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The Vatican has put its foot down on a Belgian Catholic group over euthanasia and has declared that it can no longer be considered “Catholic”. The Brothers of Charity, a religious congregation founded in the 19th century, runs 15 highly-respected psychiatric hospitals. In 2017, the board of the organization’s hospitals, which was composed on 12 lay people, including former Christian Democrat Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, along with three brothers of the congregation, decided to permit doctors to practice euthanasia in the hospitals. The Catholic Church strictly forbids euthanasia. However, the board refused to buckle under pressure from the Church...

At the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein in central Brussels, tourists and commuters pick their way around coils of plastic tubing, bright green construction barriers and piles of paving stones that have been ripped up in the name of urban improvement. A few blocks north, the transformation is complete. What was once a busy boulevard clogged with traffic is now a car-free zone given over to pedestrians, bicycles, scooters and cafes taking advantage of the expanded sidewalk to offer alfresco dining. The area’s redevelopment began in 2017, and, weather permitting, will be finished by the end of 2020. But that’s just...

Marine Le Pen, the president of the French populist right-wing party Rassemblement National (National Rally), congratulated the United Kingdom for regaining its “freedom” but went on to say that Brexit was a “terrifying failure” for the European Union. “After multiple twist and turns, the UK has finally regained its freedom. But this is a terrifying failure for the EU”, said Ms Le Pen. “We will no doubt see, over the coming months and years, that the UK did the right thing and will probably benefit a great deal. In fact, I have already noticed that the disaster-mongering has already given...

The European Commission urged Germany late Monday to accept children from overcrowded migrant camps in Greece. “The Commission is concerned about the difficult situation for unaccompanied minors on the ground in Greece and remains in close contact with the Greek authorities, notably as concerns the situation on the heavily overcrowded islands and the very challenging situation in the hotspots,” a spokesman told DPA news agency. “In particular as regards the more than 5,000 unaccompanied minors, the Commission has repeatedly called upon the member states to continue relocating from Greece on a voluntary basis, with funds provided by the Commission,” the...

BRUSSELS — NATO nations are increasing spending on defense, with nine of the alliance’s 29 members now meeting guidelines, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday, ahead of a summit next week where President Donald Trump is expected to urge leaders yet again to increase military expenditures. The top-tier spending club — with at least 2% of annual gross domestic allocated for defense — expanded by one country and now includes Bulgaria, according to figures released by the military alliance. EU countries and Canada have collectively boosted their defense spending every year since 2015, motivated first by Russia’s conflict with...

Kabul (AFP) — European Union officials called Sunday for a ceasefire in Afghanistan, saying the breakdown in talks between the US and the Taliban presented an opportunity to push anew for a truce. US President Donald Trump last month declared talks with the insurgents “dead”, citing a Taliban attack that killed a US soldier. Negotiations had been in the final stages for a deal that would have seen the US pull troops from Afghanistan after 18 years in return for various Taliban guarantees.

Two events happened last week — one profusely covered in the European and world media, the other hardly at all — that would have long-lasting and, in the second case, profound implications for generations to come. The first case had to do with the elections of Ursula von der Layen as the new president of the European Commission, the second with the publication of a study showing that the Germans increasingly are losing their majorities to those with a migrant background. The second study was vastly more important historically for the future of Europe, but that, predictably, was not the...

A new leaked document shows that Theresa May’s plans for a “new” Brexit withdrawal agreement contains no new ideas or any substantial changes. Prime Minister Theresa May, whose attempts to pass a version of her EU-approved withdrawal treaty have so far failed three times, has said of this new version of the deal that it would “represent a new, bold offer to MPs across the House of Commons, with an improved package of measures that I believe can win new support”. However, speaking of a summary of the deal as it had been given to ministers, one unnamed Whitehall source...

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My children you are far beyond where you see yourself now. I have made you out of the very fabric of Eternity as The angels, yet in My image and Breath . There IS No God but ME . I AM your answer and your ALL ,YOUR ETERNAL Partner, helper and Blessing with Hope as your bowtie and ring of Promise. I have your Destiny in My very hand on the tongue of My Spirit of Truth . Come to Me "Come up Higher where you belong my betrothed, for I shall never leave this Love we have AS ONE...

He also compares the European Union to the mafia The Who‘s Roger Daltrey says Brexit won’t affect British musicians. The frontman, who has previously defended his pro-Brexit views, was asked whether Brexit would be ‘bad for British rock music’. “No. What’s it got to do with the rock business?” he told Sky News. “How are you going to tour in Europe?” the interviewer replied. “Oh dear. As if we didn’t tour Europe before the f****** EU,” he said. “Oh give it up!” Daltrey then compared the EU to the mafia, saying: “If you want to be signed up to be...

As I write, I happen to be next door to the Canadian House of Commons - which is far from my favorite place. But, at its lowest and most contemptible, Ottawa's House has never screwed over the Commoners the way that of its imperial mother just has in London. Last night, sixteen days before Britain supposedly leaves the European Union in accord with the people's vote of three years ago, their elected representatives voted by 312 to 308 to rule out a "no-deal" Brexit - ie, a straightforward walkaway - ever. So the EU now has no incentive ever to...

Thousands of protesters are marching through the Belgian capital of Brussels to demand that the government increases its efforts to fight climate change. In the fourth demonstration in two months attracting at least 10,000 protesters, banners were held high Sunday to demand better use of renewable energies and more action to improve air quality. …

The White House on Friday rejected the accusation from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that the administration leaked sensitive travel information for her foreign trip, calling it a “flat out lie.” "When the Speaker of the House and about 20 others from Capitol Hill decide to book their own commercial flights to Afghanistan, the world is going to find out,” a White House official said. “The idea we would leak anything that would put the safety and security of any American at risk is a flat out lie." Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill said in a statement earlier Friday...

President Trump on Thursday appeared to deny military aircraft to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a foreign trip just minutes before the congressional delegation was set to depart, in a stunning response to her call to delay the State of the Union address amid the government shutdown. In a curt letter, Trump said her trip has been “postponed.” “Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed. We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over. In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving...

BRUSSELS has warned the remaining 27 European Union countries that they must urgently explain how their airline licenses comply with the bloc’s rules on ownership or face losing their rights to fly after Brexit. In a letter sent last week, Violeta Bulc, the EU commissioner responsible for transport, revealed not every national government had set out detailed plans on how airlines would meet “ownership and control requirements in all possible scenarios” of Brexit.

ITALY’S firebrand deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini is trying to create a populist alliance to take on the Brussels establishment in a showdown over the future of the European Union. . . . "Italy and Poland will be protagonists of a new Europe, with less bureaucracy and more attention to families and security. "A great Polish and a great Italian like St John Paul II said Europe must claim its identity, its diversity, its Jewish-Christian origins that only in Brussels dare to deny.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another thorn in the side of the EU, called the united front...

European Commissioners and other eurocrats are receiving substantial pay rises for Christmas, while the unelected executive’s controversial president Jean-Claude Juncker has been pictured having to be “supported by two employees” at a festive dinner in Vienna. ***** Top grade bureaucrats’ pay increases are being applied retroactively from July 2018, taking Juncker, as President of the European Commission, and fellow mandarin Donald Tusk, as President of the European Council, to salaries of around €32,700 a month.

The terrorist attack suspect in Strasbourg, France shot dead by police Thursday.... The latest polling in France for next May's European Parliament elections shows a lead for the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen.... And getting back to the "yellow vests" two representatives appeared before the media in Versailles France Thursday to announce that Phase 5 of the protest is on for this Saturday.... The Battle of Brexit. The word from the European Union summit in Brussels is that there will be no renegotiation or changes to the Brexit deal agreed to by the EU and Prime Minister Theresa...

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian police fired tear gas and water cannons at yellow-vested protesters calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Charles Michel after they tried to breach a riot barricade, as the movement that started in France made its mark Saturday in Belgium and the Netherlands. Protesters in Brussels threw paving stones, road signs, fireworks, flares and other objects at police blocking their entry to an area where Michel’s offices, other government buildings and the parliament are located. Brussels police spokeswoman Ilse Van de Keere said that around 400 protesters were gathered in the area. About 100 were detained,...