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Which is pretty relevant when you consider that France hid the effects of Chernobyl on their own wines...

1 simple law and a sticker on the mailbox solve this problem effectively. http://community.expatica.com/...

Not allowed to deviate from GPS?? so the uber auto drive car will just drive

Into a sand pile? http://www.news.com.au/lifesty...
drive down boat launch into lake https://youtu.be/a2QIH2uz3p8

drive into Pacific Ocean https://youtu.be/h89RT_dc-v0 http://www.redlandcitybulletin...

drivers off cliff https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

follows directions onto railroad tracks http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

follows GPS down flight of steps http://croatiantimes.com/?id=5...

directed to wrong part of Italy http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

takes goat trail up mountain http://metro.co.uk/2010/09/28/...

  into Tree http://news.softpedia.com/news...

crash after GPS orders U-turn http://www.expatica.com/fr/new...

my understanding of the way it works here in France is that banks, et. al. can lend you as much as they choose to but they can't collect debt that you can't pay if they've loaned you more than you can pay back with 30% of your income. End result is that the banks balk at lending that exceeds that 30% soft limit.

Then how do student loans work? Where I live, child labor laws ensure that someone fresh out of high school (which the French call lycée ) is unlikely to have enough work experience to have a large enough income to afford a loan to pay for university.

Sit down first...

University is almost free here, so there is no need for student loans.

my understanding of the way it works here in France is that banks, et. al. can lend you as much as they choose to but they can't collect debt that you can't pay if they've loaned you more than you can pay back with 30% of your income. End result is that the banks balk at lending that exceeds that 30% soft limit.

Then how do student loans work? Where I live, child labor laws ensure that someone fresh out of high school (which the French call lycée ) is unlikely to have enough work experience to have a large enough income to afford a loan to pay for university.

Even EU citizens need to register with city hall inside of Belgium. It's also the de-facto standard for foreigners working there. Get your own facts straight before calling someone else a liar.

I was thinking more along the lines of how Germany handles driving licenses* - you have to be first aid certified, take (and pass) required training courses, pass both written and practical exams... all at your own expense.

Now, most people would balk at extending those kind of requirements stateside (I presume because they fear they won't be able to pass), but regardless of opinion there is a strong correlation between "advanced" driver training (and by "advanced" I mean more than the none that many US states require) and lower accident rates.

* For their own citizens; recent reciprocity changes make it a lot easier for some foreigners to trade their home licenses for German ones.

Well, that's 136km/h - that's what our recommended travelling speed (130) on the "Autobahn" is in Germany. It has proven to be an excellent balance between emission (gears and cars are tuned to that speed), moving forward, but not braking too much due to other people's influences.

Once again I have deep mis-respect for you "best country in the world" guys.

From Expatica:

The worst case Führeschein scenario is having to take a full driving course, like young German drivers do. "To get a regular driver's license," Christine explains, "you have to take 14 theory classes and at least 12 driving lessons. Driving schools usually offer them twice a week, so that takes about seven weeks. Depending on how quickly you learn, it can be done in about three months; but it usually takes longer, because of holidays and so forth. You start with the classroom sessions, and then move on to the driving portion, taking them in parallel so you learn the rules and also how to apply them." How many driving lessons you'll need to take depends on how quickly you learn. With 12 as the minimum, and 50 on the high end, the full licensing course can cost between EUR 1000-2000.

Compare that to getting a license in the US:
- @ 15.5 yrs, take lame written exam
- @ 16 yrs, take lame driving "test" where you drive a couple laps around the city square or a big empty parking lot, then parallel park

That is pretty much all the training most US drivers get, which may explain why we have significantly higher accident rates than Germany, even with lower speed limits on highways.

Because there totally haven't been ANY school shootings in Europe in the last 10 years.
Except for France, Italy, Norway, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Finalnd, the Netherlands or Russia. But they don't count, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting#Europe

Nor have there been non-school massacres in Europe.
http://www.expatica.com/be/news/local_news/mass-shootings-in-europe_195344.html

This from an anti-Muslim hate site. No supporting citations to their numbers, but they promise to "supply sources upon request". Instead of each item linking to some citation, they link to other pages on the anti-Muslim hate site that says the exact same thing as the item.

I decided to test your assessment. I took the first six news items they listed:

The List of Islamic Terror Attacks from 2012
2012.06.18 Pakistan Quetta 5 69 Five Shiite students are blown to bits by Taliban bombers.
2012.06.18 Afghanistan Tagab 6 13 At least six locals are exterminated when religious extremists detonate a bomb at a bazaar.
2012.06.17 Nigeria Trikania 5 40 A Shahid suicide car bomber crashes through a church gate and blows up at least five Christians.
2012.06.17 Iraq Fallujah 6 12 Two children are among six slain by Jihadi bombers.
2012.06.17 Nigeria Zaria 34 125 Holy Warriors walk into two church services and detonate, leaving over thirty worshipers dead in the carnage, including at least ten children.
2012.06.16 Pakistan Landi Kotal 26 65 Sharia advocates detonate a truck bomb amid a crowd at a market, sending over twenty-six souls to Allah.

And this is what I found after a minute or less of Google news search for each - reasonable evidence for each of the six items listed.

Pakistan Bus Bombing Kills Students In Quetta
Blast in French-controlled Afghan town kills six
Islamists Bomb Three Churches in Kaduna State, Nigeria
Iraq bombings kill four, wound 32
At least 50 dead in three Nigeria church bombings, reprisal attacks
Around the World

Now then, the links below are from a side bar labeled "News" on the front page. Apparently the sites you complain about as being hate sites include Reuters, the BBC, the CS Monitor, The Telegraph, the Emirates 24/7, and other lesser lights. In short, you are full of baloney - to be polite about it.

Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty in Toy Plane Bomb Plot...
Kenyan Muslims Help Guard Churches Following Attacks...
British Muslims Accused of Plotting EDL Massacre...
Islamists Pool Forces to Kill African Christians...
Iran Seeks to Legalize Marriage for Girls Under 10...
Clerics in Egypt Call for Pyramids to be Destroyed...
(Egypt) Unaccompanied Woman Spotted on Train, Quickly Raped...
Sword-Wielding Imam and Wife Brought Down by Police...

First, genetic engineering is a way of improving a plant. A monoculture is growing all the same thing. these are entirely different concepts. Trying to link the two only makes it look like you don't know the definition of either.

Second, how are Monsanto's seeds wrong? sure, the make Monsanto a profit, but there's nothing wrong with that. The insect resistant ones have feared pretty well, reducing pesticides and even benefiting farms that don't grow them. The herbicide tolerant ones have, for all their ill will, been environmentally positive, having reduced the need for tillage to control weeds (tillage degrades the soil quality and promotes fertilizer runoff into water systems), reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and replaced harsher herbicides.

Monsanto? Is that why anti-GE groups are protesting the publicly funded Rothamsted GE wheat trial in the UK? Is that why they complain about the Rainbow papaya, Arctic apples, Golden Rice, and BioCassava, or why groups destroyed the GE grapes in French, GE wheat in Australia, GE potatoes in the Netherlands, and GE wheat in the UK? It might be true for you, but that is minority thought. You can not play that card while the vast majority of the protest against GE crops is also applied to those that have nothing to do with Monsanto.

The actual problem is licensing and economics.

The problem with that notion is that there is just as much opposition to publically funded research as ther is corporate funded research. What do GE grapes in French, GE wheat in Australia, GE potatoes in the Netherlands, and GE wheat in the UK have in common? They were all publicly funded, and they were all attacked. The Rainbow papaya (a virus resistant GE papaya) was developed not by a corporation.but by the University of Hawaii, and you are free to save the seed, yet the anti-GMO people are against it just as much as they oppose Monsanto's crops. The same could be said for Golden Rice, which was developed for the sole purpose of helping people. I've never seen a single major anti-GMO group voice support of any GE crop, even ones that do not have the issues often used to argue against GE crops. So, you can't say that it is about licensing and patents and the like when this sort of stuff happens. It is about the science, and those issues (regardless of whether a particular topic in that area has merit) are added as secondary arguments.

And don't forget that agricultural research in Europe has a tendency to find itself on the wrong side of an angry desrtuctive mob. Food producers won't like the lost subsidies, and lot of people in Europe just don't want science in their food so I can't imagine they'll support more research either.

Well, according to my friends who actually live in the Netherlands, some are US expats, it is a great place to live. There are [...]

I've seen some people say they wanted to move to NL. Probably in jest, but one good place to check if NL is right for you would be to dig into the stories and forums here:
http://www.expatica.com/nl/main.html

Note that you will find many, many bitter 'expats' there. The majority of which were really just hoping to be an American living like an American, while living in NL, rather than adapting to Dutch ways. ( Note that I say 'adapting', not 'conforming'.. we're not the Borg. )

You'll also find quite a few positive posts, however.

Having read posts there occasionally for the last 8 years or so, I can say that it's a fairly reasonable resource for learning about NL, particular regions, what to expect, what you might love, what you might hate, etc.
It also has a few small sections set up to get you on your way with actually travelling to NL and migrating to NL, but the general recommendation is that you speak to an emigration handler in your home country as they know the legal rigmarole du jour.

Here's one tip.. The Dutch know English quite well, and they're not averse to speaking it as much as people in some of the other European countries. However, unless you find yourself in an international community (e.g. the British area, Polish neighborhood or China Town of one of the major cities), you're not going to find a whole lot helping you out in English - quite unlike the plethora of Spanish signs/etc. in the southern U.S., say - so take some time and effort and learn Dutch. ( I think for official immigration you're actually required to take a short Dutch exam, but a recent advisory from a commission suggested to do away with that. )

Since last year, SABAM (Belgium's RIAA) charges day cares and schools for the music they play in class:
see here
Youth organizations, neighborhood parties and small businesses that play radio during work already had to pay for this (or risk being raided by the copyright cops).

Anytime I feel bad about the current state of affairs here in America a story shows up with EU, UK, Australia, or Canada doing something that would be worse.

Dont' let that lull you into a false sense of security - The US is the main actor behind most of these laws being passed so you will probably find that it is just the boiling frog method of shafting these laws in. Know your enemy. "THEY" are the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), and they have the full political clout of the US government behind them - working to subvert democratic process in just about every country in the world via stealth taxes/three strikes/no presumption of innocence for the sheeple. Countries sign on to this in exchange for "Free Trade" deals. Examples:

New Zealand Reintroduces 3 Strikes:
"IIPA testifies in support of the initiation of negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP FTA) with Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Australia, Peru and Vietnam."... "Specific problems in some of the TPP countries are outlined in the Special 301 reports from 2009 for Chile, Peru, Brunei, and Vietnam".
Where "specific problems" mean: No three strikes laws, no trade deal.

Spain's Proposed Internet Law Sparks Protest:
IIPA report card on Spain. resulting US political clout result: local laws and taxes supporting mafiaa industry.

The sad part is that even though countries that want to be in on these trade "deals" are required to implement draconian anti-internet laws and filters, obliged to extradite civil cases to the US for trial (software piracy in this case), the resulting "Free Trade" agreement rewards generaly do not benefit the countries involved! Which begs the question, who does benefit... perhaps just the politicians who signed off on the deal?

The only way I can see to fight this kind of slide is to create a black list of any group/industry that lobbies any government in support these kinds of anti-democratic process trade deals. If any group supports trade deals that required destroying the internet, then the internet could become one humongous nightmare of bad press blog artices against your industry group. Seems only fair - shouldn't be able to have their cake and eat it too.

Oh don't worry. THEY will lobby/bribe 3 strikes laws into existence pretty much everywhere.

Know your enemy. "THEY" are the International Intelectual Property Alliance (IIPA), and they have the full political clout of the US government behind them - working to subvert democratic process in just about every country in the world via three strikes/no presumption of innocence for the sheeple. As one small example of many, check out their recent "report" on Spain. Witness the resulting political clout and of course, the result they were after with local laws against P2P. Spain is the 8th largest economy in the world - not so easy to boss around if unwilling to cooperate. UK, France appear to be more than happy to bend over for IIPA without any fight - at least Spain managed to keep judicial process in the loop, for now at least.
All of it does not bode well for tiny countries like NZ that do not stand much chance against combined international coercion from the "IIPA Club".

Here you go. No doubt a native speaker could improve it, and maybe someone with a bit of time can find Spanish versions of the links I haven't replaced.

España ha vuelto a mostrarse mucho más sabia que Francia o el Reino Unido en cuanto a rendirse ante las presiones de los lobbys internacionales. Me explico: el gobierno español, como cualquier gobierno, ha sido sujeto a presiones políticas intensas. No hay premios para adivinar quién ha hecho el mayor esfuerzo para cambiar el sistema democrático aquí en España y por todo el mundo: sí, como siempre, EEUU. La demostración: aquí está el informe 301 anual del IIP de EEUU, que menciona España con China, Rusia, y varios otros países como los peores infractores por no ceder a las exigencias de propiedad intelectual de los "autores" estadounidenses. El resumen del informe 301: Metas de EEUU aquí y en otras partes del mundo:

Las prioridades principales de la Administración este año siguen ser tratar debilidades en protección de y de hacer respetar los derechos de propiedad intelectual [DPI]... Aunque el Informe Especial 301 de este año muestra progreso positivo en muchos países, problemas endémicos de falsificación y piratería han continuado... lo que indica la necesidad de regímenes más fuertes de [protegir] y hacer repetar los DPI en esos países.

Cómo crees que "ayudan" a países como España a implementar regímenes más fuertes de DPI? Por el proceso democrático y escuchar la voluntad de la gente? (Chantaje, extorsiones y corrupción son palabras más adecuadas). Ay, pero se me olvidé, aquí en EEUU llamamos al proceso "difundir la democracia", qué tonto soy.

Lo que tenemos es un país extremadamente poderoso que corre por este pequeño planeta con un palo político excepcionalmente grande, pegando hasta que se someta cualquier país que se atreva a escuchar la voluntad de su gente con respeto a su idea de lo que es hacer respetar la propiedad intelectual (o cualquier otra idea). No me creas así de fácil: intenta leer el "Informe Especial 2009 de la Alianza Internacional de Propiedad Intelectual (IIPA)" [inglés] sobre España. El resumen ejecutivo para los perezosos [o los que no leen el inglés]:

La piratería por Internet en España sigue empeorando, tanto que muchas de las industrias de copyright creen que España tiene el peor problema de piratería por Internet per capita en Europa y una de las tasas de conjunto de piratería por Internet en el mundo. Los altos niveles de piratería se agravan por las políticas del gobierno español de: (1) "despenalizar" la distribución P2P de archivos (reflejado en la Circular de 2006 de la Fiscalía General) y (2) fallar en establecer los requisitos mínimos a nivel de la UE en cuanto a las responsabilidades de los proveedores de servicios de Internet según el Directivo de E-Commercio para que los dueños de derechos tengan las herramientas necesarias para hacer respetar sus derechos en Internet. Por resultado, la policía ha dejado de tomar acciones en Internet por las incertezas legales, y la Fiscalía ha pedido que sobresean casos criminales actuales contra webs ilegales de portales y vínculos. Es i

They still are, generally (Rounding three years in Madrid quite soon) - Lately a judge decided that P2P sites are okay for private sharing. However, the government tries to slip in above kind of Internet law ruling for quite some time now, it is not the first time and sure it will be not the last time.

I agree, the Spanish and its current government are really good when it comes to the internet (Also living in Madrid 7 years or so). Spain has once again demonstrated itself far more wise than France, UK when it comes to bowing to international lobbying pressure. Let me explain: The Spanish government, like all the worlds governments, has been under intense lobbying pressure ("presiones políticas"). You get no points for guessing who has been working the hardest to change the democratic system here in Spain and around the world: Yes that's right, good old US of A. Proof: Here is last years US annual IIP 301 report lumping Spain along side China, Rusia, and many others as the worst offenders for not bowing to intellectual property demands of the United States "authors". Summary of 301 report: Aims of the US here and elsewhere in the world:

The Administration's top priorities this year continue to be addressing weak IPR protection and enforcement... Although this year's Special 301 Report shows positive progress in many countries, rampant counterfeiting and piracy problems have continued... indicating a need for stronger IPR regimes and enforcement in those countries.

How do you think they are "helping" countries like Spain implement stronger IPR regimes? Through democratic process and listening to the will of the people? (blackmailing, extorting and corrupting are more applicable words). Oh I forgot, here in the US we call the process "spreading democracy", silly me.

What we have got is a extremely powerful country running around this little planet with an exceptionally big political stick, beating any country into submission that dares listen to the will of its people over their idea of Intellectual property enforcement (and anything else). Don't believe me: try reading the "INTERNATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ALLIANCE (IIPA) 2009 SPECIAL REPORT" on Spain. (their title, not mine sorry - I guess they want to shout the message). First line summary for the lazy:

Executive Summary: Internet piracy in Spain continues to worsen, such that many of the copyright industries believe that Spain has the worst per capita Internet piracy problem in Europe and one of the worst overall Internet piracy rates in the world. Exacerbating the high piracy levels are the Spanish government’s policies of: (1) “decriminalizing” P2P file-sharing (as reflected in the 2006 Circular issued by the Attorney General) and (2) failing to establish the minimum EU-level requirements regarding liability for Internet service providers under the E-Commerce Directive so that rights holders have the necessary tools to enforce their rights on the Internet. As a result, the police have ceased taking Internet enforcement actions given the legal uncertainties, and the Attorney General has requested dismissal of current criminal cases against illegal portal and link sites. Importantly, negotiations between rights holders and the Internet service provider (ISP) community to find ways to prevent infringing content from being distributed over the ISPs’ services and/or networks finally

This means that as soon as you hit 18 you can choose to smoke dope, frequent hookers, drink alcohol (that's from 16, really), eat shrooms, vote, have sex (that's from 16, really), have same sex sex, marry someone of any gender, have an abortion, commit euthanasia in a pinch and convert to any or no religion.

Just can't choose your words, or choose to own a firearm. Honestly, realize you can be imprisoned for what you say.

Yet we are a social-democracy. According to many Americans this seems to equal a Socialist or even Communist State. In spite of all the choices we have, we're reputed not to be "free". When I then urge these individuals to consider the range of choices they have and from what age, they tend to shrug their shoulders and tell me they're right anyhow.

"Many" would still mean a minority, though. I'm curious where you're meeting these Americans, by the way, most of those who would call the Netherlands "communist" tend to be found in more rural areas that most Europeans never really go to. If you're meaning the internet, then that's not really a good way to just anything in terms of public opinion, because the most ignorant people tend to be the loudest.

I blame the French for driving on the wrong side.

Mod this up please the french do drive on the wrong side and are terrible drivers

http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/local_news/french-drivers-rude-mais-oui-says-survey-18360.html

can anyone answer why i can't get a pdf writer that renders a web page reasonably? two recent examples (which have different problems) from the front page of slashdot are:
http://www.expatica.com/be/articles/news/European-Patent-Office-staff-on-strike.html
and
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/09/precrime-detector-is-showing-p.html

Here in Amsterdam we can't even build a few km of metro line for that without wrecking the occasional irreplacable 17th century house.

>$100 it will cost for several hours of his time.

You're missing a 0 from that.

For the record, I've moved countries, and I found all the information that was needed by talking to my destination's embassy in my own country.

They were happy to help, send everything via email and also answered my questions via email.

For more general information, and social stuff I found http://www.expatica.com/ to be a good resource. Googling for country-specific forums also found a place to find information which wasn't so obvious - like good local plumbers and flat shares.

My move was UK to Netherlands so it was easier as far as visas were confirmed (don't need one), but harder because of the language difference (which I've now solved by learning).

how will anyone even know if you have left a religion, unless you claim free-speech, FREE-SPEECH, and run around the streets claiming to have left a religion.

that rule doesn't apply to non-Islamic countries - not living by the Sharia law.

basically Jews used to claim to have reverted to Islam, then leave the religion at night, so that they could cause mischief, split the believers, and generally cause chaos / disorder.

any Human (whether Muslim or not) who kills another Human (unjustly), then Qur'an states that it's like he has killed all of mankind in the sight of God!

These links took about 10 seconds of searching to find. I'm sure I could find more if I spent longer searching.

Germany

Canada

The Netherlands

Why do idiots always try to blame the US, like we're the only ones that have problems? I don't care if you get off on the self-hatred bullshit, just leave my country out of it.

Found it! This site says if you declare your religion, you must pay a tax.

The only first-hand experience I've heard was from a Belgian friend of mine who lived there for a few years, and he thought it was awful. It's been maybe 10 years since he lived there so maybe it's better now. I don't recall which part of the UK he was in, but I'm pretty sure it was the London area.

Well, it is definitely a matter of what you are used to. If your friend comes from Belgium, he is used to an even better system.

Incidentely, the health care system in Belgium is part of the social security system there and as a result it is heavily government regulated.

It is also considered to be one of the best health care systems in the world.

Check the following page for more information:

http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchan nel_id=46&story_id=1493

Well, the news about encryption hasn't reached the Dutch military yet. They just managed to lose their THIRD unencrypted memory stick this year - this time in Afghanistan:

Military 'forgets' another memory stick
The Dutch has yet again lost a data storage device, this time at the military base in the Afghan province of Uruzgan. The commander reported a device was missing but no details have been released about the information it contained. Last month military chiefs advised their personnel not to use memory sticks until a secure encryption technique is available. Military and police personnel have lost several memory sticks with sensitive information in the last year.

For an article about the previous two sticks: Officer lost memory stick with details of Afghan mission

Could somebody pleas visit those army barracks with a very big clue stick ?

Well, the news about encryption hasn't reached the Dutch military yet. They just managed to lose their THIRD unencrypted memory stick this year - this time in Afghanistan:

Military 'forgets' another memory stick
The Dutch has yet again lost a data storage device, this time at the military base in the Afghan province of Uruzgan. The commander reported a device was missing but no details have been released about the information it contained. Last month military chiefs advised their personnel not to use memory sticks until a secure encryption technique is available. Military and police personnel have lost several memory sticks with sensitive information in the last year.

For an article about the previous two sticks: Officer lost memory stick with details of Afghan mission

Could somebody pleas visit those army barracks with a very big clue stick ?

The Dutch don't have racial problems?
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pag ename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1 150927809973&call_pageid=968256290204&col=96835011 6795

Really?
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?su bchannel_id=19&story_id=30545&name=One+in+10+Dutch +people+are+racist%3A+poll

REALLY!?!?!?!?!?
http://www.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/slav e_routes/slave_routes_netherlands.shtm

Apparently to most of my fellow Americans, Holland is just a magical place filled with Pot, wooden shoes, dikes (Is levy the new PC word?) and Windmills.

German zoo fails to make gay penguins straight

8 February 2006

BREMERHAVEN, GERMANY - Shy Swedish female penguins sent to seduce "homosexual" male Humboldt penguins in a German zoo have failed to break up any of the male-male twosomes, officials said Wednesday.

Bremerhaven Zoo last year shrugged off attacks from gay-pride groups as far away as the United States last year over its efforts to establish breeding pairs in its penguin pens.

The zoo has far too many male penguins, while Kolmarden Zoo in Sweden has an oversupply of females. The species is in danger of dying out. At Bremerhaven, the birds, which find new mates every year, form all-male pairs and adopt pebbles as if they were eggs.

Last year, officials said the females
had arrived too late for pairing. And this year, the birds arrived in time, but were too shy.

"The Swedes are rather stand-offish," said zoo chief executive Heike Kueck. Once again, four local females were quickly snapped up and the rest of the 22 penguins formed broody male couples and are keeping pebbles warm.

Kueck said the project was not a gag, but part of a European species conservation project. Penguin family planning is difficult, because zoologists have difficulty telling the difference between a male and a female, and zoo broods often become lop-sided.

Last year, homosexual militants bombarded the zoo on Germany's North Sea coast with e-mails and protest letters, charging that it was interfering in the penguins' freedom of sexual orientation.

Kueck rejected this. She said the way penguins pair has nothing to do with personality but is a behavioural oddity of the species whenever females are in short supply.

these are hardly muslim radicals

Oh?

Are you aware that in September, the Algerian Islamist terror group GSPC issued a communiqué describing France as "enemy number one" and called for Muslims to conduct attacks on France? http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?su bchannel_id=25&story_id=24044&name=Algerian+group+ calls+France+%E2%80%99enemy+number+one%E2%80%99

The French authorities obviously took this threat seriously, as they rounded up over a dozen suspected terrorist cell members throughout the country. I forget the timing exactly, but the rioting started either just before or just after the deportations of the terror cell leaders.

At least one bomb-making factory has been found.

And, if the rioting has nothing to do with Islam, then why are local Muslim leaders offering to talk to the rioters and stop the violence? "All we demand is to be left alone." This from Mouloud Dahmani, an "emir" who promises a return to quiet in exchange for local autonomy. Basically land-for-peace. Which we all know has worked all so well for Israel.

The beginning of jihad in europe? Maybe not yet. But certainly not a good sign of things to come.

-john

p.s. I can't find it now (don't remember where I saw/heard it), but some Spanish leader (may have been Muslim) said that France needs to be more like the USA and better integrate immigrants into their culture.

My question is, what is Microsoft's policy on Iran ?
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?su bchannel_id=52&story_id=24881&name=EU+Big+Three+to +consult+on+Ahmadinejad+remarks

Here in the Netherlands, the country's media was recently abuzz for a while over news of a puma living in the forests here. Given the tiny nation here is not much bigger than tasmania and with 16m people, it got locals rather nervous:

details at expatica

Believe it or not, I did not intend this as a flamebait. Check this out:

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?su bchannel_id=1&story_id=24070

If this is what the well educated, highly paid expats think of The Netherlands, what do you think is left for those at the lower end of the spectrum?

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?su bchannel_id=19&story_id=13469&name=The+Dutch+news+ in+October+2004
see october 7th 2004

Some taxi-driver found it, discovered that it had very sensitive information about some current open cases on it, and a lot of personal stuff that could make the prosecutor vulnerable for blackmail etc. when in the wrong hands.

These things just show that some state organisations (or the people working there) have really too little awareness of handling computer data the right way. Actually this year we had a case in the netherlands where some secret state report ended up in an upload filesharing folder of the person working on it, and thereby just could spread all over. I think people working at such positions really should be instructed on safe computing, especially at home or using laptops, the risks are pretty high that data can get stolen.

I don't really know much about Sweden but I know my sister would of found it hard to do in Germany what her and some friends did in the US. Her and some friends are CPAs and few years ago they started they own accounting firm. At about the same tyme I chatted with someone in Germany and he said that there they would of had to have a lawyer start the business, that they wouldn't of been able to start their own accounting business. Here they were able to hire people thus reducing unemployment but it would of been mush harder for them there. According to this webpage in the US unemployment rate is seen steady at 5.1%. where as this page says German unemployment falls to 11.3pc in June . I know US figures are distorted because they only count those who are actively searching for employment and are collecting unemployment insurance but I'd bet that if all the able bodied, employable, people old enough to work but aren't, are only working parttime, or are making less than they were before the recession and dotcom bust (in the US), Germany would have a higher rate than the US.

[...] compensate these customers for losing their info.

In Belgium Citibank has payed people who were subject to phising back. This is phising. Even people that were infected by a tojan got payed back something.
In Dutch some info.

So here it is that the CUSTOMER lost his info and got compensated for that. English info available as well.

Gay rights in UK: snubbed to save the Muslim vote.

Pierre, left alone to do his homework, got his father's rifle and went to the lounge to watch "Shrek". After a while he loaded four cartridges into the gun.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?su bchannel_id=19&story_id=11782 13 September 2004 AMSTERDAM -- Mathematicians have dismissed claims by Dutch student Geert-Jan Uytdewilligen that he has discovered a formula to give the solution to polynomial equations of degree five or higher. Uytdewilligen claimed last week that he had found the general formula that could be used to solve the roots of any polynomial equation. It was reported at the time that mathematicians and scientists had been searching for the equation since the time of the ancient Egyptians. But Amsterdam University professor Tom Koornwinder has dismissed the idea that the world was waiting for such a solution: "It was already proven in the 19th century that this formula cannot exist".

The truth is, is that Bush and his administration want to eliminate the limit altogether, meaning that you and all Americans abroad will be double taxed.

http://www.expatica.com/xpat/xpatsite/hr.asp?pad=2 33,389,&item_id=31475

Good thing there are no blue whales in the Netherlands then.

And the 9.7% out of work in France would probably like a 5.6% unemployment rate a lot better.

Yes, the deficit is worrisome, but if the economy is weak the worst thing we could do would be to raise taxes - that would just weaken the economy and hasten any job flight that is occurring. And it's actually nowhere near the highest deficits of all time as a percentage of US GDP.

The forefront of fusion research will be ITER. Unfortunately, this project is in peril because the participants have so far been unable to agree upon a location.

Canada withdrew from the project after its location was rejected by the other participants. Now France is threatening to split from the project.

French antisemetic "theories"?! Oh, boy, where do I start? How about recently, when a French "comedian" Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala was reprimanded by the producers of "You Can't Please Everyone" on state-owned France 3 television, for appearing on their show dressed as an Orthodox Jew and shouting "Heil Israel" while making the Nazi salute--although the producers were too cowardly to label this as the outright Jew-hatred that it was. Now this antisemitic bastard is demanding an apology and threatening to sue France 3: Fury at French comic 'Heil Israel' jibe.

You still can't deal massive quantities of dope

Can't you?

Girl, 5, 'gave hard drugs to classmates'"

AMSTERDAM -- A five-year-old girl allegedly handed out hard drugs to classmates at a Hilversum school last week, leading to the arrest of her mother and the girl's three brothers.

The girl is alleged to have obtained the "sweets" from her brother. It was later revealed that the so-called sweets were ecstasy pills and balls of heroin and cocaine, NOS Teletext reported on Monday.

A female school teacher became suspicious though and after questioning her pupils about the matter, one child admitted to having accepted one of the pills.

Police arrested the girl's 43-year-old mother and three brothers, aged 21, 19 and 16. Police claimed to have seized a large amount of soft and hard drugs in the 21-year-old suspect's car.

The mother has since been released, but the three male suspects have appeared before a court and were remanded in custody, news agency ANP reported.

The speech was also condemned by the European Union and Germany in particular, as well as by the United States, Australia and other Western states.
[...]
Speaking for the EU, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Dr Mahathir had employed "expressions that were gravely offensive, very strongly anti-Semitic and... strongly counter to principles of tolerance, dialogue and understanding".

"The Foreign Minister (Silvan Shalom) praised a letter that Chirac sent to the Malaysian prime minister condemning his statements. We see in that letter, a reiteration of Chirac's known position against any kind of antisemitism," spokesman Jonathan Peled said late Sunday.