How the Feds Hide Inflation
If the same methodology that was used in 1980 to chronicle the double digit inflation of that era were in use today, we would have an inflation rate of ten percent right now, according to Shadow Government Statistics. We are entering a massive era of stagflation which recalls to us our writing in Catastrophe, published two years ago, that “inflation may well be the enduring legacy of the Obama presidency.”
How does the federal government understate the inflation rate? Let us count the ways:
1. It excludes food and fuel costs from its rate of “core inflation.”
Each month, the Federal Reserve calms national inflation fears by pointing to the low rate of core inflation, currently at an annual pace of just 2.1%. It reaffirms that the economy is meeting the goal set for it by the Fed of keeping core inflation around or below two percent.
Claiming that food and fuel are too unstable to be included in the inflation rate, it excludes precisely those areas in which inflation is felt most deeply. In the past year, the cost of commodities from corn to soybeans has doubled and the price of gasoline at the pump is one third higher than it was one year ago. The average American household budget devotes one-third of its cash to food and energy costs. Leaving these elements out of the inflation rate has no justification.
2. It substitutes less expensive products when prices rise
When prices go up, the economists who generate the Consumer Price Index substitute less a expensive alternative product for the one that has risen in price. For example, if the cost of steak goes up, the CPI does not reflect the increase, but simply replaces steak with hamburger in computing the price index.
3. It excludes “hedonistic” products as price rises
The Fed adjusts for price rises by dumbing down the luxury elements of the products whose price it measures. It might, for example, measure the price of cars without air conditioning as a way of avoiding reporting the increase in the cost of automobiles. Even when the luxury features cannot easily be removed from the product, the CPI economists assume that they are.…
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Enda Vows No Public Pay Cuts ‘At All Costs’
TAOISEACH Enda Kenny and his Government will avoid cutting public sector pay “at all costs”, despite the dramatic cut in the country’s economic growth forecasts this weekend, according to a confidential memorandum sent to all government departments.
The sharp downgrade now means cuts of up to €5bn in December’s Budget will be needed — far higher than the €3.6bn forecast at the start of the year — casting fresh doubt on the country’s ability to meet its soaring debt costs.
Jim Power, chief economist with Friends First, yesterday said that the downgrade in growth forecasts meant an Irish default was now far more likely unless Europe intervenes with a genuine rescue package.
The top-level secret document to ministers and senior staff reveals that the Government is committed to a course in which all other avenues will be prioritised before further pay cuts for public sector workers will be countenanced — despite the worsening economic conditions.
“Government does not want a situation where public pay rates are cut,” the note says. It states that the Government will continue to push for reforms under the Croke Park Agreement but acknowledges that there is a limited “window” in which to achieve those reforms before the IMF will insist on wholesale reductions, including salaries.
“(The Government does) not want to see pay cuts happen and we’ve got a time window now in which to implement in full the (Croke Park) agreement,” it states.
Senior government sources said the hesitancy to inflict further pain on public servants was part of a carrot and stick approach to achieving the reduction in numbers of 25,000 and wider efficiency reforms, while maintaining industrial peace.
“How could we expect to get reform if we are threatening more cuts? We are trying to avoid that scenario at all costs,” one senior government source said last night.
“The Government is committed to achieving the necessary reforms in the public sector through the Croke Park agreement, which protects pay — this being conditional on achieving the necessary savings through eliminating waste, increasing efficiencies and securing real reform,” a government spokesman said.
The budgetary deficit for 2011 was pencilled in to be €12bn at the start of the year and the Government had been aiming for spending cuts of €3.6bn this year.
However, given the latest downgrade in growth, that figure is likely to be closer to the €5bn mark, government sources admitted last night.
Mr Power said yesterday that given that around €20.5bn of cuts had already been inflicted since 2008, the economy simply could not take a further cut of €5bn this year and that Ireland was now heading for default.
“Either Europe steps up to the plate with a realistic rescue package or it is inevitable that Ireland will default. The numbers are now too big for the economy to cope with and we are running out of road very quickly,” he said.
Former Taoiseach John Bruton has called for the implementation of some cuts to be brought forward, rather than waiting until December’s full Budget.
“There is a lot to be said for accelerating the 2012 budget process and taking decisions earlier than financial markets and our European partners expect. Ireland urgently needs to surprise the markets with some good news,” he said.
However, senior government sources last night ruled out any such cuts in this month’s Jobs’ Initiative.
But they indicated that given the lower-than-expected growth forecasts, spending cuts could be announced before September.
“Each department has been asked for early spending savings before the conclusion of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
“If there are spending cuts that can be announced before the conclusion of the review, we will do that. Government will not sit on its hands,” one senior source said.
The vast majority of the Irish public are opposed to the protection of public sector pay rates, given that the country is in “receivership” as Education Minister Ruairi Quinn put it last week, a new poll reveals.
According to the latest Sunday Independent/Quantum Research nationwide poll, 74 per cent of those polled did not think it was right that public service pay should remain untouchable.
Many of the respondents expressed a sense of anger and frustration that unions and their members had not woken up to the reality of our economic situation and continued to behave as if we could afford to maintain their wages and pensions at pre-bust levels. They wondered would this only happen when the day came when we had no money left to actually pay their wages.
There were, however, many respondents who only wanted to see pay cuts targeted at those in the higher grades.
Twenty-six per cent of those polled did think it was right that public service pay remained untouchable.
They argued that the public service had already taken big cuts in wages and pensions and could not afford to make any more sacrifices.
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Portuguese Will Learn to Live With IMF
Jornal de Negócios, 29 April 2011
“Know what will change in your life with the IMF”, headlines Jornal de Negócios, in a special edition almost exclusively dedicated to the International Monetary Fund. The economic diary notes that the IMF and European Commission have not yet reached an agreement on the period of time Portugal should be given to reduce its public deficit, adding that a short period, as Brussels wants, will demand greater austerity. Although the measures imposed by the troika are not known yet, Jornal de Negócios guarantees that the Portuguese citizens will receive less from the state and will have to pay more taxes, receive lower pensions and unemployment benefits and face a wave of privatisations. The Lisbon daily also reveals that Germany, France, Italy, Spain and United States are the five countries that will guarantee more than half of the financial attendance to Portugal.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaeda Leader Bin Laden ‘Dead’
Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden is dead, according to US media reports citing officials.
The US is in possession of Bin Laden’s body, the reports say. President Barack Obama is due to make a statement shortly.
Mr Bin Laden is top of the US most wanted list.
He is accused of being behind a number of atrocities, including the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
Ground Zero Mosque Developer Having Bill Trouble
(NewsCore) — The developer of the proposed Ground Zero mosque cannot seem to pay his bills, the New York Post reported Sunday.
In 2009, Sharif El-Gamal and his company, Soho Properties, agreed to settle an eviction claim by paying $56,000 to Royal Crispin Inc., landlord of the mosque-development site near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.
But Royal Crispin now says El-Gamal, who fled the property before the lease was finished, never paid up, and it has filed a second Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit against the beleaguered business to recoup the money.
In December, El-Gamal and Soho Properties were also accused of defaulting on $100,000 in Citibank loans.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
May Christians Preach Outside a Philadelphia Mosque?
Law enforcement scrutiny, detainment by police, and a court date to answer trumped-up charges: these are the consequences of preaching Christianity to Muslims not only throughout much of the Islamic world, but sometimes even in America as well.
The most infamous example occurred last June, when four missionaries from Acts 17 Apologetics were arrested and charged with breach of peace while they calmly discussed their faith with Muslims at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn, Michigan. Armed with self-recorded video showing that they had acted in a civil fashion, the Christians were vindicated by a jury several months later.
An important but virtually unnoticed Philadelphia case from 2010 bears striking similarities to the one in Dearborn, including police shutting down religious speech directed toward Muslims and a prosecutor filing charges patently at odds with video evidence. Islamist Watch attended the trial, which offered a unique window into the battle to protect First Amendment rights in an era of hypersensitivity.
On the evening of July 3, Michael Marcavage of Repent America — a Philadelphia Christian group known for its strong stances on hot-button social issues such as abortion and homosexuality — was driving with two visitors, Kenneth Fleck and Mike Stockwell. The men say that they spotted Masjid Al-Jamia, a fortress-like mosque located near the University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia, and spontaneously decided to pull over and preach on the public sidewalk out front.
This much was not in dispute: They began with a hymn and took turns reading Gospel passages. However, a bicycle-bound guard working for AlliedBarton, a private security firm contracted to patrol the streets close to campus, soon approached the evangelists, who by then had drawn a boisterous crowd of a dozen or more Muslims, some visibly upset with the call to Christianity.
According to Marcavage and his cohorts, the guard told them that they could not preach there and had to depart. They refused, prompting him to radio for the university police. Officers arrived and found the Christians continuing to preach, the Muslims arguing with them, and Marcavage filming — which, the missionaries later explained, had been done to protect themselves against false accusations, a tactic employed wisely in Dearborn. A policeman asked the evangelists to step back from the crowd and lower their voices, while Officer Nicole Michel demanded that Marcavage put down the camera, allegedly grabbing him by the arm.
When the dust settled, Marcavage and Fleck were in custody facing two counts: one for “creat[ing] a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor,” under the state’s disorderly conduct statute, and another for “obstructing highways and other public passages,” namely a mosque door opening out onto the sidewalk. The men pleaded not guilty. Stockwell was neither arrested nor charged.
Defense attorney C. Scott Shields invoked the First Amendment throughout the four-hour trial of November 12, which did not involve a jury. He began by petitioning for dismissal on the basis that federal and Pennsylvania courts regularly have backed the right to express controversial views in public spaces — and a sidewalk in an urban area like West Philadelphia, he said, is the “quintessential public forum.” Citing Terminiello v. Chicago, Shields noted that police cannot enforce a “heckler’s veto” by suppressing speech that sparks anger and unrest. Judge Charles Hayden rejected the motion and ordered testimony to commence on the two charges, each of which would be exposed as paper thin.
The assertion that Marcavage and Fleck had blocked a mosque door was the first to fall apart. Amid conflicting eyewitness accounts of their position on the 15-foot-wide sidewalk (see a Google Street View panorama here), including multiple claims that they had stood just two feet from a door, the defense unveiled its coup de grace: video subpoenaed from the masjid’s surveillance camera showing that the men had stayed closer to the curb than the building. As Fleck mentioned later, blocking an entrance would have been counterproductive because the preachers had wanted Muslims to come out and hear their message. At the trial’s conclusion, Assistant District Attorney Joseph McCool withdrew the charge of obstructing a public passage, presumably due to the accusation having been rendered untenable.
His attempt to prove disorderly conduct did not fare much better, even though the judge allowed the charges to be expanded midway through the proceedings to include two other subsections of the statute: “engag[ing] in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior” and “mak[ing] unreasonable noise.”
The case grew weaker with each witness. Nobody had seen the preachers behave violently or make any threats. Officer Michel, who was quite hostile on the stand, even admitted that the Christians had been detained, in part, for their own safety. Asked whether they had created a hazard by disrupting traffic on busy Walnut Street, her partner explained that the flow of cars had indeed been affected — but by agitated Muslims running across the road. Furthermore, no evidence was presented to demonstrate excessive noise.
Two Muslims testified. A young man, the sole mosque attendee called by the prosecutor, claimed that the evangelists had stirred up the crowd by describing Islam as a “hate religion,” but a female witness contradicted him, revealing that she had heard only statements such as “Jesus is the way.” The defense called a Muslim of its own, a man responsible for security at the mosque that evening. Having exited the building while the Christians were outside, he saw no reason to take any action and continued on to a nearby store.
The trial’s most unsettling twist came when Stockwell, the third minister, testified to overhearing Officer Michel express concern about Marcavage’s footage, with the implication being that it might undermine the police account and exonerate the preachers. The defense then attempted to enter into evidence the video returned to the men upon their release, which they insisted university police officers had tried to erase by recording over it with the lens cap on. The judge refused, ruling that the prosecution had not had sufficient opportunity for review.
The defense did not need it, however, given the preponderance of reasonable doubt already accumulated. Judge Hayden acquitted the men of the remaining charges…
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Measure to Abolish North Dakota Property Taxes on Ballot
BISMARCK — A proposed constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes in North Dakota has been approved for the ballot.
BISMARCK — A proposed constitutional amendment to abolish property taxes in North Dakota has been approved for the ballot.
Secretary of State Al Jaeger said Friday the initiative had enough petition signatures to qualify for the June 2012 primary election. It will be listed as Measure 2.
Supporters of the proposal needed almost 27,000 petition signatures. Jaeger says more than 28,000 valid signatures were turned in.
The amendment says North Dakota and its local governments may not impose property taxes after Jan. 1. It says the Legislature will have to figure out a way to provide replacement revenue to cities, counties and other local governments.
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Bilingual Place-Name Signs Controversy Settled
Political leaders seem to have ended a lengthy argument considering bilingual place-name signs.
Negotiators announced in Klagenfurt yesterday evening (Tues) they agreed that 164 towns and communities in the province of Carinthia will be equipped with place-name signs in both German and Slovenian.
Provincial decision-makers and representatives of the Slovenian minority have been at odds over the issue for decades. Politicians have quarrelled about the number of affected towns ever since the Austrian State Treaty was agreed upon in 1955.
A low point was reached in 1972 when opponents of a decree by the federal government of Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Bruno Kreisky tore down several bilingual place-name signs.
Late Carinthian Freedom Party (FPÖ) and Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) Governor Jörg Haider successfully tried to delay a settlement over the years by removing the affected signs by a few metres to make aware of legal loopholes.
Haider’s successor as governor of the province, Gerhard Dörfler refused to leave Haider’s uncooperative course after the right-wing spearhead’s death in 2008 before making a remarkable U-turn on the issue earlier this year.
“We carried the State Treaty’s requirement over the finish line today,” Dörfler — who is the deputy head of the Carinthian Freedom Party (FPK) — said at the end of yesterday’s eight-hour Marathon session of negotiations with SPÖ State Secretary Josef Ostermayer and representatives of Carinthia’s Slovenes.
However, Dörfler said the agreement included the decision to hold a referendum in the affected towns and communities. The FPK official stressed he was convinced that the vast majority of residents will back the settlement.
Valentine Inzko, one of the Slovenian minority’s leaders, announced: “One chapter of Carinthian history is over — may the next begin.”
SPÖ Chancellor Werner Faymann congratulated the negotiators for having come to an agreement. The settlement also includes a pledge by the Carinthian government to subsidise music and Slovenian language lessons for the minority’s children. Figures have shown that more and more Austrian kids living in the southern province are opting for Slovenian as an optional subject.
The ongoing feud has been observed with bewilderment by many Austrians over the decades as there have been little difficulties in the coexistence of Austrians and Slovenians, Hungarians, Roma, Croats and Czechs elsewhere in the country. Most Austrians are understood to consider the bilingual aspect as an advantage in today’s ever-changing world, also since many international businesses consider Austria as a gateway to do business in Eastern Europe (EE).
Around 50,000 Slovenians live in Austria. The 2001 census showed that nearly 26,000 people residing in Austria are members of the Hungarian minority. The number of Czechs living in Austria is believed to range around 20,000. Furthermore, 20,000 Roma and 15,000 Slovaks are currently living in the country.
Germans are the strongest minority in Austria at 213,000 ahead of people from Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro with 207,000. The third-strongest group are Turks (183,000), followed by people from Bosnia and Herzegovina (130,000) and Croatia (70,000).
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Seventy Clerical Sex Abuse Victims to Sue Vatican
Brussels, 29 April (AKI) — A group of 70 people who claim they were sexually abused by clergy will sue the Vatican and Belgian church officials for failing to protect them from pedophile priests, their lawyer said on Friday.
Walter Van Steenbrugge said he would begin the legal action around mid-May.
Since the United States sex abuse scandal shook the world in 2002, major abuse scandals have engulfed the Catholic church in several European countries, most notably Belgium, Germany, and in Ireland — where Pope Benedict XVI issued a historic apology in March 2010.
Top church officials, including Benedict himself have been accused of failing to take proper action to prevent such abuse.
The abuse involves thousands of victims in cases over several decades.
The Belgian church was embroiled in a major sex abuse scandal last year when Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe was forced to resign after he admitted he abused molesting one of his young nephews for 13 years.
Hundreds of Belgian victims subsequently came forward with tales of abuse by clergy going back decades.
In recent interview with commercial TV station VT4, a defiant Vangheluwe admitted to having sexually abused his other nephew as well.
A federal investigation into child abuse by Vangheluwe is underway. Now aged 75, he is likely to escape prosecution.
The Vatican earlier in April issued details of the punishment the Church had imposed on the the self-confessed paedophile former Bishop. He was to leave Belgium (which he has since done) and undergo “spiritual and psychological” treatment.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Berlusconi Regrets Bossi Error
PM admits at dinner he should have warned Bossi and then reacts defiantly: “never on our knees to France”
ROME — “I was wrong about Umberto. I made a mistake. I should have told him earlier”. Every so often, even Silvio Berlusconi can be self-critical. Two nights ago at dinner in Rome with the Rizzolis, the prime minister openly admitted he had been wrong about taking the decision over Easter to participate in bombing missions in Libya. He made the admission during an evening he said had been very agreeable. At table, the prime minister spoke freely with ministers and the editors of several newspapers, concluding in the wee small hours by discussing his style of communication and other topics with the press on a Rome pavement. “You don’t understand. Perhaps what I do looks incomprehensible but I’ve never learned how to make politics. I’m not going to learn and I don’t want to learn!” Silvio Berlusconi was in a relaxed mood at the dinner organised by People of Freedom (PDL) deputy Melania Rizzoli. “I’ve known Bossi for 20 years. The government is in no danger but, really, let’s not joke about serious matters. Someone has got too big for his boots, and it’s not Umberto”.
At the dinner table, and in the course of numerous recent conversations, the prime minister has pointed the finger increasingly at the minister of the economy and the interior minister. Any reference to this particular topic is, however, liable to be denied by the Prime Minister’s Office. The official version is the one given by Silvio Berlusconi yesterday evening. “We have never bowed the knee to France. That’s just a lie made up by the Left”. Other topics are less slippery, all of them resonating with the Sarkozy meeting. Referring to approval of the Lactalis bid for Parmalat, he said: “I’m a liberal. The rules of the market are there for everyone, including us”. On the change of tune over Libya: “Obviously, it was a painful decision. I am worried. No one can predict today how it is going to turn out but we could have ended up between two stools. Since we hadn’t taken the German route, it was an inevitable decision, partly so we will not to be excluded from investments”…
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Fincantieri Builds Italy’s Biggest Passenger Ship
Carnival Magic can carry over 6,000 people
(ANSA) — Monfalcone, April 28 — Italian engineering giant Fincantieri has completed the construction of a cruise liner that has set a new record as the country’s biggest passenger ship.
The towering Carnival Magic, built at a shipyard in Monfalcone near Gorizia in northeastern Italy, is the new flagship of Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s top cruise fleet, and can carry almost 5,000 passengers.
It is the sister ship to the Carnival Dream, also built by Fincantieri and handed over in 2009. Weighing in at a colossal 128,500 tonnes, the 305-metre-long Magic is 68 metres high and 37 metres wide.
Its six 12.6-megawatt engines can speed it along at a breezy 24 knots.
“This is the most innovative of our fun ships,” said Carnival Cruise Lines Chairman and CEO Gerry Cahill.
“Its elevated technological standards are matched by the comfort it offers passengers and a raft of leisure activities that will make passengers’ heads spin”.
According to Carnival’s press release, the Magic and her sisters, the Dream and the Carnival Breeze, “will have the widest variety of activity, dining, and entertainment options of the entire fleet”. Among the new liner’s attractions are a recreation complex with whirlpools that extend over the sides of the ship, and an aqua park with a 100-metre spiral water slide.
“From the happenin’ fun of RedFrog Pub to the splashing good times in Carnival WaterWorks, Carnival Magic has just about everything for everyone,” the company’s website said.
The new queen of the seas, which took over 18 months to build, has 1,845 cabins for a maximum 4,684 passengers and 746 cabins for its 1,386 crew.
The 565-million-euro Magic is Carnival’s 100th ship. That milestone will be celebrated Friday with a free champagne toast across the company’s entire fleet. Carnival Corporation, the parent company, owns 10 brands, including Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Costa Cruises and Seabourn.
Carnival Magic will make its maiden voyage on Sunday with a nine-day Venice-to-Barcelona cruise. It will cruise around the Mediterranean until mid-October when it sails to its year-round home port in Galveston, Texas, from where it will glide around the Bay of Mexico and the Caribbean. Since 1990 Fincantieri, one of the world’s leading shipbuilders, has built 59 cruise ships, 52 of them for the various brands in the Carnival group.
It beat out stiff competition to win the 2007 contract to build the prestigious Queen Elizabeth for the historic British line Cunard.
The new Queen Elizabeth, which entered service in the autumn of 2010, is the second-largest vessel that Cunard has ever built after the Queen Mary 2.
The name of the liner, which was approved by Buckingham Palace, recalls the legendary ocean liner which sailed the Atlantic for Cunard from 1938 to 1968. When it was built, the first Queen Elizabeth was the biggest liner in the world.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Denies Decision on Draghi as ECB Chief
Berlin ‘will tap possible candidate in due time’
(ANSA) — Rome, April 29 — A German government spokesman on Friday denied that a decision had been made by Berlin to back the candidacy of Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi as the next chief of the European Central Bank.
The denial was in response to reports in the German press that Chancellor Angela Merklel was set to announce her green light to Draghi filling the post Jean-Claude Trichet will leave in October.
Speaking at a regular press conference, spokesman Steffen Seibert said a decision on the next ECB chief will be made at the next European Council in June and that “the German government will express its support for a possible candidate in due time”.
Draghi, who took the helm of the Italian central bank at the start of 2006, emerged as the clear frontrunner and consensus candidate for the ECB job earlier this week when French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his support for the former Goldman Sachs vice chairman for Europe.
This was followed by Spain, Portugal, Greece and Slovakia throwing their support behind Draghi.
Officially, Berlin has said it wanted a candidate who could ensure the ECB was well managed and would work to stabilise the euro area.
However, there are reports that Berlin wants greater influence over the ECB, with its chief economist Jurgen Stark given a top-level job, as well as guarantees that it will not be forced to contribute more than it wants to the ECB’s bailout fund for debt-ridden euro area members.
Sarkozy’s announced support for Draghi was seen by some observers and even partners in Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s government as payback for Italy towing France’s line in regard to EU migrant policy and the international mission in Libya, where Italy has begun to play a more offensive role in bombing positions held by Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
The Northern League, Berlusconi’s chief ally in government, went so far as to claim Italy was becoming a “French colony” but denied any intention of bringing down the executive over the mission.
As Bank of Italy governor, Draghi, 63, is already a member of the ECB’s Governing and General Councils and he also sits on the board of the Bank for International Settlements and the boards of governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development bank.
He was elected chairman of the Financial Stability forum in April 2006 which three years later was transformed into the permanent Financial Stability Board in the wake of the international economic recession and the Greek financial crisis.
Draghi took over the Bank of Italy post after former governor Antonio Fazio quit for his alleged role in a banking takeover scandal. Fazio was accused of acting above the law in his efforts to thwart any foreign takeover of an Italian bank.
Draghi was Treasury director general for ten years from 1991 to 2001 during which time he spearheaded Europe’s biggest-ever privatization program and framed a new company takeover law protecting small investors, which bears his name.
Before that he served for six years as executive director of the World Bank (1984-90) and from 2002 to 2006 served as vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and was a member of the firm-wide management committee.
Draghi is a graduate of the University of Rome, earned his Ph.D in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and held a full chair at the University of Florence in the decade before joining the Treasury.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Women ‘Forced to Choose’ Job or Kids, Says OECD
High risk they will ‘not have children at all’
(ANSA) — Paris, April 27 — Italian women have a hard time combining maternity and paid work and are often forced to choose between a job or having children, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).
The report, entitled ‘Doing Better for Families’, was released in Paris Wednesday and examines the conditions of working families among its 34 member countries.
It found that Italian women “don’t have many children” and the 48% employment rate for women in Italy is lower than the OECD average of 59%. “Young women prefer to acquire a good working position first and therefore they postpone having children”, the report said.
“This increases the chance that they will not have children at all”. As a consequence, fewer Italian women have children, and 24% of women born in 1965, for example, are childless, against just 10% in France. The OECD points out that the situation is complicated by the limited flexibility in working hours for parents. “Fewer than 50% of companies offer flexible hours, and 60% of workers have no control over their working hours,” the report said.
The alternative is part-time work, a choice made by 31% of working women in Italy, against 7% of men.
The OECD found that poverty is also having a greater impact on families and noted Italy spent only 1.4% of its GDP to support families with children, considerably less than the OECD average of 2.2%. There are no targeted tax incentives for families in Italy, unlike in other OECD countries, it said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Marriages of Cousins ‘In Principle’ Forbidden
THE HAGUE, 30/04/11 — The cabinet decided Friday not to recognise marriages concluded abroad if one of the two partners is underage. Additionally, marriages between first cousins are in principle no longer allowed.
A marriage of a minor concluded legally abroad can currently be recognised on the grounds of Article 5 of the Marriage Disputes Act. “This will in future only be possible if both partners have attained the age of 18 at the time the couple apply for recognition of their marriage.”
Additionally, marriages between first cousins are to be banned, because these are often made under pressure. The proposal does however leave open the possibility of recognising such a marriage. If it can be proven that there is no question of pressure, “a dispensation will be provided.”
Further, recognition of polygamous marriages concluded abroad will be restricted. If an alien concludes a polygamous marriage abroad after applying for a residence permit, this will not be recognised if the alien comes to the Netherlands. “Nor will that marriage give grounds for admission of the marriage partner.”
Should the alien be based in the Netherlands, then he has to comply with Dutch laws and regulations. “Should he travel abroad after some time in order to conclude a polygamous marriage, this would therefore not be recognised.”
This is different with aliens who have concluded a polygamous marriage before the application for a residence permit in the Netherlands. “At the moment of the marriage, there is no interface with the Dutch legal system. For this reason, the marriage will have to be recognised.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Suspected Albanian Terrorist Expelled From Italy
(AGI)Rome- Italy’s Interior Minister ordered the expulsion of an Albanian citizen from Italian soil for national security reasons. Minister Roberto Maroni decided to expel Hakani Sokol, a resident in Italy since 2002, on the grounds of terrorism prevention. The repatriation was carried out by border police and the central office of the Immigration bureau through a flight from Bologna to Tirana. Intelligence reports indicated that Sokol was in contact with Muslim extremists worldwide and that he regularly visited jihadist websites.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Facebook Bullying of Headteachers on Rise, Says Poll
Survey finds that burden of monitoring online threats is putting schools under strain
A fifth of headteachers have been bullied by pupils or parents on Facebook and other social networking sites, a poll has found.
Britain’s biggest headteachers’ union — the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) — warned that schools are increasingly having to call the police to deal with violent threats posted online. Schools now waste hours each week monitoring websites for abusive comments, the union claims.
One in five heads told the union they had been hounded on social networking sites by pupils, ex-pupils and parents, while two-thirds claimed parents’ behaviour has got worse over the last few years. Some 1,362 heads responded to the poll.
In one case, a teaching assistant discovered that pupils or parents had created a profile of him on Facebook and had posted a litany of abusive comments on it. It took him two months to get the web page taken down.
In another case, parents started a campaign to get rid of a headteacher after her pupils were shown a slaughtered pig as part of a biology lesson. The head resigned. Later, the parents decided that they had made a mistake and asked her to come back.
In other cases, schools have had to call the police to deal with vicious online threats to their headteachers.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: the NHS Hospital Where 80 Per Cent of Babies Have Foreign Mothers
Of the 3,289 children born at Ealing Hospital, West London, in the past year, a remarkable 2,655 were to foreign nationals.
The statistics — released following a Freedom of Information request by The Mail on Sunday also show that the maternity unit dealt witha total of 104 different nationalities in the 12 months to February.
These include 537 babies born to Indian mothers — the largest minority ethnic group — 389 Poles, 270 Sri Lankans, 260 Somalians, 200 Afghans and 208 Pakistanis. In contrast, of the 634 babies with British mothers, just three were from Wales and six from Scotland.
Maternity services at the hospital have been coming under increasing pressure, with a 20 per cent rise in births over the past five years, almost twice the national average.
The hospital has had to take on 32 extra midwives to cope with the boom, which saw 500 more babies delivered there last year than in 2006.
A key factor is that foreign women tend to have more babies than British women — an average of 2.5 compared with 1.84 for UK nationals — and Ealing is one of the most ethnically diverse boroughs in Britain.
The figures are derived from how mothers declared their nationality on hospital paperwork, so the British category also covers foreign-born mothers granted British passports and second-generation immigrants who were born British citizens.
Nationally, one baby in four is born to a foreign mother, twice the level of 1997, when Labour came to power. Conservative MP James Clappison said: ‘The Labour Government has left us with significant challenges after an unprecedented wave of inward migration.
‘The pressures, I’m sure, are being felt all over the place including in the NHS. I fully support the present Government’s proposals to cap migration.’
Despite the burgeoning birth rates, Ealing Hospital denies that its maternity services are under strain.
Yet the Royal College of Midwives recently warned that maternity units across the country were ‘teetering on the brink’ under the pressure of rising birth rates.
And some mothers have complained about being left alone during labour at Ealing Hospital.
Father Paul at the Polish Catholic Community Centre in the borough said he had spoken to many new mothers who were unhappy about their experience at Ealing Hospital. He said: ‘Some women say it is not very good and that the service they would receive in Poland would be better.
‘Doctors are involved much earlier in their pregnancy in Poland and the service is more complex and detailed.’
In July 2008, watchdogs at the Healthcare Commission rated Ealing Hospital’s maternity unit as one of the weakest in the country. It put the unit in the bottom fifth of hospitals for childbirth and ante-natal services, placing it in the ‘least well performing’ category.
However, the service has improved in recent years, according to the new health regulator, the Care Quality Commission. Results of its survey published in December 2010, rated Ealing’s maternity unit 7.8 out of 10, on a par with most NHS Trusts in the country.
A spokeswoman for Ealing Hospital NHS Trust said the hospital catered for a diverse borough and that it was ‘no surprise’ that a high proportion of mothers at its maternity unit were from outside the UK.
And she said that a team of translators were on hand to help foreign mothers.
She said: ‘As with the rest of the UK, the Trust has seen a steady increase in the birth rate during the last few years. As with other hospital Trusts that serve diverse populations, clinical staff have access to support workers and systems that aid communication with patients.
‘The maternity services at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust are not under strain and the Trust has achieved and maintains good staff-to-mother ratios in the maternity department.
‘Between 2006 and 2011, the Trust employed a further 32 midwives as a response to increased demand for maternity services and to improve staff-to-mother ratios.’
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Uniform First for Irish Forces in UK
Irish soldiers will wear their uniforms for what is believed to be the first time in public in the United Kingdom to attend the funeral of a British Army bomb disposal officer.
Members of the Army’s Ordnance Corps were friends of Captain Lisa Jade Head, who died recently from injuries she received in Afghanistan. The Irish soldiers attended bomb disposal courses with her in Britain and the explosive ordnance corps of both armies work in close tandem and members of the British Army attend bomb disposal courses here on a regular basis.
Captain Head, 29, is to be buried from her home in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, next month. She had deployed to Afghanistan on March 27 and was on her first operation. She had defused one bomb in the Nahr-e Saraj area and was attempting to defuse a second device when it exploded. Although she survived she did not regain consciousness and was returned to hospital in the UK where she died.
The Irish Defence Forces maintain a small, permanent presence of bomb disposal experts in Afghanistan with the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and several of those who have served there knew Captain Head.
The Irish soldiers who will attend Captain Head’s funeral asked for permission to wear their uniforms and this was granted by the Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sean McCann. Serving and retired soldiers could not recall Irish soldiers ever wearing uniforms publicly in Britain, although they do when taking military course in British Army institutions. The President’s military adjutant dresses in a civilian suit when he accompanies the president to Northern Ireland or Britain.
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Serbia: Government Wants to Improve Position of Minorities
(ANSAmed) — BELGRADE, APRIL 20 — The Serbian government is committed to improving the position of minorities in the country and wants to bring about their full integration into society. This is according to comments made today by the deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Ivica Dacic.
Speaking in Belgrade during a conference on the situation in the south of Serbia, which has a majority ethnic Albanian population, Dacic said that the government intends to guarantee a greater presence of representatives of minorities within the government and the police. The minister said that in 2001, there were only five ethnic minority policeman in the southern areas of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja. The figure today is 222.
The Education Minister, Zarko Obradovic, admitted that there was a problem with schoolbooks written in Albania, but said that the books are currently being translated and adapted and will be available at the beginning of the next school year. Risa Halimi, an Albanian-Serb member of parliament in the south of Serbia, has complained of the very poor economic conditions in the region and has demanded greater decentralisation and regionalisation, which she believes would be the most effective way to improve the quality of life of people living in the south of the country.
With regard to the problem of fake demands for asylum in EU countries, almost all of which come from southern Serbia, Dacic and Halimi agreed that the problem was economic rather than political. “Albanians and Roma demanding political asylum in EU countries are not moved by political motivations but are searching for a better life and looking for work, because they cannot find employment where they are living,” Halimi said.
Dacic said that 95% of asylum requests are rejected, while 65% concern Roma people. The Interior Minister pointed out that the Serbian government had set up a special commission in February to support the system of liberalising visas for EU countries. The main aim, he said, was to prevent fake asylum requests “to protect the national interest and Serbia’s European integration”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Press: Italy Wins Pitch to Supply 4 Landing Ships
(ANSAmed) — ROME, APRIL 28 — Italy has won the pitch to supply four landing ships and connected logistical operations to Algeria, despite competition from France. This is according to the Algerian daily, Al Khabar, which quotes well-placed sources as saying that the pitch has been won by Finmeccanica.
The deal between Algiers and Rome, which was signed on April 21, is worth 4 billion euros, the newspaper says.
Al Khabar reports that Italy made the best offer, taking into consideration Algeria’s needs in terms of munitions and equipment. As well as creating a maintenance centre in Algeria, Italy has also promised to train Algerian staff.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
AU Against Military Attacks on Libyan Officials
(ANSAmed) — ADDIS ABABA, APRIL 27 — The African Union today asked in a statement to end any military operation against high members of the Libyan regime, after NATO shelled the offices of Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaddafi: Open War With Italy Now
(AGI) Tripoli — Colonel Gaddafi says “I am sad that the people of Sirte have called for a vendetta against Italy. They have declared that there is now open war between us and Italy because Italy has killed our sons, just as it did in 1911.” Colonel Gaddafi’s comments were made in a speech broadcast today on the Libyan State Radio website. He went on to say “The Libyans have every right to state what they have said and I cannot impose a veto on a decision made by the Libyan people.
They have a right to defend themselves.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s ENI Signs Gas Deal With Algeria’s Sonatrach
Rome, 28 April (AKI) — Italian energy giant Eni has signed a deal with Algeria’s state-owned energy company Sonatrach to develop unconventional natural gas in the North African country.
Eni said the cooperation agreement will focus on shale gas of which Algeria has “significant” reserves.
“Eni and Sonatrach will jointly implement activities to assess the technical and commercial feasibility of exploration and operational initiatives in shale gas,” said a statement.
Rome-based Eni said its current ‘equity’ production in Algeria is 75,000 barrels a day.
Earlier on Thursday, Irish independent energy company Petroceltic said it had agreed to sell an 18 percent stake in Algeria’s Isarene exploration project to Italy’s biggest electricity producer Enel for a maximum 183 million dollars.
The deal is subject to approval by Sonatrach and the Algerian authorities.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Gaddafi Threatens, We’ll Take the War to Italy
(ANSAmed) — ROME — “We’ll take the war to Italy”. The latest threat by Libyan leader Muammar Gheddafi came after Italy’s decision to meet US demands to take part in air strikes on Libya. The leader launched its threats as he gave an address early today on Libyan state television. During his speech he also said he was ready for a ceasefire and negotiations provided NATO “stop its planes”, but he refused to give up power as rebels and Western powers demand. The rebels and NATO rejected Gaddafi’s offer, saying it lacked credibility. Gaddafi criticized the “betrayal” of the Italians and of his “friend”, premier Silvio Berlusconi, of whom he accused of committing a “crime” and to persist in the same “fascist and colonial” policy of the occupation time with a “new Italian colonialism”. Gaddafi spoke about the anniversary of the Ghardabiya battle, south of Sirt, which in 1975 marked a heavy defeat for the Italian colonialists and of the centenary of the invasion, in 1911. And he accused: “Italy kills our children”.
His words do not worry the politicians in Italy. The Foreign Ministry did not officially commented Gaddafi’s speech but according to some sources “those threats strenghthen the commitment and the determination of Italy in the protection of Libyan civilians against the repression” by the regime.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muammar Gaddafi’s Inner Circle Say They Have Been Betrayed by Britain
Officials in Tripoli complain of ‘great injustice’ against Libyan regime after rapprochement under Tony Blair
The apparent death of Muammar Gaddafi’s youngest son and three of his grandchildren in a Nato air strike will reinforce and magnify the powerful sense of victimhood that is gripping the inner circle in Tripoli.
Feelings of betrayal and incomprehension at the west’s rejection of the Libyan regime, particularly directed at the UK, are compounded by aggression, belligerence and merciless military assaults. It is a potent mix.
Dismissing the violent suppression of protests in Libya as the normal reaction of any government and the military campaign as self-defence, regime officials believe they are victims of a “great injustice” perpetrated against them by the international coalition — led, they say, by Britain and France.
A series of private conversations with figures considered to be among the more open and reform-minded within the government highlights a fin-de-siècle mood within the regime.
“I face losing everything I have worked for,” said a diplomat who has clocked up more than 30 years in Gaddafi’s service.
However the current crisis was resolved, he said, the Libya he had known all his adult life was at an end.
Britain was frequently singled out as a source of aggrievement. “We gave them everything,” said one official.
“We gave up our WMD [weapons of mass destruction] voluntarily. We were the best country participating in the fight against terrorism.
“Gaddafi gave all the information we had about al-Qaida. We gave them the file about the IRA.”
Libya had eventually co-operated over the Lockerbie investigation and had offered British oil firms access to Libya’s greatest natural asset.
“I honestly don’t know what happened. I have thought about it for two months. We feel betrayed.”
A second diplomat said: “The UK was a country that was friends with Libya. It had diplomatic relations, cultural relations, investments. Why have they taken sides?”
In answer to his own question, he went on: “They decided from day one. It was a plot, 10 times a plot, a conspiracy to remove Gaddafi, to change the regime.
“It’s all to please public opinion. One day you’re good, and the next you are bad, bad, bad.”
David Cameron, he said, had not attempted to build a relationship with Gaddafi since becoming prime minister. Another diplomat said: “Relations with the Cameron government were not good.”
The officials accused Britain of judging the Libyan regime too harshly over its response to the uprising.
“I’m not defending what happened,” said one. “There was bad management — but it doesn’t warrant war.
“OK, so there were some demonstrations and some policemen got upset — so what is the role of ambassadors? What is the point of building up good relations? Ambassadors exist to cool things down.”
The “bad management” referred to the days following the start of unrest when cities and towns across the country — including Gaddafi’s stronghold of Tripoli — erupted in protests.
Gaddafi’s security forces moved swiftly to put down the rebellions, shooting dead unrecorded numbers and arresting thousands, who are still believed to be languishing in the regime’s brutal detention centres.
Officials described the west’s horrified response and subsequent action as “interference in internal affairs”.
The officials pointed to “double standards” in the west’s response. “What’s the difference between the Libyan rebels and the IRA?” asked one.
“The IRA were armed rebels who wanted their independence. The British — the legitimate government — fought them, and anyone who gave [the IRA] support was considered an enemy. Now the British are doing the same with the Libyan rebels.”
Another said: “If the British talk to the self-appointed [opposition] council, why not talk to Hamas? Or the Taliban?”
Why hadn’t the west imposed a no-fly zone on Israel over Gaza, or intervened militarily over pro-democracy protests in Bahrain?
Libyan arguments about unwarranted interference and betrayal were robustly rejected by Sir Richard Dalton, the British ambassador to Tripoli from 1999 to 2002.
“The argument that the west abandoned them is grossly superficial,” he told the Guardian.
“What the hell do they expect when they behave the way they did after 17 February? They shouldn’t be remotely surprised that their friendships throughout the world deserted them.”
Dalton described the UK’s rapprochement with Libya as “functional”.
“We wanted a partnership with Libya but there was only so much at any one time that we’d accept.
“You are always aware with a country like Libya that you are skating on thin ice.”
Asked if the UK under Tony Blair became too close to the regime, Dalton said: “You can always fail to predict the future. History shows that we did get too close, but that history wasn’t laid out on a plate in advance.”
There were, he added, “significant voices in the British establishment saying, ‘Don’t do it’.”
Officials within the regime claim that Gaddafi is ready to implement serious political reform as part of a negotiated resolution to the civil war.
They insist that he must not be forced out in any deal — but there is an underlying reluctant recognition that epochal change is inevitable.
“If the leader has to go, it has to be done shway shway [slowly slowly],” said one.
Another, asked where Libya would be a year from now, said: “Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t see any solutions to anything.”
Such situations are sometimes observed more sharply away from the eye of the storm.
A foreign businessman in Libya, well-connected with regime figures, paused suddenly in the middle of a discussion about overseas investment in the country.
Without preamble, he said: “It’s over.”
What? “The regime. It’s over. Everyone knows it, but no one says.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Brotherhood to Contest Half of Egypt Parliament
The Muslim Brotherhood is regarded as the most organized political force in Egypt after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February and the dissolution of his National Democratic Party.
In a statement issued after a meeting of its decision-making shura (consultative) council, the group said it had decided to contest “between 45 and 50 percent of parliament’s seats”.
Since Mubarak’s rule was ended by a mass uprising, the Brotherhood has stated that it does not seek power, and has said it will not seek the presidency or a majority in parliament.
The group is viewed with suspicion by Washington but is regarded as the only truly organized bloc in Egypt and reckons it could win up to 30 percent of votes in a free election.
Though formally banned under Mubarak, it was tolerated as long as it did not challenge his power. The Brotherhood is an Islamist group founded in the 1920s and has deep roots in Egypt’s conservative Muslim society.
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Tunisia: Libyan Soldiers Who Crossed Border Repatriated
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, APRIL 29 — All Libyan soldiers who crossed into neighbouring Tunisia and clashed with its security forces have today returned to Libya, the Tunisian Ministry of Defence has announced.
Gaddafi’s soldiers entered the Tunisian town of Dehiba during fighting with Libyan rebels over the border post between the two countries. In a statement circulated to the Tunisian agency TAP, the Tunisian Ministry of Defence said that the army “intervened to stop the advance of some members of Gaddafi’s forces, who were rounded up and repatriated onto Libyan soil”. The statement did not say how many soldiers had been sent back.
Meanwhile, Tunisian authorities have summoned the Libyan ambassador in protest against the clashes in the Dehiba border area, according to Al Jazeera. “We have summoned the Libyan envoy, and we have made it clear to him that we will not tolerate similar violations in the future. There is a red line marking Tunisian soil and no-one is allowed to cross it,” Tunisia’s junior Foreign Minister, Radhouane Nouicer, told the pan-Arab station.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Archaeological Finds in Ex Ben Ali Residence
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, APRIL 15 — Hugely valuable archaeological artefacts dating back to the Punic and Romanesque periods have been found in the Sidi Dhrif Palace, the residence of the ousted Tunisian President, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The discovery was made by the national commission investigating corruption and embezzlement. The 57 artefacts have already been handed over to representatives of the Ministry of Culture. An entire medical block was also discovered in the palace, along with a huge quantity of medicine.
At around the same time, a number of other important artefacts were recovered elsewhere in Tunis, after being stolen from one of the residences of Belhassen Trabelsi, the former President’s brother-in-law, during the uprising.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Victor Davis Hanson: Humanitarian Beheading
There are a number of videos circulating about from “free Libya” showing grotesque head-loppings, executions, torture and desecration of bodies, of African mercenaries who apparently were captured or killed by the rebels in Libya. No doubt, the mercenaries were quite brutal thugs whom Qaddafi employed to coerce or kill his opponents; but the sort of barbarity we see is also the sort that we are subsidizing now with direct cash infusions, as well as with military logistics and support (and who knows whether today the on-again-off-again US participation in the NATO bombing “no-fly” zone missions is on again?). One could argue that these are isolated incidents beyond the control of the Westernized professionals who pop up on CNN and the BBC as the official face of the “rebellion,” but the filmed savageries take place amid large crowds, urging the executioners and torturers on, often in an apparently jihadist manner, which suggests both race and religion contribute to the hatred of the hired enforcers. (When I was in Libya the most common complaint quietly aired against Qaddafi were his cash subsidies of all sorts to black Africans, both in and out of the country).
Because we know very little about the rebels — who they are, what is their agenda, where they get support — we have no idea whether their utopia to come would be, as Samantha Power, Susan Rice, and Hillary Clinton seem to think, a fuzzy version of Turkish-style Islamic “democracy” or a sort of justice in the streets, Khomeini-style, as the graphic Youtube videos illustrate.
And if the president’s Libyan misadventure was intended to be a small “teachable moment” about the eclipse of American exceptionalism abroad, then he has succeeded beyond all expectation: we have been reduced to less than France. The US has no mission (humanitarianism, setting up a rebel enclave, or outing Qaddafi?), no method (no-fly zone, or bombing ground troops, or inserting trainers, or supplying others who bomb?) and no planned outcome (the rebels do what? set up a democracy, set up an Islamic republic, descend into a Somalia, or carve out a Kurdish no-fly zone?).
We have loudly and self-righteously subordinated our foreign policy to the Arab League and the UN to show how multilateral we are, and then surreally subverted that new internationalist stance by going well beyond the no-fly-zone limitations, as we must, if the rebels are to win. We have still not consulted the US Congress, apparently subordinating it to an inferior role to that of the Arab League. In less than 2 weeks we ceased in mediis rebus military operations and outsourced them to the Europeans (if our goal was to highlight their new autonomy and muscularity, it backfired, since they have not the wherewithal to win, and will only be embarrassed by us as errant adolescents who rue moving out and want to come back home and reenlist US carrier strikes.)…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Domestic Violence Rings Alarm Bells in Turkey
She is neither a celebrity nor a prominent politician, but a bodyguard escorts Nahide Opuz at every step, even at the supermarket, to fend off a menace that has proved lethal: her ex-husband.
The 39-year-old mother of two is the first Turkish woman to have a government-funded bodyguard after the European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey in 2009 for failing to protect her and her slain mother.
Before the landmark case reached the judges in Strasbourg, Opuz was repeatedly beaten and survived both a stabbing and an attempt to run her over with a car.
After Turkish authorities repeatedly failed to act on her complaints, her ex-husband killed her mother.
Opuz, from the mainly Kurdish southeast, now lives a secluded life.
“For her, it is impossible to talk about and have a normal life. She has been haunted by violence and death threats all throughout her marriage and afterward,” lawyer Meral Danis Bestas told AFP.
Activists say violence against women in the EU-candidate country has reached an alarming level and point the finger at the judicial authorities and the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party, or AKP.
In February and March, 52 women were killed by men, according to a tally by BIAnet, a news site focusing on human rights abuses.
The figure was at least 217 for last year, and 27 percent of them were killed after asking for a divorce.
From 2002 to 2009, the number of women killed in pre-meditated murders rose 14-fold, according to Justice Ministry statistics that do not provide details on the perpetrators and circumstances.
“The problem in Turkey has reached the level of ‘gendercide,’“ said Hülya Gülbahar, a leading women’s rights activist.
Women have long been victims of violence, including honor killings, in a country where patriarchal traditions persist.
But critics argue the problem has been compounded in recent years by the AKP’s advocacy of conservative values.
“The AKP’s conservatism and Islam target the woman’s body and sexuality,” said Pinar Ilkkaracan, a rights campaigner.
“What is lacking is the will to eliminate violence against women on the part of the government. They have shown serious resistance” against solving the issue,” she said.
Gülbahar also blamed mounting violence on “an intense propaganda that women and men are not equal by creation, and women are therefore responsible for housework and motherhood.”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who once called women activists “marginals” — came under fire last year when he said, “men and women cannot be equal” but only “complementary to each other.”
The AKP, in power since 2002, rejects the accusations, arguing that the number of murdered and abused women has increased because cases are now properly recorded and therefore receiving more publicity.
“We are a party that positively influences its conservative electorate against abuses,” said lawmaker Fatma Sahin, who heads the AKP’s women’s branch.
“Women have begun to speak out and struggle against abuse and the cases are being registered,” she added.
Ankara says it also actively participates in the preparation of a Council of Europe convention to combat violence against women and plans to be one of its first signatories in May.
But for Opuz’s lawyer, the problem lies in how laws are implemented on the ground.
“The authorities fail to take death threats seriously. Prosecutors and police fail to do what they need to,” Bestas said citing the case of Opuz’s ex-husband who sentenced to 15 years in jail, but served only six under various reductions.
In another major shortcoming, Turkey, a country of some 74 million, has only 49 women’s shelters even though the law obliges each city with a population over 50,000 to have one.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Releases Men Accused of Spying for Hamas
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, APRIL 27 — Jordanian authorities on Wednesday released two men found guilty of spying for Hamas, days following secret meetings between Jordanian officials and from the Islamist movement.
The two men are part of five sentenced by the military run state security court of obtaining sensitive information including photos of areas that overlook the borders with Israel in the north and western parts of the kingdom. Their lawyer, Ahmed Armouti said the two men were released after their sentence of five years came to an end. A third man is expected to be released after his sentence also came to an end. The five men were sentenced to ten years behind bars, but the court of appeal lowered the sentence to five years.
Jordanian officials this week leaked news of meetings in Amman and Gaza with officials from Hamas on hope of brokering a deal with Fateh. The pro-west kingdom has cut its ties with Hamas after the Islamist movement overpowered Fateh five years ago and took control of Gaza. The absence of a political leadership in Egypt is believed to have encouraged Jordan to take a leading role to end Hamas Fateh feud.
The Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood said the trial is “political rather than out of security concerns.” Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, but the accord remains unpopular in the kingdom, where more than 60 per cent of the population are of Palestinian origin.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar: “Historic” Law Created, Granting Carer Rights
(ANSAmed) — DOHA, APRIL 20 — Qatar has made significant progress in the realm of safeguarding a category of workers which is often neglected: carers and cleaners. They are often exploited, molested, given illegal contracts, sexually abused and made to work 12-hour shifts.
Therefore the country’s government has announced that it will be drafting a law which has been defined as historic, in that for the first time carers and cleaners will be granted rights and their employers will have specific duties with which to comply. For the first time, fundamental rights such as a ban on child labour will be recognised. And the deterrents are effective: employers who fall foul of the law can be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in jail, and/or fined up to 300,000 riyal (about 60,000 euros).
The main problem in Qatar is human trafficking: Filipinos and Indians go there seeking work but find themselves forced into strenuous jobs, without any rights, without any type of contract or job security and wholly dependent on their employers. There is a very fine line between a worker and a slave in this part of the world. The new law forces employers to resort to specific agencies which have a recruitment licence. The Labour Ministry needs to grant a special permit if the employer does not wish to go through said agencies. The aim is to hamper any type of deviation from the legislation. The Labour Ministry plays an important role in the process because, for the first time, tertiary staff cannot be hired without the signed consent of both parties, which needs to be submitted to the ministry. This is a huge step forward; there is no legislation at the moment which safeguards the rights of carers in Qatar nor, to date, has there been any institutional network for them to turn to in case of need.
Indeed, many women still work without a contract and without the option of consulting the ministry should their rights be violated or if they are abused. The real revolution lies in the fact that in case of violence or abuse, the legislation that applies will be that for human trafficking, which transcends a mere administrative process and specifically targets the respect of human rights. In order to prevent any type of violation, employers risk jail time and steep fines. Furthermore, omission and complicity are also punishable with fines of up to 150,000 riyal (some 30,000 euros) and 3 years’ imprisonment. Employers have therefore been forced to fulfil certain duties and given responsibilities for the first time. They are also responsible for redundancy fees and an airline ticket per year but, best of all, they must pay for their staff’s medical checkups as per existing laws, as well as for all the paperwork necessary for the employees’ legal status, which must be obtained within 90 days of their initial employment date. Everybody is hoping new legislation granting fundamental rights such as the right to worship will come into force soon; the laws comprise both specific regulations and a new version of laws for the protection of fundamental rights, such as freedom of belief. This is a major accomplishment in a Muslim country where the Sharia (the law of the Koran) prevails. The rights which are provided for include the right to medical assistance, and not to have to work when ill; both of these are crucial issues in Qatar, where there have been reported cases of suspicious deaths in which the victims’ families accused employers of causing the deaths of the deceased, who were working as carers. Therefore Qatar’s government felt the need to draft legislation for this category of workers, too, giving the families of the deceased carers the right to bring suit, with a short trial in a Qatari court, free of charge. The real value of the legislation stems not only from the fact that it fills a legal gap in the country, which enabled thousands of immigrants to be abused and mistreated. The government’s stance is the real watershed: for the first time it has shown itself to be determined to protect human rights and the fundamental rights of the community’s most vulnerable social group.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Melkite Patriarch on Fears of a Future of Chaos and Fundamentalism
Interview with Gregory III Laham, Melkite Patriarch of Damascus. Doubts about the identity of those leading the revolt. Even today, demonstrations and violence in many cities. Today is the ‘Day of wrath “and for the first time an invitation to take to the streets comes from Muslim Brotherhood.
Rome (AsiaNews) — The riots and violence in Syria is a major concern for the Christian churches in the country. Even today, “Day of wrath”, the first to see the Muslim Brotherhood take to the streets, news of protests and repression, deaths and injuries are filtering through not only from Deraa, but from Damascus, Latakia, Homs, Hourani, Deir Zoour and other cities. Fear for the future is mounting, that it will be one of chaos or fundamentalist governments, one that will leave Christians no option but to emigrate abroad. This is what Gregory III Laham, Melkite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, tells AsiaNews today.
The patriarch stresses the participation of Christians in the pain and suffering of the people. Respect for the deaths that have occurred in recent weeks — at least 500 since the anti-Assad demonstrations started — the Easter holiday was celebrated without music and processions, out of respect for those in mourning. Gregory III, however, expresses doubts about the identity of those who lead the uprising (criminals? Fundamentalists? Jihadists?) About his growing concerns for the future. The Melkite Patriarch believes a way to avoid a violent revolution needs to be found on that leads to progress in stability. This is why His Holiness has written letters to European countries and the Americas asking them to help prevent the nation from sliding into chaos and to move swiftly to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian problem, the real priority for peace in the Middle East and the world.
Your Beatitude, as a Christian how do you view the situation in Syria?
The movements and revolts that are shaking Syria worry the Churches and Christians. Not so much for the present, but for the future, for what to expect. In the past, every revolt in the Middle East was followed by a large wave of Christian emigration to Europe, America or Australia. I fear that even now the same will happen, further emptying an already dwindling Christian community.
Some Muslim scholars also are concerned about a possible depletion of Christians in Syria. And are demanding their presence be defended and safeguarded.
Are there problems for the Christian communities?
So far, the riots have not been of a sectarian nature, they are not a Christian-Muslim conflict. Indeed, during demonstrations in Homs, Aleppo and Damascus, young Muslims have offered to protect churches, providing security cordons around the buildings to prevent criminal acts.
In solidarity with those killed in clashes in recent weeks, Christians have celebrated the rites of Holy Week and Easter in a very sober manner, no processions, music or festivities, to correctly participate in the mourning of the population.
At the same time we are trying to play the role of mediators in conflicts that have emerged in Syrian society, so that tensions do not grow until the inevitable. I have personally sent letters to 15 European countries, the United States, and the Americas asking their governments to help improve the situation without any “revolution” violent.
What is your impression of the protesters?
The impression we have from inside is that some groups whose main objective is to provoke a violent response from the government are infiltrating the protests that originally grew from social and economic problems. In this way, tension is stoked to the point of gaining the international community’s condemnation and demands for a regime change from outside. There are very mysterious aspects pervading all of this: there are criminals involved in the protest, there is a massive introduction of weapons in the country to provoke a confrontation …. The future is very uncertain and no-one knows what the outcome will be, no one knows who these people are. Sure, there are young, frustrated people, but many say that among them are criminals and even fundamentalist Muslims who cry for jihad. This is why we fear that giving way to violence will only lead to chaos. I think the tactics of a phony war are being used against Syria.
How would you explain the West’s exaltation of the Syrian protests and its harsh accusations of violations of human rights?
There are political problems and pressures to shake up the balance of power in the Middle East: the alliance with Iran [and Syria-ed], Israel’s concern… In all things that happen in the Middle East, there is always a link with the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, war, emigration … we have been in this situation for over 62 years. For this I sent the letter to European and American governments and I invited them to put pressure on their governments to tackle the Israeli-Palestinian problem as a priority: only in this way will there be less migration, less terrorism, less fundamentalism, less violence.
This is my mission and it is what I also emphasized in the Synod of Bishops last October and the pope appreciated it. Peace is also important for the future of Muslim-Christian dialogue in Syria and the world. If the crisis continues to force Christians to migrate, the Arab world will become exclusively Muslim increasing the likelihood of a cultural conflict between the Arab-Islamic world and Western-Christian world.
The presence of Christians in the Middle East saves the Arab Middle East by not to reducing it to pure Islam. If Syria is helped to overcome this situation of chaos to one of stability guaranteed by dialogue with the population, the future will be better for everyone.
Is the Assad family rule a positive thing for Syria?
In these 40 years, Syria has made great advances in agriculture, economics, education, even university, generating many jobs. There has been less development on a socio-political level, but the everyday lives of people has improved significantly. Even in religious freedom, there has been a lot of progress. A few months ago I was able to organize — with the sponsorship of the government — an international meeting on the fruits of the Synod of the Middle East (celebrated in the Vatican last October), with the participation of at least 3,500 persons, four patriarchs, 13 churches.
Regarding political reform, we must remember that in the Arab Middle East, in addition to Lebanon, there are democracies. There are parties, elections, but governments try to control the whole society. And in many situations, this is also necessary.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: As Events Intensify, Ankara Prepares a ‘B Plan’
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, APRIL 29 — While Ankara’s ‘A Plan’ for Syria, which envisioned a transition to democracy via a series of reforms appears to have been left by the wayside, a ‘B Plan’ is soon to be put to action, The pro-government Turkish daily Sabah reported. This plan, which includes the possibilities of turmoil in Syria, civil war and migration, has been discussed by Turkey’s National Security Council yesterday. The scenario prepared by the Prime Minister’s office, the General Staff, Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Intelligence Agency (MIT) under the coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs foresees the following measures: Surveillance close to the border, reinforcing security stations, and reinforcing the region with mine sweeping machinery. The Turkish-Syrian border is riddled with some 615,000 landmines, planted since the 1950s to prevent first smugglers and Kurdish terrorists from PKK from crossing. Camps will be set up in Hatay, Sanliurfa, Kilis and Mardin along the Syrian border in order to be prepared for a mid-scale migration into Turkey. The Red Crescent will also begin preparations and pilot hospitals will be designated.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Man Released After Allegedly Stabbing Ex-Wife Five Times With a Screwdriver
A woman narrowly escaped death after she was allegedly stabbed five times with a screwdriver by her ex-husband in Istanbul’s Maltepe district on Sunday, after being denied official protection. She is now recovering in hospital protected only by her family as the suspect walks free.
“The state could not protect me. The first time I made a complaint about my ex-husband, he did not appear in front of the prosecutor. I narrowly escaped death but he has been released. He carries a gun. He could easily kill me as I lie in my hospital bed. Still the state does nothing to protect me. Now I understand why women murders cannot be prevented,” said Filiz Akdogan, 27, who is trying to recover from the horrific recent event.
Although she divorced her husband, Çoskun Kara, 34, two years ago, she said he continues to harass her and even sends death threats.
Akdogan said her ex-husband, a security guard, came to the hair dresser were she works on Sunday. “He said, ‘You will either come with me, or I will kill you.’“ She said when she resisted he stabbed her with a screwdriver five times.
The owner of the hairdresser, Yalçin Tunçel, intervened and tried to grab Kara but fell to the floor and injured his back. Witnesses called the police, who took both Akdogan and Tuncel to the hospital. Kara was found fainted on the ground and taken into custody. At the Cumhuriyet Police Station, Kara claimed the hairdresser had beaten him up when he came for a talk with his ex-wife. He was then released after his statement was taken.
Akdogan was seriously injured and her doctors said she would suffer from breathing problems because she has lost the function of 20 percent of her lungs.
While the young woman’s family is pleased their daughter survived, they were terrified to know that Kara had been released. Afraid for their daughter’s safety, the family has armed themselves to guard the hospital room where Akdogan is recovering. Her brother Deniz Akdogan took 10 days off from work and said he and his brother switch shifts to protect their sister.
“We continually lock the door. I wait in front of the door until the morning. We gave his picture to the security guards so he will not be allowed in. My daughter made a complaint about him previously. Who is going to protect us?” asked her father.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin-Moscow Soon at High Speed
“Moscow closer to Paris thanks to rail,” thus Gazeta Wyborcza welcomes a plan of opening a new railway connection between Moscow and Berlin via Poland with the prospect of extending it to Paris as of 2012. The official launch of the project is scheduled for June at Third Forum of the Russian and Polish Regions to be held in the Russian capital. Russian Railways (RZD) aims at cutting the trip to Berlin (currently about 27 hours) by two hours by the end of 2011 and by another eight in 2013 when a high speed line is to link Moscow and Berlin. The shortening of the journey time will be also possible thanks to new cars with a Spanish-made Talgo automatic gauge changing system (it now takes nearly 2 hours to switch from the European to Russian gauge at the Polish-Belarusian border).
Meanwhile Polish state railways (PKP) hope to join the Russian project although officials admit no “talks” have been held on the subject. Gazeta Wyborcza ponders the “economic sense” of the new railway links, stressing the fact that according to estimates, “railway could be competitive on distances up to 750 km” (on longer hauls planes remain cheaper). The distance from Moscow to Berlin is over 1600 km. Hence there must be other reasons for the new railway connections with the West. “Russians want to show they have money and they are not afraid of investing in infrastructure”, explains Adrian Furgalski, director of the Railway Business Forum.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow: Fuel Crisis: Government Blocks Exports in May
Russians are queuing for petrol. The increase in exports of major oil companies that are riding the boom in oil prices is leaving distributors in many regions dry. And the government running for cover. In May, supplies only for the domestic market.
Moscow (AsiaNews) — It is one of the largest oil producers in the world, but today Russia is facing a fuel “famine”. The crisis comes after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in February ordered gasoline prices maintain be kept low, in the midst of price speculation fuelled by the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Meanwhile, the government has decided to block exports of refined products in the month of May, only supplying the domestic market.
State regulation has led the biggest national suppliers to increase exports, which are more profitable than the retail market following the oil boom now fixed above 110 US dollars a barrel. The lack of petrol and diesel reached its peak in the Easter weekend and is likely to affect the popularity of Prime Minister, directly responsible for economic policy, on the eve of the election campaign that could see him run for another term in the Kremlin in 2012.
Sounding the alarm on April 26 was the organization of Russian Fuel Union (RFU) after a meeting with the director of Russian Antitrust (FAS), Igor Artemiev. According to the RFU, which represents gas stations, the major suppliers — led by Rosneft and Gazprom Neft — refuse to supply fuel to private companies resulting in a shortage of fuel. “If the situation remains the same — warns Evgeny Arkush, chairman of the RFU — many regions could run out of fuel in the coming days.”
Worrying reports have already arrived. The areas most at risk include St Petersburg, Voronezh, Novosibirsk, especially the islands of Altai and Sakhalin, in Siberia. Here most of the independent fuel distributors have already closed, ceasing their activities last weekend, and Rosneft stations (the state giant in black gold) provide only 20 litre per vehicle. Moscow is also under threat, despite the authorities trying to reassure consumers.
The scale of the crisis has pushed the big Russian oil companies to halt exports of refined products in May, supplying only the domestic market. The announcement of the Deputy Minister of Energy Sergei Kudriashov, that “companies will not export in May, all quantities will be delivered to the domestic market.”
The situation, say experts, is likely to be exacerbated with the arrival of the planting season, during which the demand for diesel for the agricultural machinery industry increases. The spectrum of the lack of petrol really cares the government, so much so that Putin has instructed the competent authorities to report on individual cases in the various regions.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Jakarta: Extremist Group Recruits Students to Target Christians and Introduce Shariah
The former independence movement NII has turned into a cell of Islamic terrorism. Among the objectives a devastating attack during Easter, on a Protestant church. The explosion also targeted an oilpipeline nearby the Christian building. Civil society calls on President Yudhoyono for less talk and more action.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — An emerging Islamic terrorist group recruits followers among university students and, through brainwashing, prepares them for suicide bombings or bomb attacks against sensitive targets, including Christian churches. It has been confirmed by the Indonesian police that the former separatist movement “NII or Negara Islam Indonesia” — the Islamic state Indonesia — has now turned into an extremist group in the network of terror. It recently orchestrated an attack on a Protestant church that only by accident, did not result in a bloodbath.
The acronym NII in the decades has become the symbol of the Muslim separatist struggle, which aims to impose Islamic law — Shariah — in Indonesia and introduce a full range of behaviors, lifestyles and patterns derived from the Arabic culture such as the beard, jilbab or the burqa. Today it has changed the face, becoming involved in the fundamentalist terror network, its leaders have adopted techniques like brainwashing to recruit young people in universities and train them to carry out attacks or bombings.
Police spokesman Amar Boy Rafly reports that the NII terrorist group arose five years ago and promotes the recruitment in schools, propagating an extremist vision of Islam. Among the objectives of the recent attack on the Christ Church Cathedral — a modern, luxurious building — at Gading Serpong, in the city of Tangerang, Banten province, about 20 km west of Jakarta. The mastermind of the massacre is 31 year old Fernando Pepi, a former student of the Islamic State University (Uin) and originally from West Java. The police stopped him on April 27 last, with his wife and seven other members of the NII.
The attackers wanted to place explosive charges in the property that is located not far from a state-owned pipeline. In recent days, a small charge exploded, but the real objective was a larger explosion capable of causing hundreds of casualties in the celebration of Easter. The material for the assassination plot was bought on the black market — at least 120 km of explosives — and, according to the terrorists, would have led to a massacre.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has alerted the Indonesian civil society as a whole, noting that the terrorist group constitutes a real threat for the country. However, the majority of citizens are skeptical of the claims of the Head of State regarding extremist movements: empty words without any decisive action.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Aids Vaccine to be Tested in South Africa
‘Encouraging premises’ for phase II of research
(ANSA) — Rome, April 19 — A ground-breaking Italian AIDS vaccine is to be tested in South Africa, the Higher Health Institute (ISS) said Tuesday.
The ISS’s AIDS research group led by Barbara Ensoli will work with South Africa’s National Department of Health on the second stage of testing of the vaccine, the ISS said in a statement.
Initially, Ensoli’s team will work with 200 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 45 at a clinic at the Medical University of South Africa in the northern province of Gauteng while another test site is being prepared at Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape. The ISS will be looking first to corroborate preliminary test results that the so-called TAT vaccine can provoke an immune response, and second will be monitoring the vaccine’s safety.
“The test programme begins with encouraging premises,” said ISS President Enrico Garaci.
From tests in Italy, he said, the TAT vaccine had shown signs of being “a promising tool to improve immune functions in HIV-positive individuals”. In November researchers published early phase II test results from Italian clinics showing that the vaccine appeared to be working.
“We have seen the vaccine reach parts where drugs cannot go,” Ensoli said.
“The vaccine seems to bring the immune system back into kilter”.
Ensoli noted that 48 weeks after the vaccine was given to the volunteers, “their parameters are still improving and it appears we have managed to stop the damage”.
Garaci said the results “corroborate our efforts” and “confirm our model of research, from the lab bench to the patient’s bed”.
The second stage of testing began in late 2008 in 11 centres across Italy with 128 HIV-positive people between the ages of 18 and 55, both men and women.
In 2006 Ensoli ended the first phase of research and reported that her AIDS vaccine had passed its initial tests with flying colours.
She said all the Italian volunteers had shown a “100% response to the vaccine by producing specific antibodies”.
Ensoli’s vaccine is considered ground-breaking because it adopts a new approach to fighting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Traditional vaccines seek to bolster the immune system, the aim being to boost the body’s ability to fight off the disease.
This approach, however, has been relatively unsuccessful against HIV, a virus good at mutating and reviving itself.
Ensoli’s ‘TAT-protein’ vaccine, on the other hand, attempts to block the spread of the infection and prevent the reproduction of infected cells.
Ensoli believes the HIV virus needs TAT-proteins to be able to take root and spread.
By targeting TAT-proteins her treatment might be effective against all strains of HIV.
Results from studies of the vaccine on laboratory animals have shown the treatment could be a vital step forward in the fight against AIDS.
The vaccine — described by eminent oncologist and former health minister Umberto Veronesi as “intelligent” — received the green light for human testing in 2003.
Ensoli’s technique is not without its critics, however.
In August 2007 the American magazine Science reported that Ensoli had filed a suit against prominent immunologist Ferdinando Auiti accusing him of slander and seeking to tarnish her reputation.
Aiuti, Science wrote, had repeatedly cited “critical errors” in the first experimental stages of Ensoli’s vaccine.
Aiuti said he was “surprised” about the suit, adding that he had “nothing personal” against Ensoli and that he had not changed his opinion on her experimental vaccine.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bloomberg: U.S. Should Make All New Immigrants Live in Detroit
Detroit needs residents. Immigrants want to live in America.
Michael Bloomberg says he’s got a simple solution for both needs — send all new immigrants to Detroit.
In a novel approach to immigration reform, the New York City mayor said Sunday that if he could have his way, he’d use the immigrant workforce to jump-start the Motor City’s economy by requiring Detroit residency.
“The population has left. You’ve got to do something about that,” Bloomberg said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And if I were the federal government, assuming you could wave a magic wand and pull everybody together, you pass a law letting immigrants come in as long as they agreed to go to Detroit and live there for five or 10 years. Start businesses, take jobs, whatever.
“You would populate Detroit overnight because half the world wants to come here,” he said.
Bloomberg has long advocated for changes in immigration policy. He said Sunday that America’s “superpower” status depends on its ability to continue letting immigrants in.
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
EU Considers Reinstating National Border Controls
In response to intense pressure from France and Italy, European Commission to unveil new proposals on Wednesday
Brussels said on Sunday that national passport controls might be reintroduced across Europe to allow the “temporary” re-erection of borders between 25 countries.
Responding to intense pressure from Italy and France to tighten the no-borders system known as the Schengen regime, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, said he was looking at ways of satisfying the two countries’ concerns. Paris and Rome are alarmed at an influx of migrants fleeing revolutionary north Africa.
In a letter to French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Barroso said that the commission would unveil new proposals on Wednesday on immigration policy, common European asylum procedures, and reform of the Schengen system.
The commission’s proposals are to go to a summit of EU leaders next month, with France and Italy leading the charge for a partial renationalisation of border controls, a trend the commission would like to resist but looks too weak to counter.
The Franco-Italian push to place greater restrictions on the Schengen regime, launched last week after a furious row between Paris and Rome over refugees from Tunisia, has already won support from a handful of other EU countries, including Germany.
The Schengen system, introduced in 1995 after being agreed a decade earlier, abolished frontier checks between 22 EU countries plus Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, and is viewed by many of the 400 million Europeans concerned as one of the more tangible benefits of the EU. Britain and Ireland are not part of the system, insisting on retaining their national border controls.
Despite pressure from Malta and Italy over some 30,000 refugees, mainly from Tunisia in recent weeks, the commission has rejected calls for a temporary suspension of the Schengen regime.
But in his letter, Barroso conceded that national authorities may be given greater leeway to play with the Schengen rules.
“Strengthening the application of the Schengen rules is an area that the commission is in the process of examining,” he said. “The temporary re-establishment of [national] borders is one possibility among others which, subject to specific and well-founded criteria, could constitute one element for strengthening observance of the Schengen agreement.”
Member states are allowed to freeze Schengen and mount border controls solely on national security grounds at present, a move that has to be blessed by Brussels.
The commission, though, appears to be moving, reluctantly but under great pressure from national capitals, towards granting governments more scope for closing down the passport-free zone which extends from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and from the Atlantic to the Baltic Sea.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU Executive Says Could Reinstate Border Controls
(Reuters) — The European Union executive is considering allowing member states to reinstate some border controls, its president said on Sunday, responding to demands for more national power to stem immigration.
The announcement lent momentum to a campaign by France and Italy to reimpose some of the border checks, abolished in 1995 under the Schengen agreement, as they grapple with an influx of migrants fleeing political upheaval in North Africa.
In a letter to Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said it would be possible to permit countries reintroduce limited controls.
“The temporary restoration of borders is one of the possibilities, provided this is subject to specific and clearly defined criteria, that could be an element to strengthen the governance of the Schengen agreement,” Barroso wrote.
EU countries may already introduce temporary border checks as Germany has done to stop foreign soccer hooligans visiting football games, but new EU rules could widen countries’ freedom to do so, said a source familiar with the plans.
“To reinstate border controls now, you have to justify that based on the threat to public order,” said the source.
“With the new system, you would no longer need to invoke a threat to public order. This would extend the possibilities to reinstate controls.”
The EU executive, which writes the first draft of EU laws that are then sent to countries for approval, plans to present an outline of its legal proposals in the coming days.
If accepted, the new EU rules would alter one of the biggest achievements of the single European market, passport-free travel, but one which makes it harder to curb illegal migration.
The proposals could become law as soon as they are agreed by the EU’s 27 member states and the bloc’s parliament, a process that could be concluded in months but could also easily drag on for more than a year.
The arrival of thousands of immigrants from North Africa prompted France in April to shut its borders to trains carrying African migrants from Italy.
The two countries accused each other of flouting the spirit of the Schengen treaty, which eliminates many border controls within the EU.
So far this year, around 25,000 migrants, most from France’s former colony Tunisia, have arrived in southern Italy on small, overloaded fishing boats, creating a humanitarian emergency on the tiny island of Lampedusa where most of the boats landed.
Italy says it has been left to deal with the problem on its own while Paris has accused Rome of trying to escape its responsibilities by allowing illegal immigrants free transit across the border. Last Tuesday, French President Sarkozy visited Rome to try to defuse tension.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
NASA’s Voyager Probes to Leave Solar System by 2016
It may be decades before humanity sets foot on Mars, but we’re only five years away from sampling the vast stretches of interstellar space beyond our solar system for the first time, researchers say. NASA’s twin unmanned Voyager spacecraft, which were launched in 1977, are streaking toward the edge of the solar system at around 37,000 mph (60,000 kph). At that rate, they’ll probably pop out of our sun’s sphere of influence and into interstellar space by 2016 or so, according to mission scientists. “They are about to break free of the solar system,” Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., said during a media teleconference yesterday (April 28). “We are trying to get outside of our bubble, into interstellar space, to directly measure what is there.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
1 comments:
Does anyone have a problem with brutal execution of foreign mercenaries hired to wage war on your nation? I sure don't. If it was my country I'd do just that.
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