Ad astra per aspera
Icy conditions that have caused chaos on the roads and disrupted holiday travel plans could continue well into Christmas Day, the Met Office has warned, with millions of people facing Christmas away from their loved ones.Fresh travel warnings have been issued predicting an 80% or greater probability of "widespread icy roads" in north-east and south-west England, Wales and most of Scotland, lasting until late on Christmas morning. There is also a moderate risk of heavy snow in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland on Christmas Day.
Icy conditions that have caused chaos on the roads and disrupted holiday travel plans could continue well into Christmas Day, the Met Office has warned, with millions of people facing Christmas away from their loved ones.
Fresh travel warnings have been issued predicting an 80% or greater probability of "widespread icy roads" in north-east and south-west England, Wales and most of Scotland, lasting until late on Christmas morning. There is also a moderate risk of heavy snow in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland on Christmas Day.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday ordered a one fifth cut to the staff of the 1.4 million strong Interior Ministry after a series of scandals involving the police. If implemented, the reform could affect at least 280,000 people and would amount to one of the most ambitious reforms of Russia's bloated bureaucracy since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. In a presidential decree, Medvedev ordered a 20 percent cut to the Interior Ministry's staff -- which includes the police, interior ministry troops, investigators and civilian officials -- by Jan 1, 2012, the Kremlin said.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday ordered a one fifth cut to the staff of the 1.4 million strong Interior Ministry after a series of scandals involving the police.
If implemented, the reform could affect at least 280,000 people and would amount to one of the most ambitious reforms of Russia's bloated bureaucracy since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
In a presidential decree, Medvedev ordered a 20 percent cut to the Interior Ministry's staff -- which includes the police, interior ministry troops, investigators and civilian officials -- by Jan 1, 2012, the Kremlin said.
Eurostar, reeling from the worst week in its history, faced a new threat yesterday - a cut-price competitor on the railway route beneath the Channel. The French environment company Veolia and the Italian state railways are close to agreeing to launch within two years a kind of "rail Ryanair" - a network of cheap, high-speed services between European cities, including London and Paris.
Eurostar, reeling from the worst week in its history, faced a new threat yesterday - a cut-price competitor on the railway route beneath the Channel.
The French environment company Veolia and the Italian state railways are close to agreeing to launch within two years a kind of "rail Ryanair" - a network of cheap, high-speed services between European cities, including London and Paris.
I just wish we could end all this anti-Schengen nonsense so's it'd be just like getting on any other train in europe. As someone pointed out, you get off the train in Gare du Nord from behind all the paranoia mesh screens and then you can just get on trains to germany or belgium like normal grownups. It's ridiculous. keep to the Fen Causeway
Russia will work on a new generation of atomic weapons to strengthen its nuclear deterrent, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, just hours after Moscow test-fired one of its most feared missiles. Medvedev said that Russia and the United States were close to a landmark deal on cutting arsenals of Cold War nuclear weapons, but that Moscow would still push ahead with the development of new strategic offensive weapons. "Of course, we will develop new systems, including delivery systems, that is, missiles," Medvedev told the directors of Russia's three main state-controlled television channels.
Russia will work on a new generation of atomic weapons to strengthen its nuclear deterrent, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, just hours after Moscow test-fired one of its most feared missiles.
Medvedev said that Russia and the United States were close to a landmark deal on cutting arsenals of Cold War nuclear weapons, but that Moscow would still push ahead with the development of new strategic offensive weapons.
"Of course, we will develop new systems, including delivery systems, that is, missiles," Medvedev told the directors of Russia's three main state-controlled television channels.
... Moscow would still push ahead with the development of new strategic offensive weapons.
And who is the target of this offense? Alaska? Palin? Now where's the fun in that! - Megatron
AFP - President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday pledged to overhaul Russia's largely Soviet-inherited prison system following the sudden death in jail of a lawyer last month. "Our system of the execution of punishment has not changed for decades," Medvedev said in a live end-of-year television interview. "There is no order. We need to bring it about." Earlier this month, he sacked around 20 top prison officials, including top prisons chiefs for Moscow and Saint Petersburg, in one of the largest shake-ups at the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishment, the successor to the Soviet-era Gulag prison system. The mass firings came after the sudden death of high-profile lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in jail, where he had been held for over a year in pre-trial detention. His requests for medical treatment had been denied.
REUTERS - Eurostar trains will be running at near full capacity on Thursday after thousands of passengers were stranded by a series of breakdowns and stoppages caused by snow, the cross-Channel rail operator said on Wednesday. "Eurostar travellers can reach their destinations for Christmas. Eurostar announces a near-normal service for tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 24," the company said in a statement from Paris. Eurostar, owned by the French and Belgian state railway firms and by Britain, has faced a storm of criticism after 2,500 people were trapped on trains inside the Channel Tunnel for up to 16 hours on Saturday. The company said electrical power systems on the trains had been affected by condensation caused by melted snow and has ordered an inquiry.
AFP - Georgia and Russia have agreed to re-open their land border to traffic, Georgia's foreign ministry said Thursday, in the first sign of a thaw in relations after their bitter war last year. The two countries reached a deal under Swiss mediation to re-open the Upper Lars checkpoint, which was closed in 2006, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said. It is the only land border crossing that does not go through Georgia's Russian-backed rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which were the focus of the 2008 conflict. "The decision to re-open (the border) has been made," she told journalists, adding that Georgia expects the crossing to re-open by the beginning of March. Kalandadze said the agreement would allow Georgian citizens and cargo to cross the border and that a formal protocol on re-opening the crossing would be finalised within two weeks.
In a Christmas address broadcast Thursday, German president Horst Koehler reflected on a number of major events that affected Germany in 2009. One of the main topics of the adress was the global financial crisis. Koehler called for respectability and improved rules within the financial sector, warning bankers and other financial actors of the responsibilites they hold in society.
In a Christmas address broadcast Thursday, German president Horst Koehler reflected on a number of major events that affected Germany in 2009.
One of the main topics of the adress was the global financial crisis. Koehler called for respectability and improved rules within the financial sector, warning bankers and other financial actors of the responsibilites they hold in society.
Anti-terrorism squads in Turkey conducted raids in 11 cities, arresting 43 campaigners and members of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), said aides of the chief state prosecutor in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir. Among those arrested in the early-morning operation were several prominent politicians, including at least seven local mayors, and two-human rights activists. According to some accounts from Kurdish sources, the number arrested was between 60 and 80.
Anti-terrorism squads in Turkey conducted raids in 11 cities, arresting 43 campaigners and members of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), said aides of the chief state prosecutor in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir.
Among those arrested in the early-morning operation were several prominent politicians, including at least seven local mayors, and two-human rights activists.
According to some accounts from Kurdish sources, the number arrested was between 60 and 80.
Britain never quite banned sinn Fein, and the attempt to prevent their representatives on telly ended up being a spectacular own goal. keep to the Fen Causeway
Tens of thousand of employees and contract workers of the European Union are set for a pay raise next year, but it may not be as much as they had hoped. A planned 3.7 percent salary raise was chopped into a 1.85 percent increase in compromise negotiations, but the Commission is unhappy with the deal.
Tens of thousand of employees and contract workers of the European Union are set for a pay raise next year, but it may not be as much as they had hoped.
A planned 3.7 percent salary raise was chopped into a 1.85 percent increase in compromise negotiations, but the Commission is unhappy with the deal.
The vote in the Greek parliament in Athens in the early hours of Thursday fell along party lines with all 160 Socialist lawmakers agreeing to the austerity budget and 139 from four opposition parties opposing it. One parliamentarian was absent. The budget, described by the Socialists as the "toughest" since democracy was restored in 1974, aims to rein in the country's spiralling debt and chaotic public finances. Through spending cuts and salary and hiring restrictions in the public sector, the budget sets out to cut the deficit to 9.1 percent of gross domestic product from its current 12.7 percent. Greek debt has grown to about 300 billion euros ($430 billion) and fellow euro-zone countries and investors were alarmed as three international credit rating agencies successively downgraded that debt this month.
The vote in the Greek parliament in Athens in the early hours of Thursday fell along party lines with all 160 Socialist lawmakers agreeing to the austerity budget and 139 from four opposition parties opposing it. One parliamentarian was absent.
The budget, described by the Socialists as the "toughest" since democracy was restored in 1974, aims to rein in the country's spiralling debt and chaotic public finances.
Through spending cuts and salary and hiring restrictions in the public sector, the budget sets out to cut the deficit to 9.1 percent of gross domestic product from its current 12.7 percent. Greek debt has grown to about 300 billion euros ($430 billion) and fellow euro-zone countries and investors were alarmed as three international credit rating agencies successively downgraded that debt this month.
Italy's four main mafia organisations have put aside their deadly differences to form a new and dangerous "fifth mafia" in Rome, a report has warned. The co-operation between the organised crime syndicates is a new and worrying development for the country's capital, researchers said.The impoverished south of Italy has been the traditional power base for the country's four mafia groups - Sicily's Cosa Nostra, the Camorra from Campania, the 'Ndragheta of Calabria and the lesser known Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia.
The co-operation between the organised crime syndicates is a new and worrying development for the country's capital, researchers said.
The impoverished south of Italy has been the traditional power base for the country's four mafia groups - Sicily's Cosa Nostra, the Camorra from Campania, the 'Ndragheta of Calabria and the lesser known Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia.
It is perhaps the future of journalism since local reporting now far outclasses mainstream journalism when it comes to reporting local events. In the past there was a lot of maverick reporting based on shakey sources. This has changed through the concerted efforts of professionals who have canvased the outback to teach youngsters the basics and ethics of journalism. I recently attended a conference in an occupied factory in Rome- our famous social centers- where veteran reporters discussed their experiences with internet networking and their ideas of the future of reporting. You learn a lot more about corruption, mafia and the 'Ndrangheta by reading local blogs run by youngsters than reading the best national press.
So back to your remark, the mafia doesn't often release press statements- which is something I should discuss further (I refer here, for example, to the Gravianos' testimony in the appeals case of the Dell'Utri sentence). But there are hundreds of youth and professionals on the ground collecting data and analyzing it.
This particular article refers to a consolidated reality of the past decades. It is not new (once again) although Nick Squire throws in a little pizzazz to make it seem so and a welcome interview with one of the experts at Liberainformazione. The dossier in question started coming out in March 2008.
A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass on Thursday. The 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini. Footage aired on Italy's RAI state TV showed a woman dressed in a red jumper vaulting over the wooden barriers and rushing the pope before being swarmed by bodyguards. <...> Benedettini said the woman who pushed the pope appeared to be mentally unstable... "(The pope) quickly got up and continued the procession." ...
A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass on Thursday.
The 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini. Footage aired on Italy's RAI state TV showed a woman dressed in a red jumper vaulting over the wooden barriers and rushing the pope before being swarmed by bodyguards.
<...>
Benedettini said the woman who pushed the pope appeared to be mentally unstable... "(The pope) quickly got up and continued the procession." ...
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to defeat the organised crime in the country by 2013."The mafia is a pathological phenomenon that we want to defeat once and for all by the end of this term in office," Mr Berlusconi told Italy's national radio.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to defeat the organised crime in the country by 2013.
"The mafia is a pathological phenomenon that we want to defeat once and for all by the end of this term in office," Mr Berlusconi told Italy's national radio.
rack·et·eer (rk-tîr) n. A person who commits crimes such as extortion, loansharking, bribery, and obstruction of justice in furtherance of illegal business activities.
extortion = bonuses loansharking = CDOs bribery = lobbying obstruction of justice = politics You can't be me, I'm taken
Outside territories such as in Lombardia (which is far more important to the `Ndrangheta than the Lazio region where the Camorra has made major inroads) rival criminal organizations seek tactical alliances to divide up specific roles, businesses or territories.
The modern mafia sends its children to the best business schools in the world. This new generation is educated, very well mannered, impeccably dressed and could likely hold down a job as secretary to the Council Presidency. I suppose minimum requirements to become a member of the mafia may have been relaxed. It's hard to imagine a dapper young man with a British accent and a masters in international law strangling a designated victim.
It has utterly nothing to do with the government. The government does not investigate crime nor can authorize arrests. It can contribute through legislation and earmarking funds.
To the contrary, "No government in the history of the republic has acted with as much determination and efficiency in forwarding the cause of criminal organisations" through legislation and blocking of funds to both the judiciary and the police.
BBC straight reporting at its best.
Earlier this month, mafia informant Gaspare Spatuzza made an allegation that a Sicilian Mafia boss convicted of 1990s bombings had boasted of ties to Mr Berlusconi.
Spatuzza is not a mafia informant. He's a major military mafia commander who has entered the State Witness program. He confirmed the allegation that Giuseppe Graviano said he had ties to Mr. Berlusconi concerning the bombings.
Mr. Berlusconi's indirect business ties with the Gravianos are already spelled out in the Dell'Utri sentence. Spatuzza also confirmed that, although it is superfluous.
Giuseppe Graviano refused to respond to the judges in Palermo to Spatuzza's allegations. The whole scenario was a lesson in Mafia dialectics. Essentially, Giuseppe Graviano offered his testimony for a price. We will see what measures Mr. Berlusconi will take to favour Giuseppe Graviano's situation (as well as those of other mafia bosses) in exchange for his testimony.
Of course, their testimony is beside the point. Dell'Utri was condemned on hard material evidence, not testimony. What Giuseppe Graviano is offering is a major televised scoop that would be played to the hilt by the strategic media in Italy to debunk Berlusconi's longstanding mafia ties. And of course the BBC will act as a faithful echo chamber.
thanks for filling us in on the real deal, as i would have done, had i your knowledge, and way with words.
i apologise if i was misinterpreted, and humbly wish you the best of holiday wishes, plus many thanks for your always superlative coverage of all things italian through the years. ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
I can imagine BBC reporting of similar statements by Hitler, Lukashenko, Idi Amin, you name 'em. "The chancellor declared today on radio that no government in the history of the republic has acted with as much determination and efficiency in establishing equality and the rights of all citizens regardless their race, colour or creed."
A shameless, self-serving lie is still a lie. As Goebbels said, you must think and do the unthinkable. Berlusconi follows in step the time-honoured machiavellian tradition of outrageous bullshitting.
