In his rented flat in the Paris suburbs of Seine-St-Denis, Bakary Camara leafs through pages of character references from friends and colleagues. The praise is fulsome, but so far to no avail. Despite his job with a local roofing company, the 29-year-old has been given formal notice to leave the country and risks being sent back to Mali. He is not alone. President Nicolas Sarkozy's government has pledged to deport 25,000 illegal immigrants each year, in spite of a plea from employers who say the clampdown is also penalising French businesses. Some firms complain they are being forced to sack foreign workers they cannot replace, and they resent being forced to "play the police" in the battle against illegal immigration. Now some companies have also been hit by a strike.
In his rented flat in the Paris suburbs of Seine-St-Denis, Bakary Camara leafs through pages of character references from friends and colleagues.
The praise is fulsome, but so far to no avail. Despite his job with a local roofing company, the 29-year-old has been given formal notice to leave the country and risks being sent back to Mali.
He is not alone.
President Nicolas Sarkozy's government has pledged to deport 25,000 illegal immigrants each year, in spite of a plea from employers who say the clampdown is also penalising French businesses.
Some firms complain they are being forced to sack foreign workers they cannot replace, and they resent being forced to "play the police" in the battle against illegal immigration.
Now some companies have also been hit by a strike.
Bringing solace to the voters who clinched Sarkozy's victory.
If this policy is wrong, then better to change the law and give all these illegal immigrant some kind of temporary legal residency or amnesty. But Sarkozy cannot be blamed for enforcing the law, as that is his prerogative, unfortunate though that may be. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
The logical result of incorporating Le Pen's policy proposals in his campaign and ideas. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Carme Chacon, Spain's first female defence minister, appointed controversially last week when seven months' pregnant, silenced her critics at the weekend by making a surprise 24-hour visit to meet Spanish troops in Afghanistan. The unannounced trip was criticised by some for potentially putting her child at risk. But Ms Chacon said her pregnancy was an easy one, and told journalists during a two-hour stopover in Kuwait "that she would never put her child's future at risk". Asked if she was tired by the 10-hour flight from Madrid, she replied; "The election campaign was harder, and longer".Last week, the Socialist Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, appointed a mostly female cabinet.Ms Chacon said that she decided to go ahead with the trip only after taking medical advice on Friday. A gynaecologist, an anaesthetist and a paediatrician accompanied her on a journey that included a three-hour transfer in a notoriously cold Hercules transport plane.
Carme Chacon, Spain's first female defence minister, appointed controversially last week when seven months' pregnant, silenced her critics at the weekend by making a surprise 24-hour visit to meet Spanish troops in Afghanistan.
The unannounced trip was criticised by some for potentially putting her child at risk. But Ms Chacon said her pregnancy was an easy one, and told journalists during a two-hour stopover in Kuwait "that she would never put her child's future at risk". Asked if she was tired by the 10-hour flight from Madrid, she replied; "The election campaign was harder, and longer".
Last week, the Socialist Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, appointed a mostly female cabinet.
Ms Chacon said that she decided to go ahead with the trip only after taking medical advice on Friday. A gynaecologist, an anaesthetist and a paediatrician accompanied her on a journey that included a three-hour transfer in a notoriously cold Hercules transport plane.
Leaked memos and French threat to Celtic Tiger economy could scupper Brussels-Dublin manoeuvring over EU treatyBertie Ahern was fiddling self-consciously with the buttons on his jacket when the gates of Dublin's Government Buildings swung open and the motorcade swept into the Edwardian quadrangle.Out leapt José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, smiling broadly, striding confidently up the steps to clasp the hand of the Irish Taoiseach.
Leaked memos and French threat to Celtic Tiger economy could scupper Brussels-Dublin manoeuvring over EU treaty
Bertie Ahern was fiddling self-consciously with the buttons on his jacket when the gates of Dublin's Government Buildings swung open and the motorcade swept into the Edwardian quadrangle.
Out leapt José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, smiling broadly, striding confidently up the steps to clasp the hand of the Irish Taoiseach.
Really.
Intel, where her husband worked until he retired, had even paid for the Christmas lights and had the canal cleared out. So she was planning to vote no in the referendum: "We are praying that they stay. We don't want the French dictating to us." Mr Ahern and Mr Barroso are both adamant that Ireland would see off the French proposal, but while neither Intel nor Hewlett-Packard would be drawn into the debate, Wyeth, an American pharmaceutical company employing 3,300 people in four Irish counties, said it would have to consider its position if corporation tax rates changed.
Mr Ahern and Mr Barroso are both adamant that Ireland would see off the French proposal, but while neither Intel nor Hewlett-Packard would be drawn into the debate, Wyeth, an American pharmaceutical company employing 3,300 people in four Irish counties, said it would have to consider its position if corporation tax rates changed.
Oh, and I wonder: how does the Irish government compensates for (relatively) lower corporate tax revenues? Does it provide less services? Does it compensate with other revenues? Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
Oh, and I wonder: how does the Irish government compensates for (relatively) lower corporate tax revenues?
And does the "French" scarecrow work well in Ireland? Or is it a Murdoch import? Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
ELGOIBAR, Spain: A bomb exploded outside the offices of Spain's ruling Socialist party in a Basque town in northern Spain early Sunday, causing considerable damage. No one was injured. Basque police said in a statement that the bomb exploded at 3:25 a.m. (0125 GMT) in Elgoibar, following a telephone warning in the name of Basque separatist group ETA. The warning was received by emergency road services and police cordoned off streets and evacuated residents after finding a suspicious package. Elgoibar is an industrial town on the banks of the Deba River, 13 kilometers (8 miles) from Spain's northern coast. Regional Interior Ministry spokesman Javier Balza said investigators had clues about the culprits behind the bombing. "There is an idea, or analysis, shared by local, regional and national police forces about the structure of what we are facing," Balza said.
ELGOIBAR, Spain: A bomb exploded outside the offices of Spain's ruling Socialist party in a Basque town in northern Spain early Sunday, causing considerable damage. No one was injured.
Basque police said in a statement that the bomb exploded at 3:25 a.m. (0125 GMT) in Elgoibar, following a telephone warning in the name of Basque separatist group ETA.
The warning was received by emergency road services and police cordoned off streets and evacuated residents after finding a suspicious package. Elgoibar is an industrial town on the banks of the Deba River, 13 kilometers (8 miles) from Spain's northern coast.
Regional Interior Ministry spokesman Javier Balza said investigators had clues about the culprits behind the bombing.
"There is an idea, or analysis, shared by local, regional and national police forces about the structure of what we are facing," Balza said.
LONDON: Eight former Guantánamo detainees have filed lawsuits against the British government and security services, accusing them of complicity in their illegal detention and seeking millions of dollars in damages, a London newspaper reported. The two lawsuits - filed at Britain's High Court - accuse the attorney general, the MI5 security service and MI6 secret intelligence service of being complicit in the abduction, treatment and interrogation of the eight men, The Daily Mail said Saturday. All eight were detained in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Gambia at various times and were transferred for detention at the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay Naval Station, on the southeast tip of Cuba. They claim in the lawsuits that British authorities knew they would be taken to Guantánamo but nevertheless cooperated with the Americans, the newspaper said.
LONDON: Eight former Guantánamo detainees have filed lawsuits against the British government and security services, accusing them of complicity in their illegal detention and seeking millions of dollars in damages, a London newspaper reported.
The two lawsuits - filed at Britain's High Court - accuse the attorney general, the MI5 security service and MI6 secret intelligence service of being complicit in the abduction, treatment and interrogation of the eight men, The Daily Mail said Saturday.
All eight were detained in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Gambia at various times and were transferred for detention at the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay Naval Station, on the southeast tip of Cuba.
They claim in the lawsuits that British authorities knew they would be taken to Guantánamo but nevertheless cooperated with the Americans, the newspaper said.
MOSCOW: Russia's state nuclear energy corporation was expected to switch off a nuclear reactor Sunday in a closed city in Siberia. The reactor has been producing weapons-grade plutonium for four decades, a senior U.S. nonproliferation official said Saturday. The reactor, ADE-4, is one of two in the city of Seversk that have been extraneous remnants of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program since the Cold War. For 15 years, they produced plutonium that the Kremlin neither needed nor wanted. Opened in secret in the 1960s to feed the arms race, the reactors have continued to operate because of their peculiar construction as defense-industry suppliers. The Defense Ministry stopped purchasing plutonium in 1993, rendering the reactors obsolete for their primary purpose. But the reactors could not be closed, and plutonium was still produced, because the reactors were also a primary source of heat and power to the bitterly cold regions along the Tomsk River, where no equivalent utility sources had been built.
MOSCOW: Russia's state nuclear energy corporation was expected to switch off a nuclear reactor Sunday in a closed city in Siberia.
The reactor has been producing weapons-grade plutonium for four decades, a senior U.S. nonproliferation official said Saturday.
The reactor, ADE-4, is one of two in the city of Seversk that have been extraneous remnants of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons program since the Cold War. For 15 years, they produced plutonium that the Kremlin neither needed nor wanted.
Opened in secret in the 1960s to feed the arms race, the reactors have continued to operate because of their peculiar construction as defense-industry suppliers.
The Defense Ministry stopped purchasing plutonium in 1993, rendering the reactors obsolete for their primary purpose. But the reactors could not be closed, and plutonium was still produced, because the reactors were also a primary source of heat and power to the bitterly cold regions along the Tomsk River, where no equivalent utility sources had been built.
Russia to turn off plutonium-producing reactor - International Herald Tribune
Under a cooperative program between the Russians and the Americans, the United States has provided $285 million to underwrite the refurbishment of a coal plant to provide an alternate utility service to the region, Tobey said. The plant has been refurbished enough to switch off the first reactor this week. It is expected to be completed and in full service by June, allowing the second reactor, ADE-5, to be turned off as well.
Under a cooperative program between the Russians and the Americans, the United States has provided $285 million to underwrite the refurbishment of a coal plant to provide an alternate utility service to the region, Tobey said.
The plant has been refurbished enough to switch off the first reactor this week. It is expected to be completed and in full service by June, allowing the second reactor, ADE-5, to be turned off as well.
Fighting has erupted in Southern Greece between strawberry farmers and migrant workers striking for higher pay. According to a Greek trades union support the migrants, about 400 were attacked by farmers and what were described as "hired thugs". Three trade unionists were hurt and one farmer was arrested, police say. The clashes occurred in an area hit by last year's fires, and where slave labour conditions for fruit pickers have recently been revealed. The fighting took place in the village square of Neo Manolada in the province of Ilia - which produces 90% of Greece's strawberries, and whose agriculture was ruined during the fires.
Fighting has erupted in Southern Greece between strawberry farmers and migrant workers striking for higher pay.
According to a Greek trades union support the migrants, about 400 were attacked by farmers and what were described as "hired thugs".
Three trade unionists were hurt and one farmer was arrested, police say.
The clashes occurred in an area hit by last year's fires, and where slave labour conditions for fruit pickers have recently been revealed.
The fighting took place in the village square of Neo Manolada in the province of Ilia - which produces 90% of Greece's strawberries, and whose agriculture was ruined during the fires.
PARIS: The United Nations refugee agency has advised European Union countries to stop sending asylum seekers to Greece until further notice, a step that amounts to a condemnation of Greece's treatment of people fleeing conflict and persecution. In a sharp response, Greece called the agency's criticism of its handling of refugees unfair and said other EU countries needed to share the burden of tackling irregular migration into the Union. Meanwhile, lawyers for refugees said they were concerned that the UN advice would result in Greece's EU neighbors taking even tougher measures to push people away at their borders. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued a statement Friday saying that essential procedural safeguards for asylum seekers were not guaranteed in Greece. "They also often lack the most basic entitlements, such as interpreters and legal aid, to ensure that their claims receive adequate scrutiny from the asylum authorities," the agency said. As a result, "asylum seekers continue to face undue hardships in having their claims heard and adequately adjudicated."
PARIS: The United Nations refugee agency has advised European Union countries to stop sending asylum seekers to Greece until further notice, a step that amounts to a condemnation of Greece's treatment of people fleeing conflict and persecution.
In a sharp response, Greece called the agency's criticism of its handling of refugees unfair and said other EU countries needed to share the burden of tackling irregular migration into the Union.
Meanwhile, lawyers for refugees said they were concerned that the UN advice would result in Greece's EU neighbors taking even tougher measures to push people away at their borders.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued a statement Friday saying that essential procedural safeguards for asylum seekers were not guaranteed in Greece. "They also often lack the most basic entitlements, such as interpreters and legal aid, to ensure that their claims receive adequate scrutiny from the asylum authorities," the agency said. As a result, "asylum seekers continue to face undue hardships in having their claims heard and adequately adjudicated."
BERLIN: Confirming that Germany's agenda for economic changes is on the back burner, leading conservative politicians are adopting increasingly populist policies, calling for higher payments to retirees and an increase in the inheritance tax and other taxes as they seek to outdo their leftist coalition partners to strengthen their position before federal elections next year. The call for higher spending was made by Jürgen Rüttgers, the conservative premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, who won elections in the most populous state in 2005 after breaking the stranglehold held by the Social Democrats for more than three decades. Rüttgers, who is deputy leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, which favors a strong state with considerable intervention in the economy, said during the weekend that Germany's 20 million retirees deserved better treatment. He said that the obligatory basic state pensions had to be increased, even though the cabinet had already agreed this month to raise pensions by 1.1 percent. That decision will cost the taxpayer more than €12 billion, or $19 billion, from this summer to the end of 2012, according to the Finance Ministry. "The basic pensioner, who has paid into the pension funds for a long time, should be getting a higher pension than the basic one," Rüttgers said. "The question is that some people do wonder why should they work at all if not having worked produced the same pension."
BERLIN: Confirming that Germany's agenda for economic changes is on the back burner, leading conservative politicians are adopting increasingly populist policies, calling for higher payments to retirees and an increase in the inheritance tax and other taxes as they seek to outdo their leftist coalition partners to strengthen their position before federal elections next year.
The call for higher spending was made by Jürgen Rüttgers, the conservative premier of North-Rhine Westphalia, who won elections in the most populous state in 2005 after breaking the stranglehold held by the Social Democrats for more than three decades.
Rüttgers, who is deputy leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, which favors a strong state with considerable intervention in the economy, said during the weekend that Germany's 20 million retirees deserved better treatment. He said that the obligatory basic state pensions had to be increased, even though the cabinet had already agreed this month to raise pensions by 1.1 percent. That decision will cost the taxpayer more than €12 billion, or $19 billion, from this summer to the end of 2012, according to the Finance Ministry.
"The basic pensioner, who has paid into the pension funds for a long time, should be getting a higher pension than the basic one," Rüttgers said. "The question is that some people do wonder why should they work at all if not having worked produced the same pension."
When is it a good time to increase pensions? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Berlusconi does it again. Zapatero zaps the conservatives. Will it be Boris or Ken for mayor of London? Europe, where democracy was invented 25 centuries ago, is now a hotbed of it. Messy, often corrupt, distorted by media ownership, sometimes disconcerting in its outcomes - Berlusconi! - but still definitely democracy, a system in which the people can change the government. Not a month goes by without an election somewhere in Europe. And you never know who's going to win.What the ancient Athenians called demokratia may be old, but for most Europeans the reality is new: half today's European states have enjoyed consolidated liberal democracy for less than a generation. And from Portugal to Croatia, the prospect and process of joining the EU have strengthened democracy in country after country. This has been, and for a few candidate countries still is, Europe's transformative power - more effective in securing regime change than any army. Now a great idea is stalking the corridors of Europe. It is that Europeans should resolve to promote a modern, liberal version of demokratia in countries beyond Europe's borders - in our own interest, and in theirs. This should become a central purpose of the European project for the next 50 years. Not imposing a single model of democracy by military means and not "exporting" democracy, but supporting it, by peaceful means. "Showing the way does not mean imposing the way," as European commission president José Manuel Barroso said earlier this week, at the launch of a new, non-governmental European Foundation for Democracy through Partnership.
Berlusconi does it again. Zapatero zaps the conservatives. Will it be Boris or Ken for mayor of London? Europe, where democracy was invented 25 centuries ago, is now a hotbed of it. Messy, often corrupt, distorted by media ownership, sometimes disconcerting in its outcomes - Berlusconi! - but still definitely democracy, a system in which the people can change the government. Not a month goes by without an election somewhere in Europe. And you never know who's going to win.
What the ancient Athenians called demokratia may be old, but for most Europeans the reality is new: half today's European states have enjoyed consolidated liberal democracy for less than a generation. And from Portugal to Croatia, the prospect and process of joining the EU have strengthened democracy in country after country. This has been, and for a few candidate countries still is, Europe's transformative power - more effective in securing regime change than any army.
Now a great idea is stalking the corridors of Europe. It is that Europeans should resolve to promote a modern, liberal version of demokratia in countries beyond Europe's borders - in our own interest, and in theirs. This should become a central purpose of the European project for the next 50 years. Not imposing a single model of democracy by military means and not "exporting" democracy, but supporting it, by peaceful means. "Showing the way does not mean imposing the way," as European commission president José Manuel Barroso said earlier this week, at the launch of a new, non-governmental European Foundation for Democracy through Partnership.
should resolve to promote a modern, liberal version of demokratia in countries beyond Europe's borders - in our own interest, and in theirs
Where Have I Heard This Before?
The Bank of England will this morning agree to pump billions of pounds into Britain's financial system to bolster the struggling mortgage market. It is expected to announce it will lend the banks about £50bn of government bonds, taking banks' assets, in the form of mortgage-backed securities, as collateral.Lending between banks has dried up since the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the US sparked a global credit crunch. The government hopes the banks will use the bonds to restart lending between themselves and that this in turn will make funds available to mortgage customers.The bonds-for-mortgages swap is expected to be structured to try to ensure the credit and default risks on the mortgage-backed securities remain with the banks and are not switched to taxpayers. For example, the mortgage-backed securities are expected to be valued at a significant discount to their nominal value.The government and the Bank are also likely to insist that banks disclose the losses they have on their mortgage books, and that they put forward plans to rebuild their balance sheets by asking shareholders to stump up cash.
The Bank of England will this morning agree to pump billions of pounds into Britain's financial system to bolster the struggling mortgage market. It is expected to announce it will lend the banks about £50bn of government bonds, taking banks' assets, in the form of mortgage-backed securities, as collateral.
Lending between banks has dried up since the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the US sparked a global credit crunch. The government hopes the banks will use the bonds to restart lending between themselves and that this in turn will make funds available to mortgage customers.
The bonds-for-mortgages swap is expected to be structured to try to ensure the credit and default risks on the mortgage-backed securities remain with the banks and are not switched to taxpayers. For example, the mortgage-backed securities are expected to be valued at a significant discount to their nominal value.
The government and the Bank are also likely to insist that banks disclose the losses they have on their mortgage books, and that they put forward plans to rebuild their balance sheets by asking shareholders to stump up cash.
We're saved. Hurrah for everyone.
The underlying solvency problem has not only not gone away, but will gradually get worse as people actually begin to default.
This measure won't stop property prices falling, or prevent an accompanying increase in the number of people with low or no equity.
It won't make 800,000 Northern Rock mortgage holders any more capable of affording their loans as they reset upwards, and it won't lead to anyone else refinancing them either.
Northern Rock will be a political disaster in the run up to the next election.
We are at the End of the Beginning in fact, the end of the Phoney War. The next step, which is a full blown Recession, if not a Depression, is just beginning.
Apart from that, it's quite a nice day, really... "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
Yes, but the bonds effectively indemnify the banks against the defaults.
So the UK government holds onto the toxic paper, while the banks get to keep the profits - until the paper stops being profitable, at which point it's dumped on the Treasury. with anguished cries of 'Oh what a terrible shame' and 'Who could have expected...?'
This is much nastier than NR, and - unsurprisingly - it's also more or less the same bail out as the Fed engineered for Wall St.
So only banks are bond investors are protected, not stock holders... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
PARIS: Lagging in the polls, President Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing to defend his record in office this week after a first tumultuous year disappointed French voters. A new poll published on Sunday showed 79 per cent feel their lives have not improved in the past year since Sarkozy took over while only 36 per cent separately said they approved of his performance. Struggling to seize back momentum, Sarkozy is to give a prime-time 90-minute interview on Thursday on French television that is billed as a key opportunity for the president to turn the tide in public opinion. Oddly enough, many of Sarkozy's woes have recently come from within his own camp, with ministers engaging in public bickering and forced to backtrack on a highly unpopular plan to scrap subsidised discounts on train tickets for large families. Along with much of Europe, France is facing a gloomy economic outlook that significantly reduces Sarkozy's room to manoeuvre as he seeks to bring in the sweeping reforms he promised in his election campaign last year. Former prime minister Edouard Balladur, a member of Sarkozy's governing party, said much had been done in a year but that the government needed to set clear priorities, which in turn would be better understood by French voters.
Along with much of Europe, France is facing a gloomy economic outlook
Scribbled down with nary a word of he said, she said counter-argument. It's already fact.
Well, that's nothing new, is it?
Now let's guess who's not part of "much of Europe"...
Hey, it must be true, everybody's saying it! In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Plans to construct one of Europe's largest onshore wind farms has been refused by the Scottish Government. Lewis Wind Farm proposed 181-turbines for Barvas Moor on Lewis on the Western Isles.
Plans to construct one of Europe's largest onshore wind farms has been refused by the Scottish Government.
Lewis Wind Farm proposed 181-turbines for Barvas Moor on Lewis on the Western Isles.
Ailing forestry-products giant Norske Skog started the week with a bit of rare good news: The third-richest man in the world (Bill Gates) has invested over NOK 30m (USD 6m) in the company's shares. Meanwhile, the struggling company's major investor was calling the board 'incompetent'. (...) Bill and Melinda Gates' humanitarian foundation has bought 1,499,800 shares in Norske Skog, giving it control of 0.79 percent of the shares, reports business newswire E24. (...) Norske Skog has gone from being an aggressive international player on an acquisition binge in the 1990s, to a company crippled by heavy debt. Declining markets for newsprint have hit hard, as have the strong Norwegian currency and rising costs, and its share price has plummeted. (...)
(...)
Bill and Melinda Gates' humanitarian foundation has bought 1,499,800 shares in Norske Skog, giving it control of 0.79 percent of the shares, reports business newswire E24.
Norske Skog has gone from being an aggressive international player on an acquisition binge in the 1990s, to a company crippled by heavy debt. Declining markets for newsprint have hit hard, as have the strong Norwegian currency and rising costs, and its share price has plummeted.
