With Horst Koehler re-elected as Germany's president, political parties and pundits are busy analyzing the implications of the vote as to who will grasp power in the Bundestag. General elections are due in September.  

Not surprisingly, the head of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat parliamentary group, Volker Kauder, interpreted Koehler's easy victory in the first round of voting as a positive signal for his party.

"The message from this election," Kauder said on national television, "is that the mainstream majority can prevail."

"For the mainstream majority of the union and FDP, this is a delightful outcome and a reason to be confident," said Kauder, referring to the conservative sister parties of Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union and the liberal Free Democrats.

Police in Austria say one of the two Sikh gurus who was shot in a violent dispute between rival Sikh groups at a temple in Austria has died.

The guru, Sant Rama Anand, was attacked during a religious ceremony by six men armed with knives and a pistol.

The other preacher Sant Nirajnan Das, who was among 15 other people injured in the clash, was said to be stable.

Following the incident, rival Sikh groups clashed in the Indian state of Punjab.

Indian police said protesters in the city of Jalandhar set fire to vehicles and put up roadblocks.

Exclusive: Information watchdog orders overhaul after 140 security breaches in just four months

The personal medical records of tens of thousands of people have been lost by the NHS in a series of grave data security leaks. Between January and April this year, 140 security breaches were reported within the NHS - more than the total number from inside central Government and all local authorities combined.

The sacred principle of doctor-patient confidentiality is being compromised, Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has warned. Britain's information watchdog has ordered an urgent overhaul of data security in the health service.

Some computers containing medical records have been left by skips and stolen. Others were left on encrypted discs - but the passwords allowing access were taped to the side.

In an interview with The Independent, the Information Commissioner's chief enforcer blamed the growth of a "cavalier attitude" among NHS workers across Britain for the exposure of the sensitive records.

Leaders from the European Union and South Korea called for a quick conclusion to the ongoing discussions over a free trade agreement after a summit between the two sides in Seoul on Saturday (23 May) failed to produce a breakthrough.

A tentative deal was reached in March but has stalled since then as certain issues have become politicised, in particular the question of refunding import duties under certain conditions.

European carmakers are worried a free trade deal with South Korea would negatively impact on their sales

European carmakers are particularly concerned that the refunds would give South Korean manufacturers an unfair advantage.

The EU does not allow the refunds, known as duty drawbacks, with its other bilateral free trade partners, Mexico and Chile.

European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and Czech president Vaclav Klaus attended the meeting with South Korea's president Lee Myung-Bak. EU trade commissioner Catherine Ashton and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner were also present.

PRAGUE -- When Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurse, was considering whether to renew her contract at a private health clinic here, special perks helped clinch the deal: free German lessons, five weeks of vacation, and a range of plastic-surgery options, including complimentary silicone-enhanced breasts.

"I would rather have plastic surgery than a free car," said Ms. Kalivodova, who opted for cosmetic breast surgery that would normally cost €2,600, or about $3,500, as well as liposuction on her thighs and stomach. These were physical enhancements, she said, that she could not afford on her €1,000 a month salary.

"I feel better when I look in the mirror," she added. "We were always taught that if a nurse is nice, intelligent, loves her work and looks attractive, then patients will recover faster."

BRATISLAVA, May 22 (IPS) - The economic crisis sweeping Eastern Europe is leading to a sharp increase in people trafficking as people look to migrate for work amid rising unemployment and growing economic hardship, migration watchdogs and women's rights groups warn.

Trafficking gangs are preying on people they know are increasingly desperate for jobs as income dries up and people become willing to use any means they can to go abroad for work.

"The current economic crisis has had a great effect on countries of origin for people trafficking as people get poorer and want to emigrate at all costs," Jean-Philipe Chauzy, head of communications at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) headquarters in Geneva told IPS. "This leaves them vulnerable to people-trafficking gangs."

People trafficking has become a multi-billion euros global business. Estimates of people trafficked every year run into millions, with women the vast majority of those trafficked. Many are sold into slavery after answering advertisements for jobs abroad.

Lawyers for the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic have filed papers arguing all charges against him should be dropped.

They say US diplomat Richard Holbrooke promised him immunity from prosecution on condition he gave up politics - something Mr Holbrooke strongly denies.

Mr Karadzic is on trial at the UN tribunal in The Hague, facing 11 charges including genocide.

The tribunal has said that any immunity deal would not be binding.

They say even if a deal had been agreed, the trial would proceed anyway.

Progressive Conservatism

Our philosophy of progressive Conservatism - the pursuit of progressive goals through Conservative means - aims to reverse the collapse in personal responsibility that inevitably follows this leeching of control away from the individual and the community into the hands of political and bureaucratic elites. We can reverse our social atomisation by giving people the power to work collectively with their peers to solve common problems. We can reverse our society's infantilisation by inviting people to look to themselves, their communities and wider society for answers, instead of just the state. Above all we can encourage people to behave responsibly if they know that doing the right thing and taking responsibility will be recognised and will make a difference.

So I believe the central objective of the new politics we need should be a massive, sweeping, radical redistribution of power: from the state to citizens; from the government to parliament; from Whitehall to communities; from the EU to Britain; from judges to the people; from bureaucracy to democracy. Through decentralisation, transparency and accountability we must take power from the elite and hand it to the man and woman in the street. Yes, as many Guardian commentators in their contributions to A New Politics have argued, that means reforming parliament. But it means much more besides. The reform that's now required - this radical redistribution of power - must go through every public institution, not just parliament.

This 'philosophy of progressive conservatism' has Phillip Blond's fingerprints all over it. His article on the

Rise of the Red Tories

was IMHO genuinely revolutionary, and harks back to Distributism.

How to move from Rhetoric to Reality?

.....well, I am sure Cameron's response will be the classic one...."I'm glad you asked me that question".

 

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Jose Manuel Barroso looks set for another term as European Commission chief even as he has faced a storm of criticism for his handling of the current economic crisis and being in thrall to Paris and Berlin - condemnation that analysts say is unfair.

The 53-year old centre-right politician came to the office in 2004 on a sour note, having emerged as compromise candidate only at the 11th hour and only grudgingly supported by France and Germany.

His hosting of the Azores Summit - for supporters of the war in Iraq - in March 2003 was immediately given an unflattering rake-over at a time when the launch of the unpopular war was still fresh in the public mind.

He then bungled what could have been a relatively straightforward first encounter with the European Parliament by misjudging the mood of MEPs over an Italian commissioner nominee whom they felt was unsuitable. As the drama unfolded, a small rebellion turned into outright mutiny that threatened to sink the Barroso commission before it even began.

What Europe do you want? On Tuesday, May 26, at 9:45 a.m., CEST, SPIEGEL ONLINE, NRC Handelsblad and Politiken will host an online town hall meeting with Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the European Parliament. He will be answering readers' questions sent in by e-mail or submitted during the live chat.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Christian church has in the UK, Austria and Poland spoken out against far-right parties in the EU elections, while in Sweden a fringe movement calling for internet freedoms is gaining ground.

The UK's most senior Anglican clerics, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, at the weekend urged mainstream voters to go to the ballot box on 7 June in order to keep extremist parties, such as the BNP, out of the European Parliament.

Mountain cross: the church says low turnout could see far-right parties score high

"It would be tragic if the understandable sense of anger and disillusionment with some MPs over recent revelations [on expenses] led voters to shun the ballot box," the pair said in a statement, adding that "some parties" want to exploit "fear and division within communities."

The Austrian church criticised what it calls the exploitation of Christian symbols after the leader of the far-right FPO party recently held up a cross at a demonstration against a Muslim centre. The FPO's election platform uses the slogan "The West in Christian Hands."

The cross "must not be misused as a fighting symbol against other religions," the Archbishop of Vienna, Roman Catholic cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, said.

The latest poll into who will vote in the upcoming European parliamentary elections on June 4-7 makes for some pretty grim reading. It seems that voter apathy is growing as knowledge and interest in the EU shrink. 

A study carried out across the EU on behalf of the French Political Innovation Foundation shows that 18 percent of those surveyed said they were ' not at all interested' in the June poll, whilst 35 percent said they were 'rather not interested'. The same number said they were 'rather interested' but only a meager 11 percent said they were 'very interested'.

 

The data coming in on voter apathy across the European Union is turning unspoken but common knowledge into hard facts: the EU elections hold no interest for a huge number of the bloc's citizens.

 

What is less clear are the reasons why. Attempts have been made to connect the expected dramatically low turn-out with frustration over the incompetence of ministers, the mounting corruption scandals and the perceived idleness that voters associate with the overblown bureaucracy many believe the EU has become.

The Kremlin's worst fears are being played out in a small town outside St Petersburg, as angry residents of crisis-hit Pikalevo marched upon the offices of the local mayor and demanded improved living conditions.

The town, with a population of just over 20,000, has been suffering as its three major factories have hit hard times during the economic crisis. Two of them shut down several months ago, while the third has put its workers on shorter shifts. About half of the employees have been put on enforced leave and even those who are still working have not received their salaries for nearly three months.

The final straw came when the town lost its heating and hot water as the only local power station couldn't afford to keep running. Even kindergartens and hospitals were left without hot water. The town's gas supply was also cut off.

"I've worked here since 1976," Vladimir Folev, a shift manager at the power station, told Russian TV. "I couldn't have imagined this in my worst nightmares. This is the first time in history that the town has been left without heating and hot water."

The parent company of troubled German department store Karstadt is warning that it could go bankrupt if the government doesn't provide aid. But competitors say such a move would be unfair. 

Arcandor has stepped up pressure on the German government to lend it a helping hand. In interviews over the weekend, the heads of Arcandor and its Karstadt department store unit warned that without taxpayer assistance to the tune of 850 million euros ($1.2 billion) some 50,000 jobs would be threatened.

Arcandor runs not only the Karstadt department store chain, but also the mail-order retailer Quelle and the Thomas Cook travel company.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The world economy has avoided "utter catastrophe" and industrialized countries could register growth this year, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said on Monday.

"I will not be surprised to see world trade stabilize, world industrial production stabilize and start to grow two months from now," Krugman told a seminar.

"I would not be surprised to see flat to positive GDP growth in the United States, and maybe even in Europe, in the second half of the year."

The Princeton professor and New York Times columnist has said he fears a decade-long slump like that experienced by Japan in the 1990s.

Up to 30,000 Tamil civilians have been left severely disabled by Sri Lankan army shelling in the so-called 'no-fire zone', it has been revealed.

Aid workers said one in ten of the 280,000 civilian refugees who fled the Sri Lankan army's final onslaught against the Tamil Tiger rebels had either lost limbs or been so badly injured they urgently needed prosthetic limbs or wheelchairs to regain their mobility.

The scale of civilian casualties who have been maimed in the war was disclosed by the award-winning French charity Handicap International, which works with the victims of war throughout the world.

During his visit to the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to open a new French base on the banks of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important waterway between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.

AFP - President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to open France's first permanent military base in the Gulf on Monday, giving Paris a strategic role in a region roiled by Iran and a key supply route for oil.

Sarkozy will be paying a visit to Abu Dhabi, the wealthiest and largest of the United Arab Emirates, to formally inaugurate the base announced in January last year.

Dubbed "Peace Camp", the base will host up to 500 troops stationed in three sites on the banks of the Strait of Hormuz, just across from Iran: a navy and logistical base, an air base with three fighter planes and a training camp.

The United Nations special tribunal investigating the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri has reached surprising new conclusions -- and it is keeping them secret. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, investigators now believe Hezbollah was behind the Hariri murder.

It was an act of virtually Shakespearean dimensions, a family tragedy involving murder and suicide, contrived and real tears -- and a good deal of big-time politics.

In Latin America, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has little trouble holding her own among the region's macho presidents. She is the most successful Latin American government leader by far. On Monday, Ms Bachelet travels to the Netherlands. Radio Netherlands Worldwide interviewed her at the Moneda Palace in Santiago, Chile.

*

In times of crisis, governments are rarely popular among their citizens, but this is not the case with Michelle Bachelet.

Six months ahead of the next presidential elections, her popularity still continues to grow, making her the most prestigious Latin American president, despite the best efforts of her populist colleagues elsewhere in the region.

"I have ensured that my government places great emphasis on the social aspects, because I feel that a country with a growing economy should be able to guarantee prosperity to the whole population. We want to change Chile into a modern welfare state with minimal social benefits for all its citizens. We want to close the gap between children from rich parents and those from poor families with parents who received practically no education."

There have been expressions of international outrage after North Korea said it had successfully carried out an underground nuclear test.

After seismologists confirmed it had the power of a 4.5 quake, the US president said North Korea's programme posed a "grave threat" to world peace.

China and Russia also condemned the test and called for a return to talks.

The UN Security Council is to meet later in New York for emergency talks on how it should respond.

It is being reported that North Korea gave warning of an imminent test to the US less than an hour before it happened.

NYC's Times and Herald squares remade for walking | TPM | 25.5.09

New York's Times and Herald squares just got a lot more pedestrian-friendly.

Sections of Broadway from 47th to 42nd streets and 35th to 33rd streets have been closed to cars in a city effort to reduce traffic and pollution and cut down on pedestrian accidents

An elderly man who has spent the last 20 years living with bears in Alaska is facing prosecution under strict new rules to stop people feeding wild animals.

Charlie Vandergraw, 70, has become so familiar with the grizzlies that he can scratch their bellies, pat them on the head and feed them biscuits.

But he has been charged with 20 counts of feeding bears and could be given a year in prison or a $10,000 fine, sparking a row in the state over individual freedoms.

EDF calls for support for nuclear industry

New nuclear power stations will not be built in Britain unless the government provides financial support for the industry, the head of the country's biggest nuclear generator has warned.

Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of the UK subsidiary of EDF, told the Financial Times that a "level playing field" had to be created that would allow the nuclear industry to compete with other low-emission electricity sources such as wind power.

His comments call into question the government's plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations, which ministers have insisted can be delivered without any additional subsidy.

In recent months, the government has promised more generous subsidies for offshore wind power and new support for "clean coal" power stations that can capture and store their carbon dioxide emissions. But it continues to resist the idea of similar assistance for nuclear power.

Which brings us back to the question whether any corporation will ever build nukes? EDF is still fundamentally a State-owned company, even if it now has profit obligations.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

It's rare for a television show to be a sensation before anyone's seen it. But a new reality show in Germany, which involves parents letting teenagers care for their babies for a few days, has many in Germany seething.

What happens when you put a pair of clueless teenagers and a baby in a house and shut the door? It sounds like the start of a bad joke. As it happens, however, it is the inspiration for a new reality television show in Germany.

 In the real show, they didn't use dolls. The show is the brainchild of private broadcaster RTL and is called "Erwachsen auf Probe," which can be loosly translated as "Maturity Test." They selected four teenaged couples, planted them in suburban homes and presented them with a baby to care for. Then, as the cameras rolled, the teenagers played parent.

For four days and nights, the teens tended to their adoptive bundles of joy, only to discover -- as the RTL Web site reveals prior to the show's going on air at the beginning of June -- that bundles of joy scream, defecate and don't always sleep when bidden.

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez's weekly television and radio programme "Alo Presidente" is marking its 10th anniversary.

What began as a regular radio broadcast by the newly-elected socialist leader in May 1999 has evolved into a several-hour long televised address.

It can involve live phone calls, ad hoc announcements on government policy and special guests.

The programme, transmitted on Sundays, has never been far from controversy.