Promising Gas Fields In Cyprus
Since the discovery of gas fields some 180 km offshore south of Cyprus in late 2011, the country has been keen to talk up its potential as a future eastern Mediterranean energy hub. For Europe, this and later finds add weight to the theory that the eastern Mediterranean could hold the key to European energy [...]
Argentina’s cardinal elected Pope Francis
Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger, shocked the Catholic world when he announced his resignation on 28 February. The last Pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415 to end the Great Western Schism (1414–1418) during which there were rival claims to the papal throne. Benedict’s successor, Pope Francis, now ushers in a new era. [...]
Private Property: Is Water the Price of Union?
Austrians love their water. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 94% of Austrians say they are satisfied with water quality. When restaurant owners attempted to charge for tap water in 2009, it was cultural blasphemy in a city where water, fed by Alpine springs, is seen as a birthright. When Austria held [...]
Pipeline gets go-ahead
The South Stream Pipeline, a €15.5 billion Russian gas pipeline to Europe, has received the final signatures it authorising it’s construction slated to begin on 7 Dec. The pipeline will carry Russian natural gas to Europe with an annual supply of 15.75 billion cubic metres with an eventual full capacity of 63bcm by 2018. South [...]
Turkey’s European Affair
“No other country has been kept waiting, knocking on the door of the EU, for such a long time,” complained Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a joint press conference in Berlin on 31 October. The subsequent meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel revealed just how much the relationship between Turkey and the EU [...]
A Mother Fights for Custody
In September, 41-year-old Dane Thomas Nørgaard Sørensen received a one-year suspended prison sentence for abducting his five-year-old son Oliver from Austria; his child with his estranged Austrian partner, Marion Weilharter. He had travelled to Austria in April, grabbed Oliver out of Weilharter’s car as she dropped him off at kindergarten, and drove him back to [...]
NATO Defends Turkish-Syrian Border
Recently, NATO declared that it would stand by Turkey if conditions worsened. In a direct warning to Syria after a week of cross-border artillery fire, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen officially stated: “We have all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary.” Syria has apologised for it’s “accidental” shelling of Turkey. [...]
Response to the Nobel Peace Prize
The EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at a time when the distressed 27-nation strong project is losing traction. According to Thorbjoen Jagland, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, “This is in a way a message to Europe that we should do everything we can to secure what has been achieved and move forward.” [...]
Yevgenia Tymoshenko Appeals for her Mother’s Release
“Believe me: This is a serious threat to the democracy in Ukraine,” Yevgenia Tymoshenko said, her voice disembodied, almost ghostly, her expression intent. She glanced around at the handful of journalists gathered for the press conference at Vienna’s Presseclub Concordia on 13 September. The 32-year-old businesswoman and daughter of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko [...]
