Stomach cancer rates are dropping across Europe, according to a new study.
Author Archives: Nick Barlow
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Kafka’s Spam – Chris Lightfoot reports on how easy it isn’t to report spammers under the Communications Privacy Directive
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The final report of the Hutton Inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly and the dispute between the British Government and the BBC is available to read online.
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Not quite kissing and making up, but Irish PM Bertie Ahern and DUP leader Iain Paisley had a ‘constructive and businesslike’ meeting in London on Thursday – the first meeting between the two for five years.
We’d like to thank the Academy
We were happy when AFOE was nominated for a Koufax Award, so we’re even happier to learn that we’re in the final seven for Best Group Blog. Thanks to everyone who’s nominated or voted for us and we hope to live up to your expectations over the next year!
A change in Parliament
After 25 years in the European Parliament, Iain Paisley has announced that he will not be standing for re-election as an MEP this year.
This means, of course, that the Parliament will be losing one of it’s more colurful characters whose explits included (as Anthony Wells reminded me) being forcefully removed from the chamber by Otto Von Hapsburg after proclaiming the Pope was the Antichrist.
EU to seek WTO authorisation for new sanctions
I don’t know enough to make any major comments about this story, but it’s the sort of thing that should interest our readers.
A trade dispute between the US and the EU escalated today as Brussels asked the World Trade Organisation for authorisation to retaliate against an illegal US trade measure.
The EU is seeking to impose sanctions that could run to hundreds of millions of dollars of duties on US goods, with the aim of forcing Washington to revoke a scheme that has been ruled illegal by the WTO.
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The dispute over the Byrd amendment is not on the same scale as the steel tariffs, but it illustrates the underlying trade tension between the two blocs, and it comes at a time when the US and the EU are trying to revive stalled world trade talks.The Byrd amendment allows the US government to distribute proceeds from anti-dumping tariffs to American firms that complain of damage from foreign imports. The WTO made a final ruling in January 2003 that the provision violates trade rules and set a deadline of December 27 for it to be revised, but Washington has so far failed to comply.
Official website
In case you don’t know it exists, here’s the offical website of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU.
Letter bombs sent to MEPs
I’ve not seen this mentioned much on blogs, so just to keep you informed.
A series of letter bombs have been sent to several senior European figures and MEPs. More information here and here or via Google News.
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to all of you who’ve been reading, commenting on and linking to FOE for the last few months. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you so I trust you will all have an enjoyable 2004.
So, to get the FOE year off to a good start, what are your predictions for what might happen in Europe in 2004?
I’m predicting that the Irish presidency (which begins today) will make progress on the Constitutional talks, though maybe not on the Constitution itself (at least on the Giscard D’Estaing version) and also that in June’s elections, the EPP will remain the largest grouping in the Parliament, but the biggest growth will be in the smaller groupings and independent/non-aligned members.