Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy, a little-know federalist, has been elected European Union’s first President by the member states of the Union.
According to the Daily Telegraph, van Rompuy is a poetry-writing economist almost entirely unknown outside Belgium until he emerged as EU leaders’ choice for a President who could not possibly overshadow national leaders.
A staunch advocate of European integration, he has backed policies including a European-wide tax on all financial transactions to fund EU …

Labour peer Baroness Ashton has been selected as the European Union’s high representative of foreign affairs and security, the BBC reports.
Cathrine Ashton, currently EU’s trade commissioner, was chosen for the new post by the leaders of the EU’s 27 member states at a meeting in Brussels.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown backed her for the role after accepting that former Prime Minister Tony Blair could not become European Council president.
Baroness Ashton, 53, emerged as a surprise candidate …

Labour deputy leader and “equalities” minister Harriet Harman will be prosecuted for driving without due care and attention and driving while using a hand-held mobile phone, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.
A court summons will be served on the MP for Camberwell and Peckham after a police probe into the crash in Dulwich, southeast London on 3rd July, Sky News reports.
A spokeswoman for Harman said that she “strongly refutes the allegations and will deny the …

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair tonight bowed out of the race to become the first President of the European Council when it became clear that centre-right leaders, who dominate the EU, are determined that the post should go to their group, the Guardian reports.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown abandoned his support for Blair shortly before a dinner of EU leaders at an emergency summit in Brussels tonight, but he appears likely to secure for his former …

According to former intelligence operatives, a former horse riding school in Lithuania was used as a secret CIA prison to hold and interrogate top al-Qaida terrorists, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The allegations have sparked a parliamentary inquiry after President Dalia Grybauskaite said she harboured “indirect suspicions” that such a facility existed.
According to the sources, the CIA built the secret jail in 2004 and used it for more than a year, flying in at least eight suspected …

Children have been banned from flying kites in a playground because of fears that they could get them tangled up in overhead telephone cables, The Times reports.
The ban was imposed after a safety inspection at the park, in the village of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said that a child could be tempted to climb the telegraph pole to free a trapped kite.
“We don’t want to stop children flying …

According to Lonely Planet’s world’s top 10 party cities list, the best place to party in the world is Serbian capital Belgrade.
Lonely planet say that foreigners are now realizing what locals always knew – that Belgrade really rocks. “With an exuberant population and its legacy as an intellectual hangout, Belgrade offers varied nightlife, ranging from eclectic watering holes for those in the know, to the busy restaurants and bars of the Skadarlija district and the …

Six major world powers will meet in Brussels tomorrow to discuss what measures could be applied against Iran for its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program, Jerusalem Post reports.
The meeting will include the UN Security Council’s permanent members – the UK, China, France, Russia and the US – plus Germany, an EU official said.
However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said that due to the fact that “there has so far been no final …

Ministers want to abolish history and geography lessons in primary schools – as if today’s children weren’t stupid enough yet.
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls will axe traditional subject headings in primary schools. Under the Government proposal, pupils from the age of five could study blogging and Google Earth, with history and geography being incorporated into themed lessons on social issues such as “global warming”.

A computer malfunction in the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) system, involving access to flight plans, is causing nationwide flight cancellations and delays today, Fox News reports.
The FAA’s computer systems are having trouble retrieving flight plans and in some cases they must be inputted by hand.
FAA’s spokeswoman didn’t know, how many flights are affected or when the matter will be resolved, but the cause is being investigated.
The technical difficulties aren’t affecting air traffic control’s systems, …

Russia’s constitutional court ruled that the current moratorium on death penalty will remain when the current legal suspension expires on 1st January.
The court said that the use of the death penalty was now impossible because Russia had signed international deals banning it.
Russia announced the moratorium in 1996 when it joined the Council of Europe, although it retains capital punishment in the criminal code.
Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Russians back the death penalty.
Well, of …

An Arab newspaper says that Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu approved a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas terrorists that would eventually result in the return of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Arutz 7 reports.
According to the report published Thursday in al-Manar, Netanyahu agreed to carry out the first stage of the deal, in which Shalit will be transferred to Egypt.
The newspaper, which is distributed in Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem, said the Prime Minister’s approval …

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) say that growth and recovery are expected in 2010 in just about all world regions, the BBC reports.
For the organisation’s 30 member countries, rich nations including the US and UK, they have more than doubled their growth forecast to 1.9% for next year, from 0.7%.
But the OECD warn that developed nations not to expect a smooth ride. They said growth was being “held back by still substantial …

The threadbare public finances were thrown back into the spotlight today as it was revealed the Government were forced to borrow £11.4 billion in October to meet their bills – the worst figure for the month since records began, The Times reports.
Total public sector net debt grew to £829.7 billion, equivalent to 59.2 per cent of total national output, by the end of October. That compares to £695.1 billion and 48.6 per cent a year …

Burglars stole about 3,000 to 4,000 brand new iPhones in Belgium over the weekend, the estimated value of the stolen goods is about £1.8 million.
The burglars used a fire ladder to climb to the roof of a huge warehouse in Willebroek, province of Antwerp, cut a hole in the roof, and made off with 3,000 to 4,000 brand new iPhones, CNNMoney reports.
The crime, believed to be the largest iPhone heist to date, was discovered Monday …

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson indicated that taxes will have to rise after the General Election to help pay off the national debt and finance new care plans for the elderly, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been careful not to risk a backlash by stating that new tax rises are inevitable – something many commentators believe is necessary if Britain is to start putting the country’s finances back in order, but Lord Mandelson …