The European Commission yesterday (2 August) welcomed Greek moves to bring about structural reforms in its economy.

The ten priorities for structural reform announced yesterday by the Greek Minister of Development are a clear sign of the commitment of the Greek government to bring about the much-needed reform of the Greek economy, the EU executive said in a statement.

In the 10-point plan, the Greek government pledged to make the country friendlier towards businesses through measures such as cutting bureaucracy and expediting procedures.

This pledge came after Greece agreed internally to an additional €11.5 billion of budget cuts for the next two years, brokered by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

The European Central Bank disappointed markets as it said yesterday (2 August) that it is prepared to buy Italian and Spanish bonds on the open market but only after eurozone governments have activated bailout funds to do the same.

ECB President Mario Draghi indicated that any ECB intervention would start at the earliest in September and would depend on countries in trouble on bond markets making a request and accepting strict conditions and supervision.

...Draghi said all members of the Governing Council endorsed Thursday's statement with one exception - a reference to Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann.

...His wording suggested he was prepared to outvote the German central banker if necessary.

BRUSSELS - In a replay of events earlier this year when it launched an anti-immigrant website, the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) has set up a new protest portal - this time against the EU.

The website decries the high pay of EU officials and MEPs and asks visitors to click on a button if they agree.

"Eurocrats fill their pockets in a scandalous way," it says.

It also promises to present its findings to EU Council President Herman van Rompuy before a meeting of EU leaders in October.

Nick Clegg's ambitious attempt to create a directly elected House of Lords is in tatters tonight after David Cameron withdrew support from the plan in the face of opposition from Tory backbenchers.

The Prime Minister told Mr Clegg that there was no way he could get enough support to force the measure through the House of Commons and that the Government needed to shelve the plan ahead of a planned re-launch in September.

Senior Liberal Democrats privately admitted that Lords reform was effectively dead but warned that the move would have "consequences".

REUTERS - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the three women in the band Pussy Riot who performed a "protest prayer" at Russia's main cathedral should not be judged too harshly, raising defence lawyers' hopes that they could escape lengthy jail terms.

Putin's comments, reported by Russian news agencies during his visit to London, suggested the three members of the punk band could escape the maximum seven-year jail term following international criticism of the Kremlin over the case.

Putin said here was "nothing good" about the band's protest, Interfax reported.

"Nonetheless, I don't think that they should be judged so harshly for this," he said, adding that it was up to the court to decide the case. "I hope the court will come out with the right decision, a well-founded one."

The reduction in the numbers of military officers is going to affect the lieutenants and colonels who are in fact the real technical specialists. So the spending review has not in fact resolved the actual problem, nor for that matter the immediate problem of making savings. In actual fact, all it has really done is to cut the supply of certain types of equipment, such as a few F35 aircraft. When you're talking about 90 aircraft over the next ten years, it means that they're setting up an operational capability that this Country has never had, not even during the Cold War years. Now, it is somewhat unclear precisely which potential enemy this air-power is going be unleashed on and, above all it is somewhat unclear why NATO and Europe should still have this driving need for huge, hard and separate armed forces unless, of course, it is aimed at satisfying the insatiable appetites of the industrialists or perhaps the equally insatiable foolish aspirations of the various national hierarchies.
All separate then, each Country with its own armed forces, each Country with its own Navy and each Country with its own Army, even neighbouring Countries, allied Countries such as ours that has rejected war as a legitimate way of settling International disputes. Yet there is no real co-operation and integration so, paradoxically, this synergy does not provide the kind of capacity that the numbers would appear to indicate. Here in Europe we have 27 nations, 27 armies, 1,880,000 soldiers currently engaged in active service, we have more ships that the Americans do, more fighter aircraft than the Americans do and indeed many more than the Russians have yet, whenever we have to undertake any operations, the Americans manage to run 4 wars simultaneously while we, and I remember this clearly because I was there at the time, have to jump through hoops just to send 300 troops to Macedonia. 300 troops from the whole of Europe! European missions are largely symbolic, a mere presence without having any effect whatsoever on security.

really?

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

Lukashenko regime has expelled Swedish Ambassador to Belarus for being too supportive of human rights. Outrageous. Shows nature of regime.

Stephen Hester, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, has admitted the reputation of the banking industry is at a new low, as the bailed-out bank was hit by a string of charges caused by computer mistakes and mis-selling financial products - with more to come from the Libor scandal.

First-half losses widened to L1.5bn from L794m the same time last year, amid fresh speculation that a full-scale nationalisation of the 83% taxpayer-owned bank is on the agenda. The bank's senior independent director, former Standard Life boss Sir Sandy Crombie, is conducting a review of the "culture and values" of the bank in the light of the fresh scandals gripping the industry.

...A week in and expectations of a major boost to growth are rapidly being downgraded. There are certainly plenty of overseas tourists in London, but the capital always has lots of foreign visitors at this time of year. Net tourism would be down if the number of potential visitors deterred by horror stories about gridlock and fears about being ripped off exceeded the numbers coming to London for the judo, athletics and beach volleyball. Evidence of half-full hotels suggests this may be the case. An additional issue is the per-capita spend of the two categories of tourists. Someone coming to London to watch sport for two weeks is likely to spend less than someone who hits the shops of the West End and Knightsbridge every day for a fortnight.

The second reason there may be little or no Olympics boost is that Britons appear to be giving London a miss. Some employees have been told to work from home for the duration of the Games, where the temptation to channel surf while Bradley Wiggins or Jessica Ennis is competing may not do wonders for their productivity. In addition, shopping trips to central London appear to have been put on hold, contributing to the stories of empty shops, while the wet weather has led to a last-minute increase in sales of foreign holidays.

AFP - Thousands of Italy's private beaches kept their parasols closed in peak summer season on Friday in a symbolic protest against a new European Union directive that could force many to shut down.

Managers of the estimated 30,000 private beaches that cover around a quarter of the coastline -- ranging from simple shacks to full-blown outdoor entertainment venues with nightclubs, restaurants and pools -- are up in arms.

The European Union says it wants licences for the private beaches auctioned off in a transparent way starting in 2016, but operators say that could stop investment and force many of the 600,000 workers in the sector out of a job.

Under the current system, which critics say is open to corruption, the state grants six-year licences without any auction and with automatic renewal.

REUTERS - U.S. employers in July hired the most workers in five months, but an increase in the jobless rate to 8.3 percent muddled the near-term outlook for monetary policy.

Nonfarm payrolls rose 163,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, beating economists expectations in a Reuters poll for a 100,000 gain. That snapped three straight months of job gains below 100,000 and offered hope for the struggling economy.

However, the unemployment rate rose from 8.2 percent in June, even as more people gave up the search for work and a survey of households showed a drop in employment.

The economic plight of young people has been one of the recurring themes of recent years - most importantly the rise of youth unemployment which has topped one million and the steep rise of long-term youth unemployment. Yet for all the debate about the labour market position of young people, very little attention has been given to their wages.

If we look back over the last decade what we see appears rather scary. It's very widely known that typical real wages have been falling post-crisis, and that they stagnated for some years prior to the recession across the wider working population.

But those aged 16-29 didn't just experience stagnation - they saw a significant fall in wages, which has carried on since 2008: typical pay fell for this group by 6.4 per cent from 2003-2010, or 8.6 per cent for men. And if we add to this the typical wage squeeze that occurred across the working population in the annus horribilis of 2011 this suggests a wage fall of over 10 per cent for young people during 2003-2011. And it will get worse yet.

...This being an exercise in domestic electoral campaigning, Mitt Romney's visit to Warsaw took it to extremes. It was a facsimile of America meeting a facsimile of Poland. Neither version bore much resemblance to the real thing. And this was precisely as it should have been.

...Over the course of a weekend, the local university library was transformed into an American electoral hustings. Somewhere in the background stood a solitary blue flag with gold stars. But it was out of place. For one afternoon only, this was still a unipolar world.

Poland fell politely into its role too. Tuesday's Poland was one which had just been freed from oppressive rule and was on its way to becoming a vibrant, free-market economy. Any mention of the radical market reforms the Communists themselves had introduced in 1988 would have seemed suddenly ahistorical. Any mention of the intervening 20 years, even more so.

...The visit was noteworthy only for the fact that Governor Romney ended up falling victim to the same nostalgia which he was seeking to exploit: if they were ungenerous in their coverage, it is in no small part because the 35 captive US journalists flown in by the campaign had also hoped to find a world where enthusiastic crowds still turn out for visiting American dignitaries.

AFP - The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution Friday criticizing the Security Council's failure to act on the Syria conflict, which UN leader Ban Ki-moon said has become a "proxy war".

The resolution, which condemned President Bashar al-Assad's use of "heavy weapons" in his battle against the rebellion against his rule, was passed by 133 votes with 12 countries against and 31 abstaining.

Russia and China, which have vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions on Syria, were among high profile opponents of the resolution.

Chief negotiators for the EU and Iran agreed on Thursday (2 August) to hold more talks about Tehran's nuclear work, but the European Union gave no sign progress was imminent in the decade-long dispute.

Six world powers, represented by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, have sought to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear program through intensifying economic sanctions and diplomacy.

They have failed to reach a breakthrough in three rounds of talks since April. But neither side has been willing to break off talks because of concerns, in part, that this could lead to a new war in the Middle East if Israel attacked its arch-foe.

One of Islamabad's most senior diplomats has told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that ongoing CIA drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas are weakening democracy, and risk pushing people towards extremist groups.

He also claims that some factions of the US government still prefer to work with `just one man' rather than a democratically-elected government, and accuses the US of `talking in miles' when it comes to democracy but of `moving in inches.'

...`What has been the whole outcome of these drone attacks is, that you have rather directly or indirectly contributed to destabilizing or undermining the democratic government. Because people really make fun of the democratic government - when you pass a resolution against drone attacks in the parliament, and nothing happens. The Americans don't listen to you, and they continue to violate your territory.'

AFP - Brazil's biggest ever bribery trial began Thursday with dozens of former officials facing vote-buying charges in a case that could tarnish the legacy of popular ex-leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In what the media has dubbed "the trial of the century," 38 former ministers, lawmakers, businessmen and bankers face prosecution before the Supreme Court over alleged vote-buying in Congress between 2002 and 2005.

Cuba:

The Cuban Triangle: Angel Carromero, the Spanish Partido Popular activist who was driving the car in which Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero were killed in the accident near Bayamo, was judged this year to be unfit to drive in Spain.  He had such a long record of traffic infractions that he was about to lose his driver's license, according to today's El Pais and El Mundo (Madrid).

Miami Herald: The family of the late Oswaldo Payá says a mysterious red Lada was at the site of the crash and refuses to accept the government's finding the dissident was killed in a one-car crash.

MercoPress: Peru's government has extended a state of emergency for 60 days in several districts of south-central regions because of the presence of the guerrilla group Shining Path remnants.

MercoPress: Confirming the growing trend in several South American countries, Bolivia expropriated a silver and indium mine operated by a local unit of Canadian firm South American Silver, a move criticized by Ottawa and likely to scare off foreign investors.

MercoPress: Colombian Defence minister said on Thursday the Constitutional Court's decision to order armed forces to leave indigenous territories in south-eastern Colombia will not affect military presence in the volatile south-western Cauca department.

CARACAS, Venezuela--President Hugo Chávez, widely speculated to be terminally ill with cancer just months ago, now appears strong both physically and politically ahead of October's presidential elections.

Setty's Notebook: Credit rating agency Standard & Poors released its annual review of Venezuela state oil company PDVSA. Mostly it's pretty uncontroversial. But they are remarkably optimistic about Venezuelan oil production in 2013.

MercoPress: Brazil's government controlled oil and gas corporation Petrobras and Britain's BP announced the discovery of oil in a deep-water offshore well in a new area for exploration off Brazil's northeast coast, according to a securities filing on Thursday.

Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog: Tropical Storm Ernesto lashed the Windward Islands with strong winds and heavy rain early this morning, as it passed over St. Lucia near 7 am AST. Ernesto brought sustained winds of 43 mph to Barbados at 7 am AST, and sustained winds of 41 mph, gusting to 63 mph to St. Lucia at 6:15 am AST. Ernesto looks moderately well-organized on Martinique radar, with spiral bands to the north and south feeding into an echo-free center.

China could retaliate over a European anti-dumping complaint filed against Chinese solar companies, officials from a Chinese industry body said on Thursday (2 August) in a protracted row over cheaper Chinese solar modules.

Western solar companies have been at odds with their Chinese counterparts for years, alleging they receive lavish credit lines to offer modules at cheaper prices, while European players struggle to refinance.

Jobs and profits would be lost if the European Commission ruled in favor of a complaint made by European solar firms, led by Germany's SolarWorld, Sun Guangbin, Secretary General of the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import & Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, told a news conference.

"If they implement trade restrictions, demand for solar products will not be met as only a small number of firms will profit from it, which will push up costs," Sun said.

A two-day meeting hosted the by US of 17 countries opposed to the EU's emissions trading system (ETS) has ended without a joint declaration.

The countries, however, reaffirmed their ambition to keep working on an alternative framework to address greenhouse gas emissions under UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). They remain opposed to an EU law that forces their airlines to pay for the carbon they emit on flights to and from Europe.

...The countries plan to implement the goals and actions agreed at the 2010 ICAO assembly. These include a voluntary target to cap net carbon emissions by 2020, national action plans, improving air traffic management, and adopting an emissions standard for aircraft.

...In Europe, observers remained sceptical about the ability of the ICAO to deliver a global alternative to the ETS.

Kuwait hits 53.6°C (128.5°F): 2nd hottest temperature in Asian history.  An extraordinary high temperature of 53.6°C (128.5°F) was recorded in Sulaibya, Kuwait on July 31, the hottest temperature in Kuwait's history, and the 2nd hottest temperature ever measured in Asia.

A racism scandal is unfolding in Germany this week following the revelation that two police officers in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg had been members of a German spin-off group of the Klu Klux Klan. The two men are still serving in uniform -- one on the normal police force and the other as a squad commander for riot-control police. The state's Interior Ministry on Wednesday confirmed reports that the men had been involved with a group that called itself the European White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan (EWK).

The development has left many officials dumbfounded. How, they are asking, could public officers who swear an oath to protect the constitution have been members of a racist organization? Officials first uncovered the links during an ongoing investigation of the murderous National Socialist Underground (NSU) neo-Nazi terror cell. Between 2000 and 2007, the group allegedly murdered at least nine small businessmen of mainly Turkish descent, along with one policewoman, Michele Kiesewetter. The two police officers with alleged Klu Klux Klan links also happened to be Kiesewetter's former colleagues.

If not for the neo-Nazi terror investigation, light might never have been cast on the fact that the Klan has been active in Germany. EWK operated in Baden-Württemberg between 2000 and 2002, with domestic intelligence counting some 20 members in the end, according to German daily Die Tageszeitung. But even more unbelievable than the group's existence is that German police officers were involved, and that very little action was taken once they were exposed. While they were both reportedly subject to disciplinary action, they were still allowed to keep their jobs.

The media is over-hyping the connection to the NSU case; but fact is, this suppressed affair came to light due to digging in the NSU case.

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

Mississippi governor Phil Bryant has said it was "unfortunate" that a predominantly white church in the state wouldn't allow a black couple to get married in its sanctuary, adding that the state should encourage the union of any couple - as long as it is made up of a man and a woman.

Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson say they weren't allowed to marry in July at First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, a small town south of Jackson.

The Rev Stan Weatherford, pastor of the church, married the Wilsons at a church nearby. The wedding was moved after some congregants at First Baptist told Weatherford they opposed allowing black people to marry in the church.

"As hard as we work to try to convince the rest of the world that Mississippi has changed - and, in fact, we have - to see an unfortunate situation like that occur is very disappointing," Bryant said on Thursday.

In six days of competition and with four more to go, French Olympic swimmers have secured six medals - including three gold - at the London Games. Their success is the fruit of a meticulous plan spawned 16 years ago in Atlanta.

The Syrian conflict is filling social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime are engaged in a fierce propaganda battle.

"Here are e-mail addresses and passwords of Al Jazeera employees" reads a message on the website of the "Syrian Electronic Army." The message goes on to say that the group has 40 British and 150 US news pages under its control as well as the websites of Syrians abroad "who are supporting the terror against our country."

The Internet portal is conceived as a propaganda arm of Bashar Assad's regime, encouraging its users to support the beleaguered dictator through spam attacks. The attacks are targeted at media critical of the Assad regime.

To which I answered:

I am always quite sceptical about claims about terror-pages.

Assuming it is true that they have the email adresses and passwords of Al Jazeera employees it shows a lack of imagination to then spam them, when they could be sending pro-Assad fakes from the email accounts and try to get it into the news. But until I get the adress to their page I am going to see it as a media hoax.

And now someone has hacked Reuters to plant pro-Assad stories:
M of A - Syria: Insurgents Give Up For Now - The Grownups Made A Deal? Reuters Got Hacked

It seems that my post below was based on two Reuters blog entries that were hacked and put up the hacker for disinformation purposes. My post below the updates is thereby likely very wrong.

An interesting development in online banking now in public beta. Holvi is an intermediary between you and the banking system that adds valuable services that the banks don't give you. While middlemen are always threatened by direct consumer - producer connections, in this case it's a little different.

Basically you open an account with Holvi (takes a minute), and you can share access to the information with a team or group. You can give access to different tasks such as invoice issuing to specific members of the team - but everyone can see how the money moves.

Holvi actually sets up a standard current account on your behalf at a participating bank. It then monitors all payments in and out, plus all the usual paper or e-invoice data. Payments in can be made from any bank. From all this data it can produce full accounting to (Finnish) accounting standards.

It also has an online retail system, and if e.g. you are collecting membership subscriptions, the system will also compile a membership register from the transaction data.

Your account is 100% covered should there ever be a failure, because Holvi is regulated by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Finland (FIN-FSA) as a payment services provider.

I met Tuomas, the co-founder, about a year ago - a cool coder with ET-like attitude. I'd invite him here, but he's more interested in khipu ;-)


You can't be me, I'm taken

The Chinese Olympic badminton doubles champion Yu Yang has decided to quit the sport, hours after being disqualified from the London Games for throwing a match.

Her announcement came as Beijing ordered its team to apologise for the fiasco.

"This is my last competition. Goodbye Badminton World Federation, goodbye my beloved badminton," the 26-year-old wrote on the country's Weibo microblogging service, saying the athletes had used the rules to maximise their chances after organisers changed the event's format. "You have heartlessly shattered our dreams ... It's that simple, not complicated at all. But this is unforgivable," she said.

Chinese officials have yet to comment on her decision. The careers of top athletes, including their retirements, are usually carefully controlled by sports authorities.