Gideon Rachman serves ‘em up “news”, NAY organizations tailor made for Euro-style public media consumption, in honest terms for once:

It goes as follows:

By reporters everywhere

An ineffectual international organisation yesterday issued a stark
warning about a situation it has absolutely no power to change, the
latest in a series of self-serving interventions by toothless
intergovernmental bodies.

“We are seriously concerned about this most serious outbreak of
seriousness,” said the head of the institution, either a former minister from a developing country or a mid-level European or American bureaucrat. “This is a wake-up call to the world. They must take on board the vital message that my
organisation exists.”

The director of the body, based in one of New York, Washington or an agreeable Western European city, was speaking at its annual conference, at which ministers from around the world gather to wring their hands impotently
about the most fashionable issue of the day.

I’m often amused when I’m monitoring enemy broadcasts. By my guesstimate, fully ¼ of the open mouth blather since late 2005 on the BBC World Service seems to be about the “ailing US economy”. Ads for their ever rotating set of net only “documentaries” about the US, this one dwelling death of the American dream are aired twice an hour.

In other words, to them we have been dropping to death from a massive cardiac monthly for years now.

The glaring omission is that the only reflection you find on the UK & European economies is in passing comments by interviewed guests while discussing the Americans who have to eat their young to remain obese, or throw the poor into ethanol digesters to continue driving Hummers, or the other hideous images that they can’t help themselves from sketching all day – as though one needn’t not dredge their womenfolk through flour prior to pan frying, if’n you know what I mean...

That aside, Eurota keeps it real. When you have a big growth in Europe, it’s usually something you need to see a doctor about.

What exactly is it that you can say about people that get their rocks off by spunking on monuments to those that died protecting their culture?

The latest incident saw a French couple given a four-month suspended prison sentence for making a pornographic video at the Vimy Ridge memorial near Arras.

After being found guilty of exhibitionism, they were fined £400 each and ordered to pay a symbolic one euro (80 pence) in damages to Canada, which lost 60,000 men in the Great War.

Many Canadians perished in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, in April 1917, when four members of the Canadian Corps received Victoria Crosses.

Despite the courageous deeds and sacrifice honoured by the Vimy Memorial, the couple are believed to have stripped naked and performed sex acts beside the soaring stone structure.

They then posted the video on a website, invited people to pay to watch it.

Seven years ago the WTO agreement was scuppered by the Europeans. It's taken that long to get it back on track. 24 hours ago, the US swallowed hard and accepted a compromise in order to get and keep India and China on board. Twelve hours later:

'Today, the cabinet considers that the project currently on the table is not acceptable as it stands, to the extent that it shows no advance on elements which are altogether essential in our eyes,' government spokesman Luc Chatel said after a cabinet meeting.

'the protection of indications of geographical origin', in a reference to such issues as the labelling of wine, and 'the defence of our European industrial interests in the face of emerging countries'.

The cabinet underlined that 'France was attached more than ever to the promotion of the poorest countries'.

Tim Blleah notes the faux snow in Sydney:

For the first time since 1836 it has snowed in Sydney - at least that’s what the locals are saying.

Meteorologists say technically it was soft hail, but that didn’t stop the locals making snowmen.

Can you smell the "élan"?

The French Senate has proposed developing a new European university ranking system to counter the powerful Shanghai world ranking, which is said to favour English-language institutions. With France holding the EU's six-month rotating presidency, the issue is likely to be discussed by EU education ministers in November.

At national level, the lack of a transparent system distorts the allocation of human and financial resources, notes the report. At international level, it harms the attractiveness of France as a destination for foreign students and researchers and decreases the visibility of university research.

Eurota is back, and he notes the depressing familiarity of the European press' pressing need for “change” and “hope”:

European economic news ...... Still on the brink

European political news ...... Navel gazing all-around

European elites ignoring the will of the voters ...... Shock, horror

World's climate set to implode any second (still/again) ...... Zzzzzz