EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told a Brussels news conference that Somali security forces have asked for special training to fight against the growing armed insurgency in their country, the EUobserver reports. Solana said the training would not be a big operation. "It will probably be in the hundreds, not the thousands," he said Tuesday.
Solana said the training would not be a big operation.
"It will probably be in the hundreds, not the thousands," he said Tuesday.
Spain has proposed to lead the new EU training mission, with a possible start date being the first half of next year under the Spanish presidency of the EU. Madrid would run a mission headquarters in Brussels and take care of logistics, finance and infrastructure, with a number of EU member states indicating a willingness to lend troops. The meeting of defence ministers also threw up a range of concerns, including the need to prevent the newly trained forces becoming a danger to Somali civilians in the future.
Madrid would run a mission headquarters in Brussels and take care of logistics, finance and infrastructure, with a number of EU member states indicating a willingness to lend troops.
The meeting of defence ministers also threw up a range of concerns, including the need to prevent the newly trained forces becoming a danger to Somali civilians in the future.
"There was a heavy exchange of gunfire between some of our friends" one pirate told the local journalist, speaking of the other pirates. "They fought over the 3 million euro ($4.5 million) received as a ransom from the Spanish boat." At least two pirates were wounded in the gunfight in Harardhere, a pirate stronghold in central Somalia, the local journalist told CNN.
"They fought over the 3 million euro ($4.5 million) received as a ransom from the Spanish boat."
At least two pirates were wounded in the gunfight in Harardhere, a pirate stronghold in central Somalia, the local journalist told CNN.
Soon after the Alakrana, a Basque tuna-fishing vessel, and its 36 crew were freed on Tuesday, the Spanish opposition Popular party challenged the government to explain how the kidnapping happened and how it was resolved. Sixteen of the crew are Spanish. EDITOR'S CHOICESomali pirates seize arms shipment - Nov-09Somali pirates seize Chinese carrier - Oct-19"The time has come for the government to speak," Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, PP parliamentary spokeswoman, said in a television interview on Wednesday. "Now that they [the crew] are safe and sound, we must insist that the government take responsibility for how the kidnapping began, for how it was managed and for everything that needs to be done to ensure that cases like the Alakrana don't happen again."
"The time has come for the government to speak," Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, PP parliamentary spokeswoman, said in a television interview on Wednesday.
"Now that they [the crew] are safe and sound, we must insist that the government take responsibility for how the kidnapping began, for how it was managed and for everything that needs to be done to ensure that cases like the Alakrana don't happen again."
There was a pause in hijackings during monsoon rains, but Somali sea gangs have stepped up attacks in the past two months, especially off the Seychelles as the pirates extend their range to evade navies patrolling off the Horn of Africa. ... The European Union naval force EU Navfor force operating in the area said on Tuesday that pirates had seized the 22,294 DWT tanker MV Theresa VIII 180 nautical miles northwest of the Seychelles with 28 North Korean crew on board. ... The European force said gunmen opened fire on the Maersk Alabama with automatic weapons on Wednesday morning, but a security detachment with the huge container ship responded and the vessel managed to escape with no casualties reported.
There was a pause in hijackings during monsoon rains, but Somali sea gangs have stepped up attacks in the past two months, especially off the Seychelles as the pirates extend their range to evade navies patrolling off the Horn of Africa.
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The European Union naval force EU Navfor force operating in the area said on Tuesday that pirates had seized the 22,294 DWT tanker MV Theresa VIII 180 nautical miles northwest of the Seychelles with 28 North Korean crew on board.
The European force said gunmen opened fire on the Maersk Alabama with automatic weapons on Wednesday morning, but a security detachment with the huge container ship responded and the vessel managed to escape with no casualties reported.
The 2009-present phase of the Somali Civil War is concentrated in southern Somalia. It began in early February 2009, with the conflict between, on the one hand, the forces of the Somali Transitional Federal Government assisted by African Union peacekeeping troops, and on the other, various militant Islamist factions. The violence has displaced thousands of people residing in Mogadishu, the nation's capital.
The admission confirmed widespread speculation about a process plagued by legal and logistical obstacles from the start. Though not a surprise, it will provide Mr Obama's critics with more evidence that he has so far promised more than he can deliver. Mr Obama "knew this was going to be hard," he told Fox News in China before leaving for South Korea. In a separate interview with NBC he argued that many deadlines on which he was reported to be slipping had been set by the media, not his administration, but he acknowledged that on Guantanamo "We had a specific deadline that was missed." Nothing symbolised the new President's resolve to break with the policies of his predecessor more clearly than his order on January 22 that the detainee camp be closed by January 2010.
Mr Obama "knew this was going to be hard," he told Fox News in China before leaving for South Korea. In a separate interview with NBC he argued that many deadlines on which he was reported to be slipping had been set by the media, not his administration, but he acknowledged that on Guantanamo "We had a specific deadline that was missed."
Nothing symbolised the new President's resolve to break with the policies of his predecessor more clearly than his order on January 22 that the detainee camp be closed by January 2010.
In an interview Wednesday with U.S. news station Fox News, Mr. Obama said additional settlement building could make it harder for Israel to make peace with its neighbors.He added that he thinks such action, in his words, "embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous."Israeli officials announced plans Tuesday to construct 900 new housing units in east Jerusalem.
Nov 17 (Reuters) - Renewable energy company Ram Power Corp (RPG.TO) said the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) has proposed to arrange $216 million in debt financing for the company's 72 megawatt geothermal project in Nicaragua.
NEW ORLEANS -- A federal judge found Wednesday evening that poor maintenance of a major navigation channel by the Army Corps of Engineers led to some of the worst flooding after Hurricane Katrina. The ruling was a major victory for homeowners who suffered damage in the aftermath of the storm. It was the first time that the government has been held liable for any of the flooding that inundated the New Orleans area after Aug. 29, 2005, vindicating the long-held contention of many in the region that the flooding was far more than an act of God. If upheld, the ruling could force the federal government to pay tens of millions of dollars, if not more, to homeowners whose property was lost or damaged by water from the navigation canal, the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, known as MR-GO (pronounced Mister Go). "It is the court's opinion that the negligence of the corps, in this instance by failing to maintain the MR-GO properly, was not policy, but insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness," wrote Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. of Federal District Court.
It was the first time that the government has been held liable for any of the flooding that inundated the New Orleans area after Aug. 29, 2005, vindicating the long-held contention of many in the region that the flooding was far more than an act of God.
If upheld, the ruling could force the federal government to pay tens of millions of dollars, if not more, to homeowners whose property was lost or damaged by water from the navigation canal, the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, known as MR-GO (pronounced Mister Go).
"It is the court's opinion that the negligence of the corps, in this instance by failing to maintain the MR-GO properly, was not policy, but insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness," wrote Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. of Federal District Court.
A key House panel voted on Wednesday to give the federal government broad new powers that could be used to break up large financial firms before they fail. The House Financial Services Committee voted 38-29 to support an amendment sponsored by Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) that drew strong objections from Republicans and wariness from some centrist Democrats. Kanjorski said his amendment to the sweeping financial overhaul legislation was inspired by a belief that lawmakers would not vote for future emergency bailout funds like they did a year ago with the $700 billion bailout package. "We've gone to the edge. We've almost seen a world meltdown. What I'm saying is before we get back into those circumstances, we're going to cure that," Kanjorski said. .... The Kanjorski measure requires federal regulators to look closely at the 50 largest financial firms by assets and determine whether their size, scope, interconnectedness and other factors need additional regulation. Regulators would then be able to impose stricter regulations, limit a firm's ability to merge and also possibly sell or divest parts of the firm. Companies would be able to submit their own business plans, subject to approval from a council of regulators in advance of the government taking action.
Kanjorski said his amendment to the sweeping financial overhaul legislation was inspired by a belief that lawmakers would not vote for future emergency bailout funds like they did a year ago with the $700 billion bailout package. "We've gone to the edge. We've almost seen a world meltdown. What I'm saying is before we get back into those circumstances, we're going to cure that," Kanjorski said.
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The Kanjorski measure requires federal regulators to look closely at the 50 largest financial firms by assets and determine whether their size, scope, interconnectedness and other factors need additional regulation. Regulators would then be able to impose stricter regulations, limit a firm's ability to merge and also possibly sell or divest parts of the firm. Companies would be able to submit their own business plans, subject to approval from a council of regulators in advance of the government taking action.
But in fact China is heading in the opposite direction of "rebalancing." Its productive capacity keeps soaring, but Chinese consumers are taking home a shrinking proportion of the total economy. Last year, personal consumption in China amounted to only 35% of the Chinese economy; 10 years ago consumption was almost 50%. Capital investment, by contrast, rose to 44% from 35% over the decade. China's capital spending is on the way to exceeding that of the U.S., but its consumer spending is barely a sixth as large. Chinese companies are plowing their rising profits back into more productive capacity--additional factories, more equipment, new technologies. China's massive $600 billion stimulus package has been directed at further enlarging China's productive capacity rather than consumption. So where will this productive capacity go if not to Chinese consumers? Net exports to other nations, especially the U.S. and Europe.
But in fact China is heading in the opposite direction of "rebalancing." Its productive capacity keeps soaring, but Chinese consumers are taking home a shrinking proportion of the total economy. Last year, personal consumption in China amounted to only 35% of the Chinese economy; 10 years ago consumption was almost 50%. Capital investment, by contrast, rose to 44% from 35% over the decade.
China's capital spending is on the way to exceeding that of the U.S., but its consumer spending is barely a sixth as large. Chinese companies are plowing their rising profits back into more productive capacity--additional factories, more equipment, new technologies. China's massive $600 billion stimulus package has been directed at further enlarging China's productive capacity rather than consumption. So where will this productive capacity go if not to Chinese consumers? Net exports to other nations, especially the U.S. and Europe.
Capital investment, by contrast, rose to 44% from 35% over the decade.
Why oh why assume that 100% of that is private investment in factories producing for export? What about China's massive government-funded infrastructure program? Rail, high-speed rail, subways, motorways, roads, airports, power plants and land lines. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state. The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares: "This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage." Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.
The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:
"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."
Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.
