BBC News - Sicily in danger of default, says Italian PM

Italian PM Mario Monti says the region of Sicily is close to defaulting on its debts, and he is seeking confirmation that the governor will resign.

In a statement, Mr Monti said there were "grave concerns" that the island would default following a growing financial crisis.

He said he had written to Raffaele Lombardo asking him to confirm his stated intention to quit this month.

Mr Monti's government is struggling to cope with a huge national debt crisis.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Frank Schleck out of Tour de France after failing doping test | Reuters

Luxembourg rider Frank Schleck is out of the Tour de France after failing a doping test, a spokesman for his RadioShack-Nissan team said on Tuesday.

Earlier the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced the rider had returned an "adverse analytical finding" for the diuretic Xipamide although he was not suspended from the race.

However, asked if he would continue riding in this year's Tour, a RadioShack spokesman told Reuters: "No".

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - Spain royal family follows public sector wage cut

Spain's King Juan Carlos and his family are to take a pay cut following a recent bitterly contested cut to public sector wages, the royal palace says.

The king will lose 20,900 euros (£16,400; $25,660) from his salary of just over 292,000 euros for the year - a cut of 7.1%.

In total, the 8.3m euro royal budget will be cut by 100,000 euros in 2012.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

German court ruling: circumscribing the law | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian

The ruling was nearly two weeks ago, but the reaction to it has grown exponentially ever since. The judgment of the regional court in Cologne that a doctor performing circumcision had committed bodily injury to a child has reached national and international proportions. The case involved a Muslim boy, and affects many more Muslims in Germany than it does Jews. But Jews and Muslims are at one in condemning the judgment as a fundamental attack on their freedom of belief. Germany's leading Jewish body, the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that circumcision was elementary for every Jew and that if the Cologne judgment were to become the legal norm, Jewish life in Germany might no longer be possible.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Romanian PM systematically abusing constitution, says EU | World news | guardian.co.uk

European authorities have waded into a brutal political feud transfixing Romania, accusing the prime minister, Victor Ponta, of systematic abuse of the country's constitution and undermining the rule of law in his campaign to unseat the country's president.

A 22-page report from the European commission highlighting Romania's failures to observe EU legal standards, obtained by the Guardian before being released on Wednesday, says the Ponta government has ignored the constitution, threatened judges, illegally removed officials from key posts, and tampered with the democratic system of checks and balances in order to try to secure the impeachment of President Traian Basescu.

Earlier this month, Ponta used his parliamentary majority to unseat Basescu, rushing through new referendum rules on impeachment and ignoring the country's supreme court verdict that the moves were unconstitutional.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

French government to reinstate overtime tax | World news | guardian.co.uk

France's Socialist government is to bury the "work-more-to-earn more" philosophy of former president Nicolas Sarkozy by reinstating taxes on overtime.

The measure is also intended to strengthen the French left's totemic 35-hour maximum working week and wipe at least €3bn off the country's public deficit.

Abolishing the controversial overtime working law was a major pledge in François Hollande's successful presidential campaign. However, companies with less than 20 staff will be able to keep the tax break on extra working hours, as part of Hollande's promise to boost small firms

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Olympics security: MoD prepares to call up 2,000 more troops for G4S shortfall | UK news | guardian.co.uk

The Ministry of Defence is urgently making preparations to call up as many as 2,000 more troops for Olympic security operation if G4S fails to deliver on its revised target of 7,000 staff in place by next week's opening ceremony, Whitehall sources say.

A fresh urgency was injected into the contingency preparations after defence officials started working with G4S in the last few days and gained a better understanding of the problems facing the company. Whitehall sources told the Guardian the contingency involved the possibility of calling up between 500 and 2000 more troops.

The home secretary Theresa May, who only last Wednesday authorised the call-up of 3,500 extra troops to bail out the private security company, has not made any further official request for troops and is working to avoid exactly that situation.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - Mau Mau case: UK government accepts abuse took place

The British government accepts that colonial forces in Kenya tortured and abused detainees during the Mau Mau rebellion, the High Court has heard.

Three elderly Kenyans who are suing the government for damages were told it did not dispute that "terrible things" had happened to them.

Their lawyers say it is the first ever official acknowledgement by the UK.

The revolt against British rule in Kenya in the 1950s and 1960s was marked by atrocities, with thousands killed.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

eFX: Small Greek Island Of Ikaria Plans To Join Austria (17 July 2012)

The roots behind such a bizarre decision dated back to 1912 in the midst of the Turkish-Italian War. The islanders made advantage of that historical moment and declared their independence from the Ottoman Empire. In the same year, they signed a 100 year agreement to join Greece which is set to expire this week.

...

"To remain independent is difficult for us; we want to connect to another state. Of course, we won't ask Turkey; we prefer to join Austria," said an Ikaria resident according to the report.

...

"If they can't assure us now new roads and a new hospital, we may decide to break away from Athens," the report quoted another Ikaria resident as saying.

What's in it for Austria? An Aegean resort?

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

Eurointelligence Daily Briefing: Monti warns about default of Sicily

Italian PM issues statement warning about the fragility of the autonomous regions, which has over €5.3bn in debt with an unemployment rate of 19.5%; Fitch contradicts Mario Monti and says there is no immediate threat of default

Who you gonna trust on the solvency of Sicily? Fitch or Monti? According to international banking regulations, Fitch.

governor says region needs more time for reforms and a new growth plan; the Bank of Italy forecasts two years of recession for Italy; says euro crisis not going to end soon, and Italy was now on the edge; 11.1% of Italians are officially classified as poor; one of Monti's more symbolic savings measures is the cut of almost 2000 chauffeured cars; Francois Hollande may have to change the Constitution for the fiscal pact

No problem, he has it even easier than ZP last August: he has an absolute manjority in the Assemblée.

Jorg Asmussen says it was too early to determine whether Spanish banks need to be closed down

Of course, first the half trillion of bank debt in the hands of foreign creditors needs to be taken over by the Spanish state. Then the banks can be closed down

El Pais says the VAT rise is likely to lead to further falls in consumption; an ECB economist is to become the new president of the DIW research institute; the head of Munich Re is in favour of splitting up banks

Insurance companies lecturing banks about solvency? What is the world coming to!?

the Greek government struggles to save €11.5bn without wage cuts; Evangelos Venizelos tells party critics that they should quit

Is there going to be anyone left in PASOK?

FT Alphaville has all the details you ever wanted to know about that Finnish collateral; the Irish government announces a small stimulus programme; Hans-Olaf Henkel predicts that Angelka Merkel's next policy U-turn will be on the euro

Let me guess, she'll advocate quitting it.

a sleep expert, meanwhile, says sleep deprivation is to blame for the policy decisions by the European Council.

When you have a hammer all you see is nails, but on the other hand...

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

Paul Mason blog: Deficit reduction, Greek style (BBC Newsnight, 20 July 2010)

This, of course, will be hard to sustain if the scale of austerity now tanks real economic growth. And hard to repeat here: with very little effort (and a metaphorical big stick) the Greek finance ministry has forced all those doctors and dentists whose annual incomes were supposed to be 30k Euros to get real and pay up. The New Economics Foundation estimates there's a maximum of £50bn to be raised here from a total crackdown on tax evasion, but it would need more than just applying the existing law to the small fry.

The most eyecatching part of the Greek figures out today is the 52% fall in government consumption. This is staggering and has been achieved by an immediate reduction in two spending lines the Coalition government in Britain is unwilling to touch in the short term: health and social security.

One final point is, the May 10th bailout is also having a benign impact: instead of increasing by 5%, Greek borrowing costs actually fell by 13%. It's early days but this is the first case study of rapid deficit reduction: we've already seen the consequences in terms of social unrest; but the pain has only started.

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

ElPais.com in English: Government cuts to dependency law "most barbaric of all measures yet"

The last great bastion of the former Socialist government's social welfare program has become the latest target for the government's all-out assault on public spending. The Dependency Law, which was enshrined by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as an inalienable right for all Spaniards and would have brought the country closer to the levels of social protection offered in some other European nations, is to suffer a 15-percent cut in funding.

This comes on top of the loss of an equal amount to non-professional caregivers - family members, and in the large part women - in the recent state budget and the rescindment of government Social Security system contributions for carers announced earlier this month, which effectively leaves more than 178,000 people without the right to a state pension.

...

Further muddying the water is the new grading system for illnesses and disabilities. Those people classified as Grade 3 - the least serious cases - who are not already in the system must wait until 2015 to qualify for dependent status. Under the new regulation, local authorities will have two years to process applications instead of the current six months. They will also not be obliged, as before, to make retroactive payments for time spent on the waiting list.

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

BBC News - HSBC used by 'drug kingpins', says US Senate

HSBC provided a conduit for "drug kingpins and rogue nations", according to a US Senate committee investigating money laundering claims at the bank.

Its report said suspicious funds from countries including Mexico, Iran and Syria had passed through the bank.

The president and chief executive of HSBC Bank USA, Irene Dorner, apologised to the committee for the behaviour which she said deeply regretted.

Earlier, HSBC's head of compliance, David Bagley, resigned at the hearing.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Ben Bernanke says Libor system flawed - Americas - Al Jazeera English

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has said that revelations a key interbank lending rate had been fixed were "very troubling" and undermined confidence in the financial system.

Speaking to the US Congress on Tuesday, Bernanke said the disclosures, which have resulted in a large fine for British bank Barclays, showed the so-called Libor system was "structurally flawed".

The London interbank offered rate, or Libor rate, affects the interest on many loans. The process for setting Libor has come under scrutiny since Barclays admitted two weeks ago that it had submitted false information to keep the rate low.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Moody's downgrades 13 Italian banks - Xinhua | English.news.cn

Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service slashed the ratings of 13 Italian banks on Monday, citing the weakened credit profile of the Italian government.

The downgrades came only four days after the ratings agency cut Italy's government bond rating to Baa2 from A3, with a negative outlook.

The ratings declined by one notch for seven of the affected institutions, and by two notches for the remaining six. The short- term ratings for three of the banks were also downgraded by one notch, triggered by the long-term ratings changes.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Bill Mitchell: Whatever else they say - they all know that public spending cuts are bad (July 18, 2012)

At some point this will all click in the minds of the voters who are being blinded by the crazy inconsistencies that come out of the mouths of their leaders and public officials.

The point is clear - everyone of them knows that public spending cuts will slow the economy. They all know that at this present time the slowdown will be disastrous.

But they also know the American people are pretty easily duped by conservative talk and religious invocation. And that is the way they plan to get power. What happens to the unemployed is just a side-issue.

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

The Drowning Pool - Clusterfuck Nation

If you understand that the euro was created, in large part, specifically as a way to hollow out the middle class in Europe, then what's going on makes sense. In short, the euro is not a failure. It's doing exactly what its creators intended it to do.

The problem that the corporatists saw was that European workers enjoyed too many rights. They had powerful unions as a counterpoint to corporatist goons. And there were environmental regulations.

All of this bothered the corporatists no end.

So, their plan for the euro was to take monetary policy out of the hands of the individual governments. Now, all the governments can do, after the bankers have tanked the system, is to depress wages, take away worker protections, beat up on the unions, sell off the private infrastructure, and do away with the previously successful social programs.

In the US, this kind of monetary tinkering wasn't/isn't necessary because the bought-and-paid-for politicians on both sides of the aisle are doing all of that while they're grinning and drooling over lobbyist money. We don't need no stinkin' euro to hollow out the middle class here.

all too true... :(

"It's very hard to see what is kept invisible" Roseanne Barr

CEO of Brokerage Firm Admits in Suicide Note: "I Embezzled Millions of Dollars" | AlterNet

CEO of Brokerage Firm Admits in Suicide Note: "I Embezzled Millions of Dollars"

The CEO of an Iowa-based brokerage firm wrote in a suicide note about his elaborate fraud scheme, in which, for 20 years, he embezzled $200 million from customers. Russell Wasendorf Sr., chief executive of Peregrine Financial Group Inc., had been hospitalized last Monday after attempting suicide by running a tube from his tailpipe into his car. 

The note was found in his car and stated:

I have committed fraud. For this I feel constant and intense guilt. I am very remorseful that my greatest transgressions have been to my fellow man. Through a scheme of using false bank statements I have been able to embezzle millions of dollars from customer accounts.

Wasendorf, 64, was arrested on Friday at an Iowa City hospital after being charged with making and using false statements to regulators. He faces decades in prison.

"It's very hard to see what is kept invisible" Roseanne Barr

Krugman blog: The Feckless Fed

It really makes no sense -- except in terms of politics. I really believe that we have reached a point where the Fed is afraid to do its job, for fear of being accused of helping Obama.

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

India seeks action over UAE boat shooting - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

India has called on the United Arab Emirates to investigate the fatal shooting of an Indian fisherman by a US navy ship in waters off Dubai, the country's foreign ministry has confirmed.

"India's ambassador in Abu Dhabi has requested UAE authorities to probe the circumstances of the tragic incident," India's foreign ministry's spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said on Tuesday.

Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri reporting from Delhi said: "The Indian authorities are pressing the UAE to charge those who are reponsible, this is fast becoming a diplomatic problem for India, the UAE and the US."

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Annan and Putin show no progress on Syria - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to do everything to support Kofi Annan's plan for ending the violence in Syria that the UN-Arab League envoy said had reached "unacceptable" proportions.

Annan arrived on Tuesday for his first meeting with the Kremlin chief since Putin's return for a third term, hoping to avert a new Moscow veto of a Security Council resolution threatening sanctions against Russia's ally.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the 90-minute meeting that he could "see no reason why we cannot also agree at the UN Security Council. We are ready for this".

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Arab League to form committee to probe Arafat's death - Xinhua | English.news.cn

The Arab League (AL) decided on Tuesday to set up an independent committee to probe the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The committee will work with the Palestinian side and Arab and international bodies to reveal the details behind Arafat's death, according to a statement issued after a meeting of the pan-Arab body's permanent delegates.

The AL urged Palestinian investigators to provide all information available and other countries, especially France, to support the committee's work.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

15 injured in Egypt's train derail accident - Xinhua | English.news.cn

Fifteen people were injured after a passenger train derailed south of Cairo on Tuesday, state-run Nile TV reported.

The passenger train, en route from Sohag governorate to Cairo, crashed with big solid materials in the Badrasheen area in Giza governorate, leading to the overturn of three carriages.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Aung San Suu Kyi urges U.S. senate to consider further easing of sanctions on Myanmar - Xinhua | English.news.cn

Aung San Suu Kyi, a parliamentarian with Myanmar's Lower House, urged United States Senator Mitch McConnell in a telephone call Monday night to consider further easing of sanctions against Myanmar, sources with the National League for Democracy (NLD) said on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi, who is attending the ongoing session of the parliament in Nay Pyi Taw, raised three-point facts to the U.S. senator for further easing the sanctions at a time when the latter is reportedly to probably submit a proposal to the U.S. Congress to extend the expiring "Burma Freedom and Democracy Act-2003" for another three years until 2015.

The three-point facts are: the Myanmar-U.S. relations at ambassadorial level have already been re-established; Myanmar's democratic change is getting momentum; and more investment is needed for improving Myanmar people's livelihood.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Defense Ministry hires architect to resume construction of illegal West Bank outpost - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper

The government is stepping up construction in the West Bank settlements and acting to legitimize at least one illegal outpost it has pledged to demolish, Haaretz has learned.

The Defense Ministry recently contracted an architect to resume construction of the Givat Sal'it outpost in the Jordan Valley, in what is seen as a step toward legitimizing the outpost. Givat Sal'it is one of 26 communities the Sharon government had promised the United States it would tear down nearly 10 years ago.

The resumption of construction seems to be part of a current trend in settlements. The Defense Ministry's Civil Administration is due this week to discuss advancing plans for building 475 housing units in the West Bank settlements of Yakir, Oranit and Etz Efraim. This is in addition to the housing units approved in settlements in exchange for the quiet evacuation of the illegally-built Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Right-wing Israeli MK Michael Ben-Ari tearing up the New Testament and throwing it in the trash:

The Hebrew article explains that someone sent free copies to all the MKs.

Shell could face huge fine for Nigeria spill - Africa - Al Jazeera English

Nigerian regulators have told parliament that Royal Dutch Shell, the Netherlands-based oil and gas company, should be fined $5b for environmental damage caused by an oil spill at its offshore Bonga field last December.  

Shell said on Tuesday there was no legal basis for the proposed fine.

The country's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) told a parliamentary committee on Monday that although last year's spill, estimated at about 40,000 barrels, was contained offshore, there was a serious environmental threat.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Anti-fracking activists found guilty of trespass | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Three activists were found guilty at Preston magistrates court on Tuesday on charges of aggravated trespass and assault after occupying a fracking rig in a Lancashire protest last year.

In November 2011, Lauren Pepperell, Barbara Anne Cookson and Edward Lloyd-Davies of the Frack Off campaign group entered a test-drilling site owned by energy company Cuadrilla at Hesketh Bank in Lancashire. They occupied the rig and prevented it from operating. The three were arrested and charged with aggravated trespass. Cookson and Lloyd-Davies were also charged with assault. All three were today sentenced to two-year conditional discharges and a fine of £750 each.

According to testimony from Cuadrilla, the 10-hour occupation cost half a day's work, and about £20,000 due to lost time. A month later another group of activists occupied the same site. Three people from that action have also been charged with aggravated trespass and are awaiting trial.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Investors warn against delaying wind energy subsidy cut decision | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Investors have warned that government delays in deciding the future of onshore wind energy subsidies could jeopardise billions of pounds of investment and damage the prospects for new green jobs in the UK.

A decision on whether onshore wind energy subsidies should be cut by 10%, as the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has proposed, or by 25%, as the Treasury wants, was expected this week. However, the two departments and senior cabinet members are still at war over the changes and the decision has been deferred - potentially for months, though the government refused to estimate how long the delay would be.

Investors and renewable companies told the Guardian the delay - and the perception that is being created of a government at war with itself over the policy - would severely damage investor confidence and jeopardise the planned flow of billions of pounds into the UK's economy.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

EurActiv: European bicycle lobby set to deliver

More than 30 companies from across Europe have launched a European Cycle Logistics Federation (ECLF), aimed at improving urban bike deliveries and lobbying for cycle-based delivery policies.

"We will be able to influence and convince stakeholders that freight bikes are a feasible option for delivering cargo in congested inner city areas," said Rob King, the founder of Outspoken Delivery, a Cambridge, England-based company that hosted the event.

Cargo or freight bicycles have a wooden carriage or box attached, which can carry weights of up to 250kg, several times the load that an ordinary bike can carry.

Vencit omnia veritas.

Ariel academic center recognized as first Israeli university beyond Green Line - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper

The Judea and Samaria Council for Higher Education has decided on Tuesday to recognize the Ariel University Center as a full-fledged university. The planning and budget committee of the state's Council for Higher Education had recommended against the move.

The decision was approved by 11 members of the committee, while only two opposed it.

Hundreds of left-wing activists protested outside committee meeting, which took place at Bar Ilan University. Meretz head Zehava Galon said that granting university status to the academic center would "bring about academic boycotts of Israel."

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Corigliano d'Otranto thinks it is Italy's most philosophical town, therefore it is | World news | The Guardian

It is not often that a town council resolution cites Socrates and Spinoza, let alone the contemporary American philosopher Ran Lahav. Then again, not many town councils are like that of tiny Corigliano d'Otranto - population 5,889 - tucked away in the heel of Italy.

It could have something to do with the fact that Corigliano is in the so-called Grecìa Salentina, a stronghold of Italy's ethnic Greek minority, which has been there since long before Plato put pen to papyrus. It certainly has a lot to do with the town's centre-left mayor, Ada Fiore, being a philosophy teacher. At all events, Corigliano is bent on turning itself into Italy's most philosophical town.

Resolution No 72, which cited the aforementioned thinkers, created the new post of municipal philosopher, stipulating that the first holder of the office, Graziella Lupo, would be available for consultation at the town hall "between 15.00 and 19.00 on Fridays".

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - The rise of inflated job titles

Surgeons want to protect their job title to prevent foot, cosmetic and, presumably, tree surgeons from using the word. Are people increasingly sensitive about job titles?

It's a familiar film trope in the historical epic - the wounded and screaming soldier held down by an orderly. "The whole leg's going to have to come off," says a man in a once-white shirt that has been long-since soiled by the viscera of war. His sleeves are rolled up and he brandishes a bow-saw. A grimy bottle of Kentucky Salt River Bourbon is handed to the patient. The surgeon begins his work.

With a profession so steeped in blood and saws, one can understand the Royal College of Surgeons' need to protect the word surgeon. There are certain jobs where the title is hard won and deserves to be preserved.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

BBC News - Scottish government rules out same-sex marriage referendum

The Scottish government has ruled out a referendum on the proposed introduction of same-sex marriage.

On Monday, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, urged the Scottish government to hold a public vote on the proposals.

A government spokesman, speaking after a cabinet meeting, said the issue was a matter of conscience, not constitution.

He said a decision on whether to bring forward a bill on same-sex marriage would be made before the end of July.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Limbaugh: New Batman Film is an Anti-Romney Conspiracy | Mother Jones

Is this the dumbest thing conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has ever said?

This week marks the release of The Dark Knight Rises, the widely anticipated final film in director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. The villain in the film happens to be a character named Bane. Limbaugh is convinced that the aural similarity between Bane, the Batman villain and Bain, the company founded by Mitt Romney, is no coincidence. In fact, Limbaugh says, it's all part of the plan. 

Have you heard, this new movie, the Batman movie--what is it, the Dark Knight Lights Up or something? Whatever the name of it is. That's right, Dark Knight Rises, Lights Up, same thing. Do you know the name of the villain in this movie? Bane. The villain in the Dark Knight Rises is named Bane. B-A-N-E. What is the name of the venture capital firm that Romney ran, and around which there's now this make-believe controversy? Bain. The movie has been in the works for a long time, the release date's been known, summer 2012 for a long time. Do you think that it is accidental, that the name of the really vicious, fire-breathing, four-eyed, whatever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Study: WikiLeaked Data Can Predict Insurgent Attacks | Danger Room | Wired.com

Insurgencies are amongst the hardest conflicts to predict. Insurgents can be loosely organized, split into factions, and strike from out of nowhere. But now researchers have demonstrated that with enough data, you might actually predict where insurgent violence will strike next. The results, though, don't look good for the U.S.-led war.

And they're also laden with irony. The data the researchers used was purloined by WikiLeaks, which the Pentagon has tried to suppress. And the Pentagon has struggled for years to develop its own prediction tools.

That data would be the "Afghan War Diary," a record of 77,000 military logs dated between 2004 and 2009 that were spilled onto the internet two years ago by WikiLeaks. In a paper published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers used the leaked logs to (mostly) accurately predict violence levels in Afghanistan for the year 2010. (Behind a paywall, alas, but a summary is available for free in .pdf.)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

EsMateria: El CSIC anuncia que paraliza pagos para poder abonar los sueldos (17/07/2012)

El CSIC, el mayor centro público de investigación de España, ha anunciado hoy en un correo electrónico dirigido a todos sus centros que ha decidido "paralizar, o al menos retrasar, los pagos" para hacer frente a la retribución "de las obligaciones ineludibles de esta agencia (nómina del personal, seguridad social, tributos, devoluciones a Tesoro e intereses de demora)".

"Nos deben dinero muchas instituciones, entre ellas las universidades, que aún no nos han pagado, con lo cual tenemos que paralizar los pagos temporalmente por un periodo de hasta tres meses" ha dicho a MATERIA José Ramón Urquijo, vicepresidente de organización del CSIC, en un acto esta tarde en Madrid.

...

La carta explica,además, que como consecuencia de la aprobación del nuevo presupuesto, se están "haciendo regularizaciones por parte de la IGAE [Intervención General de la Administración del Estado] y del Tesoro, de forma que en los últimos días el Tesoro todavía no ha ingresado las transferencias corrientes y de capital del mes de mayo, ni del mes de junio".

[Spain's Higher Council for Scientific Research] CSIC announces that is stops payments to be able to pay wages (17/07/2012)

The CSIC, Spain's largest public research [institution], has announced today in an email addressed to all its centres that it has decided to "stop, or at least postpone, payments" to face the payment of "unavoidable obligations of this agency (payroll, social security, taxes, repayments to the Treasury and interest on late payments)".

"Many institutions owe us money, among them universities, which naven't paid us yet, so we have to temporarily stop payments for a period of up to three months" the CSIC's vicepresident for organization, José Ramón Urquijo told MATERIA at an event in Madrid this afternoon.

...

The letter explains, in addition, that as a result of the approval of the new budget, "regularizations are being made by the State's Auditors and the Treasury, so that in the last few days the Treasury hasn't made the current and capital transfers for the months of May or June".

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

O'Brien: Marissa Mayer named Yahoo CEO in a move no one saw coming - SiliconValley.com

Yahoo pulled a surprise CEO out of its badly tattered hat. And the choice was audacious enough that, for at least a few hours Monday, it seemed like all of Silicon Valley was talking about Yahoo in a way that hadn't happened in years.

In picking famous Googler Marissa Mayer, Yahoo is hoping it gets more than a CEO. It's hoping for a savior who can raise the dead.

Amid all the warm feelings and congratulations showering down on Mayer, I feel a tad guilty for pointing out that the odds are, to say the least, stacked against her. That's nothing against Mayer or her potential. It's just that, well, every Yahoo CEO's tenure has ended in failure.

Really, it's a stunning record of futility that anyone would have a hard time breaking. I felt that was true even when the company hired former eBay executive Scott Thompson before he imploded in a resume scandal. That would have been true even if Yahoo had picked popular interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, the man insiders had sought to anoint by acclaim on Twitter.

But for now, everyone is talking about Mayer. It's a move that no one, and I mean no one, saw coming.

With Mayer, the Yahoo board reached out and plucked the person who has served as the female face of archrival Google since, well, forever.

And also:

New Yahoo CEO Mayer is pregnant - Postcards

Marissa Mayer, the Google executive who today was named Yahoo's new chief executive, is pregnant.

Mayer told Fortune exclusively that her first child is due October 7. It's a boy!
[...]

Mayer first disclosed to the Yahoo board that she is pregnant in late June, in a meeting with Michael Wolf, a member of the board's four-person CEO search committee. A meeting with the search committee followed, and then Mayer met with the full board last Wednesday. None of the Yahoo directors, she says, revealed any concern about hiring a pregnant chief executive. "They showed their evolved thinking," says Mayer, who got the phone call last Thursday that she was the board's choice to be CEO.

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

Rights group fined

Five years ago a composer created music for use in a one-off anti-piracy video. However, without his permission it was used time and again on dozens of commercial DVDs such as Harry Potter. Even in the wake of a huge controversy over "corrupt" and "mafia-like" practices, the local music rights group that got involved in the case failed to pay him the money he was owed. The case went to court and this week the music rights group lost.

Marsha Singh - Telegraph

At Westminster he impressed during an eight-year stint on the Home Affairs Select Committee, and in the run-up to the 2010 election was PPS to the Home Office immigration minister Phil Woolas.

Marsha Singh was born on October 11 1954. His family moved to Bradford, where he attended Belle Vue Boys' School, captaining the chess team. Winning a place at Loughborough University, he gained an honours degree in the Languages, Politics and Economics of Modern Europe.

Singh joined Lloyds Bank as a graduate trainee, but was keen to undertake community work in his adoptive home city and in 1979 went to work for Bradford Community Relations Council. A year later he joined the Bradford Law Centre, and in 1983 he moved to the city's Directorate of Education. From 1990 until his election as an MP, he was senior development manager at Bradford Community Health Trust.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Jon Lord - Telegraph

With his long straggly hair, droopy moustache and garish stage costumes, Lord looked every inch the archetypal 1970s rock star. But his popular success, with hits such as Smoke On The Water, was built on a fusion of progressive rock with classical influences; he went on to compose some highly regarded classical works, such as Durham Concerto. On his first solo album, Gemini Suite, he worked with the London Symphony Orchestra.

As such he was a passionate advocate for rock music as a much underrated art form, and ruffled a few feathers in 1973 by claiming that Deep Purple's music was "as valid as anything by Beethoven".

Jonathan Douglas Lord was born in Leicester on June 9 1941 and studied classical piano from an early age. He was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School and subsequently became a solicitor's clerk.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Isuzu Yamada - Telegraph

She was best known in the West as the treacherous wife of a warlord in Throne of Blood (1957), Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Macbeth, though in many ways she gave her most significant screen performances for Kenji Mizoguchi during the brief period of intellectual liberalisation in the 1930s that was snuffed out by Japan's descent into militarism.

Outsiders have long been baffled by the paradoxes of Japanese sexual politics: the apparent seemliness of the geisha culture contrasted with the violent and pornographic elements of "manga"; and the persistence, under the hyper-modern, Disneyfied surface, of the attitudes of a deeply patriarchal society.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.