Euroweenie Alert!
In France, Nothing Gets in the Way of Vacation

PARIS — Don't get sick in Paris in August.

Not only do hospitals cut back capacity, as nurses and doctors depart for the sacrosanct August vacation. Stores close, restaurants close, even the city's ice cream parlors drop their shutters during the hottest month of the year so that employees won't miss their month-long summer holiday.

Apparently, nothing gets in the way of the holiday, not even grandma and grandpa. This summer's withering heat wave claimed a staggering number of victims — the government talks of perhaps 5,000 deaths, the country's largest undertaker twice that number — most of whom were elderly. The police, undertakers and social service agencies found them in apartments, homes and hotels. The rooms were often as hot as ovens.
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The summer heat wave has exposed not only France's slavish devotion to August vacation, but also the breakdown of family ties. French society, experts say, now increasingly turns its back on the elderly.

Much more by following the link, but here's a beauty:

The Italian media were full of reports this month about Maria Di Dio, 82, a widow from Caltanissetta, Sicily, and mother of 12 grown children. The police detained her son Salvatore after he deposited his mother on the doorstep of his brother Leonardo in 105 degree heat, before departing for his August holiday. Salvatore argued that it had been Leonardo's turn to care for their mother, even though he admitted knowing that Leonardo had already gone on vacation.

Warm, real warm.

Speaking of which - Europe Reacts Coolly to Bush's Call to Freeze Charities' Assets

PARIS, Aug. 23 — Europe has reacted tepidly to President Bush's call to freeze the assets of four European charities said by the administration to be sending cash to Palestinian militants. That sets the stage for another trans-Atlantic rift over Middle East policy.
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Mr. Bush demanded Friday that the assets of five charities be frozen along with those of six top officials of Hamas, the Palestinian organization whose military wing has claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide attack on a Jerusalem bus on Tuesday.

Four of those organizations are based in Europe: the French-based Committee for Welfare and Relief for Palestine; the Palestinian Relief Association in Switzerland; the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund, or Interpal, with headquarters in Britain; and the Palestinian Association in Austria. The fifth charity, the Sanabil Association for Relief and Development, is based in Lebanon.
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Mr. Bush's demand highlights a stark difference between how the United States and Europe, with its large and growing Muslim population, have dealt with Palestinian activists. Europe has resisted Bush administration requests that it blacklist Hamas's political wing, which many European leaders contend is a legitimate organization.

Sure, I believe it. The political wing doesn't know a thing about what the military wing is doing. When monkeys fly out of Chirac's butt.