Spiegel On-Line: The Mini-Penis Scandal: US Publisher Turns away from German Cartoon Nudity - by Franziska Bossy and Elke Schmitter

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The Mini-Penis Scandal: US Publisher Turns away from German Cartoon Nudity - by Franziska Bossy and Elke Schmitte

The drawings are harmless really. But a US publisher has decided not to publish a series by children's book author Rotraut Susanne Berner. The problem? Cartoon breasts and a half-millimeter-long willy.The drawings are harmless really. But a US publisher has decided not to publish a series by children's book author Rotraut Susanne Berner. The problem? Cartoon breasts and a half-millimeter-long willy.

American kiddies, obviously, could never be expected to handle such a depiction of the human body. The US publisher, somewhat awkwardly, asked if they could be removed."It was really a sensation," Berner told SPIEGEL ONLINE. At first. As it turned out, there were a couple of changes that had to be made before the books could be unleashed on the America public. First off, smokers had to be removed from the illustrations. But that wasn't all. One image shows a scene from an art gallery -- and for realism's sake, there is a cartoonish nude hanging on the wall along with a tiny, seven-millimeter-tall statue of a naked man on a pedestal.

Petersen Institute: Op-ed: Doha, RIP - by Arvind Subramanian

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Op-ed: Doha, RIP - by Arvind Subramanian

It is time to lay the Doha Round to rest and think afresh about trade negotiations. Burying what is dead is sometimes harder than pretending to resurrect it. So it is with the ongoing Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. Following the failed talks at Potsdam, the blame game was underway. The United States and European Union accused developing countries, and India in particular, of unwillingness to cut manufacturing tariffs. In turn, developing countries complained about the modest subsidy cuts in agriculture offered by the United States. What is going on here? Why is Doha dragging on interminably? Can there be a swift and successful conclusion?

IHT: European Parliament urges breakup of energy companies

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The European Parliament urged the breakup of energy companies, putting it in direct opposition to France and Germany over planned legislation to increase electricity and natural-gas market competition. The Parliament said that it would support a draft law due in September to split utilities like Électricité de France and E.ON into separate grid and supply businesses. The proposal, which the European Commission, the regulatory arm of the EU, is drawing up as a way to make networks accessible to companies without their own grids, will need the approval of the Parliament and national governments.

Radio Netherlands: Steamy sexy video gets Brussels hot under the collar, most Europeans turned on, and Polish Government upset - by Vanessa Mock

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Steamy sexy video gets Brussels hot under the collar, most Europeans turned on, and Polish Government upset - by Vanessa Mock

Cries of ecstasy and clothes torn off in a fit of passion are not what you would normally expect to come out of the European Commission. But its steamy clip of famous sex scenes has scored a surprise hit on YouTube - as well as grunts of displeasure from Polish politicians.The 40-second film is a sequence of love scenes in European cinema taken from films such as Breaking the Waves and Amelie. It shows couples getting it on in toilets, in kitchens and more traditionally, in the bedroom, with a heady soundtrack that crescendos into all-out screams of pleasure."Since we put it on YouTube in February, we've had over 270,000 visitors and top ratings," Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr beams.

Online punters might be lapping it up, but not the more conservative elements in Polish politics. Polish members of the European Parliament, including Maciej Giertych and Marcin Libicki, are reportedly "offended" by a short gay sex sequence, which they say undermines Catholic values.

Regardless of the criticism, it is clear that this is one of the few occasions when the EU Commission has managed to turn Europeans on - not off.

Sarkozy outflanks Britain over IMF chief appointment - Times Online

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Sarkozy outflanks Britain over IMF chief appointment

The British Government was comprehensively outmanoeuvred today when President Nicolas Sarkozy succeeded in placing Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former French Socialist Finance Minister, in pole position to become the next head of the International Monetary Fund. The decision, taken during a lengthy informal and frugal breakfast in Brussels, was an early setback to Alistair Darling, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, attending his first EU finance ministers’ meeting. He had argued in vain against a snap selection process, insisting that the time had come for a radical reform of the lengthy tradition whereby Europe is guaranteed the top job at the IMF, and America at the World Bank.

Swiss Info

President Nicolas Sarkozy won guarded backing from European finance ministers for his plans to reform the French economy but concerns remain about the pace of budget deficit reductions, participants said on Tuesday. Sarkozy tried to reassure critics on Monday that he would stick to fiscal discipline but said he could meet a timetable for balancing the budget only if growth beat expectations, pleading for EU rules to be applied "intelligently".Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker, who presides over the monthly meetings of euro zone finance ministers in Bruxelles, voiced delight at the French leader's commitment to structural economic reform after his unprecedented presentation to the Eurogroup.

Wirtualna Polska: Poland on brink of early elections as corruption charges lead to deputy PM's dismissal

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Poland on brink of early elections as corruption charges lead to deputy PM's dismissal

Poland is on the brink of early elections, as the leader of one of the three coalition parties has been sacked as deputy prime minister amid allegations of corruption involving his party, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said in a televised interview late Monday. "There are serious reasons to believe they [members of Lepper's Samoobrona party] may have been involved in criminal activities," Kaczynski said on public television channel TVP1. "Mr Lepper declined to resign of his own accord."

The Telegraph: Let your computer fly free - by Mike Butcher

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Let your computer fly free - by Mike Butcher

"There are plenty of applications which are cheaper than Microsoft's - but it scarcely seemed worth it, given that we still only use 20 per cent of what most modern software is capable of. Instead, I decided to go cheap and cheerful: I was going to run my laptop for free. The first port of call was finding an operating system that could replace Windows. Linux, the free, open-source platform, was the obvious choice. There are dozens of Linux-based systems to choose from, but one of the simplest to use is Ubuntu. You simply download and install it to your computer and hey presto - an operating system".

Euro soars to all-time high versus dollar

Far and Wide

"Euro soars to all-time high versus dollar

The euro soared to an all-time high against the U.S. dollar today on the same day the European Union gave Cyprus and Malta final approval to start using the currency next year."

Spiegel Online: Europe's Man in Washington: EU Chooses Dominique Strauss-Kahn to Head up IMF - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

"EUROPE'S MAN IN WASHINGTON
EU Chooses Dominique Strauss-Kahn to Head up IMF

The European Union has nominated former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be the new head of the International Monetary Fund.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been chosen by the EU as its candidate to be the next head of the International Monetary Fund. Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been chosen by the EU as its candidate to be the next head of the International Monetary Fund.
The European Union has nominated former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be the new head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)."

Ohmy News: Will Portugal Be a Headache for Europe? - by Amin George Forji

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Will Portugal Be a Headache for Europe? - by Amin George Forji

Portugal formally launched its six-month rotating presidency of the European Union last week by detailing proposals that are considered to be both difficult and complex. Reaching an agreement on the European Union's reform treaty is at the top of Portugal's list of priorities. Ironically, other member states such as the U.K. and Poland have already expressed their worries, calling for said treaty to either be watered down or forgotten altogether.

Other issues on the Portuguese agenda includes energy innovation, migration and development as well as the strengthening of relations with areas of the world such as Africa and Brazil, with the first EU-African submit in seven years scheduled in December this year -- but not without controversy.

BBC: EU eyes its next big challenges

BBC NEWS | Europe

"EU eyes its next big challenges
By Kirsty Hughes
Writer on European affairs

As the dust settles from the EU's June summit rows, the mood in Brussels is subdued but largely positive, as many start to eye up the next big challenges.
There could be trouble if France tries halting Turkish accession talks
Europe's leaders agreed at the summit the key elements of a new reform treaty, to replace the unloved constitution, but a detailed final deal has yet to be agreed, and could still cause problems."

EU-Digest - Save the Internet : There is a battle going on in the US about the Internet which could have a world-wide effect on Internet use

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There is a battle going on in the US about the Internet which could have a world-wide effect on Internet use

US Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)introduced the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2007, reopening the debate in the US Congress over Net Neutrality — the fundamental principle that prevents Internet service providers from discriminating on-line. The US bipartisan "Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act next moves to the full House after Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess.

Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination. Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech on-line. It protects the consumer's right to use any equipment, content, application or service on a non-discriminatory basis without interference from the network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network's only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service. Net Neutrality has been part of the Internet since its inception. Pioneers like Vinton Cerf and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, always intended the Internet to be a neutral network. And "non-discrimination" provisions like Net Neutrality have governed the nation's communications networks since the 1930s.

Large telephone and cable companies — including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner — want to become the Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all. They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video — while slowing down or blocking their competitors. These companies have a new vision for the Internet. Instead of an even playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services — or those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls — and leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road. To achieve their goals they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the US Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to destroy Net Neutrality and putting the future of the Internet at risk. Small business owners benefit from an Internet that allows them to compete directly — not one where they can't afford the price of entry. Net Neutrality ensures that innovators can start small and dream big about being the next EBay or Google without facing insurmountable hurdles. Without Net Neutrality, startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web.

John Kneuer, assistant secretary of commerce and head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), who prior to his appointment in the Bush Administration served as a top phone company lobbyist for the Washington law firm Piper Rudnick, has stated that "the Freedom Preservation Act of 2007 interferes with the “free market” (by which he means the current duopoly of large phone and cable companies) which should be unencumbered by consumer protections and basic Internet freedoms." Internet guru Cory Doctorow writes: "For AT&T and Verizon to be screaming for the protection of the free market against Net Neutrality is “sheer hypocrisy because they themselves are creatures of government regulation, basing their business on government-granted extraordinary privileges.” There is a battle going on in the US about the Internet which could have a world-wide effect on Internet use.

The SavetheInternet.com Coalition is urging people in America to continue writing and calling their members of Congress until Network Neutrality becomes law.

Channelnewsasia.com: Danone to bid 12.3b euros for Dutch baby food maker

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Danone to bid 12.3b euros for Dutch baby food maker

The French dairy product giant Danone is to launch a takeover offer for Dutch baby food group Numico worth 12.3 billion euros (US$16.7 billion), the companies said on Monday. The planned offer, which has the backing of Numico management, comes after Danone entered into talks last week to sell its biscuit division to US rival Kraft Foods for 5.3 billion euros.

About Shell - 100 years of history - centenary of Royal Dutch Shell

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100 years of history - centenary of Royal Dutch Shell

"On July 5, 1907, Royal Dutch Shell’s corporate forefathers went to the notary to sign the official declaration for what at the time was a rather unique event: the coming together of two companies in two different countries, Royal Dutch in the Netherlands and Shell Transport and Trading in Britain. Shell notes that looking back over 100 years of history, it’s been an amazing journey. Mankind has managed to adapt, time and time again, through a century of rapid change and periodic upheaval. So has Shell.

In 1907 the world swarmed with oil companies, all full of ambitions to grow. Over the next 100 years many of them saw those ambitions shattered as events galloped forward and they failed to keep up. Little wonder, really, given everything the planet has gone through in the past century: two world wars, the spread and then decline of communism, deep economic recessions, de-colonization, the rise of a cartel of oil-exporting countries, the use of oil as a political weapon, rocketing growth in energy consumption, mass mobility, accelerating globalization, and more".

Note EU-Digest: The Royal Dutch / Shell group comprises over 2,000 companies in more than 100 countries. It is the most profitable oil company in the world, and the second largest in the private sector. It is responsible for 5% of the world's oil and gas production (more than any other private company), and holds both the largest exploration area and the greatest proven reserves. Shell is the tenth largest corporation in the world, by turnover. Shell operates or has interests in 53 refineries in 34 countries, the most geographically diverse of any major oil company. Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta in south-east Nigeria are the best documented case of the negative environmental and human impact of oil exploitation. Nigeria is by no means unique; the abuses of the Delta repeat themselves wherever oil and gas are extracted around the world. Up to 76% of the gas from Nigerian oil wells is flared (burned off), as compared with 0.6% in the US and 4.3% in the UK. Flaring often occurs very close to communities, which causes severe respiratory and other health problems, as well as the disruption of all-night lighting and roaring flames (which also impacts on wildlife). It is a major cause of both acid rain and greenhouse emissions. In the period 1977 to the end of 1990, Shell was issued with 100 OSHA citations. In the following two and a half years, between 1991 and Mid 1993, Shell was issued with a further 153 citations by OSHA, of which 46 were "serious" and one was "wilful". To its credit, the company has over the last ten years significantly cut its air and water emissions, waste production and energy usage.

Airbus overtakes Boeing with 680 firm orders in first half 2007 - UPDATE - Forbes.com

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Airbus overtakes Boeing with 680 firm orders in first half 2007

Airbus took 680 firm orders in the first half of 2007, according to figures published on its website today, and has overtaken US rival Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) which notched up 544 orders for the year to July 3.

Of the 680 orders received in the first half of the year, 392 were for Airbus' medium-range aircraft and 279 for its long-range jets (152 for the A350, including 141 at the Paris Air Show, and 127 for the A330 and A340).

Rense.com: - Mein Kampf: - Hitler Used Rothschild Banker's Typewriter - by Henry Makow

Adolf Hitler "supported by Bankers support group"

For the complete report from Rense.com click on this link'Mein Kampf' - Hitler Used
Rothschild Banker's Typewriter - by Henry Makow PhD

"Emil Georg von Stauss, the president of Germany's largest bank, the Deutsche Bank, lent Hitler a portable Remington so he could write his infamous anti-Jewish banker manifesto "Mein Kampf." Von Stauss, a principal Nazi Party fund raiser, also was a longtime business associate of the Rothschilds.Von Stauss was also part of a "Hitler support group" consisting of wealthy "Illuminati". War, including the "war on terror", is designed to create a world police state to protect the central banker monopoly on power and wealth. With the exception of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, it doesn't really matter who gets elected. They all work for the central bankers.

It contradicts the image we have of Hitler in 1924 leading a grass roots fringe party. In fact, he was a front man for the international bankers he pretended to oppose. But if we read "The Protocols of Zion" carefully, we shouldn't be surprised.

The "Illuminati" bankers sacrificed Jews when they created Nazism, Communism and Zionism. If necessary to advance their New World Order, they will do so again."

FreshPlaza: Turkey: Dried tomatoes twice as profitable as fresh tomatoes

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Turkey: Dried tomatoes twice as profitable as fresh tomatoes

Tomato growers in Manisa, İzmir and Elazığ are exploiting a niche in the market by exporting dried "pole tomatoes" -- so called because they are planted and grown around poles. Tomatoes exported to many European countries, particularly the UK and Italy, have many end uses, from pizzas to the production of ketchup. The dried tomato, for example, is 100 percent more profitable than the type used for tomato sauce. In Manisa, where nearly 80,000 tons of tomatoes are produced, more than 5,000 tons are dried and exported.

There are nearly 30,000 hectares of plastic or glass greenhouses and 22,000 hectares of low plastic tunnels, forming a total of 52,000 hectares of greenhouse cultivation in Turkey. The greenhouses range in size from 1,000 square meters to 3,000 square meters. In other countries greenhouses may be as big as 10 hectares (100,000 square meters). Owing to their low efficiency, the relatively large number of greenhouses in Turkey does not translate into a high production capacity. This partly stems from the fact that the areas of land used are made up of so many separate plots, particularly in Antalya where greenhouses are mostly run by families.

Javno - New Latvian President Stresses EU As He Takes Office

Valdis Zatler

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New Latvian President Stresses EU As He Takes Office

Latvia's new president, Valdis Zatlers, took office on Sunday with a pledge to be a strong partner to the European Union and pursue constructive ties with the Baltic state's neighbours, including Russia. Parliament elected the former surgeon in May to succeed Vaira Vike-Freiberga, eastern Europe's first female president and Latvia's most popular leader, who won wide respect abroad during her eight years in power.

Merkel: Europeans must defend core values of freedom, democracy against Islamic terrorists - International Herald Tribune

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Merkel: Europeans must defend core values of freedom, democracy against Islamic terrorists

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Europeans to take a joint stand against Islamic terrorists and defend what she called the European Union's core values of democracy and tolerance. Merkel, whose nation held the rotating EU presidency from January to June of this year, urged EU citizens to view the union not only as an economic bloc, but one of common values.

"We need the European Union as a community of shared values," Merkel said Sunday in an address at the Academy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.

Bloomberg.com: Sarkozy Clashes With EU, Trichet Over Efforts to Revive Growth - by John Fraher

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Sarkozy Clashes With EU, Trichet Over Efforts to Revive Growth - by John Fraher

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has a message for European finance ministers and central bankers criticizing his plans to revive France's economy: Back off. At the meeting, he will defend his plan to cut taxes even though they may cause the budget deficit to exceed government forecasts in 2008. ``He's shaking things up,'' said Klaus Baader, chief European economist at Merrill Lynch & Co. in London. ``He's questioning some of the basic ways of behaving'' within Europe's monetary union. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has already rejected his plans and Portugal, holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, has also signaled opposition.