Having lost a host of entries through a browser crash, we’re feeling touched by absurdity, and so we begin with this from Taiwanese Animators:
AT&T buys DirecTV for $48.5 billion: Monopoly Media Mergers Edition
Program notes:
AT&T announced it plans to buy DirecTV, the top US satellite TV operator, for $48.5 billion in an attempt to grow beyond an increasingly hostile cellular market.
The deal was announced on Sunday. AT&T said it is offering $95 per DirecTV share in a combination of cash and stock, a 10 percent premium over Friday’s closing price of $86.18. The cash portion, $28.50 per share, will be financed by cash, asset sales, financing already lined up and other debt market transactions.
If the deal is approved by US regulators, AT&T would add 20 million DirecTV customers to its paltry 5.7 million U-verse customers, plus another 18 million DirecTV customers in Latin America.
The Wire adds more, less theatrically:
AT&T Promises to Uphold Net Neutrality for Three Years if DirecTV Deal Goes Through
In the event the $48 billion AT&T-DirecTV deal closes, the new joint company is promising to uphold the current net neutrality rules for at least three years. This promise would be valid regardless of how the FCC vote on the issue goes later this year.
In their proposal for the DirecTV purchase, AT&T issued a list of commitments, which they are calling “benefits of the transaction.” One of these “benefits” is the following:
Net Neutrality Commitment. Continued commitment for three years after closing to the FCC’s Open Internet protections established in 2010, irrespective of whether the FCC re-establishes such protections for other industry participants following the DC Circuit Court of Appeals vacating those rules.
In the event the FCC’s paid prioritization proposal passes, AT&T won’t actually participate in the potentially multi-million dollar scheme (if they keep their promise, that is.) This is also a major show of good faith to the FCC, which will have to approve the merger.
From the Guardian, a rare cause of a faint twinge of something approaching but not exactly qualifying as joy:
Credit Suisse pleads guilty to criminal charges in US tax evasion settlement
Bank is first in more than a decade to admit to a crime in US and will pay more than $2.5bn in penalties
Credit Suisse Group has pleaded guilty to criminal charges that it helped Americans evade taxes, becoming the first bank in more than a decade to admit to a crime in the US. It will now pay a long-expected fine of $2.5bn (£1.5bn).
“This case shows that no financial institution no matter its size or global reach is above the law,” said the attorney general, Eric Holder. He said the years-long investigation had uncovered evidence of an “extensive and wide-ranging” conspiracy to hide taxes from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the bank’s involvement in it.
“The bank went to elaborate lengths to shield itself, its employees, and the tax cheats it served from accountability for their criminal actions. They subverted disclosure requirements, destroyed bank records, and concealed transactions involving undeclared accounts by limiting withdrawal amounts and using offshore credit and debit cards to repatriate funds. They failed to take even the most basic steps to ensure compliance with tax laws,” said Holder.
From Al Jazeera America, an unsurprising correlation:
Study: Student debt worst at universities with highest-paid presidents
Executives at 25 universities saw 14 percent higher salary increase than national average after 2008 recession
Student debt and the hiring of relatively low-paid adjunct faculty rather than full-time professors have grown fastest at public universities with the highest-paid presidents, a new report found.
University president pay has risen dramatically in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, according to the report, which focuses on 25 state universities that pay their presidents almost double the national average. Released Sunday by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a progressive Washington D.C.-based think tank, the study is called The One Percent at State U — referring to the financial gains made by executives after the 2008 recession.
Nationwide, between the fall of 2009 and the summer of 2012, average executive compensation at public research universities increased 14 percent to $544,544, according to the study
Another unsurprising correlation, via KCBS:
Inner City Oakland Youth Suffering From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
The Centers for Disease Control said 30 percent of inner city kids suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The CDC said these children often live in virtual war zones. Doctors at Harvard said they actually suffer from a more complex form of PTSD.
Unlike soldiers, children in the inner city never leave the combat zone. They often experience trauma, repeatedly.
“You could take anyone who is experiencing the symptoms of PTSD, and the things we are currently emphasizing in school will fall off their radar. Because frankly it does not matter in our biology if we don’t survive the walk home,” said Jeff Duncan-Andrade, Ph.D. of San Francisco State University.
A cross-border legal beef from the Canadian Press, with that old “corporate person” free speech once again at issue:
Canada-U.S. meat labelling row hears free speech arguments
Canadian livestock producers were in an American courtroom Monday fighting against labelling requirements blamed for having devastated their exports to the United States.
The case revolves around the free-speech rights guaranteed in the First Amendment, one of the most sacrosanct provisions of the American Constitution.
Canadian and Mexican producers, and the U.S. partners they supply, argue that those speech rights are being violated by the requirement that they stamp country-of-origin labels on meat packaging.
On to Europe, with growth at the margin from TheLocal.st:
Europe’s far right expect election gains
Europe’s far-right is looking to overcome deep divisions and establish itself as a major player in Brussels after EU elections this week where it is expected to make significant gains.
With voters tired of a European Union handing down decisions from on high, parties like France’s National Front (FN), Britain’s UKIP and Austria’s Freedom Party (FPOe) are going strong in the polls ahead of the May 22-25 ballot.
But it might not be all plain sailing in the months to come.
Ireland next, and austerity once again victimizing its victims, via TheJournal.ie:
Two rape crisis centres are to close temporarily as cuts take hold
The services in Clare and Tipperary will be closed for at least a month because of a €120,000 shortfall.
TWO RAPE COUNSELLING services in the Midwest are to be temporaily closed because of a funding shortfall the service estimates at €120,000.
Rape Crisis Midwest has centres in Limerick, Clare and Tipperary but is to close the latter two services for a least one month to save costs.
The service provides confidential one to one counselling to survivors of rape and childhood sexual abuse and says that it helps about 80 people a week.
Cash flowing from one end of Eurasia to another, via TheLocal.no:
Chinese tycoon agrees to buy Norway land
The Chinese property billionaire blocked from buying a huge chunk of Iceland is reportedly close to buying up a 100 hectares of the scenic Lyngen coastline.
Huang Nubo, a Communist party member who spent ten years working in the country’s propaganda ministry, on Thursday agreed to buy the site, which has already received planning permission for a series of villas, from Ola OK Giæver Jr, a local landowner, pilot and businessman.
“I can promise you a new era for Lyngen municipality. I trust that Huang Nubo will create huge and positive financial ripples throughout the north of Norway,” Giæver jr said. “There is not a better capitalist than Huang.”
Sweden next, and one way to make homelessness vanish, the neooliberal version, via TheLocal.se:
Stockholm says no to ‘freakshow’ soup kitchen
Stockholm municipality has ruled that a soup kitchen which had served hearty broth to the city’s homeless for the past two years must move on due to the risk of the city square being “turned into a zoo”.
“Nazis can march freely and water is thrown on people begging, but to create a meeting place to challenge politicians and other people to actually do something is obviously very dangerous and terrible,” Elin Jakobsson at Soup Kitchen Stockholm said in response to the decision via social media.
The organization has been active for the past two years and works both as a source of food and a monthly meeting place for the city’s homeless population. The soup kitchen requires a police permit and on Monday its application for renewal was rejected.
But it can be carried to far, of course, via TheLocal.se:
Shopkeeper charged over beggar dousing
A Gothenburg shopkeeper has been charged over the drenching of a beggar with water in front of his shop in March, an incident which sparked an outraged response on social media.
The man was charged on Monday with two counts of harassment.
The first was for an incident on March 10th when he threw a bucket of warm water at his own Hemköp window, effectively soaking a beggar sitting nearby. The second charge was for the day after, when the man did the same thing with a bucket of cold water.
On both occasions, the woman begging by the windows was drenched, and the prosecutor argued on Monday that both acts were carried out with intent.
From GlobalPost, going medieval:
In Germany, no means yes
A regressive definition of rape highlights the country’s stubbornly traditional attitudes toward women.
No means yes, at least in this country.
When a rape court in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia acquitted the alleged rapist of a 15-year-old girl in 2012, women’s rights advocates were outraged.
The ruling found that saying no, or even screaming it, wasn’t enough to merit rape charges. Now findings from a new study indicate that case was hardly unique, despite a European initiative to step up efforts to stop violence against women.
The number of German rape cases ending in convictions has plummeted from 22 percent to 8 percent over the past 20 years, according to a study released by the Hanover-based Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony
A suggestion for a foreign visitor from TheLocal.de:
Mayor urges Erdogan to cancel German trip
German politicians called on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday to cancel an upcoming pre-election appearance to Cologne in the wake of a deadly mine disaster.
Amid mounting anger within Turkey over his response to last week’s coal mine blast in which 301 died, Erdogan faced condemnation and calls to cancel his visit next Saturday from across the political spectrum in Germany.
Erdogan is due to address supporters in Germany, where three million Turks or people of Turkish origin live, with a visit to the western city of Cologne. For the first time, some 2.6 million Turks living abroad, including 1.5 million in Germany alone, will be able to cast their votes in the August presidential vote in which Erdogan is expected to stand.
More from Deutsche Welle:
Germany urges restraint ahead of Erdogan’s planned speech in Cologne
The German government has urged Turkey’s prime minister to exercise restraint when he visits the country on the weekend. This followed calls from some German politicians for Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cancel his visit.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin on Monday that as the prime minister of a “really close and important partner” nation, Erdogan was welcome in Germany, where he plans to deliver a speech to local Turks on Saturday.
At the same time, though, Seibert said the German government expected Erdogan to choose his words carefully at what he described as a “difficult” time, given the political tensions in Turkey in light of the recent mining disaster and the fact that it comes one day before the European elections.
Seibert said in light of this, the government expected Erdogan to deliver a “sensitive, responsible” speech, when he addresses thousands of his fellow countrymen and women at an indoor stadium in the western city of Cologne.
Another bankster busted, from TheLocal.fr:
Rogue trader Kerviel imprisoned in France
The former trader Jérome Kerviel was finally behind bars in France on Monday after being picked up by French police at midnight. Kerviel is due to start a three year prison sentence over his role in losing former employers Société Général €5 billion through high-risk trading.
French police arrested rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel at midnight on Sunday, shortly after he had crossed the border from Italy into France on his walk home from Rome to Paris.
A local prosecutor then announced on Monday morning that Kerviel was behind bars in the Riviera city of Nice.
TheLocal.fr again, with some reassurance for the poorest:
French income tax cuts for poorest to last to 2017
A plan to exempt France’s poorest households from income tax will not just be a one-off for this year, the government finance minister said this week. The income tax breaks will actually apply until 2017, the minister Michel Sapin said.
There was more cheer for the more hard-up tax payers in France on Monday when the finance minister Michel Sapin announced a government plan to apply the recently revealed breaks until 2017.
Sapin’s pledge comes days after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls made the headlines by announcing that the government plans to exempt 1.8 million households from the income tax burden.
From El País, Spanish repos rising:
Home repossessions up 10% in 2013
Spanish lenders took back nearly 50,000 properties last year
Figures released by Bank of Spain suggest more borrowers are handing back keys in payment
Spanish lenders repossessed 49,694 homes from defaulting borrowers in 2013, a 10% rise from a year earlier, figures released on Monday by the Bank of Spain show.
Of these, 38,961 were first residences, according to statistics provided by the banks. The vast majority of properties were empty at the time of repossession.
Meanwhile, the proportion of cases involving dation in payment, in which borrowers in arrears hand over the keys of the property to the lender that approved the mortgage to cancel debt obligations, reached 32.5% of all repossessed homes.
Pimping the rich fails to enrich, via TheLocal.es:
Spain’s ‘golden visa’ scheme fails to shine
Just 72 people have signed on to a controversial Spanish ‘visa for cash’ scheme which grants automatic Spanish residency to people who buy a property worth at least €500,000 ($685,000).
The so-called ‘golden visa’ scheme has reaped only small rewards, according to Spain’s El País newspaper.
Introduced in September 2013, the law gives foreigners who invest large sums in Spanish property, public debt and projects of general interest the right to reside in Spain.
And from thinkSPAIN, another way California is like Spain:
Worst drought in 150 years hits southern and eastern Spain
A DROUGHT of the scale not seen in over a century and a half is threatening water resources in Spain’s south and east after the lowest rainfall on record over the autumn, winter and spring.
The worst-hit provinces are Valencia and Alicante where, following a sudden and unprecedented gota fría or Mediterranean ‘monsoon’ in late August, it has barely rained between September and June.
Murcia, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Cádiz, Málaga, Jaén and Almería are also at high risk – the only provinces in Andalucía which are safe are Granada, Sevilla and Huelva.
From El País, and how [to employ a sexist term] broad-minded of them:
Spanish conservatives forgive sexist remarks by their European contender
Women at Popular Party rally play down Arias Cañete’s views about male “intellectual superiority”
It was just a minor “slip.” Popular Party (PP) voters are writing off as unimportant statements about the intellectual superiority of men made last week by the party’s top European candidate, Miguel Arias Cañete, despite leaders’ fears they might have jeopardized his chances of winning.
Several women who attended a Sunday rally by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and PP secretary general María Dolores de Cospedal in Cuenca sought to play down the controversy over the sexist remarks.
During a televised debate with Elena Valenciano, his Socialist rival in next Sunday’s European elections, Arias Cañete claimed that he had held back from serious intellectual confrontation because “if you abuse your intellectual superiority, you end up looking like a sexist intimidating a defenseless woman.”
Italy next and a wiseguy lipoff lambasted via ANSA.it:
Renzi hits back after Grillo mafia jibe
Premier says PD marks real face of change
Premier Matteo Renzi hit back Monday after Beppe Grillo, the leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), used a Mafia jibe to suggest his political career was close to ending as the campaign for Sunday’s European elections grew increasingly venomous.
Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) is top in most polls, but Grillo is confident his M5S, who are second in the surveys after capturing a stunning 25% of the vote in last year’s general election, can come first with a late surge.
“Renzie has been hired on a temporary project to win the European elections, but he’ll lose them,” Grillo wrote Monday on his popular blog, using a nickname that refers to the premier’s alleged attempt to come across as cool like TV’s Fonzie.
TheLocal.it notes another grime number:
Italy’s employment rate is one of Europe’s worst
The Italian employment rate fell to 59.8 percent last year, one of the worst in Europe, according to figures released on Monday by the European Commission.
Fewer than 60 percent of Italians aged 20 to 64 were employed in 2013, far below the EU average of 68.3 percent.
The new figure sees Italy slip to figures not seen for over a decade, with last year’s rate just higher than the 59.2 percent recorded in 2002. Between then and 2008 the situation steadily improved for workers in Italy, until the global financial crisis struck and led to a steady decline in employment.
According to the European Commission data, Italy now has one of the worst employment rates in Europe, just slightly higher than Spain’s 58.2 percent. Only Greece, with 53.2 percent, and Croatia (53.9 percent) fared worse in 2013.
ANSA.it demands:
Napolitano says EU must help on migrants
Italy is main entrance for flow that’s creating emergency
President Giorgio Napolitano said Monday that the European Union must provide Italy with greater help in coping with a massive wave of migrants arriving from North Africa. “Today we are faced with the absolute need to achieve a concrete, operative model of cooperation with the European Union,” Napolitano told Italian officials at the United Nations in Geneva, ANSA sources said. The Head of State added that while migrant arrivals had caused an emergency for all of southern Europe, Italy is “the main entrance”. There has been friction between Rome and Brussels after two migrant boat disasters south of Italy last week in which around 60 people are confirmed dead and many more may have lost their lives.
Rome says the EU is not doing enough to support it after it launched the humanitarian Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) search-and-rescue border operation in October, after roughly 400 migrants drowned in two wrecks off the coast of Sicily.
On Wednesday Premier Matteo Renzi accused the European Union of looking the other way as Italy struggles to cope with the crisis.
After the jump, fascinating electoral news from Greece, the latest from the Ukraine, Libyan turmoil, pre-World Cup jitters in Brazil, polio rising, a Thai takeover, Chinese real estate developments, Japanese Trans-Pacific intransigence, melting polar caps, other environmental woes, and the latest in Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .
On to Greece, As the nation headed to the ballot box, the austrian acolyte in charge had a panicked reaction, via Neos Kosmos:
PM accuses SYRIZA of undermining Greece
As Venizelos eyes wider coalition
In his most outspoken attack yet during this election campaign, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras accused SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras of trying to destabilize Greece as it attempts to exit the crisis. This tirade came as PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos suggested he would seek the formation of a wider governing coalition after the May 25 European Parliament vote.
“I want to publicly accuse Mr Tsipras, in front of the Greek people, of undermining the national effort,” Samaras told an audience in Thessaloniki. “While all Europeans are preparing to elect representatives for the European Parliament, Mr Tsipras is calling on Greeks to bring down their government.”
Samaras argued that Tsipras is putting the possibility of an economic recovery this year at risk.
But some not even from the left were starting to see through the prime minister’s game. Via ANSAmed:
Greece: “The State is killing entrepreneurship,” OECD says
Although Greece is trying to return to growth, there are still some inhibiting factors that prevent productivity, GreekReporter website writes today.
Bureaucracy, high taxation and administrative burdens are the three negative factors that destroy entrepreneurship in Greece, says the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to a recent OECD report, 3.3 billion euros worth of burdensome regulations weigh on Greek businesses each year, while a quarter of these could be eliminated.
Three-quarters of these costs relate to company law, tax administration and public procurement. OECD Deputy Chief of Staff Luiz de Mello stated: “This report takes a careful look at what it is costing Greek businesses to comply with rules and regulations which in many cases are unnecessary,” adding that “cutting some of this red tape would enable companies to spend less on administration and more on doing business.” The report makes 87 recommendations for cutting down paperwork in 13 areas, including energy, telecommunications, agriculture and tourism.
And then the vote tallies began, via To Vima:
Vima.gr exit poll documents voter intentions for European elections
SYRIZA 27.4% – New Democracy 22.7% – Golden Dawn 8.7% – The River 8.1% – Olive Tree – 6.2%
According to an exit poll study conducted by Kapa Research for tovima.gr on Sunday regarding voter intentions for the upcoming European elections, opposition party SYRIZA appears to come first in Attica, Southern Greece and the Aegean, while New Democracy appears to have the advantage in Central and Northern Greece.
Voters in Eastern, Central and Western Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus and Central Greece are in favor of Antonis Samaras’ New Democracy, while in Attica, Peloponnesus, Western Greece, Crete, the Ioanian and Aegean Islands the opposition leaders SYRIZA are in the lead.
To Vima again, and a neonazi ascendance:
Golden Dawn sees its ratings increase in Municipality of Athens
Minister of Health describes result as “a disgrace” – Venizelos & Kouvelis call for a democratic response
The neo-Nazi Golden Party received 20.7% of the vote in the 4th electoral district of Athens, which includes the areas of Kolonos and Sepolia, while in the 6th elector district (Kypseli and Patisia) the neo-Nazi party came in second with 18.8% of votes.
The Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis appeared on SKAI on Monday and called the result “a disgrace” and added that the voters had “a personal responsibility” for electing a neo-Nazi party in their choice to protest against the coalition government.
Earlier on Sunday, PASOK president Evangelos Venizelos noted that “it is imperative that all political and social forces that believe in Democracy and human rights must fight hard against Nazism and political violence”.
EnetEnglish.gr has more:
Alarming rise of Golden Dawn in Athens
Neonazis garners first place finish or double digit numbers in working- and middle-class neighbourhoods
Despite months of prosecution as a criminal organisation, neonazi Golden Dawn held its own in the major Athens and Attica region
Despite months of prosecution as a criminal organisation and the incarceration of many of its MPs, the neonazi Golden Dawn party saw a dramatic rise in its polling numbers in Athens, where its political support is concentrated.
Ilias Kasidiaris 16% showing in the Athens mayoral race may not have been the upset that Golden Dawn hoped for by making it into the second round, but it was a stunning and alarming rise from the party’s 2012 showing in the city of Athens, which was a mere 7.81%.
In Attika, where the neonazi party leader Nikos Michaloliakos garnered 7.9% in last general election, Golden Dawn candidate Ilias Panagiotaros garnered 11.11%.
An electoral update from Europe Online:
Greece’s far-left SYRIZA takes it to ruling coalition in local polls
Greece‘s fragile ruling coalition suffered a setback as the far-left SYRIZA party scored gains in the first round of municipal and regional elections, results on Monday showed.
SYRIZA‘s Gavriil Sakellarisis, 33, will advance to the run-off for mayor of Athens. With more than 90 per cent of the ballots from Sunday‘s voting counted, he had received 20 per cent, running neck-and-neck with centre-left incumbent Giorgos Kaminis‘ 21.03 per cent.
The far-left also led in the wider Attica region, which is home to nearly a third of Greece‘s population. SYRIZA candidate Rena Dourou, led with 23.71 per cent of the votes for the Attica governorship against Socialist rival Giannis Sgouros‘ 22.19 per cent
On to the Ukraine, and the latest twist from the Associated Press:
Threats aim to derail Ukraine’s presidential vote
Ukraine election officials say armed men have occupied election commission offices in the east.
“Members of the district commissions have been calling the police saying they have to resign because they have received death threats,” said Andriy Mahera, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Election Commission.
When asked about the threats, Denis Pushilin, a leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, made it clear that his forces would not let Sunday’s vote take place.
“The May 25 election is an election for the president of a neighboring state,” Pushilin told the Associated Press. “People are still working to hold the election but we are putting an end to this with civilized means.”
BBC News sees it one way:
Ukraine crisis: No sign of Russia withdrawal, says Nato
Nato and the US say there is no sign of a withdrawal of Russian troops from areas bordering Ukraine. The Kremlin earlier announced units in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk areas would return to their permanent bases.
Correspondents say removing some of the estimated 40,000 Russian troops could help de-escalate the Ukraine crisis.
Ukrainian government forces continue to clash with pro-Russia separatists who have taken over government buildings in southern and south-eastern Ukraine.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore reports another:
Russia ends military drills ahead of Ukraine vote
Russia said Monday it had ordered the end of military exercises near its border with Ukraine, just days ahead of a crucial presidential vote aimed at bringing the country out of crisis.
In a move that could ease tensions, President Vladimir Putin’s office said he had ordered thousands of Russian troops deployed in border regions to return to barracks after the end of spring exercises.
But the Kremlin said Putin had also demanded that Ukraine’s pro-Western government halt its military operation against rebels in the country’s east and withdraw its troops.
On to Africa with the Christian Science Monitor with the Libyan latest:
Maverick Libyan general steps into political void, stirring unrest
A retired general led attacks on Islamist militias in Benghazi, then moved onto Tripoli, where the parliament came under attack Sunday. It has since asked Islamist militia to restore order.
On Friday, forces led by retired general and former rebel leader Khalifa Haftar attacked hardline Islamist militias that operate unchecked in the eastern city of Benghazi. The government denounced the attacks as tantamount to a coup since Mr. Haftar had acted on his own volition. He said he was taking it upon himself to rid the city of violent groups only because the government had failed to do so.
On Sunday gunmen attacked the GNC’s meeting hall. Exactly who planned and carried out the attack remains unclear. While Haftar’s forces, who call themselves the “Libyan National Army,” claimed credit and demanded that the GNC stand down, there were also unconfirmed reports that powerful militias from Zintan, a city southwest of Tripoli, took part in the attack. Today the Libyan parliament asked Islamist militias to deploy in the city to help reestablish government control, the Associated Press reports.
Haftar accuses Libya’s interim authorities of failing to restore order and is demanding that the GNC cede its role to a constitutional drafting committee elected in February.
Deutsche Welle joins in:
Libyan special forces unit joins rogue general Haftar
The commander of the Libyan army’s special forces says his troops are joining forces with renegade general Khalifa Haftar, who has vowed to rid the country of militant Islamists and eradicate “terrorism.”
“We are joining the battle of ‘dignity’ launched by the Libyan National Army with all our men and weapons,” Colonel Wanis Abu Khamada said on Monday, using the name of the operation launched by Haftar.
The government in Tripoli has denounced Haftar for attempting to stage a coup in the North African country. On Friday, his troops attacked militants in Benghazi in an operation that killed more than 70 people.
The special forces are the best-trained fighters in Libya’s army. They had previously been used to curb the number of car bombings and assassinations in Benghazi last year, but have struggled to combat the many militias around the city.
Latin America next, and more Brazilian angst from BBC News:
Brazil 2014: World Cup dengue fever risk predicted
Scientists have developed an “early warning system” to alert authorities to the risk of dengue fever outbreaks in Brazil during the World Cup.
The analysis, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, estimates the chances of an outbreaks of the mosquito-borne infection disease.
They say the risk is high enough to warrant a high-alert warning in three venues – Natal, Fortaleza and Recife.
Al Jazeera America with more:
On world stage, Brazil faces power system weakness
World Cup host country experiencing routine electricity shortages as critics allege disproportionate stadium funding
It takes Maria Aparecida Oliveira Souza, or Dona Cida, as she is called, up to three hours to get to her housecleaning jobs in São Paulo. But when there are power outages that affect the city’s metro service, her epic commute takes even longer. “And when I get back, if there’s no light, it’s a lot more dangerous,” she said, referring to muggings and other crime plaguing Brazil’s cities.
Souza lives in Itaquaquecetuba, a city on the outskirts of the metropolis, and her water supply depends on an electric pump. “When there’s no power, we can’t get water in the house,” she said. To add insult to injury, the power cuts that halt her water supply occur most frequently when it rains.
But Souza is far from alone in struggling to get reliable electricity. As the World Cup approaches, Brazil is facing serious challenges with its power supply. Over half its energy is hydroelectric, and the worst drought in roughly 40 years has left reservoirs dangerously low. As of May 8, data from the National Operator of Electrical Systems (ONS) indicated that reservoir levels in the southeast and west-central parts of the country were below 40 percent of capacity. Out of four regions, only the north reported greater than 50 percent capacity.
MercoPress covers Argentine questions:
Argentine Vice-president under criminal investigation; calls for Boudou to step down
Argentine Vice-president Amado Boudou said he was not planning “an absence of leave” from office because that is not the style of President Cristina Fernandez’ administration following a federal court confirmation of a criminal investigation into his alleged involvement in the sale of a minting company.
“It never crossed my mind to ask for an absence of leave. First, because I’m convinced of what I’m saying and doing. I have a job to accomplish and I perform my duties every day”, said Boudou on Sunday in a government sponsored television program.
”Besides, if they are after my head, I’m not giving up. Our leader (Cristina Fernandez) has undergone several health episodes and government did not move one inch. This has been the style of this government and if they think (the opposition) that the vice-president is a weakling they are wrong”.
And from BBC News, Latin Nixonianism:
Colombia opposition candidate’s campaign hurt by video
Colombia’s presidential campaign has taken an unexpected turn following the publication of a video of the leading candidate apparently discussing illegal interceptions with a former advisor.
The aide was later arrested on charges of illegal hacking and espionage.
The opposition candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga had previously denied any knowledge of the man’s alleged activities.
Off to Asia, starting with a Pakistani epidemic-in-the-making from the Express Tribune:
Polio cases multiply despite travel curbs
Three new cases of polio virus type-1 reported from the tribal regions were tested positive on Monday, raising the number of cases so far this year to 66. Of the cases emerging from Fata this year, none received any dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV), a failure the prime minister’s focal person on polio has described as a ‘wake-up call’.
Of the new cases, two are from North Waziristan and one is from the neighbouring South Waziristan, according to a press statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell. Twenty-two-month-old Waqas, son of Miramshah resident Wali Muhammad and six-month-old Afsa Bibi, daughter of Miramshah resident Powneer are the latest victims of the crippling disease in North Waziristan.
In South Waziristan, 22-month-old Romana from Wana was tested positive for poliovirus. With these results, the total count of polio cases reported so far this year from South Waziristan stands at five, with North Waziristan at an alarming 44.
Thailand next, and via the Associated Press, the army acts:
Thailand’s army declares martial law
Thailand’s army declared martial law in a surprise announcement in Bangkok before dawn on Tuesday, intensifying the turbulent nation’s deepening political crisis. The military, however, denied a coup d’etat was underway.
The move came after six months of anti-government demonstrations aimed at ousting the government and one day after the Southeast Asian country’s caretaker prime minister refused to step down.
The army said in a statement that the military had taken the action to “keep peace and order” and soldiers entered several private television stations in the capital.
China next, and reinflationary efforts from Want China Times:
Local Chinese gov’t subsidizing developers to boost land prices
“This has been a new issue in the current real estate market, with excess housing stockpiling in third and fourth-tier cities while land prices climb in first-tier cities. The problem of how to absorb high land prices has come to the forefront,” said Chen Guoqiang, vice president of China Real Estate Industry Association.
Local governments are considered one of the factors contributing towards high land prices, a consulting firm manager in Beijing said. “Land transactions account for a lot of financial revenue for local governments and is a major channel for ensuring local government investment in GDP growth,” Jin Yongxiang said.
Ministry of Finance data show that during the first quarter of the year, land transaction revenues touched 1.08 trillion yuan (US$173 billion), up 40.3% from the same period last year.
And from South China Morning Post, one area thus far exempt:
Hong Kong property cooling measures won’t ease ‘until US interest rates rise’
Financial services chief says Fed interest rate hikes a big factor in how long property market cooling measures such as 15pc levy remain
Investors should not expect any easing of measures to cool the property market until a rise in US interest rates.
That was the message yesterday from Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Chan Ka-keung. He described the stamp duties designed to hold back real estate speculation as “extraordinary measures for extraordinary times”.
And he said: “Clearly, this is not a time for unwinding.”
Bloomberg hustles:
Singapore’s Rich Tapped by China Developers: Asean Credit
Chinese developers, faced with surging local borrowing costs and a cooling property market, are tapping Singapore’s more than 100,000 millionaires with record bond sales.
Private banks bought 79 percent of Central China Real Estate Ltd.’s S$200 million ($160 million) of notes last week. The Zhengzhou, Henan-based developer paid a 6.5 percent coupon on the three-year securities, less than the 8.5 percent yield on $400 million of five-year U.S. dollar-denominated debt it sold in May 2013. Yanlord Land Group Ltd., which builds luxury residential complexes in China, placed 77 percent of its S$400 million sale last month with wealthy-client money managers.
Property companies in the world’s second-biggest economy are turning to Asia’s largest wealth-management center just as borrowing costs at home hold near a seven-month high and global funds turn cautious on China. Singapore dollar bond sales have more than tripled to S$19.8 billion in 2013 from a decade ago, Bloomberg data show. There’s still room for growth as Boston Consulting Group Inc. estimates firms in the island manage about $800 billion in offshore assets.
On to Japan and Trans-Pacific intransigence from Kyodo News:
Reaching broad TPP accord at Singapore meeting “difficult”: minister
Reaching a broad agreement on an ambitious Pacific trade deal at an ongoing ministerial meeting involving 12 countries in Singapore will be “difficult” as further negotiations are needed on thorny issues, a Japanese minister said Monday.
While playing down expectations for a deal at the two-day gathering through Tuesday, Akira Amari, Japan’s minister in charge of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, was cautiously optimistic about an early conclusion of the pact, saying the TPP member countries are “gradually narrowing” differences.
Amari told reporters after wrapping up the first day of the meeting that Japan “cannot abolish tariffs” on its five sensitive farm product categories — rice, wheat, beef and pork, dairy products and sugar — but that the country will open up its market as much as possible to contribute to achieving a high-level agreement.
From the Asahi Shimbun, given recent history, troubling news:
Survey: 4% of residents follow evacuation instructions during flooding
Only 4.2 percent of residents followed government evacuation instructions issued for flooding last year, a disturbingly low ratio caused by ineffective communication, public confusion and apathy nurtured by false alarms, the Cabinet Office said.
According to a survey by the office, about 9,300 of the 220,500 residents in 39 municipalities across Japan fled their homes after evacuation directives were issued in 2013 due to floods. In total, 55 municipalities issued evacuation directives, but the office could confirm evacuation numbers in only the 39 cases.
Residents, in principle, are required to head to evacuation centers, such as schools and community centers, after the mayors of cities, towns and villages issue evacuation directives for possible disasters, including flooding and landslides.
But less than 5 percent of residents did so in 10 cities and towns in 2013, while the evacuation rate was between 5 percent and 10 percent in four cities and towns, according to the Cabinet Office.
And with that, on to Fukushimapocalypse Now!
The Mainichi sounds a sour note:
Outcome of battle against radioactive water at Fukushima plant in doubt
We are facing a problem so large it’s impossible to see all its dimensions. Eventually, we’ll be able to grasp what’s happening, but for now, no. The radioactively contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is but one, relatively small part of the greater cleanup at the disaster-stricken facility, and yet in absolute terms it is enormous.
There is the relentless flow of the groundwater, a massive amount of it gushing into the plant’s basements every day. There are plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and the central government, both desperate to make the water stop somehow. And there are the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) and the mass media, surveying the contaminated water countermeasures with a dubious eye. Such is the disposition of the combatants in the battle to contain the toxic water building up every day at the Fukushima plant.
The enemies in this battle are high radiation levels and the ceaseless flow of groundwater. If this water pours into the reactor buildings and touches the atomic fuel inside, it picks up high concentrations of radioactive material, turning toxic. At the moment, this radioactive water is impossible to deal with.
NHK WORLD tightens the reins:
TEPCO steps up control to prevent troubles
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it will monitor work there more closely.
Tokyo Electric Power Company told the government on Monday that it has designated 14 blocks within the plant, covering the Number One to Number 4 reactor buildings and wastewater storage tanks.
TEPCO has appointed managers to oversee work in each of the 14 blocks. Official at the utility introduced the measure after a string of problems in recent months.
The Mainichi does the predictable from a government notable to misremembering events like the Nanking Massacre:
Gov’t, TEPCO determined to fight ‘loss of homeland’ lawsuits
Whether the national government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) can be held legally responsible for the “loss of one’s homeland” is the principal focus of a series of class action suits filed by Fukushima nuclear plant disaster evacuees.
Beginning with a class-action damage suit filed with the Fukushima District Court’s Iwaki branch in December 2012, 20 similar suits have been filed with 17 district courts and district court branches by a total of more than 6,800 plaintiffs.
In response to the spread of evacuee lawsuits, the Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation established a compensation package for the loss of homeland in December last year, indicating a turnaround in policy by permitting relocation as an option along with the return to one’s hometown. However, only those who evacuated from so-called “difficult to return” zones are eligible. The plaintiffs’ legal team, however, argues that such a policy ignores the fact that radiation levels in non-”difficult to return” zones has remained high because decontamination efforts have made insufficient headway, and criticizes the new compensation system as merely offering the 100,000 yen offered monthly under the current system as a lump sum.
More alarming numbers from Jiji Press:
50 Fukushima Children Confirmed as Thyroid Cancer Sufferers
The Fukushima prefectural government has confirmed in a new report that 50 children in the northeastern Japan prefecture are suffering thyroid cancer, it was learned Monday.
The cancer figure, which stood as of the end of March among Fukushima residents who were 18 or younger at the time of the nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 plant, increased by 17 from the previously reported figure as of the end of 2013.
The latest report, made to an expert panel to examine the results of health checkups of Fukushima residents on Monday, also showed 39 such children are suspected of having the cancer, informed sources said.
From the Japan Daily Press, they’ll pay to get something hot off their hands:
Japanese government ‘encourages’ towns to store radioactive waste with compensation
Three years after the nuclear disaster rendered the Fukushima Daiichi power plant crippled and forced residents in the nearby town to evacuate indefinitely, the decontamination process of the crippled nuclear facility is still not over. The process is expected to span decades, and moving at a turtle’s pace, the residents can barely see hope that someday soon, they can come back to their old homes. At this point, even the issue of where to store radioactive waste materials has yet to be finalized and has further delayed the process.
While the government has initially determined the municipalities of Okuma and Futaba to store radioactive waste, both towns have remained reluctant to come to an agreement with the government. As such, the central government has decided to amp up the benefits it has offered to both municipalities to make them agree on storing the contaminated waste — not a small amount, as the sheer volume of the radioactive waste would be equivalent to the size of 23 Tokyo Domes. To urge the two municipalities, the government has offered many advantages in monetary terms to win them over. The compensation plan they proposed includes inflating the real estate values of the land designated for waste storage more than its current value, on the assumption that the land would be livable again after some years. The government also vowed to cover costs in relocating grave sites and remains to another area so that the residents could visit them, away from radioactivity. It has also pledged to shoulder the costs of holding a memorial site for the remains of those that will be transferred and even the construction of a new grave site, as part of their plan to sweeten the offer.
On to the Dept. Of Other Fuels/Other Problems with the Guardian:
British fracking support falls below 50%, poll shows
Support for controversial process of extracting shale gas in the UK dips for third consecutive time
Public support for fracking for shale gas in the UK has fallen below 50% for the first time, new polling suggests.
Just 49.7% of people now say they think the controversial process should be allowed in the UK, marking the third fall in support since high-profile protests last summer in West Sussex which saw dozens of arrests including that of Green MP, Caroline Lucas and ongoing protests at a site in Salford.
Support for shale gas was at a high of 58% in July 2012, which slumped to 54% last September and 53.3% this January, the long-running survey by YouGov for the University of Nottingham shows.
From Al Jazeera America, lethal appetites?:
U.N.: Record-high global demand for fish threatens oceans
Fish more important than ever in people’s diets, but growing demand threatens sustainability of aquaculture and fishing
People are eating more fish. This might seem a relatively neutral phenomenon in terms of global consequences, but a new report released Monday by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) argues that while fish has become an increasingly important part of human nutrition and a booming industry, increased consumption also has negative implications for the Earth’s oceans.
The U.N. report focuses on the growth of aquaculture – fish farming – as well as the capture of wild fish. It suggests that growing demand threatens to destabilize the fishing industry, potentially leading to serious environmental consequences.
The report contends that aquaculture – if it is done correctly – can help meet the growing demand for protein worldwide, and can help relieve pressure on wild fish populations. But the FAO also warns that bad management practices could lead to unnecessary food waste and strain ecosystems already parched for water.
BBC News, with our first Big Thaw story:
Esa’s Cryosat mission sees Antarctic ice losses double
Antarctica is now losing about 160 billion tonnes of ice a year to the ocean – twice as much as when the continent was last surveyed.
The new assessment comes from Europe’s Cryosat spacecraft, which has a radar instrument specifically designed to measure the shape of the ice sheet.
The melt loss from the White Continent is sufficient to push up global sea levels by around 0.43mm per year.
Al Jazeera America covers things from the top:
Greenland glacial melt is growing factor in rising sea levels
On top of report of ‘unstoppable’ glacial melt in Antarctica, experts say oceans rising faster than once predicted
Greenland’s glaciers are far more vulnerable to climate-change-induced warming oceans than previously thought, according to a report released Sunday by the University of California at Irvine and NASA glaciologists.
The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, reveals previously uncharted deep valleys stretching for dozens of miles under the Greenland ice sheet, showing that there are no natural barriers to stop the melting.
The findings echo a report released last week showing that glacial melting in West Antarctica is now “unstoppable” because of topographical conditions that, similarly, will not slow the glaciers’ retreat.
For our final story, the Guardian covers another threat:
Antibiotic resistance in farm animals ‘threatened by UK cuts’
Government budget cuts risk surveillance systems for over-use of antibiotics in animals, say veterinary experts
Government cuts could affect the UK’s ability to detect antibiotic resistance in farm animals, senior veterinary experts have warned.
The development of germs that are resistant to even the strongest of our current antibiotics is one of the biggest health threats in the world, according to the government’s chief public health official, Professor Dame Sally Davies.
Last month the World Health Organisation said over-use of antibiotics had meant they had lost their effectiveness at fighting infections in every country in the world. Antiobiotic resistance among animals is a separate but related problem, and can have repercussions for human health.
