The European Union's 27 leaders were facing an all-nighter Thursday as a bruising battle loomed over naming the bloc's first full-time president and new foreign policy chief. Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, chair of the EU summit, said despite his best efforts at mediation, the EU leaders were deadlocked ahead of Thursday night's dinner to decide who will represent the European Union to the world. Reinfeldt told reporters in Stockholm that "it might take all night" to get all the leaders to agree on two names, and added that the list of candidates he has drafted is far too long. "We are not of the same opinion," said Reinfeldt. "I need of course the collaboration of all my colleagues to get this through." The new posts must be filled before the EU's new reform treaty comes into force in less than two weeks, on Dec. 1. The two posts aim to bolster the bloc's influence amid the rise of China, Brazil and India and handle global issues like climate change, terrorism and trade. The leaders are trying to strike the right balance between big countries and small, rich and poor, east and west, socialists and conservatives, male and female. Lawmakers and protesters have already questioned why only one woman — former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga — is being considered so far. Vike-Freiberga told The Associated Press ahead of the decision Thursday that the way leaders dole out key jobs behind closed doors has to change. "In my country, people found it strange, they said how does this work? Is it true that the prime minister alone is responsible, what about the rest of us, don't we have a say?" asked Vike-Freiberga. Belgium's little-known Premier Herman Van Rompuy leads the pack of a half-dozen politicians said to be interested in the presidential post, which is being created under the new EU charter. Britain however, opposes Van Rompuy and is pushing hard for its ex-prime minister Tony Blair to get the job, saying Europe needs a high-profile EU president. Others like France and Spain, fearing Blair would overshadow them, favor a low-profile person in the top EU post, one limited to chairing summits and greeting foreign dignitaries. "The person should be a co-ordinator rather than a president," said Jerzy Buzek, speaker of the European Parliament. Smaller EU nations loathe the idea of being led by Blair, whose strong support for the Iraq war angered many Europeans. They also want a president from a country that uses the EU's common euro currency and participates in its passport-free travel zone. Britain has opted out of those EU projects. Other possibilities for president include Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende, Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker, Estonian President Toomas Ilves.
Out of 24 Russia-EU summits over 12 years, the last one may be called “successful,” many observers believe. Despite the fact that no significant decisions were taken at the meeting, the participants called the summit in Stockholm “one of the most successful during the last years,” Kommersant daily said. “We discussed the development of major economic projects, issues of energy cooperation, and developing and ensuring energy security in Europe,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, adding that “a good mutual understanding” was reached. Medvedev also raised the issue of easing visa regulations for travel between Russia and the EU and stressed the need to agree on measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, Russia may reduce emissions to 25% below the 1990 level by 2020, the aim which European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed as “encouraging.” Nobody has expected “anything good, nor anything bad” from such summits for a long time, the daily noted. But the meeting in Stockholm “suddenly turned out to be different from previous ones,” it added. It was the last summit in the current format, the media said, adding that in the future the main contacts will be held for the most part with the EU’s president and foreign minister. The Russian president stressed that whoever is elected president or foreign minister of the European Union, they “will understand the importance of developing relations between the EU and Russia.”
Cyprus' president says a deal to reunify the ethnically split island is still not within sight despite more than a year of peace talks with the breakaway Turkish Cypriots. Dimitris Christofias, a Greek Cypriot, says "important differences" still divide the two sides. He said Thursday that Turkish Cypriot positions conflict with an envisioned federation between a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south, but that he remains "cautiously optimistic" that an accord can be reached. Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat have met over 50 times, but have made little real progress.
Israeli aircraft struck a weapons-manufacturing facility and two smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, in response to recent rocket attacks on Israel, the military said. Palestinian security officials reported no injuries. Israel went to war against militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza last winter to quash eight years of rocket and mortar fire that terrorized southern Israel and killed 18 civilians. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the war, and since it ended on Jan. 18, the attacks have decreased sharply. According to the military's count, 270 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel since the three-week offensive ended on Jan. 18, compared with more than 3,300 in 2008. But Israel says weapons and weapons-making components still reach militants through tunnels under Gaza's border with Egypt. And sporadic fire continues, including a rocket attack Wednesday that caused no injuries. The Israeli military said in a statement that it would "respond to any attempt to disrupt the calm in Israel's southern communities."
Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests. The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men. Female drinkers did not benefit to the same extent, the study in Heart found. Experts are critical, warning heavy drinking can increase the risk of other diseases, with alcohol responsible for 1.8 million deaths globally per year. The study was conducted in Spain, a country with relatively high rates of alcohol consumption and low rates of coronary heart disease. The research involved men and women aged between 29 and 69, who were asked to document their lifetime drinking habits and followed for 10 years. The researchers, led by the Basque Public Health Department, placed the participants into six categories - from never having drunk to drinking more than 90g of alcohol each day. This would be the equivalent of consuming about eight bottles of wine a week, or 28 pints of lager. For those drinking little - less than a shot of vodka a day for instance - the risk was reduced by 35%. And for those who drank anything from three shots to more than 11 shots each day, the risk worked out an average of 50% less. The same benefits were not seen in women, who suffer fewer heart problems than men to start with. Researchers speculated this difference could be down to the fact that women process alcohol differently, and that female hormones protect against the disease in younger age groups. The type of alcohol drunk did not seem to make a difference, but protection was greater for those drinking moderate to high amounts of varied drinks. The exact mechanisms are as yet unclear, but it is known that alcohol helps to raise high-density lipoproteins, sometimes known as good cholesterol, which helps stop so-called bad cholesterol from building up in the arteries.
Several local administrations and organizations financed by the Serbian government have organized the arrival of Serbs from Kosovo to Patriarch Pavle’s funeral. A large number of Kosovo Serbs was set to leave last night from Gračanica and the enclave's surrounding villages. Free transportation for Serbs from Gračanica and other areas in central Kosovo to Belgrade was provided the Priština City Assembly now located in Gračanica. Several hundred people signed up for the trip. An organized trip to Belgrade was also provided by the Priština City Transportation Company with the headquarters in Gračanica, the Gračanica Health Center and some privately owned transportation companies. Monks and priests of the Raška-Prizren Eparchy led by Bishop Artemije also traveled to the funeral. Numerous citizens from central Kosovo traveled on their own to Belgrade in order to pay their respects. A large number of citizens have been lighting candles in Gračanica Monastery and in other Serb churches in Kosovo. Patriarch Pavle spent 34 years in Kosovo as a bishop and arch-shepherd of the Serb Orthodox population in the province.
Half a million people from Serbia and neighbouring countries attended the funeral on Thursday of Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle. Bishops and top clergy in ornate white robes led the funeral procession. Serbian army guard in ceremonial blue uniforms flanked the hearse carrying Pavle's body in an open casket, covered by a gold-embroidered green cloth. Some schools and offices were closed in both Serbia and in neighbouring Bosnia's Serb Republic. Most of Serbia's seven million people are of Orthodox heritage, and the church, which casts an important influence over Serbian society and tradition, has large dioceses abroad. Born in 1914 into the Austro-Hungarian empire in what is today Croatia, Pavle lived through the end of that empire and the creation and eventual collapse of Yugoslavia. The fate of Kosovo, where 90 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian, was at the top of Pavle's agenda. Serbian President Boris Tadic, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, top clergy and dignitaries from Russia, Czech Republic, Albania and other countries including Pope Benedict's envoy, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, attended the ceremony. On November 15, 2009, at 10.45 at the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, after receiving the Sacrament, Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovac , Patriarch Pavle of Serbia reposed in the Lord. To view photos and video of today's services, click here and to view additional photos, click here.