'Golden goodbye' package after just four years for new Business Secretary as questions hang over relationship with Russian oligarchPeter Mandelson will pick up a £1m "golden goodbye" package following his departure from Brussels, despite walking out after serving only four years as Britain's European Commissioner. The new Business Secretary will receive a £104,000 salary as a minister in the House of Lords, and qualifies for a total of £234,000 in "transitional payments" over the next three years to help him readjust to life outside the European Commission. But he is also guaranteed an EU pension when he reaches 65 - in 2018 - starting at £31,000 a year and rising in line with the cost of living. The overall cost of funding such a pension is put at £750,000. While most Britons prepare to tighten their belts as the credit crunch continues to bite, the new Cabinet minister - who will become Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool next week - can look forward to an additional annual payment of £78,000 for the next three years.
Peter Mandelson will pick up a £1m "golden goodbye" package following his departure from Brussels, despite walking out after serving only four years as Britain's European Commissioner.
The new Business Secretary will receive a £104,000 salary as a minister in the House of Lords, and qualifies for a total of £234,000 in "transitional payments" over the next three years to help him readjust to life outside the European Commission.
But he is also guaranteed an EU pension when he reaches 65 - in 2018 - starting at £31,000 a year and rising in line with the cost of living. The overall cost of funding such a pension is put at £750,000.
While most Britons prepare to tighten their belts as the credit crunch continues to bite, the new Cabinet minister - who will become Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool next week - can look forward to an additional annual payment of £78,000 for the next three years.
Peter Mandelson gave trade concessions worth up to £50m a year to Russia's richest man who has entertained him on his superyacht. The encounter on the 238ft yacht, Queen K, in Corfu this summer was the latest in a series of social meetings between Mandelson and Oleg Deripaska -- known as the "king of aluminium" -- during the politician's term as European Union trade commissioner. In the past three years Mandelson twice acted to cut European aluminium import duties. Deripaska's company Rusal, the world's largest producer of aluminium, was one of the main beneficiaries. At the time of Mandelson's Corfu holiday his trade department was a few weeks into a fresh investigation into aluminium foil tariffs, which could have hit one of the Russian's companies.
Peter Mandelson gave trade concessions worth up to £50m a year to Russia's richest man who has entertained him on his superyacht.
The encounter on the 238ft yacht, Queen K, in Corfu this summer was the latest in a series of social meetings between Mandelson and Oleg Deripaska -- known as the "king of aluminium" -- during the politician's term as European Union trade commissioner.
In the past three years Mandelson twice acted to cut European aluminium import duties. Deripaska's company Rusal, the world's largest producer of aluminium, was one of the main beneficiaries.
At the time of Mandelson's Corfu holiday his trade department was a few weeks into a fresh investigation into aluminium foil tariffs, which could have hit one of the Russian's companies.
A meeting of ex-Soviet states was finalized in Kyrgyzstan on Friday as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assailed critics of Russia's pullout from Georgia and endorsed an expanded G8 summit to include developing nations. Medvedev also used the two-day summit to argue for an EU-style platform of cooperation within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), whose members are all ex-USSR satellites. "Considering the crisis the international financial system is going through, it's necessary to take really effective measures to protect markets and ensure their future stability," Medvedev said Thursday, praising the example of European Union cooperation in the face of financial crisis. "We need such coordination if we want to stay competitive and overcome the consequences of the financial crisis with minimal losses," he told journalists alongside the summit host, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Medvedev also used the two-day summit to argue for an EU-style platform of cooperation within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), whose members are all ex-USSR satellites.
"Considering the crisis the international financial system is going through, it's necessary to take really effective measures to protect markets and ensure their future stability," Medvedev said Thursday, praising the example of European Union cooperation in the face of financial crisis.
"We need such coordination if we want to stay competitive and overcome the consequences of the financial crisis with minimal losses," he told journalists alongside the summit host, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
European Union officials, Euro-MPs and high-level diplomatic contacts are stepping up the pressure on an increasingly isolated Ireland to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Brian Cowen, Ireland's Prime Minister, must explain to a summit of Europe's leaders next Wednesday how he is planning to resuscitate the EU Treaty, which was rejected by Irish voters in June. While the final decision will be taken in December, Mr Cowen will hear demands from France and Germany that a second referendum take place as early as March 2009, before European elections.Brussels diplomats have warned Ireland that it is isolated after angering other EU countries, such as Britain, by taking controversial financial crisis measures that benefited Irish banks while "dumping on others"."The economy might be going into freefall and the Irish really did not help things. Sympathy for their difficulties is running out," said a diplomat.
Brian Cowen, Ireland's Prime Minister, must explain to a summit of Europe's leaders next Wednesday how he is planning to resuscitate the EU Treaty, which was rejected by Irish voters in June.
While the final decision will be taken in December, Mr Cowen will hear demands from France and Germany that a second referendum take place as early as March 2009, before European elections.
Brussels diplomats have warned Ireland that it is isolated after angering other EU countries, such as Britain, by taking controversial financial crisis measures that benefited Irish banks while "dumping on others".
"The economy might be going into freefall and the Irish really did not help things. Sympathy for their difficulties is running out," said a diplomat.
MOSCOW: LAST weekend, Moscow blocked off two streets to make way for a small Communist demonstration. It was a march in memory of about 150 people who were killed in October 1993, when hard-line deputies in the Parliament tried to wrest power from Boris Yeltsin and halt the lurching course he was steering toward constitutional democracy and capitalism. The whole, vast mass of Russia seemed to teeter for a few days. Sympathizers flocked to Moscow's White House, where the deputies were barricaded, and sat watch around bonfires, full of passion for the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. It didn't seem impossible that the gains of five years would vanish overnight.
MOSCOW: LAST weekend, Moscow blocked off two streets to make way for a small Communist demonstration. It was a march in memory of about 150 people who were killed in October 1993, when hard-line deputies in the Parliament tried to wrest power from Boris Yeltsin and halt the lurching course he was steering toward constitutional democracy and capitalism.
The whole, vast mass of Russia seemed to teeter for a few days. Sympathizers flocked to Moscow's White House, where the deputies were barricaded, and sat watch around bonfires, full of passion for the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. It didn't seem impossible that the gains of five years would vanish overnight.
As the world's financial markets continue to struggle amid huge losses and emergency measures, Malta has been graded as having the world's 10th soundest banking system, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found.Canada was rated first closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia.But Britain, which once ranked in the top five, has slipped to 44th place behind El Salvador and Peru, after a £50 billion ($86.5 billion) pledge last week by the UK government to bolster bank balance sheets. The United States, where some of Wall Street's biggest financial names have collapsed in recent weeks, rated only 40, just behind Germany at 39, and smaller States such as Barbados, Estonia and even Namibia, in southern Africa.
Russia has test-fired another three intercontinental ballistic missiles, a day after claiming a distance record for a missile fired from a submarine. President Dmitri Medvedev, who watched two of the launches, said they proved Russia's missile defences were strong. Two new systems were being developed, he added, giving no details. Two of the latest launches took place at either end of the country, one from the Barents Sea, east of Norway, and the other from north of Japan. A third was watched on land in north-west Russia by Mr Medvedev, who promised further launches in future.
Russia has test-fired another three intercontinental ballistic missiles, a day after claiming a distance record for a missile fired from a submarine.
President Dmitri Medvedev, who watched two of the launches, said they proved Russia's missile defences were strong.
Two new systems were being developed, he added, giving no details.
Two of the latest launches took place at either end of the country, one from the Barents Sea, east of Norway, and the other from north of Japan.
A third was watched on land in north-west Russia by Mr Medvedev, who promised further launches in future.
BUDAPEST, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany proposed on Saturday freezing real wages until the middle of next year due to risks posed by the global financial crisis. "Let's consider that we go along with the current wages from Jan. 1 (2009), maintaining real wages, and there will be a wage hike only from July 1," he told an extraordinary congress of his Socialist Party. The congress met to discuss the political situation as the Socialists have been ruling in minority since April and seek parliament support for the key tax and budget bills amid the global crisis which is seen cutting economic growth. The government announced measures on Friday to shore up steep price falls in the country's financial markets, including cuts in state debt issuance and the redrafting of the 2008 and 2009 budgets, aiming at lower than earlier planned deficits. Gyurcsany said deep cuts in the deficit since 2006 reduced Hungary's vulnerability to the global crisis and the banking system was strong, but further measures were needed to fend off the financial and real economic impacts of the crisis. "In the past days, an attack hit Hungary (markets)," he said. "In these days we are taking concrete measures, we strengthen Hungary's defence ability with a series of measures."
Way to go! In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Austria's right-wing populist Alliance for the Future of Austria party named a new head. But experts say the change in leadership probably won't lead to a political shake-up in the Austrian right in the near future. The Alliance for the Future of Austria named Stefan Petzner as it new leader on Sunday, Oct. 12, following the death of Joerg Haider on Saturday, the Austrian news agency (APA) reported. Petzner, 27, had been Haider's spokesman since 2004. Haider died in a car accident early on Saturday near Klagenfurt, capital of Carinthia, when the car he was driving veered off the road after passing another vehicle at 142 km per hour (88 mph), twice the legal speed limit, and hit a number of obstacles, including a fence's concrete foundation, state prosecutors said Sunday. Hundreds of people held prayers, lit candles and placed wreaths on Sunday at government headquarters in the regional capital of Klagenfurt, where Haider had been governor, and at the accident site.
The Alliance for the Future of Austria named Stefan Petzner as it new leader on Sunday, Oct. 12, following the death of Joerg Haider on Saturday, the Austrian news agency (APA) reported. Petzner, 27, had been Haider's spokesman since 2004.
Haider died in a car accident early on Saturday near Klagenfurt, capital of Carinthia, when the car he was driving veered off the road after passing another vehicle at 142 km per hour (88 mph), twice the legal speed limit, and hit a number of obstacles, including a fence's concrete foundation, state prosecutors said Sunday.
Hundreds of people held prayers, lit candles and placed wreaths on Sunday at government headquarters in the regional capital of Klagenfurt, where Haider had been governor, and at the accident site.
