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The European Union (EU) is apparently fed up with the lack of progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) and is threatening to take action against both sides if the talks fail. A senior EU official said Tuesday that the bloc was considering cutting its annual aid to the PA if the current round of talks fails to end in an agreement. The EU provides the PA with about 300 million Euros in aid per year. As well, the official was quoted by Israeli media as having said, the 28-nation bloc was considering reviving its plan...

The dirt roads here are ominously empty. So are the villages. Every few kilometres the thick bush recedes to reveal a few mud brick houses with straw roofs. Sometimes a dog or a goat stares from a doorway. Many of the homes have been burnt. But where are the people? (SNIP) Half an hour later, we reached a clearing and more than a dozen civilians standing beside a makeshift shelter. In all, roughly 400,000 people in CAR are thought to be in a similar plight. "We live like animals here. No clean water. No food. No medicine. No salt. No...

French authorities have filed preliminary charges against Bob Dylan over a 2012 interview in which he is quoted comparing Croatians to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. The charges of “public insult and inciting hate” were filed against the musician in mid-November, Paris prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said Tuesday. They stem from a lawsuit by a Croatian community group in France over remarks in an interview in Rolling Stone magazine in September 2012. …

Mrs. Zimmerman's boy has some bad blood going with the Croatians. They just awarded him the French Legion, and then he gets sued for accusing Croatians of murdering lots of Serbs. They did, of course, did the whole Nazi thing, too. Conundrum. They just awarded him the French Legion, and then he gets sued for accusing Croatians of murdering lots of Serbs. They did, of course, did the whole Nazi thing, too. Conundrum. You don’t want to make flippant racial comments in France – that would be the takeaway for legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who’s just been charged with incitement...

IS FRANCE about to embark on another African military intervention? Things certainly seem to be moving very fast in Paris. Just over ten months after it dispatched soldiers and fighter jets to push back an Islamist incursion in Mali, the French are putting things into place in order to launch another operation, possibly as early as next week, this time in the Central African Republic (CAR). This is Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, making the case for intervention in Le Figaro, a newspaper, on November 25th. He described a “collapsed state” in which violence, rape and executions by armed gangs...

Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said he wanted “more cooperation with foreign companies,” including French manufacturers Peugeot and Renault, both of which have had a long history of doing business with Iran. Nematzadeh said he hoped for the lifting of sanctions on the car industry “by the end of December.”

There was severe disruption to traffic across France Saturday as thousands of truck drivers blocked roads for the second time in a month in the latest protest against government plans to introduce an environmental tax on heavy goods vehicles. … The French interior ministry estimated 2,200 trucks were involved in the protest, while organizers put the figure at 4,500. … The blockades are part of efforts by agricultural and road transport workers to force the French government to scrap its plans to introduce a so-called “ecotax”—a levy on French and foreign vehicles transporting commercial goods weighing over 3.5 tonnes. …

Iran will decide the level of uranium enrichment in its nuclear programme based on its energy and other civilian needs, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in remarks reported Saturday. His remarks appeared to conflict with the landmark nuclear deal struck with world powers in Geneva last weekend, which states that the enrichment level must be mutually defined and agreed upon by both sides in further negotiations. "Iran will decide the level of enrichment according to its needs for different purposes," Zarif said late Friday night, according to the official IRNA news agency. "Only details of the enrichment activities are...

(CNN) -- France will send approximately 1,000 more troops to the Central African Republic, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday in a radio interview. Speaking on Europe 1 radio, he said the mission would last about six months and would be coordinated with the United Nations and African Union. About 400 French troops are already in the Central African Republic, the French Defense Ministry said, where they are deployed to protect French nationals and help secure the airport in the capital, Bangui. France is a former colonial power in the Central African Republic. Former leader Gen. Francois Bozize...

An investigation initiated by the American CIA and FBI in 2009 revealed that at least 100 Islamic extremists had infiltrated the U.S. military, and that some of these individuals had been in touch with Islamic radicals who had infiltrated military units in Spain, as well as Britain, France and Germany. The military is an attractive employment option for many young Muslims born in Spain, where the unemployment rate is stuck at 27%, and the jobless rate for individuals under 25 exceeds 60%. Often, a stint in the military opens doors for civilian jobs with national or local police or other...

Iran will pursue construction at the Arak heavy-water reactor, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif was quoted as saying on Wednesday, despite a deal with world powers to shelve a project they fear could yield plutonium for atomic bombs. France, one of the six powers that negotiated Sunday's interim pact with Iran to curb its disputed nuclear program, said in response to Zarif's statement that Tehran had to keep to what was agreed in the Geneva talks. The uncompleted research reactor emerged as one of several big stumbling blocks in the marathon negotiations, in which Iran agreed to restrain its atomic...

One of the things that has struck me as strange about the debate over Ukraine and its now-delayed association agreement with the EU is the assumption that integration with Europe automatically leads to rapid economic growth. The Serious People who debate these sorts of issues habitually contrast the rapid progress that Ukraine will make if it signs up with the EU with the “stagnation” that it will get if it integrates with Russia. Here, for example, is what Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, the quintessential Serious European, said recently in the Financial Times: “ But very few can believe that...

A Paris appeal court on Wednesday upheld the right of a nursery to fire a female employee who insisted on wearing an Islamic headscarf at work. The ruling is the latest round of a long-running legal battle which has pitted France's secular authorities against sections of the country's large Muslim minority. The case has been brought in the name of a 23-year-old French woman who claims the burqa ban violates her rights to freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and a prohibition against discrimination. Belgium and some parts of Switzerland have followed France's lead and similar bans...

The American Center for Law and Justice says the Obama administration should never have struck a deal with Iran without part of the terms being the release of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini and other Americans being held in Iranian prisons. ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow says basically, President Barack Obama and Secretary of John Kerry turned their back on their fellow Americans. "It is outrageous and a betrayal of American Pastor Saeed Abedini who has spent more than a year in an Iranian prison simply because of his Christian faith," Sekulow said following word of a deal with the Islamic...

U.S. President Barack Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss an international nuclear deal with Iran that has threatened to raise tensions between the close allies, the White House said. "The two leaders reaffirmed their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," deputy White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One As Obama headed to the U.S. West Coast, reported AFP. "Consistent with our commitment to consult closely with our Israeli friends, the president told the prime minister that he wants the United States and Israel to begin consultations immediately...

Shortly after the historic nuclear agreement was reached with Iran in the early hours of Sunday morning, John Kerry, US secretary of state, took to Twitter to announce a “first step that makes the world safer”. In one of those gestures that would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani promptly retweeted his comment. Yet within hours, both men had also revealed substantial disagreements over the nuclear negotiations in Geneva which served to expose the very large gaps that still lie between this initial deal and a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme over the next...

Oil prices are likely to drop, analysts said, as the nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers potentially paves the way for more crude oil to reach the global market.

Canada is "deeply skeptical" about Iran's intentions, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said on Sunday. "Every diplomatic [effort] should be taken to ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon," Baird said. He added that effective sanctions brought the Iranian regime to its more moderate front, and led to the interim deal signed in Geneva. Canada will therefore continue to impose its sanctions on the Islamic Republic in full force, Baird said. "A nuclear Iran is not just a threat to Canada or its allies but it would also seriously damage the integrity of decades of work for nuclear...

AFTER 40 years of hesitation and seven hard years of reform and lobbying, Turkey is basking today in the most qualified of invitations to begin the process of joining Europe - a continent whose eastern half the Ottoman empire controlled for centuries. A European Commission report released yesterday, which paves the way for a deciding vote by the 25-member European Union at its December summit, was heavily qualified, and Turkish leaders were muted in their expressions of delight at their initial success. Presenting the decision to the European parliament last night, commission president Romano Prodi said it was a "qualified...

...Hollande is much more focused on tapping into Israel’s know-how to help his country’s beleaguered economy. “Israel is, from an economic point of view, with the high-tech industry, considered to be very valuable,” Dr. Tsilla Hershco, a senior research associate at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies told The Media Line. “With all the turmoil around us, Israel is considered the one stable state in the Middle East from a political and economic point of view.” France has suffered greatly since 2008, when a worldwide economic downturn brought the European Union to the brink of collapse. Since then,...

Iran and six world powers clinched a deal on Sunday curbing the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for initial sanctions relief, signaling the start of a game-changing rapprochement that could ease the risk of a wider Middle East war. Aimed at ending a long festering standoff, the interim pact between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia won the critical endorsement of Iranian clerical Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

GENEVA (AP) — A deal has been reached between six world powers and Iran that calls on Tehran to limit its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, the French and Iranian foreign ministers said early Sunday. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, "Yes, we have a deal," as he walked past reporters crowding the hotel lobby where marathon negotiations had taken place over the past five days. Asked if there was a deal, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said "Yes" and gave a thumbs-up sign. The goal had been to hammer out an agreement to freeze Iran's nuclear...

France is to send hundreds more troops to the Central African Republic (CAR) as Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warns that the former French colony is "on the verge of genocide". The UN is to debate authorising African and French troops to intervene. France is planning to significantly increase its contingent in Central African Republic, where it already has 400 soldiers to protect the airport in Bangui and French nationals, while planning troop withdrawal from Mali shortly after the parliamentary elections to be held on Sunday. Fabius recently said that troop neumbers in CAR would be raised to 1,200. Guinean President...

Wolves have killed one horse and badly injured another in an attack on the outskirts of a ski village close to the French Riviera, officials said Thursday. The attack, at Auron in the Alpes-Maritimes region inland from Nice, was the latest incident to trigger anger among farmers in southeastern France over the protected status of wolves and their growing numbers. The owner of the horses, Jacques Riguccini, said a pack of wolves had chased around 30 of his animals one night last week and one of them had been ripped apart after getting tangled up in safety netting by the...

French authorities have named a man arrested on suspicion of carrying out recent gun attacks in Paris as Abdelhakim Dekhar. He was taken into custody at about 18:00 GMT from a vehicle in a car park in Bois-Colombes, north-west of Paris. Authorities said Dekhar had been jailed in 1998 for his role in a string of fatal shootings in Paris. Last Friday a gunman threatened a Paris TV station and on Monday attacked a newspaper office and bank HQ. Prosecutors said late on Wednesday that samples of Dekhar's DNA matched that from the crime scenes.

A man suspected of shootings in Paris that left a photographer seriously injured in Paris two days ago has been taken into custody, the French prosecutor’s office has said. A suspect “with a strong resemblance” to the gunman was arrested this evening, a spokeswoman for the office said. ...

t was the story he had denied. The story Emma O'Reilly went some way to telling when she exposed Lance Armstrong as a drug cheat. But when the conversation moved to the subject of that positive test in 1999, he not only agreed with her that she had been right but went a stage further. O'Reilly always believed there was a bigger conspiracy and with her sitting before him he finally revealed the full scale of the cover-up, naming Hein Verbruggen as a central figure in his escape from punishment. Certainly, Armstrong used this opportunity to his full advantage. He...

A manhunt is continuing in Paris after a gunman attacked offices of the newspaper Liberation and fired outside the HQ of the Societe Generale bank. A photographer, 27, was critically hurt at Liberation. The gunman later forced a motorist to drive him to the Champs Elysees before allowing him to go. Police are looking for the same man who broke into the Paris offices of the 24-hour news channel BFMTV on Friday. Police have now been stationed outside all the main media offices in Paris. ...

French President Francois Hollande began a three-day visit to Israel over the weekend, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was all smiles and full of praise for the French delegation that was apparently the last holdout in thwarting a “bad deal� that would have traded sanctions relief for some all-but-meaningless nuclear concessions from the Iranians: Hollande vowed to keep up pressure on Iran and not make any concessions regarding nuclear proliferation. …Speaking alongside Hollande, Netanyahu once again warned that Iran could soon have enough fissile material to develop a bomb within weeks and that Israel would not be bound to...

You have entered in, now sit quietly at my feet and listen and record the report of My heart for now your desires have become mine for I AM The Perpetual fire that abides in you eternal. Listen then GO, SPEAK and DO for I AM The Voice of your many waters ~ ~ ~ So let My waters move in you , "RISE UP" Oh Well for The Voice of many waters is "CALLING" to you for My Glory . John 7:38(AMP) 38 He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as...

French president receives hero’s welcome for taking tough stance on Tehran’s nuclear program; Netanyahu: Paris is a ‘true friend’ France will uphold economic sanctions on Iran as long as the Islamic Republic does not prove it has taken serious steps toward curbing its nuclear program, French President Francois Hollande said Sunday at the opening of a state visit to Israel. “France will not make concessions on nuclear proliferation,” Hollande pledged during a ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport, upon his arrival. “France will maintain all its measures and sanctions until we are certain that Iran has renounced nuclear weapons.” The...

A French hostage held in Nigeria managed to escape on Saturday while his captors, Islamist militants from the Ansaru group, were praying. Francis Collomp, 63, is due to brought home to Paris by France’s Foreign minister later on Sunday. French hostage Francis Collomp, 63, escaped his captors in Nigeria, the office of President François Hollande said in a statement on Sunday. Collomp had been held since being abducted by the Ansaru Islamist group on December 19, 2012. FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Nigeria, Aminu Abubacar, reported that there were no military operation involved and that Collomp managed to escape entirely on...

On Thursday a United Nations interpreter, unaware that her microphone was on, uttered words of truth in reaction to the General Assembly’s adoption of nine politically-motivated resolutions condemning Israel, and zero resolutions on the rest of the world. Under the mistaken impression that she was speaking only to colleagues, the interpreter uttered the following words into the headphones of every UN delegate, and before a live webcast audience worldwide: “I think when you have… like a total of ten resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there’s gotta be something, c’est un peu trop, non? [It’s a bit much, no?] I mean...

If you're tooling down the road in your Renault Zoe Z.E. only to have it stop dead in traffic, don't immediately start cussing your mechanic. Better make sure you're current with the payments. The French car maker has added a new twist to the repossession tango between car buyers and creditors.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged France to stand firm in international negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. "We hope France will not yield," Netanyahu said in an interview to Le Figaro newspaper due out on Saturday, on the eve of French President Francois Hollande's visit to Israel. "For us, the United States remains an important ally, the most important ally. But our relationship with France is also very special," he said.

The projected toughness of the Obama Administration is only directed against domestic “enemies” of the Regime and longtime allies of the United States. When dealing with hostile nations, Team Obama reveals itself to be thoroughly inept. (1) Staying true to the liberal definition of conflict resolution, the Kenyan Muslim and the haughty Secretary of State fall back on appeasement as diplomacy. Always ready to accommodate fellow Muslims in the Middle East, Obama is eager to remove sanctions against Iran rather than negotiate with the Islamic Regime to give up its nuclear ambitions. (4) When Secretary Kerry was dispatched to sell...

The wreck of a German tank, which was destroyed during a battle on the Western Front. Black and white photographs often feel more genuine than color images — more truthful, somehow — especially those depicting historical events. Much of that perceived authenticity derives from the fact that black and white pictures seem to be, in the most positive way, far simpler than their color counterparts. The world itself (we like to tell ourselves) was simpler in the latter part of 19th century, and in the earliest decades of the 20th. It was only when human experience began to accelerate and...

Well, the much touted Euro Area recovery is just so much noise. According to Eurostat, Q3 GDP growth in the Euro Area was a meager +0.1%. The US looks like the growth dynano compared with the Euro Area, particularly France. Europe Q3 GDP The biggest gainer in Europe? Romania at +1.6%. The biggest losers were Cyprus at -1.2% and the Czech Republic at -0.5%. Europe GDP map France and Italy both declined at a -0.1% rate. Europe Q3 GDP total Combine slow Euro Area growth with their massive banking system, particularly France, and we have a George Takei “Oh my!”...

The United States has ridden -- and tamed -- the wild global tiger since the end of World War II. The frantic ride has been dangerous, to us, but a boon to humanity. At the same time, America's leadership role has been misrepresented and misunderstood abroad and at home, including by some of our country's own leaders. Accordingly, our current president, Barack Obama, has decided to climb down from the tiger, with the certain consequence that it will run wild again. The crowning achievement of postwar American policy was the defeat of Soviet communism. After the fall of the Berlin...

That the socialist French government of François Hollande just blocked a bad deal with Tehran, emerging as the hero of the Geneva negotiations, is on one level a huge surprise. But it also follows logically from the passivity of the Obama administration. American foreign policy is in unprecedented free-fall, with a feckless and distracted White House barely paying attention to the outside world, and when it does, acting in an inconsistent, weak, and fantastical manner. If one were to discern something so grand as an Obama Doctrine, it would read: "Snub friends, coddle opponents, devalue American interests, seek consensus, and...

The Geneva talks on Iranian nukes have turned into a "pull my finger" charade. Iran says that it's only making electricity, not nuclear bombs. The U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are somehow all supposed to agree on reeling Iran in -- but let's face it: Russia and China are close Iranian allies and trading partners, while even Germany and France have significant geopolitical ties to Russia through, for example, the European defense conglomerate EADS and the Nord Stream pipeline running Russian gas into Europe. And Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman reportedly bragged to Russian journalists at the...

Everything was all set. The scenery had been painted, the lighting arranged, the actors given their lines and put through their paces. The proper air of suspense had been maintained throughout the opening acts, and now the curtain was about to rise on the grand finale. The management wasn't quite ready to admit it, maybe even to itself, but the Happy Ending had already been written. All the players had to do was follow the script. The stars were already practicing their bows. The supporting cast of foreign ministers from far and wide -- Teheran to Paris, Moscow even...

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his housing minister to reconsider construction plans for more than 20,000 homes in the West Bank. He said the plans, announced by Housing Minister Uri Ariel earlier on Tuesday, would create unnecessary friction with the international community. The US had earlier said it was "deeply concerned" over the Israeli plans. The Palestinians had said they would appeal to the UN, warning that Israel's move would kill off peace talks. In a statement, Mr Netanyahu said he had asked Housing Minister Uri Ariel "to reconsider" plans for potential construction of new homes for Jewish settlers...

Revealed: Iran's Supreme Leader is a Billionaire Iran's supreme leader controls a business empire worth around $95 billion, exposes Reuters. While Iran has been buckling under the sanctions that have been crippling its economy, the country’s supreme leader is apparently enjoying the billions he has in the bank. The Reuters news agency exposed on Monday that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei controls a business empire worth around $95 billion, a sum exceeding the value of his nation’s current annual petroleum exports. The little-known organization, called Setad, is one of the keys to the Iranian leader’s enduring power and now holds...

As PM demands that Washington keep up the economic pressure on Tehran, Kerry prepares to ward off new sanctions bills Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday fired another volley in what has turned into an ongoing, very public war of words with the Obama administration, saying that from what he had seen of a proposed interim solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff, the terms would allow Tehran to advance toward an atomic weapons capability while throwing off the yoke of economic sanctions. “Israel prefers a diplomatic option to other options, but we demand a real diplomatic solution in order to...

Imagine a world in which the Middle East is not descending into carnage and chaos but is on the brink of monumental breakthroughs. In this world in spring 2014, Iran's nuclear program has been secured and Egypt has become a liberal democracy. Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has stepped aside. And Israelis and Palestinians have settled on the terms for a Palestinian state. This is the world that John Kerry inhabited as he shuttled across the world last week: a fantastical realm created by his billowing vision of what he can accomplish as secretary of State. Meanwhile, on this planet, aid...

President Obama’s foreign policy record remains intact. Across the world from which he is withdrawing American power and influence, governments are recognizing that where once a superpower resided, now only a shadow remains. First it was left to the Communist Chinese to admonish us against spending too much. Then they began a campaign to replace the dollar as the reserve currency of the world. The French led us into Libya because they needed to protect their oil interests there. Then Vladimir Putin bamboozled Obama into an agreement on Syria which goes against America interests by enabling Assad to remain in...

Iranian TV condemned France saying they were 'Israel's representatives'Talks on Iran's nuclear programme collapse at the eleventh hour after France says it will not be forced into a 'sucker's deal' Foreign minister Laurent Fabius objected to points in the agreement Complained it did not go far enough to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions Talks will resume on November 20 in an attempt to reach a compromise Iranian TV condemned France saying they were 'Israel's representatives' Marathon talks on a deal to temporarily curb Iran's nuclear program have broken down after a negotiations between foreign ministers ran into trouble late last...

Talks in Geneva between world powers and Iran ended late Saturday night without a deal, after hitting a snag earlier in the day when France questioned the terms of a proposed agreement. Chances of bridging all differences appeared to diminish as the day went on, but efforts continued. The foreign ministers of the seven delegations discussing Iran held a last-ditch meeting late Saturday, and were later joined by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an apparent effort to salvage the talks. Earlier Saturday, Zarif said talks would resume within seven to 10 days, if an agreement would not be...

Under Barack Obama, American influence in the Middle East has sunk to levels not seen since before World War II. From Israel to Saudi Arabia, from Egypt to the United Arab Emirates, our friends are shaking their heads, wondering why we have seemingly taken leave of our senses. Across this vital region, Obama is effectively empowering our opponents and turning his back on U.S. supporters and allies. He has openly courted implacable adversaries like Tehran's ayatollahs and the Muslim Brotherhood, allowed Chinese penetration to reach unprecedented levels and restored Russian clout to pre-1979 proportions. And Obama is far from finished....