CAPE TOWN, Dec 3 (IPS) - The African National Congress (ANC) directive to increase the number of women on South Africa's ruling party's election lists to 50 percent (up from 30 percent) might actually weaken the role of women in local government."The ANC took the 50 percent decision at its Polokwane general meeting at the end of 2007. This does address the issue of gender equity, but it can also disempower women," Clive Keegan, director of the South African Local Government Research Centre told IPS. "If women are placed on a list simply to fulfil a quota, there is a risk that the names of candidates without the necessary skills will be brought forward by men with their own agenda. This means that some of these women will be easily manipulated and susceptible to corruption. It could especially be problematic in the poor areas where being a councillor is a ticket out of poverty and where there is a huge skills shortage." According to a recent survey by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) one in three municipal councilors cannot read or write and more have no idea of how financial structures word. 32 percent of these councilors need basic adult education and training. "Without these skills they may never fully develop their abilities and optimally contribute to council activities -- especially when affairs of council are driven by agendas, reports submitted and minutes," SALGA stated in its report.
This means that some of these women will be easily manipulated and susceptible to corruption.
Which of course none of the men in the ANC have ever been... The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan must act to help catch the perpetrators of last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai that bore the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda-style operation, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. "I have said that Pakistan needs to act with resolve and urgency, cooperate fully and transparently," Rice told reporters in New Delhi today. "That message has been delivered and will be delivered to Pakistan." Later, she said the U.S. is especially concerned about the killing of its citizens in the assault, and would work closely with India on catching the perpetrators. Rice, who met Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is using the U.S.'s newly elevated relationship with India to press its leaders to show restraint amid indications that Pakistani militants carried out the terrorist attacks. She arrived today in New Delhi at the request of President George W. Bush after terrorists killed at least 195 people, including six Americans, last week in Mumbai, India's financial capital. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said terrorists couldn't destroy Indian unity.
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan must act to help catch the perpetrators of last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai that bore the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda-style operation, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
"I have said that Pakistan needs to act with resolve and urgency, cooperate fully and transparently," Rice told reporters in New Delhi today. "That message has been delivered and will be delivered to Pakistan." Later, she said the U.S. is especially concerned about the killing of its citizens in the assault, and would work closely with India on catching the perpetrators.
Rice, who met Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is using the U.S.'s newly elevated relationship with India to press its leaders to show restraint amid indications that Pakistani militants carried out the terrorist attacks. She arrived today in New Delhi at the request of President George W. Bush after terrorists killed at least 195 people, including six Americans, last week in Mumbai, India's financial capital. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said terrorists couldn't destroy Indian unity.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Electricite De France has found a formidable competitor. The French energy giant is offering $4.5 billion for 50.0% of Constellation Energy's nuclear energy assets, even though billionaire Warren Buffett has already bid for the unit. Sadly for EDF, it's probably going to lose that battle. "Strategically it makes sense, but I don't believe [EDF's] move will succeed. It's not just a matter of price," said WestLB analyst Peter Wirtz. EDF's offer values Constellation shares at $52.0 each, a massive, 96.0% premium on the offer from MidAmerican, a unit of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRK - news - people ). The French utility announced Wednesday that it had sent a letter to the board of Constellation Energy, proposing a joint venture for its nuclear generation and operation business. EDF, which owns 9.5% of Constellation Energy and is its largest shareholder, said it believed the Buffett offer "significantly undervalues Constellation and its future opportunities."
"We had some great folks in. Obviously, you want to peak on the last day, and we had John McCain and Mike Huckabee and Governor Romney and Rudy Giuliani," Chambliss told FOX News. But he said Palin, who showed up for rallies in Georgia on Monday, had the most impact. "Sarah Palin came in on the last day, did a fly-around and, man, she was dynamite. We packed the houses everywhere we went. And it really did allow us to peak and get our base fired up," Chambliss said. "I mean, I can't overstate the impact she had down here," he continued. "When she walks in a room, folks just explode. And they really did pack the house everywhere we went. She's a dynamic lady, a great administrator, and I think she's got a great future in the Republican Party." Chambliss' victory prevents Democrats from building a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The only unresolved Senate race is in Minnesota, where a recount is underway to determine whether Republican Sen. Norm Coleman or Democratic challenger Al Franken will take the seat.
"We had some great folks in. Obviously, you want to peak on the last day, and we had John McCain and Mike Huckabee and Governor Romney and Rudy Giuliani," Chambliss told FOX News.
But he said Palin, who showed up for rallies in Georgia on Monday, had the most impact.
"Sarah Palin came in on the last day, did a fly-around and, man, she was dynamite. We packed the houses everywhere we went. And it really did allow us to peak and get our base fired up," Chambliss said.
"I mean, I can't overstate the impact she had down here," he continued. "When she walks in a room, folks just explode. And they really did pack the house everywhere we went. She's a dynamic lady, a great administrator, and I think she's got a great future in the Republican Party."
Chambliss' victory prevents Democrats from building a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The only unresolved Senate race is in Minnesota, where a recount is underway to determine whether Republican Sen. Norm Coleman or Democratic challenger Al Franken will take the seat.
The U.S. Senate recount took two abrupt turns Tuesday, both boosting the prospects of DFLer Al Franken. Franken unexpectedly picked up 37 votes due to a combined machine malfunction and human error on Election Day that left 171 Maplewood ballots safe, secure but uncounted until Tuesday's final day of recounting in Ramsey County. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's office immediately asked county officials to explain what had happened, and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign said it sent its own experts to Ramsey County to review the situation and said it was "skeptical about [the ballots'] sudden appearance." By the end of Tuesday, with 93 percent of the total vote recounted, the Republican's lead stood at 303 votes with the state Canvassing Board set to finalize results Dec. 16. More than 6,000 ballots have been challenged by the two campaigns, with Coleman challenging 183 more than Franken. Two large metro counties, Scott and Wright, are among four counties scheduled to begin their recounts today. The day's other news -- which Franken's campaign quickly described as a "breakthrough" -- came when Ritchie's office asked local election officials to examine an estimated 12,000 rejected absentee ballots and determine whether their rejection fell under one of four reasons for rejection defined in state law. The Secretary of State's office asked that ballots that were rejected for something other than the four legal reasons be placed into a so-called "fifth category."
The U.S. Senate recount took two abrupt turns Tuesday, both boosting the prospects of DFLer Al Franken.
Franken unexpectedly picked up 37 votes due to a combined machine malfunction and human error on Election Day that left 171 Maplewood ballots safe, secure but uncounted until Tuesday's final day of recounting in Ramsey County. Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's office immediately asked county officials to explain what had happened, and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign said it sent its own experts to Ramsey County to review the situation and said it was "skeptical about [the ballots'] sudden appearance."
By the end of Tuesday, with 93 percent of the total vote recounted, the Republican's lead stood at 303 votes with the state Canvassing Board set to finalize results Dec. 16. More than 6,000 ballots have been challenged by the two campaigns, with Coleman challenging 183 more than Franken.
Two large metro counties, Scott and Wright, are among four counties scheduled to begin their recounts today.
The day's other news -- which Franken's campaign quickly described as a "breakthrough" -- came when Ritchie's office asked local election officials to examine an estimated 12,000 rejected absentee ballots and determine whether their rejection fell under one of four reasons for rejection defined in state law. The Secretary of State's office asked that ballots that were rejected for something other than the four legal reasons be placed into a so-called "fifth category."
That could be read in several different ways...
I expect we'll be seeing SaBar doing a lot more of this in the coming years. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
Op-Ed Columnist - Calling All Pakistanis - NYTimes.com
After all, if 10 young Indians from a splinter wing of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party traveled by boat to Pakistan, shot up two hotels in Karachi and the central train station, killed at least 173 people, and then, for good measure, murdered the imam and his wife at a Saudi-financed mosque while they were cradling their 2-year-old son -- purely because they were Sunni Muslims -- where would we be today? The entire Muslim world would be aflame and in the streets. [...] Sure, better intelligence is important. And, yes, better SWAT teams are critical to defeating the perpetrators quickly before they can do much damage. But at the end of the day, terrorists often are just acting on what they sense the majority really wants but doesn't dare do or say. That is why the most powerful deterrent to their behavior is when the community as a whole says: "No more. What you have done in murdering defenseless men, women and children has brought shame on us and on you." Why should Pakistanis do that? Because you can't have a healthy society that tolerates in any way its own sons going into a modern city, anywhere, and just murdering everyone in sight -- including some 40 other Muslims -- in a suicide-murder operation, without even bothering to leave a note. Because the act was their note, and destroying just to destroy was their goal. If you do that with enemies abroad, you will do that with enemies at home and destroy your own society in the process.
[...]
Sure, better intelligence is important. And, yes, better SWAT teams are critical to defeating the perpetrators quickly before they can do much damage. But at the end of the day, terrorists often are just acting on what they sense the majority really wants but doesn't dare do or say. That is why the most powerful deterrent to their behavior is when the community as a whole says: "No more. What you have done in murdering defenseless men, women and children has brought shame on us and on you."
Why should Pakistanis do that? Because you can't have a healthy society that tolerates in any way its own sons going into a modern city, anywhere, and just murdering everyone in sight -- including some 40 other Muslims -- in a suicide-murder operation, without even bothering to leave a note. Because the act was their note, and destroying just to destroy was their goal. If you do that with enemies abroad, you will do that with enemies at home and destroy your own society in the process.
IOKIYAR keep to the Fen Causeway
Obama Gives Political Ambassadors Their Pink Slips | 44 | washingtonpost.com
The incoming Obama administration has notified all politically-appointed ambassadors that they must vacate their posts as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, a State Department official said. The clean slate will open up prime opportunities for the president-elect to reward political supporters with posts in London, Paris, Tokyo and the like. The notice to diplomatic posts was issued this week.
The incoming Obama administration has notified all politically-appointed ambassadors that they must vacate their posts as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, a State Department official said.
The clean slate will open up prime opportunities for the president-elect to reward political supporters with posts in London, Paris, Tokyo and the like. The notice to diplomatic posts was issued this week.
Gieb diene Schönheit immer hin ohne Rechnen und Reden Du schweigst. Sie sagt für dich: Ich bin. Und kommt in tausenfachem Sinn, kommt endlich über jeden.
::
Let your beauty manifest itself without talking and calculation. You are silent. It says for you: I am. And comes in meaning thousandfold, comes at long last over everyone. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
In late 1998, while Washington was in the throes of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rahm Emanuel, a departing senior political aide to President Bill Clinton, ventured out to an elegant restaurant in Dupont Circle for something of a job interview. John Simpson, who ran the Chicago office of the investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Company, had flown to Washington to meet with Emanuel at the behest of Simpson's boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker who had gotten to know Emanuel. "I had this idea that this could work and that it had upside," said Wasserstein, now chairman and chief executive of Lazard, the investment bank. "It worked out better than I could have hoped." And better than Emanuel could have imagined as well. Over the course of a three-hour-plus dinner, Simpson and Emanuel discussed how they might work together. Shortly afterward, Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down what has by now become a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business. Emanuel, who was chosen last month to become President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, went on to make more than $18 million in just two-and-a-half years, turning many of his contacts in his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients and directing his negotiating prowess and trademark intensity to mergers and acquisitions. He also benefited from the opportune sale of Wasserstein Perella to a German bank, helping him to an unusually large payout, just two years before he was elected to a House seat from Illinois.
In late 1998, while Washington was in the throes of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rahm Emanuel, a departing senior political aide to President Bill Clinton, ventured out to an elegant restaurant in Dupont Circle for something of a job interview.
John Simpson, who ran the Chicago office of the investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Company, had flown to Washington to meet with Emanuel at the behest of Simpson's boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker who had gotten to know Emanuel.
"I had this idea that this could work and that it had upside," said Wasserstein, now chairman and chief executive of Lazard, the investment bank. "It worked out better than I could have hoped."
And better than Emanuel could have imagined as well. Over the course of a three-hour-plus dinner, Simpson and Emanuel discussed how they might work together. Shortly afterward, Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down what has by now become a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business.
Emanuel, who was chosen last month to become President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, went on to make more than $18 million in just two-and-a-half years, turning many of his contacts in his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients and directing his negotiating prowess and trademark intensity to mergers and acquisitions. He also benefited from the opportune sale of Wasserstein Perella to a German bank, helping him to an unusually large payout, just two years before he was elected to a House seat from Illinois.
OSLO -- In a last-minute change, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan agreed on Wednesday to join some 90 other nations signing a treaty banning the use of the cluster munitions that have devastated his country in recent years. The decision appeared to reflect Mr. Karzai's growing independence from the Bush administration, which has opposed the treaty and, according to a senior Afghan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity following diplomatic protocol, had urged Mr. Karzai not to sign it."Until this morning, Afghanistan was not going to be a signatory," said Jawed Ludin, Afghanistan's ambassador to the Scandinavian countries and the leader of its delegation here. He said the president's change of heart came as a result of pressure by human rights organizations and cluster-bomb victims, including Soraj Ghulam Habib, a 17-year-old from the city of Herat who lost both legs when he accidentally stepped on an explosive cluster remnant seven years ago.
OSLO -- In a last-minute change, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan agreed on Wednesday to join some 90 other nations signing a treaty banning the use of the cluster munitions that have devastated his country in recent years.
The decision appeared to reflect Mr. Karzai's growing independence from the Bush administration, which has opposed the treaty and, according to a senior Afghan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity following diplomatic protocol, had urged Mr. Karzai not to sign it.
"Until this morning, Afghanistan was not going to be a signatory," said Jawed Ludin, Afghanistan's ambassador to the Scandinavian countries and the leader of its delegation here. He said the president's change of heart came as a result of pressure by human rights organizations and cluster-bomb victims, including Soraj Ghulam Habib, a 17-year-old from the city of Herat who lost both legs when he accidentally stepped on an explosive cluster remnant seven years ago.
KIGALI, Rwanda -- There is a general rule in Africa, if not across the world: Behind any rebellion with legs is usually a meddling neighbor. And whether the rebellion in eastern Congo explodes into another full-fledged war, and drags a large chunk of central Africa with it, seems likely to depend on the involvement of Rwanda, Congo's tiny but disproportionately mighty neighbor. There is a long and bloody history here, and this time around the evidence seems to be growing that Rwanda is meddling again in Congo's troubles; at a minimum, the interference is on the part of many Rwandans. As before, Rwanda's stake in Congo is a complex mix of strategic interest, business opportunity and the real fears of a nation that has heroically rebuilt itself after near obliteration by ethnic hatred. The signs are ever-more obvious, if not yet entirely open. Several demobilized Rwandan soldiers, speaking in hushed tones in Kigali, Rwanda's tightly controlled capital, described a systematic effort by Rwanda's government-run demobilization commission to send hundreds if not thousands of fighters to the rebel front lines. Former rebel soldiers in Congo said that they had seen Rwandan officers plucking off the Rwandan flags from the shoulders of their fatigues after they had arrived and that Rwandan officers served as the backbone of the rebel army. Congolese wildlife rangers in the gorilla park on the thickly forested Rwanda-Congo border said countless heavily armed men routinely crossed over from Rwanda into Congo. A Rwandan government administrator said a military hospital in Kigali was treating many Rwandan soldiers who were recently wounded while fighting in Congo, but the administrator said he could be jailed for talking about it.
KIGALI, Rwanda -- There is a general rule in Africa, if not across the world: Behind any rebellion with legs is usually a meddling neighbor. And whether the rebellion in eastern Congo explodes into another full-fledged war, and drags a large chunk of central Africa with it, seems likely to depend on the involvement of Rwanda, Congo's tiny but disproportionately mighty neighbor.
There is a long and bloody history here, and this time around the evidence seems to be growing that Rwanda is meddling again in Congo's troubles; at a minimum, the interference is on the part of many Rwandans. As before, Rwanda's stake in Congo is a complex mix of strategic interest, business opportunity and the real fears of a nation that has heroically rebuilt itself after near obliteration by ethnic hatred.
The signs are ever-more obvious, if not yet entirely open. Several demobilized Rwandan soldiers, speaking in hushed tones in Kigali, Rwanda's tightly controlled capital, described a systematic effort by Rwanda's government-run demobilization commission to send hundreds if not thousands of fighters to the rebel front lines.
Former rebel soldiers in Congo said that they had seen Rwandan officers plucking off the Rwandan flags from the shoulders of their fatigues after they had arrived and that Rwandan officers served as the backbone of the rebel army. Congolese wildlife rangers in the gorilla park on the thickly forested Rwanda-Congo border said countless heavily armed men routinely crossed over from Rwanda into Congo.
A Rwandan government administrator said a military hospital in Kigali was treating many Rwandan soldiers who were recently wounded while fighting in Congo, but the administrator said he could be jailed for talking about it.
TEHRAN, Dec. 3 -- Gasoline? It's 36 cents a gallon. Laundry detergent? Fifty cents for a standard-size box. Milk? About 20 cents a quart. These prices are so low because Iran's government spends half its national budget to subsidize many of life's necessities. Not for long. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched a sweeping economic restructuring plan that would end many of these subsidies within a couple of months. To blunt the blow of gasoline prices quadrupling and similar increases for other goods, he also proposes to give as much as $70 a month to poor Iranians. Ahmadinejad, a populist leader with a working-class background who came to power three years ago, is staking his political future on his ambitious plan, which threatens to alienate Iranians who have benefited from the subsidies. Known abroad for incendiary rhetoric and his defense of Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad's domestic political standing relies more on his largely unfulfilled promises to use Iran's oil wealth to improve the lives of poor people. Some aspects of the plan, such as a sales tax, have provoked unrest, forcing Ahmadinejad to slow its implementation. The president had said he would present a bill on subsidies to parliament on Wednesday, but the introduction of the legislation was postponed without explanation. Many members of Iran's urban middle class fear that the plan will ruin them. "If the subsidies are stopped, my family will be pushed into poverty. What the president plans to pay us in return will be far too little," said Payman Vatandoust, a technical manager at a battery factory in Tehran who like many highly educated Iranians did not support Ahmadinejad in 2005.
TEHRAN, Dec. 3 -- Gasoline? It's 36 cents a gallon. Laundry detergent? Fifty cents for a standard-size box. Milk? About 20 cents a quart. These prices are so low because Iran's government spends half its national budget to subsidize many of life's necessities. Not for long.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched a sweeping economic restructuring plan that would end many of these subsidies within a couple of months. To blunt the blow of gasoline prices quadrupling and similar increases for other goods, he also proposes to give as much as $70 a month to poor Iranians.
Ahmadinejad, a populist leader with a working-class background who came to power three years ago, is staking his political future on his ambitious plan, which threatens to alienate Iranians who have benefited from the subsidies. Known abroad for incendiary rhetoric and his defense of Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad's domestic political standing relies more on his largely unfulfilled promises to use Iran's oil wealth to improve the lives of poor people.
Some aspects of the plan, such as a sales tax, have provoked unrest, forcing Ahmadinejad to slow its implementation. The president had said he would present a bill on subsidies to parliament on Wednesday, but the introduction of the legislation was postponed without explanation.
Many members of Iran's urban middle class fear that the plan will ruin them. "If the subsidies are stopped, my family will be pushed into poverty. What the president plans to pay us in return will be far too little," said Payman Vatandoust, a technical manager at a battery factory in Tehran who like many highly educated Iranians did not support Ahmadinejad in 2005.
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- More Americans are collecting jobless benefits than at any time in the last 26 years, a sign the labor market is weakening as the recession worsens. A larger-than-anticipated 4.09 million fired workers received government unemployment checks in the week ended Nov. 22, the most since December 1982, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Initial jobless claims declined by 21,000 to 509,000 in the week that ended Nov. 29, which included the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
A larger-than-anticipated 4.09 million fired workers received government unemployment checks in the week ended Nov. 22, the most since December 1982, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Initial jobless claims declined by 21,000 to 509,000 in the week that ended Nov. 29, which included the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
