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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Italy Senate OKs PM's austerity plan

Thu Sep 8, 2011

The Italian Senate has approved Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's controversial austerity package aimed at reducing the country's soaring budget deficit.

The Senate made the decision late on Wednesday despite day-long national strikes against the measure.

A total of 165 Italian senators voted in favor of the plan and 141 against it, with three abstentions, following a day of debates.

Officials say the plan is necessary because it prevents Italy from falling deeper into the eurozone debt crisis.

The package will now go to Italy's lower chamber where a vote on it is expected for final approval on Saturday.

Earlier, tens of thousands of Italians took to the streets to voice their anger over the austerity measures, which include tax hikes as well as deep reductions in public services.

The EUR 54-billion package of spending cuts and tax-hike revenues is meant to help the debt-ridden eurozone country balance its budget deficit by 2013.

The package was originally worth EUR 45.5 billion, but was further increased due to market concerns.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/198015.html.

Police clash with protesters in Italy

Wed Sep 7, 2011

Italy's riot police have clashed with anti-government demonstrators rallying against the government's controversial austerity package, which the Senate recently approved.

The police reportedly used batons and fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse the protesters in the capital of Rome, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Moreover, hundreds of demonstrators tried to break through a police barrier protecting the upper house of parliament in which the vote for the austerity package was held.

The package, initially introduced by Prime Ministers Silvio Berlusconi, was approved by a vote of 165 to 141.

The EUR 54 billion package of spending cuts and tax hikes is meant to help the debt-ridden eurozone country balance its budget deficit by 2013.

The package was originally worth EUR 45.5 billion, but was raised due to market concerns.

It will now be passed on to the lower house Chamber of Deputies for approval, before it comes into effect.

Meanwhile, analysts believe the Italian government needs an additional EUR 10 billion cut in spending to achieve a balanced budget by 2013.

Italians had a day earlier, also staged demonstrations against the package.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197982.html.

One Suicide Every 2 Minutes in China

By Peter Yan
September 8, 2011

This Saturday, Sept. 10, is World Suicide Prevention Day. In China, which accounts for 25 percent of all the world’s suicides, an average of 287,000 people—or one every 2 minutes—commit suicide every year, and 2,000,000 attempt suicide but are unsuccessful, according to data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Suicide is the 5th leading cause of death in China but it has become the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 34.

The unusually high suicide rate among Chinese youth and young adults has been attributed to intense academic and employment pressure. High school and college students, as well as young parents, are the groups suffering under the most pressure in China, a Sichuan News commentary opined in a Sept. 8 piece.

Students are stressed by a heavy academic burden, body growth, emotions, and prospects for employment, while young parents face pressure from high costs of living, their job, and their children’s education, it said. The article also attributes the high suicide rate to the current education system in China, a system that emphasizes grades and status at the expense of societal relations.

Stress can exacerbate the likelihood of depression, which is the primary cause of suicide in China, according to the Beijing Morning Post. Depression increases the risk of suicide by 6 to 10 times.

China’s suicide rate has soared 60 percent in the past 50 years and the relatively high suicide rate in China also shows a different pattern between city-dwellers and country folk: the rural rate is triple that of the urban. Seventy-five percent of suicides by Chinese take place in the countryside and about 58 percent of them are done by taking pesticides.

In addition, China is one of few countries where the women’s suicide rate is higher than the men’s. More than 150,000 women commit suicide and 1.5 million attempt suicide annually in China, Wu Xuehua, Director of the National Women’s Federation’s Rights and Wellbeing Division said.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/one-suicide-every-2-minutes-in-china-61344.html.

Greek conservatives win, head into coalition talks

June 18, 2012

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Fears of an imminent Greek exit from Europe's joint currency receded Sunday after the conservative New Democracy party came first in a critical election and pro-bailout parties won enough seats to form a joint government.

As central banks stood ready to intervene in case of financial turmoil, Greece held its second national election in six weeks after an inconclusive ballot on May 6 and the subsequent collapse of coalition talks.

With one party advocating ripping up Greece's multibillion-euro bailout deal, Sunday's election was seen as a vote on whether Greece should stay in the 17-nation group sharing the euro currency. A Greek exit would have had potentially catastrophic consequences for other ailing European nations, the United States and the entire global economy.

Near complete results showed New Democracy coming first with 29.6 percent of the vote and 129 of the 300 seats in Parliament. The radical left anti-bailout Syriza party had 26.9 percent and 71 seats and the pro-bailout Socialist PASOK party came in third with 12.3 percent of the vote and 33 seats. The extremist far-right Golden Dawn party had steady support, getting 6.9 percent of the vote and 18 seats.

Sunday's results "will probably ease fears of an imminent Greek euro exit," said Martin Koehring of the Economist Intelligence Unit. "There will probably be a relief rally tomorrow in the financial markets. But the key question is how quickly can a government be formed?"

Stock analysts, however, warned that any bounce for financial markets could be short-lived. "Treat knee-jerk market rallies with caution," Neil MacKinnon, a global macro strategist at VTB Capital, advised clients, saying there was still too many questions about Europe's debt crisis to celebrate the Greek vote.

The United States welcomed the result. "We hope this election will lead quickly to the formation of a new government that can make timely progress on the economic challenges facing the Greek people," the White House said in a statement.

Greece's parties have starkly different views about what to do about the €240 billion ($300 billion) in bailout loans that Greece has been given by other European countries and the International Monetary Fund, and the harsh austerity measures that previous Greek governments had to accept in return for the loans.

With none winning an outright majority, the parties will have to seek coalition partners to form a viable government, needing a simple majority of at least 151 seats. New Democracy will get the first stab at brokering a partnership on Monday.

Negotiations could be tough. PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, who spent months negotiating bailouts as Greece's finance minister, has suggested dumping the usual procedure of each party seeking coalition partners. He said a government must be formed quickly and suggested a four-party coalition between New Democracy, Syriza, PASOK and the small Democratic Left, which was in sixth place with 6.3 percent of the vote and 17 seats.

"There is not one day to lose. There is no room for party games. If we want Greece to really remain in the euro and get out of the crisis to the benefit of every Greek family, it must have a government tomorrow," Venizelos said.

PASOK officials said Venizelos would insist on Syriza joining any future coalition, despite its anti-bailout stance — although the move could simply be a negotiating tactic to convince the public that Syriza was unwilling to play a constructive role in pulling Greece out of its crisis.

But Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, a 37-year-old former student activist, has ruled out such a possibility. Tsipras phoned New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras Sunday night to congratulate him on his victory and vowed that his party would remain outside the government.

"We will be present in these developments from the position of the main opposition," he said in a speech to cheering party supporters in Athens. Samaras cast Sunday's choice as one between keeping the euro and returning to Greece's old currency, the drachma. He has vowed to renegotiate some of the bailout's harsher terms but insists the top priority is for the country to remain in Europe's joint currency.

"The Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European path and in the eurozone," Samaras said. Tsipras, who had tapped into a vein of deep anger over the plunging living standards faced by many Greeks, had wanted to rip up Greece's bailout deals and roll back many of the new taxes and job and pension cuts imposed in the last two years.

Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called New Democracy's victory a decision to "forge ahead" with implementing far-reaching reforms. Germany's foreign minister said it was important for Greece to stick to its agreements with creditors, but held out the prospect that Athens might be given more time to comply with them.

Germany — Europe's biggest economy — has been a major contributor to Greece's two multibillion-euro rescue packages and a key advocate of demanding tough, and highly unpopular, austerity and reform measures in exchange.

How much tolerance Greece's international lenders will show will be key to future developments, Koehring said. "The New Democracy party has already said they want to renegotiate the bailout. The big question is how much cooperation can they expect from the EU and the IMF?" he asked. "We think they will probably be able to extend the terms."

Greece has been dependent on rescue loans to operate since May 2010, after it was locked out of international markets following years of profligate spending and falsifying financial data. The country is mired in a fifth year of recession, with unemployment spiraling above 22 percent and tens of thousands of businesses shutting down.

Greece had to agree to austerity measures to get the loans, including deep spending cuts on everything from health care to education and infrastructure, as well as tax hikes and cuts in salaries and pensions. Anger at the measures has sent Greeks into the streets in frequent strikes and protests, some of them violent.

The vote Sunday went smoothly except for one incident in which 10 men attacked a polling station in Athens with sledgehammers and wooden bats, wounding two policemen and setting fire to the ballot box.

Virtually unknown outside of Greece four months ago, Tsipras and his party shot to prominence in the May 6 vote, where he came in a surprise second. But his anti-bailout pledges horrified European leaders as well as many Greeks.

Experts said his proposals would lead to Greece getting tossed out of the eurozone and immediate, severe economic hardship at home for years. It's still not clear that Greece can stay in the eurozone. Some prominent economists such as Nouriel Roubini of New York University's Stern School of Business believe that Greece must leave eventually to avoid a disaster for the rest of the eurozone.

Menelaos Hadjicostis and AP television in Athens, Paul Wiseman in Washington and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Swiss voters say no to yet more referendums

June 17, 2012

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss voters decided on Sunday that they have enough democracy already, overwhelmingly rejecting a proposal to hold more referendums on international treaties.

A nationalist group in the already referendum-happy Alpine republic wanted voters to have an automatic say every time their government signs an important international agreement. However, not one of the country's 26 cantons, or states, voted in favor of more referendums in Sunday's referendum, and 75.2 percent of voters rejected the plan. Such proposals need a majority of both voters and cantons to pass.

Most major parties opposed the measure, saying it could gridlock Swiss democracy with constant ballot calls — as one pre-vote poster put it, "too much democracy kills democracy." Switzerland already holds about half a dozen national referendums each year as well as local ones.

The Action for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland group, which made the proposal, said it wanted referendums whenever Switzerland submits to a foreign law or court — particularly if it involves the European Union. Switzerland does not belong to the 27-nation bloc but is surrounded by it.

The right-wing Swiss People's Party, the only major party backing the plan, said Sunday's rejection "was predictable given the opponents' massive campaign of fear." As things stand, all it takes is 50,000 signatures to force a national vote on a new law or treaty in Switzerland, a country of more than 7 million people. The bar is higher — 100,000 signatures — if grassroots groups want to propose completely new legislation, but such measures also are voted on frequently and sometimes succeed.

Turnout in Swiss referendums rarely exceeds 40 percent. On Sunday, it was 37.8 percent.

Socialists take French Parliament, sweep power

June 17, 2012

PARIS (AP) — Francois Hollande is the man in charge after his Socialist Party swept France's parliamentary election. Voters welcomed the French president's vision of injecting government money into Europe's economies in hopes of helping the joint euro currency stave off disaster.

Socialists now have an unprecedented lock on politics in France, and plan to use it to raise taxes on big banks and oil companies, levy a 75-percent tax on incomes higher than €1 million ($1.26 million) a year, and hire 60,000 teachers. Hollande's strong domestic mandate will let him push back in global economic talks against the budget cuts being demanded by Germany, which Greece and other indebted countries say are driving them deeper into the financial abyss by suffocating growth.

France's election Sunday also gave the far right National Front a toehold in parliament, a small but symbolic victory for a party that wants to stop immigration, dump the euro currency and decries the so-called "Islamization" of France. The conservative UMP party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, which dominated the outgoing parliament, suffered the biggest losses.

The balloting to elect 577 lawmakers for France's lower — and more powerful — house of parliament came on the same day that conservatives won a parliamentary election in Greece. With final results still coming in, pollsters estimated France's Socialists and their closest allies will hold between 313 and 315 seats, well over the 289 needed for a majority and exempting them from horse-trading with far-leftists who oppose some of Hollande's pro-European policies.

"This score exemplifies strong confidence in the president," said Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, who won his own race for an Assembly seat. "This gives a spinal column to the government and strengthens it ... our commitments will be honored. We will not do any austerity."

Sarkozy's UMP party went from 304 seats in the old Assembly to an estimated 214 in the new one, after Sarkozy himself lost his re-election bid to Hollande just six weeks ago. Hollande now has a free hand to push forward with his plans. He wants to crack down on tax shelters and encourage companies to reinvest their profits. Also on tap is requiring banks to split their traditional deposit-and-loan activities from their speculative bets in the financial markets.

Hollande's government has already made good on a controversial plan to lower the retirement age for some French workers to 60 from 62. He also slashed the salaries of government ministers by 30 percent — a nod to a public wary of the much-criticized bling of Sarkozy's reign.

Hollande's pro-growth attitude is also attracting attention elsewhere in Europe. France is the eurozone's second-biggest economy and, along with powerhouse Germany, has a major role in EU policy and providing bailouts to weaker countries.

Hollande presented other European leaders last week with a new "growth pact" including €120 billion ($151 billion) worth of measures around the continent to stimulate growth, the Journal du Dimanche newspaper reported. A French official confirmed the report but would not provide details.

The French-German tandem has come under strain in recent months, not least because Chancellor Angela Merkel has opposed Hollande's vocal push for government stimulus and is defending an austerity package that she worked out with Sarkozy, a fellow conservative.

Even against the recent throw-the-bums-out mindset in many parts of Europe, the turnaround for France's Socialists was remarkable. The party was riven for much of the past decade by personal infighting and ideological discord.

On Sunday, the Socialists gained more than 100 seats in the Assembly — nearly all from the conservatives, discredited in the eyes of many voters after years of economic difficulties and high joblessness. Last fall, the Socialists seized control of the upper house of parliament, the Senate.

No matter who is in charge, there's plenty of challenges ahead. France's debts are huge and its unemployment rate recently rose to 10 percent — the highest rate in 13 years. The little-known ratings agency Egan-Jones Ratings downgraded French state debt to BBB+ from A- on Thursday, warning that French banks may soon come under strain.

"The work before us is immense. Nothing will be easy," Socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said, acknowledging that France's financial situation is "difficult." The anti-immigration National Front party won two seats in Sunday's election — the most it has had since 1988, when the political system was more favorable to extremist candidates. Party leader Marine Le Pen lost her quest for a seat in the industrial north by just 118 votes, but her 22-year-old niece — Marion Marechal-Le Pen — won her race in the southeast and will become France's youngest lawmaker.

Marine Le Pen has revamped the party to try to shed its reputation as racist and anti-Semitic. She placed third in the presidential race. The party, known for its sharp-tongued critics, will get a high-profile platform from which to grill Hollande's ministers during weekly question time in the often-boisterous Assembly.

"This is a first step toward future elections," Marechal-Le Pen told BFM-TV. In an election subplot, prominent Socialist Segolene Royal — the mother of Hollande's four children and the runner-up to Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential vote — lost her race in western France and her bid to become Parliament speaker. Her rival was a breakaway Socialist who had drawn the support of Hollande's current companion, journalist Valerie Trierweiler.

Sunday's result also exposed voter fatigue, coming so soon after Hollande's own victory on May 6. The turnout of 56 percent was the lowest recorded in modern France. In a well-off area of central Paris, voter Eve Baume said she cast her ballot for the local socialist "because I've been waiting for change for a long time."

"I wanted to support Francois Hollande, the government and its projects," she said. Pascal Albe, a voter from the working-class Paris suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine, said he generally votes for the right but he thought Hollande should have a Socialist-led parliament.

"Otherwise the country will be paralyzed, and especially now, we don't need that," he said.

Cecile Brisson, Sylvie Corbet, Thibault Leroux and Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.

Islamist claims victory in Egypt presidential vote

June 18, 2012

CAIRO (AP) — Islamist candidate Mohammed Morsi declared victory Monday in Egypt's first free presidential election since Hosni Mubarak's ouster 16 months ago. But just as polls were closing, the ruling military council issued constitutional amendments that gave sweeping authority to maintain its grip on power and subordinate the nominal head of state.

After the last-minute power grab Sunday night, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) pledged Monday to honor its promise to hand over power to the newly elected president by the end of this month. But the constitutional amendments stripped the president of almost all significant powers. The military decreed that it will have legislative authority after a court dissolved parliament, it will control of the drafting a new constitution and will not allow civilian oversight of its significant economic interests or other affairs.

Morsi represents the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic fundamentalist group which has emerged as the most powerful political faction since the uprising. The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party rejected the constitutional declaration, saying it was no longer within the authority of the military council to issue such a decree with less than two weeks left for the transfer of power.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman George Little urged the ruling military to transfer full power to a democratically elected civilian government, as it pledged to do in the past. "We are deeply concerned about the new amendments to the constitutional declaration, including the timing of their announcement as polls were closing for the presidential election," said Little.

The constitutional declaration made almost simultaneously with polls Sunday night was the third major blow in a week to hopes for a democratic transition that arose from the uprising. On Wednesday, the military gave itself broad powers to arrest civilians even on minor offenses such as traffic violations. And on Thursday, a court stacked with Mubarak-era appointees dissolved parliament.

Using its legislative authority, the military council issued another decree made public on Monday forming a new national defense council made up of 11 senior military commanders, including the defense minister, as well as the president. Though the council's mandate was not specified, it appears to be another step to limit the role of the president and enshrine the role of the military as the highest authority over national security policy.

The Freedom and Justice party also rejected the dissolution of parliament. "The People's Assembly stands and has legislative and oversight authority," the party said in a statement posted on its website.

Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Assar, a senior member of the ruling council, said the generals would transfer power in a "grand ceremony." He did not give an exact date or mention Morsi by name. He said the new president will have the authority to appoint and dismiss the government and that the military council has no intention of taking away any of the president's authorities.

"We'll never tire or be bored from assuring everyone that we will hand over power before the end of June," al-Assar told a televised news conference. Though official results have not yet been announced, the Brotherhood released a tally that showed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood took nearly 52 percent of the vote to defeat Mubarak's last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq with about 48 percent in a very close race. The count was based on results announced by election officials at individual polling centers, where each campaign has representatives who compile and release the numbers before the formal announcement.

The Shafiq campaign rejected Morsi's claim of victory and accused him to trying to "usurp" the presidency or lay the groundwork to challenge the official result if it shows Shafiq winning. "What the other candidate has done threatens Egypt's future and stability," said the statement, adding that initial indications show that Shafiq is undoubtedly ahead with between 51.5 to 52 percent.

If Morsi's victory is confirmed in the official result expected on Thursday, it would be the first victory of an Islamist as head of state in the stunning wave of pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East the past year. But the military's last minute power grab sharpens the possibility of confrontation and more of the turmoil that has beset Egypt since Mubarak's overthrow.

By midday, several hundred flag-waving supporters had gathered at Cairo's Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the uprising, to celebrate. In a victory speech at his headquarters in the middle of the night, Morsi, 60, clearly sought to assuage the fears of many Egyptians that the Brotherhood will try to impose stricter provisions of Islamic law. He said he seeks "stability, love and brotherhood for the Egyptian civil, national, democratic, constitutional and modern state" and made no mention of Islamic law.

"Thank God, who successfully led us to this blessed revolution. Thank God, who guided the people of Egypt to this correct path, the road of freedom, democracy," the bearded, U.S.-educated engineer declared.