Belarus' Lukashenko rejects death penalty mercy plea | News | DW.DE | 15.03.2012

Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko has apparently rejected a mercy plea from one of two men sentenced to death over a bomb attack that killed 15 people in a Minsk metro station almost a year ago.

The president rejected the clemency plea "due to the gravity of the crime and the high risk to society," Belarus media reported on Thursday.

Vladislav Kovalyov and Dmitri Konovalov were convicted and sentenced to death in November. Experts were critical of the trial, which they said had not established beyond doubt that the men carried out the attack on a central Minsk metro station April 11, 2011.

In addition to the 15 people killed in the bombing, hundreds were injured.

Icelandic politics on trial | World | DW.DE | 15.03.2012

A historic trial comes to a close this Thursday in Iceland. Former prime minister Geir Haarde has to answer for his role in the country's 2008 financial crisis. The case made international headlines.

About four years ago, Geir Haarde's world was looking just fine. As prime minister, he was popular with the electorate and the people of Iceland were confident about the future.

But then, the North Atlantic island nation got caught up in the maelstrom of the international financial crisis, following the collapse of the US bank, Lehman Brothers.

Budget bungle forces snap state election | Germany | DW.DE | 15.03.2012

The short-lived red-green coalition in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has been forced to call snap elections after failing to get the backing for its new budget.

The red-green minority government in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has collapsed after just over 18 months under Premier Hannelore Kraft. It's been forced to call a snap election after all three opposition parties rejected the 2012 budget proposal.

MEPs' vote ends EU-US row on hormone-treated beef | EurActiv

The European Parliament approved a deal between the EU and both the United States and Canada on hormone-treated beef yesterday (14 March), ending one of the trading powers' oldest disputes.

The case dates back to 1988 when the European Union banned all imports of beef from cattle treated with growth hormones, a move that prompted US and Canadian sanctions of $125 million (€95.7 million) a year on European products from Roquefort cheese to truffles and mustard.

The EU and Washington had agreed in 2009 that the 27-member bloc would keep its ban on hormone-treated beef but that the US would gradually lift its sanctions in exchange for a steep rise in the EU's duty-free import quotas of hormone-free beef.

The volumes of hormone-free beef exempted from taxes were put at 20,000 tonnes that year and are due to be lifted to 48,200 tonnes by August 2012, of which 45,000 tonnes for US beef and 3,200 tonnes for Canadian imports.

The United States lifted its import duties on all targeted European luxury foods in May 2011.

Although EU farmers had feared a surge in imports of North American beef, these failed to materialise as the United States became a net importer of beef after grain that formerly went to animal feed was used to make biofuels.

Energy expert: Not enough staff for eco-design directive | EurActiv

The European Commission is understaffed for its ambitions regarding the eco-design directive that sets energy savings requirements for products, despite the huge potential it has for achieving significant carbon dioxide reductions, says Edouard Toulouse.

How important is the eco-design directive in achieving energy savings?

The eco-design directive is really one of the silver bullets which can make really practical progress on energy savings issues. It was first when it came to energy savings and the reduction of CO2 emissions, but resource efficiency could also be considered under eco-design, because you could also set requirements on products related to the use of resources - such as their recyclability or the reusability.

The problem is that it is DG Enterprise that is responsible for this policy, but we need more involvement from other DGs. If you look at all the roadmaps and initiatives and policies in place, eco-design is really one of the few that can really deliver and that really has an impact on the market.

Just look at how many people are working on it from DG Environment - I know just one. That's not enough. They need more people.

EUobserver.com / Political Affairs / Merkel and Sarkozy: The end of the affair?

BRUSSELS - She needed him to soften the impression that Germany alone is leading Europe. He needed her to give the impression France is still, despite its economic difficulties, a political player.

For months, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy were the eurzone's inseparable political duo. He was effusive and talked in a grand way about the historical importance of Franco-German relations. She, more pragmatic, concentrated on the here-and-now.

From a frosty beginning their relationship evolved towards mutual respect. They met, bickered, compromised and then decided on eurozone policy.

With France struggling to contain its budget deficit and French banks heavily exposed to Greece, Sarkozy embraced Merkel's economic view of the world - austerity measures until a balanced budget is achieved.

Some 7,000 more UK women affected by PIP implants - UNITED KINGDOM - FRANCE 24

AP - Britain's health ministry says an additional 7,000 women were fitted with potentially faulty French-made breast implants, raising the total in the U.K. to about 47,000.

The ministry said Thursday that the new cases follow confirmation by French authorities that implants manufactured before 2001 by the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP, also may have contained non-medical grade silicone.

Previously, authorities had said that only implants made by PIP after 2001 were affected.

In secular France, can faith carry the election? - FRENCH ELECTIONS 2012 - FRANCE 24

In staunchly secular France, the common assumption is that religion is best kept out of politics. Analysts tend to look to age, profession or gender when trying to gauge voter behaviour. But according to sociologists, religion plays a key part when it comes to casting a ballot. Claude Dargent, a researcher at Sciences Po's Cevipof institute, argues that religion is more influential in voters' decisions than social class.

At 57.2%, Catholics make up the majority of voters in France. Muslims (5%) form the second biggest religious group, followed by Protestants (2%) and Jews (0.6%). Some 30% of French voters describe themselves as having "no religion".

Eurointelligence Daily Briefing: Spanish and German left supports Hollande over fiscal treaty

The Spanish and German left support Francois Hollande over renegotiating the fiscal treaty; Sigmar Gabriel of the SPD says the pact only goes half way; Reuters Breakingviews argues that there is no point in renegotiating the pact as it is mostly an act of symbolism anyway; Angela Merkel is pushing pushes for Schäuble to became the next eurogroup's chairman; Italy's labour minister outlines the state of play in Italian labour reform - with changes to the country's restrictive firing laws; Greek unemployment rate reached 20.7% in Q4 last year, with youth unemployment at 40%; IMF approved second bailout for Greece despite internal doubts about its success; The ECB presents a cautious assessment of the LTRO, saying it contributed to a modest uptick in money growth in January, but no evidence yet of higher bank lending; Erkki Liikanen yesterday came out in support of Jens Weidmann's request for an exit from the ECB's "ultra loose" liquidity provisions; ISDA calls the Greek CDS auction for Monday, as market participants are unsure about the long-term effects about the CDS market; optimistic investors are getting back into risky assets, as German bunds come under pressure; Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi argues that there is a great danger that governments might inadvertently stumble into another eurozone default; Francois Hollande comes under fire for making non-financed electoral promises; Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, hits the headlines with his latest insult of a journalist.

There are three stories about the euro crisis: the Republican story, the German story, and the truth. -- Paul Krugman

CNN: U.S. states: Running with the PIIGS
By Daryl G. Jones, March 16, 2010

The term PIIGS has been coined to refer collectively to Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain. Aside from being a cute acronym, the term describes the actions of these countries very aptly as they have acted "piggish" in issuing debt to support overzealous government budgets. While the American media has at times made light of these countries and their PIIGS moniker, the same mistakes are at play in creating domestic pigs.

If PIIGS refers to nations that have overspent and are now overleveraging to pay for their deficits, the United States is feeding from the same trough.

There are two key ratios used to highlight when a government is reaching the crisis zone of fiscal imbalance: the debt-to-GDP ratio and deficit-as-a-percentage-of-GDP. Historically, a debt-to-GDP of north of 90% and a deficit-as-a-percentage-of-GDP north of 10% have been the lines in the sand to watch. As governments cross these barriers, they enter the Pig Zone.

It's fascinatint that, even today, Spain's Debt-to-GDP is less than 70%. And yet, this kind of "analysis" passes for serious commentary.

Also related to March 16, 2010: Greece hit by third general strike in a month (BBC, 11 March 2010)

The country currently has a spiralling public deficit of 12.7%, more than four times higher than eurozone rules allow.

The government has pledged to cut this to 8.7% this year, and also reduce the 300bn-euro (£275bn; $410bn) national debt, by cutting public sector salaries, raising the average retirement age, and increasing sales taxes.

...

Another general strike has been called for 16 March.

And now for a round of 16-March European Solidarity: Greece gets March deadline for deeper cuts Europolitics, 16 February 2010

EU finance ministers, meeting in Brussels on 15 and 16 February, have stopped short of offering overt financial assistance to Greece in favour of stepping up pressure on the indebted government in Athens. Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou will have until 16 March to reassure a trenchant EU that Greece is able to bring down its budget deficit by four percentage points this year, or be forced to slash spending even further and introduce a raft of tax rises on luxury goods, private cars and energy products. "These targets will have to be reached," Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said of the 4% cut, "and in the case that there are risks preventing Greece from reaching these targets, then additional measures [...] will have to be taken".

Oh, it's that guy Juncker again...

There are three stories about the euro crisis: the Republican story, the German story, and the truth. -- Paul Krugman

coming soon to a Euro Crisis near you?

Eurorettung (English): Express Money: Economic Recovery in Debt-Ridden Countries via Fast-Circulating, Slow-Leaking Regional Money

The euro crisis can be overcome. The solution is called Express Money.

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Express Money will only come about, however, once the idea finds its way to responsible parties in politics, economics, the media, and non-profit organizations, and is subjected to broad public discussion. Translations of this concept into German, English, Greek, Portuguese, etc. are already being prepared (see www.eurorettung.org). Spread the word to everyone whose support will be needed to get Express Money adopted in the crisis countries!

There are three stories about the euro crisis: the Republican story, the German story, and the truth. -- Paul Krugman