BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday he will press the United States and other nations to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius at this week's Group of Eight summit.

The United States, Japan, Russia and Canada have yet to be convinced that a 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) limit -- favored by European G8 nations Germany, Britain, France and Italy -- is the necessary threshold beyond which climate change will reach danger levels.

But Barroso said he would "stress the importance of the science and remaining within a 2 degrees temperature rise" when he meets his G8 counterparts and leaders of developed and emerging economies at the three-day summit from Wednesday.

"We go to L'Aquila with a number of key objectives. We will insist on the need to respect the 2 degrees Celsius target," Barroso told a news conference ahead of the summit in the Italian city devastated by an earthquake in April.

PARIS, Jul 6 (IPS) - There was not a burqa in sight. On the bustling streets around Boulevard de Belleville, in one of the most diverse neighbourhoods here, women wore a variety of clothing, including summer dresses, jeans, chadors, headscarves and traditional African dress, but no burqas.

A trader laughed when asked if he had any burqas - the Islamic garment that covers the whole body leaving just slits for the eyes.

"Yes, I have some in stock but I've never sold one," he told IPS. "I swear I have yet to sell a burqa in four years. So where is the burqa that they want to ban? "

French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared last month that the burqa has no place in France, and that its spread must be curtailed.

"The burqa is not a religious symbol, it is a sign of the subjugation, of the submission of women. I want to say solemnly that it will not be welcome on our territory," Sarkozy told a group of lawmakers in a speech in Versailles Jun. 22.

Some legislators had expressed concern that an increasing number of women were wearing the garment, perhaps not from choice but because of pressure from religious fundamentalists, and they urged parliament to act.

BUDAPEST, Jul 6 (IPS) - The rise of the anti-gypsy Hungarian far right has revealed deep failures in the country's political system and its civil society.

Hungary is still recovering from the shock of seeing a new extreme-right formation called 'Jobbik - Movement for a Better Hungary' gather 15 percent of the vote in last month's European parliamentary elections won by the rightist opposition party Fidesz.

Many have pointed the finger at the left's inability to deal with the Roma issue, instead brushing it under the carpet or putting the focus on the "fascist threat" in Hungary. Others blame the rightist opposition for minimising the same threat. There is strong opposition to the right against Roma, a 'gypsy' people who migrated to Europe from India since the 14th century.

However analysts have noted that many may have voted for Jobbik as a protest vote in a country deeply distrustful of politicians and politics. The low turnout, at 36 percent, also inflated Jobbik's impressive results.

Jobbik began as a movement of right-wing university youths, and evolved into a party in 2003, betting on the Roma issue while avoiding the anti- Semitic clichés of other extreme-right parties.

Unlike its far-right predecessors that had their base in Hungary's larger cities, Jobbik's anti-Roma rhetoric scored points in the countryside as well, especially in poor areas populated by the Roma.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has said he will not seek another term in office.

"I had a 10-year mandate which I have fulfilled. I do not mean to go any further," he told a Spanish newspaper.

A spokeswoman said it was normal that Mr Solana would step down when his term ended in October, and that he would be "very busy doing other activities".

He had been considered a main contender for the new EU foreign policy role set to be created by the Lisbon Treaty.

Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy have been discussing economic recovery and tension with Iran in talks ahead of this week's G8 summit.

The two leaders said relations between their countries were strong, following talks in the French town Evian.

President Sarkozy said France stood "shoulder to shoulder" over attacks on Britain by the Iranian authorities.

It is understood the UK will give £15m to France for border protection in return for help deporting immigrants.

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Oleg Mityayev) - European gas consumers are frantically looking for an alternative to Russian natural gas. At the same time, Russian energy giant Gazprom is doing its best to control all gas supplies from the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Towards this end, Gazprom signed an agreement with Azerbaijan on June 29 to purchase all of its export gas in order to prevent the U.S. and Europe-advocated Nabucco project from succeeding.

The same day, Poland signed a contract on gas supplies with a rival of Gazprom, Qatargas.

At present, Poland consumes 13.7 billion cubic meters of gas annually, out of which 7 bcm is supplied by Gazprom, according to the International Energy Agency. Therefore, the deal with Qatar, which may reduce Russian gas supplies by 20%, is Poland's first step toward lowering its dependence on Russian gas.

However, Gazprom is itself to blame for the appearance of a rival company, Qatargas, in Europe. It was because of its efforts to maintain its monopoly position in the European market and to purchase all gas produced in the CIS that Europeans started searching for ways to diversify gas routes.

Fresh from their victory in Bulgaria's parliamentary elections Sunday (July 5th), Boyko Borissov and his centre-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) are vowing to step up reforms. Borissov warned, however, that there will be no quick fix to the various problems the country is facing.

"We cannot be expected to work miracles in the next six months, and we haven't promised any such thing," the Sofia mayor told a news conference, stressing that his party's programme is a four-year one. He voiced hope that Bulgaria would soon be able to regain access to EU assistance funding, frozen because of sluggish efforts in fighting crime and corruption.

Borissov, 50, also pledged that his government would prosecute any cases of corruption that took place during the outgoing government's four-year rule.

"Those who have stolen should be very afraid ... The thieves will go to jail," he said.

Jerzy Buzek gets clear run to become the first president of the European Parliament from a new member state. Italian MEP Mario Mauro has withdrawn his bid to stand for election as president of the European Parliament. He had been campaigning to be the candidate of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP). Polish MEP Jerzy Buzek is now assured of the EPP nomination, which in turn means that he is almost certain to become the first president of the Parliament from a new member state.  

In a statement issued on Sunday evening, Mauro said he had decided to withdraw his candidacy because he wanted to avoid forcing the EPP to vote. The election of a new president to succeed Hans-Gert Pöttering is to take place next week (14 July) during the first plenary session of the Parliament.   The EPP would have called a vote tomorrow if it had been unable to agree beforehand on a single candidate.  

Mauro had far less support than Buzek as the EPP's candidate and was expected to be defeated if there had been a vote within the group.

Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command fears the extreme right will stage a deadly terrorist attack in Britain to try to stoke racial tensions, the Guardian has learned.

Senior officers fear the attack will be a "spectacular" that is designed to kill people. The counter-terrorism unit has moved officers to beef up its monitoring of the extreme right's potential to stage attacks.

Commander Shaun Sawyer told a meeting of British Muslims concerned about the danger posed to their communities that police were responding to the growing threat.

Sawyer said of the far right: "I fear that they will have a spectacular ... They will carry out an attack that will lead to a loss of life or injury to a community somewhere. They're not choosy about which community."

Full marks to Scotland Yard for using the T word.

France's Stimulus Projects, Unlike in U.S., Were `Shovel Ready'  | New York Times:

... All told, Paris has set aside 100 million euros in stimulus funds earmarked for what the French like to call their cultural patrimony. It is a French twist on how to overcome the global downturn, spending borrowed money avidly to beautify the nation even as it also races ahead of the United States in more classic Keynesian ways: fixing potholes, upgrading railroads and pursuing other "shovel ready" projects.

"America is six months behind; it has wasted a lot of time," said Patrick Devedjian, the minister in charge of the French relance, or stimulus. By the time Washington gets around to doling out most of its money, Mr. Devedjian sniffed, "the crisis could be over."

Gallic pride aside, Mr. Devedjian has a point. While he plans to spend 75 percent of France's stimulus money this year, the White House is giving itself until fall 2010 to lay out that big a share of the American expenditure. And many experts predict that Washington will fall short of that goal.

As it turns out, France's more centralized, state-directed economy -- so often criticized in good times for smothering entrepreneurship and holding back growth -- is proving remarkably effective at deploying funds quickly and efficiently in bad times.

"All projects must start in 2009," Mr. Devedjian said. "We want rapid results." ...