We charge straight into today’s collections of headlines about politics, economics, and the environment — plus the latest episode of Fukushimapocalypse Now! — starting ewith a pathetic news from the Guardian
IMF chief says banks haven’t changed since financial crisis
Christine Lagarde tells London conference banking sector is still resisting reform and taking excessive risks
Christine Lagarde told an audience in London that six years on from the deep financial crisis that engulfed the global economy, banks were resisting reform and still too focused on excessive risk taking to secure their bonuses at the expense of public trust.
She said: “The behaviour of the financial sector has not changed fundamentally in a number of dimensions since the crisis. While some changes in behaviour are taking place, these are not deep or broad enough. The industry still prizes short-term profit over long-term prudence, today’s bonus over tomorrow’s relationship.
“Some prominent firms have even been mired in scandals that violate the most basic ethical norms – Libor and foreign exchange rigging, money laundering, illegal foreclosure.”
One indication of why things haven’t changed via Bloomberg News:
Ex-UBS Banker Lack Avoids Prison for 17-Year Tax Scheme
Martin Lack, the fourth ex-UBS AG (UBSN) banker to plead guilty to aiding wealthy Americans in evading taxes, avoided prison for a 17-year scheme in which he helped U.S. clients maintain secret overseas accounts.
Lack, a Swiss resident and citizen and an independent investment adviser, was sentenced to five years of probation and fined $7,500 today in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was indicted in 2011. He surrendered to U.S. authorities on Oct. 14 and pleaded guilty on Feb. 26, when the judge said he was cooperating with prosecutors.
“I apologize for my conduct,” Lack told U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas. “I was given an opportunity to make amends for what I’ve done, which I did to the best of my ability.”
Via the Contributor Network, reality catches up:
Without the Industry-Promised ‘Ocean of Black Gold,’ CA Senate Committee Approves Fracking Moratorium
In spite of the millions spent by Big Oil on lobbying in Sacramento every year, the California Senate Appropriations Committee voted 4 to 2 to approve a bill, SB 1132, to place a moratorium on fracking (hydraulic fracturing) in the state.
SB 1132, authored by Senators Holly Mitchell and Mark Leno, now moves to a vote on the Senate floor. Senators Gaines and Walters voted against the bill while Senators De León, Padilla, Hill and Steinberg voted to advance the bill to the floor.
The bill moved forward the same week that the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reduced its previous estimate of recoverable oil in California by 96 percent.
From the Associated Press, greed, baby, greed:
Top U.S. executives mark compensation milestone; median pay hits $10-million
Propelled by a soaring stock market, the median pay package for a CEO rose above eight figures for the first time last year. The head of a typical large public company earned a record $10.5-million, an increase of 8.8 per cent from $9.6-million in 2012, according to an Associated Press/Equilar pay study.
Last year was the fourth straight that CEO compensation rose following a decline during the Great Recession. The median CEO pay package climbed more than 50 per cent over that stretch. A chief executive now makes about 257 times the average worker’s salary, up sharply from 181 times in 2009.
The best paid CEO last year led an oilfield-services company. The highest paid female CEO was Carol Meyrowitz of discount retail giant TJX, owner of TJ Maxx and Marshall’s. And the head of Monster Beverage got a monster of a raise.
From the Los Angeles Times, no pot luck:
Health insurers just say no to marijuana coverage
Patients who use medical marijuana for pain and other chronic symptoms can take an unwanted hit: Insurers don’t cover the treatment, which costs as much as $1,000 a month.
Marijuana in recent years has gained increased mainstream acceptance for its ability to boost appetite, dull pain and reduce seizures in people with a wide range of disorders and diseases, including epilepsy and cancer.
Still, insurers are reluctant to cover it, in part because of conflicting laws. Although 21 U.S. states have approved it for medical use, the drug still is outlawed by the federal government and most states.
From BBC News, a bubble on the verge of deflation?:
US house price growth slows as demand weakens
US housing price growth slowed to just 0.2% in the first three months of 2014, latest figures show.
According to the S&P/Case-Shiller index, the slowdown in growth compared with the previous quarter was partly caused by tighter bank lending regulations. Further compounding the problem is rising student loan debt, which has discouraged first-time buyers.
Nationally, US home prices are still up 10.3%, compared with a year earlier.
And from the Associated Press, unquenchable thirst, no strings attached:
California’s flawed water system can’t track usage
Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight when the state is so bone dry that deliveries to nearly everyone else have been severely slashed.
Their special status dates back to claims made more than a century ago when water was plentiful. But in the third year of a drought that has ravaged California, these “senior rights holders” dominated by corporations and agricultural concerns are not obliged to conserve water.
Nobody knows how much water they actually use, though it amounts to trillions of gallons each year, according to a review of their own reports by The Associated Press. Together, they hold more than half the rights to rivers and streams in California.
And from MintPress News, why are we not surprised?:
U.S. Investors, Government Policies Leading Global Land-Grabs
Massive land-grabs are driving commercial agriculture and investment around the world, often at the expense of the world’s small-scale farmers – who feed 80 percent of the developing world
The U.S. public and private sectors are among the leading drivers of a global drive to snap up usable – and often in-use – agricultural land, in what critics say remains a steadily increasing epidemic of “land-grabbing.”
Africa and Southeast Asia are together seeing some three-quarters of problematic large-scale land acquisitions, according to new research from the global development group ActionAid. Africa remains a particular focus of this investment drive, constituting six of the top 10 countries experiencing significant land-grabbing. The continent has seen at least 40 million hectares switch hands in recent years as part of large-scale sales or leases.
However, land speculation is currently affecting almost all continents. The report warns of particularly negative effects for the estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide that rely on small-scale agriculture to meet their families’ needs. And this impact is felt far more broadly, as those smallholders, a majority of whom are women, provide the food that feeds some four-fifths of the developing world, according to the United Nations.
North of the border with CBC News and those minimum wage blues:
Restaurant owners seek meeting with PM over foreign worker freeze
Restaurant industry asks for urgent meeting with PM over freeze on hiring temporary foreign workers
The group representing Canada’s restaurant owners wants an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss the freeze on temporary foreign workers in the restaurant industry.
Restaurants Canada, which represents restaurants, pubs and caterers, says the program freeze ordered by federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney is already affecting the industry.
Restaurants Canada says it will make a call for urgent action on what it calls a labour crisis due to the moratorium on temporary foreign workers.
On to Europe, and those electoral post mortems, first with a French accent from BBC News:
EU election: France’s Hollande calls for reform of ‘remote’ EU
French President Francois Hollande has said the EU must reform and scale back its power, amid a surge in support for Eurosceptic and far-right parties.
Mr Hollande, whose party was beaten by the far right in last week’s European Parliament election, said the EU had become too complex and remote.
In response, he will tell EU leaders at a meeting in Brussels later that they must focus on boosting the economy.
The Associated Press confers
EU summit seeks way out of election quagmire
Despite their clashing visions for Europe, Britain and France agreed Tuesday that the massive increase in protest votes during the European Union election is a watershed moment that must lead to profound change in how Europe governs itself.
Coming into an EU summit meeting, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the anti-EU vote had shown that Brussels had become “too big, too bossy, too interfering,” and needed to return many powers to its 28 member nations as soon as possible.
The EU leaders met to assess the rise of the far-right, Euroskeptic and anti-establishment parties that took almost 30 percent of the seats in the European Parliament in national elections that ended Sunday. The summit had the major challenge of figuring out how to deal with the grassroots revolt of people turning away from the parties that built the EU.
ANA-MPA agonizes:
Eurogroup head Dijsselbloem says a great deal ‘still needs to be done’
Trying to tell everyday people about economic achievements at state budget level is difficult, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a conference on Europe at Berlin’s Hertie School of Governance on Tuesday.
“Try to tell a Greek who is struggling to survive that Greece now has a primary surplus, something that for us at the Eurogroup constitutes a significant indicator. What does this say, however, to a citizen in Greece?,” Dijsselbloem said, adding that after the latest Euroelections “Europe is no longer something that is beyond doubt.”
He went on to add, “Try to tell a Spaniard who has lost his job that there is a small drop in unemployment in his country, or to an Irish whose house lost a quarter of its value that real estate prices have registered a slight increase.”
And the Amsterdam angle from DutchNews.nl:
EU should focus on added value, and choose new president, says Rutte
‘The voter wants fewer regulations and more work,’ is the conclusion of prime minister Mark Rutte following the success of fringe parties across Europe in the EU elections last week.
Rutte was speaking after a parliamentary debate on the meeting of European heads of state on Tuesday evening in Brussels, the Telegraaf reports.
‘The message to politicians in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe is that the EU should be involved in fewer matters,’ he said. ‘It should focus on where it can add value, for instance in creating jobs.’
And from Spiegel, a prescription:
German Finance Minister Schäuble: ‘Europe Needs More Self-Confidence’
What does Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst have to do with the Ukraine conflict? More than you might think, explains German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble in a SPIEGEL interview. It demonstrates the EU’s greatest strengths.
On to Britain with the London Telegraph and a regal prescription:
Prince Charles: reform capitalism to save the planet
A “fundamental transformation of global capitalism” is needed in order to tackle climate change, the Prince of Wales has said
Prince Charles has called for an end to capitalism as we know it in order to save the planet from global warming.
In a speech to business leaders in London, the Prince said that a “fundamental transformation of global capitalism” was necessary in order to halt “dangerously accelerating climate change” that would “bring us to our own destruction”.
He called for companies to focus on “approaches that achieve lasting and meaningful returns” by protecting the environment, improving their employment practices and helping the vulnerable to develop a new “inclusive capitalism”.
From the London Telegraph again, a Goldman Sachs alum covers for his pals:
Jailing bankers will not fix bad behaviour, says Mark Carney
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, says fundamental flaws in the industry can only be resolved by changing how markets operate
Jailing bankers for market manipulation or clawing back pay and bonuses will not be enough to curb future misbehaviour or restore public trust in the financial system, the Governor of the Bank of England has said.
Despite a new crackdown on reckless bankers, Mark Carney said fundamental flaws in the industry could only be resolved by changing how markets operate.
“Merely prosecuting the guilty to the full extent of the law will not be sufficient to address the issues raised,” Mr Carney said in a speech in London on Tuesday night.
And the not-so-surprising from the Guardian [although homophobia is down]:
Racism on the rise in Britain
The proportion of Britons who admit to being racially prejudiced has risen since the start of the millennium, raising concerns that growing hostility to immigrants and widespread Islamophobia are setting community relations back 20 years.
New data from NatCen’s authoritative British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, obtained by the Guardian, shows that after years of increasing tolerance, the percentage of people who describe themselves as prejudiced against those of other races has risen overall since 2001.
In an echo of the voting patterns of Ukip supporters in last week’s European elections, the figures paint a pattern of a nation geographically divided – with London reporting the lowest levels of racial prejudice. Older men in economically deprived areas are most likely to admit to racial prejudice.
Sweden next, and from TheLocal.se, the first hint of austerity to come:
Sweden’s labour costs ‘distressingly high’
Labour costs in Sweden are 22 percent higher than the eurozone average, a difference which threatens Swedish industries’ ability to compete, economists warned in a report on Tuesday.
Labour costs have been escalating in Sweden at a quicker pace than they have in the rest of western Europe and the eurozone, and the increasing strength of the krona has compounded the problem, a report by employer group Teknikföretagen stated on Tuesday.
“Swedish industries operate in a global market characterized by tough international competition,” Teknikföretagen economist Anders Rune wrote in the report.
Germany next, first with a power-up from the Japan Times:
Growing number of Germans opting for ‘homemade’ electricity
Of the about 600 terawatt hours Germany consumes each year, 50 twh are self-produced — about 8 percent of the total — in a trend that has seen solar panels installed on home roofs and gas plants set up in factories.
In industry, the share is around 20 percent, according to business and energy consumers’ groups. Their main goal: cost savings.
Homemade power in Germany is not taxed, unlike conventional electricity where one-third of the customer’s bill goes into the public coffers. Germany has among Europe’s highest electricity bills.
TheLocal.de gives a glimpse at life at the bottom:
One in five Germans can’t afford a holiday
More than 20 percent of Germans can’t afford a week’s holiday, and 30 percent said they were unable to cover “unexpected expenses” such as house repairs or big purchases, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The survey, from federal statistics office Destatis which gathered the data in 2012, asked participants whether they could afford to pay for a week away from home each year, and if they felt they could handle unexpected costs – essential purchases costing €940 or more.
It also found around eight percent of respondents felt they could not afford to eat a meal including meat, poultry or fish at least once every two days.
From TheLocal.de, outsider entrepreneurs:
Foreigners set up 40pc of new German firms
Germany is increasingly relying on foreigners to stir entrepreneurial spirit in the country, as the number of new companies being founded by Germans falls.
The number of foreign entrepreneurs setting up new companies in Germany has risen from 90,000 in 2005 to 145,000 last year, despite an overall fall in the number of people setting up on their own.
A study released on Monday by a think-tank for medium-sized business, Institute für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM), showed three-quarters of new foreign-founded companies were in the construction (45 percent), trade (18.2 percent) and hospitality (10.2 percent).
On to Amsterdam, and a real pisser from DutchNews.nl:
Waste water analysis reveals Dutch drug secrets in EU survey
People in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Eindhoven are major users of drugs when compared to other European cities, according to a new analysis of waste water by the EU’s drugs agency Emcdda.
The agency analysed waste water in 42 cities in 21 countries looking for drug residues. The three Dutch cities occupied first, second and third place in terms of the use of party drug ecstasy and ‘abnormal amounts’ were identified in Eindhoven’s waste water, news agency ANP said.
This may be explained by the fact the production of ecstasy is concentrated in the region and that chemicals are dumped into the drains, the organisation said. The quantity of amphetamine found in Eindhoven water was also extremely high.
In terms of cannabis use, Amsterdam comes in second place, behind Novia Sad in Serbia. Eindhoven is seventh and Utrecht 13th.
Brussels next, and a quandary from EUobserver:
Belgian king gives coalition-forming mandate to Flemish republican
Will the man who wants the end of Belgium be the next Belgian prime minister? In a land where absurdity is a form of art, it’s not impossible.
King Philippe on Tuesday (27 May) asked N-VA chairman Bart De Wever to “inform” him about possible coalition governments, a first step to forming such a government.
On Sunday Belgians not only voted for the EU Parliament, but also for the national and regional parliaments. Belgium is a highly decentralised country, with powerful regional governments. On the Flemish (northern) side, there’s a strong demand to make those regions even stronger.
The hardliners simply want to split Belgium, although nobody knows how to do that with the bilingual – and very rich and important – Brussels right in the middle of the country.
The winner of the elections is the devolution-minded N-VA. Until a few years ago, it was a small party of hardline Flemish separatists. Thanks to the immense popularity of party leader Bart De Wever, the party took about 32 percent of the votes in Flanders at the weekend. This makes it by far the biggest party in Belgium.
Austria next, with post-electoral blues from TheLocal.at:
SPÖ row after attack on chancellor
A row has broken out among Austria’s Social Democrats (SPÖ) after the party failed to emerge as the winner among Austrian parties in Sunday’s European Parliament elections.
A member of Burgenland’s regional government, Peter Rezar, has launched an attack on Chancellor Werner Faymann – and provoked a storm of protest from the SPÖ’s top politicians.
The conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) won Sunday’s vote with 27 percent, ahead of its ruling partners the SPÖ at 24 percent.
On to France, with aspirations from Spiegel:
A Real National Front: The French Far Right Aims High
After its triumph in European elections on Sunday, the French far-right Front National is hoping to increase its power back home, with Marine Le Pen aiming for the presidency in 2017. With François Hollande’s popularity plummeting, it is not out of the question.
After pulling in a triumphant 25 percent of the vote, the Front National will now have the largest number of seats of any French political party in the European Parliament. Marine Le Pen has every intention of using the party’s presence at parliament’s headquarters in Strasbourg and Brussels for political gain. Some within the far-right in France are already considering their political futures — all the way up to the presidential palace in Paris.
The first step in the “long march,” as Marine Le Pen has termed it, is the creation of a party group in the European Parliament comprised of skeptics of the euro common currency, EU opponents and the far-right or right-wing populists. Doing so would provide the parties with greater access to money and key posts and would also raise their profile. To create a group, at least 25 members of parliament from seven different EU member states must join together in a bloc. Given the divergent ideologies on Europe’s right wing, that won’t be an easy task.
The only true support Le Pen can count on is from the Austrian right-wing Freedom Party. Right-wing populist parties in Belgium and the Netherlands failed to deliver on Sunday, managing only disappointing results. Meanwhile, radical political forces in Denmark and Britain have said they will not join an alliance with the Front National.
Partnering up with the Guardian:
Marine Le Pen to meet other far-right leaders in move to create EU bloc
Front National leader rules out joining forces with extreme-right parties Golden Dawn, Jobbik and Ataka
France’s Front National leader Marine Le Pen will meet other far-right and eurosceptic leaders on Wednesday in an attempt to create a powerful bloc in the European parliament.
However, Le Pen ruled out joining forces with the extreme-right Golden Dawn in Greece, the Hungarian party Jobbik or Ataka in Bulgaria.
Having spent years trying to shake off the FN’s reputation as a refuge for Nazi sympathisers – her father, the party’s founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, once dismissed the Holocaust as a “detail” – Le Pen said she did not envisage meeting newly elected German MEP Udo Voigt of the neo-Nazi NPD.
And a branding problem from EUbusiness:
Germany’s Schaeuble terms France’s far-right FN ‘fascist’
Germany’s finance minister on Tuesday described France’s far-right National Front (FN), which came out on top in France’s weekend vote for a new European Parliament, as a “fascist” party.
Wolfgang Schaeuble told a forum on Europe that the outcome in Europe’s second biggest economy was a vote “not for a right-wing party but for a fascist party”.
The result is a reality check “for everyone in Europe, not only for our friends in France”, Schaeuble, a veteran and strongly pro-EU member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, added.
And while the far right has smooth sailing, not so for the traditonal right, as the London Telegraph reports:
Crisis for France’s Right as Sarkozy party head quits over funding scandal
Jean-François Copé, leaders of UMP party, to step down over allegations a company run by friends signed off €10 million of “false invoices” to bankroll Nicolas Sarkozy’s failed 2012 election bid
The head of France’s main conservative opposition party is to step down after a scandal over funding for Nicolas Sarkozy’s failed attempt to win the presidency in 2012.
Jean-François Copé, leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), agreed to leave his post by June 15. Mr Cope’s position was already weakened after the UMP was beaten into second place in Sunday’s European Parliament elections by the Front National (FN).
The revelations cast a shadow over Mr Sarkozy’s chances of mounting a comeback in 2017. He is said to be “furious” and to feel “betrayed”, but none the less is likely to face questions over claims that more than €10 million (£8.1 million) of “false invoices” for his 2012 re-election campaign were billed as party expenses.
Of to Spain and a papal slapdown from TheLocal.es:
Pope slams ‘inhumane’ jobless rate in Spain
Pope Francis on Tuesday criticized an “inhumane” system which causes a youth unemployment rate of “50 percent” in Spain and “60 percent” in Andalusia in the wake of recent European elections.
Speaking during a press conference on his return from a trip to Middle East, the pope admitted he hadn’t had time to follow the European elections.
He also owned up to not being fully up to speed on issues like populism and the confidence, or lack of confidence in the Euro. But Pope Francis said he did understand words like “unemployment”.
“We are living under a world economic system that has money at its centre, and not human beings. This system, to maintain itself excludes (people),” the Pope was quoted as saying by Italy’s La Stampa.
But the IMF wants more Spanish misery, with higher taxes for the pooir and lower corporate taxes. From El País:
IMF calls on Spain to raise VAT and lower corporate taxes
Other measures recommended by local mission include tax pardons for struggling companies
Higher consumer taxes, lower corporate rates and few changes to income tax. Those were the proposals for the Spanish economy presented by the International Monetary Fund in Madrid on Tuesday, in the latest report issued by its mission in the country.
“There is room for increasing indirect revenues,” the report reads. “Raising excise duties and environmental levies, and gradually reducing preferential treatments in the VAT, would bring Spain’s collection effort more in to line with its European peers. This should be combined with clearly identified measures to protect the most vulnerable.
“There is scope for gradually cutting corporate income tax rates to promote growth (though not to 20 percent, which is below the EU average),” the report continues. “However, given the imperative to sustain revenues and preserve progressivity, there is less scope for significantly cutting top personal income tax rates.”
An electoral outside from the Spanish prede cessor of the Occupy movement wins election, via TheLocal.es:
‘Hippy’ politician stuns Spain’s political elite
Some see him as a ponytailed Fidel Castro, others think he’s the only honest politician Spain has had in decades. Either way, Pablo Iglesias is on everyone’s lips after he helped his poorly-funded, three-month-old party reach fourth place in the European Elections.
Rest assured, you’re not alone. Had Iglesias’ party Podemos (We Can) not won five seats in Brussels he may have remained a household name only in Spain. But their 1.2 million votes on Sunday have made the news across Europe and further afield, with Iglesias at the centre of all the intrigue.
How did they manage to do so well?
Perhaps the most crucial factor is the massive drop in support for Spain’s ruling conservative Popular Party (PP) and their socialist opponents PSOE. Both have been embroiled in corruption scandals and, when handed the reins of power by the country’s disillusioned population, they’ve seemed equally unable to solve the grave issue of unemployment and poor economic performance.
The other significant cause is Pablo Iglesias himself and how he has come to represent the educated but disgruntled youth who took part in Spain’s Real Democracy Now protest, popularly known as the 15-M, which gained worldwide coverage when thousands of young people camped out in Madrid’s iconic Puerta del Sol for months in 2011.
More from El País:
Podemos: A party under construction
The surprise success story at Sunday’s elections has its roots in the 15-M protest movement
With an undefined structure, the group must now get organized to hold its eurodeputies accountable
For now at least, the party has no leadership bodies and no membership cards. Yet it will have five seats in the European Parliament after receiving 1.2 million votes at Sunday’s poll.
As of Monday, Podemos is facing the new challenge of organizing itself and creating a leadership that will make day-to-day decisions and hold its five eurodeputies accountable. This is especially important because if Sunday’s results are repeated in Spanish general elections in 2015, Podemos could hold the key to local and regional governments. And it will have to make decisions.
“We were practically born on the campaign trail. To this day, we are a campaign team rather than a party proper. Now we need to begin a constitutional process,” says Íñigo Errejón, 30, who has a PhD in political science from Madrid’s Complutense University and acts as campaign director for Podemos.
And TheLocal.es evicts:
Protesters clash with police over squat eviction
Police clashed with protesters who burned bins and vehicles in Barcelona on Monday as anger boiled over at the eviction of activists from a well-known squat.
Officers made several arrests as hooded youths smashed windows and hurled stones at police and journalists in the streets of the north-eastern city.
Police had earlier evicted occupants who had chained themselves down inside the “Can Vies”, a building owned by the local transport authority but occupied since 1997 by activists who have used it as a community centre.
Italy next, and advice for a sourpuss from TheLocal.it:
Spin doctor tells ex-comedian Grillo to smile
A strategist for Italy’s Eurosceptic Five Star Movement (M5S) has told the party’s leader, Beppe Grillo, that he needs to smile more after the organization was outstripped in the European Elections.
Gianroberto Casaleggio, the founder of the Milan-based Casaleggio and Associates and a driving force behind the party’s successes, told the former comedian that he needs to “tone down” his aggression during a post-mortem of the party’s election performance on Monday.
“You have to force yourself to smile; we must smile more,” the advisor was quoted in Corriere della Sera as saying.
After the jump, the latest from Greece [including stunning support for neo-Nazis by Greek police], more Ukrainian struggles, an election extension in an apathetic Egyptian contest, more Libyan turmoil, an Indian electoral reminder, the tightening Thai coup, mixed economic signals from China, toxins, fires, and other environmental agonies, and the latest chapter of Fukushimapocalypse Now!. . .
For our first Greek headline, the truly disturbing from To Vima:
Elections: Over 50% of police officers voted for Golden Dawn
Data from polling stations suggest that support for the neo-Nazi party in the police force is still rife
Despite assurances that investigations are under way to eliminate Golden Dawn enclaves within the police force, in light of the criminal investigation that was prompted after the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, it appears that over 50% of police officers voted for the neo-Nazi party in Sunday’s elections, increasing the party’s influence since the 2012 elections.
According to the police’s special electoral catalogs, a total of 2,738 police officers voted in 18 polling stations near the central police HQ on Alexandras Avenue. In each of these polling stations about 150-200 police officers voted, from a total of 400-480 registered voters.
The neo-Nazi party received between 16.32% and 22.32% in these polling stations, when the average for the district of Athens is 7.81%. The results from polling stations where commanding officers voted showed Golden Dawn received about 13-15% of the vote.
From Keep Talking Greece, a new fight for an Old Fighter:
Greeks send resistance fighter Manolis Glezos, 91, to EP with more than 160K votes
Manolis Glezos, the WWII hero and resistance fighter, the man who took down the Nazi Flag from the Acropolis, is heading to the European Parliament after more than estimated 160,000 SYRIZA voters “crossed” his name on the ballot list. On Tuesday morning and with 31.14% of the ballots counted, Glezos leads with 155,425 crosses, while second on SYRIZA list is former athlete and SYRIZA MP Sofia Sakorafa with 100,998 votes.
Manolis Glezos is heading an unofficial investigation committee for the repayment of the enforced loan of Nazis during WWII occupation.
Born on 9th September 1922, veteran politician and writer Manolis Glezos is a worldwide famous political figure known for his participation in the World War II resistance. The left politician has been sentenced to death several times by the Nazis during the WWII occupation and by the Greeks during the civil war.
Refreshing electoral news from Neos Kosmos:
Migrants elected as MEP and mayor
Konstantina Kuneva, a Bulgarian migrant worker and trade union leader, became the first migrant to be elected in Greece as a Member of the European Parliament
Konstantina Kuneva, a Bulgarian migrant worker and trade union leader who was severely wounded in December 2008 after a man threw sulphuric acid in her face, due to her trade union activities, became on Sunday the first migrant to be elected in Greece as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
Kuneva, who lost her sight in one eye and has limited vision in the other, whilst her vocal chords and trachea were seriously damaged as a result of the 2008 attack, was a candidate with SYRIZA.
Last Sunday produced another first for the migrants in Greece. In the second round of the local government elections in the municipality of Andravida – Kyllini, in North Western Peloponnese, Syrian born local doctor Nampil Morant, a father of two who migrated to Greece 23 years ago, won 52.2 per cent of the popular vote and was elected mayor. Before his election as mayor Nampil Morant served as a local councillor for three terms.
Despair from Kathimerini English:
Changes expected at Independent Greeks, Democratic Left
Democratic Left (DIMAR), the center-left party that was part of the governing coalition between June 2012 and June 2013, is facing the possibility of a split after winning just 1.2 percent in the European Parliament elections on Sunday.
Four DIMAR MPs said Tuesday that only under certain conditions will they attend the party conference that leader Fotis Kouvelis wants to hold to assess the fallout from the elections. They are demanding that the party changes direction and looks to cultivating ties with PASOK and To Potami as part of an effort to create a center-left alliance.
However, another five of the party’s lawmakers made it clear that they want DIMAR to move closer to SYRIZA. Led by Yiannis Panousis, the five deputies indicated that they want Kouvelis to stand aside so a new leader can take over.
And a hint of bribes to come to prevent a Syriza takeover of the national government via To Vima:
European creditors may be “generous” in Greek debt relief talks in autumn
Creditors will not want to jeopardize the Samaras administration, according to Reuters and Bloomberg reports
According to an unnamed European officer who spoke to Reuters, Greece’s European creditors are prepared to be generous in the debt relief negotiations that are scheduled for autumn, in order to avoid jeopardizing the Samaras administration.
According to the European officer, the recent election results may have “softened the stance of creditors” in the discussions for assistance to Greece.
Meanwhile a report in the Bloomberg news agency suggests that SYRIZA’s victory may help Antonis Samaras by laxing the terms of paying the public debt. The report stressed that the EU leaders appear to have taken on board the anti-austerity message that European voters sent in the recent elections.
More from To Vima:
Ministry of Finances preparing new debt settlement proposal
Government will ask permission from the troika to increase the number of installments for outstanding debt
The Ministry of Finances is preparing a proposal in order to increase the number of installments for outstanding debts from the current 12 to at least 48, in order to make a formal request from the troika.
With revenue from outstanding debt being disappointing and little sign of any improvement, the Ministry hopes that the troika will be sympathetic. An unnamed Finance Ministry officer argued that the new settlement will give taxpayers some breathing space, while hinting that Sunday’s electoral results played a role in this initiative.
At the end of April more than one in three of the 3,344,246 taxpayers had outstanding debts towards the tax office. Outstanding debt at the end of April was about 4.323 billion euros, with estimations suggesting that the sum has increased to 5 billion euros. On top of this, the government has a further 62 billion euros of outstanding debts from 2013.
And Kathimerini English hints at an ouster to come
Stournaras’ future uncertain as cabinet reshuffle looms
The future of Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and the shape that the next cabinet will take were put in doubt on Tuesday amid reports that the head of the government’s economic policy feels he is being made a political scapegoat.
Sources close to Stournaras denied reports that he had expressed displeasure about plans to remove him from his post as part of a cabinet reshuffle aimed at reviving the government’s fortunes in the wake of mixed results. “The minister is going about his work as normal at the ministry,” the sources told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).
Earlier reports had suggested that Stournaras would be sacrificed due to his unpopularity with voters. AMNA then published comments from Stournaras’s aides that claimed the minister was unhappy at being the target of criticism from within the government.
While Neos Kosmos hints at a need for more cash:
Greek companies need 10 bn euros to survive
PwC recommends debt write-offs and shutdowns
Restructuring the Greek business sector will require some 25 billion euros for the viable enterprises to stand out from the unsustainables, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates in a report presented this week in Athens.
Titled “The Prospects of Greek Enterprises on their Way Out of the Crisis: Stars & Zombies,” the study is expressly in favour of the immediate liquidation of 650 problematic corporations with the write-off of 15 billion euros of debts by the banks, while the funding needs of the companies with sustainability features amount to 10 billion euros.
The PwC study, which focused on 2,950 firms, has concluded that 650 enterprises have trapped funds as they absorb more resources than they produce and therefore deprive potentially healthy firms of the resources they have greater need of.
A challenge to austerity leaves the coalition in a quandary, via To Vima:
Government concerned over EYDAP ruling against privatization
The bailout agreement demands that equivalent measures be introduced in case privatizations fall through
The coalition government fears a slew of appeals against public infrastructure privatizations that are meant to be carried out by TAIPED, after the State Council ruled that the planned privatization of public water company EYDAP is against the constitution.
While a similar application for the public water company of Thessaloniki (EYATH) was rejected on technicalities, the fear is that the new ruling will set a precedent, with SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras demanding that the government suspend its privatization plans for water companies after his meeting with President Papoulias.
And from Kathimerini English, one of the diagnostic criteria of widespread poverty:
One in three Greek children overweight, OECD reports
One in three Greek children is overweight or obese, according to a new report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which found that Greece, Italy, Slovenia and the US have the highest levels of child obesity among the OECD’s 34 member countries.
Overall one in five children – and half of all adults – in OECD countries is overweight, according to the report which described the problem as “dramatic” due to its persistent spread across the region even though obesity levels appear to be stabilizing.
“The obesity epidemic has spread further in the past five years, but rates have been increasing at a slower pace than before,” the report said.
On to the Ukraine with the Associated Press:
Dozens reported killed in eastern Ukraine fighting
High-caliber weapons fire echoed sporadically Tuesday through the eastern city of Donetsk and the mayor urged residents to stay home a day after fighting between Ukrainian troops and separatist rebels reportedly killed dozens.
Donetsk mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko said 40 people, including two civilians, were killed after troops repelled a rebel attempt Monday to seize control of the airport, Ukraine’s second-largest.
Local morgues were overflowing with bodies Tuesday and rebel leaders said the death toll could rise up to 100.
Africa next, and an extension from the Christian Science Monitor:
Egypt extends voting by a day in latest bid to boost low turnout
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is likely to win the presidential election by a landslide, but a large turnout is critical to his legitimacy. Egypt took extreme steps to encourage voting.
Egyptian strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s well-oiled campaign machine stuttered through a two-day vote that was meant to be the smoothest stretch in his rise to high office — it was announced late Tuesday that polls would stay open for one more day to encourage better turnout.
Instead of celebrating a nationwide stampede to the polls, Egyptian authorities spent the second day of the presidential election pulling out all the stops to boost sluggish voter turnout, estimated at less than 15 percent on Monday by officials from his challenger’s campaign.
Today was declared a public holiday, with voting hours extended and transport fares suspended. Even the capital’s biggest mall was closed. But it wasn’t enough, and polling stations will remain open Wednesday.
On to Libya, and a move sure to result in more tension, via Al Jazeera:
Libya’s new PM unharmed after attack
Newly elected Libyan Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteg escapes unharmed after his residence was attacked by gunmen.
Libya’s prime minister, who was recently approved in a contested parliamentary vote, was unharmed in an attack on his home that set off a gun battle with guards, a government official said.
The official said that four attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at the house of Ahmed Maiteg early on Tuesday, sparking clashes with security guards.
One of the assailants was killed and another was arrested while the rest fled, the official said, speaking to Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker in Tripoli.
Off to Asia, starting with a reminder about the nature of the man so eagerly embraced by the Obama administration via Lenin’s Tomb:
When the bourgeoisie goes fascist
What is there to say about Modi that isn’t widely known by now? The man is arguably a fascist. He doesn’t run a fascist regime, nor lead a fascist party. He has not overthrown parliamentary democracy. But he is a longstanding member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which Chetan Bhatt describes as:
“a secretive, militaristic, masculine cult; a distinct Indian form of fascism that was directly inspired by Italian Fascist youth movements … Its founders greatly admired Hitler and Mussolini”.
And he is most certainly, which seems like a tautology, a racist murderer. Modi has direct, hands-on expertise in organising the communal massacre of Muslims. This massacre was characterised not just by slaughter but by the most gruesome sexual violence, undertaken by the parties of the Hindu Right with – according to dozens of independent reports – the collusion of the state of Gujarat and its chief minister, Modi. And the 2002 pogroms don’t exhaust the grim reality of Modi’s period in charge of Gujarat. As soon as the Hindu nationalist BJP took control of the state of Gujarat in 1998, they embarked on a systematic attempt to purge the state apparatus of Muslims – particularly its repressive apparatuses – and to marginalise and exclude them as far as possible. And the iron fist doesn’t stop at bashing Muslims.
On to Thailand and the coup’s tightening grip, first from Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
Thai army detains ex-minister, frees Yingluck
Thai soldiers swooped to detain a fugitive former cabinet minister on Tuesday after he emerged from hiding to become the first member of the ousted government to publicly denounce a military coup.
In dramatic scenes played out in front of stunned journalists, Chaturon Chaisang, education minister in a government ousted by the army last week, was marched out of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand by troops.
The veteran politician was holding a press conference in defiance of an order for him to report to the junta.
The Jakarta Globe offers a cautionary note:
Thai Society’s ‘Chasm’ Must Be Bridged, Singapore Says
Thailand’s societal “chasm” needs to be bridged to bring stability to Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy after the military took power, according to Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam.
“There is deep polarization and Thailand has to find a way of bridging that polarization and find a structure for society that is workable for itself, and only the Thais can do it,” Shanmugam, 55, said yesterday in an interview. “It has had stability for a period and then it’s been impacted and I don’t think it’s good for the Thai economy or the people of Thailand.”
Thai Army Chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha seized power on May 22 in the nation’s 12th coup in eight decades, after months of anti-government protests that saw a court remove then-premier Yingluck Shinawatra on May 7. Prayuth acted after meetings with key figures from both sides of the political divide failed to find a way through the impasse that had left the country with a caretaker government since December.
New Europe delays:
Thailand’s new election not expected in one year
Thailand’s coup leader Prayuth Chan- ocha failed to give a timeframe about the next election after he was endorsed as chairman of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) by a royal command Monday, but some Thai academics believe a new election is unlikely to take place within a year.
Prayuth has vowed to implement sweeping reforms before elections, saying democracy will return once peace and order is restored in the country.
“The minimum, we will not have the election in a year…you have to remember we have to have political reforms and new constitution and that will take time,” a renowned political analyst from Chulalongkorn University told Xinhua.
And the Bangkok Post receives a not-sosubtle threat:
Coup chief ‘requests’ easier questions
The coup commander Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday “requested” that two of the country’s best known military reporters stop asking “aggressive questions” at his press conferences and aides said the press “should cheer him on” rather than ask tough questions.
The army ordered Bangkok Post military affairs reporter Wassana Nanuam and her counterpart at Thai Rath, the Thai-language daily, to report to coup headquarters, where they were escorted by senior officials to a meeting about the tough questions.
The army chief, now head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), ordered army secretary Maj Gen Ponpat Wannapak to invite Ms. Wassana and Suppalerk Thongchailit to the army headquarters on Ratchadamnoen Avenue at 2pm Tuesday, where they were briefed on the NCPO chief’s request by Maj Gen Ponpat.
Off to China and one aspect of the economy that’s not cooling off, via Global Times:
Consumer confidence remains at record level in Q1, above global average: Nielsen
Chinese consumer confidence in the first quarter of 2014 stood at the same record-high level of 111 points as the previous quarter, and above the global average of 96 points, according to findings released Tuesday by global information provider Nielsen.
“Amid the slowdown in Chinese GDP growth from 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year to 7.4 percent this quarter, Chinese consumer fundamentals remain strong,” said Yan Xuan, president of Nielsen China, noting the Chinese consumer confidence is 3 points higher than [one year ago in] the first quarter of 2013.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales in Chinese market saw 8 percent growth in the first quarter, 2 percentage points higher than the same period of last year, according to data from Nielsen.
Want China Times has more:
Online retail sales in China highest in world last year at RMB1.8tn
Online retail sales in China have exceeded those in the United States last year and become the highest in the world and China’s delivery industry has also benefited from thriving e-commerce and reported triple growth between 2006 and 2013, according to a report cited by the Chinese-language financial news website of NetEase.
The report was issued by China’s Development & Research Center of the State Post Bureau and Deloitte, one of the world’s largest financial and legal services firm. It said online retail sales in China reached 1.8 trillion yuan (US$294 billion) last year and that the country’s delivery industry, which has benefited from the popularity of e-commerce, has grown into the second largest in the world.
Between 2008 and 2013, China’s online shopping market had a staggering 70% compound annual growth rate. The number of people shopping online surged from 70 million to 300 million while the proportion online shopping made up of the retail sector jumped from 1.3% to 7.4%, according to data from Shanghai-based financial information provider Wind Information. The frequency of online transactions and the level of wealth of those shopping online both saw signs of increases, the company said. In 2012, around 54% of consumers made online purchases more than ten times, the report stated, with the percentage of them who made more than 5,000 yuan (US$800) per month also doubling from that in 2008 to nearly 20%.
And SINA English pours on the cash [and do see the pictures at the link]:
US$4 billion ‘Hogwarts School’ built in Chinese university
A magical castle that looks like the ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ in Rowling’s “Harry Porter” films is currently being built in Xinle City, Hebei Province.
The enormous building features a giant clock tower, castle walls and turrets. It belongs to Hebei Arts University.
Designers say the university is modelled on the architecture of the castles of medieval Europe, rather than Harry Potter’s school but the resemblance is startling.
But South China Morning Post casts construction doubts:
Crippled HK$27 billion Jinsha River hydro plant badly built, says official
A hydropower plant where a sluice gate was reportedly washed away last year was poorly built, a senior official has said.
Chinese Enterprise News reported yesterday that the gate, on the Ludila hydropower station on the Jinsha (Yangtze) River, was swept away on June 29 last year, leaving its three turbines idle.
But Yunnan Jinsha River Hydropower Co, which runs the plant, said the “abnormal water discharge” had already been addressed and power generation had resumed.
And the Associated Press cracks down:
China hits activists with common-crime charges
In prosecuting the country’s political and social activists, an image-conscious Beijing is shifting its tactics.
Beijing is increasingly using public disorder charges to lock up those it considers as nuisances or threats to its rule, rather than filing charges of inciting state subversion that amount to political prosecution and drawing international condemnations.
“The scheme is craftier and crueler,” said dissident Hu Jia. He spent 3½ years in prison after a 2008 conviction of inciting state subversion that drew criticism abroad against Beijing and won him accolades.
On to Japan, and straight into Fukushimapocalypse Now!
Frist up, a man of mystery and a terrible decision from the Asahi Shimbun:
Fukushima puzzle: Who ordered halt