Free Republic

Raids have been conducted on homes of current and former European Union members who are the focus of a probe.Reports out of Brussels are that this weekend, authorities have been conducting a series of raids stemming from an investigation into various Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) over suspicions of corruption and bribery. Over a dozen raids were conducted by Belgium federal police forces concerning alleged offenses of criminal organization, corruption, and money laundering.The investigation was initiated by one of the factions inside of the EU to look into the issue of corruption over the suspected payments to members by...

Facebook’s ubiquitous ‘like’ button found on countless websites accessible in Germany was declared in violation of the country’s strict privacy laws by a state data protection official on Friday. Hackers gather around the computer campfire (11 Aug 11) Thilo Weichert, who works for the data protection centre of the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, said the social network’s application allowing internet users to express their appreciation of something online, illegally cobbled together a profile of their web habits. “Facebook can trace every click on a website, how long I’m on it, what I’m interested in,” he said. According to Weichert,...

LAGOS - Nigeria's anti-corruption police were questioning the head of the stock exchange after she organised a gala dinner in support of Barack Obama's U.S. presidential campaign which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The United Nations appears to have postponed a financial crisis that threatened to dim the lights at the end of June, as the United States and other key governments have agreed to extend its spending authority. Washington had imposed a spending cap, set to expire at the end of the month, in an effort to ensure that difficult management reforms were not delayed until the end of the usual two-year budget cycle. But U.N. officials and diplomats say that the United States, Japan and other nations are not willing to see the lights go out -- yet. "The cap on...

Text of report by "E.B." entitled "Serbian drug barons are big players in Europe" published by Serbian newspaper Blic on 27 March Belgrade: Serbian drug barons, who maintain strong ties with cocaine traders in Colombia, the world's biggest producer of this narcotic, have strong business contacts also with the Albanian mafia, police information indicates. These good contacts on both sides of the Atlantic and highly functional trafficking routes, whereby tons of cocaine are smuggled from South America to Europe, have enabled them to take a place among the most powerful drugs traffickers in Europe. People have only recently become aware...

This week George W. Bush declared another war -- on the global sex trade, a problem in need of 'urgent attention and moral clarity.' Is the U.S. President being too dramatic? No, the Globe's MARK MACKINNON reports from tiny Moldova. So many of its girls have been shanghaied to the fleshpots of the world that the impoverished former Soviet republic is starting to run out. Sofia, Moldova -- She says her name is Valentina and she's six years old. But that's all she'll say before bolting to take refuge behind a nearby cow. Valentina has good reason to be wary...