Two stories about Tony Blair tonight: in one he says he’s just like Barack Obama, and in the other Hamas reports that he negotiated with them directly for months.Those are definitely not mutually incompatible news stories.
The most interesting news concerns wildcat strikes across Europe as a result of increasing unemployment. The near-riot conditions in the UK were sparked by the importation of foreign workers to fill jobs in an oil refinery — when the local unemployment rate is soaring.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Holger Danske, Insubria, islam o’phobe, JD, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Banks Sought Foreign Workers
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -Major U.S. banks sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers into the country for high-paying jobs even as the system was melting down last year and Americans were getting laid off, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications.
The dozen banks now receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households.
As the economic collapse worsened last year — with huge numbers of bank employees laid off — the numbers of visas sought by the dozen banks in AP’s analysis increased by nearly one-third, from 3,258 in the 2007 budget year to 4,163 in fiscal 2008.
The AP reviewed visa applications the banks filed with the Labor Department under the H-1B visa program, which allows temporary employment of foreign workers in specialized-skill and advanced-degree positions. Such visas are most often associated with high-tech workers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Obama to Dilute ‘Buy American’ Plan After Europe Threatens US With Trade War
Barack Obama is expected to water down “Buy American” plans in his economic stimulus package after European diplomats privately threatened to launch a trade war in retaliation.
The White House has promised to review the protectionist proposals, passed last week by Democratic allies in the House of Representatives, which would ban the use of non-American steel in the $800 billion of construction projects.
Obama officials are under pressure from what European diplomats in Washington describe as a discreet but outspoken campaign of “quiet fury” from America’s closest allies.
They regard the move as a provocative shift away from free trade and towards economic populism at a time of turmoil.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Follow the Money
Are taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars for a credit crisis that may have been overblown? Who is the bailout really helping?
Key members of Congress were stunned to hear Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson say on Sept. 18 in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that the country was “days away” from a complete financial meltdown—one that could lead to Depression-like runs on banks, widespread violence and ultimately even to a possible declaration of martial law. It was a vision of Armageddon, but, of course, 10 days later, the House rejected a Wall Street bailout package sent over by Paulson, only to pass one in a more limited form—the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act—a week later that gave Paulson less power and only half the money he wanted.
[…]
Adds Kehoe: “Normally, when you’re going to spend a lot of money, you present the data and the economic theory to support it, yet here’s the biggest non-military government intervention in history since the Great Depression, and there was no evidence presented to support it, and no detailed economic argument made about what market failures this $700 billion was going to fix..”
Supporting that view, Octavio Marenzi, founder of financial technology research and consulting firm Celent, says more bluntly: “There was no credit crisis. What was happening was much more arcane: A few big institutions that had made bad bets were at risk of going bust, and that’s it. And if they had gone bankrupt, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. In fact, there is huge excess capacity in financial services and there’s a need to focus on the healthy ones and let others fail. Meanwhile, business lending and consumer lending were still strong in September and October, and it’s still okay.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Jimmy Carter’ Tag Has Obama Wincing
LESS than two weeks into his administration, President Barack Obama is being portrayed by opponents as a new Jimmy Carter — weak at home and naive abroad — in an attempt to dim his post-election glow and ensure that he serves only one term.
The charge has stung because it was made privately by Hillary Clinton supporters during a hard-fought primary campaign and plays to fears about Obama’s inexperience.
He is engaged in early trials of strength with Republicans in Washington and critics of the United States around the world — not least Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president. Obama faces battles to talk Wall Street into giving up its addiction to large bonuses and US banks to start lending again.
“Barack Obama thinks he can charm his adversaries into changing their ways but his personality can’t change the dynamics,” said Tom Edmonds, a Republican consultant.
“Carter [president from 1977 to 1981] had the same belief in naive symbolism. Their styles are very different but the political similarities are there.”
[…]
Obama’s offer of talks with Iran in his first interview as president on al-Arabiya, an Arab television station, prompted a demand from Ahmadinejad that America apologise for its “crimes”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Prepares to Unveil Plan to Rescue US Banking Industry From $2 Trillion Hole
President Obama is preparing to unveil a rescue plan for Wall Street next week which will dig the world’s biggest banking industry out of a $2 trillion hole.
His plan, which has yet to be finalised and signed off, is expected to include the creation of a “bad bank” that will buy some of lenders’ distressed debt and underwrite the remaining billions of dollars worth of troubled assets. It is also believed to include caps on executive pay for banks benefiting from federal help.
It is believed that President Obama has estimated that total losses among America’s lenders could cost the US up to $2 trillion.
As President Obama and his economic team raced towards a self-imposed deadline of next week, new evidence of the severity of the American recession emerged.
Yesterday, the US Commerce Department revealed that the world’s biggest economy had contracted at an annual rate of 3.8 per cent between October and December, marking the fastest decline for 26 years. The US economy, which has been in a recession since December 2007, contracted faster than at any time since 1982 as American families, fearful of losing their jobs and anxious about the falling value of their homes, stopped spending on all but essential items such as food and petrol.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: a New Las Vegas in Northern Occupied Area
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, JANUARY 29 — A huge shopping mall, 16 five-star hotels and a marina will be built in the occupied Famagusta-Karpass region in the Turkish controlled sector of Cyprus and the area is expected to become a new Las Vegas, daily Famagusta Gazette wrote. The project includes hotels with a total bed capacity of 52,000 that will look like Italy’s Coliseum, Babel’s Hanging Gardens, Artemis’ temple and Noah’s Ark and will be completed by 2010. A marina with a 350-yacht capacity, which is scheduled to be completed in two years, is being built by an Israeli-British firm. In addition a new shopping centre, which will resemble the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, will be built. The centre will cover an area of 45,000 square metres, 18,000 of which will be covered. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Environment: Madrid Most Polluted Community in Spain
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 9 — Madrid is the most polluted community in Spain, where 80.63% of the population is exposed to pollution levels which exceed the highest allowed by the EU law, according to the annual report on the air quality announced by association Ecologistas en Accion, reported today by the media. The study affirms that the PM10 particles created by combustion of boilers and car exhaust, which affect directly the respiratory system, and which according to the EU law cannot exceed an average value of 50 microgrammes per cubic metre during over 35 days per year, exceed almost twice the envisaged limit in ten municipalities of the Community of Madrid. Moreover, the capital and the municipality of Alcorcon, inside the metropolis, suffer the highest levels of dioxide and nitrogen (NO2) created by the car emissions, with an average daily value of between 60 and 71 microgrammes per cubic metre air, exceeding with over 50% the value fixed by the EU which is 40 microgrammes per cubic metre. Air pollution causes the early death of some 1,300 people in Madrid and 2,500 in the region, according to the ecological association, which quotes a study on the matter conducted by the Autonomous University of Madrid in 2004. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Enlargement Commissioner to Visit Cyprus in February
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, JANUARY 29 — The EU Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, will visit Cyprus in February (the date has not yet been confirmed), Cyprus Foreign Minister has announced as CNA reports today. Marcos Kyprianou said that he had a tet-a-tet meeting with Rehn, a few days ago, in the framework of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers in Brussels. During that meeting, Kyprianou noted, they discussed and exchanged views on issues regarding the Turkey’s EU accession route, and the EU regulation for financial support to the Turkish Cypriot community. The Republic of Cyprus supports Turkey’s European course, with the condition that Turkey will fulfill all the criteria and meet its obligations towards the EU and the member states, including Cyprus, Kyprianou stressed. Commenting on Turkish Prime Minister’s statements, that his country will block Nabucco project if progress is not made in Turkey’s accession talks with the EU, Kyprianou said that this position causes problems to the Turkey’s credibility as an EU partner which can provide natural gas to the EU. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
European Elections: Ferrero, Veltroni Backed by Berlusconi
(AGI) — Rome, Jan. 29 — ‘‘The patched-up deal’’ on the European electoral law is something incredible: ‘‘The leader of the main opposition party who is backed by the premier, by Berlusconi’’.
The leader of the Communist party, Paolo Ferrero, has no doubts: The ‘‘europorcellum’’ with 4pct barring ‘‘favours Berlusconi and his government and also one individual: Walter Veltroni’’. Veltroni, continues Ferrero, ‘‘must explain the country why he made this deal with Berlusconi to protect his seat. It is clear that he simply tries to save his leadership through this law, even with the Pd going down’’. Ferrero admits that he has spoken with the Pd leader recently, but that he has not at all understood why he has taken his decision ‘‘because there are no reasons, only that Veltroni likes his seat as much as Villari does. We strongly disagreed on the phone’’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Food: Madrid, Moratinos Appeals to Rich Nations
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JANUARY 26 — The Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, has called for developed countries to send additional funds to those already pledged in the fight against hunger, so as to meet 0.7% of national GDP by 2012. The appeal was made today at the opening of the top level Meeting on food guarantees, which runs until tomorrow in Madrid. The aim, Moratinos said, as quoted by news agencies, is to fight against hunger throughout the world, which affects 1 billion people. The North American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported the appeal, offering the “support” of Barack Obama’s administration to Zapatero’s government, in a video released during the conference in Madrid. Hillary Clinton thanked the Spanish premier for the organisation of the initiative, which aims at mobilising “additional global effort in search of a long term solution to the problem of hunger”. Clinton underlined that it was one of the “absolute priorities” of Obama’s administration. “As the president said during the first day of his mandate: we promise the citizens of poor countries that we will work by your side so that cultivations flourish and clean water runs, to nourish hungry bodies and minds”, the Secretary of State reminded. Moratinos himself recalled the commitment of the Spanish government to send 0.7% of GDP in development aid by 2012, and he hoped that this objective would become “an obligatory challenge for all rich nations”. 120 representatives are taking part in the meeting in Madrid, which aims to draw attention to the food crisis and to trace out a road map against the increase in malnutrition in consequence of the increase in the costs of food. The conference, which will be closed tomorrow by the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, and by the Spanish premier Zapatero, and which from Italy sees the participation of the Foreign Under Secretary Vincenzo Scotti, represents the continuation of the Rome FAO summit held in June last year, during which Spain committed to send 500 million euros before 2012, to finance agricultural and food development policies. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Officials Sacked After Sarkozy Hears Jeers
To jeer President Nicolas Sarkozy has become a serious offence, punishable by the sacking of any official who allows the boos to reach the presidential ears. The police chief and the most senior national government official in the Manche département (county) of lower Normandy have been fired in successive days, to the fury of local politicians, including members of M. Sarkozy’s own party.
The officials’ offence was to fail to shield the President from the boos and whistles of protesters when he made a speech in the town of Saint-Lo earlier this month. Their dismissal has fuelled a debate about President Sarkozy’s increasingly autocratic behaviour. Two high-profile ministers from ethnic minorities, appointed by M. Sarkozy to much fanfare in 2007, have been placed in the political deep-freeze by the President in recent weeks. Last year he ordered the firing of a successful Corsican police chief after nationalist protesters had invaded the garden of his friend, the actor Christian Clavier.
The latest victims of presidential pique are two recently-appointed officials who had overall responsibility for public order when M. Sarkozy visited lower Normandy to speak on education reform on 12 January. About 3,000 demonstrators protested. M. Sarkozy was furious the demonstrators had been allowed to come so near that he could hear them faintly.
He was heard to say at the time: “Quel con, ce préfet.” (What an arsehole, this prefect is.) A prefect is a governor appointed by the state to oversee the administration of each département. On Thursday, it was announced that the prefect of the Manche département, Jean Charbonniaud, was being moved to another job.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gorilla Warfare in Deepest Kent as Snapper Captures Battle of Zoo Giants
[Comment from JD: cool picture.]
The action photograph earned Nicholas Godsell the runner-up prize in an annual photography competition run by Port Lympne zoo near Folkestone, in conjunction with Howletts near Canterbury.
The 33-year-old, sales manager for a computer company, said: ‘I can’t believe I got a shot like that. I was watching these two gorillas getting more and more aggressive with each other.
‘And then suddenly they both just leapt at each other with mouths open — it looked really quite scary.
‘I just happened to have my finger on the shutter button and pushed at just the right time.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Governments Across Europe Tremble as Angry People Take to the Streets
France paralysed by a wave of strike action, the boulevards of Paris resembling a debris-strewn battlefeld. The Hungarian currency sinks to its lowest level ever against the euro, as the unemployment figure rises.. Greek farmers block the road into Bulgaria in protest at low prices for their produce. New figures from the biggest bank in the Baltic show that the three post-Soviet states there face the biggest recessions in Europe.
It’s a snapshot of a single day — yesterday — in a Europe sinking into the bleakest of times. But while the outlook may be dark in the big wealthy democracies of western Europe, it is in the young, poor, vulnerable states of central and eastern Europe that the trauma of crash, slump and meltdown looks graver.
Exactly 20 years ago, in serial revolutionary rejoicing, they ditched communism to put their faith in a capitalism now in crisis and by which they feel betrayed. The result has been the biggest protests across the former communist bloc since the days of people power.
Europe’s time of troubles is gathering depth and scale. Governments are trembling. Revolt is in the air.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘It’s My Dad!’: Youngster’s Joy When He Discovers His Birthday Gift is His Father Home From Iraq
[Comment from JD: a happy story…]
Gabriel Hurles celebrated his sixth birthday by unwrapping the best present ever — his father home on leave from Iraq.
The youngster was so engrossed in the cupcakes his mother brought to his class yesterday that he didn’t notice the enormous wrapped box.
‘That’s one big, giant present,’ a classmate told him. ‘See what you got, Gabriel.’
The six-year-old peeled back the wrapping paper to find the surprise of his young life.
‘It’s my dad!’ he announced joyfully to his classmates at Sutro Elementary School in Dayton, Nevada. ‘Hi, Daddy!’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Planes: Iberia, in 2008 a 90pct Drop in Profit
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JANUARY 28 — Last year was a difficult one for the Spanish airline company Iberia, which ended the business year with a drop in net profits of 90.3pct, to 30 million euro. In presenting the investment plan for the next three years in Madrid today, financial director Enrique Dupuy, quoted by agencies, announced that, in order to deal with the drop in demand, in 2009 Iberia will be cutting 1.7pct of flights, 4.7pct of domestic ones, due to greater competition on the market. Along with profits, 2008 also saw a drop in revenues from passengers, which fell by 2.5pct, to 4.218 billion euro, while those from cargo transport rose by 1pct to 346 million euro. As concerns expenditure, Dupuy stressed the strong impact of fuel costs, which rose by 45pct to 1.666 billion euro, along with a drop in personnel expenditure by 4.4pct to 1.32 billion euro, a 5.5pct rise compared with 2007. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Riot Police Clash With Protesters at Davos Summit
The protests went unnoticed in the forum’s last full day. Instead, CEOs, company chairmen and politicians turned their attention to the future of free trade, which many of them said was under threat as countries deal with rising unemployment, financial instability and recession.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that these pressures were no reason to reject free trade, calling cooperation the only path forward.
“This is not like the 1930s. The world can come together,” he said. “This is a global banking crisis and you’ve got to deal with it for what it is, a global banking crisis.”
Brown reiterated the need for new systems to deflect future crises, a focus of a meeting of the Group of 20 richest nations in London in April. Brown and other leaders believe an international alert system might have prevented the rapid contagion in world financial markets last year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BBC Wasted Legal Fees to Protect ‘Rape’ Personality
The BBC has spent licence-payers’ money in a failed attempt to prevent The Mail on Sunday publishing a story about how one of the Corporation’s personalities had falsely accused her former boyfriend of rape.
Last Sunday we revealed the woman told police she had been assaulted 40 times during their relationship, before withdrawing the allegations.
The officer investigating the case described her claims as ‘inconsistent’ and ‘not credible’.
Yet, because of a legal loophole, the incident remains on the Police National Computer, ruining her former boyfriend’s job prospects and his freedom to travel.
Whereas his life has been wrecked, the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 guarantees her anonymity and prevents him suing for damages.
Last Friday, without notifying The Mail on Sunday, which was therefore not represented at the hearing, BBC lawyers took out a court order to insist that their client was entitled to her anonymity — even though this is guaranteed by law and was at no point under threat. So secret was the court order, this newspaper was even banned from mentioning its existence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Britain ‘Must Revive Farms’ to Avoid Grave Food Crisis
Top thinktank issues stark warning of unrest over prices and says GM crops could offer a solution
[Comment from JD: Watch for increasing propaganda that GM food is the answer…]
Controversially, the report’s authors claim the debate about the use of GM crops in the UK will have to be reopened if productivity is to be increased, a suggestion likely to spark anger from the green lobby.
They claim: “As part of the co-ordinated technological response, the debate over GM technology will need to be reopened. GM crops are cited by many food supply professionals as among the tools required in efforts to reconcile the maintenance of agricultural productivity with more sustainable and affordable food production.” But they add: “The issue remains highly contentious.”
The thinktank on international affairs also claims the UK’s consumers must expect to pay significantly more for their food if they want the country to develop a long-term sustainable food policy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gordon Brown Condemns Wildcat Strikes Over Foreign Workers in Britain
Gordon Brown condemned wildcat strikes as indefensible amid frantic efforts to prevent the row over the use of foreign labour escalating into mass industrial action.
The Prime Minister said he recognised people were ‘worried’ about jobs being taken by workers from other countries, but stressed that the UK was part of a ‘single European market’.
He also sought to explain his pledge of ‘British jobs for British workers’, insisting he had only meant people would be given the skills to compete against other nationalities.
The comments, in an interview with the BBC’s Politics Show, came as efforts continued to stop tensions spiralling out of control.
Officials from government departments, unions, employers and the mediation service Acas have been in frantic discussions following a series of wildcat strikes that erupted across the country on Friday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Having More Than Two Children is ‘Irresponsible’ Warns Government Advisor
[Comment from JD: Straight from the politburo’s mouth…]
Couples who have more than two children are putting an ‘irresponsible’ burden on the environment, the Government’s leading green advisor has warned.
Jonathon Porritt called on ministers to divert money away from curing illnesses towards contraception and abortion services to limit the country’s population and help in the fight against global warming.
And he criticised fellow green campaigners for dodging the issue of population growth and its effect on the environment because it is too ‘controversial’.
It came as Catholic bishops in England and Wales lambasted environmentalism as an ideology every bit as dangerous as communism.
In a booklet, they say worshippers should be deeply sceptical of claims the green movement makes on global warming.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: I Am Like Titian, Gordon Brown Tells Baffled World Leaders
Gordon Brown provoked ridicule last night after bizarrely comparing himself to the celebrated Italian artist Titian.
In a baffling remark that will do little to allay fears within his party about his grip on the economic crisis, the Prime Minister cited the Renaissance artist in defence of his performance.
‘This is the first financial crisis of the global age,’ he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. ‘And there is no clear map that has been set out from past experience to deal with it.
‘I’m reminded of the story of Titian, who’s the great painter who reached the age of 90, finished the last of his nearly 100 brilliant paintings, and he said at the end of it, “I’m finally beginning to learn how to paint,” and that is where we are.’
Last night, Tory Treasury spokesman Greg Hands said the Prime Minister’s political leadership was ‘more suited to painting by numbers’.
He added: ‘If, after 12 years of disastrous stewardship of the economy, he is reduced to claiming he is still learning then he is clearly the wrong man for the job.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Police ‘Ran Away’ From Jeering Gaza Demonstrators
[Comment from JD: Video and story has finally hit MSM…]
Video footage posted on a website shows police officers running way from chanting demonstrators who took part in a violent protest in London against Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The ten-minute amateur film shows 30 officers being chased by a crowd of up to 3,000 people who broke away from an official protest march last month.
The video, posted on YouTube, shows protesters chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is Greatest) and ‘Fatwa’, a death threat under Islamic law.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Persecuted for Praying: Nurse Who Faces the Sack After Offering to Pray for Sick Patient
A nurse could be sacked and even struck off for offering to say a prayer for an elderly patient.
Caroline Petrie, a community nurse and devout Christian, has already been suspended for an alleged breach of her code of conduct on equality and diversity.
She now faces disciplinary action, even though the patient involved did not make a formal complaint.
The case has outraged the Christian community, which warns its members are becoming ‘the most discriminated against people in society’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Revealed: the Secret Soviet Past of Sleaze Peer Truscott
The Labour peer at the heart of the Lords sleaze row has secret links to Soviet Russia, a Mail on Sunday investigation has uncovered.
The party faced calls for a new inquiry into Lord Truscott in the face of fresh information about his astonishing rise to power, which throws new light on the ‘love at first sight’ account of how he met his Russian wife Svetlana in the former Soviet Union.
At the time they married, Lady Truscott was an active member of the Communist Party and her father was a senior Red Army officer at a secret military institute connected to the Soviet equivalent of the SAS.
[…]
In just 13 years, Lord Truscott rose from political obscurity as a borough councillor in Colchester, Essex, to a seat in the House of Lords.
But the most astonishing aspect of his rapid ascent is that it can be traced to a single day in the summer of 1991: the day he met his wife Svetlana, then 24, in Leningrad, now known as St Petersburg, just before the Soviet Union collapsed.
According to the couple’s version of events, it was a chance meeting and love at first sight. They married and settled in Britain.
From that moment Truscott’s career took off. With the striking and upwardly mobile Svetlana at his side, he became an expert on Russia, and a well-known figure in defence and intelligence circles in Russia, Brussels and Britain, while their social and financial fortunes soared.
Before that meeting, Truscott’s political career had apparently stalled. The Oxford graduate, then 32, was living in lodgings and had a modest salary working on a project for the homeless.
An official who worked with him in the Labour Party said: ‘He was a slippery character. He was like a bar of soap. He would be Left-wing talking to one person and Right-wing talking to another.
‘He was a very average councillor. Nobody was more shocked than I to discover he had become a Lord.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Riot? If I Were 20 Years Younger I Would Take to the Streets
The riots in Paris and the demonstrations against foreign work forces being used at British oil refineries and a power station seemed to be a presentiment of widespread civil disturbance, especially in this country. We are, after all, only at the beginning of a slump which is predicted by the IMF to hit Britain more seriously than any other developed nation. It will be longer and deeper and we can already see the hardship, the bills accumulating.
In the last week, it seems that I have hardly had a conversation that has not dwelled on the economic crisis and how we arrived at a position where we are paying to bail out the bankers, who are still claiming vast bonuses, and face finding another £20bn each year in taxes or losing that amount in services.
If it had been a matter of straight theft — ie the damage done was equal to every bonus — the world economy could easily absorb the hit, but there is a vast multiple involved between the amount taken in bonuses and the bail-out received from governments. Figures to be published in Vanity Fair next week show that the bail-out in the US is anything up to 900 times the bonuses paid to the top five executives of leading American banks. At Citicorp, bonuses equalled $54m in 2007 while the bail-out was $45bn. This ratio doesn’t capture anything like the economic consequences of greed on both sides of the Atlantic. They are incalculable. The crime is nearly the equivalent to poisoning of the world’s water supply. If the banking industry and advocates of unregulated market capitalism expect a return to normal service after the slump they are gravely mistaken.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Scene is Set for a Pedants’ Revolt as City Dares to Banish the Apostrophe From Its Street Signs
For defenders of the apostrophe, who are more used to fighting minor skirmishes against greengrocers and butchers, it amounts to a major defeat: the day they lost Birmingham.
After a tense grammatical debate Birmingham City Council has decreed that possessive apostrophes shall no longer appear on its street signs.
No ceremony marked this expulsion from the municipality, only a statement from Martin Mullaney, chairman of the council’s transportation scrutiny committee. He noted that for some time the apostrophe had been slipping from signs all over the city.
Mr Mullaney argued that since the monarchy no longer owned Kings Heath, or Kings Norton, and since the Acock family no longer owned Acocks Green, the punctuation marks that once appeared in those names were now redundant. Defenders of the apostrophe in Birmingham responded with angry question marks. Much like the names on their street signs, some residents appeared to be possessive. They demanded the return of their apostrophes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tony Blair: I’m Just Like Barack Obama
[Comment from JD: So is he admitting Obama and the Democrats is just Blairism and ZaNuLabour in disguise…? ;-) ]
Tony Blair has compared himself to Barack Obama in a wide-ranging interview given to The Times.
The former Prime Minister, now international envoy to the Middle East, said he — like the new US President — was more interested in the practical than the ideological, and refused to be subjected to “traditional pigeonholing”.
When it was put to him during the Times Magazine interview that the euphoric mood in the US on Inauguration Day was similar to that in Britain after he was elected in 1997, Mr Blair agreed.
“I think there is a new generation of political leaders who find the very traditional pigeonholing rather redundant, actually,” he said.
“They have undergone this strange experience, certainly for me, but in a sense I think for Obama too, which is growing up with a Left politics that was the politics of ideology, and then as we’ve grown to political maturity and taken positions of power, we find that it’s the Right that’s got ideology.
“Over time the centre Left became quite practical and the Right suddenly got ideology which I think still dogs it.”
Mr Blair has met Mr Obama several times since their first encounter when he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He was introduced to me then as someone who was very clever and a great prospect for the future,” the former Prime Minister said.
He was moved deeply by Mr Obama’s speech on race. “That was when I understood that he had real political depth and imagination because it was not an ordinary speech. It showed a complete understanding of why people might feel as they feel but that actually it is time to move on,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Whitehall Data-Share Plan Extends ‘Snooper Britain’
MINISTERS have taken new powers that will allow them to hand over people’s personal data to the BBC and private companies such as insurers and medical research firms, privacy campaigners have warned.
A clause in a government bill going through the House of Commons will allow ministers to order widespread data sharing across Whitehall — with local authorities and even with private sector companies.
[…]
Simon Davies, a spokesman for Privacy International, said the bill will permit “an almost limitless range of data sharing opportunities” both within government and between commercial firms.
It gives ministers the power to lay “orders” before parliament for the bulk disclosure of banking and telephone records data to the BBC’s television licensing agency and provide “bulk provision of NHS and other medical files” to the insurance industry and medical research organisations, he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: You Can Go and Work in Europe, Mandelson Tells Strikers
Unions furious as ministers take aim at Britain’s wildcat protesters
Lord Mandelson enraged unions and Labour MPs last night by accusing wildcat strikers of “protectionism” and claiming they could turn the recession into a full-blown depression.
The Business Secretary inflamed the dispute over foreign workers by suggesting that protesters could go and work elsewhere in Europe if they were unhappy.
As the mediator Acas was called in to try to prevent more unofficial strikes planned for tomorrow, the peer issued a statement that failed to damp down growing industrial unrest.
His support for free movement of workers in the European Union was also at odds with Gordon Brown’s 2007 promise to safeguard “British jobs for British workers”, a phrase which has been turned against the Prime Minister by protesters.
In a statement issued from the world economic forum in Davos, Lord Mandelson said: “I understand people’s concerns about jobs and it is important to make sure that both domestic UK law and European rules are being applied properly and fairly. But it would be a huge mistake to retreat from a policy where, within the rules, UK companies can operate in Europe and European companies can operate here. Protectionism would be a sure-fire way of turning recession into depression.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Press, New High Representative Could be Italian
(ANSAmed) — SARAJEVO, JANUARY 29 — The new High Representative of the international community and EU special representative in Bosnia could be an Italian, writes the ‘Dnevni avaz’ (Voice of the Day), citing former Premier Giuliano Amato, current Italian ambassador in Kosovo, Michael Giffoni, and the head of the EU office in Pristina, Renzo Daviddi as candidates. Last week the Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak announced that he was leaving his post in Sarajevo to take up the post of Foreign Minister in Bratislava, and consultations began on Monday between EU countries for the appointment of a new High Representative. One problem for an Italian candidate, writes the newspaper, could be the fact that Italy already has the command of both Eufor, the EU military force in Bosnia, and of the NATO general headquarters in Sarajevo. Another possible candidate could be former Slovenian Foreign Minister, Dimitri Rupel. The figure of High Representative, which was set up as part of the Dayton peace agreement to supervise the application of the agreement, has gradually taken on more importance, including that of legislating and dismissing civil servants. Following the signing of the Agreement for stabilisation and Association to the EU (ASA), Brussels would like to completely replace the post with a special EU Representative. Former High Representatives in Bosnia have been Sweden’s Carl Bildt, Spain’s Carlos Wetendorp, Austria’s Wolfgang Petritsch, Britain’s Paddy Ashdown and Germany’s Christian Schwarz-Schilling. (ANSAmed).
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Euromed: Deal Among 12 Banks, Safer and Cheaper Transactions
(ANSAmed) — PARIS — The cooperation agreement signed today in Paris by twelve Euro-Mediterranean banks, including Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo, which aims to give solidity to the procedural objectives signed on July 7 when the Mediterranean Union was created, has announced the following specific objectives: the facilitation of lower-rate financing to small-medium businesses; increasing the security level in funds transfers and the development of innovative forms of saving for the millions of migrants crossing from one side of the Mediterranean to the other. ‘‘After months of discussions and work group meetings, today twenty ‘‘concrete’’ projects were mentioned which should be implemented ‘‘as soon as possible’’. Among the proposals was the idea of reducing the cost of transferring money for the 3.5 million immigrants (mostly from North African countries) now predominately resident in France, Spain and Italy (41% of these regularly send money home); encouraging the international development of small and medium sized businesses by easing information exchange with a common platform, reducing the costs involved and easing the opening of shared accounts; developing saving methods in the migrant’s country of origin and destination, as well as creating a common financial source for mortgage and student loans. Bernard Comolet, president of the Caisse d’Epargne’s board of directors and the Consortium’s Strategic Committee, said that the consortium is made up of twelve banking institutions but ‘‘remains open’’ to new partners. Its aim is to establish a ‘‘new balance between the north and south of the Mediterranean so as to open a two-way and not a one-way dialogue’’, Nicolas Sarkozy’s special advisor Henri Guaino announced. Enrico Salza, the president of Intesa SanPaolo’s Management Committee, is optimistic: ‘‘to work together in this way to create a platform which will mean that sending money to an immigrant in his own country will cost less, a great deal less, is not only important, but also possible’’, he said to ANSA. ‘‘What counts is having good plans and people who believe in the project. Certainly some of these projects we can achieve in a short time, but cultural acceptance will take longer to achieve’’. (ANSAmed).
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Planes: Tunisian Gov’t-Airbus Deal Results in New Plant
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, JANUARY 29 — The memorandum of understanding signed yesterday between Tunisia and Airbus gave the go-ahead for the building of a new aeronautics plant in the industrial zone of El Mghira, in the governorate of Ben Arous a few kilometres south of Tunis. The document was signed by the Minister for Development and Cooperation, Mohamed Nouri Jouini, and the general director of Airbus Fabrice Brégier. The structure, which will cover a surface area of ten hectares, will be divided into two sections: the first will be reserved for Aerolia (Airbus subsidiary), specialized in the construction of aircraft, while the second will be set aside for subcontracting companies. The new plant, estimated to cost 60 million euro, will begin production before the end of the current year, and will provide jobs for 1,500. (ANSAmed).
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Tunisia: Minister, More Attention to Women’s Roles
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, JANUARY 29 — The Tunisian Minister for women, family, childhood and older people, Sarra Kanoun Jarraya, has set a target of 30% of women working in the most sensitive sectors of the economy and society to be in a decision-making role by the end of the year. The Minister stressed the importance of Tunisian women in the economy, given their contribution in the world of work. She added that her assignment to different roles and training in different fields would encourage the integration of women in the workplace. 70% of working women are aged between 18 and 39; 52% of them have completed education to at least high school graduation.(ANSAmed).
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Hamas: We Were in Direct Talks With Tony Blair for Months
Comes as envoy recommends terrorist group join ‘peace process’
JERUSALEM — According to a top official from Hamas speaking to WND, the terrorist organization has been in direct contact for months with Tony Blair, the former British prime minister and Mideast envoy for the international Quartet, which includes the U.S. among its ranks.
“Yes, we have been talking with Blair for at least five months,” said Ahmed Yousef, Hamas’ chief political adviser in the Gaza Strip.
In comments published yesterday, Blair said Hamas should be part of the Mideast peace process in what was reported as a “departure” from his previous policy.
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Israel Warns of Major Hizbullah Attack
By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
Israelis overseas face a “concrete and high-level threat” of being kidnapped or killed by Hizbullah agents seeking to avenge an alleged Mossad killing of the Lebanese group’s top commander, Imad Mughniyeh, on February 12, 2008.
According to the Counterterrorism Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office, Israeli intelligence agencies possess reliable intelligence of a Hizbullah effort to kidnap Israelis and commit a terrorist attack on an Israeli target overseas.
“Based on our information, we believe the organization is planning one large revenge attack close to the anniversary of [Mughniyeh’s] death,” Brig.-Gen. (res.) Elkana Harnof of the Counterterrorism Bureau told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday night.
“All we can say publicly is that Hizbullah has gone to enormous effort to prepare various kinds of terror attacks, and the big one is likely going to take place soon,” Harnof said.
Warnings by the bureau have been known to precede terrorist strikes such as those that have hit Sinai resorts in recent years. Just last week, a media report claimed that Israeli and European intelligence agencies thwarted a Hizbullah attack against an Israeli target in Europe.
Instructions for Israelis abroad are posted on the Prime Minister’s Office Web site, but the principle is simple, Harnof said.
“You dramatically reduce the potential for harm by paying a little more attention to your surroundings and taking care to notice strange things happening around you. Report anything out of the ordinary to the local police. Don’t accept an unexpected invitation from unknown persons to a meeting or a party or a free meal. Don’t bring unfamiliar people into your hotel room. Don’t enter a cab that stops of its own initiative,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin briefed the cabinet on Hizbullah, telling the ministers that the organization remains “deterred and restrained due to its commitment to the Lebanese elections, Israeli measures, the organization’s incomplete rehabilitation efforts and its allegiance to Iran.”
“On the other hand,” Yadlin continued, “Hizbullah is intent on carrying out attacks in February to avenge Mughniyeh’s death. It is the same month in which Abbas Musawi was taken out. Yet [Hizbullah] does not want a war.”
Abbas Musawi was the secretary-general and spiritual leader of Hizbullah from 1991 to 1992, and the mentor of current Hizbullah leader Nasrallah. On February 16, 1992, Abbas, his wife, six-year-old child, and four bodyguards were killed by an IAF helicopter ambush near Jibsheet in southern Lebanon.
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Mideast: Hamas Backs Erdogan Over Davos Walkout
Ramallah, 30 Jan. (AKI) — Gaza’s ruling Islamist group Hamas on Friday praised the Turkish prime minister’s walkout from the Davos economic summit in protest at Israeli president Shimon Peres’ defence of the recent Gaza offensive.
“Erdogan defended the cause of Gaza and all the victims of the Zionist war — especially women and children — in front of leaders attending the Davos forum and the head of the Zionist evil, Peres,” Hamas said in a statement posted to its website.
Hamas hailed Erdogan’s decision to abandon the Davos meeting as “victory for the victims of Gaza’s al-Fakhura school and the thousands of people killed and injured in the Zionist massacre.”
An Israeli aistrike on the United Nations run al-Fakhura school in northern Gaza on 6 January killed 40 people. Over 1,330 Palestinians died and more than 5,400 were injured in Israel’s three week long offensive.
Israel — “the Zionist enemy” — would continue to commit crimes against Palestinians and to exploit international meetings such as Davos to downplay these, Hamas said.
Erdogan angrily left the forum when he was denied the chance to respond to remarks by Peres questioning what he would do if rockets were fired at Istanbul every night.
Erdogan, who accused Israel “knowing very well how to kill” was greeted by thousands of cheering people at the airport in Istanbul when he returned.
Thousands of Palestinians gathered in the streets of the West Bank after Friday prayers to show their support for Erdogan, responding to a call from Hamas, reported the Palestine-Information Centre website, which is said to be close to the hardline group.
Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad’s spokesman Dahoud Shehab was quoted on Friday by Palestinian news agency Maan as thanking Erdogan for his staunch support for the Palestinian cause.
“We wish Arab countries would do the same thing and react in a similar way to Turkey,” Shehab said, quoted by Maan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu Says Iran Will Not Get Hands on Nukes
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s leading candidate for prime minister, said Saturday that Iran “will not be armed with a nuclear weapon.”
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 TV, Netanyahu said if elected prime minister his first mission will be to thwart the Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu, the current opposition leader and head of the hardline Likud party, called Iran the greatest danger to Israel and to all humanity.
When asked if stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions included a military strike, he replied: “It includes everything that is necessary to make this statement come true.”
Iran has denied it is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and says it is pursuing nuclear power for peaceful uses. It also denies it is engaged in terrorism, instead accusing Israel of terrorist policies against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, which were occupied by Israel after the 1967 Mideast War.
The Channel 2 TV broadcast interviewed all three candidates for prime minister ahead of the Feb. 10 election. The three did not debate each other and appeared one after the other to answer questions posted by Israelis in YouTube videos.
Tzipi Livni of Kadima and Ehud Barak of Labor were both asked about how they intended to deal with the continuing rocket threat from Hamas militants in Gaza. Both took a hard line.
“Hamas was hit like it was never hit before,” Barak, the defense minister, said. “If they try us again, they will be hit again.”
Israeli launched a massive three-week offensive against Gaza militants on Dec. 27 to stop eight years of near-daily militant rocket fire at southern Israeli towns. Nearly 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the fighting, about half of them civilians, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians.
Livni, the foreign minister, said if Hamas “hasn’t gotten the message yet” Israel would strike it again.
Regardless, she said Hamas could not be negotiated with and called on the people of Gaza to overthrow their regime.
“I do not intend to reach any agreements with Hamas. Agreements I make with people who accept my existence,” she said. “They do not recognize Israel and do not renounce violence and terrorism. They will not be a party to an agreement and therefore the people of Gaza have to expel the Hamas from within them.”
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Charge: Ahmadinejad Rants to Hide His Jewish Roots
(IsraelNN.com) The son of a leading Iranian authority accuses the Iranian President of changing his Jewish name.
Several Iranian media sources are quoting Mahdi Khazali — the son of a leading supporter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — as having written in a blog that the president has Jewish roots. So reports the Hebrew-language Omedia website and Radio Free Europe.
Khazali, son of Ayatollah Abu Al-Kassam Khazali, says that Ahmadinejad changed his Jewish name on his ID card in order to hide his roots. Khazali the son says that the president hides his Jewish roots by attacking Israel and the Jews, and by expressing strong Muslim religious beliefs.
A record of the name change still appears on the president’s ID card, however, says Khazali. His old name was Saburjian, and he hails from the Aradan region of Iran. The accusations appear in an article Khazali wrote entitled, “The Jews in Iran.” He says the time has come to “reveal the truth” about the Jews’ role in Iran.
Ahmadinejad’s relatives once told the British paper “The Guardian” that the family had changed its name for “a mixture of religious and economic reasons.”
Ahmadinejad will be running for re-election five months from now.
| — Hat tip: Holger Danske | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Trial Against Alleged Anti-Unifil Terrorists Begins
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, JANUARY 30 — The trial of several people accused of planning “terrorist acts” against Unifil (the UN force in southern Lebanon) has begun in Lebanon. Unifil numbers more than 2,000 Italian soldiers among its ranks. The London-based, pan-Arab daily newspaper al-Hayat, reports that this morning the Lebanese Military Court has begun to hear the first three witnesses of the trial “in the presence of a Unifil representative”. In all there are 13 defendants in the trial, four of whom are still in hiding, who are also accused of having “launched rockets from southern Lebanon”, aimed at Israel. According to initial reports, it has emerged that the presumed leader of the group, Muhammad al-Usta, who is from Lebanon, was thought to have been involved in training militia to send to Iraq alongside Tawfiq Alta. Having heard the witnesses, two Lebanese and a Saudi Arabian, who are in prison under the same charge of “terrorism” have denied that al-Usta was planning “attacks against Unifil”. The newspaper has revealed the identities of the nine defendants: Muhammad al-Usta, Bashir Bitar, Marwan Hamadi, Abd al-Rahman an-Numayri, Mutlaq Juways, Ahmad al-Khalaf, Muhammad Eid, Jamal al-Baba, Mussab Qaddura. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon-Syria: Meeting on Missing Political Prisoners
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, JANUARY 30 — The controversial issue of hundreds of Lebanese political prisoners in Syrian prisons has been discussed in a meeting in Syria between a Lebanese and a Syrian delegation. Beirut daily L’Orient-Le Jour wrote this morning that the Lebanese delegation yesterday presented a list of Lebanese citizens who have ‘disappeared’ in Syrian prisons. According to the association of relatives of Lebanese prisoners in Syria (Solide), there are around 600 “desaparecidos”. The Syrian delegation from its side asked about the around 200 Syrians “disappeared in Lebanon in 2005”, the year in which the relation between the two countries got worse due to the murder in Beirut of the former premier of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri. Damascus has always denied its involvement in the crime, but two months after the attack Syrian troops were forced to withdraw from Lebanon after 29 years of political-military protection. The dossier of “disappeared” prisoners is one of the main reasons keeping the two countries from normalising their relations. In October last year Syria and Lebanon announced, for the first time since their creation as independent states in the ‘40s, the start of formal diplomatic relations. (ANSAmed).
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Syria: Economic Freedom Grew by 4.2% in 2008
(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS, JANUARY 29 — The economic freedom index for Syria has improved. According to international sources, last year the Middle Eastern country earned an index of 51.3%, thereby registering an increase in economic freedom of 4.2% on the year. Despite this improvement, according to the Italian institute for foreign trade (ICE) office in Damascus, Syria remains one of the least open of all global economies (141st place). Among the improvements seen were: the fiscal sector (87%), which measures the level of taxation; effects of state actions on GDP, including government expenditure (74.9%) and monetary freedom (67.2%). Worsening, on the other hand, was the level of freedom in the financial sector (20%), corruption (24%) and the protection of intellectual property (30%). High duties and non-tariff barriers are still limiting commercial freedom. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tourism: Abu Dhabi Hotel Among Most Expensive, Dubai Better
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, JANUARY 29 — According to the results of a survey by the Hogg Robinson Group, an English agency for world travel, Abu Dhabi is in fifth place in the 2008 rankings of the most expensive hotels in the world: a 14-place rise compared with the previous year. The more dynamic, tourist-oriented Dubai has instead dropped from third place to eighth. Moscow, on the other hand, is the city with the most expensive hotel sector in the world. The cost of a room at the Abu Dhabi rose over the last year by 36%, reaching an average 272 euro for night, while the average cost at the Dubai was instead at 259. According to the survey, the shift in positions of the two UAE cities is due to the opening of many new hotels in Dubai and the lack of enough ones to meet demand in the capital Abu Dhabi. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Unveils Aggressive Arctic Plans
In a new national directive, Russia has asserted claims on large sections of the Arctic Ocean. The tone of the document is openly aggressive, prompting fears of increasing international tension over who has the right to exploit the mineral-rich territory.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chin Christian Minority Victim of Persecution by Myanmar Dictatorship
Human Rights Watch releases report substantiating situation. It contains 140 interviews collected over a three-year period highlighting cases of abuse, torture, forced labour and other forms of discrimination based on religion. “We are like a forgotten peole,” one witness said.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Myanmar’s military regime is committing widespread abuses against the mainly Christian Chin ethnic group, who face forced labour, torture and religiously-motivated persecution, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report that contains statements by various members of the Chin community, complaining about abuses and violations of basic rights by Myanmar troops executing orders of the ruling junta.
The report features interviews conducted between 2005 and 2008 with about 140 Chin; some living in exile abroad, others in their traditional homeland.
Ethnic Chin are subject to intimidation and threats by the junta, which is bent on curtailing any form of dissent. HRW has recorded violations like restrictions on freedom of movement; regularly seizing and extorting money, food, and property; exacting forced labour, and religious persecution.
“We are like slaves; we have to do everything [the army] tells us to do,” one Chin man said, who accusingly added: “We are like a forgotten people.”
Even those who were able to find refuge abroad, especially in the north-eastern Indian State of Mizoram on the border of Myanmar, complain about discrimination and religiously-motivated abuses.
For instance, Chin men and women are used by the Myanmar army as porters or sent into mine fields ahead of the troops.
“The army has called me many times to porter .. . . . One time I tried to refuse to go because I was so tired and the things we are made to carry are very heavy. When I tried to refuse, they beat me. They said: ‘You are living under our authority. You have no choice. You must do what we say’,” a Chin woman from Thantlang township said.
Myanmar has a population of 57 million people divided in 135 distinct ethnic groups, mostly Buddhist, some in open conflict with the Myanmar state in a struggle for independence.
Ethnic Chin represent 1 per cent of the total population and are 90 per cent Christian, living in the north-western mountainous region of country, on the border with India.
They too are at war with the central government under the leadership of the Chin National Front.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kazakhstan to Sell Nuclear Fuel to India
Deal was reached two days ago. New Delhi is set to team up with Astana to explore for uranium and build a new atomic power plant. Kazakhstan is seeking more partners to develop its vast underground riches.
New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) — During Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s four-day visit to New Delhi, India and Kazakhstan signed a deal on Saturday whereby Astana will supply nuclear fuel to Indian civilian atomic plants. The deal makes Kazakhstan the fourth country after the United States, France, and Russia to supply India with uranium.
The agreement also includes the possibility for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and KazAtomProm to team up for joint exploration in the Central Asian country, which sits on the second largest uranium reserves in the world. It also calls for the construction of an Indian atomic power plant and the upgrading of an existing one.
Power-hungry India is among the countries that need more atomic power plants and a steady supply of nuclear fuel.
New Delhi is very interested in closer relations with Astana, which controls vast gas and coal reserves.
“We need massive investments in our power sector,” said Aliya Tlenbayeva, managing director of Samruk Energy, the Kazakh state-run holding firm for power, because “we have major expansion plans.”
Kazakhstan already exports electricity to Russia and is looking at further developing its relationship with China, but its plants and distribution networks are obsolete and wants to improve them.
Experts believe Kazakhstan could soon become the world’s largest uranium exporter. Last year it mined 8,500 tonnes but has plans to increase output to 11,900 tonnes this year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sir Jock Stirrup: Even a US Surge Won’t Beat the Taliban
Fighter reconnaissance pilots possess steely resolve. Having served his time flying Strikemasters during Britain’s “secret war” in Oman in the 1970s and a Jaguar reconnaissance aircraft during the cold war, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, now chief of the defence staff, knows something about steering a difficult course into hostile territory. Indeed, he’s still doing it today. He is described by many in the services as “Gordon’s favourite defence chief” — and it is not meant as a compliment.
At a time when the armed forces are stuck in two unpopular wars, Stirrup has come under heavy fire for his willingness to work with his political masters. Typically, he brushes aside suggestions that the defence budget is in trouble. There is “serious pressure” he admits, but “we have to adjust our programme so that we can live within the available resources”. It is not hard to see why this frustrates troops waiting on the ground in Afghanistan for a helicopter that may or may not arrive to deliver supplies.
But political insiders say Stirrup has won Whitehall battles that more flamboyant generals would have botched. Today he is in his office at the Ministry of Defence — in full RAF rig — but his mind is in Afghanistan. He is not saying what reinforcements, if any, the British will send to Helmand, the southern province it controls, but it will be a “limited number”. He agrees with General Sir Richard Dannatt’s assertion that Britain’s troops are in need of a rest. Britain’s forces are “not structurally resourced” to have more than 12,000 troops on operations abroad: “So of course it’s putting pressure on our people and they and their families are feeling the effect, which is one of the reasons we’ve got to get the tempo back in balance as quickly as possible.”
[…]
Barack Obama is said to be unhappy with President Hamid Karzai and his regime’s lack of power outside the Afghan capital, not to mention allegations of involvement in the drugs trade. Stirrup refrains from direct personal criticism, but admits to problems. “The weakness of governance in Afghanistan worries me considerably,” he says. “But governance is not just about what goes on in Kabul. We have to look at the wider picture.”
Which is? The clue hangs on the walls of his office: engravings of the Indian army operations that famously failed to impose any order on the Pashtun people who sprawl across both sides of Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. Today the “wider picture” means both countries. “The Taliban movement — and Taliban is now a catch-all phrase for ideologues, criminals, people with tribal grudges, people who are quite simply guns for hire to keep bread on the table — is on both sides of the border. It makes no distinction between one side or the other. Some people move across. Some are based almost exclusively in Pakistan. Some are based exclusively in Afghanistan. It’s impossible to distinguish between those two and actually, in my view, not necessary. The border is not relevant,” he says.
The Pakistan army has been criticised for not doing enough but, while admitting its success thus far has been “limited”, Stirrup sympathises. “I think the Pakistan army has a series of very considerable problems,” he says, adding that it has realised in recent years that “the growing insurgency within its own borders is an existential problem for Pakistan”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Filipino Muslim Learns English Reading the Bible
From guard at the cathedral in Zamboanga City to university professor in Manila. An encounter with Catholic missionaries and Christian television programs helped him to improve his understanding of the language. He says people should overcome their “personal prejudices” for the sake of better “mutual understanding.”
Manila (AsiaNews) — From guard at Immaculate Catholic Cathedral Church in Zamboanga City, in the southern Philippines, to professor at the school of business administration in Manila. This is the story of Abdurajak J. Undain, a 54-year-old Muslim who for more than 30 years read a passage from the Bible each day in order to learn and improve his English. Thanks to his study of the language, he was able to get his degree, and today is a university professor.
His story begins 30 years ago, when he was hired for three months as a guard at the cathedral in Zamboanga City: “ I had the keys to the building,” Undain tells AsiaNews, “and I was the one who opened the doors for services. I heard the religious speaking in English, and I wanted to talk with them. The Catholic missionaries urged their students to study and work tirelessly for social development. The priests suggested to me that if I wanted to improve my English proficiency, I should read the Bible daily, as in those days not many English learning materials were available.”
He adds that the Catholic missionaries “never told me to convert to Christianity,” but supported him in his desire to improve his understanding. “I attended the Masses in English,” the professor says, “in order to learn the pronunciation, and today I still participate in Catholic religious services.”
In order to improve his mastery of the language, Undain regularly watched Christian television programs; in 2003, he completed his doctorate, and began his university career. The university where he teaches is characterized by an interconfessional approach, welcoming students of all religions. “During my years of study, reflection, and reading,” he continues, “I assimilated many Christian values, which have not separated me from my faith in Islam. Reading the Bible has also helped me in interreligious dialogue with my colleagues and with the majority of the students, who are of the Christian faith.”
“If people could overcome their personal prejudices,” Undain concludes, “there would be greater mutual understanding, and more fraternity among the faithful of different religions.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Japanese Companies Lose Big as Recession Cuts Deeper
Third quarter results show some companies saw their quarterly operating profit drop by as much as 63 per cent. In one month, industrial output in manufacturing declines by 9.6 per cent. Unemployment rises to 4.4 per cent.
Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) — With production falling, unemployment rising, consumption lower and most economic indicators showing storm ahead, Japan’s economy is reeling from the full weight of the world’s economic crisis, much more than expected anyway.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average closed 3.12 per cent down today. But investors are more concerned by last quarter results.
The Honda Motor Co posted a 63 per cent drop in quarterly operating profit and lowered its annual profit forecasts as the slide in global car sales forced it further cut production.
Japan’s second-biggest automaker now expects an operating profit for the year to end-March of 140 billion yen (US$ 1.5 billion), down from a record 953 billion yen (US$ 10.6 billion) the previous year, lower even of its earlier forecast of 180 billion yen.
Japan’s second-largest bank Mizuho Financial Group said Friday it lost 50.55 billion yen (US$ 560 million) in the nine months to December due to the global financial crisis.
The group still hopes to make a net profit of 100 billion yen (US$ 1.1 billion), but this will be down from an earlier projection of 250 billion yen.
Mizuho was badly hit last year by financial market turmoil and losses on toxic mortgage-backed securities. A year earlier it had made a net profit of 393.03 billion yen (US$ 4.3 billion).
Toyota is revising downward its projections for the fourth time, with the operating loss now expected to hit 400 billion yen (US$ 4.4 billion) up from an earlier projection of 150 billion yen (US$ 1.6 billion). This is the company’s first operating loss in 70 years.
The Hitachi electronics and engineering group said it expected to lose 700 billion yen (US$ 7.8 billion) in the current year.
The electronics and engineering group now expects an operating profit of 40 billion yen, nearly one-tenth of what the company had forecast in October.
Last but not least, the All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced on Friday it expects to post its first annual loss in six years as travel to North America and Europe declines due to the global economic crisis.
Japan’s second-largest airline said it now forecasts a loss of nine billion yen (US$ 100 million) for the financial year to end-March. It previously projected a profit of 17 billion (US$ 190 million).
Current and projected losses are pushing companies to cut jobs. The official unemployment rate jumped to 4.4 per cent in December from 3.9 per cent the previous month.
Industrial output in Japan’s manufacturing sector also plunged 9.6 per cent from the previous month in December.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tibetan Young Man Dies From Injuries Suffered in Jail
Pema Tsepak was arrested for calling for a free Tibet, and then hospitalized with internal injuries. Meanwhile, police arrest 81 Tibetans for possessing “reactionary music.” Refugees in exile: the authorities want to prevent protests for the March anniversaries.
Lhasa (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The police have arrested at least 81 people in Tibet, accused of acting against security in the region. Two of them had recorded “reactionary music” on their cell phones. Meanwhile, Tibetans are denouncing that on January 23, Pema Tsepak died from injuries he “sustained” while he was under arrest.
On January 20, Pema (in the photo), together with Thinley Ngodrub and his brother Thargyal, in the county of Dzogang, prefecture of Chamdo, carried a banner reading “independence for Tibet,” distributed fliers, and chanted slogans. The police arrested them. Pema was then hospitalized with severe injuries to his intestines and kidneys, and died in the local hospital.
On January 24, 51 people were arrested for unspecified crimes; on the 25th another 30 were arrested for robbery, prostitution, and theft. At least two of them have been accused of possessing “reactionary music,” which in general are songs praising the Dalai Lama.
Since January 18, the police in Lhasa have been carrying out a “crackdown against crime,” raiding homes, hotels, rented rooms, internet cafés and bars, “checking” about 6,000 people, according to state media.
The group International Campaign for Tibet denounces that this operation “appears to be intended to intimidate Tibetans still further,” in order to prevent possible protests and commemorations of the Chinese repressions on March 10, 1959 (when the Dalai Lama was forced into exile) and on March 14, 2008, when the armed forces violently cut off the protests of the Tibetans. For Beijing, it is “normal” to arrest people believed to be subversive before major events, in order to prevent public protests.
In December, there were 59 “official” arrests of people accused of making subversive statements and downloading reactionary music.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US-China Currency War Eclipses Davos, and Threatens the World
Turning a corner in the labyrinthine corridors of the Davos nerve-centre, I ran smack into Chinese premier Wen Jiabao — followed by a regiment of retainers and senior offices in full regalia.
They have not quite adapted to the “sport” dress code of capitalism in Alpine retreat. Jeroen van der Weer — a Davos stalwart — wears horrendous corduroy trousers (pink sometimes) with a 1950s-era Tyrolean woolly. I dread to think how they react to Swiss prices if they venture into the restaurants.
Mr Jiabao smiled at me benignly, but he is not in a good mood. Indeed, he is fuming over the remarks by US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner that China was “manipulating” its currency to gain market share. Reports were circulating this afternoon in Davos that Mr Jiabao erupted into a tirade after lunch at the mere mention of Mr Geithner’s name.
Mr Geithner — the first US Treasury chief who can actually speak Chinese, and Japanese, nota bene — is clearly operating under instructions from President Barack Obama. If his resolve fails, Hillary Clinton is there at Foggy Bottom (State Department) to renew the broadside against Beijing — at least judging by her Sinophobe reflexes in the campaign.
This has the makings of an almighty superpower bust-up. It is fast becoming the theme of Davos 2009. It may soon be the burning issue of our times. We will all learn how to pronounce Renminbi.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Australia Scorched by Heat as 22 People Die in Just One City — With Heatwave Set to be Worst in 100 Years
A record-breaking heat wave sweeping across southern Australia — with temperatures reaching 114F — is being blamed for the ‘sudden deaths’ of at least 22 people in one city alone.
Authorities admit they have not seen so many deaths in one area associated with the heat in living memory, with medical experts fearing that those who died had probably succumbed to heart attacks and strokes.
Fourteen pensioners are among 22 people who have died suddenly in the space of just 24 hours as the South Australian capital, Adelaide, struggles through temperatures that have soared above 110F for three consecutive days.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Time for a New World Order: Australian PM
[Comment from JD: Another call for a “New World Order”.]
KEVIN RUDD has denounced the unfettered capitalism of the past three decades and called for a new era of “social capitalism” in which government intervention and regulation feature heavily.
In an essay to be published next week, the Prime Minister is scathing of the neo-liberals who began refashioning the market system in the 1970s, and ultimately brought about the global financial crisis.
“The time has come, off the back of the current crisis, to proclaim that the great neo-liberal experiment of the past 30 years has failed, that the emperor has no clothes,” he writes of those who placed their faith in the corrective powers of the market.
[…]
Mr Rudd writes in The Monthly that just as Franklin Roosevelt rebuilt US capitalism after the Great Depression, modern-day “social democrats” such as himself and the US President, Barack Obama, must do the same again. But he argues that “minor tweakings of long-established orthodoxies will not do” and advocates a new system that reaches beyond the 70-year-old interventionist principles of John Maynard Keynes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Tunisia Immigration, How to Discourage Illegals
(by Luciana Borsatti) (ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 29 — Four Italian provinces and their Tunisian partners with EU funds and coordination from the Tecla Association on behalf of the UPI (Union of Italian Provinces), are developing an experimental project to discourage illegal migration and to encourage legal migration. Traditional flyers, TV commercials, a concert and a touring theatre as well, and the difficult search to resolve the difference in the demand for a better future and the real job opportunities available in the network of employment centres between Italy and Tunisia are the focus of the ‘Mesure’ or ‘Safe Migration’ project. Mesure includes the involvement of the Provinces of Parma and La Spezia in the north and Ragusa and Siracusa in Sicily, and is one of 39 proposals financed by the EU under the Aeneas (Assistance to Non EU Countries for Migration and Exile). The project required an almost 1.7 million euro investment, 1.3 million allocated by the EU, and the rest by the provinces, the Institute for the Mediterranean (Imed), and Tunisian partners: Women’s Research and Development Association (Afturd) and the Meghreb Association of Development and Human Resources (Amdrh). Another 700 thousand euro in European funds have been allocated for a separate and parallel project initiated by the Labour Minister, which aims at training workers and creating a database to bring together jobs offers and requests. There will also be negotiations with Tunisian authorities for a framework agreement on labour. Mesure chose the image of the sea and migrating swallows as their website logo. A poetic image compared to the risks and tragedies that consume the brief stretch of the Mediterranean that separates Italy and Tunisia. To avoid these risks, the latest having occurred today with the secondo shipwrecks in the past few days in the Gulf of Tunis, a vast campaign of targeted communication is being developed. The campaign has started by spreading informative pamphlets on illegal migration procedures, while the first part of the project, which officially began in 2006, focused on preliminary informative meetings and personnel training in Aneta centres (the National Tunisian Employment Agency). Now TV commercials are being developed by a Tunisian studio and a play with popular actor Raouf Ben Yaghlane is in the works. Elio Cambi, Labour Councilman in the province of La Spezia said, “Unfortunately it generally takes a long time to develop projects like this, for which it was necessary to start with a phase of research and seminars with Tunisian participants”. But for Cambi, there is no doubt about the project’s usefulness, and once operational it will pave the way to “spread awareness about safe migration and discourage illegal migrations”. The timetable on the website shows that in March orientation centres at Tunisian employment centres and a database containing offers and requests for work should begin to operate. The database is being developed by Welfare Minister, Maurizio Sacconi under the Aenaes programme of the EU, which will include training of Tunisian officers and workers and provide a fast-track entrance. The minister has also been preparing for negotiations with the Tunisian government over the past months for a framework agreement on labour, cooperation regarding training abroad, and management of migrant fluxes. (ANSAmed) luciana.borsatti@ansa.it
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Transit Land With 1.5 Mln Illegals
(by Francesca Spinola) (ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI — It is a place of transit for illegal migrants escaping to Europe, but it is also a place for irregular residents, stuck waiting to climb aboard ships in the hope of a better future. This is Libya, where illegal immigration involves anything from half a million to a million and a half people, according to latest estimates. According to the last census, carried out in 2006, the population of Libya is 5,673,031, almost 70% concentrated along the coast. It is reckoned however, that up to 25% of the population is made up of irregular migrants coming mainly from Africa, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, and the Philippines. The uncertainty about the number is due to both the size of the borders, and legislation which until 2005 allowed people coming from Arab countries to arrive without a visa. Apart from this, Libya is a country with a low density of population which, thanks to its oil revenue, has had an enormous economic growth which required a new labour force. These factors make it a target country for migration, regular and irregular. Illegal immigration was greatest in the 1990s, with migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa, and using Libya as a transit point for arrival in Malta and Italy. Studies show that 64% of migrants enter into Libya through human ‘‘smugglers’’. Two Libyan professors, Omran Abdusalam Sofrani and Hussein Saleh Jwan, have conducted a survey on ‘International migration to Libya’, presented in Tripoli. The report, commissioned by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the European Union, shows the trends related to this phenomenon for the first time. According to figures reported in the study and supplied by the General Department of Passports and Libyan Citizenship, the number of illegal residents in Libya in 2004 was 468,000 people, 87% of the total foreigners present, 536,000 in total. Of these, around 12,000 were deported to their country of origin in 2005, 15,000 in 2006 and 18,000 in 2007. Statistics from the same department show that in 2004, 266,000 illegal immigrants came from the Arab states, in particular Egypt, Sudan, Mauritania and Morocco, and 170,000 from Chad, Niger, Mali and Nigeria. These numbers reveal a country which has become a land of migration for geographic, economic and political reasons. Its close proximity to Europe, the length of its coastline on the Mediterranean, the rugged nature of its borders with Egypt and Sudan to the east, Chad and Niger to the south, Tunisia and Algeria to the west, and the size of the desert region are all factors which aid the entry of illegal immigrants and make checks difficult to perform. The poverty of some African countries, the political instability of others such as Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan are the economic and political factors which render it a transit land for men and women escaping hunger, war and unemployment. This is why if there were 350,000 regular foreigners in Libya in 2006, there were a good four times more illegal immigrants. Lorence Hart, head of the IOM mission in Tripoli pointed out these facts, using figures supplied by the embassies of several African countries who provide assistance to their own citizens who are waiting to board ships for Europe. Libya’s immigration laws are inadequate, there are no special laws for dealing with the issue, and the authors of the report are calling for reforms. They also stress the need to keep Libya as a ‘‘transit country’’ and not a ‘‘country of destination’’. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Church Protests Ohio’s Gay Marriage Ban
CLEVELAND (AP) — Clergy at a church are protesting Ohio’s ban on gay marriage by refusing to sign state marriage licenses for heterosexual couples.
The Rev. John Tamilio III, head pastor at Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, said the move is a civil-rights protest. Ministers won’t sign the licenses until gay unions are legal in Ohio.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tycoon Backs Grandparents Fighting Gay Adoption Bid
A multi-millionaire is funding a legal challenge to halt the controversial adoption of two young children by a gay couple.
In a move brokered by the Catholic Church in Scotland, the businessman has agreed to help meet the legal costs of a court bid to block plans to hand the brother and sister to two men.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a top law firm has been instructed to help the grandparents of the children, whom social workers ruled were too old, at 46 and 59, to offer a loving home.
With the support of the benefactor and the Catholic Church, the family hope the move will quickly lead to a judicial review of Edinburgh City Council’s decision to remove the four-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother from their family.
The tycoon, who has requested anonymity, was among a group of businessmen considering offering the family financial support after the adoption plans were revealed last week.
His offer has received the ‘moral backing’ of the Catholic Church, which is fundamentally opposed to gay adoptions.
Last night a spokesman for the Church said: ‘As well as the moral issue there is also a legal question, which needs to be explored. Lawyers will be taking this forward with the family.
‘Allowing two men to adopt children against the wishes of their grandparents who want to care for them is positively wicked.’
The development comes after the devastated grandparents, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made an official complaint to council bosses.
They have claimed they were warned they would never see the children again unless they dropped their opposition to the adoption, and again threatened with the same fate for speaking out publicly.
The family claim they have been victims of ‘bullying’ social workers and politically-correct manipulation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We Show Tolerance to ‘Gays’ and Get Tyranny in Return
If I never again had to read or write a word about homosexuals, I would be very happy. I really don’t want to know what other people do in their bedrooms. But these days they really, really want us all to know. And, more important, they insist that we approve. No longer are we allowed to keep our thoughts to ourselves, while being polite and kind.
We are forced to say that we think homosexuality is a good thing, that homosexual couples are equal in all ways to heterosexual married couples. Most emphatically, we are compelled to agree that homosexual couples are just as good at bringing up children as the children’s own grandparents. Better, in fact.
[…]
Next, the grandparents are informed that the children are to be put into the care of a homosexual couple. And — this is the crucial moment — they are warned in the most terrifying terms that if they object to this arrangement they will never see their grandchildren again.
Leave aside the rest of it. It is this demand, that they mouth approval of the new regime like the defendants at some show trial, which is the bit that ought to make your flesh creep.
This is the action of a tyranny in operation, especially the use of children to blackmail their parents and grandparents. People who can do this can do anything.
Isn’t it amazing to reflect that this campaign began in the name of tolerance?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rubik’s Revenge: Cube Inventor Set to Launch 21st Century Version of Iconic Puzzle
[Comment from JD: a fun story for a change…]
For a few years the Rubik’s Cube had millions under its spell.
Umpteen hours were spent on the infuriating device, which became the fastest selling puzzle of all time.
Eventually of course, more and more discovered the secret of how to solve it and word spread that youngsters were cracking the Cube in as little as eight seconds.
To the inventor, Professor Erno Rubik, this was merely the challenge to create something even more difficult.
And he appears to have done just that with the Rubik’s 360, which is due to be formally unveiled this week.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Searching for a New World Order
[Comment from JD: There are those three words again…New World Order.]
The closely watched Munich security conference, which starts next week, has become a large-scale summit for world leaders. This year the US is sending a high-ranking delegation, led by Vice President Joe Biden, which may seek informal dialogue with Iran on the event’s sidelines.
President Barack Obama’s advisers spent days puzzling over the question of who to send to represent America’s new administration at the three-day Munich Conference on Security Policy, which begins on Friday of next week. The closely watched and prestigious conference is a place where the Americans could, for example, enjoy an informal chat with the Iranians — the kind of dialogue which Obama recently, and perhaps not entirely coincidentally, said he was willing to have.
[…]
Among other things, it addresses of course the issue of disarmament. This year, the question “Is Zero Possible?” is being asked — in other words, is it possible to have a world without nuclear weapons? Because many things are in flux, disarmament, unlike during the Cold War, is not being left just to the experts. In the near future, Obama must decide whether to once again sign up to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, from which his predecessor Bush, in a snub against the Russians, unilaterally withdrew. He also needs to make clear his position on the planned missile shield system in the Czech Republic and Poland — an issue which will shape America’s relations with Russia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
8 comments:
I'd rather have GM "propaganda" than all that anti-GM fearmongering and field-trashing and protests.
Everything we do these days is GM. The Green Revolution was GM. It's not like it's automatically a bad thing.
National march planned against foreign workers
As unions plan a national protest against foreign workers Lord Mandelson believes we must continue to hire staff from abroad
It will be interesting to see how many seats the BNP pick up in the next election.
Based on the news reports, the British people are near the breaking point.
Buy your copy of Animal Farm now because there will be a rush on them shortly...
"Lord Mandelson believes we must continue to hire staff from abroad}"
This is misleading. It is the law that anyone from the EU is allowed to work in any of the EU countries.
I am shocked at the ignorance of the person in the street over this issue. The MPs are shrieking also but surely they know their own laws?
No, Davod. They don't.
And the EU directive in question specifically states that it is illegal for a member state to discriminate against workers from other countries. If it were simply the case that workers could work here, that wouldn't be a problem - in the 70s British construction workers found lots of work in Germany, for example, because they didn't have enough of them over there, a shortage that was threatening their building industry through delays. The problem is that our government is now forbidden from requiring that companies operating here at least attempt to recruit locally before running off to hire cheap polish (or Italian, in this case) contractors. Unemployment is soaring here, amongst skilled workers who are just as capable as these foreign contractors, yet under the directive in question it is illegal to require that companies attempt to hire locally first. That's all people are asking right now, that the company tries to hire workers here first before going abroad, but that simple request would be against EU law and would bring down fines on the entire country.
"The Prime Minister said he recognised people were ‘worried’ about jobs being taken by workers from other countries, but stressed that the UK was part of a ‘single European market’."
The UK is no more - the British people have had their countries stolen right from under them without even a say in the matter. I hope people still remember what to do with traitors.
If the BNP gets elected, I hope they pull out of the EU straight away.
"Couples who have more than two children are putting an ‘irresponsible’ burden on the environment, the Government’s leading green advisor has warned."
Does this only apply to indigenious British peoples or does it also apply to those who are breeding at an alarming rate - the Muslims with their four wives and numerous children each?
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