanted this summit to end 50 years of uneasy post- colonial relations. But the meeting is attended by a leader who exploits the colonial past and uses it as an excuse for his human- rights violations and endemic corruption at home,'' Fredrik Erixon, director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy, said in an interview.

Colonial Powers

Several EU countries are former African colonial powers including the U.K., France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal. ``This summit is a summit of equals,'' said Socrates. ``There are no minor cultures; there are no superior civilizations.''

EU and African leaders also clashed over trade talks, with the African Union calling on its 53 member nations to resist pressure to swiftly sign accords that would oblige them to open up their markets to a wider range of goods and services.

``It's a bad approach,'' said Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade in remarks to reporters.

Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union commission said ``speeding up these negotiations will bring no benefits.'' He said a hasty deal might come at ``a tremendous cost to the rural African populations and to African industry.''

Trade Deals Expire

A series of preferential trade agreements between the 27- nation EU and 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries is due to expire at the end of the year. The EU is pressing for the adoption of new economic partnership agreements, which are often referred to as EPAs and cover trade in agricultural and industrial goods, services, investment regulations and competition policy.

European Commission President Jose Barroso defended the proposed treaties.

``They will turn our trading relationship into a healthy, diversified, development-oriented partnership,'' he told the summit. ``They are tools at the center of our common development goals.''

Aside from human rights, migration and security, EU leaders are using the two-day meeting as a bid to counter growing Chinese influence in Africa as competition for the continent's energy and mineral resources grows.

`Losing Ground'

``The EU hasn't missed the boat, but they've certainly lost a lot of ground,'' John Kotsopoulos, an Africa expert at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre research institute, said in a telephone interview.

China is providing $8 billion in loans and investment to Africa and attaches no political demands to aid -- in contrast to Europe, which often links aid to governance and human rights.

Mugabe isn't the only target of criticism at the summit. Protests are planned against human-rights abuses in Sudan's western Darfur region, where at least 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been turned into refugees since 2004.

Merkel Rebukes Zimbabwe's Mugabe at EU-Africa Summit

[Soldier4Christ]

 EU leaders have signed landmark treaty

A treaty that is expected to greatly alter the operations of the 27-member states of the EU has been signed in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon and this treaty which creates an EU president is a replacement for the EU Constitution which was abandoned following French and Dutch opposition.

The treaty, a slimmed down version of the European Constitution, is meant to ease decision making by scrapping national vetos and developing a foreign policy chief with thousands of diplomats and officials.

The historic signing of the Lisbon Treaty which makes the EU a political, economic, military power with a powerful leader is a precursor to the prophetic scenario that can be found in Bible prophecy.

The year long celebration in 2007 of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome that established the European economic community, a forerunner of the EU, was crowned when the leaders of the 27-member states of the EU meeting in Lisbon, Portugal signed the Lisbon Treaty. The Lisbon Treaty also sets in place a permanent powerful president that will lead this supra state into the future as a major geopolitical player on the world scene.

With the signing of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU is in position, with its new permanent leader, to be the absolute infrastructure for the revived Roman Empire that is called for in Bible prophecy for the Last Days. The ancient Jewish prophet Daniel wrote prophetically of this scenario 2,500 years ago when he called for a revival of the old Roman Empire, geographically the EU of today, an event that would take place in the days just prior to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Daniel 7:7, 24. Daniel's prophecy also revealed a powerful personality who would lead this revived Roman Empire, Daniel 7:8, 24-28. This leader would be a major player in the Middle East peace process, Daniel 9:27.

This historic signing of the Lisbon Treaty by the EU leaders has indeed set the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

[Shammu]

Merkel: new EU treaty 'historic success'

BERLIN (AP): German Chancellor Angela Merkel described this week's signing of a new European Union treaty as a ``historic success'' for the 27-member bloc, and said Wednesday she hopes the German parliament will ratify it by next May.

EU governments say the so-called Lisbon Treaty, to be signed Thursday in the Portuguese capital, will ensure the bloc's international influence and prosperity in the 21st century.

``I really am not inclined to exaggerated euphoria _ but I think we can declare that this day marks a historic success, a success for Europe,'' Merkel told the German parliament. ``It will perhaps be seen later as a decisive milestone for a greater ability to act in Europe.''

Merkel noted that the treaty reforms the EU's institutions to cope with its enlarged membership. She argued that ``it takes on board the concerns and worries of citizens that have been heard over the past two years.''

Germany _ along with all the other EU members except Ireland _ plans to ratify the new treaty through its parliament, rather than by referendum.

Merkel, who was a key figure in drawing up the treaty during Germany's turn in the EU presidency earlier this year, said her government would approve the necessary legislation next week.

``I would like it if the parliamentary procedures in Germany could be completed successfully by mid-May 2008,'' she said. ``I am also confident that ratification will take place in the other member states.''

Merkel: new EU treaty 'historic success'

[Shammu]

Interesting that it will be ratified in the parliaments and not by referendum. I guess they learned their lesson after the constitution got voted down by referendum. The natural tendency is for federal government to seize more and more power which is what (I think) we will see in Europe.

[Shammu]

Brussels names first 'EU ambassador'

Justin Stares in Brussels
Last Updated: 2:55am GMT 17/12/2007

Brussels has appointed the European Union's first "ambassador" more than a year before the EU Reform Treaty comes into force, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

The powerful dual role will involve Belgium's Koen Vervaeke representing both the European Commission and the EU's 27 member states in Africa.

The position is part of a diplomatic corps created under the treaty signed by Gordon Brown in Lisbon last week amid claims by Eurosceptics of a betrayal of Britain's national interests.

Brussels chiefs have pressed ahead with Mr Vervaeke's appointment before any countries have begun ratifying the treaty, which is scheduled to come into effect in 2009.

Critics have accused the commission of riding roughshod over the ratification process, which in Britain will see the treaty subject to parliamentary scrutiny and votes over more than 20 days next year.

Dr Charles Tannock, a Conservative Euro-MP and the party's foreign affairs spokesman at the European Parliament, said: "By appointing this man to Africa they are obviously testing the waters. This is the way things will work in the future. But until the treaty is ratified they have no mandate to set up anything like an EU diplomatic corps."

The official Brussels line is that Mr Vervaeke's role is "an exception".

Under the treaty, there will be a powerful EU foreign minister, or "high representative", who will also service member states and the commission, deriving his power from what Brussels officials call a "double hat" arrangement.

Javier Solana, the Spaniard who heads the EU's fledgling foreign office, is tipped for the job, which will involve taking on more than 100 existing commission delegations around the world and turning them into a corps of diplomats.

Mr Vervaeke, 47, who will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is essentially a regional foreign minister with a mandate to talk on behalf of the entire EU.

Brussels names first 'EU ambassador'

[Shammu]

EU opens talks with Turkey on 2 new areas
Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:01am EST

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union opened negotiations with Turkey on two more reform areas on Wednesday as part of Ankara's bid to join the bloc.

This brings to five the number of so-called "chapters" Turkey has opened of the 35 that must be completed to conclude the accession process. The EU said it hoped to open talks on two or three others in the first half of 2008.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the opening of the chapters on health and consumer protection, and trans-European transport networks, showed accession talks were on track despite difficulties.

Rehn, who said he was concerned by the "political atmospherics" in EU-Turkey relations, said "the opening of these two chapters indicates the EU accession process of Turkey continues and it delivers results".

Asked what progress could be expected in the first half of next year, Rehn told a news conference it would be realistic to expect two to three areas to be opened, but declined to name which ones.

Ankara began EU entry talks in 2005 but they have moved very slowly because of rows over Cyprus and human rights.

Eight chapters have been blocked since the end of last year because of Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to ships and planes from EU member Cyprus.

Wednesday's meeting with Turkish Foreign minister Ali Babacan follows a decision taken by an EU summit last week to create a reflection group on the future of Europe.

This was wanted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who opposes Turkey's EU membership.

Babacan criticized on Wednesday countries who he said wanted to derail the accession process, but declined to say which countries he was referring to.

"Some member states are in the effort of eroding our political and judicial position with regard to the accession process," Babacan told a news conference.

"We believe that such attitude is not proper and does not display a responsible approach," he said.

EU opens talks with Turkey on 2 new areas

[Shammu]

Back in the 'EUSSR'


December 19, 2007

By Paul Belien - Last Thursday, the heads of government of the 27 member states of the European Union convened in the Portuguese capital Lisbon to sign the EU Reform Treaty. That "Treaty of Lisbon" is almost identical to the European Constitutional Treaty, the so-called EU Constitution, which was rejected two years ago in referendums in major EU member states.

The EU rules stipulate that treaties only become effective when they have been ratified in all 27 member states. The "no" votes in the 2005 referendums killed the constitution, which would have transformed the EU from a supranational organization of 27 sovereign member states into a genuine single European federal state with 27 provinces. It was clear from the outset, however, that the peoples of the various European states were not willing to renounce their national sovereignty for a "United States of Europe."

Nevertheless, the European leaders are determined, no matter what their electorates say, to transform the EU into a USE. As Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, said prior to the referendums: "If the vote is yes, we will say: We go ahead. If it is no, we will say: We continue." Or as the former president of France, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the chairman of the so-called convention, which drew up the constitution, said: "The rejection of the constitution [by the voters in referendums] was a mistake which will have to be corrected."

In order to correct the voters' mistake the reform treaty was drafted. This treaty is a copy of the constitution, with the articles in a somewhat different order, with many additions to deliberately complicate the text and without references to a national flag or anthem. As Mr. Giscard explained in June to the Paris leftist paper Le Monde: "Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly... All the earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way."

Or as Guiliano Amato, the foreign minister of Italy and the former vice chairman of the convention, said about the document that the European leaders signed last week: "They decided that the document should be unreadable. If it is unreadable, it is not constitutional, that was the sort of perception."

The EU leaders agreed that none of the member states (apart from Ireland, which is obliged to do so under its own constitution) will hold a referendum about the new treaty. Instead, the national parliaments will ratify the treaty. "There is a cleavage between people and governments," admitted French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "A referendum now would bring Europe into danger. There will be no treaty if we had a referendum in France."

Once the Lisbon Treaty is ratified in all member states, the legal nature of the EU will change into that of a state. The national constitutions and the national parliaments will be subordinate to the EU, which will be enabled to unilaterally increase its own powers.

Europe's politicians are very eager to sell out their national sovereignty to the EU because the Brussels-based EU governing bodies are either unelected (the commission) or unaccountable (the council). Moreover, the European Parliament is not a real parliament. It cannot reject the so-called EU directives, which the national parliaments are obliged to incorporate into their national legislation. Even today, up to 70 percent of the legislation in the various 27 EU member states emanates from Brussels.

Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky has coined the term "EUSSR" to refer to the EU. He claims Europe is on its way to developing into a totalitarian state. In the early 1990s Mr. Bukovsky was given permission to research the secret documents of the Soviet leadership. To his amazement he found a transcript there of a conversation held during a visit in January 1989 of Mr. Giscard to then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. In this conversation the former declared to the latter that "within 15 years Europe is going to be a federal state." The USE project was delayed a bit by the 2005 referendums, but European politicians have managed to get it back on track in Lisbon. "Today's situation is really grim. Major political parties have been completely taken in by the new EU project. None of them really opposes it. They have become very corrupt. Who is going to defend our freedoms?" Mr. Bukovsky asks.

In America, the supporters of Rep. Ron Paul, the maverick Republican presidential candidate, claim that there is a growing rift between the political leadership and the people. Hence, they say, it is time for a second American Revolution.

Considering the far greater rift between the people and the governments in Europe, the need for a revolution is more urgent on the old continent than in Washington. If the EU reform treaty is ratified, ancient nations such as England, France, Denmark and Hungary will lose their sovereignty. They will be absorbed by a United States of Europe — a USE which a former Soviet dissident can only describe as an EUSSR.

Back in the 'EUSSR'

[Shammu]

Hungary first to ratify new EU treaty
18.12.2007 - 09:02 CET | By Honor Mahony
Hungary on Monday (17 December) became the first of the 27 member states to ratify the bloc's new treaty, making the move just days after the document was formally signed off by EU leaders.

A parliamentary vote saw 325 votes in favour, 5 votes against and 14 abstentions for the new set of rules, according to Austrian news agency APA.


Reacting to the vote, Hungary's prime minister praised the "historic achievement" of his country.

In taking the ratification step so quickly, Budapest has stolen the crown from Poland and France, both of whom had indicated they were aiming to be the first.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country rejected the original EU constitution in 2005, had suggested that France should be among the first to prove that the country is back on track in Europe.

Speaking before MEPs in the European Parliament last month, he said that French voters had rejected the constitution because they wanted more from Europe.

The new EU treaty takes on most of the features of the rejected European constitution, including a foreign policy chief, a long-term president of the EU, a binding citizens rights charter as well as cutting down on the areas where member states have a right to veto.

The new institutional rules, six years in the making, were signed off in a formal ceremony on Thursday (13 December) in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, with EU leaders happy to draw a line under the negotiations.

Each member state has to ratify the treaty for it to come into force, with governments aiming to get it in place by early 2009.

Ireland is the only country to have a referendum on the document, while the British government is undergoing strong pressure from opposition conservatives to hold a popular vote.

Mr Sarkozy has sidestepped the awkward question of why French voters will not be having a second say on the treaty by suggesting that if France had a referendum then the British government would be forced to follow suit, resulting in a probable rejection of the document.

Hungary first to ratify new EU treaty

[Soldier4Christ]

'Muhammad boys' prove 'Islam will enter every house in Europe'
Terror leader boastful after British government lists most popular baby names

Statistical information released yesterday showing Muhammad is the second most popular boys name in Britain "proves Islam is becoming the majority in the UK and will one day enter every house in Europe," a senior terror leader told WND in an interview.

"We see from this study of Muhammad's name that Islam is on the rise and cannot be stopped no matter what your crusader governments do," said Muhammad Abdel-Al, spokesman and a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terror group.

The Committees is a coalition of Palestinian terror organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It has taken responsibility for thousands of shootings and deadly rocket attacks and is suspected of carrying out a 2003 bombing against a U.S. convoy in Gaza that killed three American government contractors.

According to statistics released yesterday by Britain's Office of National Statistics, Muhammad was the most popular boys name in the UK when all of its spellings are accounted for. Jack, cited as the most popular boy's name, fell from last year by 156 babies, while Muhammad showed a regular spike. If trends continue, Muhammad could be the most popular boys name in Britain next year.

Abdel-Al is known for his fiery threats against Western targets, but he said statistical trends indicating Muslims are gaining a major foothold in the UK show there is no need for violence to spread Islam.

"In Europe there is no need for war because if people keep on joining Islam in these countries then Islam will become the majority, which I think is the process that is taking place now, so there will not be any necessity to have war with [non-Muslims]," he said.

Also reflecting on recent trends, Sheik Yasser Hamad, a cleric and a Hamas leader in the northern West Bank, said in a recent WND interview he too sees Islam quickly spreading in the West.

"Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him, said that the sun will shine from the West. This will physically happen as part of the signs of Judgment Day, and it will practically happen as part of a big revival of Islam," said Hamad. "Islam ... may start its new campaign from the West."

[Def]

'Muhammad boys' prove 'Islam will enter every house in Europe'
Terror leader boastful after British government lists most popular baby names

Statistical information released yesterday showing Muhammad is the second most popular boys name in Britain "proves Islam is becoming the majority in the UK and will one day enter every house in Europe," a senior terror leader told WND in an interview.

"We see from this study of Muhammad's name that Islam is on the rise and cannot be stopped no matter what your crusader governments do," said Muhammad Abdel-Al, spokesman and a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terror group.

The Committees is a coalition of Palestinian terror organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It has taken responsibility for thousands of shootings and deadly rocket attacks and is suspected of carrying out a 2003 bombing against a U.S. convoy in Gaza that killed three American government contractors.

According to statistics released yesterday by Britain's Office of National Statistics, Muhammad was the most popular boys name in the UK when all of its spellings are accounted for. Jack, cited as the most popular boy's name, fell from last year by 156 babies, while Muhammad showed a regular spike. If trends continue, Muhammad could be the most popular boys name in Britain next year.

Abdel-Al is known for his fiery threats against Western targets, but he said statistical trends indicating Muslims are gaining a major foothold in the UK show there is no need for violence to spread Islam.

"In Europe there is no need for war because if people keep on joining Islam in these countries then Islam will become the majority, which I think is the process that is taking place now, so there will not be any necessity to have war with [non-Muslims]," he said.

Also reflecting on recent trends, Sheik Yasser Hamad, a cleric and a Hamas leader in the northern West Bank, said in a recent WND interview he too sees Islam quickly spreading in the West.

"Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him, said that the sun will shine from the West. This will physically happen as part of the signs of Judgment Day, and it will practically happen as part of a big revival of Islam," said Hamad. "Islam ... may start its new campaign from the West."

Come Lord Jesus come one more time come.

[Shammu]

Europe's border-free zone expands
21 December 2007

Celebrations have been held after midnight to mark nine new states joining a European border-free zone.

The Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel across the area, now embraces 24 nations.

Some 2,000 people celebrated with the EU anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and fireworks in the town of Frankfurt on Oder at Germany's border with Poland.

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia joined the zone.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish PM Donald Tusk will mark the event on Friday morning in the town of Zittau, near the point where Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic meet.

Crime wave fears

They will be joined by Czech PM Mirek Topolanek and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

On Thursday a checkpoint between Austria and Slovakia was dismantled in one of several events marking the enlargement from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer sawed through a barrier at the Berg border crossing.

Other ceremonies took place in Hungary, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic states.

Initially the lifting of internal controls involves just land and sea borders, but that will be extended to airports at the end of March 2008.

Mr Gusenbauer welcomed the extension of the Schengen zone, rejecting fears that it might create a crime wave in Austria.

The European Commission says that one billion euros (£720m) has been spent on beefing up security on the new EU frontiers, including the establishing of missions along the Polish and Slovak borders.

Mr Fico said: "From midnight tonight you can travel 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Tallinn in Estonia to Lisbon in Portugal without any border controls."

Although the enlargement allows passport-free travel throughout the area, travellers can be asked to carry documents by any of the countries concerned.

Vast database

For non-EU nationals, a Schengen visa allows travel across all the participating countries.

Thirteen existing EU states have already been part of the Schengen accord as well as two non-EU countries, Norway and Iceland.

The UK and Ireland are not involved in the zone - which embraces 400m people - but they have signed up to agreements on security.

A significant element of the Schengen agreement is the Schengen Information Service (SIS) which features an enormous database in the French city of Strasbourg.

The SIS database enables police in any Schengen state to find out whether a suspect has been involved in any kind of crime across the EU.

Europe's border-free zone expands

[Shammu]

EU TO HELP PALESTINIAN TRADE WITH ARAB COUNTRIES
(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 19 - The European Commission has signed an agreement with the Palestine Trade Centre (PalTrade) and the Palestinian Shippers' Council (PSC), to help promote Palestinian trade with neighbouring Arab countries and improve market access for Palestinian products. The project, which is worth 432.614 euro, will last for 17 months. The first phase of the project will involve comprehensive research and identification of the improvements for existing trade corridors into Egypt and Jordan. The private sector will be heavily involved in this research phase, providing in-depth analysis of the current situation, and recommendations for the future. The second component of the project will focus on engaging the Palestinian and Israeli public sectors, as well as officials in third countries (Jordan, Egypt), to promote policies and measures that will help to facilitate trade. The project will also produce an Export Information Guide on trade logistics for the use of Palestinian exporters. In addition, it will provide logistical cost analysis on importing from Egypt and Jordan.

EU TO HELP PALESTINIAN TRADE WITH ARAB COUNTRIES