A verrryyyy long collection, with the latest global economic, political, and environmental news for your perusal.
First up, playing monopoly with Sky News:
Comcast To Buy Time Warner Cable For $45bn
The deal would create an entertainment superpower with 32 million TV subscribers, but there are calls for regulators to step in.
The two biggest US cable companies are joining forces in a $45bn (£27bn) deal, creating an entertainment giant with some 32 million TV subscribers.
Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable was confirmed at the start of trading on Thursday.
Its offer, which is subject to regulatory approval, is about 17% higher than the company’s closing share price on Wednesday.
The takeover bid trumps an earlier $38bn (£23bn) offer from Charter Communications, which appeared to concede defeat by announcing: “We’ve always maintained our greatest opportunity to create value for shareholders is by executing our current business plan.”
More from Business Insider:
What’s in it for Comcast Cable shareholders?
“This combination creates a company that delivers maximum value for our shareholders,” said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
How are they going to do that?
The company explains in one sentence that probably has every Comcast and Time Warner Cable employee nervous.
“The transaction will generate approximately $1.5 billion in operating efficiencies and will be accretive to Comcast’s free cash flow per share while preserving balance sheet strength.”
“Operating efficiencies” usually means the closing and combining offices, which also often comes with job cuts.
Still more from The Guardian:
Comcast takeover of Time Warner Cable ‘will throttle choice on the web’
Angry consumer groups say proposed $45.2bn mega-deal will drive up costs for millions – and call on FCC to block takeover
Consumer groups reacted angrily to the merger of cable giant Comcast and Time Warner Cable on Thursday, claiming the combination could “throttle” choice on the internet.
Comcast’s proposed $45.2bn takeover of TWC will create a media behemoth that will dominate broadband internet access across the US. Comcast, which owns NBC Universal, will also cement its position as the pre-eminent force in cable TV.
Jodie Griffin, senior staff attorney at consumer rights group Public Knowledge said: “This is a deal that needs to be blocked.” She said Comcast was likely to use the extra leverage to “drive up costs and reduce choices for consumers.”, and claimed the new company would be too powerful, becoming a “gatekeeper” capable of “throttling competition.”
And from In These Times, a symbolic action taken years too late:
It’s Official: Obama Signs Minimum Wage Hike for Some Federal Contract Workers
Today, President Barack Obama honored his promise from last month’s State of the Union address to raise the minimum wage for some workers indirectly employed by the federal government. In a new executive order, he raised the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, effective Jan. 1, 2015. The White House estimates the order will affect hundreds of thousands of workers employed by private companies with government contracts.
“Nobody who works full time should have to live in poverty,” Obama said during a signing ceremony at the White House. He used the ceremony to repeat his calls for Congress to raise the federal minimum wage for all workers and for state and local governments and private businesses to also act to boost the income of low-wage workers.
Labor groups and union supporters reported they were pleased with the final shape of the executive order.
From The Hill, reversing idiocy:
Senate reverses pension cut
The Senate on Wednesday sent legislation to President Obama’s desk that would repeal the controversial $6 billion cut to military pensions.
The Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure in a 95-3 vote, undoing the spending cut that Congress had approved two months prior in the December budget deal.
The only senators to vote against the bill were Tom Carper (D-Del.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
The legislation passed in the House just a day earlier in a 326-90 vote.
From MintPress News, necessary action:
Justice Department Sued Over Secretive JPMorgan Settlement
The agreement settled both “actual and potential” civil claims against the company brought by five federal agencies and several state attorneys general, thus offering broad immunity for years.
A public interest group is suing the Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder over the agency’s recent record-busting settlement with JPMorgan Chase for the bank’s fraudulent conduct leading up to the 2007-08 bursting of the housing bubble and subsequent meltdown of the financial industry.
Better Markets, a watchdog group based here, alleges that the Justice Department broke both federal law and constitutional mandate when it agreed to and finalized the $13 billion settlement in November. The agreement process, reportedly decided upon personally by Holder and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, included no judicial oversight, despite what critics say are multiple statutory obligations to do so.
“There are certain statutes regarding certain violations of law that expressly state that the Department of Justice must seek court approval, and then there are others where it’s silent,” Dennis Kelleher, the head of Better Markets, told MintPress while announcing the lawsuit on Monday.
CNBC frets:
Wealthy more worried about being seen as wealthy
Is success being vilified in America? The successful seem to think so.
A new poll from American Express Publishing and Harrison Group finds that 1 percenters no longer like to be seen as such.
One-third of members of the group said they “like it when others recognize me as wealthy.” Though that number (taken in the fourth quarter of 2013) may sound high, it’s down from 40 percent a year earlier. And it’s far below the 53 percent who agreed with the statement in 2010.
Fully 28 percent say they worry about “being scorned for being in the top part of the economy,” versus 24 percent who were concerned about that in the first quarter of 2013.
From USA TODAY, that old hard times intolerance [the first of several in today’s compendium]:
Immigration debate is reignited in Fremont, Neb.
Voters in Fremont, Neb., are still trying to curb illegal immigration.
Residents voted 60%-40% on Tuesday to re-approve an ordinance that requires property owners not to rent houses or apartments to illegal immigrants and requires renters to declare their legal residency. Landlords who violate the ordinance face fines.
Fremont has a complicated history with the ordinance, which thrust this city of 26,000 people near Omaha into the national spotlight in 2010, when residents first approved the law after the City Council defeated the proposal. The law also requires employers to verify the legal status of employees; that part of the law is in effect.
After voters approved the measure, the City Council put the law on hold when the Nebraska ACLU and other groups sued. Lower courts upheld the law, and the council sent the housing portion back for another vote of the people.
Al Jazeera America protests:
Portland, Ore., residents tell mayor: ‘Stop arresting homeless people’
Residents of Portland, Ore., gathered in front of City Hall on Tuesday to protest the government’s treatment of its homeless population. The group, a self-described “angry mob,” carried pitchforks and torches while demanding that Mayor Charlie Hales end policies that criminalize homelessness.
The city government has come under fire in recent months for enforcing an ordinance that prohibits camping on public property, which critics say unfairly targets the homeless.
A 2013 city count found nearly 1,900 individuals in the Portland metropolitan area to be homeless and unsheltered, a 10 percent increase from 2011.
From PandoDaily, paying the piper:
The Wolf of Sesame Street: Revealing the secret corruption inside PBS’s news division
On December 18th, the Public Broadcasting Service’s flagship station WNET issued a press release announcing the launch of a new two-year news series entitled “Pension Peril.” The series, promoting cuts to public employee pensions, is airing on hundreds of PBS outlets all over the nation. It has been presented as objective news on major PBS programs including the PBS News Hour.
However, neither the WNET press release nor the broadcasted segments explicitly disclosed who is financing the series. Pando has exclusively confirmed that “Pension Peril” is secretly funded by former Enron trader John Arnold, a billionaire political powerbroker who is actively trying to shape the very pension policy that the series claims to be dispassionately covering.
In recent years, Arnold has been using massive contributions to politicians, Super PACs, ballot initiative efforts, think tanks and local front groups to finance a nationwide political campaign aimed at slashing public employees’ retirement benefits. His foundation which backs his efforts employs top Republican political operatives, including the former chief of staff to GOP House Majority Leader Dick Armey (TX). According to its own promotional materials, the Arnold Foundation is pushing lawmakers in states across the country “to stop promising a (retirement) benefit” to public employees.
Despite Arnold’s pension-slashing activism and his foundation’s ties to partisan politics, Leila Walsh, a spokesperson for the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF), told Pando that PBS officials were not hesitant to work with them, even though PBS’s own very clear rules prohibit such blatant conflicts. (note: the term “PBS officials” refers interchangeably to both PBS officials and officials from PBS flagship affiliate WNET who were acting on behalf of the entire PBS system).
United Press International sues:
Magazines sue Colorado over marijuana advertising restrictions
Two publications are challenging Colorado’s recreational marijuana rules about advertising, with a lawsuit filed in federal court, records said.
The national magazine High Times and the local weekly magazine Westword sued the state of Colorado Monday because of rules stating recreational marijuana stores can advertise only in publications aimed at a readership over the age of 21, the Denver Post reported Wednesday.
The lawsuit argues the rules, which also apply to outdoor and broadcast advertising, are restrictions of free speech, and notes there are no similar restrictions on medical marijuana businesses.
It marks the first time the state’s advertising rules have been challenged in court.
From MintPress News, a stunning development:
HIV/AIDS Cure May Be Found In Marijuana: Study
For years, many Americans with HIV/AIDS have used medical marijuana to relieve some common symptoms associated with the illness such as nausea, vomiting and appetite loss.
Now, a new study published last week in the journal AIDS Researcher and Human Retroviruses found that a daily dosage of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, may actually fight the HIV/AIDS virus itself.
In this most recent study, the team of researchers from Louisiana State University found that when HIV-infected monkeys were given THC daily during a 17-month time period, the monkeys had less damage in the immune tissue of their gut — an important site of HIV infection — than those given a placebo.
Researchers also reported that they found consuming THC had improved the monkeys immune tissue at a gene level as well, and was in a way, preventing the disease from killing healthy immune cells — a discovery other studies have found as well.
From the McClatchy Washington Bureau, blowing smoke:
Marijuana gets a show of support on Capitol Hill
Eighteen House members ask Obama to reclassify the banned drug
In the biggest show of support yet for legalizing marijuana on Capitol Hill, 18 House members today asked President Barack Obama to reclassify the drug, removing it from a list of banned substances deemed to have no medical value.
The letter, distributed by Oregon Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, argued that including marijuana in the Schedule 1 list of banned drugs, along with heroin and LSD, disregards the laws of 20 states that allow pot to be used for medical purposes.
It comes after Obama last month said that he doesn’t believe that marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol.
MintPress News cashes out:
Banking Regulations For Marijuana Industry “Imminent”
“Without access to basic banking services, many legitimate cannabis businesses are forced to manage sales, payroll, and even tax bills entirely in cash.”
On Tuesday U.S. Rep. Denny Heck, D-Olympia, Wash., said the federal government’s new guidance for banks and bank regulators will be released “imminently.”
What Heck is referring to is Attorney General Eric Holder’s pledge that the Justice Department and the Treasury Department would issue guidance “very soon” to banks on how they can work with marijuana businesses.
Though the guidance had not been issued by the time of this article’s publication, Heck, a member of House Committee on Financial Services, who along with Congressman Ed Perlmutter of Colorado has pressed for marijuana banking reform, said legal marijuana businesses will be provided with a “full range of banking service, including accepting credit cards, direct depositing payroll checks and more,” under the guidance.
In other words, marijuana-related businesses will no longer be forced to operate on a cash-only basis.
On to latest in the global neoliberal trade agreement games from Jiji Press:
Japan, U.S. to Hold Working-Level TPP Talks Next Week
Working-level officials of Japan and the United States will meet in Japan next week to discuss sticky issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks ahead of key four-day TPP ministerial talks in Singapore from Feb. 22, Japanese government sources said Wednesday.
Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler will arrive in Japan on Monday and hold talks with Hiroshi Oe, Japan’s deputy chief representative in the TPP negotiations, and other officials, according to the sources.
The two sides are expected to discuss the handling of tariffs on farm products and issues related to automobile trade, the sources said.
Another deal, with problems, via Deutsche Welle:
Tripping over TTIP: Obstacles overshadow EU-US trade pact
With talks on the EU-US transatlantic free trade deal set to continue next month, this week’s outrage over a European Parliament vote on genetically modified corn will hardly be the last obstacle negotiators face.
This coming Monday (17.02.2014), EU trade chief Karel de Gucht and his US counterpart Michael Froman are scheduled to meet in Washington to discuss the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a transatlantic free trade area. They are expected to make a political assessment of the past three rounds of US-EU trade talks and to discuss the upcoming fourth round of negotiations in March.
The pact would unify standards and licensing procedures across a EU-US trade zone and would waive tariffs on goods traded between the EU and the US. According to the Munich-based IFO institute, the treaty will create up to 400,000 new jobs in Europe – 110,000 of them in Germany alone. A done deal, it would seem.
But the deal is far from done: the EU and the US differ over a wide variety of issues, one of which is genetically modified food. On Tuesday (11.02.2014), a new type of genetically modified corn from the US was approved by the European Parliament amid great controversy. The decision paves the way for compromise over one of the differences in EU-US consumer attitudes that has been a stumbling stone in TTIP negotiations.
But opponents of the trade pact are becoming more vocal, and more debates over standards, consumer protection, cultural protectionism threaten to erupt when EU-US negotiators get down to the deal’s fine print and put the agreement up for domestic scrutiny.
From Canada, riches spurned from South China Morning Post:
Canada scraps millionaire visa scheme, ‘dumps 46,000 Chinese applications’
Tens of thousands of Chinese millionaires in the queue will have their applications scrapped and their application fees returned
Tens of thousands of Chinese millionaires face an uncertain future after Canada’s government moved to scrap its controversial investor visa scheme, which has allowed waves of rich Hongkongers and mainland Chinese to immigrate since 1986.
The surprise announcement was made in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget, delivered to parliament in Ottawa on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of Chinese millionaires in the queue for visas will have their applications “eliminated” and their fees returned.
The announcement came less than a week after the South China Morning Post revealed how the scheme was overwhelmed by an influx of applications from mainland millionaires at Canada’s Hong Kong consulate. Applications to the scheme were frozen in 2012 as a result, as immigration staff struggled to clear the backlog.
ANSAmed covers a ploy:
EU and southern Europe in re-industrialization pact
Italy, Spain, Portugal heads of State meet at COTEC in Lisbon
An EU Industrial Compact adopted in January has led to a ‘pact’ between the European Commission and southern European countries to speed up the re-industrialization of Europe by exploiting the first signs of economic recovery, European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani made known in a joint statement with ministers from Italy, Spain and Portugal on Wednesday in Lisbon.
The statement was issued on the sidelines of the annual COTEC conference, which was attended by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Spanish King Juan Carlos, and Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva.
The aim of the Industrial Compact is for the manufacturing sector to make up 20% of EU GDP, and this can be achieved by speeding up innovation and marketing, COTEC experts from Italy, Spain and Portugal said.
And from MintPress News, more of that old hard times intolerance:
The Rebirth Of European Racism
The mass influx of migrants has triggered a wave of nationalistic fervor goaded by public statements of right-wing leaders.
Bulgaria has recently seen a surge in xenophobic attacks since a wave of Syrian refugees escaping the horrors of the war started arriving. But it appears what these refugees have found in Bulgaria isn’t much better than what they left behind.
Last year, roughly 11,600 migrants and asylum seekers crossed into Bulgaria from Turkey, most of them Syrian. Human rights organizations expect tens of thousands to make the journey across the Turkish border in the coming months.
But the mass influx of migrants has triggered a wave of nationalistic fervor goaded by public statements of right-wing leaders. Last November, several neo-Nazi factions, including the local branch of the international Blood and Honor Skinhead network, formed the Nationalist Party of Bulgaria, which says it wants to “cleanse Bulgaria from the foreign and alien immigrant scum that have been flooding the towns of Bulgaria.”
The party has organized so-called “civil patrols,” which stop and check foreigners—and a portion of the general population thinks that this is a good idea.
And an admission from The Guardian:
Migration in the EU ‘has caused strains,’ admits José Manuel Barroso
President of the European Commission says free movement is open to abuse but that he will not compromise on citizens’ rights
José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, will on Friday acknowledge that the free movement of people across the EU has put “unintended strains” on public services and is open to abuse.
In a move to show that Brussels understands the concerns raised in Britain, Barroso will say in London that the commission has recently clarified anti-abuse rules to crack down on sham marriages which allow non-EU citizens to claim benefits as a family member.
But the commission president will make clear in a speech to the London School of Economics that he will not compromise on the right of all EU citizens to move across all 28 member states – one of the four founding pillars which guarantees the free movement of labour, capital, goods and services.
Reuters ponders:
ECB still assessing if lower inflation temporary: Coene
The European Central Bank is awaiting further information, particularly signs on whether the current easing of euro zone inflation is temporary, before it acts, Governing Council member Luc Coene said.
Annual inflation in the 18-member euro zone slowed to 0.7 percent in January from 0.8 percent in December, confounding expectations of a rise and matching a four-year low hit last October.
The ECB left interest rates at record low last week, but put markets on alert for a possible move in March, when the Governing Council should have new forecasts from the bank’s staff extending into 2016.
On to Britain and an ongoing disaster from the London Telegraph:
Flood-hit areas are a ‘battlefield’ as thousands of soldiers are deployed
Army chief says that commanding officers are applying ‘battle-group’ skills an ‘unparalleled natural crisis’
Britain is in the grip of an “unparalleled natural crisis”, the Army officer in charge of the flood recovery effort declared on Wednesday.
As hurricane-force winds gusting at more than 100mph lashed the country, forecasters warned that the weather will get worse this weekend as a month’s worth of rain falls in just 48 hours.
The chaos now threatens to derail Britain’s economic recovery, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England warned. His comments came as storms that have battered the South West and Wales for weeks spread to the north of England for the first time this winter, bringing parts of the country to a standstill.
A bankster alert from the London Telegraph:
RBS warned of credit rating ‘downgrade’
Royal Bank of Scotland has been told its credit could be downgraded by ratings agency Moody’s
Royal Bank of Scotland has been warned by one of the world’s main ratings agencies that its credit is at risk of being downgraded following the surprise revelation last month of weaker than expected capital levels.
Moody’s said it had put RBS’s debt “on review for downgrade” pointing to the taxpayer-backed lender’s “weaker than previously anticipated regulatory capital position”.
The move comes after RBS’s unscheduled announcement on January 27 of £3.1bn of extra provisions for issues ranging from its sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance and interest rate hedging products.
More immigration tension, this time from Iceland and the Reykjavík Grapevine:
Newspaper Editor Defends Leaked Memo
Davíð Oddsson – the current co-editor of Morgunblaðið – defended the leak of a memo on an asylum seeker that launched a police investigation as “allowing the public to get the whole picture”.
In an editorial for Morgunblaðið, Davíð – who is also, amongst other things, the former chairperson of the Independence Party, from which Ministry of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir hails – argued in favour of government offices publishing personal information about refugees as a means to take part in the public discussion about asylum seekers.
“Is it not right that the public get the whole picture?,” Davíð wrote. “That nothing is hidden about what’s at stake?”
As reported, the police are currently investigating the Ministry of the Interior over a leaked memo which impugned the reputations of Nigerian asylum seeker Tony Omos and the mother of his child, Evelyn Glory Joseph. It later came to light that the accusations in the memo were false. Whilst the ministry denies the memo came from their offices, all evidence indicates the ministry as the only source.
On to Norway with EUbusiness and a hard times intolerance rebuke:
Norway rules out referendum on immigration
Norwegian Justice Minister Anders Anundsen on Wednesday ruled out holding a referendum on immigration, rejecting a request by a fellow member of his populist party to follow in the footsteps of Switzerland.
“For many years, the (populist) Progress Party has claimed that more influence should be granted to the citizens. This proposition shouldn’t shock anybody,” Anundsen, a Progress Party minister was quoted by Norwegian news agency NTB during parliamentary question time.
“But within the government coalition, the Progress Party is sticking to our cooperation agreement (with the other right and centre-right parties) and does not plan a referendum on this matter.”
A Finnish proclamation from New Europe:
Finland: OECD wants more structural reforms
Most people would not associate Finland with past high-tech successes like Nokia and Ericksson with structural reforms that have come to be associated with the EU’s troubled south. But the latest report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) urged Helsinki to make more efforts in the structural reform to stimulate the economy, Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE reported on Wednesday.
OECD called for more measures in restructuring municipalities, raising retirement age and stricter mortgage rules, in order to promote the economic growth and deal with the aging population in Finland.
The report pointed out that the rising cost of pensions and healthcare for an aging population is one economic to Finland, suggesting higher retirement age and an end to part-time retirement.
On to the Netherlands and significant decision from DutchNews.nl:
The Netherlands to vote against approving the EU’s 2012 accounts
The Netherlands will join Britain and Sweden in voting against giving approval to the EU’s accounts for 2012 because of an increase in mis-spending, finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday.
Dijsselbloem told MPs there are still too many uncertainties about the accounts and the error rate in the EU’s books has risen from 3.9% in 2011 to 4.8% in 2012. This is equivalent to €6.7bn being wrongly spent.
The problems centre on funds allocated to reducing the prosperity gap between different members states and money earmarked for rural development. In some cases, projects were not put out to tender properly or they were ineligible for grants under Brussels’ rules.
‘We cannot simply let this happen,’ Dijsselbloem, who also chairs the influential Euro Group, is quoted as saying by news agency ANP.
Germany next and higher hopes from Deutsche Welle:
German government revises growth forecast slightly upwards
The German government has confirmed the Economic Ministry’s 2014 growth outlook, saying that GDP will expand slightly more this year than previously predicted. It said the labor market would benefit as well.
German cabinet ministers on Wednesday adopted the 2014 Annual Economic Report, which included slightly higher expectations for growth in the course of this year.
The government said it expected the national economy to expand by 1.8 percent in 2014, marginally up from an earlier prediction of 1.7 percent. The report said the growth rate would increase to 2 percent next year.
Commenting on the report, conservative lawmakers in Berlin said everything should be done to avoid jeopardizing the growing economic momentum amid problems caused by the country’s energy transition and the aftermath of the protracted eurozone debt crisis.
And from Deutsche Welle, another chorus of that old. . .:
DW exclusive: Germans would vote just like the Swiss on curbing immigration
A survey commissioned by Deutsche Welle has found the majority of German citizens would vote for limiting immigration. The survey follows a decision in Switzerland to limit its annual immigration from the EU.
If Germans were to vote in a referendum on limiting immigration to Germany nearly half would support the measure (48 percent ) while almost as many (46 percent) would oppose it, according to a DW commissioned survey.
On behalf of DW, opinion research institute infratest dimap surveyed 1,001 Germans over the age of 18 on February 11-12, 2014. Three percent of those surveyed were undecided.
The survey showed that a particularly high number of Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party members (84 percent) would support an immigration limit. Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and its sister party the Christian Social Union voted 51 percent for a limit.
Paris next, and plutocratic woes from France 24:
French billionaire senator Dassault loses immunity over graft claims
The French Senate stripped billionaire industrialist senator Serge Dassault of parliamentary immunity on Wednesday, clearing the way for him to face possible criminal charges for allegedly buying votes.
The decision by a Senate committee means that UMP senator Dassault, 88, can be taken into custody for interrogation by judges investigating allegations dating from his 14 years as mayor of Corbeil-Essonnes, a Paris suburb.
The judges suspect Dassault of operating an extensive system of vote-buying that influenced the outcome of three mayoral elections in Corbeil in 2008, 2009 and 2010, which were won either by Dassault or by his successor and close associate Jean-Pierre Bechter, the current mayor of Corbeil.
Dassault is ranked by Forbes magazine as France’s 4th richest man and the 69th richest in the world, with an estimated fortune of 13 billion euros. He heads Dassault Group, which owns France’s prestigious conservative newspaper “Le Figaro” and holds a majority stake in Dassault Aviation, which makes business and military aircraft including the Rafale fighter jet.
Europe Online rakes it in:
Societe Generale nearly triples profits in 2013
France’s second-biggest bank Societe Generale nearly tripled its profits in 2013, helped by higher earnings in both its retail and corporate and investment banking units, the group said Wednesday.
Net income shot up to 2.2 billion euros (3 billion dollars), from 774 million euros in 2012. Group revenues were up 4.3 per cent to 22.8 billion euros.
Societe Generale ended the year on a high note, with fourth-quarter profits of 322 million euros far exceeding analysts’ expectations.
TheLocal.fr parks it:
French taxi drivers call for ‘indefinite strike’
The announcement will not go down well with Parisians or tourists but angry taxi drivers in France are clearly not willing to lie down without a fight. On Tuesday they called for an “indefinite strike”, saying they will take action “anytime, anywhere”.
Paris taxi drivers continued to vent their anger on Tuesday when they brought traffic to a standstill in the centre of the French capital leading to the arrest of dozens of drivers. The trouble comes as unions called for ongoing industrial action.
On Tuesday evening as cabbies fronted up to police at Place de La Concorde union leaders called for an indefinite strike, which could see wildcat blockades and go slows continue for the foreseeable future.
In a joint statement drivers’ unions said they “reserved the right to take action at any place at any time.”
Switzerland, and that old familiar tune from TheLocal.ch:
Populists urge more immigration controls
The Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which spearheaded the initiative narrowly accepted by Swiss voters to limit immigration from the European Union, is set on Friday to push for for more measures to tighten immigration as tensions mount in Switzerland over the issue.
The initiative against massive immigration, backed by 50.3 percent of the electorate, calls for an end to the freedom of movement agreement between Switzerland and the EU and the imposition of quotas.
But the deal is fuzzy on details. It does not, for example, stipulate how many foreigners would be accepted into the country and through what criteria the level of needed workers would be selected for different sectors of the economy.
The SVP is being prodded to clarify how it expects the quota system to work.
Spain next, and an affirmative declaration from thinkSPAIN:
Economy starts to grow as GDP predictions more optimistic
SPAIN’S Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase by 0.9 per cent this year and 1.9 per cent next year – signs that the economy is growing once again, according to figures released by the BBVA bank.
This will be enough for creation of ‘sustainable’ employment to begin, says the entity, but it warns that jobless figures are unlikely to drop below 25.6 per cent this year and 24.8 per cent in 2015.
Consumer spending in Spain is expected to rise in 2014 by 0.9 per cent and by 1.3 per cent next year, with lack of national demand gradually ceasing to pose barriers to micro-economic growth over the next two years and ongoing efforts in increasing exports will set the scene for the economy to begin its recovery, the BBVA reveals.
ANSAmed has a harsher take:
Spain: fewer jobs, lower wages two years after reform
Trade unions and ILO slam reform, OECD praises it
Two years to the day from Spain’s last labor reform, there are fewer jobs, more long-term unemployed, and fewer people paying into social security.
A negative balance according to trade unions and a ‘’not very encouraging’‘ picture according to the Savings Banks Foundation (Funcas), but the government says the reform is beginning to have positive effects within the context of a recovering economy.
Jobless benefit claims totaled 4,599,829 people as of January 2012, one month before the labor reform was enacted. Two years later, that number is at 4,814,435, up by 241,606 people or +4.6% as of January 2014. In the same period, the number of workers paying into the social security fund dropped by 769,627 people, or -4.5%, to a total of 16,176,610 people. A quarterly report by national statistics bureau INE showed 5,273,600 were unemployed when the reform was enacted in the fourth quarter of 2011, a number that rose to 5,896,300 in the same period of 2013, equal to 622,700 more unemployed people (+11.8%) in two years.
ANSAmed again, and a comedown for high-flyers:
Spain: Iberia; agreement with pilots, salaries down 14%
The deal provides for a salary freeze till 2015
Spanish carrier Iberia and pilots’ union Sepla have reached an agreement in principle ending years of conflict which provides for salary cuts by at least 14%.
The agreement also introduces ‘’permanent structural changes’‘ at the company to cut costs and allow the development of the airline and its low-cost company Iberia Express, Iberia’s Iag group said in a statement to the market authority committee on Thursday.
The deal provides for a salary freeze till 2015, previously rejected by pilots, and from that date onwards salary increases depending on the company’s results.
From El País, the bankster blues:
Failed lender CAM wants prison for two of its former executives
Bank’s lawyer seeks six to 10 years for ex-director general and oversight committee chief
Attorney accuses them of inflating expense accounts and favoring own interests
The lawyer of failed lender Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM), appointed by the government’s bank bailout fund, the FROB, wants prison terms for two of the bank’s former top executives.
Former director general Roberto López Abad and former chairman of the Valencian savings bank’s oversight committee, Juan Ramón Avilés, face the prospect of between six and 10 years in prison for misappropriation of funds and deliberate mismanagement.
The state prosecutor is seeking shorter jail terms for the two men.
And the social counterrevolution prevails, via TheLocal.es:
‘New abortion law to stay’: Spanish lawmakers
A controversial plan to ban women in Spain from freely opting for abortions overcame a key hurdle on Tuesday when lawmakers voted in secret against a motion to scrap the reform.
The plan has outraged pro-choice groups and brought thousands of people out onto the streets to protest, but has sparked division even within the conservative ruling party.
Lawmakers rejected a proposal submitted by the opposition Socialists to “immediately withdraw” the bill by 183 votes to 151. Six lawmakers abstained.
The ruling Popular Party (PP) holds a strong majority in parliament, but the abortion reform, supported by the Roman Catholic Church, has been delayed amid dissent by senior party figures.
And another sign of the times from El País:
House sales fall for third year in a row
Property purchases hit record low in December
The Spanish housing market remained locked in a trough in 2013, six years after a massive property bubble burst.
According to figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the number of homes sold last year, excluding public housing schemes, fell 1.2 percent from a year earlier to 276,600 after falling 11.3 percent in 2012 and 18.2 percent in 2011. During the height of the boom over 800,000 houses were exchanged in a year. In December alone sales fell 11.0 from a year earlier to a new monthly record low of 18,619.
The only respite the market has had since boom turned to bust was in 2010 when sales increased 4.8 percent, driven by the purchase of new homes before the introduction of a hike in value-added tax.
And from TheLocal.es, an unconscionable demand:
Cancer drug maker wants 4000% Spanish price hike
Drug manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare has reportedly threatened to stop selling its leukaemia and ovarian cancer treatments in Spain if Health Minister Ana Mato refuses to raise fixed purchase prices by up to 4,000 percent.
According to online daily El Confidencial Digital, the habitual bargaining between Aspen and the Ministry of Health has taken a turn for the worse.
The South African manufacturer of generic medicines is currently undergoing a rapid expansion in international markets.
The company is allegedly insisting on massive price increases for a number of drugs but the Ministry has flatly refused.
On to Lisbon with EUbusiness:
Portugal passes new IMF rescue program review
The International Monetary Fund approved Wednesday the disbursement of 910 million euros ($1.24 billion) to Portugal after the country passed the 10th review of its bailout program.
The disbursement took the country a step closer to the May 2014 end of the European Union-IMF rescue program, with the country’s finances stabilizing.
But the IMF urged the Portuguese government not to give in to pressure to increase public spending and to keep pushing ahead on structural reforms to its finances.
“The Portuguese authorities’ implementation of their Fund-supported program has been commendable,” said IMF Deputy Managing Director Nemat Shafik in a statement.
And on to Italy with the New York Times:
Italy’s Prime Minister Announces Resignation Amid Party Revolt
Prime Minister Enrico Letta of Italy, whose weak coalition government has come under increasing criticism, announced his resignation on Thursday night after his own Democratic Party staged a dramatic insurrection and voted to replace him with the party’s new leader, Matteo Renzi.
The Democratic Party is the largest member of Italy’s coalition government, and the party’s decision to dump Mr. Letta will likely have to be put to a confidence vote in Parliament. Mr. Letta will meet with his cabinet on Friday morning and then present his resignation letter to Italy’s president, making way for Mr. Renzi, 38, to become Italy’s youngest prime minister.
Mr. Renzi, the mayor of Florence who recently won a nationwide primary to become leader of the Democratic Party, has a reputation for boldness and has long been considered Italy’s most promising young politician. He has spoken repeatedly about the need for sweeping political and economic changes. But few analysts foresaw that he would lead a revolt against his party’s sitting prime minister.
AGI has a skeptical take from the populist right:
M5S co-founder doubtful government will last until 2018
M5S co-founder, Gianroberto Casaleggio says he is doubtful the government can last until 2018: “I see a high instability situation. A 2018 forecast is very risky”.
The statement was made at the Termini train station, while Casaleggio was waiting for a train to Milan. Asked by journalists about the likelihood of a government lead by Matteo Renzi to survive until 2018, Casaleggio added: “One can never tell, but the beginning of this year seems to be marked by a great political instability”.
From TheLocal.it, austerian rigor:
Italians drop holiday plans as crisis bites
The number of trips taken by Italians since the economic crisis began in 2008 has plummeted by 48.6 percent, new statistics show.
Last year Italy’s resident population took just over 63 million trips with overnight stays, whether for work or holiday, the country’s statistics agency Istat said this week.
With a population of nearly 60 million one trip per person may seem like a fair ratio, but a broader look shows that Italians have nearly halved travel in recent years.
They took 48.6 percent fewer holidays or work trips last year than five years’ previously, continuing a year-on-year decline.
EUbusiness divides:
Catalonia, Scotland, Venice? Italian party eyes autonomy
The head of Italy’s Northern League on Wednesday said he supported the autonomy bids of Catalonia from Spain and Scotland from Britain, and hoped that the Venice region “will be next on the list”.
Matteo Salvini said two other regions of northern Italy — Lombardy and Piedmont — could also follow suit, adding that it was time to reduce the powers of the European Union and return to “national and regional sovereignty”.
Salvini also said that plans for a coalition of far-right parties including his own at the European Parliament after elections in May were “well advanced”.
The coalition “will not be Eurosceptic but will be in favour of a different Europe,” he said, adding however that he continues to support an abandonment of the euro. “The euro has massacred our economy,” he said.
TheLocal.it inhales:
Italy relaxes cannabis penalties
Italy’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday struck down an anti-drug law from 2006 that imposed tough sentencing for the sale and possession of cannabis, putting it on the same level as heroin and cocaine.
The court declared “illegitimate” the law, which imposed sentences of six to 20 years for trafficking in cannabis, whereas the previous law which is now back in force included sentences of between two and six years.
Leftist lawmakers and civil society representatives immediately hailed the court ruling, saying it would help ease overcrowding in Italian prisons.
The scrapping of the law could affect 10,000 detainees who are in pre-trial detention or serving time and could see a revision of their sentences and their release.
After the jump, deeper misery in Greece, Blackwater creator’s African dreams, Venezuelan violence, Argentine inflation, Indian populist payoffs, parliamentary riots, and bankster woes, Thai turmoil prolonged, Aussie bubble alarms, Chinese marketeering and GMOs, Japanese desperate measures, environmental woes, and a jam-packed Fukushimapocalypse Now!
On to Greece, where To Vima delivers the bad news:
ELSTAT: Unemployment soars to 28% in November 2013
Data shows that there were 1,382,062 unemployed and 3,550,679 employed citizens in November 2013
The Greek Statistics Authority ELSTAT has released its latest data regarding employment and found that the rate of unemployment in November 2013 grew to 28% since November 2012 when it was estimated to be 26.3% and October 2013, when it was estimated to be 27.7%,
ELSTAT’s published data also showed that in November 2013 there were 3,550,679 employed compared to 1,382,062 unemployed and 3,376,643 not seeking employment (students, pensioners etc).
These figures showed that there were 112,752 (3.1%) fewer employed since November 2012 and 35,726 (1%) fewer since October 2013. Furthermore, there were 78,041 (6%) more unemployed compared to November 2012 and 5,698 (0.4%) more than in October 2013.
Capital.gr looks East:
Greece expects stronger ties with China as revival underway
Greece was looking forward to building stronger ties with China as Athens made strides to rejuvenate its economy after years of recession, a Greek official said here on Tuesday.
In an interview with Xinhua, visiting Greek Vice Minister for Development and Competitiveness, Notis Mitarachi, said China was a “friend” and pointed to it having been the “top investment partner” during Greece’s difficult years.
Greece is poised to exit the European Union (EU)-International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program in 2014, with emerging optimism after an expected trade surplus in 2013, a lower-than-expected deficit, stabilizing employment, and positive trade balance in both goods and service.
As does ANA-MPA:
Chinese investors urged to participate in Piraeus port privatisation
Deputy Development and Competitiveness Minister Notis Mitarakis, nearing the end of a three-day visit to Beijing, on Wednesday urged Chinese investors to participate in the privatisation of Piraeus port, where the Chinese firm COSCO has already set up an operation.
The minister said that the port’s complete privatisation will further increase efficiency and lead to new investments that will be beneficial for Greece’s economy.
Later on Wednesday, Mitarakis is to travel to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, and start a round of meetings on Thursday in order to attract investments to Greece. He is to meet the governor of the province, Zhu Xiaodan and visit the Guangdong Association of Investment Abroad.
While in Beijing, the deputy minister met several Chinese government officials and held talks with businesses, while he was keynote speaker at an Investment Forum organised by the Greek Embassy in collaboration with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Greek Reporter curtails:
Greeks Make Extra Cutbacks on Expenses
According to a survey conducted by the Boston Consulting Group regarding the mentality of consumers in Greece, the majority of Greek consumers are planning to further reduce their expenditures.
According to the survey’s data, Greeks are planning to reduce their expenses. In addition, they intend to wisely manage their money and buy only the things that are necessary.
In particular, 83 percent of the respondents stated that they will reduce the purchases of less necessary products while 66 percent of those polled stated that they will make no cuts on products of primary needs such as fresh foods, dairy products and baby foods. Meanwhile, they claimed that they will cut back on restaurant dining and fast-food.
In addition, many of the respondents claimed that they are willing to make cuts on their mobile services but few are considering cuts on children’s clothing, health products and the gym.
EnetEnglish.gr chills:
Two in five apartments in Athens have no heating
Gas company offers subsidy to install independent systems in apartment blocks
Attica Gas Supply Company launches €7m programme to provide 50% of the cost to install autonomous systems for hot water, cooking and home heating based on natural gas
Some 44% of apartments in Athens connected to communal, oil-based central heating systems have no heating this winter, as many residents – or their neighbours – find themselves unable to contribute to buying fuel.
Last winter, the corresponding figure was 33%. This is according to the head of the Attica Gas Supply Company, Christos Balaskas, who said his company had launched a programme to provide 50% of the cost to install autonomous systems for hot water, cooking and home heating based on natural gas.
EurActiv complains:
Greek minister slams Troika, says surplus will be ‘big surprise’
Greek finance minister Yannis Stournaras attacked the Troika for its austerity prescriptions, saying a primary budget surplus will be announced soon and will be much larger than expected, EurActiv Greece reports.
Stournaras said the budget surplus would be a “a very very big surprise”, slamming Greece’s international lenders for the forecasts they made from September 2013. At that time, the Troika asked for additional austerity measures to the tune of €3 billion.
“If I had accepted this [forecast], it would have been a great disaster”, he said.
“The Troika is stuck, it was stuck, because now I hope that with the new elements in their mind will somehow adjust to the reality”, he added.
From To Vima, an assertion:
Bloomberg considers Greek debt haircut necessary
Financial analysts focus on the impact of the troika’s erroneous estimations and the need for real change
Bloomberg’s financial analysts believe that a potential new deal between Greece and its creditors that does not include any provisions for a debt haircut will result in failure. The analysts justify their belief on the fact that the troika’s predictions have been proven wrong and many of the tragic consequences could have been avoided if the warnings about the program’s inherent problems were not down played.
The rumored new deal of extending deadlines to 50 years, reducing interest rates and providing a new loan may simply not be enough in the long-term to tackle the soaring Greek debt, which has reached 180% of the country’s GPD. The analysts stress that unless the troika learns from its mistakes, it will have to work out another deal in the future, with even fewer chances of success.
According to Bloomberg, the decision in 2010 to place the brunt of the burden on the shoulders of the Greek taxpayer, in order for creditors to avoid any loses, contributed to the explosion of the debt to the point that it is not viable. Bloomberg also cites the social implications of the troika’s errors, which have resulted in crippling unemployment and a collapse of the welfare state.
To Vima qualifies:
Schäuble states that “conditional” support is available to Greece
German Minister estimates the Eurozone crisis has calmed down and no further assistance will be necessary
The German Minister of Finances Wolfgang Schäuble gave an interview to the international news agency Reuters about how the IMF contributed towards increasing the credibility of European policy against the crisis.
In the interview the German Minister claimed that the debt crisis in the Eurozone has “calmed down” and that he does not expect any other Eurozone countries requiring financial assistance.
When referring to Greece though, Mr. Schäuble explained that further financial assistance would be made available, under certain conditions, should it be required at the end of the current program.
From Keep Talking Greece, parsing those rosy numbers:
Tax tsunami, wages reductions and welfare cuts create Greek Primary Surplus
I don’t know how international media reacted to Greece’s impressive claim that the general government primary surplus for 2014 will be 3.918 billion euro. I don’t even bothered to dig deeper into Greek Finance Ministry claims and verify whether they were true or not. Greek media did it. And what I read today is a bunch of ironic comments.
Indicative:
“The first question is how did the notorious primary surplus occur. Did it result from the development and the generation of wealth? Did it emerge from a fair distribution of taxes and the more rational use of public resources? Obviously not. It derived from the use of a socially barbaric recipe of overtaxing the weakest and the middle class – an over-taxation that moreover is also against development -. It resulted from the drastic reduction of public goods like education , health , welfare, pensions etc. , i.e. public goods that a modern state needs to provide to its citizens.” (full comment in Greek)
I believe that these few sentences summarize in full how the government managed to impress us #Not. Because the majority of the citizens of this country still struggle with their “primary deficit”, i.e. the constant economic bleeding to cover the holes created by exactly this primary surplus in real life. That is in education, in health, in welfare.
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