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Israel will end its export of poultry and dairy produce to the European Union from Jewish communities beyond the Green Line, Israeli and European officials said on Sunday, according to AFP. The restrictions stem from directives issued by the European Commission in February and affect chicken and milk products from communities in eastern Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria. "In keeping with previous decisions, the EU no longer recognized the authority of the veterinary inspections services of Israel to approve the export of poultry and (dairy products), the origin of which are in settlements," a European official told...

Economic growth in Europe came in at zero in the second quarter of 2014. That's better than being in recession. But it's not the growth that Europe — with its huge unemployment rate of 12 percent, or roughly 19,130,000 people out of work — needs. The eurozone (below in blue) has been in a depression since the financial crisis. That's because in terms of gross domestic product, the eurozone has not risen back to its pre-financial crisis levels. The U.S. (below in red) on the other hand has gotten out of its slump, and continues to grow at a decent...

The European Union (EU) on Friday offered to take charge of Gaza's border crossings and work to prevent illegal arms flows, according to The Associated Press (AP). The EU is prepared "to play a strong role" in managing the crossings while assuring that Israel's security is guaranteed, said the 28-nation bloc's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. The EU offered to reactivate and extend its monitoring of the Rafiah crossing with Egypt and other border posts, provided there will be a UN Security Council mandate for the mission and a sustainable cease-fire in place, according to AP. In addition, the EU...

The United Nations Security Council took aim at Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria on Friday, blacklisting six people including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) spokesman and threatening sanctions against those who finance, recruit or supply weapons to the insurgents. The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution that aims to weaken ISIS and al Qaeda's Syrian wing Nusra Front, Reuters reported. ISIS has long been blacklisted by the Security Council, while Nusra Front was added earlier this year. Both groups are designated under the U.N. al Qaeda sanctions regime. EU ministers agreed Friday to back the arming...

The United States has asked European countries to supply arms and ammunition to Kurdish forces fighting jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, signalling a widening of the international role in the conflict. The US has requested the arms in telephone calls with several European countries, seeking help for Peshmerga fighters of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region who are outgunned by IS militants. Several European countries have announced plans to send arms or ammunition, with France saying it will supply arms in response to a request from Iraq's Kurdish leadership.

The EU plans to hold talks with countries such as Brazil and Chile to dissuade them from stepping in to replace Europe’s banned agricultural exports to Russia, senior officials said on Monday. Since Russia banned food imports from the EU and the US last week in a response to sanctions, Moscow has been courting Latin America for alternative supplies. Several countries and trade groups in South America have said that Moscow’s measures could offer them a lucrative windfall. Such excitement in the agricultural powerhouses of Latin America has triggered concern in Brussels. “We will be talking to the countries that...

U krainian President Petro Poroshenko says he has agreed to an international humanitarian mission for eastern Ukraine led by the Red Cross that includes cooperation from the European Union, Germany, and Russia. Poroshenko said the mission has the blessings of Russia and the United States. But he said any humanitarian mission must be "an international one without any military escort" by Russian forces.

Russian intervention in Ukraine, including for expressed humanitarian purposes is “unacceptable” without Kiev’s authorization, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her US counterpart Barack Obama agreed in a telephone call Saturday. Such a move “violates international law, and will provoke additional consequences,” the White House said in a statement afterwards, referencing the numerous economic sanctions already in place against Moscow. …

“When you get farmers, dentists and folks who have never fought before going up against a ruthless opposition in Assad, the notion that they were in a position to suddenly overturn not only Assad but also ruthless, highly trained jihadists if we just sent a few arms is a fantasy.” - Barack Obama to CBS on June 22 Editor's note: Obama reiterated the statement to Tom Friedman of The New York Times in an interview published on August 9. In one sentence, U.S. President Barack Obama disregarded the thousands of soldiers who defected from the Syrian Army since the uprising...

Poland has asked the United States to open its market quickly to Polish apples banned by Russia in a sanctions war over the crisis in Ukraine. Poland's ambassador to Washington, Ryszard Schnepf, said he had met Michael Scuse, a senior official in the US Department of Agriculture, about the steps needed to open up the US market, the Polish press agency PAP reported. "We are interested in a quick decision because the situation is extraordinary," Schnepf was quoted as saying. "He told us to begin the procedure. We have a new meeting planned for August 18 with the heads of...

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has called for EU “inspectors” to monitor Gaza’s borders amid efforts to extend a ceasefire, in a German newspaper interview published Thursday. “Not police or soldiers. But Germany and the EU must dispatch inspectors to Gaza to monitor the Palestinians’ trade with the neighboring countries,” Liberman told the mass-circulation Bild daily in comments published in German. “The EU already did that once at a crossing in Rafah in the south of Gaza,” he said. …

Either Europe is run by a bunch of unelected idiots, or... well, that's about it. After blindly doing the US' bidding over all propaganda matters Ukraine-related, and following just as blindly into round after round of US-inspired sanctions, sanctions to whose retaliation Europe would be on the frontline unlike the largely insulated US, Europe appears to be absolutely shocked and is apoplectic that after several rounds of sanction escalations, Russia finally unleashed its own round of sanctions and yesterday announced a 1 year ban on all European food imports, something which will further push Europe into a triple-dip recession as...

Canada and the European Union have agreed the final text for a free trade agreement that could provide a blueprint for a US-EU trade deal. Tuesday's deal will cut tariffs between Canada and the EU by 98% and could boost trade by 20%, or about $20bn.

As Vladimir Putin’s tanks begin to roll forth from Russia like Sauron’s legions from Mordor, a pair of American villains is working hard to undermine our resolve against the greatest threat from Europe to American values and power, and indeed to world peace, since Adolf Hitler.Evgeny Feldman, a photographer for the maverick Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, recently visited a book store in Moscow and tweeted [1] a photograph from amongst its shelves. Among volumes on one topical shelf such as The Crimes of the U.S.A. and The Third World War and Forward to Victory, in which authors offered bloodthirsty...

This is essentially the nexus of three articles that caught my eye. Barack Obama is on the edge of forcing a Constitutional crisis. Obama has already acted in an unconstitutional manner when he unilaterally rewrote IRS rules regarding Obamacare. Now he's on the verge of doing it again. Remember- these aren't extremists. Glenn Reynolds: LET’S HOPE THIS IS A SIGN THAT SOMEONE THERE IS IN TOUCH WITH REALITY: WH: Obama undecided on immigration steps. “White House officials are downplaying stories that President Obama is prepared to take executive action on immigration that would allow millions of undocumented people to stay...

That seems like an awfully strong word, but it is the term that distinguished law professor Glenn Reynolds, no hysteric, uses to describe the Obama administrationÂ’s oft-reported plan to issue executive amnesty to five or six million illegal immigrants in violation of federal law. GlennÂ’s characterization is a fair one. When a tyrant asserts the right to rule by decree in a state that has formerly been subject to the rule of law, he is commonly described as carrying out a coup dÂ’etat. That is just what the Obama administration has done, and reportedly will continue to do. When Obama...

The European Union may acquire two Russian warships currently under construction in France, analysts say. The possibility comes as the United States and Western Europe tighten economic sanctions against Russia, and Monday's denial of a German defense contractor's delivery of military components to Russia by the German government. ... The German Navy proposed the EU purchase the ships,

The question as to WHY is the European Banking System so screwed lies in the problem of the design of the Euro. The failure to create a national debt by consolidating all debts of member states from the outset (explained in detail in the special report), left the European banks vulnerable to the mix of their “reserves” that were bonds of all member states. Now Portugal is moving to rescue to rescue its largest listed bank, testing the Eurozone’s ability to handle another banking crisis just months after Lisbon exited an international bailout. The total amount of this rescue is...

London could lose more than a million jobs if Britain quits the EU and fails to adopt more outward-looking trade policies, according to a report commissioned by Boris Johnson, the London mayor. In those circumstances, the capital could shed 1.2m jobs and lose out on tens of billions of pounds of gross domestic product, the report says.

The conflict in Gaza should not be an excuse for anti-Semitic slurs and attacks, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said late Sunday. Ban “deplores the recent upsurge in anti-Semitic attacks, particularly in Europe, in connection with protests concerning the escalation of violence in Gaza,” read a statement from the UN leader’s spokesman. “The Secretary-General emphasizes that the conflict in the Middle East must not constitute a pretext for prejudice that could affect social peace and harmony anywhere.” …