Free Republic

The U.S. Secret Service ordered hundreds of parents and their cancer-stricken children out of Lafayette Square on Saturday night, barricading the park for at least two hours and disrupting the group’s plans for a candlelight vigil to raise awareness and research funding for childhood cancer, participants said. Some of the parents and children expressed hurt and disappointment that Secret Service and National Park Police, citing security precautions, virtually shut down part of a two-day event called CureFest for Childhood Cancer. “We ended up waiting at the gates for two hours, and they never let us in,” said Natasha Gould, an...

EU to help stricken poultry farms France is the biggest poultry exporter in the EU European Union agriculture ministers have approved a subsidy package for poultry farmers hit by falling sales and prices due to bird flu. The European Commission will cover half the costs incurred by EU governments. Farmers will be eligible if they can prove that bird flu led to a slump in demand for their poultry. EU data show that poultry sales have fallen by up to 70% in some EU countries, while prices have slumped by 13% on average. Poultry sales are especially weak in Italy,...