A Paris court on Thursday acquitted the editor of a satirical French weekly, sued by two Muslim groups for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Applause broke out in the courtroom at the announcement of the verdict, which ruled that the three cartoons published by the weekly Charlie Hebdo in February 2006 were not insulting to the Muslim community.

 

The Paris Grand Mosque and the Union of Islamic Organizations of France (UOIF) took Charlie Hebdo editor Philippe Val to court for reprinting cartoons that first appeared in a Danish newspaper, sparking angry protests by Muslims worldwide in which 139 people were killed.

 

Each year, the European Union dishes out massive amounts of money. Often, funding goes to ill-conceived or unnecessary projects. But there may be a way out of the waste.

Holtland, a town in Germany's north-western Ostfriesland region, is four meters (13 feet) above sea level. It boasts a church, an elementary school, two grocery stories, 2,200 inhabitants -- and a generous benefactor in Brussels.

Uwe Themann, the 49-year-old head of the town council, is proud to show off his hometown, and for good reason. Thanks to generous payments from the EU's coffers, Holtland has been thoroughly prettified. Everything in this small town, from the village square to the town hall, the kindergarten and the building where the fire department stores its equipment, has been tweaked and smoothed over to look like something straight out of some picture book of what a little German village ought to look like.

A network of narrow, red-and-gray cobbled streets and bike paths weave in and out of this bucolic composition of red brick and steep rooflines. At first asphalt was good enough for Holtland, but when local politicians discovered that Brussels would assume half the cost of improvements, money was suddenly no object. The streets and bike paths, it should be mentioned, are largely empty.

Germany has included the goal of having a constitution for the European Union by 2009 in a draft declaration to mark the 50th anniversary of the bloc.

The EU constitution has been in limbo since its rejection by French and Dutch voters in 2005. Now, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she hopes to present a road map for its revival in time for elections to the EU parliament in 2009.

 

The German government has prepared a so-called Berlin Declaration, which has been sent to the other 26 EU member states for approval and hopes to have signed at a giant birthday party for the bloc in the German capital Sunday.

 

The weekend celebrations will mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the EU.

 

Support expected

 

Government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said Wednesday that Berlin was confident the draft Berlin Declaration would win the support of the entire union.

German newspaper Handelsblatt said it had obtained a copy of the text, in which Germany states the goal of ending the constitutional crisis in two years' time. But the draft does not mention the word "constitution," so as to not provoke supporters of a more watered-down treaty.

Brussels: European Union transport ministers unanimously backed a landmark agreement with the United States yesterday that will throw open transatlantic air travel to more competition and drive down fares.

But the 27 ministers, at Britain's request, decided on a five-month delay in implementing the deal so it will take effect on March 30, 2008 instead of October this year.

German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, who chaired the talks, hailed a "breakthrough" that would give a boost to transatlantic relations and benefit consumers and airlines.

The "open skies" agreement will allow EU airlines to fly from any city in the 27-nation bloc to any city in the United States and vice versa, replacing highly restrictive bilateral arrangements dating back to World War II.

Efforts by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to put Europe at the forefront of cuts to greenhouse gases are being threatened by her own government's plan to build 26 coal-fired power stations.

A €30bn (£20bn) scheme for the construction of 26 new coal-fired power stations by 2020 has been approved by Ms Merkel's grand coalition, as the country moves to abandon nuclear power.

Some of the power stations, which aim to use cheap Polish and South African coal and highly polluting German lignite coal, have already been built and others are at an advanced planning stage. Thirteen of the new stations alone have been earmarked for Germany's most populous state of North Rhine Westphalia.

The project has infuriated environmentalists, who are already angered by Ms Merkel's lobbying to ensure tough new curbs on CO2 emissions are not imposed on European car makers.

Last week, despite a parliamentary rebellion by ninety-five of his own MPs, Prime Minister Tony Blair committed Britain to the updating of its US-controlled Trident nuclear weapons system. Preoccupied with his legacy, Blair can at least feel confident that he is leaving office without having compromised his credentials as a warrior politician.

It is curious to recall how Blair once missed no opportunity to signal that he was a child of the 1960s who had been in a rock band and dreamed the 60's dream of a better world. Once in power, he lost no time in inviting pop stars to Downing Street. Britain's new leader was eager to demonstrate that - unlike the stuffy Conservative prime ministers of the 1980s and 1990s, Margaret Thatcher and John Major - he was a cool, 60s kind of guy.

Blair's association of himself with 60s culture, with the days when London was alleged to be swinging and British pop music ruled the world, contributed much to his electoral appeal. The architect of "New Labour" was sold as a politician who had grasped that, while the right might have won the economic argument, it was the left that had won the cultural argument, with all that this implied by way of the triumph of 1960s libertarianism. The subliminal message was that not only was Britain now under efficient new technocratic management but that it had found a leader who was reviving the good times, rekindling the spirit of an era when the British capital, if not Britain at large, brimmed with youthful energy and optimism

It's worth asking what lay behind the hype, the image of "cool Britannia" and of "Blairism" that was projected round the world in the late 1990s. It was, to be sure, in large measure a marketing ploy, a piece of politico-cultural propaganda, which, with Time magazine as its pre-eminent source, owed much if not everything to American influence. In many ways, it was a calculated attempt to recreate the fabled moment in the mid-1960s when Time ran a cover story celebrating "swinging London" as the city that led the world in music, fashion and fun. The original Time story itself involved no little hype - though it could at least be said to have been a response to an authentic phenomenon. For British popular culture of the 1960s, unlike that of the 1990s, spawned a dazzling cornucopia of world-class talent, especially in the realm of music.

He once said he was a fighter not a quitter, but Peter Mandelson announced yesterday that he was stepping down at the end of his term as Britain's trade commissioner in Europe.

One of the architects of New Labour, Mr Mandelson, 53, surprised ministers by announcing he will be quitting when his five-year term ends in 2009 and delivering a thinly veiled attack on Gordon Brown, his long-term political foe.

Many Labour MPs were speculating he had decided to jump before he was pushed by Mr Brown, the Prime Minister-in-waiting.

Mr Mandelson announced he was stepping down when questioned about whether he would get the sack once the Chancellor came into power. In a sideswipe at Mr Brown, Mr Mandelson said: "I don't know whether this is going to come as a disappointment to him, but he can't actually fire me.

"So like it or not, I'm afraid he will have to accept me as commissioner until November 2009. But I will not be seeking a nomination for a further term after that."

Mr Brown was still warm with the afterglow of his Budget "coup'' with a 2p tax cut but Mr Mandelson carefully threw a bucket of cold water over the Chancellor's approach to Europe.

Throughout the world, celebrations of the EU's 50th Anniversary are in train. Those of us who have been in the front line of fighting for reform of the EU's agriculture policies and access for New Zealand exports might be excused for having mixed feelings.

Decades ago there was an annual dinner of economists and agriculture leaders in Wellington at which we would flippantly toast the absent guest of honour, Charles de Gaulle, for keeping Britain out of the EC and giving New Zealand breathing space to develop alternative markets.

Politically, there can be no such ambiguity about the EU. Its political legacy is hugely positive.

The EU, formed to prevent yet another suicidal war between the great tribes of Europe, two of which had developed into world wars, has brought peace, stability and democracy to the continent.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the socialist ideology underpinning it, more European countries have joined. Each can expect over time to get closer to the political and economic living standards of so-called "old Europe" - France, Italy, Germany and others. This will be a great blessing to them and a blessing to all of us.

BUCHAREST, Romania (Reuters) -- Romania's Supreme Court suspended a corruption trial against former prime minister Adrian Nastase on Thursday after defense lawyers said the case was unconstitutional.

"The court acknowledged the claim of unconstitutionality raised by the defendant's lawyers and decided to send the case to the constitutional court for assessment," a spokesman for the Supreme Court said.

The trial is one of the first prosecuting top-level graft in Romania, which joined the European Union this year, and is regarded as a litmus test of the two-year-old centrist government's ability to combat rampant abuse.

The trial was scheduled to start in January but court sessions have been delayed by the defense's requests. No timeframe was set for a ruling by the constitutional court.

The Italian prime minister has told the BBC that reviving the European constitution is fundamental to Europe's future survival.

Romano Prodi, who was also president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004, said that Britain had to decide whether to stay in or not.

Mr Prodi, speaking ahead of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which established the Common Market, said he was for the constitution.

"We have to have it before the European parliament elections of 2009 because we are 27 countries and we need the rules," he said.

"Like it or not, if we have a united Europe we survive. If not, we are dead. I am absolutely convinced that process is irreversible.

"We need time. We needed 45 years to have the euro; I don't know how long before we have the constitution but we need it," he added.

The European constitution was voted down by the people of France and the Netherlands two years ago, but has been endorsed by 18 countries.

Une enquête interne a été ouverte par La Poste à la suite de l'initiative d'un facteur creusois, qui avait rendu des services à des personnes isolées au cours de sa tournée en leur portant pain, cigarettes ou journaux.

An internal enquiry has been started by La Poste after the initiative of a Creuse postman, who helped some isolated people during his distribution round by bringing them bread, cigarettes or newspapers

The quest for productivity and efficiency as only measurements of "good" is killing our society by suppressing the leeway which allows social relationship. It's time to think again of the priorities of our societies.

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

A rocket or mortar bomb exploded 50 yards from the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, as he was telling reporters in Baghdad that he was thinking of boosting the UN presence in Iraq because of improved security.

A startled looking Mr Ban ducked as if for cover behind the artificial flowers decorating the podium as the roar of the explosion reverberated through the hall where he was giving a press conference, standing beside Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

It was Mr Ban's first visit to Iraq and like all other visits by senior international dignitaries to the Iraqi capital it was a "surprise", in a bid to get in and out of the country before insurgents could react.

In Mr Ban's case their response was immediate and highly accurate: the blast was close enough to the conference hall to bring down pieces of debris from the ceiling while outside it slightly wounded two security guards.

Iraqi officials were reassuring. "This was not a security breach," said the Interior Minister, Jawad Bolani. "Things like this happen in Baghdad once or twice a week." In reality, they happen every few hours outside the Green Zone, which few government ministers ever leave. The zone itself comes under regular mortar fire and is sometimes hit by Katyusha rockets, a favourite spot for launching them being the Dohra area in southern Baghdad.

· Venezuela hired US firm to fight energy companies
· Move shows president's influence across region

Venezuela paid the legal bills for Bolivia's controversial gas nationalisation, it emerged yesterday, in a further sign of President Hugo Chávez's reach across the region.

Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, hired a team of US lawyers to help its Bolivian counterpart to confront, and apparently beat, powerful energy companies.

The assistance shows just how much Venezuela has helped its ally, President Evo Morales, to push a radical leftwing agenda in Bolivia that echoes what Mr Chávez is doing at home.

Manuel Morales Olivera, head of Bolivia's state energy company, YPFB, told reporters on the eve of congressional hearings into the nationalisation that Bolivia had not paid for the New York-based law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP. "YPFB did not pay absolutely anything, not one cent," he said.

Asked who had paid them, he replied: "It would have to be PDVSA."

Suddenly, after a good few years in which it seemed to all or most of the world that the ball was in the Palestinian court, because there was "no partner" - suddenly, the situation has changed. Without our noticing, the Palestinians lobbed the ball into Israel's court.

Suddenly, it is Israel that must provide the answers; it now bears the burden of proof.

One can feel the sense of relief in Ramallah and Bethlehem, even over the telephone. Not that anyone is overly optimistic - far from it. No one there believes the establishment of the unity government will pave the way to an agreement, a Palestinian state and the end of the occupation. It is difficult even to find someone in the territories who believes it will pave the way to opening the nearest village in the foreseeable future.

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For the first time in a long time, however, the feeling in the territories is that Israel is losing points in the international arena and the Palestinians have gained the upper hand, with a national consensus, the support of the Arab world and growing understanding in Europe and perhaps in the United States as well.

More pleased than before

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti can attest to this change. Barghouti, a physician (and a distant relative of the imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, although he does not like to be reminded of the connection), competed against Mahmoud Abbas for chairmanship of the Palestinian Authority (PA) following Yasser Arafat's death, receiving about 20 percent of the votes. In the parliamentary elections, his party failed to pass the 3-percent minimum voting threshold. Since the Arafat era Barghouti has advocated a unity government as the most effective way for his nation to obtain its goals, however, so he is pleased now. He is even more pleased that he has been appointed minister of information, largely thanks to his good connections abroad, particularly in Europe - connections he formed while raising funds for the impressive medical aid organization he established in the territories.

Police in Hong Kong are investigating what appears to be an attempt to shoot horses with poisoned darts at one of the world's most famous racetracks.

Staff at the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club's Happy Valley track uncovered the bizarre plot after discovering 12 metal tubes, each a foot long, filled with darts and buried in the turf near the starting gates. The tubes were wired together and linked to a wireless receiver.

It is believed they could have been shot into specific horses and their jockeys to affect the outcome of a race.

"It's bizarre, quite bizarre," said a horse trainer with several years' experience at the Hong Kong track. "It's like the plot of a Dick Francis novel."

"The strange part is that when we raced [on Wednesday] night, we saw these bomb disposal guys leaving the track and then saw nothing more of them and just started the races as usual," the trainer told the Guardian.

A former top American diplomat says the US deliberately resisted calls for a immediate ceasefire during the conflict in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

Former ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that before any ceasefire Washington wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah's military capability.

Mr Bolton said an early ceasefire would have been "dangerous and misguided".

The former envoy, who stepped down in December 2006, was interviewed for a BBC radio documentary, The Summer War in Lebanon, to be broadcast in April.

· Ankara claims Kurdish rebels preparing attacks
· Operations could wreck American peace strategy

A Kurd is arrested at an Istanbul rally on Wednesday. Turkey's leaders are under pressure to crack down on Kurdish militants. Photograph: Murad Sezer/AP
 

The US is scrambling to head off a "disastrous" Turkish military intervention in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq that threatens to derail the Baghdad security surge and open up a third front in the battle to save Iraq from disintegration.

Senior Bush administration officials have assured Turkey in recent days that US forces will increase efforts to root out Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) guerrillas enjoying safe haven in the Qandil mountains, on the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border.

But Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, MPs, military chiefs and diplomats say up to 3,800 PKK fighters are preparing for attacks in south-east Turkey -- and Turkey is ready to hit back if the Americans fail to act. "We will do what we have to do, we will do what is necessary. Nothing is ruled out," Mr Gul said. "I have said to the Americans many times: suppose there is a terrorist organisation in Mexico attacking America. What would you do?... We are hopeful. We have high expectations. But we cannot just wait forever."

Turkish sources said "hot pursuit" special forces operations in Khaftanin and Qanimasi, northern Iraq, were already under way. Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader, said this week that a "mad war" was in prospect unless Ankara backed off.

The war in Iraq was never "all about oil," but the planners of the war obviously factored that Iraq sits atop huge amounts of petroleum into their equations; after all, one of their deeply held ambitions was to open up Iraq's nationalized energy sector to foreign investment after the fighting stopped. American energy companies held similar ambitions. "Iraq," said Chevron's then-CEO Kenneth Derr all the way back in 1998, "possesses huge reserves of oil and gas--reserves I'd love Chevron to have access to." Now the Democrats are about to help the Bush Administration and international oil companies achieve that access.

The House will vote as early as today on the Democratic leadership's $124 billion supplemental appropriations bill. The bill funds the war in Iraq but calls for withdrawal of U.S. troops by September 2008. Democrats are arguing that while they don't have the votes to actually cut off war funding, by passing the bill they will effectively shut it down 18 months from now.

That's a dubious proposition given that President Bush has promised to veto the bill if it passes. Meanwhile, about halfway through the 80-page supplemental bill is a section that demands that the Iraqi government enact "a broadly accepted hydro-carbon law that equitably shares oil revenues among all Iraqis" by this fall. That sounds perfectly fine, but the law in question turns out to be one that the Bush Administration and American energy firms have been pushing for years and that, as Antonia Juhasz of Oil Change International explained last week in a New York Times op-ed, would allow international companies to take control of much of Iraq's oil "for a generation or more," with no requirements to reinvest earnings in the country. Juhasz noted elsewhere that the Bush Administration dismissed nearly all of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group Report--save for the recommendation that called for the United States to "assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise" and to "encourage investment in Iraq's oil sector by the international community and by international energy companies."

This is very prevalent in France, and I thought it was a bit unique, but it obviously isn't.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

Fifteen British Navy personnel have been captured at gunpoint by Iranian forces, the Ministry of Defence says.

The men were seized when they boarded a boat in the north Arabian Gulf, off the coast of Iraq, which they suspected was smuggling cars.

(BBC)

A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.

Is the mysterous decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany a result of GM crops? Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to painting grim scenarios. He sits on the board of directors of the German Beekeepers Association (DBIB) and is vice president of the European Professional Beekeepers Association. And because griping is part of a lobbyist's trade, it is practically his professional duty to warn that "the very existence of beekeeping is at stake."

The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture.

As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical Agricultural Report) with an Albert Einstein quote: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

Cut down on flying, sell the car and recycle your bottles. But if you really want to tackle global warming, you should stop your cow from burping.

According to scientific estimates, the methane gas produced by cows is responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions. And now, German scientists have invented a pill to cut bovine burping.

The fist-sized plant-based pill, known as a bolus, combined with a special diet and strict feeding times, is meant to reduce the methane produced by cows.

"Our aim is to increase the wellbeing of the cow, to reduce the greenhouse gases produced and to increase agricultural production all at once," said Winfried Drochner, professor of animal nutrition, who has led the ground-breaking project at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. "It is an effective way of fighting global warming."