Britain's decision to legalize hybrid animal-human embryos for medical research was widely met with negative reactions in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. On Monday, May 19, British lawmakers voted to legalize the creation of animal-human embryos for medical research. Critics said the move was unethical, but supporters cited the need to forge ahead in stem-cell research by any means necessary. After a very heated debate, Britain's lower house of parliament voted on the Human Embryology and Fertilization Bill, which could well be the biggest shake-up of laws affecting sensitive areas like stem cell research and abortion in the past two decades. In the future, scientists in Britain will be allowed to combine human DNA with animal egg cells. But the law says the resulting "chimera" embryos must destroyed within 14 days, and cannot be implanted.
On Monday, May 19, British lawmakers voted to legalize the creation of animal-human embryos for medical research. Critics said the move was unethical, but supporters cited the need to forge ahead in stem-cell research by any means necessary.
After a very heated debate, Britain's lower house of parliament voted on the Human Embryology and Fertilization Bill, which could well be the biggest shake-up of laws affecting sensitive areas like stem cell research and abortion in the past two decades.
In the future, scientists in Britain will be allowed to combine human DNA with animal egg cells. But the law says the resulting "chimera" embryos must destroyed within 14 days, and cannot be implanted.
After 18 months of opposition, the 27 European Union member states finally agreed to launch strategic partnership talks with Russia, a move that green lights negotiations for a new cooperation accord between the nations. The deal, which had been delayed because of objections from former Soviet satellite states, comes ahead of an EU-Russia summit to be held June 26-27 in Siberia. The EU agreement, which came Wednesday, May 21, gives the go-ahead for talks that address the bloc's relationship to Russia as well as discussions on energy and political issues. Talks were delayed beginning in November 2006, when Poland vetoed the mandate's adoption after Moscow banned imports of fresh meat and other food products from Warsaw. The objections were lifted when Russia removed their embargo earlier this year.
The deal, which had been delayed because of objections from former Soviet satellite states, comes ahead of an EU-Russia summit to be held June 26-27 in Siberia. The EU agreement, which came Wednesday, May 21, gives the go-ahead for talks that address the bloc's relationship to Russia as well as discussions on energy and political issues.
Talks were delayed beginning in November 2006, when Poland vetoed the mandate's adoption after Moscow banned imports of fresh meat and other food products from Warsaw. The objections were lifted when Russia removed their embargo earlier this year.
The European Union and Russia are set to open long-delayed talks on a new "Partnership and Co-operation" pact in June, as 27 EU ambassadors agreed Wednesday (21 May) on a common position for the negotiations. The negotiation process became hostage over the past few weeks to several demands tabled by Lithuania, described as "vital" for the entire union. Vilnius now says that all its concerns were taken into account, but the country's foreign minister, Petras Vaitekunas, has at the same time warned that Wednesday's deal is not the end of the story. "Afterwards, there will be difficult talks with Russia, and after the agreement with Russia on the treaty is in place, there will be a long process of implementation of the treaty. This is the first step in the long road," Mr Vaitekunas said.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has adapted keenly expected health-check proposals on the EU's farm policy to the current situation of rising food prices, suggesting various ways to help the sector boost production and respond to market demands. Mariann Fischer Boel, EU agriculture commissioner, presented the final version of the farm policy review to the European Parliament on Tuesday (20 May) after a two year-long political debate in national capitals and EU institutions. "Some claim that we're now playing a totally different ball game," she said, referring to an everyday "avalanche of media headlines about rising agricultural prices, their causes and their impact around the world." In a bid to react to the price trends, the EU executive is proposing to abolish current rules on keeping 10 percent of farm land fallow, which could bring four to five million hectares of idle fields back into production. Brussels is also suggesting phasing out milk quotas by April 2015.
Soaring food prices make few problems better - but they could have proved the key to jettisoning the worst excesses of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. Unfortunately, the European Commission has ducked that chance, although yesterday it showed that it did recognise the desirability, at least as a matter of high theory, of getting the EU to produce more crops, after decades of trying to persuade it to do exactly the opposite. Its biggest proposals do not much suit Britain, because they would limit the benefit going to large farmers, of which Britain has many, while helping small ones. Germany and the Czech Republic don't much like them either, for the same reason, and so they may well never survive as policy. But the biggest objection to them is that they waste this opportunity, with cash showering down on the world's farmers, to change the rules. They fit perfectly in the grand tradition of the CAP - of using subsidies to sustain an otherwise unsustainable way of life while trying to conceal this purpose.
Soaring food prices make few problems better - but they could have proved the key to jettisoning the worst excesses of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy.
Unfortunately, the European Commission has ducked that chance, although yesterday it showed that it did recognise the desirability, at least as a matter of high theory, of getting the EU to produce more crops, after decades of trying to persuade it to do exactly the opposite.
Its biggest proposals do not much suit Britain, because they would limit the benefit going to large farmers, of which Britain has many, while helping small ones. Germany and the Czech Republic don't much like them either, for the same reason, and so they may well never survive as policy.
But the biggest objection to them is that they waste this opportunity, with cash showering down on the world's farmers, to change the rules. They fit perfectly in the grand tradition of the CAP - of using subsidies to sustain an otherwise unsustainable way of life while trying to conceal this purpose.
So I read this piece to check that was what Bronwen Maddox meant. Great (not) was my surprise to find that this is a different sense of "unsustainable":
European Union misses rare opportunity to change farming rules | Bronwen Maddox: World Briefing - Times Online
If Europe is going to have farming, then it should be efficient, and produce food as cheaply as possible.
Big industrial farms, that's what's sustainable. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
And this is how the means produce The End. ;) When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
Big industrial farms, that's what's sustainable
But they're not, that's what's sad about this. Big farms relying on petroleum-fuelled large machinery to spread large amounts of petroleum-derived fertilzers and sundry other chemicals to help grow GM-industrial crops which are then shipped halfway around the world is simply not a practice that is going to survive $200 - 300 oil/barrel.
It's the very farms and practices they intend to destroy that will sustain us. This is not just homogenisation for corporate benefit, this is a vindictive short-termist attempt to reduce the viability of european food production through the 21st century. keep to the Fen Causeway
French workers at the national rail company, SNCF, have begun strike action against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to reform public-sector pensions. Workers from other sectors are expected to join them early on Thursday in a one-day protest to pressure Mr Sarkozy to reverse his economic reforms. Bus drivers nationwide were expected to strike, air service may be disrupted and about 50% of trains are to be cut. The strikes follow protests by fishermen that blocked French ports. High-speed international trains between Paris, London and Brussels were not expected to be affected by the SNCF workers' action. The transport workers are due to be joined by postal, utility and other public sector workers across France.
French workers at the national rail company, SNCF, have begun strike action against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to reform public-sector pensions.
Workers from other sectors are expected to join them early on Thursday in a one-day protest to pressure Mr Sarkozy to reverse his economic reforms.
Bus drivers nationwide were expected to strike, air service may be disrupted and about 50% of trains are to be cut.
The strikes follow protests by fishermen that blocked French ports.
High-speed international trains between Paris, London and Brussels were not expected to be affected by the SNCF workers' action.
The transport workers are due to be joined by postal, utility and other public sector workers across France.
Travellers face long delays in France today when transport workers stage a one-day stoppage after striking fishermen blocked Channel ports and disrupted petrol supplies for a day. Railway, Paris Métro and air controllers' unions are joining a 24-hour protest by civil service and private sector unions against a move by the Government to raise the retirement age by a year. Domestic rail services will be partially disrupted but Eurostar cross-Channel trains are expected to run on time. Only minor delays are expected to flights at Paris airports. In a separate action, Channel ferries came to a near-standstill yesterday after about a hundred fishing craft joined a national port blockade, obstructing terminals in Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk harbours. The fishermen later halted their action after President Sarkozy offered ¤
Travellers face long delays in France today when transport workers stage a one-day stoppage after striking fishermen blocked Channel ports and disrupted petrol supplies for a day.
Railway, Paris Métro and air controllers' unions are joining a 24-hour protest by civil service and private sector unions against a move by the Government to raise the retirement age by a year. Domestic rail services will be partially disrupted but Eurostar cross-Channel trains are expected to run on time. Only minor delays are expected to flights at Paris airports.
In a separate action, Channel ferries came to a near-standstill yesterday after about a hundred fishing craft joined a national port blockade, obstructing terminals in Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk harbours. The fishermen later halted their action after President Sarkozy offered ¤
A poll published by Libération shows that 60% of the French support today's strike action.
However, the one-way message people are hearing is so overwhelming that 49% believe it will not be possible to save the public system, and private retirement schemes will come in. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
ROME: Emerging from his first cabinet meeting as Italy's new prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday presented a series of forceful measures - from new restrictions on immigrants to a military-style strategy to tackle a longstanding garbage crisis in Naples - that presaged a direct, no-nonsense style of leadership uncommon in Italian politics. "The state has to return to being the state," Berlusconi said at a news conference in the port city of Naples, where he held his first meeting in order to underline his commitment to solving the garbage crisis. It was an oblique reference, perhaps, to the center-left government of his predecessor, Romano Prodi, whose fractious coalition failed to pass effective policies either to clean up the estimated 50,000 tons of trash littering the streets of the city, or to assuage Italians' growing concerns about illegal immigration in the county. Berlusconi, a conservative, has a strong majority in Parliament. To increase consumer spending and spur industrial growth in a lackluster economic landscape, the cabinet also announced plans Wednesday to eliminate a residential property tax and reduce taxes on overtime pay and incentives for productivity. Berlusconi said it was time to put a country with zero growth "back on the path of development."
ROME: Emerging from his first cabinet meeting as Italy's new prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday presented a series of forceful measures - from new restrictions on immigrants to a military-style strategy to tackle a longstanding garbage crisis in Naples - that presaged a direct, no-nonsense style of leadership uncommon in Italian politics.
"The state has to return to being the state," Berlusconi said at a news conference in the port city of Naples, where he held his first meeting in order to underline his commitment to solving the garbage crisis.
It was an oblique reference, perhaps, to the center-left government of his predecessor, Romano Prodi, whose fractious coalition failed to pass effective policies either to clean up the estimated 50,000 tons of trash littering the streets of the city, or to assuage Italians' growing concerns about illegal immigration in the county. Berlusconi, a conservative, has a strong majority in Parliament.
To increase consumer spending and spur industrial growth in a lackluster economic landscape, the cabinet also announced plans Wednesday to eliminate a residential property tax and reduce taxes on overtime pay and incentives for productivity. Berlusconi said it was time to put a country with zero growth "back on the path of development."
The Naples rubbish crisis will be treated as a natural disaster, Italy's prime minister has said, unveiling a series of emergency measures. Silvio Berlusconi said landfill sites will be classified as of strategic national interest, guarded by soldiers. Angry residents have taken to burning the piles of rotting waste, which have littered the streets for months. After a cabinet meeting held in Naples the government also announced tough new measures against illegal immigrants. The measures, which have to be approved by parliament - where Mr Berlusconi has a solid majority in both houses - would make it a jailable offence to be an illegal immigrant.
The Naples rubbish crisis will be treated as a natural disaster, Italy's prime minister has said, unveiling a series of emergency measures.
Silvio Berlusconi said landfill sites will be classified as of strategic national interest, guarded by soldiers.
Angry residents have taken to burning the piles of rotting waste, which have littered the streets for months.
After a cabinet meeting held in Naples the government also announced tough new measures against illegal immigrants.
The measures, which have to be approved by parliament - where Mr Berlusconi has a solid majority in both houses - would make it a jailable offence to be an illegal immigrant.
Our local landfill will be full in two years.
Something to look forward to...
Russia's state railroad is the first company to show serious interest in buying a stake in German railroad Deutsche Bahn, which is to be partially privatized this year. The head of Russian state-run railroad RJD, the world's second-largest railroad, has acknowledged that his company is mulling a stake in Deutsche Bahn. "[A share purchase] is a good idea and we are going to talk about it," RJD Chairman Vladimir Yakunin said on Wednesday, May 21, during a meeting with high-ranking German rail officials, including Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Mehdorn.
The head of Russian state-run railroad RJD, the world's second-largest railroad, has acknowledged that his company is mulling a stake in Deutsche Bahn.
"[A share purchase] is a good idea and we are going to talk about it," RJD Chairman Vladimir Yakunin said on Wednesday, May 21, during a meeting with high-ranking German rail officials, including Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Mehdorn.
ROME The Italian organised crime group the 'Ndrangheta makes more money than some small European countries, a study by the Eurispes research group found. The estimated turnover of the group, which has overtaken the Sicilian Mafia for drug trafficking, was valued at €44 billion (£35.5 billion) last year. This is the annual business equivalent of 2.9 per cent of the Italian gross domestic product for the same year and is equal to the combined GDP of Slovenia and Estonia. The 'Ndrangheta was responsible for the killing of six Italians at a pizzeria in Germany last August. It makes its money through drugs, extortion, arms trafficking and prostitution.
ROME The Italian organised crime group the 'Ndrangheta makes more money than some small European countries, a study by the Eurispes research group found.
The estimated turnover of the group, which has overtaken the Sicilian Mafia for drug trafficking, was valued at €44 billion (£35.5 billion) last year. This is the annual business equivalent of 2.9 per cent of the Italian gross domestic product for the same year and is equal to the combined GDP of Slovenia and Estonia. The 'Ndrangheta was responsible for the killing of six Italians at a pizzeria in Germany last August. It makes its money through drugs, extortion, arms trafficking and prostitution.
As Iceland once again defied the world with the launch of its annual whale hunt this week, the European Commission called on the country to prove that it is not engaged in commercial whaling. "While there's an exception to the International Whaling Commission's moratorium on the hunt for scientific or indigenous whaling, Iceland still needs to be demonstrate that it is killing these whales for genuine non-commercial purposes," said commission spokesperson on environment, Barbara Helfferich. On Tuesday (20 May), the Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries handed out a quota for the killing of 40 minke whales. Within hours, the whaling boat Njordur was out on the hunt. Two other boats will later join it.
DETAILS of every phone call, email and period of time spent on the internet by the public would be held on a British government database under a plan to combat crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecommunications companies would hand over the records to the Home Office, who would hold them for at least a year, The Times reported today. Police and security services would be able to access the information with permission from the courts. The proposal is part of a plan aimed at creating uniform record-keeping following the terrorist bombings on London's public transport system on July 7, 2005. Since last October, telecoms companies have been required to keep records of phone calls and text messages for 12 months and police and security services can access them with a warrant issued by the courts. Under the new proposals, that requirement would extend to internet, email and voice-over-internet use and the records would be held by the Government, rather than individual companies.
If George Soros thinks Britain is likely to have a recession, it must be so? Er, no. The Hungarian-born billionaire speculator and philanthropist made his name, and much of his fortune, by betting against sterling ahead of its ejection from the ERM in 1992. That earned him the sobriquet: "The man who broke the Bank of England" and a place on the Forbes rich list. He is big bucks, though not the biggest, since at $8.5bn last year he came in at only No. 80 in the ranks of global billionaires. Still, that plus his hugely successful books is enough to make people sit up. And so it was yesterday when he was interviewed on the Today programme. We were, he said, past the "acute phase" of the credit crunch but he added: "Financial institutions have been severely damaged and we are currently in a situation that will probably, I think almost inevitably, result in a recession certainly in the United States and most likely in England also."Since this comes on top of a warning that the world faces the most serious financial situation since the 1930s, it is all a bit daunting. Add in the warning last week from the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, that the UK faced the possibility of recession, though that was not the Bank's central forecast, and we now have both a chief gamekeeper of financial markets and a most successful poacher leaning towards similar judgements.
Still, that plus his hugely successful books is enough to make people sit up. And so it was yesterday when he was interviewed on the Today programme. We were, he said, past the "acute phase" of the credit crunch but he added: "Financial institutions have been severely damaged and we are currently in a situation that will probably, I think almost inevitably, result in a recession certainly in the United States and most likely in England also."
Since this comes on top of a warning that the world faces the most serious financial situation since the 1930s, it is all a bit daunting. Add in the warning last week from the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, that the UK faced the possibility of recession, though that was not the Bank's central forecast, and we now have both a chief gamekeeper of financial markets and a most successful poacher leaning towards similar judgements.
Employment intentions among UK businesses hit their lowest level in at least 11 years last month, according to a Bank of England report published yesterday.The monthly survey by the Bank's regional agents - covering 650 companies - showed employment intentions plunged to the lowest since the study began in 1997.The Bank also pointed to "credit rationing" as lenders clamp down and firms become wary of borrowing over concern about their ability to repay debt.
The monthly survey by the Bank's regional agents - covering 650 companies - showed employment intentions plunged to the lowest since the study began in 1997.
The Bank also pointed to "credit rationing" as lenders clamp down and firms become wary of borrowing over concern about their ability to repay debt.
Mirror.co.uk: Fuelling fears over high energy costs
Customer champion Energywatch blamed rocketing bills on lack of competition - 10 years ago there were 20 energy firms vying for business, now there are just six.Energywatch chief Allan Asher told the Commons Business and Enterprise Committee: "There is a myth about vigorous price competition between suppliers."For the product they most actively sell - direct debit for 'dual fuel' gas and electricity - the price difference between the cheapest and the most expensive is about £30 a year, a few pence a week."
Customer champion Energywatch blamed rocketing bills on lack of competition - 10 years ago there were 20 energy firms vying for business, now there are just six.
Energywatch chief Allan Asher told the Commons Business and Enterprise Committee: "There is a myth about vigorous price competition between suppliers.
"For the product they most actively sell - direct debit for 'dual fuel' gas and electricity - the price difference between the cheapest and the most expensive is about £30 a year, a few pence a week."
There is a myth about vigorous price competition between suppliers.
Translation -> "You've been screwed."
