EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has begun to look at the possible set-up for the planned Mediterranean union by trying to breathe life into current bilateral relations between the EU and Mediterranean countries while avoiding an unwieldy new political organisation.
An internal paper discussed last week in EU commissioners' cabinets, suggests the new relationship has to be a "multilateral partnership" and "encompass all member states of the European Union."
It suggests summits at head of state and government level twice a year with the first official one to take place in Paris on 13 July, when France has the EU presidency.
This maiden summit is to formally create the "Barcelona Process - A Union for the Mediterranean" and establish the union's "structures and principle goals."
The summit's conclusions should include "a political declaration" and a short list of "concrete projects to be put in place" all of which should be agreed by consensus.
The careful wording as well as the cumbersome title for the EU-Mediterranean relationship reflects its controversial beginnings when, as the brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, it was foreseen as a more exclusive club, but which would still use EU money for funding.
This proposal, ...   more »

Archaeologists claim to have found the palace of the Queen of Sheba, an altar that may have held the Ark of the Covenant
Real life appears to be imitating art as the search for the Ark goes on (
Roger Boyes in Berlin
It is only a breathless Hollywood script: treasure-hunter Indiana Jones races with German archaeologists to track down the fabled Ark of the Covenant, the chest that held the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were etched.
Now German researchers claim to have found the remains of the palace of the Queen of Sheba — and an altar that may have held the Ark.
The discovery, announced by the University of Hamburg, has stirred sceptical rumblings from the archaelogical community. The location of the Ark, indeed its existence, has been a source of controversy for centuries.
Regarded as the most precious treasure of ancient Judaism, it is at the heart of a debate about whether archaeology should chronicle the rise and fall of civilisations or explore the boundaries between myth and ancient history.
Professor Helmut Ziegert, of the archaeological institute at the university, has been supervising a dig in Aksum, northern Ethiopia, since 1999.
“From the dating, ...   more »

by Mike Adams
(NaturalNews) The ongoing phenomenon of mysterious honeybee deaths is starting to raise alarm in the food industry, which depends heavily on bees to pollinate many critical crops. "Honeybee health and sustainable pollination is a major issue facing American agriculture that is threatening our food supply and endangering our natural environment," said Diana Cox-Foster of Penn State.
I tend to think that honeybees are simply "on strike." They're tired of being slave workers for the very humans who continue to destroy their habitat, pollute their air and water, and steal the labors of their hard work (honey, bee pollen and free pollination services).
Honeybees pollinate 130 different crops, which supply $15 billion worth of food and ingredients each year. One out of every three bites of food on your dinner plate was made possible by honeybee pollination.
The Emergence of Colony Collapse Disorder
In late 2006, beekeepers in the United States began to notice that unusual numbers of honeybees were dying during the winter. Beekeepers reported losing between 30 and 90 percent of their bees, in contrast to the usual 20 to 25 percent.
The phenomenon, which continued through last winter, remains unexplained. Some of the potential reasons ...   more »