EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Police launched a morning crackdown on anti-austerity protesters camped out in the main square in the Catalan city of Barcelona on Friday (27 May).

According to eyewitnesses, riot police moved in to Placa de Catalunya between 7 and 8 am, firing rubber bullets, tear gas and baton-charging the protesters. Footage from the encampment shows police attacking peaceful demonstrators without prior provocation.

Some two individuals were arrested, with 46 injured and five admitted to hospital.

...The police said that it was necessary to remove the encampment for sanitary reasons and to prevent unrest ahead of the Champions' League final football match between Manchester and Barcelona in Wembley on Saturday.

...However, while the authorities were initially successful in clearing the area, protesters issued an appeal over social networks for people to come to the square to defend the camp. According to those present, the police were quickly outnumbered and the square has been retaken by protesters with a renewed sense of anger.

To repeat my contention, a successful revolution needs organisation and crowds willing to have their heads bashed in. It seems los indignados may have what it takes.

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

The arrest of former Serbian war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic was welcomed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday, and paraded as a clear sign that Serbia is serious about gaining EU candidate status by the end of the year. However, the news has also fueled speculation that the Serbian government has been protecting its alleged war criminals.

Speaking to reporters in Belgrade, Serbian President Boris Tadic said Mladic's capture "removes a heavy burden from Serbia and closes a page of our unfortunate history", adding that the development "opened" all doors to membership in the European Union.

...Mladic's arrest also comes just days after the ICTY's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, filed a report to the UN Security Council about Serbia's level of cooperation with the court. According to Serbian news agency B92, the report said that Serbia's failure was undermining Belgrade authorities' credibility and their statements that they were prepared to fully cooperate with the ICTY.

The report, which will be discussed at the UN on June 6, will be the last before the European Commission gives its opinion on Serbia's candidacy bid on October 12. On Thursday, following news of Mladic's capture, Brammertz was compelled to sing a different tune.

"Mladic's arrest is a clear sign that commitment to international justice has been confirmed. Today's event proves that people responsible for huge violations of international humanitarian law can no longer count on going unpunished," Brammertz said.

Members of the European Parliament's regional development (REGI) committee voted yesterday (26 May) in favour of a compromise put forward by the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group.

The amendment was supported by 27 of the MEPs who took part in yesterday's meeting, with 18 voting against.

According to the adopted text, the Parliament will call on the European Commission to table proposals to address the needs of regions with a level of GDP per person that falls between 75% and 90% of the EU average.

...Markus Pieper told EurActiv that the introduction of a new 'intermediate' category could cost up to €20 billion over a seven-year period.

..."A permanent intermediate category would lack any incentive for the funds to be spent efficiently on structural improvements," he added.

To me this appears to be a move for EU-15 members to maintain funding for regions rising closer to the average after EU expansion.

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

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Most member states are against proposals to ease conditions for asylum-seekers in the union, despite vivid testimonies to the failures of the current system.

When Abdulaev Movladi left Chechnya in 2008 he wanted to join his brother in Austria who had been given political refugee status there, after the war waged by Russian authorities that levelled down the Muslim province in the north Caucasus.

"I had visited an Islamic institute, which was why I was being followed [by the Russian secret service]. I went to Austria through Poland, but at that time I had no idea about this whole Dublin system," Movladi recalled. He was speaking on Thursday (26 May) at a conference organised in Brussels by several NGOs offering assistance to asylum seekers in the EU and part of the "Dublin transnational project."

Movladi's experience with the so-called Dublin regulation, a system in place since 2003 and intended to prevent people applying for asylum in several member states, meant that he was arrested several times and ordered to be extradited back to Poland, the first country through which he had come into the EU.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Georgia's ambassador to the EU has said the European Commission made misleading statements about street clashes in Tbilisi that left almost 40 people in hospital and two dead.

Speaking to EUobserver on Thursday (26 May) in Brussels, Salome Samadashvili said EU institutions and member states have not delivered any form of official complaint to Georgia about the events despite commission claims.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday said he was ready to expel some Russian media outlets for their unfavorable coverage of the country's economic crisis.

"Russian media were the most hysterical," Lukashenko told a government meeting on the former Soviet republic's currency crisis. "Do everything to make sure those media are no longer present on our territory."

Earlier this week, Minsk devalued the Belarusian ruble by more than a third against the dollar. Lukashenko blamed Russian media for sowing panic among Belarusians which he said led to panic buying.

The crisis has put more pressure on the authoritarian regime to make concessions to the West in exchange for financial aid. On a visit to Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Lukashenko gave a small sign that he may be willing to negotiate with the West.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Group of Eight leading industrial economies has warned Greece to do more to resolve its current debt issues.

Meeting in Deauville, France, on Thursday (26 May) the leaders of the G8 countries put the Greek situation and the eurozone crisis under the microscope, according to the Japanese delegation, worried that the ongoing problems in Europe are hitting the world's economic recovery.

The public sector's failure to pay its bills is hiking up corporate debt and stifling growth, according to the 2011 European Payments Index, published yesterday (26 May).

Companies wrote €312 billion of debt from their books over the last twelve months - a 3% increase on the previous year, and more than the €275 billion EU rescue granted to Greece, Portugal and Ireland - according to Intrum Justitia's survey.

The Stockholm-based credit management group's survey of 6,000 European businesses showed a varying picture across the continent, with Germany seeing its corporate write-offs decrease by 8%, whereas in the UK bad debt increased by a third.

...Wollung said it was necessary for the public sector - "which has the funds" - to pay its debts more promptly, in order to free up capital and prevent companies from writing off debts or bankruptcy.

Luc Hendrickx, director of enterprise policy at the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME), said: "Public authorities are the worst payer in Europe timewise. With all the recent talk of economic stimulus, and at a time when businesses are clearly struggling, governments could inject billions in their economies by simply paying private enterprises promptly."

And austerity helps this... how?

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

One minister described the doubts as "jitters" rather than demands for a change of course. It is understood that the most searching questions were asked by Conservative rather than Liberal Democrat ministers.

Downing Street aides insisted there is "no wobble" despite criticism from economists and Labour that the economy is "flatlining" because the Government is going "too far, too fast" on spending cuts. The minister added: "We will stay the course. It is still early days."

PayPal and eBay filed suit against Google Friday for allegedly stealing trade secrets for its newly released Google Wallet, a free mobile application that transforms a smartphone into an electronic wallet designed to replace plastic credit cards.

REUTERS - FIFA president Sepp Blatter will face an ethics investigation alongside his election rival Mohamed bin Hammam after soccer's governing body widened its enquiry into bribes-for-votes allegations.

In shock move on Friday, FIFA said it was calling Blatter to appear at an ethics hearing on Sunday, three days before he stands against challenger Bin Hammam in the election for the most powerful job in world soccer.

Bin Hammam was summoned on Wednesday, along with CONCACAF president Jack Warner and two Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials, after fellow executive committee member Chuck Blazer reported a possible case of bribery in the election campaign.

According to FIFA's statement on Friday, ethics proceedings were opened against Blatter at Bin Hamman's request because the FIFA president may have known about cash payments to delegates at the meeting.

UK: Containers being moved from Hams Hall near Birmingham to Novara in Italy formed DB Schenker Rail's first loaded freight service over High Speed 1 during the early hours of May 27. DB Schenker is to undertake five loaded trials on the high speed line between London and the Channel Tunnel before the end of June, and said the first was 'an outstanding success'.

SAUDI ARABIA: Completion of the initial phase of the North-South Railway was announced by Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Public Investment Fund Dr Ibrahim Al-Assaf on May 24.

Trial operations on the 1 392 km 'Mineral Route' section of the NSR had begun the previous day...

Perhaps little noticed beyond specialist circles, in the past five years, all previously road-and-air-absolutist states of the Arab Peninsula except Yemen launched massive rail projects, which are to connect into one network in a few years. This will bring some energy efficiency, although they are dragging their feet on one point: electrification.

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

JAPAN: Central Japan Railway announced on May 27 that it had received a directive from Transport Minister Akihiro Ohata 'to proceed with construction' of the planned 550 km Chuo Shinkansen maglev line between Tokyo and Osaka. Under discussion since the early 1970s, this is now expected to cost in excess of ¥9tr.

...Work is already underway on extending the superconducting maglev test track in Yamanashi prefecture from 18·4 km to 42·2 km, and this is due to be completed in 2012. Last year the railway ordered a 'pre-production' fleet of 14 Series L0 maglev vehicles for the extended test track, which will be delivered by 2015.

The test track is intended to form part of the new line, of which the 290 km initial section between Tokyo and Nagoya is now expected to open in 2027. However, the start of revenue services on the remainder of the line to Osaka is not envisaged before 2045.

It is said that commercial fusion reactors are always 50 years away. Well the Japanese maglev line was something similar, always 15 years away. I repeat that the only reason I think the line may actually be built is the on-going extension of the test track: this track is to also form part of the commercial line, with the extension a little under 15% of its total length, so this is in effect staged construction.

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

JAMAICA: Passenger services are set to restart in the first week of July, following an inaugural train from May Pen to Linstead on April 16 which carried 200 guests including schoolchildren enjoying their first train ride.

Transport & Works Minister Michael Henry cut a ribbon to mark the first passenger train since February 1992, and a dedication and blessing was held at the Bread of Life Ministries in Linstead.

• Your money's value is determined by a global casino of unprecedented proportions: $2 trillion are traded per day in foreign exchange markets, 100 times more than the trading volume of all the stockmarkets of the world combined. Only 2% of these foreign exchange transactions relate to the "real" economy reflecting movements of real goods and services in the world, and 98% are purely speculative. This global casino is triggering the foreign exchange crises which shook Mexico in 1994-5, Asia in 1997 and Russia in 1998. These emergencies are the dislocation symptoms of the old Industrial Age money system. Unless some precautions are taken soon, there is at least a 50-50 chance that the next five to ten years will see a global money meltdown, the only plausible way for a global depression.

• The Information Age has already spawned new kinds of currencies: frequent flyer miles are evolving toward a "corporate scrip" (a private currency issued by a corporation) for the traveling elite; a giant corporation you never heard of is issuing its own "Netmarket Cash" for Internet commerce; even Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, foresees "new private currency markets in the 21st century."

• Exorbitant compensations are paid to the very few at the top: it started with movie stars and sports heroes, and has now spread to top lawyers, traders, doctors, and business leaders. In the 1960's CEO's salaries were only thirty times greater than those of the average worker, compared with two hundred times today. Is this the dawn of a society where "Winner-takes-all" or a short-term last gasp of the transition out of the Industrial Age?

• 1,900 local communities in the world, including over a hundred in the US, are now issuing their own currency, independently from the national money system. Some communities, like in Ithaca, New York, issue paper currency; others in Canada, Australia, the UK or France issue complementary electronic money.

• The value of barter transactions -- exchanges which do not use any money as medium of exchange - totaled almost $6.5 billion in 1994 in the US and Canada, and is increasing three times faster than normal exchanges. The magazine "Barter News" covers the industry's development and now has 30,000 subscribers. It estimates the total barter worldwide at $650 billion in 1997, and growing at an annual rate of 15%.

anyone know of this economist? my brother is working with him in bali.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

REUTERS - Group of Eight leaders promised $20 billion in aid to new Arab democracies on Friday when they met in France to endorse a programme aimed at fostering changes sweeping North Africa and the Middle East.

Leaders were concluding their annual two-day summit with the launch of a partnership for the region that ties aid and development cash to progress on democracy and economic reforms by states which have thrown off autocratic rulers.

AP - Lawyers for former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn charged Thursday that leaks to the media could prevent their client from getting a fair trial in his attempted rape case, and they're blaming the New York Police Department.

And lawyers William W. Taylor and Benjamin Brafman said they themselves could release information that "would seriously undermine the quality of this prosecution and also gravely undermine the credibility of the complainant in this case," though they didn't elaborate.

Their complaint came in a letter to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., whose office responded with a letter of its own criticizing the defense lawyers for going public with their claim to have information that could damage prosecutors' case.

This announcement is a defamation of the complainant all in itself.

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

A bomb targeting a United Nations logistics convoy near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon killed an Italian peacekeeper and wounded four others Friday, according to security reports. The attack occurred on the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.

At least eight people were reportedly killed by security forces Friday during anti-regime protests following Muslim prayers across Syria. The US and France have called for President Bashar al-Assad to lead a transition or "get out."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US and Pakistan must do more to fight Islamist militancy on a surprise visit to Islamabad on Friday. Ties between the two allies have frayed since a covert US military operation to kill Osama bin Laden.

More than 150,000 people have fled the fertile Abyei border region between northern and southern Sudan after recent clashes there. The UN said Friday it would send a human rights expert to the area to assess the "deteriorating situation".

Traditionally a market reserved for niche players, the solar sector is now drawing increasing interest from energy behemoths like General Electric and Total as well as unexpected new investors like Google.

...Global demand for solar PV is likely to increase by 75 gigawatts over the next five years, GE said, justifying a decision to invest $600 million in solar technology and commercialisation.

..."This will be the initial market to focus on: utility-operated and utility-scale solar farms," said Mark Vachon, vice-president of GE Energy's Ecoimagination programme. "I still think the market is largely immature and I think our scale will bring us to a position we will be proud of," he told EurActiv.

The idea behind utility-scale solar farms is to maintain power generation ownership at the utility scale.

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

The revised European Union law generally bans the use of six hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, including cadmium, which is used by U.S.-based First Solar -- the world's No. 1 solar company by market share -- in its panels.

...The decision marks the latest step in an industry row over the use of cadmium telluride (CdTe) -- which goes into First Solar's panels -- as there are concerns about its eco-friendliness as well about its safe disposal.

CdTe is a think film type. It is a matter of contention whether carcinogenous cadmium can escape from the modules. At any rate, unlike other home electronic appliances, solar panels are disposed in a controlled way, in fact some manufacturers, AFAIK including FirstSolar, sell their modules with a disposal service included by default.

But this isn't really a story about the science but about lobbying in Brussels. The badmouthing of cadmium in PV cells was done via the Non-Toxic Solar Alliance, a cover organisation established by a lobbying agency that posed as an expert NGO, and exposed here (in German).

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

Recovered black boxes from a June 2009 Air France flight that crashed en route from Rio to Paris show the aircraft lost vital speed data before making a final three-minute plunge into the Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board.

The good news for any future lunar mission is that the Moon has about 100 times as much water as previously estimated. The bad news is that each of these water molecules is locked inside tiny volcanic crystals and so is unlikely to be of any use to visiting astronauts in need of a drink.

Scientists analysing tiny grains of lunar rock brought back by the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 have found a remarkable similarity in terms of water content between the Earth's upper mantle and the Moon. Instead of the Moon being largely water-free beneath its barren surface, it appears to be just as watery as the underground rocks found on Earth, they said.

Larry Flynt has won. He was America's pioneer pornographer - the man who fought against a still-Puritan nation all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to get vaginal close-ups into the grasp of every young man. This fight got him jailed. It got him shot. It got him rich... He is the founding father of our new pornucopia... For him, it's a story of freedom triumphant. But does Flynt's story also show the costs - and the casualties - of the Dionysian frenzy he has helped unleash?

He extended our freedom by encouraging people to chuckle and masturbate over scenes of the most horrific unfreedom - women being gang-raped, young girls being molested, "bitches" being shaved and slaughtered in concentration camps. One of his daughters says he molested her. Another of his daughters reportedly says he asked her to marry him. The cold Puritan morality of the Fifties badly needed to be relaxed - but in Larry Flynt, did it melt down into a moral Chernobyl?

US musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron, often called the Godfather of Rap, has died in a New York hospital aged 62.

The cause of his death is not clear, but he is believed to have become ill after returning from a visit to Europe.

Scott-Heron's material spanned soul, jazz, blues and the spoken word. His 1970s work heavily influenced the US hip-hop and rap scenes.

His work had a strong political element - one of his most famous pieces was The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.