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My daughter (A research librarian) and I are planning a 1 week north France-Belgium-Luxemburg trip later this fall to see the historic battlefields and "general sites" across the area. Would fly into Paris, go the the "usual" tourist sites there by tour bus, but then she wants to drive across the area looking at the area of the battlefields and sites across the region. Over 2000 years since the Roman conquests, there are obviously hundreds - if not thousands - of interesting sites. Equally, we want to go to the more interesting architectural and battlefields just to "see" what each...

What is a fair voting system for the European Union? It looks as though, thanks to Poland, European leaders will be forced to debate this difficult question at their summit this week. Since the simplified draft treaty is substantively identical to the old and rejected constitution - minus some cosmetics - the voting system proposed is going to be the same one: passage of legislation requires a coalition of countries representing at least 55 per cent of the member states and 65 per cent of the population. The Poles have threatened a veto unless the second of those two numbers...

Well, are the inhabitants of the EU prosperous or not? Yes and no. Many Europeans (and Americans as well) would say the US is part poor, part affluent, arguing that wealth is distributed in a very uneven way in that country. However, regarding regional GDP/capita, there probably are even greater differences between the EU citizens than between US Americans (regardless of the reasons to this situation)! For instance, according to the study, Inner London is more than 36 times richer than North Eastern Romania! The article: "Regional GDP per inhabitant in the EU27 GDP per inhabitant in 2004 ranged from...

Europe managed to come up with a budget agreement. But more important questions remain unanswered. The fact is, a 25-member European club has proven to be incredibly unwieldy. The solution could be the creation of an EU core.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Luxemburg-based Internet telephony firm Skype has shown that Europeans can build a $4 billion company in just over two years, but venture capitalists are wondering if it was a fluke or the start of a trend. Talent scouts gathered at the high-profile ETRE technology conference in Athens expressed optimism that European technology firms could be on the up again. "There are huge opportunities. It's only limited by our own creativity. Skype was actually a bellwether for a lot of European companies," said Tim Draper of venture capital fund Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which helped finance Skype. He basked...

Federalist European leaders insisted last night that the EU constitution had risen from the dead after voters in the tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg approved it in a referendum. The Yes camp won by 56 to 44 per cent, making Luxembourg the 13th country to ratify the constitution. A majority of the European Union's 25 nations have now ratified the treaty, noted the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, with "great satisfaction". Many Luxembourg voters had voiced irritation at being asked to vote on a constitution already rejected at the polls in France and Holland, predicting that the...

THE Dutch “nee” has all but killed off hopes of keeping the constitution alive, but Tony Blair will avoid any immediate pronouncements on its future to avoid being blamed for its demise. The treaty’s supporters must now not only find a way to reverse the votes in two EU founding countries, but dissuade other member states from abandoning the ratification process and counter a domino effect of “no” votes in those states that do proceed with referendums. The Poles and Czechs both showed signs of wobbling on their referendum plans yesterday, while polls show support for the constitution plummeting even...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...