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1:43 a.m. Concerns that the Group of 20 industrialized and developed nations may not come up with an effective plan to address Greece's debt problems prodded short-term investors to sell the euro in Asia Friday, sending the currency to its lowest level against the dollar in nearly a year. In morning trade in Japan, the euro dropped to $1.3201, its lowest level since April 30, 2009. Dealers said mounting anxiety that Greece could default on its debt may drag the common currency below $1.3000 next week. The focus throughout Asian trading was on the possible outcome of discussions among top...

Earlier today, the leader of Britain’s UKIP, eloquent wordsmith and member of the EU Parliament, Nigel Farage, unleashed one of his most memorable and finest diatribes in recent years. "We ourselves in the European Union provoked the conflict through our territorial expansionism in the Ukraine. We poked the Russian bear with a stick, and unsurprisingly, Putin reacted. But this now is to be used as an opportunity to build a European army... And Mr. Juncker said, we must convey to Russia that we are serious. Who do you think you are kidding, Mr. Juncker?" Farage at his best...

The European Central Bank has hit the launch button on its 1.1 trillion euro ($1.2 trillion) stimulus program by starting to buy government bonds. The chief monetary authority for the 19 countries that use the euro confirmed Monday it had begun the purchases, which aim to make credit cheaper, boost growth and raise inflation. ECB President Mario Draghi had announced the start date last week, sending stocks higher and the euro lower.

A Muslim political party will be contesting seats at next month’s regional elections in France, standing on a platform which includes promises to expand the halal industry and allow girls to wear the burqa. Critics have called the Democratic Union for French Muslims a “catastrophe”, claiming that it flies in the face of France’s secular history, but it’s founder insists that his party promotes religious tolerance. 10 percent of the French population is Muslim, giving the party a potential support base of around 6 million voters. “Muslims don’t feel well served by any of the traditional parties,” the party’s founder,...

Paris (AFP) - Top US diplomat John Kerry on Saturday sought to smooth differences with France over nuclear talks with Iran, agreeing with the French that there were still gaps to overcome in the "critical weeks" ahead. The US secretary of state said it was up to Iran to prove its peaceful intentions to the world if it wants a deal on its nuclear programme ahead of the looming March 31 deadline. He was speaking to reporters after a 20-minute meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris where they tried to iron out their differing views on the...

President Barack Obama is holding a video conference with European leaders to discuss their push for peace in Ukraine and other global security issues. The White House says other leaders planning to be on the Tuesday morning call include British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and European Commission President Donald Tusk.

The foreign nationals aged 70, 54 and 36 — who work for the Doha-based international broadcaster — were taken into custody Wednesday afternoon after police spotted a drone flying in the Bois de Boulogne woods in western Paris, said Paris prosecutors' spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre. She said is was unclear what the trio were trying to accomplish. "Three Al-Jazeera English journalists have been held by police in Paris while filming a report on the city's recent mystery drones," the network said in a comment from its base in Qatar. "We will comment further when more information is available."

The journalists -- all foreign nationals -- were taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon after police saw a drone flying in the Bois de Boulogne woods in western Paris, Paris prosecutors’ spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said. It was unclear what the trio was trying to accomplish, she said. Officials with Qatar-based Al-Jazeera did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The journalists can be held for a maximum of 24 hours under French law. Flying drones without a license in France is illegal and carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a 75,000 euro fine. Wednesday’s incident comes on the...

Drones have been seen flying over several sensitive landmarks in Paris in a night-time mystery that French police say is being taken seriously. At least five of the unmanned aerial machines were spotted between midnight on Monday and 0600 on Tuesday, and none of the operators has been caught. The first appeared over the US embassy and there were later sightings near the Eiffel Tower and Place de la Concorde. French police believe the drone flights could be linked. Small drones are easy to buy but their appearance in recent months over sensitive locations has worried French authorities.

(AFP) Dozens more graves have been vandalised at French cemeteries, the interior ministry said Wednesday, as prosecutors said that the desecration of hundreds of Jewish graves over the weekend in Sarre-Union had a clear “anti-Semitic motive”. The interior ministry said crucifixes were overturned and gravesites disturbed in Tracy-sur-Mer, a tiny town next to the D-Day landing beaches, as well as in Saint-Beat in southwest France in the latest vandalism. Swastikas were found in two other towns, the ministry said. The discoveries came as five teens faced preliminary charges for desecrating hundreds of graves at a Jewish cemetery in the eastern...

Since January 15 the French army’s “Opération Sentinelle” has protected 722 Jewish schools and synagogues, some 24/7 even when the establishments were empty. The operation came to be regarded as too dangerous for the soldiers who were regularly targets of attacks. Over time the men were worn out. (snip)

Madonna claimed Friday that the anti-Semitism in France and elsewhere in Europe has become so bad that “it feels like Nazi Germany.” Speaking to French radio station Europe 1, the 56-year-old singer lamented that France was once a country “that embraced everyone and encouraged freedom in every way, shape or form,” Us Magazine reported.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Sunday that the far-right Front National (FN) party could win the next presidential election in 2017, saying their policies were a “disaster” for the country. “Do you not think that a FN which wins 25 percent in European elections and maybe 30 percent in local elections… cannot win the presidential election?” Valls said on French television channel iTele. “Not in 2022, not in 2029, but in 2017,” he added. Polls showed that the FN could win an “unprecedented” score in forthcoming local elections on March 22nd and 29th, Valls said. …

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Having topped the polls in last year’s European Election, Marine Le Pen’s National Front is set to become the biggest party in France with the French Prime Minister accusing the party of wanting to “kidnap France” at this month’s regional elections. The latest polling data, which comes after it was revealed French Jews are increasingly turning to the right wing party, puts the National Front on 29 per cent, four points clear of the opposition UMP and creating a significant gap between them and the socialists on 21 per cent, The Local reports. The country votes on March 22nd...

It was quiet in eastern Ukraine last Wednesday. Indeed, it was another quiet day in an extended stretch of relative calm. The battles between the Ukrainian army and the pro-Russian separatists had largely stopped and heavy weaponry was being withdrawn. The Minsk cease-fire wasn't holding perfectly, but it was holding. On that same day, General Philip Breedlove, the top NATO commander in Europe, stepped before the press in Washington. Putin, the 59-year-old said, had once again "upped the ante" in eastern Ukraine -- with "well over a thousand combat vehicles, Russian combat forces, some of their most sophisticated air defense,...

EU ministers agreed on Friday to send their formal promise on how much they will cut greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations ahead of climate change talks starting in November. The European Union is the first bloc to agree its position before the talks in Paris aimed at seeking a new worldwide deal on global warming. It has called on other big polluters also to deliver early pledges to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. …

VENICE, Italy — President Reagan, who less than two years ago signed the most expensive farm aid bill in history, called Friday for the elimination of agricultural subsidies worldwide by the year 2000 as a way of promoting better world economic health.At the same time, Reagan said that the United States has made "real progress" in trimming its budget deficit, despite ongoing spending battles with Congress, thereby freeing for private investment abroad some of the foreign capital that has been tied up financing the U.S. debt.Reagan's remarks, made in a speech televised by Worldnet and provided to networks around the...

NATO is determined to strengthen its partnership with Finland to better address security challenges to the east and south, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during his visit to Helsinki on Thursday (5 March, 2015). Mr. Stoltenberg thanked Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb for his nation’s close cooperation with the Alliance, calling Finland “one of our most active and closest partners." The Secretary General stressed the vital role partnerships with countries like Finland play in building peace and stability. He commended Finland's commitment and contribution to NATO-led missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as exercises such as the ongoing...

There's an excellent post on Keep Talking Greece this evening on the simmering feud between Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Spanish prime minister Minister Mariano Rajoy. Tsipras made a claim that Rajoy's plan is to "wear down, topple or bring our government to unconditional surrender before our work begins to bear fruit and before the Greek example affects other countries… And mainly before the elections in Spain. ... for obvious political reasons". Spanish foreign minister García Margallo, returned fire with a statement (a lie actually), that “Had Spain not given €32.744 billion to Greece, it could have increased the...

The Finnish Defence Forces and the Swedish Armed Forces have proposed that Finland and Sweden expand the scope of their military co-operation to include crises and conflicts. The proposal would lay the groundwork for a possible defence pact or military alliance if the necessary political will is forthcoming, Carl Haglund (SFP), the Minister of Defence, estimated in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday.