The European Union's employment commissioner on Saturday asked Germany to explain its decision to keep its labor market closed until 2011 to unskilled workers from new EU member states in eastern Europe. "I am awaiting a concrete and detailed explanation from Germany," Vladimir Spidla told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily during a conference in Bonn. "Germany must provide (an explanation), then I will see if the arguments are convincing," the former Czech prime minister added. Earlier this week, the German government said it would ease rules for highly qualified immigrants from new EU states seeking work to fill yawning gaps in the German job market. The government also reduced the minimum wage highly-skilled foreigners have to earn to secure a work permit to 63,600 euros ($101,200) per year from 86,400 euros.
"I am awaiting a concrete and detailed explanation from Germany," Vladimir Spidla told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily during a conference in Bonn. "Germany must provide (an explanation), then I will see if the arguments are convincing," the former Czech prime minister added.
Earlier this week, the German government said it would ease rules for highly qualified immigrants from new EU states seeking work to fill yawning gaps in the German job market.
The government also reduced the minimum wage highly-skilled foreigners have to earn to secure a work permit to 63,600 euros ($101,200) per year from 86,400 euros.
The European Union is not prepared to make any more concessions on agriculture at next week's key round of global trade talks in Geneva, the French presidency of the bloc said Friday, July18. "The EU has exhausted its room for maneuver in agriculture and cannot go any further. So we will not be making any further concessions," said Anne-Marie Idrac, a French government minister in charge of foreign trade. Idrac was speaking on the sidelines of an extraordinary meeting of EU ministers, convened in Brussels to prepare the groundwork for next week's World Trade Organization (WTO) talks where 30 nations will try to salvage a set of long-floundering trade liberalization negotiations. Those talks will address the so-called Doha Round, which seek to bring down global trade barriers.
"The EU has exhausted its room for maneuver in agriculture and cannot go any further. So we will not be making any further concessions," said Anne-Marie Idrac, a French government minister in charge of foreign trade.
Idrac was speaking on the sidelines of an extraordinary meeting of EU ministers, convened in Brussels to prepare the groundwork for next week's World Trade Organization (WTO) talks where 30 nations will try to salvage a set of long-floundering trade liberalization negotiations.
Those talks will address the so-called Doha Round, which seek to bring down global trade barriers.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has for the first time publicly admitted he wants a second term as head of the EU executive. In an interview with Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad on Saturday (19 July), he said he feels "honoured and privileged" to serve as commission president. "If today I had to decide about a second term, my answer would be 'yes'. Provided of course that I have the support of member states and the European Parliament. I have not said that before", he indicated. "I will see whether the conditions are right to continue. And whether the Europeans want me" He said however that it is "too early" to take a final decision on his candidacy since the appointment of a new commission president is only scheduled to take place after the June 2009 European Parliament elections.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has for the first time publicly admitted he wants a second term as head of the EU executive.
In an interview with Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad on Saturday (19 July), he said he feels "honoured and privileged" to serve as commission president.
"If today I had to decide about a second term, my answer would be 'yes'. Provided of course that I have the support of member states and the European Parliament. I have not said that before", he indicated.
"I will see whether the conditions are right to continue. And whether the Europeans want me"
He said however that it is "too early" to take a final decision on his candidacy since the appointment of a new commission president is only scheduled to take place after the June 2009 European Parliament elections.
Rome has decided that all Italians' fingerprints will be taken and figure on their ID cards starting from 2010, in order to respond to EU criticism about taking the fingerprints of Roma living in Italy, Le Figaro reports. Additionally, tougher measures against illegal immigrants have been adopted.
Sicily's Cosa Nostra is stronger than ever - but its new young bosses are doing `business' differently On a sun-drenched morning last week in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, a bunker-like courtroom in the Ucciardone prison was the scene of a rare challenge to the mafia. Bosses and low-ranking "soldiers" stared fixedly from their steel cages as seven shopkeepers - hidden by shaded glass - identified those who had allegedly collected extortion money from them for years. To date, 18 Palermitans - owners of bars and pizzerias, shops and car showrooms, even a street vendor who sells olives - have picked out their tormentors, for whom extortion rackets are the key instrument to control a neighbourhood. One witness had paid the same mafioso for 22 years; a refusal would have meant a gangster holding a gun to his temple or burning his shop down. At best. One man, the son of an ironmonger, recently refused to pay - and subsequently found a video cassette of the Agatha Christie film A Murder Is Announced on the seat of his scooter.
On a sun-drenched morning last week in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, a bunker-like courtroom in the Ucciardone prison was the scene of a rare challenge to the mafia. Bosses and low-ranking "soldiers" stared fixedly from their steel cages as seven shopkeepers - hidden by shaded glass - identified those who had allegedly collected extortion money from them for years.
To date, 18 Palermitans - owners of bars and pizzerias, shops and car showrooms, even a street vendor who sells olives - have picked out their tormentors, for whom extortion rackets are the key instrument to control a neighbourhood.
One witness had paid the same mafioso for 22 years; a refusal would have meant a gangster holding a gun to his temple or burning his shop down. At best. One man, the son of an ironmonger, recently refused to pay - and subsequently found a video cassette of the Agatha Christie film A Murder Is Announced on the seat of his scooter.
The hut was in a valley a five-minute drive from the dismal town of Corleone. Here the leader of both the mafia and the Corleonese clan, the richest and most powerful crime family in history, had spent his last weeks of freedom in a squalid home that smelt dankly of ricotta cheese. The godfather looked like a peasant, with his silver hair and weather-beaten face. He had been living off simple food such as boiled chicory; the only hints of his wealth were seven Scottish-made cashmere sweaters and £30,000 in cash. Where, I wondered, were the gangsters of the Godfather films with their beautiful women, luxury villas, limousines and partying?
The godfather looked like a peasant, with his silver hair and weather-beaten face. He had been living off simple food such as boiled chicory; the only hints of his wealth were seven Scottish-made cashmere sweaters and £30,000 in cash. Where, I wondered, were the gangsters of the Godfather films with their beautiful women, luxury villas, limousines and partying?
Call me naive, but i never knew they were so big.
The stakes are staggering: the mafia and its two junior cousins, the Camorra and the 'Ndrangheta, earn £42 billion a year, or 10.5% of Italy's GDP - not including another £35 billion or so from drug trafficking. The roots of such wealth are protection rackets and public works contracts. The mafia ensures that businesses under its control win lucrative contracts to build roads and public buildings such as hospitals or even law courts, or to supply hospitals with medical supplies.
10.5% of Italian GDP, plus a nearly equal amount of drug running. (No cite given for the numbers.) Skennah Kowa
Three German climbers kidnapped earlier this month by Kurdish rebels in eastern Turkey have been freed, the CNN-Turk and NTV television channels reported Sunday, July 20. "(Turkish) Foreign Minister Ali Babacan called his opposite number in Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to tell him that the three German citizens are now in the hands of Turkish forces and are in good health," said spokesman Burak Ozugergin. The trio -- Helmut Johann, Martin Georpe and Lars Holper Reime -- were seized by separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on July 8 during a climbing expedition to Mount Ararat in Agri province. "Because of our heavy operations in the region, the PKK was forced to leave them on a hilltop and flee ... The aim of our operations has been to prevent the terrorists from taking the hostages across the border," said Agri governor Mehmet Cetin.
"(Turkish) Foreign Minister Ali Babacan called his opposite number in Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to tell him that the three German citizens are now in the hands of Turkish forces and are in good health," said spokesman Burak Ozugergin.
The trio -- Helmut Johann, Martin Georpe and Lars Holper Reime -- were seized by separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on July 8 during a climbing expedition to Mount Ararat in Agri province.
"Because of our heavy operations in the region, the PKK was forced to leave them on a hilltop and flee ... The aim of our operations has been to prevent the terrorists from taking the hostages across the border," said Agri governor Mehmet Cetin.
LAREDO, Spain: Four bombs exploded in northern Spain on Sunday -- including one outside a bank -- causing damage but no injuries, officials said. A caller earlier warned about the explosives, saying he was speaking on behalf of Basque separatists. The first detonated without warning around 5 a.m. outside a bank in the northern town of Getxo, damaging a cash dispenser and breaking windows, the regional Interior Ministry said in Bilbao. Five hours later, a caller warned fire officials in the Basque town of Muskiz that two bombs would explode in Laredo and Noja in the neighboring province of Cantabria, the ministry said. A bomb exploded in the sand next to Laredo's beach-front promenade at around 12:20 p.m. In Noja, a device detonated at the beach around 1 p.m., and another bomb exploded at a golf course about an hour later, according to Cantabria's regional Interior Ministry in Santander.
LAREDO, Spain: Four bombs exploded in northern Spain on Sunday -- including one outside a bank -- causing damage but no injuries, officials said. A caller earlier warned about the explosives, saying he was speaking on behalf of Basque separatists.
The first detonated without warning around 5 a.m. outside a bank in the northern town of Getxo, damaging a cash dispenser and breaking windows, the regional Interior Ministry said in Bilbao.
Five hours later, a caller warned fire officials in the Basque town of Muskiz that two bombs would explode in Laredo and Noja in the neighboring province of Cantabria, the ministry said.
A bomb exploded in the sand next to Laredo's beach-front promenade at around 12:20 p.m. In Noja, a device detonated at the beach around 1 p.m., and another bomb exploded at a golf course about an hour later, according to Cantabria's regional Interior Ministry in Santander.
Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund has proven that big money can be invested in ethical ways. Others should follow suitMany people think ethical investments are a worthy but inconsequential sideline away from the business of making big money - an indulgence for do-gooders. But the example of the second largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) in the world, after Abu Dhabi's, may give them food for thought. Norway's Government Pension Fund, worth a dizzying £203bn, frequently flexes its ethical muscles. The fund saves up nearly all the income from its oil and gas resources from the North Sea - the Nordic country is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and second biggest gas exporter to Europe. It invests nearly all the money outside its borders, to avoid overheating the domestic economy, taking only 4% of the fund's revenue each year to balance the annual budget. And when it invests its cash, it makes sure it's done ethically. In 2006, the fund disinvested from US retail giant Wal-Mart because its labour policies, such as blocking employees' attempts to form unions or pressurising staff to work overtime without compensation, amounted to "serious/systematic violations of human rights and labour rights". The year before, it kicked out Britain's largest weapon manufacturer, BAE Systems, citing its involvement in the production of nuclear weapons. The fund does not invest in companies producing "especially inhumane" military equipment, such as nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as anti-personnel landmines or cluster bombs. Neither does it invest in industries that harm the environment on a large scale. In total, about 25 firms have been kicked out.
Many people think ethical investments are a worthy but inconsequential sideline away from the business of making big money - an indulgence for do-gooders. But the example of the second largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) in the world, after Abu Dhabi's, may give them food for thought. Norway's Government Pension Fund, worth a dizzying £203bn, frequently flexes its ethical muscles.
The fund saves up nearly all the income from its oil and gas resources from the North Sea - the Nordic country is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and second biggest gas exporter to Europe. It invests nearly all the money outside its borders, to avoid overheating the domestic economy, taking only 4% of the fund's revenue each year to balance the annual budget. And when it invests its cash, it makes sure it's done ethically.
In 2006, the fund disinvested from US retail giant Wal-Mart because its labour policies, such as blocking employees' attempts to form unions or pressurising staff to work overtime without compensation, amounted to "serious/systematic violations of human rights and labour rights". The year before, it kicked out Britain's largest weapon manufacturer, BAE Systems, citing its involvement in the production of nuclear weapons. The fund does not invest in companies producing "especially inhumane" military equipment, such as nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as anti-personnel landmines or cluster bombs. Neither does it invest in industries that harm the environment on a large scale. In total, about 25 firms have been kicked out.
The Ministry of Defence tonight confirmed another laptop with "sensitive information" on has been stolen while one of their officials checked out of a hotel.An MoD spokesman said the theft from the Britannia Adelphi hotel in Liverpool city centre on Thursday brought the total of laptops stolen to 659.On Friday the MoD admitted that 658 of its laptops had been stolen over the past four years - nearly double the figure previously claimed.The department also said 26 portable memory sticks containing classified information had been either stolen or misplaced since January.However, the MoD insisted its policies were "generally fit for purpose", and said all data losses were fully investigated.
The Ministry of Defence tonight confirmed another laptop with "sensitive information" on has been stolen while one of their officials checked out of a hotel.
An MoD spokesman said the theft from the Britannia Adelphi hotel in Liverpool city centre on Thursday brought the total of laptops stolen to 659.
On Friday the MoD admitted that 658 of its laptops had been stolen over the past four years - nearly double the figure previously claimed.
The department also said 26 portable memory sticks containing classified information had been either stolen or misplaced since January.
However, the MoD insisted its policies were "generally fit for purpose", and said all data losses were fully investigated.
European Union rules limited the ability of British financial authorities to cope with the crisis at Northern Rock, according to a pamphlet published today by a leading economist.
The fine print:
Prof Congdon's pamphlet was published today by thinktank Global Vision, which campaigns for a looser British relationship with the EU. Global Vision director Ruth Lea said: "The health and stability of the financial sector is vital to the well-being of the British economy. "Tim Congdon's paper shows that it is crucial to renegotiate our membership with the EU so we are free of EU involvement in our banking system."
Global Vision director Ruth Lea said: "The health and stability of the financial sector is vital to the well-being of the British economy.
"Tim Congdon's paper shows that it is crucial to renegotiate our membership with the EU so we are free of EU involvement in our banking system."
She is often on the BBC because they consider her absolutely bonkers (quote from a staffer on a BBC current affairs prog) and likely to provoke an argument from her extremism and thus make good telly. nb, not informative, just entertaining - a curious value in current affairs.
The Guardian feature her for the same reason, which I find mystifying. I don't mind reading right wing views so long as they're coherent and evidence based (it's possible - Max Hastings is always worth reading for this very reason), but I object to reading drooling at the mouth absurdity, which is what Lea and Fukuyama serve up. keep to the Fen Causeway
Investors in UK bank HBOS have overwhelmingly declined the chance to buy new shares in the firm. The top mortgage lender announced that just 8.29% of the new shares offered in its £4bn rights issue were taken up
Investors in UK bank HBOS have overwhelmingly declined the chance to buy new shares in the firm.
The top mortgage lender announced that just 8.29% of the new shares offered in its £4bn rights issue were taken up
KIEV, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - A Ukrainian opposition party has prevented foreign warships participating in a NATO naval exercise from leaving the Black Sea port of Odessa, the Bratstvo (Brotherhood) press service said on Monday. Sea Breeze 2008, a NATO military exercise, began last Monday in Ukraine's Odessa, Crimea and Black Sea coastal regions. Two years ago, the Sea Breeze 2006 exercise in the Crimea was also disrupted by protests. Ukraine and the United States are joined by 15 other countries for this year's exercises, which are due to end on July 26. Fifteen Ukrainian ships, four aircraft, 10 helicopters, and 500 service personnel are involved in the military exercises. "On the morning of July 21, 10 Brotherhood boats blocked off the exit from the port of Odessa, where foreign warships are deployed, with the aim of preventing them from participating in the NATO Sea Breeze 2008 exercise," the party said. It added that three boats were later detained, but the others continued the 'blocking operation.' "The NATO drill in Odessa is being accompanied by numerous protests by local residents. This demonstrates the public mood in Ukraine over the government's course toward early admission to the alliance," it said.
KIEV, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - A Ukrainian opposition party has prevented foreign warships participating in a NATO naval exercise from leaving the Black Sea port of Odessa, the Bratstvo (Brotherhood) press service said on Monday.
Sea Breeze 2008, a NATO military exercise, began last Monday in Ukraine's Odessa, Crimea and Black Sea coastal regions. Two years ago, the Sea Breeze 2006 exercise in the Crimea was also disrupted by protests.
Ukraine and the United States are joined by 15 other countries for this year's exercises, which are due to end on July 26. Fifteen Ukrainian ships, four aircraft, 10 helicopters, and 500 service personnel are involved in the military exercises.
"On the morning of July 21, 10 Brotherhood boats blocked off the exit from the port of Odessa, where foreign warships are deployed, with the aim of preventing them from participating in the NATO Sea Breeze 2008 exercise," the party said.
It added that three boats were later detained, but the others continued the 'blocking operation.'
"The NATO drill in Odessa is being accompanied by numerous protests by local residents. This demonstrates the public mood in Ukraine over the government's course toward early admission to the alliance," it said.
