BRUSSELS - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is next week meeting top EU leaders in a bid to negotiate a two-year deadline extension of the current bailout terms due to the worsening recession.

But patience among eurozone donors is wearing thin.

Samaras is due to receive Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Athens on 22 August, after which he will travel to Berlin and Paris to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Francois Hollande to lay out why Greece needs two more years to meet the agreed terms, Greek daily Ekathimerini reports.

According to internal documents obtained by the Financial Times, the €11.5 billion worth of spending cuts the government is still struggling to cobble together would be spread over four years until 2016, instead of the 2014 deadline that is currently expected by Greece's lenders.

BRUSSELS - Political infighting risks wrecking urgently needed reform of the Romanian economy, according to a progress report released on Tuesday (14 August) by the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

While maintaining that the country's economic reforms were "broadly on track," the trio expressed concerns about the impact of the drawn-out political crisis on the Romanian economy.

"The recent political turmoil is taking a toll on the economy and has dented confidence," it said.

Rights groups have accused France's Socialist leaders of abandoning electoral promises by continuing the arbitrary expulsions of Eastern European Roma that were begun under former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The French association La Voix des Roms (Voice of the Roma) yesterday (12 August) compared Interior Minister Manuel Valls' policy of dismantling Roma camps to that of his centre-right predecessors.

The association suggested in statements that Valls, a prominent figure of the French Socialists, should wear the colours of Sarkozy's UMP party at the next presidential election in 2017.

there are still nine countries which want to become EU members. This is what I personally view as the most important proof of their trust in the Union. It is also important to notice where some of the states in the accession process are. Serbia, which was recently granted candidate status, and Montenegro, with which we have launched accession negotiations at the start of summer, are the best examples of that.

The explanation is very simple. We are talking about an organisation which essentially has enlargement as a part of its DNA. Let's recall the beginnings of the EU - it started with a certain number of member states [and] has gradually grown. The core of its history lies not only in a deepening integration but also in enlargement. Basically, the EU is only continuing its natural development. On the other hand, we also have to say that the process of enlargement has slowed down somewhat and it requires more effort and creativity.

The FT has obtained a document showing that Greece is now seeking a two-year extension to its austerity programme; Antonis Samaras is expected to outline the proposal to Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande next week; spending cuts are to be phased in over four years until 2016, with a slower trajectory of cuts in the budget deficit; the additional funding requirement would be €20bn; the Greek government managed to sell over €4bn in T-bills mainly to domestic banks, which obtained the funds through the ELA - in other words through the ECB; the Greek government has effectively imposed a moratorium on all public payments, except salaries and pensions; the Dutch Socialists are emerging as the front-runners in the upcoming elections; the eurozone shrunk by 0.2% in Q2, with Germany doing a little better than expected; southern Europe is mired in a dismal recession; indicators show that Germany and the Netherlands are both headed for a downturn later this year; Olli Rehn underlined Mario  Draghi's message that the ECB will do whatever it takes; Wolfgang Munchau says the scope for intervention is more limited than investors believe; Robert Rubin says there is no alternative to the path of conditional help as outlined by Draghi; Neil Unmack writes the ECB should address the problem of seniority; Spanish banks increase their ECB borrowings to a new record level; the Spanish government is negotiating a deal to exempt retail investors of bank preference shares from a wipe-out; Mariano Rajoy says he is open-minded about a programme, but says the conditions must be reasonable; the German constitutional court reaffirmed its ESM-ruling timetable; the Bundesbank warns the IMF against overstretching its resources; William Cline, meanwhile, finds that Spanish and Italian public debt is likely to be sustainable under reasonable assumptions.

ElPais.com in English: Catalan cash cuts hamper firefighters' efforts to stamp out blazes (14 August 2012)

Officials say it has been the worst season for fires in a decade. This year, forest fires have burned 132,299 hectares of land across Spain, three times more than in 2011 when 39,573 hectares were charred by wildfires, according to Environment Ministry figures.

Firefighters in Catalonia complained that public funds destined to the summer campaign, which stood at 30 million euros in 2010, were budgeted at 24 million in 2012. They were raised slightly from last year's 22.8 million. Money going to awareness campaigns has also been cut from 330,000 euros to 63,100 euros in two years.

In February, Catalan firefighters warned at a public hearing of "an imminent problem" with regard to this year's high-risk season. Budget cuts also meant that there weren't enough funds to cover the cost of uniforms this year. "There were some people who couldn't help extinguish the flames because they had no boots or gloves," said Antonio del Río, UGT union representative for the firefighters.

The most important consequence of running the state like a private firm is that the state should not be in the business of providing free or implicit guarantees of any kind, as these are large "contingent liabilities" threatening to bankrupt the state. The threat of bankruptcy is real, as the state must fund itself by borrowing from private lenders, unable as it is to create money to fund necessary expenses deriving from the exercisising of implicit guarantees. One alternative to bankruptcy is default, but this is considered unthinkable as defaulting on obligations to fellow EU member states is "uneuropean". In addition, countries with a large primary trade deficit may find it impossible even to default.

So, what kinds of implicit guarantees are Eurozone governments providing that they shouldn't be in the business of providing? I can think of half a dozen off the top of my head:

• deposit insurance for banks
  
• granting limited liability to businesses
  
• disaster relief
  
• access to health care
  
• access to education
  
• access to legal redress
  
• public safe[t]y

All of these are implicit guarantees that every citizen in Europe expects to enjoy relatively free of charge. These are large contingent liabilities of the state. Any and all of them could not be undertaken by a private entity that didn't charge hefty fees up front and wasn't adequately capitalised in case a particularly large claim presented itself. Would you pay a savings deposit insurance premium to an inadequately capitalised insurance company? (not that "sophisticated investors" didn't do exactly that when they bought CDS "protection" over the past 10 years) Would you incur risks with a full-liability entity having less capital than your potential loss? Would you trust you can be rescued from a disaster by an entity without the capital and operating income to actually fund a rescue operation? How about health insurance from an entity without the resources to pay for the treatment? How about your right to file a complaint to an entity without the necessary money to operate a grievance handling system? How about contracting physical security or firefighting services from an entity without the operating income to actually deploy security or firefighters?

(Reuters) - When U.S. carmakers slashed production capacity in exchange for government rescue four years ago, workers faced up to change. Though unions bargained hard for existing employees, they agreed to factory closures and cuts in wages and benefits for new hires. Thousands of workers accepted redundancy payouts and moved on, without a huge outcry.

In Europe it's different. In July, after workers at French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen learned of company plans to close a plant in the suburbs of Paris, union leader Jean-Pierre Mercier went on the attack. Within hours he was calling for a "shock campaign" to force PSA Chief Executive Philippe Varin to keep the plant open.

"We have the power to make Peugeot back down, to preserve our jobs," Mercier, head of the hardline CGT union at the factory targeted for closure, told a crowd gathered by its gates. "We are a political bomb, a social bomb, and we intend to detonate."

(Reuters) - The number of Britons out of work fell to the lowest level in nearly a year in the three months through June, data showed on Wednesday, providing some rare good news from the recession-hit economy.

The fall in unemployment and the rise in employment will come as a relief for the government, under intense pressure to revive the economy, which is stuck in recession as cuts to public spending, the euro zone debt crisis and a lack of bank lending hold back growth.

The number of people claiming jobless benefit fell by 5,900 in July, the Office for National Statistics said. Analysts had forecast an increase of 6,000 on the month.

The number of people without a job on the wider ILO measure fell by 46,000 in the three months to June to 2.564 million.

The jobless rate dipped to 8.0 percent, the lowest level since the three months to July 2011 and compared with forecasts for an unchanged reading of 8.1 percent.

The ONS said that the decline in unemployment was largely due to falling jobless numbers in London, where also almost half of the new jobs were created, adding to signs that some of

the labour market improvement was due to the Olympics.

TRIPOLI, Aug 14 2012 (IPS) - The security situation in Libya remains tense as violence by way of car bombings, political assassinations of high-ranking government and military officials, attacks on foreign diplomatic staff and NGOs, and young men sorting out minor disputes with AK-47s continues unabated.

IPS spoke with armed Gaddafi loyalists who vowed they will step up their fight. Government sources alternately claim the perpetrators are former President Muammar Gaddafi loyalists or Islamists bent on revenge.

This murky situation is further exacerbated by a clamp down on the dissemination of information in the local media, and Libyan security forces preventing foreign journalists from covering the scenes of attacks first-hand or taking pictures.

For the second Saturday in a row this reporter was woken by a car bomb exploding outside my hotel in downtown Tripoli, the second of its kind since Gaddafi's death in October 2011.

A security vehicle belonging to members of the Libyan military staying at the Four Seasons hotel in Omar Al Mukhtar street was the target. The previous Saturday morning another car bomb went off outside the headquaters of Tripoli's military police just down the road. One person was injured in the latter attack.

"We believe former supporters of Gaddafi are behind this attack and the attack last Saturday," said a member of the security forces sitting in one of several security vehicles which rushed to the scene to cordon off the street.

A large explosion has struck close to a military compound in the Syrian capital, Damascus, near a hotel used by the UN's observer mission.

Syrian state TV reported that three people had been injured in the blast, but that none of them were UN monitors.

Images from Damascus showed a huge plume of smoke coming from the area in the city centre and several ambulances were seen rushing towards site.

The intended target of the explosion was not immediately clear.

State television said it had been caused by a bomb near a fuel truck planted in a car park near the hotel, but other reports suggested it had been an improvised explosive device (IED).

The blast set fire to a nearby building and charred several vehicles. UN vehicles in the nearby car park were seen covered in dust and debris.

Mitt Romney, the US Republican presidential candidate, has struggled to solidify support from the most conservative wing of the Republican Party. And it is for that reason, many analysts say, that he chose Paul Ryan to be his running mate.

Ryan, 42, is a congressman from Wisconsin and a staunch conservative, both fiscally and socially. He believes in giving fertilised embryos full rights - essentially equating abortion with murder. And he is a climate change skeptic.

Among other things, Ryan proposed privatising social security in 2004, supports replacing Medicaid with a voucher programme, and as congressman voted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He voted to give bailout money to banks and the US auto industry, voted against a law that demanded equal pay for women, co-sponsored a bill that would ban in vitro fertilisation (IVF), and co-sponsored a bill to ban abortions in cases of rape and incest.

But when Romney refers to him as the intellectual leader of the Republican Party, he is most likely referring to his reputation as a deficit hawk.

WASHINGTON, Aug 14 2012 (IPS) - With less than three months to go before the U.S. presidential election, over the weekend Barack Obama's Republican challenger for the presidency, Mitt Romney, finally announced his vice-presidential running mate, a young member of Congress named Paul Ryan.

At the announcement, on Saturday, Ryan promised that he and Romney wouldn't "duck the tough issues", but some have since pointed out that the Republican ticket is now characterised by a notable lack of foreign policy experience. Romney made his mark as a financier and one-term governor, while Ryan is a congressman known for his hawkish views on domestic fiscal constraint.

"This makes this year's GOP ticket something fairly unprecedented in modern presidential politics: a pair in which neither the (vice-presidential) nor the presidential nominee has any substantial foreign policy experience on their resume," associate editor Joshua Keating wrote on ForeignPolicy.com following the Ryan announcement.

Indeed, while Obama weathered similar criticism during his run in 2008, his choice of vice president - Joseph Biden - brought a seasoned foreign policy expert onto the ticket. The two previous U.S. presidents, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, both of whom lacked foreign policy experience, followed similar routes.

The children imprisoned here are most often taken from their homes between midnight and 5am. Most don't even see it coming. In one case, in Beit Ummar near Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers detained a Palestinian boy after reportedly taking some of the house's doors off their hinges. Most of the children detained live close to "friction points", areas close to Israeli settlements, roads used by settlers or near the separation wall. And their offence is almost always throwing stones at settlers or troops.

These vivid details emerged recently in a report based on the testimonies of more than 300 Palestinian children, which were collected over four years. The study by Defence for Children International, Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted: Children Held in Military Detention highlights a pattern of abuse towards children detained under the Israeli military court system. In the past 11 years, DCI estimates that around 7,500 children, some as young as 12, have been detained, interrogated and imprisoned within this system. This is about 500-700 children per year, or nearly two children every day.

BBC: A federal court in Brazil has ordered the immediate suspension of work on the huge Belo Monte hydro-electric dam in the Amazon.

Honduras Culture and Politics: A story credited to the Spanish news agency EFE, published in Honduras by the news website Proceso Digital late on August 14, raises again the question of the degree of involvement of US Drug Enforcement Agents in the deaths of Honduran indigenous civilians in early May near Ahuas, a community in the Honduran Mosquitia.

Honduran scholars have been unstinting in their critical analyses of what is happening in their country. Unfortunately, those voices do not get a hearing in the English language press. They should.

A federal judge in Brazil has suspended construction work on a massive dam in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Judge Souza Prudente said that work could only resume on the $11bn, 11,000MW Belo Monte Dam after the indigenous communities living in the area were consulted.

The dam has been condemned by environmentalists and rights activists, who say that it would devastate wildlife and the livelihoods of 40,000 people who live in the area that would be flooded.

The government, however, says the dam will be a source of clean, sustainable energy, and that it will help fuel the country's economy.

The dam would be the world's third largest when completed on the Xingu River that feeds the Amazon.

The court noted that when congress approved the project in 2005, it called for an environmental impact study after the start of the work.

The 16 large-scale coal bases that China has planned will trigger severe water crises in the country's arid northwest, a new Greenpeace report warns.

China plans to construct the bases before 2015, as part of its latest 5-year plan, which runs through 2015.

If completed, the projects will consume at least 9.975 billion cubic meters of water, says the report "Thirsty Coal: A Water Crisis Exacerbated" commissioned by Greenpeace and conducted by the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

That's equivalent to about one-sixth of the yearly total water volume of China's Yellow River.

Australia's highest court has upheld a new government law on mandatory packaging for cigarettes that removes brand colours and logos from packaging.

The law requires cigarettes to be sold in olive green packets, with graphic images warning of the consequences of smoking.

Leading global tobacco manufacturers, including British American Tobacco and Philip Morris, had challenged the law.

The new packaging rules are scheduled to be implemented from 1 December 2012.

"At least a majority of the court is of the opinion that the Act is not contrary to (Australia's constitution)," the court said in a brief statement.

(Reuters) - The New York Times Co (NYT.N) has tapped BBC's Mark Thompson as its next president and chief executive, capping an eight-month search for an executive to lead the company as more people get their news through digital products.

Thompson, 55, will report to the New York Times board of directors and to its chairman, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., starting in November, the company said on Tuesday.

"Our board unanimously concluded that Mark is exactly the right person to lead The New York Times Company at this particular moment in time," Sulzberger wrote in an internal email to employees.

Thompson will lead the New York Times, publisher of its namesake newspaper and the Boston Globe, during unprecedented challenges facing the publishing industry as advertisers place their dollars elsewhere and readers favour smartphones and tablets over the printed page.

Study successfully reconstructed temperature from the deep sea to reveal how global ice volume has varied over the glacial-interglacial cycles of the past 1.5 million years

Tabular iceberg. The production of tabular icebergs is a major mechanism of mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Icebergs are calved during both rapid ice-shelf collapse and as part of the normal transfer of mass through the ice sheet to the surrounding ocean.

Scientists have announced a major breakthrough in understanding the Earth's climate machine by reconstructing highly accurate records of changes in ice volume and deep-ocean temperatures over the last 1.5 million years.

The study, which is reported in the journal Science, offers new insights into a decades-long debate about how the shifts in the Earth's orbit relative to the sun have taken the Earth into and out of an ice-age climate.

The latest research sheds more light on the diet and home ranges of early hominins belonging to three different genera, notably Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo - that were discovered at sites such as Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai in the Cradle of Humankind, about 50 kilometres from Johannesburg. Australopithecus existed before the other two genera evolved about 2 million years ago.

The scientists conducted an analysis of the fossil teeth, indicating that Australopithecus, a predecessor of early Homo, had a more varied diet than early Homo. Its diet was also more variable than the diet of another distant human relative known as Paranthropus.

According to Thackeray, the results of the study show that Paranthropus had a primarily herbivorous-like diet, while Homo included a greater consumption of meat.

Signatures of essential chemical elements have been found in trace amounts in the tooth enamel of the three fossils genera, and the results are indicators of what South African hominins ate and what their habitat preferences were.

ceebs must be having some kinda problem...