Eurozone big four agree to growth package - EUROZONE - FRANCE 24

REUTERS - The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain agreed on Friday on a 130 billion euros ($156 billion) package to try to revive economic growth in Europe but differed over whether and how to launch joint bonds to combat the euro zone's debt crisis.

After a four-way summit in Rome's Renaissance Villa Madama, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said the European Union should adopt a series of growth measures worth about 1 percent of the region's gross domestic product at a summit next week.

"Growth can only have solid roots if there is fiscal discipline, but fiscal discipline can be maintained only if there is growth and job creation," Monti told a joint news conference after talks that lasted just an hour and 40 minutes.

The growth measures, already in the works in Brussels, include increasing the European Investment Bank's capital, redirecting unspent EU regional funds and launching project bonds to co-finance major public investment programmes.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Ed Miliband promises new immigration measures to protect British workers - UK Politics - UK - The Independent

Ed Miliband today promised new measures to prevent British people being "locked out" of jobs by foreign workers, including forcing firms to declare if they employ high numbers of immigrants.

Overseas-only employment agencies would be banned and an early-warning system set up to highlight areas where locals are "dominated" by an influx of overseas labour under the proposals.

While there cannot be set quotas on home-grown workers, urgent action is required to identify where British jobseekers need better training to compete, the Labour leader said.

The thought be begone that the problem be approached by the Labour Party via labour rights...

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Reuters: Traders cut or halt power to Greece as bills unpaid (June 22, 2012)

With Greece deep in crisis, power grid operator LAGHE owes foreign and domestic suppliers 3 27 million euros ($410 million), a court document obtained by Reuters showed, as its revenue falls due to the recession and a refusal by many Greeks to pay their bills.

Trading sources told Reuters that at least four trading companies in Switzerland, Italy, Bulgaria and Germany have either lowered or cut off sales to Greece due to high credit risk and delays in payments over the past 2-3 months for power they sold.

...

Industrial consumers who are suffering as Greece endures its fifth year of recession usually buy power on long-term contracts and are not immediately affected by power market moves. However, if the prices remain high, they will eventually get passed on to companies that are often struggling for survival.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

Moody's downgrades 15 major banks - FINANCE - FRANCE 24

AP - Moody's Investors Service has lowered the credit ratings on some of the world's biggest banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, reflecting concern over their exposure to the violent swings in global financial markets.

The downgrades late Thursday ultimately are a measure of Moody's view on the ability of the banks to repay their debts. The ratings agency also cut its ratings on Barclays, Deutsche Bank and HSBC, some of the largest banks in Europe, a region fighting to contain a government debt crisis.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

EU urged to get pensioners back in the workforce | EurActiv

Elderly people need to me more actively included in the EU labour market to tackle Europe's demographic problems, stakeholders said during a conference in Brussels.

"We have reached a turning point in demographic terms. The baby-boom generation is starting to retire and number of the people over 60 is rising by 2 million a year", László Andor, commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, said Wednesday (20 June) during a conference at the European Policy Centre.

With baby boomers retiring and fewer children being born, the labour force is on course to shrink significantly, as will the number of taxpayers to support the pension system.

So the working-age population is again assumed to be equivalent with taxpayers when it comes to pensions. It never ceases to amaze me that arguments about a demographic timebomb always assume that we (will) have full employment.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Qatari group to buy French luxury hotels - FRANCE - QATAR - FRANCE 24

AFP - US hotel group Starwood Capital is to sell four key French properties, including the famed Martinez in Cannes and the Concorde Lafayette in Paris, to a Qatari investor, a union official said on Friday.

Starwood Capital's Groupe du Louvre will hold a meeting on Thursday with the sale of the Martinez, Concorde Lafayette, Hotel du Louvre and the Palais de la Mediterranee in Nice on the agenda, union representative Claude Levy told AFP.

Starwood Capital in Paris declined to comment on the sale.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Air France to axe 5,000 jobs by 2014 - France - FRANCE 24

Air France announced Thursday plans to shed more than 5,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its workforce, by 2014. The struggling Franco-Dutch airline, which posted an €809 million loss in 2011, said all departures would be voluntary.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Tens of thousands attend anti-military protest in Cairo - EGYPT - FRANCE 24

AP - Egypt's ruling military council on Friday blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for raising tensions by releasing presidential election results early - and defended decisions granting itself sweeping powers.

The military statement came as tens of thousands rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square to support the Brotherhood's candidate for president, Mohammed Morsi. The protesters also denounced what they perceive as the military's power grab that strips the next leader of much of his authority.

The demonstration in midday heat Friday, the largest in four straight days of protests, showed the potential explosiveness of the situation in Egypt.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Assad's militiamen 'ambushed and killed' in Aleppo - Syria - FRANCE 24

The bloodshed continued in Syria on Friday with 26 supporters of Bashar al-Assad's regime reportedly killed in an ambush in Aleppo. On the same day France called on Assad's forces to follow the example of a Syrian fighter pilot and defect.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Deadly Kabul hotel siege ends after 12-hour gunbattle - AFGHANISTAN - FRANCE 24

Taliban militants killed 13 people and took dozens of hostages after storming a hotel on the outskirts of Kabul Friday. Afghan forces fought a 12-hour gunbattle with the insurgents before the five attackers were killed to bring an end to the siege.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

New PM nominated for Pakistan amid political turmoil - Pakistan - FRANCE 24

The lower house of parliament is scheduled to meet at 1230 GMT to elect a new premier in a bid to end a political crisis sparked by the Supreme Court's dismissal of premier Yousuf Raza Gilani for contempt.

The chaos is the culmination of a standoff between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government, dogged by corruption allegations, and the judiciary, accused of working behind the scenes with the military and the political opposition.

..."Raja Pervez Ashraf is our candidate," senior party official Syed Khurshid Shah told a news conference, saying that the government was heading towards an election. Its five-year mandate expires in early 2013.

...Ashraf, who served as information technology minister until Tuesday, was originally named as a "cover" candidate when President Asif Ali Zardari picked textiles minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin as his preferred choice.

...On Thursday, an anti-narcotics court took the unusual step of issuing an arrest warrant for Shahabuddin over a drugs scandal.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Bo Xilai scandal: Cambodia refuses to extradite French architect to China - CHINA - FRANCE 24

REUTERS - The French architect linked to China's biggest political scandal in two decades and detained in Cambodia will not be extradited to any country, a minister said, adding another twist to a high-profile case already shrouded in mystery.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong gave no details on what grounds China had requested the arrest of Patrick Henri Devillers, whose whereabouts is unknown, but said he would remain in custody pending further investigation.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Dozens of asylum seekers still missing after boat capsizes south of Indonesia - AUstralia - FRANCE 24

AP - Ships and aircraft were searching Friday for scores of men missing after a steel-hull fishing boat carrying about 200 suspected asylum seekers bound for Australia capsized in heavy seas south of Indonesia.

Four Indonesian and Australian warships, four merchant ships and five Australian government aircraft had joined the search in 2-meter (7-foot) swells, Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Jo Meehan said. Around 90 people, all male, were missing since Thursday's accident.

An Australian navy patrol boat and three cargo ships had rescued 110 survivors - including a 13-year-old boy - by late Thursday and delivered them to the Australian territory of Christmas Island 200 kilometers (120 miles) to the south early Friday, Meehan said. Three bodies also were recovered.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

IKN, Breaking: (Paraguay) President Lugo Impeached, Will Resign

More HERE.

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- A mutiny by rank-and-file Bolivian police demanding higher wages spread across the nation on Friday, with an estimated 4,000 officers occupying barracks.

Tim's El Salvador Blog: The Central American Court of Justice, based in Managua, has now agreed to hear the dispute between El Salvador's National Assembly and its Supreme Judicial Court.

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne

EDF: Price rise for low-carbon electricity on the way | EurActiv

The boss of the UK's largest electricity generator and distributor has warned of imminent electricity price rises across Europe, due to the perceived demands of moving towards a low-carbon economy.

Asked how that transition could be paid for, Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy, told a meeting in the European Parliament on 19 June that there was "an urgent need for new capacity" in many countries, especially in Britain.

"It would be a mockery to deny that the price will go up," he continued. "It is impossible to invest £110 billion [€134 billion] in electricity generation with no impact on prices in the short term."

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Vestas abandons plans for Sheerness wind turbine factory | Environment | guardian.co.uk

estas, the biggest wind turbine manufacturer in the world, has abandoned plans to build a manufacturing base in Britain that had promised to create 2,000 jobs due to lack of orders.

The move is a serious blow for the port of Sheerness in Kent which had been earmarked for the development but will also be seen by some as a vote of no confidence in the government's green policies at a time when subsidy levels are under review and other engineers such as Doosan of South Korea have shelved similar plans.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

IWR reports that Johannes Remmel (Greens), environment minister in the new government of Northrhine-Westphalia state in Germany, wants to boost the share of wind in consumption from 4% to 15% by 2020. That would mean a boost of the current capacity of 3.07 GW to about 11.5 GW. NRW is the state containing the Ruhr Area and thus the state with the highest consumption, and it has no seashore.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

The Battle Over Climate Science | Popular Science

"Weird" is perhaps the mildest way to describe the growing number of threats and acts of intimidation that climate scientists face. A climate modeler at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory answered a late-night knock to find a dead rat on his doorstep and a yellow Hummer speeding away. An MIT hurricane researcher found his inbox flooded daily for two weeks last January with hate mail and threats directed at him and his wife. And in Australia last year, officials relocated several climatologists to a secure facility after climate-change skeptics unleashed a barrage of vandalism, noose brandishing and threats of sexual attacks on the scientists' children.

Those crude acts of harassment often come alongside more-sophisticated legal and political attacks. Organizations routinely file nuisance lawsuits and onerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to disrupt the work of climate scientists...

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

AFP: French Guiana offshore oil drilling to restart: lawmakers

PARIS -- Anglo-Dutch group Shell will soon be allowed to resume oil exploration off the coast of French Guiana, lawmakers from the overseas French department said Wednesday.

The exploration "will be allowed to restart", probably on Monday, said a lawmaker after a meeting with the French minister for the overseas departments, Victorin Lurel.

[...]

The project was suspended shortly after the new French administration took office earlier in June, as France began re-examining Shell's licences in Guiana over environmental concerns.

Environment minister Nicole Bricq and the minister for re-industrialisation Arnaud Montebourg said in a joint statement then that the Shell project "insufficiently... took into account environmental problems."

But on Wednesday, Patient said the exploration would now go ahead as "progress has been made in terms of environmental guarantees as well as economic guarantees."

What's missing from the AFP story is that in the newly re-shuffled "Ayrault II" cabinet, Nicole Bricq lost her position as Minister of Environment and was moved to the to Foreign Trade Ministry instead. She was replaced by Delphine Batho.  The same day (Thursday) the Shell drilling permit is green-lighted again...

Nicole Bricq : les dessous d'une mutation		Bricq Nicole: The hidden story of a transfer
La ministre de l'Ecologie a été mutée jeudi soir au commerce extérieur. Les élus Verts demandent des explications, alors que les associations environnementales soulignent qu'elle s'était opposée à Shell à propos d'un permis de forage en Guyane.		The Minister of Environment was transferred Thursday to Foreign Trade Ministry. The Green party MPs demand explanations, while environmental groups point out that she was opposed to Shell about a drilling permit in Guyana.
Victime des lobbies pétroliers?		Victim of the oil lobby?
Certaines associations environnementales croient savoir ce qui s'est passé. Elles estiment que le revirement gouvernemental sur les forages en Guyane a motivé l'éviction de Nicole Bricq du ministère de l'Ecologie. La ministre avait annoncé le 13 juin la « remise à plat » du permis de forage pétrolier de Shell en Guyane, disant vouloir rééxaminer l'ensemble des permis d'exploration d'hydrocarbures, y compris ceux déjà attribués, dans l'attente d'une refonte du code minier datant de 1810.		Some environmental groups think they know what happened. They believe that the government shift on oil drilling permits in Guyana prompted the eviction of Nicole Bricq from the Ministry of Environment. The Minister did announce on June 13 the "re-consideration" of the drilling permit for Shell Oil in Guyana, announcing a plan to reconsider all hydrocarbon exploration licenses, including those already assigned, waiting for an overhaul of the mining code dating from 1810.

Sounds like the oil lobby and the Guyana MPs lobby have scored one.

Meanwhile, the only thing that worries Bloomberg is:

French Energy Minister Batho Backed Oil Company Tax in Past - Businessweek

France's newly appointed Energy Minister Delphine Batho previously supported taxing oil companies to help replenish government coffers and pay for transport infrastructure.

Batho, 39, takes over the Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy portfolio from Nicole Bricq, who held the position for five weeks and suspended offshore drilling plans by Total SA (FP) off French Guiana only to later reinstate them.

While debating an environment law in 2008, Batho, then in opposition, presented an amendment that would have tapped the oil industry as a source of funding for public transport during times of budgetary constraints.

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

EUobserver.com / Justice & Home Affairs / EU hands personal data to US authorities on daily basis

BRUSSELS - EU and US co-operation in combatting terrorism remains shrouded in secrecy as Europol, the EU police agency, refuses to render public an inspection report that details how financial data is handed over to US authorities.

The document, written by the joint-supervisory body (JSB) which supervises the data protection rules are properly applied at Europol, noted on Thursday (21 June) that the EU agency transfers bulk data on a daily basis to the US department of treasury.

The transfers follow a controversial terrorist financing tracking program (TFTP) agreement, adopted by the European Parliament in the summer of 2010.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Breivik demands acquittal as trial ends - NORWAY - FRANCE 24

AFP - The trial of Anders Behring Breivik ended Friday, exactly 11 months after he massacred 77 people in Norway, with the confessed killer insisting his attacks were justified and demanding acquittal.

The court announced that the verdict would be issued on August 24, while Breivik used the 45 minutes accorded to him for final remarks in the 10-week trial to claim his attacks were necessary to defend Norway against multiculturalism and a "Muslim invasion".

...Though there is no chance Breivik will be acquitted, the defence lawyer was also formally obliged to request that he be set free since he has pleaded not guilty, evoking the "principle of necessity".

Yet with no illusion of getting his client off, the defence focused mainly on trying to show Breivik is sane and should be locked up in prison, not a psychiatric ward as requested by prosecutors.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Xavi Hernandez Is the Key Player in Spain's Football Dynasty - SPIEGEL ONLINE

As a child, Spanish national team star Xavi Hernandez liked to hang back to keep the goalie company. Now, he is the key player in Spain's international football tournament domination. His telepathic passing, say teammates, is proof that he 'plays in the future.'

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}