Committee meetings - Brussels

Spanish presidency.  Fourteen Parliament committees will hold discussions with Spanish ministers about the priorities of the presidency of the Council in the different policy areas over the next six months (Monday-Thursday).

Enlargement votes.  The Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on resolutions assessing the progress made in the EU accession process by Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Wednesday).

SWIFT. The Civil Liberties Committee will discuss the interim agreement signed on November 30 by Council on the exchange of banking data with the United States via the SWIFT network. MEPs are likely to vote on the issue in plenary session in February.(Tuesday tbc)

Counter-terrorism strategy.  MEPs in the Civil Liberties Committee will discuss body scanners and other current issues in the fight against terrorism with the EU's anti-terrorism coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, and the EU data-protection supervisor, Peter Hustinx (Wednesday).

Afghanistan.  The Security and Defence subcommittee holds a hearing on the situation in Afghanistan, gathering views from military, diplomatic and other sources (Monday).

Haiti. Commissioner for Development, Karel de Gucht will brief MEPs of the Committee on Development on the humanitarian situation in Haiti after his visit there. (Monday)

ICTY.  The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Serge Bammertz, will update the Foreign Affairs Committee on the court's work (Tuesday).

Madeleine Albright/NATO.  The former US Secretary of State, who is chair of a group reviewing NATO's strategic concept, joins a discussion with the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Security and Defence Subcommittee (Wednesday).

Financial market supervision/ECB. The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee holds a hearing on part of the financial market reform package and also adopts its annual report assessing the performance of the European Central Bank (Wednesday).

Gender equality.  The Women's Rights Committee will vote on the EU's progress in achieving equality between men and women (Monday).

Late payments.  The Internal Market Committee holds a joint hearing with national parliaments on legislation to help prevent problems caused by late payments for commercial transactions (Tuesday).

EP President. President Buzek will participate in the commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp (Wednesday) and in the World Economic Forum in Davos (Friday to Saturday). He will also meet European Council President Herman Van Rompuy  (Thursday) and make the opening speech at a Polish artworks exhibition (Monday).

Spanish Presidency ministers this week outline their EU Council Presidency priorities to a range of parliamentary committees and will field MEPs' questions on most EU policy areas. On Wednesday they faced, among others, the committees on Transport and Tourism, Employment and Social Affairs, Industry, Research and Energy and Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. This release will be updated throughout the week.

• Employment and Social Affairs
  
• Transport
  
• Consumer protection
  
• Environment
  
• Industry, Energy and Telecommunications
  
• International Trade
  
• Legal Affairs
  
• Agriculture
  
• Civil Liberties
  
• Public health
  
• Culture
  
• Economic and monetary affairs
  
• Education
  
• In the chair: Doris Pack (EPP, DE)
  
• Women's Rights and Gender Equality
  

Croatia

MEPs consider that the accession negotiations with Croatia can be concluded in 2010. Croatia's successful accession would give "positive impetus" to the process of integrating the rest of the Western Balkans region within Europe, says the resolution.

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MEPs are nonetheless concerned that public support for membership is diminishing in Croatia.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

MEPs expect negotiations with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia "to begin in the near future". They therefore ask the Council to confirm, at its March 2010 summit, that it accepts the Commission's recommendation to open negotiations. They also welcome the new Greek government's suggestion of a "symbolic and motivational target date of 2014" for the EU accession of Western Balkans countries.

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Turkey

Progress on concrete reforms remained limited in 2009, says the resolution.

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Ankara is asked to implement existing legislation better in the areas of women's rights, non-discrimination, freedom of religion, thought and belief, freedom of speech and expression, zero tolerance of torture and the fight against corruption. Turkey should also intensify its efforts to meet the Copenhagen criteria, says the resolution.

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As positive news from Ankara, MEPs cite the broad public debate on issues within the so-called democratic opening, and a law removing restrictions on broadcasting in Kurdish. They also appreciate the diplomatic efforts made to normalise relations with Armenia, but ask that the relevant protocols be ratified. They also acknowledge Turkey's role in regional security (Black Sea and Middle-East).

A US judge has granted political asylum to a German family who said they had fled the country to avoid persecution for home schooling their children.

In the first reported case of its kind, Tennessee immigration judge Lawrence Burman ruled that the family of seven have a legitimate fear of prosecution for their beliefs. Germany requires parents to enrol their children in school in most cases and has levied fines against those who ­educate their children at home.

There will be no plenary session on 26 January as a hearing still needs to be held with the new Bulgarian candidate before Parliament can vote on the Commission as a whole.  Parliament is planning to hold this hearing on 3 February, if this date can be agreed with the Commission.  This would enable a debate and final vote on the Commission to be held on Tuesday 9 February, during the next plenary session in Strasbourg.

Gates singled out Italy and blasted it for cutting down on funding. "Italy was at the low end of European givers even before the Berlusconi government came in and cut the aid by over half, making them uniquely stingy among European donors. These cuts will show up in Italy's 2009 aid figures. In June, I met PM Berlusconi personally to make the case for more support, but I was unsuccessful. This is a huge disappointment since I still think the Italian public wants to be as generous as people in other countries."

A French court has acquitted the former prime minister Dominique de Villepin of charges related to his alleged role in a smear campaign against President Nicolas Sarkozy.

De Villepin was once one of Sarkozy's biggest rivals, but the trial tarnished his political reputation. The acquittal paves the way for an attempted return to politics, including a possible run for the presidency in 2012.

For now, there are days when the inquiry's small, cold room in ­Westminster feels like the centre of the world. On Tuesday, for an electric hour, the witness was Elizabeth Wilmshurst, the Foreign Office lawyer who resigned after her view that war would be illegal was ignored. When she finished giving evidence, there was, for the first time, and in direct contravention of the inquiry rules, a great spontaneous crackle of applause from the public gallery. It felt like a ­release, a statement - a small vindi­cation of the inquiry. But the official transcript does not record it.

A Conservative MP's comments suggesting a possible link between "imported" views and rape have been criticised.

Monmouth MP David Davies said the upbringing should be investigated of Balal Khan, 14, of Stoke-on-Trent, who raped and robbed a woman.

Politicians in other parties and an academic attacked the MP's comments, although he stressed that they were not related to Islamic or racial issues.

The Tory party said his comments did not reflect its views "in any way".

After Khan admitted the offences and was sent to a young offenders institution for three years, Mr Davies said some communities had "imported backward, medieval and barbaric" views about women.

The operator of Bratislava Airport (Letisko M.R. Štefánika - Airport Bratislava, a.s.) concluded on 5 December 2005 an agreement with Ryanair until 2016. Following an in-depth assessment after opening the formal investigation procedure 1 , the Commission has now determined that the agreement can be justified by a cost-benefit-analysis. This cost-benefit-analysis provided an assessment of the conditions - in particular the coverage of the costs by the aviation revenue attributable to the agreement - at Bratislava Airport and allows to conclude that in similar circumstances a private investor operating under normal market conditions would have entered into the same or similar commercial arrangement as the airport operator.

In spring 2009, the Commission proposed to open the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) for Malta, Lithuania and Latvia, on the basis of budget deficits above 3% in 2008 and recommended their correction by 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. In the case of Hungary, which has been under the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) since 2004, the Commission proposed to revise the recommendation under Article 126.7 of the Lisbon Treaty (previously 104.9) with a new deadline of 2011 in view of the deterioration of the economic situation. The Council endorsed the Commission's recommendations on all four countries in July 2009, setting a deadline of 7 January 2010 to assess whether effective action has taken.

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In total, 20 EU countries are in EDP. In December 2009, the Council endorsed the Commission's recommendations under Article 126.7 of the Treaty for 13 of them, setting deadlines for the correction of the deficit ranging from 2012 (for Italy and Belgium) to the 2014/15 fiscal year for the United Kingdom. In the case of Greece, the Council agreed that the country had not taken effective action to correct the deficit by the 2010 deadline agreed at the beginning of 2009; the Commission will shortly propose stepping up the procedure with a recommendation under Art 126.9 of the Treaty, as was recalled recently by Commissioner Almunia.

The deterioration in the public finances was inevitable as governments had to support the economy and stabilise the financial sector in the wake of the financial crisis to limit the impact of the recession on jobs and to make the recession as short as possible - in line with the recovery plan proposed by the Commission. But governments in the EU and at the G20 agree that an exit strategy to restore public finances is needed when recovery materializes and EU leaders agree that the SGP is the cornerstone of that exit strategy for European countries. They also agree that budgetary consolidation overall should start at the latest in 2011, when growth is expected to return. According to the Commission's autumn forecast, GDP growth is expected to reach 1.6% in the EU that year (1.5% for the euro area).

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a fundamental rethink of capitalism in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

"We need deep profound change," he said in his keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
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Mr Sarkozy told the delegation - to scattered applause - that governments and companies in the world economy could not pretend it was business as usual.

"We are not asking ourselves what we will replace capitalism with, but what kind of capitalism we want?" he said.

"We must re-engineer capitalism to restore its moral dimension, its conscience," he said. "By placing free trade above all else, what we have is a weakening of democracy.

The Employment and Social Affairs Committee today backed an agreement between European social partners to help prevent needle-stick injuries in the hospital sector, one of the most common and serious risks for health workers across the EU.

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A legislative proposal to protect Europe's healthcare workers from potentially dangerous infections due to injuries with needles and other sharp medical instruments has been requested by the European Parliament for many years,  notably in a resolution of 6 July 2006.

Late payments by public authorities, which in some Member States are said to be among the worst culprits, create difficulties for small and medium-sized firms. But this does not justify imposing heavier sanctions on public sector late payers than private ones, argued many MEPs and national MEPs on Tuesday.

Alistair Darling is to hold private talks with an elite group of City bankers in Davos on Friday amid warnings from global business executives that tough new curbs on the financial sector would hold back economic recovery.

Leaders of both UK and international banks will seek reassurance from the chancellor that the windfall tax on bank bonuses is not the start of a concerted crackdown that will make London a less attractive place to do business.

Bob Diamond, the president of Barclays, today strongly attacked Barack Obama's plans to limit the size and scope of Wall Street banks. A new era of "­narrow" banks would be harmful, ­Diamond warned: "The impact on jobs, global trade and the global economy would be very negative

The State of the Union address is in danger of purveying the usual euphemisms. I expect    Obama to brag that he has overseen a recovery. But can there be any such thing as a jobless recovery? What has recovered are stock market averages and Wall Street bonuses, not disposable personal income or discretionary spending after paying debt service.

There is a dream that what can be "recovered" is something so idyllic as to be mythical: a Bubble Economy enabling people to make money without actually working, by borrowing and riding the tide of asset-price inflation to make capital gains. Corporate Democrat Harold Ford Jr. writes nostalgically that Bill Clinton's eight years in office created 22 million jobs, "balanced the budget and left his successor with a surplus. This can be done again," if only Obama moves further to the right (which Ford calls the center, meaning the Bayhs and Republicans).

It can't be done again. Pres. Clinton's administration balanced the budget by "welfare reform" to cut back public spending. This would be lethal today. Meanwhile, his explosion of bank credit and the dot.com boom (rising stock prices and bonuses without any earnings) fueled the early stages of the Greenspan bubble. It was a debt-leveraged illusion. Instead of the government running budget deficits to expand domestic demand,  Clinton left it to banks to extend interest-bearing credit-debt pollution that we are still struggling to clean up.

The danger is that when  Obama speaks of "stabilizing the economy," he means trying to sustain the rise in compound interest and debt. This mathematical financial dynamic is autonomous from the "real" industrial economy, overwhelming it economically. That is what makes the present economic road to debt peonage so self-defeating.

Debts that can't be paid, won't be. So defaults are rising. The question that  Obama should be addressing is how to deal with the excess of debt above the ability to pay - and of negative equity for the one-quarter of U.S. real estate that has a higher mortgage debt than the market price is worth. If the hope is still to "borrow our way out of debt" by getting the banks to start lending again, then listeners on Wednesday will know that Obama's second year in office will be worse for the economy than his first.

Boeing Co. swung to a fourth-quarter profit compared with last year's loss when a machinists strike halted production lines.

The world's second-largest commercial-plane manufacturer posted earnings of $1.27 billion, or $1.75 a share. Last year, Boeing lost $86 million, or 12 cents a share. Revenue rose to $17.9 billion from $12.7 billion a year earlier.

Profits came despite Boeing facing an economic downturn that shrank orders for airplanes for the full year. Amid the depressed economic environment, airlines were stung by a slump in air travel and cut orders for new planes. Boeing's defense unit also felt the crunch as the Pentagon pulled back on spending.

"Air traffic was horrible last year and aircraft orders were anemic. Still, Boeing beat expectations," said Alex P. Hamilton, an analyst at Jesup & Lamont in New York. "Overall, it was a solid report."

Thousands of jobs losses were announced by UK companies today, underscoring fears that British households will continue to suffer the repercussions of the recession for years to come.

Global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca unveiled plans to cut another 8,000 jobs on top of the 15,000 already announced, but would not say how many will go in the UK. At the same time, the home retail group Shop Direct outlined plans to cut 1,500 jobs in Sunderland, Burnley and Newtown in mid-Wales and carmaker Toyota aims to axe up to 750 jobs at its main UK factory.

AstraZeneca made the announcement as it missed analysts' forecasts for fourth-quarter profits. It predicted a blow to revenues as it loses market exclusivity on key drugs.

Since it started an overhaul in 2007, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has cut 12,600 jobs from a 15,000 target.

The Community Mechanism facilitates cooperation in disaster response. Some 31 states participate in the Community Mechanism (EU-27 plus Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). They pool resources that can be made available to disaster-stricken countries all over the world through the Mechanism. When activated, the Mechanism ensures the coordination of assistance interventions inside and outside the European Union. Such activities are coordinated by the European Commission through the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) in Brussels.

Since its creation in 2001, the Mechanism has been activated for disasters worldwide, including Hurricane Katrina in the US in 2005, the 2008 earthquake in China and the forest fires in Southern Europe 2009.

During the Haiti emergency, 24 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,  Denmark,  Estonia,  Finland, France, Germany, Greece,  Hungary,  Iceland, Ireland,  Italy, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands,  Norway,  Poland , Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia,  Spain, Sweden, and UK) have provided assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism including urban search and rescue (USAR) teams, medical teams and supplies, shelter, water sanitation units and hygiene articles.

Today Vice-President Margot Wallström and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hosted a high-level conference on women, peace and security in the European Commission premises. This conference saw the participation of Spanish First Vice-President Maria Teresa Fernández de la Vega, Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright alongside civil society representatives, military officials, high-level policy-makers and witnesses. The participants concluded that all EU and NATO-led operations must comply with UN resolutions relating to women, peace and security, and must be supported by appropriate training, education, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

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The conference, organised together with the Security and Defence Agenda, was set up as an awareness raising event in view of the upcoming 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, and attracted close to 500 participants. Views were exchanged between panellists and participants from the floor on how to end impunity, how to empower women and how to implement existing legislation. Panellists agreed that international actors such as NATO, the EU and the UN play an important role in fully integrating gender perspectives into their actions.

In view of the UN ministerial review conference on women, peace and security in October 2010, the conference concluded that the international community must work harder to ensure full implementation of UN Resolution 1325, and subsequent legislation. This involves stepping up efforts to protect women in conflict zones and to strengthen women's role in peace-keeping operations and peace-building processes by improving gender representation in senior management posts, by reinforcing the use of gender advisers in missions and operations and by supporting civil society activities in these fields.

Civilian infrastructure, EU-NATO coordination, US goals, increasing Afghan responsibilities and the trade in drugs: all these issues were discussed on Monday at the EP's Security and Defence Subcommittee ahead of the international conference on Afghanistan to be held in London on 28 January.

In the first resolution, Parliament expresses concern about the recent attacks against Coptic Christians in Egypt and welcomes the efforts to identify the authors of the 6 January 2010 attack, a drive-by shooting killed seven individuals: six Coptic Christians and a policeman.

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The [second] resolution stresses that China's human rights record remains a matter of serious concern and says the case of Liu Xiabao should be raised at the next EU-China summit. MEPs demand that respect for human rights be an integral part of the new framework agreement currently being negotiated with China. They highlight the imprisonment of the 2008 Sakharov prize winner Hu Jia and the harassment of his wife Zeng Jinyan.

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[On the Philippines] Parliament strongly condemns the Maguindanao massacre of 23 November 2009 and expresses solidarity with the families of the deceased. On 23 November 2009, 100 armed men from a local militia led by the Ampatuan family tortured and brutally murdered 57 members of a convoy, including female relatives of Esmail Mangudadatu, lawyers and 20 journalists, who were on their way to file Mangudadatu's candidacy for the governorship of Maguindanao province.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) -- Two new aftershocks rattled weary Haitians on Tuesday, as top US officials defended the huge American military-led aid operation from criticisms of being too heavy-handed.

The January 12 [Haiti] earthquake was on a fault line that passes near potential gas reserves, said Stephen Pierce, a geologist who worked in the region for 30 years for companies including the former Mobil Corp. The quake may have cracked rock formations along the fault, allowing gas or oil to temporarily seep toward the surface, he said Monday in a telephone interview.

"A geologist, callous as it may seem, tracing that fault zone from Port-au-Prince to the border looking for gas and oil seeps, may find a structure that hasn't been drilled," said Pierce, exploration manager at Zion Oil & Gas Inc., a Dallas- based company that's drilling in Israel. "A discovery could significantly improve the country's economy and stimulate further exploration."
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The Greater Antilles, which includes Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and their offshore waters, probably hold at least 142 million barrels of oil and 159 billion cubic feet of gas, according to a 2000 report by the US Geological Survey. Undiscovered amounts may be as high as 941 million barrels of oil and 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to the report.

But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. And yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.

pardon me while i puke in public.  Not one mention of Jérôme's windpower 2009 amurka diary.  Way to go, Mr. Whatever.

(and no, i haven't forgotten that the Recovery ARRA Act is to a large degree responsible for 2009's installations.  Just a nod to the 85,000 jobs would have been sufficient.)  clean coal for Malia's future!

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

What do the authors of the children's book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and a 2008 book called Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation have in common?

Both are named Bill Martin and, for now, neither is being added to Texas schoolbooks.

In its haste to sort out the state's social studies curriculum standards this month, the State Board of Education tossed children's author Martin, who died in 2004, from a proposal for the third-grade section. Board member Pat Hardy, R-Weatherford, who made the motion, cited books he had written for adults that contain "very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."

The first executions have begun. Iran today hanged two men convicted of trying to topple the country's Islamic regime, the first known executions of opposition activists since unrest broke out following June's disputed presidential elections, the state television website reported.

Hundreds, probably thousands, have been arrested in Iran since the
presidential election on 12 June. Human rights and campaign groups such as Human Rights Watch, the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and Reporters Without Borders have been collecting and publishing the names of those dead or detained.

We have brought those lists, and reports from trusted media sources, into a database that we are asking readers and those elsewhere on the internet to contribute too.

The aid was paid by the Greek Agricultural Insurance Organisation (ELGA) for damage to the production of certain arable crops during the 2007 and 2008 marketing years. The ELGA insurance scheme is compulsory and covers natural hazards. Members of the insurance scheme pay a special insurance contribution to ELGA.

Following a preliminary examination of this aid, the Commission considers that it cannot be ruled out that the compensation paid by ELGA in 2008 and 2009 under the compulsory insurance scheme constitutes state aid.

On the basis of the information provided, the Commission doubts whether the aid can be declared compatible with the relevant provisions on State aid. The Commission has therefore decided to examine in detail whether the measures in question constitute aid which is not compatible with the internal market by initiating the formal investigation procedure provided for in Article 108(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

World market sugar prices are currently at record levels, well above the market price for EU quota sugar. Unfavourable weather conditions in India and Brazil have worsened the global sugar deficit and further diminished sugar stocks, triggering an upward pressure on world market prices.

In contrast, a very good harvest in the EU in 2009 led to the production of higher than expected quantities of out-of-quota sugar. It also allowed the price for quota sugar to continue to converge towards the lower reference price applicable after the sugar reform, despite the trend of rising sugar prices on the world market. This development also shows that the 2005 sugar reform has improved the overall competitiveness of the EU sugar sector by encouraging high-cost producers to stop production and growers in regions not adapted to beet growing to switch to more profitable crops.

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Against this background, the Commission has decided that it is not necessary to apply a final quota cut in order to reach a structural balance on the EU sugar market after the end of the restructuring period. Through voluntary renunciation through the Restructuring Fund, quotas have been reduced by 96.6 percent of the initial target of 6 million tonnes set out in the reform. As such, the reform can be regarded as a success.

In July 2008 the Commission received two complaints alleging that Greece had granted incompatible state aid to the aluminium production company Aluminium of Greece through several privileges, namely tax exemptions, deferral of taxation obligations, loans with privileged terms, expropriation of land, exclusive use of seashore and sea area and lower electricity prices.

The Commission's preliminary view is that those privileges constituted state aid according to EU state aid rules. However, those privileges were put into force in the context of the company's establishment in 1960, long before Greece's EU accession in 1981. Most of them were not modified after the accession and constitute therefore existing aid, which need not be repaid.

However, as regards electricity prices, the Commission found that Greece had continued to apply lower electricity prices for Aluminium of Greece, for 15 months after the expiry of the establishment contract. The difference between the privileged pricing and the normal one would amount to €17.4 million.

The EU Marco Polo II programme selects each year a range of projects that aim to shift freight from the road onto more environmentally-friendly transport modes, such as railway, inland waterway and maritime transport. The EU initiative 'Motorways of the Sea' aims to shift freight transport from road to sea, thereby reducing congestion on roads and decreasing the environmental impact of freight transport and can be supported by State Aid that is compatible with the EU rules

The Fres Mos Motorways of the Sea project intends to capture between three and five per cent of the road traffic passing through the western part of the Pyrenees. It is expected to reduce road traffic by around 40 000 trucks a year, a figure that is expected to double in five years.

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The Commission concluded that the State aid granted by France and Spain in this case is compatible with the internal market, since it significantly contributes to the EU's strategy for developing a network of Motorways of the Sea, while its impact on competition and intra Union trade is limited.

The future CAP can help mitigate global warming mitigation in three ways: limiting its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, promoting carbon storage in the soil and producing sustainable and renewable energies, says Mr Le Foll's draft report. Wednesday's hearing contributed to discussion of this report, which is to be put to a committee vote on 17 March.

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José Bové (Greens/EFA, FR) said the CAP economic model had failed to help the sector. "We need to change the model" and deliver "a new CAP able to turn its back on 30 years of mistakes", he concluded.

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The impact of climate change on agriculture could result in water shortages and drought, new diseases, heat stress for animals and risks liked to extreme weather events, said Maciej Jerzy Sadowski, from the Expert Advisory Group, "Global Change" EU research programme. Increasing the resilience of farming systems, improving water management and reserving lands for future production are key factors for a long-term policy response, he said.

For years U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publications and reports about uses and dangers of coal combustion waste have been edited by coal ash industry representatives, according to EPA documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Not surprisingly, the coal ash industry watered down official reports, brochures and fact-sheets to remove references to potential dangers and play up "environmental benefits" of a wide range of applications for coal combustion wastes - the same materials that EPA is currently deciding whether to classify as hazardous wastes following the disastrous December 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee.

During the Bush administration, EPA entered into a formal partnership with the coal industry, most prominently, the American Coal Ash Association, to promote coal combustion wastes for industrial, agricultural and consumer product uses. This effort has helped grow a multi-billion dollar market which the industry worries would be crimped by a hazardous waste designation.

Linking six Member States over its 3,000 km course, the Danube River has seen a long history of co-operation projects but a comprehensive EU strategy is still lacking. Following the example of the Baltic Sea Strategy, MEPs want the Commission to promote co-operation around the Danube region with the aim of developing environmentally-friendly transport connections and energy infrastructures, as well as stimulating economic and social growth.

The European Parliament's resolution, adopted on Thursday by 544 votes to 13, with 10 abstentions, calls on the Commission to start broad consultations as soon as possible with all countries along the Danube and to determine a "governance structure" for a strategy which aims to ensure wealth, sustainable development, job creation and security for the whole area.

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Environmental assessments, including studies of the effects on the eco-system of the river, should be a prerequisite for all transport and energy infrastructure projects, the resolution insists. In parallel to these initiatives, a comprehensive plan for conserving and restoring the natural fish stocks in the Danube should be prepared by the Commission, say MEPs.

The University of East Anglia flouted Freedom of Information regulations in its handling of requests for data from climate sceptics, according to the government body that administers the act.

In a statement, the deputy information commissioner Graham Smith said emails between scientists at the university's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) that were hacked and placed on the internet in November revealed that FOI requests were "not dealt with as they should have been under the legislation".

Some of the hacked emails reveal scientists encouraging their colleagues to delete emails, apparently to prevent them from being revealed to people making FOI requests. Such a breach of the act could carry an unlimited fine, but Smith said no action could be taken against the university because the specific request they had looked at happened in May 2008, well outside the six-month limit for such prosecutions under the act.

On this occasion, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) once again highlights the increasing relevance of privacy and data protection. Respect for private life and protection of personal data have been recognised as separate fundamental rights in the EU Charter of fundamental rights, which became binding with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The protection of personal data was also enhanced by the Treaty in other ways. In the EDPS' view, this was a historic step in which a legal development of the last decades in Europe was confirmed. However, while data protection as a fundamental right is increasingly relevant, it is also a key challenge to ensure an effective protection of personal data in practice.

The scheme is a package of complementary selective and automatic measures which the Spanish authorities believe are necessary to achieve their objective of preserving linguistic and cultural diversity among the films available to Spanish and European audiences. The selective support is intended to sustain arthouse films while the automatic, audience-based support aims to encourage independent producers to make better-financed films rooted in Spanish/European culture. In 2008, US films accounted for 71.5% of the Spanish market. During its assessment, the Commission received submissions raising concerns about the automatic, audience-based support, including allegations that the aid was not available to films under €600,000 and that no preference was given to female filmmakers. In fact, films under €600,000 can benefit from the selective support and from part of the automatic support within the scheme. In addition, there is no EU legislation which requires film support schemes to ensure that half of the films supported are written or directed by female filmmakers. Consequently, the Commission considers that the Spanish scheme is compatible with EU rules. Member States are entitled to limit their film support to certain films and audiovisual works provided that the aid is directed towards a cultural product, which the Commission has verified in this case.

Just as Civil Liberties Committee MEPs were getting set to vote on the EU-USA interim agreement on personal bank data transfers via the SWIFT network, the European Commission announced that a second report on SWIFT, by former counter-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, would be published on the same day - 4 February. MEPs criticized the timing, and disputed the Commission's claim that there would be a "security gap" if the agreement were rejected.

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EP rapporteur Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (ALDE, NL) said that "there are some safeguards, but legal protection is lacking and we have a problem there". She also said that she would "not accept" the "security gap" argument, as other legal tools can be used for sharing financial information via police co-operation.

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Sophie In't Veld (ALDE, NL) said that MEPs should have access to all information on the SWIFT agreement, including the opinion of the Council legal service. She said she was "flabbergasted" by the Council and Commission's announcement that a new report would be published the following week. "We have been discussing Swift since last July and never been told that this report was being drafted", she noted.

Media Release - 28 January 2010 - InternetNZ (Internet New Zealand Inc) has today released a position paper that responds to the development by the Department of Internal Affairs of the "Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System".

The position paper rejects centralised filtering as an acceptable approach for New Zealand to take. It sets out the basis for this position, and calls on the Department to conduct a thorough study of the extent of access of child abuse material on the Internet and the best ways of addressing it.

"InternetNZ supports a safe environment for people online, and absolutely deplores the availability and use of child abuse material," says InternetNZ Policy Director Jordan Carter.

"However, a government filtering system, centrally operated, is not the answer. It risks leaving parents feeling that the Government is providing a safe environment, but it cannot deliver on that promise. The filter would only help at the margin, and child abuse material would still be available on the Internet.

Violence against women, in all its forms, is a major hindrance to equality between women and men and one of the most widespread human rights violations, knowing no geographical, economic, cultural or social limits, said the report. MEPs congratulated the EU's Spanish Presidency on its plan to prioritise combating violence against women and invited future Council presidencies to do likewise.

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MEPs noted that since 2000, the average gender pay gap has remained at 14%-17%, despite many measures taken to reduce it. They also pointed out that EU economic recovery projects focus on male-dominated employment, which tends to increase gender inequality rather than reducing it.

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The report approved in committee calls for awareness-raising campaigns to be run in schools, workplaces and the media to combat persistent sexist stereotyping and degrading images

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MEPs wish to see a European Charter of women's rights, to bring about real improvements in women's rights throughout the Union and to introduce machinery to ensure gender equality in all areas of social, economic and political life.

An exhibition of the Polish works of art most recently acquired by the European Parliament was opened Monday in its Brussels premises under the auspices of Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg, Quaestor with responsibility for artistic events and Chair of Parliament's Art Committee. EP President Jerzy Buzek and artist Anna Baumgart attended the event.

[In the Justice and Home Affairs Committee]

"I have the impression that technology has become the new religion in counter-terrorism. That's not the way" said Alexander Alvaro (ALDE, DE). "Connecting the dots is the main problem", he added. "Are bodyscanners useful? Isn't it a rearguard issue? What if a terrorist swallows the explosives?" asked Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA, NL).

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Stavros Lambrinidis (S&D, EL) asked if the visa waiver agreement with the United States didn't include a transfer of terrorist watch lists to Washington, and if there was reciprocity with Europe. Antigoni Papadopoulou (S&D, CY) asked "how did the US fail to deal with information? We deserve an answer on that". She expressed concerns about the possible impact of body scanners on health, especially for people wearing pacemakers, and on "the violation of dignity".

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Transport Committee MEPs, who also discussed the issue on Wednesday, agreed that no technology could provide 100% security against terrorism and that airport staff training and better exchange of intelligence between security authorities should remain a priority. They also questioned the efficiency of body scanners in detecting explosives.

Traditional Toryism justified social inequality. Old Labour believed in equality of outcomes. But today both parties have eschewed their earlier approaches and aspire instead to "equality of opportunity". For Gordon Brown, it is "the whole of social justice"; indeed equalising opportunity has captured progressive thinking and legislation for the last 30 years.

However, as the report by the National Equality Panel published today makes clear, this approach has failed and needs to be radically called into question. Inequality has risen, not fallen. Over those three decades the net income ratio of the top 10% to the bottom 10% has risen by more than a quarter. Governments have tended to tackle income at the edges with minor acts of benefit increase, but the real unaddressed agenda is wealth and assets, and here the ratio is truly stupendous: the total household wealth of the richest 10% is virtually 100 times that of the poorest 10%. One can only conclude that equality of opportunity is an ­inadequate and incoherent approach.

NY Daily News version: "Congratulations, it's a boy - who will give birth next month. Two proud papas are expecting a baby boy in February, London's Daily Mail reports, in what will be the world's second known case of birth by a 'pregnant man.'
   "'We know some people will criticize us, but we are blissfully happy and not ashamed,' Scott Moore told the newspaper. Moore and his husband, Thomas, were both born female and have undergone surgery to change their sex. The transgender California couple is legally married, as Moore still has his female birth certificate." Read more...

Daily Mail version: "A transgender couple have revealed they are expecting their first baby in a month's time.
   "Scott Moore - thought to be only the second `pregnant man' to go public - is due to give birth to a boy in February, with husband Thomas by his side. The couple were both born girls and have undergone surgery to transform their sex.
   "Scott, 30, who is legally married to Thomas because he still has a female birth certificate, says he is eagerly looking forward to giving birth. They have decided to call the child 'Miles'. 'We know some people will criticise us but we are blissfully happy and not ashamed,' Scott said." Read more...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- A Swiss art collector has donated nine works by artists ranging from Pablo Picasso to Camille Pissarro to Cuba's National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuban media reported on Tuesday.

Gilbert Brownstone plans to donate a total of 120 works of art to Cuba and has dedicated the donation to five Cuban agents imprisoned in the United States for their role in the 1996 shooting down of two planes piloted by anti-Castro Cuban exiles, Communist Party newspaper Granma said.

ho ho ho.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Over the past five years, I've taken great pride and pleasure in presenting the best silent comedies with live musical accompaniment at the Colston Hall as part of the Bristol Silents Slapstick Festival.

Every January, I came to Bristol to host the Gala night featuring some of the best films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy. Every year we attracted a large and enthusiastic audience; over a thousand people every single Gala night. The applause at the end of the evening was always deafening. A lion's share of the credit must go to the Prima Vista Orchestra, a highly talented group of musicians who readily brought the films to life with their sensitive and vital musical settings.

Guardian.co.uk achieved its second record-breaking month in a row with nearly 37 million unique for December, a record for a UK newspaper website.

This surpassed its November record by 3.32%, according to figures released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic.

Mail Online took second spot with the highest month-on-month increase of 5.10%, followed by Telegraph Online.

The Guardian News & Media director of digital content, Emily Bell, said: "Our thorough coverage of the Copenhagen climate change conference resulted in EnvironmentGuardian.co.uk seeing a 15% month-on-month increase in visits, and a 10% increase in average daily uniques. This also resulted in a large influx of traffic from the US - up 18% since November."

Guardian News & Media's website network, which includes content from the Observer and MediaGuardian.co.uk, attracted 36,980,637 unique users, up 3.32% from November and an increase of 62% year on year.

At Mail Online, Daily Mail & General Trust's website network, traffic grew strongly by 67% year on year and 5.1% on November to 32,843,958 global unique users last month.

What do the authors of the children's book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and a 2008 book called Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation have in common?

Both are named Bill Martin and, for now, neither is being added to Texas schoolbooks.

In its haste to sort out the state's social studies curriculum standards this month, the State Board of Education tossed children's author Martin, who died in 2004, from a proposal for the third-grade section. Board member Pat Hardy, R-Weatherford, who made the motion, cited books he had written for adults that contain "very strong critiques of capitalism and the American system."

Trouble is, the Bill Martin Jr. who wrote the Brown Bear series never wrote anything political, unless you count a book that taught kids how to say the Pledge of Allegiance, his friends said. The book on Marxism was written by Bill Martin, a philosophy professor at DePaul University in Chicago.

Oracle's Billboarded Executive Laughs Off Breakup of Two Families

Charles Phillips was just humiliated in billboards across the country for two-timing a wife and eight-year girlfriend. His marriage is ending. But the Oracle co-president had a big merger to close today, so cue the horribly awkward humor.

Here's how Phillips handled his first public appearance since ex-girlfriend YaVaunie Wilkins aggressively publicized his duplicitous declarations of love and devotion, according to the Wall Street Journal's Digits blog:

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