2014-05-10

And, of course, Fukushimapocalypse Now!, including wordf that the nuclear waste dump used by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory faces a closeure of two years or more.

From PBS NewsHour, our first item features the usual suspects:

Koch group plans to spend $125 million on midterms

Kochs plan to spend big: To the surprise of no one, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s repeated attacks against Charles and David Koch have failed to dissuade the conservative billionaires from investing heavily in the 2014 midterm elections. Politico’s Ken Vogel reports that Americans for Prosperity, the main political arm of the Koch brothers, plans to spend more than $125 million “on an aggressive ground, air and data operation” to help boost conservative candidates. That sum would “exceed the total 2012 fundraising hauls of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee or the National Republican Senatorial Committee,” Vogel writes. The $125 million projection comes after the Kochs’ political network raised more than $400 million trying to defeat President Barack Obama in 2012.

Aiming for the red-state Democrats in the South: This time their aim will be vulnerable Senate Democrats in red states such as Kay Hagan in North Carolina, Mark Pryor in Arkansas and Mary Landrieu in Louisiana. By the end of March AFP had already spent $7 million targeting Hagan. AFP has so far dropped more money than any other outside group on the right, and Friday’s headline signals that spending is only going to continue — and likely escalate — as the calendar moves closer to November.

Even before the election, they’ve already won one significant victory. From ABC News:

Wyoming is 1st state to reject science standards

Coal-producing state Wyoming declines new science standards with global warming components

Wyoming, the nation’s top coal-producing state, is the first to reject new K-12 science standards proposed by national education groups mainly because of global warming components.

The Wyoming Board of Education decided recently that the Next Generation Science Standards need more review after questions were raised about the treatment of man-made global warming.

Board President Ron Micheli said the review will look into whether “we can’t get some standards that are Wyoming standards and standards we all can be proud of.”

BBC News raises the heat:

Pressure mounts on FCC over net-neutrality changes

Pressure is mounting on the US Federal Communications Commission to delay or abandon plans to change the rules that govern how internet traffic is treated.

More than 50 venture capitalists have sent a letter expressing concerns about proposals to allow internet service providers (ISPs) to charge for prioritised network access. It comes a day after 100 technology companies signed a similar letter.

Two FCC commissioners are now calling for the 15 May vote to be delayed.

Whilst on the subject of neutrality, ponder this from Montclair SocioBlog:

Whose Speech, Whose Religion?

Does a justice’s view of the First Amendment’s “establishment clause” depend on which religion is being established?

The First Amendment doesn’t specify any religions as more or less establishable. It just says no establishment.

This week, five conservative justices on the Supreme Court voted to allow a town council in Greece, NY to open their meetings with Christian prayers. These referred to “our Christian faith,” Jesus Christ, and the Resurrection. The justices ruled that these Christian prayers were in perfect accord with the First Amendment.  Needless to say, the five justice majority was all Christian (Catholic in fact).  The two Jews and two other Catholics dissented. (The Court has no Protestants.)

The Washington Post politics:

Obama warns Democrats that midterms could imperil his agenda — and America

On the West Coast to raise millions of dollars for his party, President Obama spent the second half of this week preaching to rich supporters about why Democrats are better than Republicans. It sounded like a conventional stump speech in the windup to the midterm battle — including a rote apology to the first lady for running another campaign.

As he toured a series of mansions, Obama made the case that should Democrats fail to keep their hold on the Senate and win back the House, both his second-term priorities and the country’s future could be imperiled.

He described the public’s dissatisfaction with Washington as nearly at a tipping point, where working-class Americans see leaders as unresponsive to their most basic concerns. If that were to continue, he said, more middle-class Americans could dismiss the political process completely.

CNBC covers a political blunder featuring a company where Hillary Cklinton once served as a director:

Obama heads to Wal-Mart, triggers backlash

Calling it the right thing to do for America’s bottom line, President Barack Obama announced new steps Friday by companies, local governments and his own administration to deploy solar technology, showcasing steps to combat climate change that don’t require consent from a disinclined Congress.

Framed by rows of clothing and patio supplies at a Wal-Mart in California, Obama said more than 300 companies and state and local governments have pledged to use solar energy

>snip<

The White House said it chose Wal-Mart because the company has committed to doubling the number of solar energy projects at its stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers.

But in choosing the giant retailer as the backdrop for his announcement, Obama triggered a backlash from labor unions and pay equity advocates who say low wages paid by Wal-Mart fly in the face of Obama’s vaunted push on pay equity.

“What numbskull in the White House arranged this?” former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who served in the Bill Clinton administration, said on Facebook.

And from Reuters, more about the company in question:

Wal-Mart should face lawsuit over alleged Mexico bribery: U.S. judge

Wal-Mart Stores Inc should face a U.S. lawsuit accusing it of defrauding shareholders by concealing suspected corruption at its Mexico operations, after learning that a damaging media report detailing alleged bribery was being prepared, a federal judge said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Setser in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Thursday recommended denying Wal-Mart’s request to dismiss the lawsuit led by a Michigan pension fund against the world’s largest retailer and former Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company disagrees with Setser’s recommendation, which is subject to review by U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey. District judges are not bound by magistrate judges’ recommendations but often follow them.

BBC News covers more corporate conundra:

US politicians raise questions over Pfizer bid

Pfizer’s bid for AstraZeneca is being questioned by US politicians.

The governors of the states of Maryland and Delaware have written to Pfizer’s boss saying they are “very concerned” about the deal and the possibilities of job losses in their states.

Meanwhile senators Carl Levin and Roy Wyden are looking to close the tax loophole that Pfizer plans to use. One of the attractions of the deal to Pfizer is that it could significantly lower the company’s tax bill.

While MintPress News catches one of the more loathesome outcomes of Proposition 13:

Calif. City Boosts Revenue By Detaining And Deporting Immigrants

Despite protests and calls from activists, an immigrant-dominant California city opts to continue its controversial relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Santa Ana, Calif., welcomed its first Latino police chief on Tuesday during a City Council meeting, then the city with an 80-percent Latino population opted to increase its revenue by deporting undocumented immigrants.

As MintPress News previously reported, since 2006, Santa Ana officials have allowed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to detain those suspected of being undocumented immigrants at the Santa Ana City Jail for a fee of about $82 per day. Despite protests in recent years, city officials have not only expressed an interest in continuing their financial relationship with ICE, but also hope to increase the immigrant detainee fee to $110.

The controversial detention practice has been criticized by immigrants rights activists for years, as individuals can be detained for up to 48 hours without a warrant — even if they are American citizens. This 48-hour period does not include weekends or holidays, which means many are detained for much longer than two days. As Theresa Dang, a representative of the Orange County May Day Coalition shared, more than 70 percent of the detainees do not have any criminal record.

From United Press International, a better way for regional governments to make a little spare change:

Colorado generates over $25M in marijuana revenue since legalization

Colorado made over $3 million in licensing and application fees before recreational pot shops even opened their doors.

Marijuana has already generated Colorado nearly $25 million in revenue since legalization, between taxes, licenses, and fees.

Before it even became legal to sell recreational marijuana on Jan. 1 of this year, the state had already collected over $3 million in licensing fees.

And in the first three months of this year alone, Colorado’s raked in nearly $22 million — over $16 million of that was in taxes, the rest in license and application fees — according to a report from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

The license and application fees may represent the boom of a new economy, and might eventually slow as that market stabilizes and fewer new shops open. Still, the tax revenue so far continues to climb month to month, as recreational sales jumped to $19 million in March — up nearly a third from $14 million in February.

Consider also a second UPI story:

Report: Global war on drugs a failure

The report emphasizes public health treatment instead of incarceration and prosecution

The global war on drugs is a failure, economists of the London School of Economics, including five Nobel Prize winners, said in a report.

The 84-page report, entitled “Ending the Drug Wars: Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy,” calls for reform of drug laws and theorizes a “drug-free world” based on prohibition is wasteful and expensive. It calls for a “major rethink of international drug policies.”

The report suggests decriminalization would reduce incarceration and health care costs worldwide, and notes countries with the harshest drug penalties have higher incarceration and HIV infection rates.

And then there’s this, from the Guardian:

Arrests for low-level marijuana crime plummet in New York City

Commissioner says police are using ‘more discretion’ as arrests for minor crimes fall 34% in first quarter of new mayor’s term

Minor marijuana arrests in New York City have plunged in recent years amid questions about police tactics. But new statistics show the arrests dropped more modestly in the first three months of a new mayoral administration that has pledged to reduce them.

Arrests for the lowest-level marijuana crime fell 34% in the first quarter of – and 9% in the first quarter of this year, to roughly 7,000, according to state Division of Criminal Justice Services data obtained by the Associated Press. Both comparisons are to the same period in the previous years.

Police commissioner William Bratton recently said the department is “attempting to use a lot more discretion” and decreasing the arrests, which Mayor Bill de Blasio decried during his campaign last year.

While Want China Times takes the fast track:

China mulls building high speed railway to the US

The first of the three cross-border high-speed railway plans being constructed or promoted is the high-speed railway line connecting Europe and Asia, which starts from London, will pass through Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Kiev, Moscow and then branch out to Kazakhstan, or Khabarovsk and then enter China’s Manzhouli. The domestic section of this line has already started construction while the sections outside China are still being negotiated.

The second line is a Central Asia high speed railway that will start in Urumqi, pass through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey and conclude in Germany. The domestic section is being promoted, while the sections outside China are still being negotiated.

The third line will be the Pan-Asian high speed rail, which starts in China’s southwestern province of Kunming.

From the San Jose Mercury News, a local-to-esnl reminder that it ain’t over yet:

Underwater homes: Minorities still suffering from housing collapse

Despite the Bay Area’s robust housing recovery, the East Bay communities of Vallejo, Antioch and Richmond are among the nation’s 100 cities with the highest percentages of underwater mortgages, according to a report released Thursday.

The report, by UC Berkeley’s Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, points out that these communities and others with large minority populations have substantial percentages of homes still underwater, or worth less than their mortgages. Initially targeted by subprime lenders and then hit with the steepest home price declines, the communities are still struggling from the housing crash.

The study called for more federal action to help the cities, and without that, endorsed Richmond’s plan to use eminent domain to take over underwater homes and modify their mortgages. That proposal has critics saying it would end up in the courts for years, and would hurt the city’s real estate market if it were implemented.

On to Canada, and one of the dumbest political moves ever from CBC News:

Tim Hudak would cut 100,000 public sector jobs if Tories win Ontario election

Ontario’s Progressive Conservative leader drew swift condemnation from his opponents Friday as he announced a plan to slash the number of public sector workers in the province by 100,000 if he wins next month’s election.

Tim Hudak said it would be a tough move, but one that would reap benefits in the future. “I take no joy in this, but it has to be done if we want job creators to put more people on the payroll in our province,” he said in Barrie, Ont.

Hudak’s vision — which forms part of his much-touted plan to create one million jobs over eight years — would trade jobs in the public service for the creation of new positions in the private sector.

Another reason why it’s a stupid move from BBC News:

Canada sees little employment growth in last year

The Canadian economy shed 29,000 jobs in April while the unemployment rate remained flat at 6.9%, according to Statistics Canada. However, the number of people working rose 0.8% from a year earlier, split between full- and part-time workers.

Employment fell in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and New Brunswick but rose in Saskatchewan.

Since August 2013, the Canadian economy has seen little overall employment growth, according to the report. And labour force participation fell to 66.1% from 66.5% in April 2013.

There’s much, much more after the jump, including Britain’s household debt timebomb and some Cameron intransigence, a Dutch call for restricting European labor movement and a boom in yachts, then on to Germany for a unique legal victory and a business decline, France next, with Chinese police on the streets and an administration in trouble, a Swiss bankster surrender, a harsh austerian prescription for Portugal, Italian legal woes, the latest from Greece [including electioneering, dirty tricks and all], Russia nostalgia for the Soviet era, turmoil and trucks in the Ukraine, Latin American inflation and political turmoil, a Chinese economic invasion of Africa, Indian bankster chutzpah, billionaires in fisticuffs Down Under, Indonesian graftm, Thai turmoil, mixed news from China, Japanese corporate shenanigans, a host of environmental woes, a cartoon, music, and the latest chapter of Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .

On to Europe, starting in England with the London Telegraph:

Household debt is Britain’s hidden timebomb

The return of high consumer spending means we’re once again walking a financial tightrope

In Sweden, gross household debt to income is 170 per cent, in Norway it’s 180 per cent, in Ireland 198 per cent, in the Netherlands 250 per cent and in Denmark, a jaw-dropping 265 per cent. By these standards, Britain is almost a laggard.

The common denominator in all cases is – or rather was in the case of Ireland and the Netherlands – fast-rising house prices, causing households as a whole to take on ever larger mortgage debt. Rising house prices are also used as justification or collateral for loans to finance ordinary expenditure. Britain may have just experienced the longest-ever recorded peacetime squeeze in real incomes, but thanks to debt, we are again spending with all the abandon of drunken sailors. Sales of new cars, for instance, are at record levels, many bought with easy credit.

This propensity to spend beyond our means finds its macroeconomic embodiment in Britain’s burgeoning current account deficit, which in recent quarters has widened to record levels. It is only because Britain is seen as an attractive home for foreign capital – witness Pfizer’s blockbuster bid for AstraZeneca and the frenzy of foreign buying in London’s high-end property market – that these deficits are remotely sustainable.

From RT, muddling ahead, and, like, whatever:

Cameron says he won’t quit if Scotland leaves UK

British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will not step down if Scots vote for independence from the UK in a referendum on Sept. 18, and that his future would be decided by the general election in May next year.

Cameron was asked if he would resign if the United Kingdom broke up, as he had agreed to the Scottish referendum in 2012.

“It not about my future, it’s about Scotland’s future,” Cameron told BBC Radio. “I believe as prime minister, I did the right thing by enabling this vote to go ahead, but the vote is about whether Scotland stays in the United Kingdom, or separates itself from the United Kingdom,” he said.

On to Amsterdam and a call for borders from DutchNews.nl:

Orange alert over free movement within the EU remains: Dutch minister

Dutch social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher has repeated his warning that more needs to be done to stop a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of ensuring equal pay within the European union.

In a letter in both the Financial Times and the Volkskrant, Asscher states that equal pay for equal work in the same place is meant to be the golden rule of free movement within the EU.

‘Unfortunately, there are a myriad of transnational businesses that flout this rule or use crafty methods to circumvent it,’ Asscher said. This is leading to the ‘underpayment of mobile workers from Eastern Europe and undesirable displacement of workers in western Europe.’

And a business that’s booming, via DutchNews.nl again:

More luxury yachts as Dutch shipbuilders turn over €6.4bn last year

The Dutch shipbuilding industry turned over €6.4bn last year, a rise of €300m on 2012 and the first increase in sales since 2008.

The increase is due to a rise in the number of orders. In 2012, Dutch shipbuilders were given 61 commissions to build sea-going boats but the total more than doubled last year to 136. The figures come from sector association Netherlands Maritime Technology.

Part of the increase is due to the Dutch prowess at building luxury yachts. Last year, 23 super yachts were built by Dutch firms, at a total cost of €807m.

On to Germany, and a case of apparent electioneering from afar via Spiegel:

On the Stump: Erdogan Lashes Out at Germany in Search of Votes

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has been sharply critical of comments made by German President Joachim Gauck about his country’s democratic deficiencies. His assertiveness plays well with Turks in Germany, who could be a strong force in the next election.

In a speech he gave to students in Ankara last week, German President Joachim Gauck denounced Turkey for its democratic deficiencies. He criticized censorship of the media by the Turkish government, the transfers of unwelcome public prosecutors and police as well as the recent blocking of access to YouTube and Twitter. “These developments frighten me,” Gauck said.

Erdogan’s reaction was prompt. Referring to his past as a cleric, Erdogan disparaged the German president as a “pastor” and said that Gauck had interfered with Turkish domestic policies, an act “unbecoming of a statesman.” “That’s ugly,” Erdogan said. A Turkish newspaper with close ties to the government ran an image depicting Gauck wearing a swastika armband.

From TheLocal.de, a most remarkable legal victory:

Equality tsar wins case against own ministry

The equality commissioner at the German Family Ministry won a court case on Thursday against her own employers over the appointment of three men to key positions in 2012.

Kristin Rose-Möhring took the ministry to Germany’s administrative court because the three positions – press spokesman, state secretary, and an independent commissioner on child abuse – were filled without consulting her. All three posts subsequently went to men.

The administrative court in Berlin ruled that from now on the in-house equality commissioner in a government ministry must be consulted when top positions are filled. Up until now, ministers generally frowned on intervention in personnel decisions.

Europe Online attributes a decline:

German exports slump over Ukraine crisis, China slowdown

German exports fell sharply in March, bogged down by slowing global trade and the economic fallout from the Ukraine crisis, data released Friday showed.

Monthly exports from Europe‘s biggest economy slumped by a surprise 1.8 per cent in March after falling by a hefty 1.3 per cent in February as growth in China faltered and the crisis in Ukraine deepened.

Analysts had expected a 1.3-per-cent gain in the month-on-month exports.

On to Paris, and a new presence on the streets from France 24:

Chinese police to help patrol Paris after rise in Chinese muggings

Chinese police will help patrol tourist destinations in Paris this summer after a rise in muggings and attacks on Chinese tourists, a source in France’s interior ministry said on Tuesday.

The China.org site, reported that French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve had said that the government invited the Chinese police officers who will patrol tourist spots and serve as interpreters for Chinese tourists.

The site quoted Nouvelles d’Europe, another Chinese-run news group, as saying that at least 10 Chinese officers would be coming to

A presidential junket to meet the Iron Chancellor from TheLocal.de:

Merkel welcomes Hollande on ‘Europe Day’

Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed French President Francois Hollande to a picturesque Baltic coastal town on Friday for talks meant to strengthen the personal chemistry between the two leaders at the heart of Europe.

Braving a slight drizzle, Merkel greeted Hollande in Sassnitz, saying that getting to know each others’ homes, “in view of the many problems we have to discuss, is a good thing”.

A range of pressing issues – from the tense standoff with Moscow over Ukraine, to European elections in two weeks – were on the agenda of the two-day visit that started on what is the EU’s official “Europe Day”

A plea from François via EurActiv:

Hollande warns ‘disappointing’ EU at risk of unravelling

President François Hollande on Friday (9 May) urged French voters in this month’s European Parliament elections to reject Eurosceptic parties, warning that they wanted to reverse decades of European integration.

In a column in Le Monde, he condemned protectionist, anti-euro policies of the far-right National Front of Marine Le Pen, which polls show emerging as France’s largest party in the May 25 election amid widespread voter apathy.

“As a result of the economic crisis, certain forces in France and other countries are trying to unravel (the EU) by betting on disappointment and despondency and digging up fears,” the Socialist leader wrote. “(But) the end of the euro would mean implacable austerity, the end of financial solidarity and a currency abandoned to the whim of speculators.”

From TheLocal.fr, estrangement:

Immigrants to identity: French turn backs on EU

Too many immigrants, loss of national identity and mass unemployment are among the reasons cited by a growing number of French people for turning against the European Union, according to a new opinion poll.

The survey, published on Europe Day which is supposed to be an annual celebration of peace and unity in Europe, showed that only 51 percent of French still want their country to belong to the 28-nation bloc.

That was down from 67 percent a decade ago, according to the CSA survey for BFMTV news channel and Nice Matin newspaper, which comes a fortnight

before voters across the continent make their choice in elections for the European Parliament.

France 24 catches the scent of Tea Partyism with a francophone sound:

Slavery Remembrance Day sparks controversy in France

France marks its eighth annual slavery Remembrance Day on Saturday, an event that has already sparked a heated debate which is threatening to derail the planned commemorations.

The day, which was first introduced in 2006, is celebrated annually on May 10 – the same date France adopted a law in 2001 officially recognising the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.

Events are scheduled to be held across the country, but a handful of right-wing politicians have already threatened to mar the commemoration, equating the day to a form of “self-flagellation”.

And from RFI, a not-so-sterling example of that good ol’ blatant-as-hell hard times intolerance:

Complaint lodged over broadcaster’s ‘xenophobic raving’ against Chechens, Roma, Africans

French anti-racist campaigners are up in arms after a controversial broadcaster claimed that “gangs of Chechens, Roma, Kosovars, Maghrebins and Africans” are wreaking havoc across France.

The umbrella group of French black organisations, Cran, has reported radio commentator Eric Zemmour to the national broadcasting authority over the comments, made on private radio station RTL, claiming that they are an “implicit call for ethnic cleansing”.

Contemporary France, “deprived of the protection of its old borders”, is subject to “raids and pillage”, Zemmour declared in a broadcast on Tuesday. “The great invasions that followed the fall of the Roman empire have been replaced by gangs of Chechens, Roma, Kosovars, Maghrebins and Africans, who rob, assault and pillage,” he told his listeners.

“Only homogenous societies like Japan, which have for a long time said no to mass immigration and protected their natural barriers … have escaped this street violence,” he asserted.

TheLocal.ch notes a surprising surrender

Credit Suisse: ending US tax dispute ‘top priority’

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse says that resolving a dispute with Washington over its past assistance to US tax dodgers is a top priority.

Chairman of the Credit Suisse board, Urs Rohner, opened a general assembly meeting in Zurich on Friday by assuring shareholders the bank was doing everything in its power to bring the crippling dispute to an end.

“The resolution of the tax dispute is one of the most pressing issues currently facing Credit Suisse,” Rohner told the assembly.

Credit Suisse is one of 14 Swiss banks under criminal investigation by the US Justice Department on suspicion they helped wealth US clients hide billions of dollars in assets from tax authorities.

On to Lisbon and a harsh austerian prescription from the Portugal News:

Budget cuts to continue until 2030, OECD warns

Portugal is going to have to adopt budget consolidation measures of 1.9 percent a year until 2030, if it is to reduce public debt to 60 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report published on Tuesday.

In its ‘Economic Outlook’, the OECD said that Portugal is in the group of countries that needed budget consolidation until 2030 to comply with the public debt objective but which had already done a lot of the work.

According to today’s forecasts, Portugal’s public debt is going to continue rising at least until 2015, when it will reach 131.8 percent. This forecast runs contrary to government optimism, which expects the debt to start falling in 2015.

As for the global economy, the OECD expected it would strengthen over the coming two years, but that urgent action is still required to further reduce unemployment and address other legacies from the crisis.

Spain next, and a generation Hemingway would recognize from MacroPolis:

In Spain, the best generation is in danger of becoming the lost generation

A double degree in communication from Paris and Madrid universities, and a master’s in cultural policy at a prestigious British institution may have been enough for getting a job a decade ago in Spain but not now. Laura, 25 and unemployed for one year, voices her pessimism about her future prospects with resignation and defeatism amidst incessant murmuring about a coming economic recovery.

More than half of the Spanish youngsters that are looking for a job are currently unemployed. This brings Spain’s youth unemployment rate to 55.4 percent, the second highest in the eurozone after only Greece and double the average in the European Union.

The European Commission has set up a 6-billion-euro Youth Unemployment Guarantee fund and the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has vowed to fight against this “unacceptable” and “alarming” problem but the opposition and the trade unions have rebuked the lack of measures and urgency in tackling youth unemployment.

Italy next and a proclamation for a newly empowered pol from ANSA:

‘Jobs, growth should be EU founding values’ says Renzi

Italy will push for change in 6-mth presidency

Italy will work during its six-month EU duty presidency to steer the union away from austerity so that “jobs and growth become founding values, not just (fiscal) discipline,” Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday. “Discipline was needed to save banks but we now need to save the middle class,” Renzi said at a State of the Union event in Florence. Italy respects EU rules on fiscal discipline and therefore is “entitled to ask that these rules be changed,” Renzi said. “Italy can say with determination” during its six-month term at the helm of the EU that growth-friendly moves are needed after a period of austerity, he said.

The European Union must be “lighter” and must have fewer rules that are “simple and shared by all,” said the former Florence mayor, Italy’s youngest premier at 39.

Renzi said he was more worried by the spread of anti-euro populism in the EU than the ever-lower financial spread between Italian and German 10-year bonds. He said he was concerned about a democratic deficit and “the gap between what citizens expect and what they get”.

Pro-EU forces should “raise their heads” to fight Euroskeptics, Renzi said. They should explain that “a stronger and more cohesive Europe is the only solution in this globalised era to the difficulties of our time,” he said.

From the Department of It Takes One to Know One, we have the latest Bunga Bunga bodaciousness from Deutsche Welle:

Berlusconi begins community service at Alzheimer’s hospice

Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has begun a period of community service following his conviction for tax fraud. As he arrived, the billionaire was heckled by a protester dressed as a clown.

Berlusconi arrived in a chauffeur-driven car on Friday morning to begin his community sentence at the Sacred Family Foundation – a hospice for patients with Alzheimer’s.

Before entering the building, the media tycoon was heckled by a trade union protester dressed in a clown outfit.

“To prison! We have one dream in our hearts, Berlusconi in San Vittore,” shouted the protester, referring to an infamous Milanese jail, before being led away by police.

On to Greece and the last refuge of a scoundrel from Keep Talking Greece:

Greek PM announces sweeping changes to Constitution

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Wednesday presented his party’s proposals for sweeping changes to the Greek Constitution, heralding reforms that would reduce the terms of state officials and increase the accountability of ministers as well as the transparency of political parties.

The proposed reforms, outlined before an audience of New Democracy members at the Athens Concert Hall, cannot be implemented until the next Parliament sits, and the next general elections are not due until 2016. But Samaras presented the suggested overhaul as part of a broader bid to cast his party, which leads the ruling coalition, as forward-looking and progressive ahead of looming local authority and European Parliament elections.

An appropriate response from Kostas Koufogiorgos, editorial cartoonist for the Greek paper Eleftherotypia:



Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announces plans to revise the constitution.

From ANA-MPA, it’s the first hurdle, too — and every one in between:

Measures to ease debt the last ‘hurdle’ for Greek economy, FinMin says

A final settlement for easing Greece’s public debt, with measures due to be taken in October, was the final hurdle that must be cleared by the Greek economy and one that will prove the opposition’s “Jeremiahs” wrong, once and for all, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said in Parliament on Friday.

Speaking during a plenary session debating the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy 2015-2018, Stournaras rejected claims that the government was stalling tax inspections for the very wealthy, stressing that the centre for the inspection of very wealthy tax-payers had this year processed 1,000 more cases than the previous year. He also cited figures from the labour ministry showing that unemployment rates had been steadily declining in the last five months.

Attacking main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA), Stournaras said it was an “carrier for backward beliefs” and warned that the era of “Messianic political rhetoric” was now long gone.

From EnetEnglish.gr, The Greek version of the GOP emulates its mentor:

Samaras election video quotes Obama out of context

ThePressProject compares what US president said with what he is quoted as saying

Last August, Barack Obama said it was his belief that Antonis Samaras wanted ‘to make sure that the Greek people see a light at the end of the tunnel’. In New Democracy’s election video, that has become: ‘The Greek people see a light at the end of the tunnel’

As ThePressProject article states, there is a subtle but crucial difference between what Obama originally said and what he is quoted as saying in the New Democracy video.

“The statement ‘I hope I make a million dollars a year’ cannot be edited down to ‘…I make a million dollars a year’,” ThePressProject article said.

Kathimerini English gives the nod:

Fiscal plan for 2015-18 approved by MPs as New Democracy, SYRIZA cross swords

Parliament passed the government’s 2015-18 Medium Term Fiscal Strategy (MTFS) on Friday as New Democracy and SYRIZA ratcheted up the intensity of their pre-election war of words.

With four coalition MPs absent, the government relied on the support of two independent MPs, Andreas Loverdos and Christos Aidonis, to reach 150 votes. A total of 119 lawmakers voted against it. The coalition only needed a majority of the 269 MPs who voted on Friday rather than all 300 who sit in Parliament. Sources said that the government was encouraged by the fact that Loverdos and Aidonis, both former PASOK members, supported the fiscal plan.

On to Moscow, and a needed infusion in the face of Euro-AMerican blacklists. From New Europe:

China, Russia vow to increase two-way investment

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on 20 May.

China is ready to join  with Russia to increase two-way investment, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said here Thursday.

Zhang made the remark as he met with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov in the Great Hall of the People.

Their talks were focused on bilateral investment and practical cooperation in the financial area, in preparation for the forthcoming meeting between the two heads of state.

From Defense One, Russian nostalgia:

Poll: More Than Half of Russians Want the Soviet Union Back

The US polling company Pew Research Center has just released a survey of Russian and Ukrainian attitudes to what’s going on in eastern Ukraine, and one fact caught our eye: 55% of Russian adults think it’s a “great misfortune” that the Soviet Union no longer exists.

There’s even a song for that, sung by a buncha Brits:

The Washington Post takes us to a fractious Ukraine:

Ukrainians mark patriotic holiday ahead of separatist referendum

A deadly firefight Friday between Ukrainian security forces and pro-Russian militants in this eastern city broke the calm of a patriotic holiday and appeared likely to deepen tensions ahead of Sunday’s planned referendum on independence for the region.

The day began hopefully enough as most of the country marked Victory Day with few signs of the violent clashes that many Ukrainians had feared after weeks of escalating conflict. But soon, Ukraine was dragged back into a fraternal divide that has verged on civil war and has put the region on edge.

Security forces rolled armored personnel carriers into this crucial port city to take back the police department from pro-Russian militants who had stormed the building in what officials said appeared to be an attempt to seize weapons. At least seven people were killed, they said.

And BBC News notes a neighborly visit:

Ukraine crisis: Vladimir Putin visits annexed Crimea

President Vladimir Putin is making his first visit to Crimea since Russia annexed it from Ukraine in March.

He told crowds marking the 1945 Soviet victory over the Nazis that Crimea had shown loyalty to a “historical truth” in choosing to be part of Russia.

The Kiev government protested at the visit, calling it a “gross violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty”.

On to the Middle East and high anxiety from the Guardian:

Christians in Israel and Palestine fear rise in violence ahead of pope’s visit

Concerns raised about spate of vandalism by hardline Jewish nationalists in Jerusalem churches and attacks in Galilee

Christians in Israel and Palestine fear an escalation of violence against them after a spate of vandalism in Jerusalem churches by hardline Jewish nationalists ahead of Pope Francis’s visit this month.

Earlier this week vandals wrote “Death to Arabs and Christians” in Hebrew on the Vatican’s Notre Dame centre in Jerusalem’s Old City and on Thursday night offensive graffiti was written on a wall close to the Romanian Orthodox church.

Pope Francis is due to stay at the Notre Dame centre during his two-day trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from 24 to 26 May.

On to Latin America and Argentine inflation from MercoPress:

The ‘indigence’ basic food basket in Argentina climbed 40% in 12 months

An average Argentine family during the month of April needed 4.779 Pesos (approx. 600 dollars) not to be included in the poverty category, which represents an increase of 1.6% over March, of 20% in the first four months of the year and 40.5% in the last twelve months, according to the latest report from the Latin American Economic Research Foundation, FIEL.

To keep out of poverty an average Argentine family needs approx 600 dollars per month, according to FIEL To keep out of poverty an average Argentine family needs approx 600 dollars per month, according to FIEL

According to FIEL, the basic food basket in the City of Buenos Aires, with which the indigence level is measured, a couple with two children needed 2.700 Pesos (approx 340 dollars) in April which represented a 2.5% increase over the previous month.

During the last twelve months “an additional 1.377 Pesos were needed for an average family to cover the cost of a poverty basket”. The difference results from comparing the total Basic Basket in April 2013 with the 4.779 Pesos of the same month this year.

From the Associated Press, reasonable suspicions, we presume:

US democracy in Guyana project on hold for talks

The U.S. has suspended a democracy-building program in Guyana amid complaints from the government of the South American country.

U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Brendt Hardt and Defense Secretary Roger Luncheon announced at a joint news conference that the Lead and Democracy Project would be put on hold. Hardt and Luncheon said Thursday that the hiatus will allow officials to discuss the scope and intent of the program.

U.S. officials have said the educational program funded with $1.25 million over two years from the U.S. Agency for International Development is intended to promote consensus-building in a politically divided country.

And from BBC News, another Caracas casualty:

Venezuelan policeman killed in Caracas violence

A policeman has been shot dead in the Venezuelan capital Caracas after security forces broke up protest camps, officials say.

President Nicolas Maduro said the officer was killed by a sniper and branded the protesters “murderous”.

More than 240 people were arrested after the pre-dawn raids on four camps in the east of the capital. Since anti-government protests began in February, more than 40 people have been killed, and thousands more arrested.

From MercoPress, more chaos in Brazil:

Chaos in Sao Paulo and Rio, as protestors take to the streets 35 days ahead of the Cup

Two of Brazil’s major cities which will be hosting matches of the World Cup in 35 days time, were in chaos on Thursday because of protests from the Landless Peasants and Homeless Workers in Sao Paulo and a bus drivers’ strike in Rio do Janeiro.

There were other transport stoppages in cities such as Belo Horizonte, (the third largest), in Florianopolis to the south and Belem to the north, both state capitals while street sweepers blocked the heart of Fortaleza.

The protests can be termed as a rehearsal of what can be expected between 12 June and 13 July as anticipated by social organizations that are condemning the billions invested in stadiums for the Cup while the country lacks basic services.

A chilling threat to an administration on tenterhooks from the Independent:

London 2016? Plans to move Rio Olympics to UK amid concerns over Brazil’s preparations

Olympic officials have secretly asked if London would be in a position to take over hosting the 2016 games from Rio de Janeiro amid major concerns with the city’s preparations.

The informal enquiry looked to determine if enough of the venues used in the 2012 games could be brought back into use for the next Olympics in two years time, the Evening Standard reports.

The revelation comes as an International Olympic Committee vice president last month branded Brazil’s planning “the worst I have experienced”.

Next up, Africa, for a single item announcing an agenda form the East via Want China Times:

China’s railway diplomacy steams ahead in West Africa

After visiting Ethiopia, Chinese premier Li Keqiang traveled on to Nigeria for his second stop in Africa to ink a 80.7 billion yuan (US$12.9 billion) project by a Chinese state firm to help development the country’s railway network, evidence of China’s push for “railway diplomacy” to improve its diplomatic, economic and trade relations with West African countries, the Shanghai-based China Business News reports.

Li is paying official visits to Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya from May 4 to 11. This is the first time Li has visited the African continent since taking office last year.

Jim O’Neill, the retiring chairperson of Goldman Sachs best known for coining the term BRIC, the acronym that stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China–the four rapidly developing countries that have come to symbolize the shift in global economic power away from the developed G7 economies–has recently coined a new term, MINT, referring to Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey, as the next investment hot spots.

We being our AustralAsian coverage with a headline from the Associated Press, with predators at prey Down Under:

Police issue fines after Sydney billionaire fight

Police have fined one of Australia’s richest businessmen and a top television executive 500 Australian dollars ($468) each for a high-profile street fight in an exclusive Sydney beachside suburb.

Media across Australia have published photographs and video of casino mogul James Packer and his longtime friend David Gyngell, chief executive of Nine Entertainment, punching and grappling with each other outside Packer’s luxury apartment at Bondi Beach on Sunday afternoon.

New South Wales state police launched an investigation in response to the media reports and public criticism of the violence, although no one made an official complaint.

On to India and a defiant central bankster from the Economic Times:

I decide monetary policy, government can fire me if it wanted: Raghuram Rajan

Asserting independence of the central bank, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today said it is he who determines the monetary policy and the government can fire him if it wanted.

“I determine the monetary policy. I say what it is. The government can fire me, but the government doesn’t set the monetary policy. So, in that sense, am I independent! Well, I am happy to talk to the government. I am happy to listen to the government but ultimately the interest rate that is set is set  by me,” he said at St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland.

Rajan was replying to a question on how much independence and real power he enjoyed as RBI Governor during a programme.

Thailand next, and ongoing turmoil from Channel NewsAsia Singapore:

Thai police fire tear gas as protesters launch “final fight”

Thai police fired tear gas Friday at protesters who called for the nation’s Senate to aid their bid to topple the embattled government, two days after the prime minister was stripped of office.

Scenting blood after Wednesday’s court decision to remove Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban handed a petition to the upper house urging it to decapitate a government they say has lost all legitimacy, and appoint a new premier.

“We want the president of the upper house and the members of the upper house to think about the way out for the country,” said Suthep.

More from the Guardian:

Bangkok protests call for dismissal of Thailand’s caretaker government

Dismissal of prime minister fails to satisfy royalists who want reforms to rid politics of Shinawatras’ influence

Thousands of Thai royalist protesters have fanned out across Bangkok to try to bring down a caretaker government after a court dismissed Yingluck Shinawatra from office as prime minister and an anti-graft agency indicted her for negligence.

The interim government is hoping to organise a 20 July election that it would probably win but the protesters want the government out, the election postponed and reforms brought in to end the influence of Yingluck’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, speaking to supporters in a city park, urged them to rally outside parliament, the prime minister’s offices and five television stations to prevent them being used by the government.

“We will sweep the debris of the Thaksin regime out of the country,” said Suthep, a former deputy premier in a government run by the pro-establishment Democrat party.

And an update from BBC News:

Thailand police fire tear gas at protesters in Bangkok

Thai police have fired water cannons and tear gas at protesters in Bangkok, two days after a court ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Hundreds of protesters have been holding a rally outside a government compound in the city.

Ms Yingluck was ordered to step down on Wednesday over the illegal transfer of her security chief. Another court has indicted her for negligence. The protesters want the government out and the political system reformed.

At least five people were injured outside the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order when they tried to topple concrete barriers that were topped with barbed wire, the Associated Press news agency said.

Indonesia next, and a high level grilling from New Europe:

Indonesian vice president grilled in corruption court related to flawed bank bailout case

Indonesian Vice President Boediono on Friday attended a hearing at the nation’s corruption court of Tipikor related to a flawed government’s bailout that cost the state some 6.7 trillion rupiah (about 583.8 million U.S. dollars).

Boediono was present in the court as a witness in the case that occurred in November 2008 when he served as the governor of Indonesian central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), that issued the bailout policy for a failed bank, Bank Century.

The presence of Boediono was related to the trial against Budi Mulya, former BI deputy governor, who was declared a suspect in the case by the nation’s anti-corruption agency KPK in November last year.

Bloomberg takes us to China, via a demand form D.C.:

Lew Says China Must Avoid Putting Off Economic Reforms

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said he will urge Chinese leaders to let markets determine the value of the yuan and to avoid postponing measures to overhaul their economy even as growth falters.

“They obviously have to worry about their short-term economic situation,” Lew said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. “What they can’t do is treat the long-term reforms as something they can just put off. They need to be serious about it.”

Lew, who will meet with Chinese officials May 13 in Beijing, said that while China has made some progress in loosening restrictions on its currency, “we’ve seen some very negative movement in the exchange rate in recent months.”

Want China Times notes an ascendancy:

World’s three largest companies based in China: Forbes

China became home for the first time to the world’s three biggest public companies and five of the top 10, according to the Forbes Global 2000 List released on Thursday.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) held onto its No.1 spot for a second year, followed by China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China.

The other two were Bank of China–another of the “Big Four” Chinese banks–in ninth place, followed by PetroChina ranked tenth.

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