Delays At Warsaw Airport
Big Warsaw Airport Delays Due To Construction
Warsaw, Poland July 7, 2006 Using the Warsaw airport has been difficult of late due to the construction of the new Warsaw airport terminal and construction of the new roads around the new Warsaw airport terminal and old Warsaw airport terminal.
If you are unfamiliar with the current access roads to and from the Warsaw airport, you can find information about the Warsaw airport by going to this link called Warsaw airport.
The traffic congestion problem is quite significant were some people report delays of up to two hours when they tried to drive less than 1 km on the final stretch of road to get to the Warsaw airport terminal. Drivers have been parking their cars on the grass and walking to the airport.
The Warsaw airport has a parking problem as it is in that there is a shortage of airport car parking. But this has been exacerbated by the removal of some 200 spaces of car parking from current use so that they can be renovated. This renovation of the Warsaw airport car parking will take months.
The new Warsaw airport terminal is under construction and the construction is well behind schedule.
The current Warsaw airport terminal is simply overloaded. Check-in times exceed two hours in some cases.
It is reported that the belt system used to handle airport uses baggage is overloaded and unable to keep up with the baggage load.
Travelers are advised to add extra time to this schedule if they intend to go to the Warsaw airport by car. And there are advised that they may not be able to get a parking space when they do get to the airport.
Travellers arriving to the Warsaw airport by plane should expect delays in getting from the airport to the center of Warsaw, Poland or to the Warsaw Central Train Station
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European News Review
Here are highlights from major news sources around the world. Because of Europe's large populations of people from Muslim nations and the likely eventual joining of Turkey to the EU community, events and items affecting the perception of Islam in Europe are included in this review.
Each item is linked directly to the source. You are encouraged to visit the source for complete information and to leave any comments that you might have on that particular item.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1813736,00.html
Polish-German summit halted after potato jibe
He is not known for his humour. But Poland's media was rife with speculation yesterday that the country's thin-skinned president, Lech Kaczynski, had pulled out of a top-level meeting in Germany because a German newspaper compared him to a potato. The president had been due to meet Germany's leader, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Jacques Chirac, on Monday in Weimar. Hours before the meeting, however, Mr Kaczynski said he was unable to make it, due to "stomach pains".
Polish newspapers said he had pulled out because he was incensed by coverage in Die Tageszeitung (Taz), Germany's leading leftwing paper. Under the headline "Poland's new potato", the paper made fun of Mr Kaczynski's well-known aversion to all things German. All the president knew of Germany was "the spittoon in the men's toilet at Frankfurt airport", the paper suggested, adding: "It is well known that he boasted for decades never to have extended even a fingernail towards a German politician."
http://www.pulsbiznesu.pl/content.aspx?sid=6938&guid=40C338AF-66F5-45A5-AB60-D3AA062AFB86
Polish Tax laws to be amended in Fall at the earliest
The Parliament will start working over the government bills providing for changing taxes in September or later. Opposition warns of serious mistakes. “This delay is dangerous and proves that the government is not ready for tax reform. There will be the 2007 budget bill discussed in fall as well. Works will be hasty. There is a danger that part of new regulations will not be implemented on January 1 2007. Besides, there may be many mistakes”, Zbigniew Chlebowski, the deputy chairman of the finance commission from PO opposition party commented.
CIA FLIGHTS: TOP OFFICIAL DENIES ROLE IN CLERIC ABDUCTION
One day after his arrest, the number two of Italy's military intelligence denied playing a role in the 2003 kidnapping of a radical Egyptian cleric in Milan. Marco Mancini, the current operations head of SISMI who was arrested with Gen Gustavo Pignero, his predecessor at the time of the abduction, said on Thursday that he "didn't kidnap anyone." He added: "I trust the justice system and am confident that my position will be clarified." Meanwhile, on Thursday interior minister Giuliano Amato said the cabinet would discuss a reform of Italy's intelligence services.
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CIA FLIGHTS: TOP ARRESTS SHOW ITALIAN INTELLIGENCE NEEDS REFORM, EXPERT
Two top Italian intelligence officials who were arrested in connection with the 2003 abduction of a radical Muslim cleric in Milan were not leading an illegal, parallel ring under the CIA, in the American-led operation to detain and interrogate the imam, according to analyst Andrea Nativi, the editor-in-chief of the Italian Magazine of Defence. In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Nativi said that the high profile arrest of Marco Mancini, the number two of Italy's military intelligence SISMI, and Mancini's former boss, Gen Gustavo Pignero, shows how badly Italy needs to reform its intelligence. "SISMI is a hierarchic organization inside which the two officials operated under the command of its chief Nicolo Pollari who in turn depends on the government," Nativi explained.
Illegal, parallel initiatives are always possible, Nativi told AKI "but I think it is very unlikely that a cell (of SISMI) operated illegally in this instance."
I didn't know that
China exports $300 million of plastic bags to Europe each year – or so says The Times. Isn't it amazing what you learn on this blog!
Anyhow, the reason we are told this fascinating snippet of information is that the EU wants to stop Chinese bags flooding the European market. And it is not because they open sideways.
A replica of Hamas emerging in Iraq.
Abu Diri' (whose first name is believed to be Salim) is a member of the Mehdi Army and gained the nickname which means 'the armor bearer' after he murdered an MNF soldier and seized his body armor during one the Sadrists battles against the MNF.
Ever since that day he wears the body armor and never puts it away. People say this man commands hundreds (or thousands in some accounts) of "former" Mehdi army soldiers.
The story of Abu Diri' describes him as the killer of Sunnis and suggests that his role is confined to doing a 'Shia body count' after each terror attack on Shia areas and then kidnapping and murdering an equal number of Sunnis. Of course the story has different versions and the ratio varies with the level of enthusiasm of the story teller; an objective teller would set the ratio at 1:1 but a sympathizer would raise it to the level of 10 Sunnis in return for each 1 Shia casualty.
I really do not buy this rift or division story as much as I see we're facing an Iraqi version of Hamas here; one foot in the cabinet and the other in the insurgents' trench and talking about an armed wing working independently from the main body is merely an attempt to make the part who's involved in the government look innocent form the violence committed by their associates.
The militias had sent clear messages to the government that they will not give up easily and probably the latest kidnappings that reached top officials in the government reiterate these messages, it's like telling al-Maliki "No matter what you do we're going to do anything we like, anytime we like and anywhere we like against any target we choose".
The situation isn't nice at all and al-Maliki's cabinet is going to face a very rough summer.
Might-ay Bostom vs. Pugilist Pearl
Not sure how many of you have been following the slugfest between Judea Pearl (Daniel Pearl's father) and Andrew Bostom in the cyberpages of FrontPage magazine but it is an interesting intellectual bout between those that believe that Islamic societies are in urgent need of reform (Bostom, Sultan, Ayaan irsi Ali) and those that believe the violent Jihad that the Koran glorifies is merely aggressive verses of the sort that should be interpreted in a narrow local context, applicable to a specific period or specific battle in the life of the Prophet Muhammad (Pearl, Pipes, most Muslim apologists).
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&trh=20060707&hn=34571
'Shared Vision Document' Period in US-Turkey Relationships
The long-anticipated “common vision document” between Turkey and the US has become official. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and his American counterpart Condoleezza Rice met in Washington yesterday and reached a consensus on the document that emphasizes their common views on development of democracy and shared values.
Swedish Citizen Sentenced for Clitoridectomy
Female circumcision or clitoridectomy (removal of the clitoris) is a form of genital mutilation that is practised mostly in Islamic countries in East Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Last week, on the same day that nine Muslims were sentenced in Denmark for murdering a female family member in a so-called “honour killing,” a court in Göteborg in neighbouring Sweden, sentenced a 41-year old Swedish citizen, Ali Elmi Hayow, to four years’ imprisonment for the genital mutilation of his daughter. He also has to pay her 346,000 Swedish kronor (€37,300; $46,000; £26,000) in damages.
Europe's strangest migrants
The monthly migratory wave from Brussels to Strasbourg is wasteful and efficient. There is another way.
They really don't need to be there (European Parliament) Once a month, the bags are packed. The 732 Members of the European Parliament (MEP), as well as their assistants and staff, travel every month from Belgium to France and back, taking everything but the kitchen sink, in order to hold their four-day plenary session in Strasbourg.
The travelling circus - This long-standing travelling circus was approved by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997. The European Parliament (EP) is the only assembly in the world that does not have a single seat. It spreads over nine main buildings in three cities in three founder Member States of the former European Community: Luxembourg, France and Belgium.
Turkey not ready to join the EU, says cardinal
"It is not the right moment for Turkey to join the European Union", cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said after another catholic priest was attacked in Turkey over the weekend.
On Sunday (2 July) 74-year-old French priest Pierre Brunissen was stabbed, suspectedly by a mentally unbalanced man in the Black Sea port of Samsun. The priest left hospital on Monday and Turkish police have detained a 47-year-old suspect.
But Pierre Brunissen was the third catholic priest attacked or harassed in Turkey since February and the latest attack prompted strong reactions from the catholic church.
"Islamic fundamentalism is growing in Istanbul and there is hostility towards foreigners," cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Fears grow over further EU enlargement
Increasing numbers of Europeans are concerned about the further enlargement of the EU, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey. The percentage of people in favour of expanding the EU to the western Balkans and Turkey has dropped from 49 per cent last August to 45 per cent, the survey shows.
UK - London Mayor: 7/7 terrorists "criminals"
There are many reasons London is less safe one year on from the British Muslim terror attacks, London's mad mayor, Red Ken Livingstone and the BBC are but two of them. From courting terrorists to promoting Islamists views, Ken's their man and the BBC's the megaphone.
The BBC's John Simpson calls al Qaeda the "resistence" and the 7/7 Muslim terrorists "misguided criminals. Likewise, Red Ken would have you believe that the British Muslim terrorists who murdered over 50 innocent Britons were merely criminals.
http://www.ttc.org/200607061546.k66fkkc17066.htm
FRANCE TO AMNESTY 'THOUSANDS' OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
French officials said Thursday that thousands of illegal immigrant families with children enrolled at French schools are to be given legal status, following a grassroots campaign against their deportation. "We know that we are going to grant residency papers to several thousand families," Paris police chief Yannick Blanc said in an interview appearing in Le Monde newspaper.
Bomber's words aired as London recalls horror
Al-Jazeera television has aired excerpts of a video featuring al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, and what it said was the last statement of one of the London bombers. "What you have witnessed is only the beginning of a string of attacks until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq," said the man identified as Shehzad Tanweer, one of the suicide bombers who attacked London's transport system on July 7 last year. "And until you stop your financial and military support to America and Israel," he said.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a3f40b9e-0cd4-11db-84fd-0000779e2340.html
Hawkish ECB hints at August rate increase
Eurozone borrowing costs look set to rise early next month in the face of mounting inflationary pressures and brisk economic recovery, the European Central Bank signalled on Thursday. Indicating a quickening in the pace of interest-rate increases, Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB president, announced that the bank’s rate-setting council would take the exceptional step of meeting in Frankfurt on August 3, rather than through the usual summer holiday teleconference. The central bank was exercising “strong vigilance”, he said – code words used to signal interest-rate increases in the pipeline. That pointed to a quarter-percentage point rise to 3 per cent at the beginning of next month.
