Anti-euro party a wildcard in German elections

April 14, 2013

BERLIN (AP) — The leader of a new anti-euro party called Sunday for Germany to leave the common currency, telling an inaugural convention that the euro forces German taxpayers to rescue bankrupt southern European countries whose people denounce them as Nazis for their efforts.

A crowd of about 1,500 mostly older men cheered as the leader of the Alternative for Germany party, economics professor Bernd Lucke, said the euro had done little to bring Europeans together, tapping into public anger at southern European protesters who have compared Chancellor Angela Merkel to Adolf Hitler over the demands for reforms and austerity in return for bailout funds.

"Because of the euro, people in southern Europe don't hesitate to express their disgust toward Germany, using old Nazi comparisons," Lucke said. "This is not what I imagine Europe to be like." The convention adopted a platform calling for changes in the European treaty to allow each of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro to "decide democratically which currency it wants to use."

Such sentiments are still the exception in Germany, where a sense of obligation to help fellow Europeans in distress is rooted in shame for the crimes of the Third Reich. But the new political party hopes to capitalize on simmering fears that the euro crisis could deepen and drag down Europe's biggest economy. It aims to garner enough votes in the federal elections to reach the 5 percent minimum needed for seats in Parliament.

"The euro was a failure, and it would be bad if we continue to believe in this fairy tale," Lucke said. "If the euro fails, Europe doesn't fail." The stance puts the party in sharp opposition to Merkel's position that there can be no Europe without the preservation of the single currency, with her repeated insistence that "if the euro fails, Europe will fail." While still a fledgling movement, the new party could hurt Merkel by sapping support from her main coalition partner — which she has relied on for a stable government.

Alternative for Germany wants to introduce Swiss-style national referendums so voters can have a say on important matters, including economic rescue packages. The party congress, at Berlin's upscale Intercontinental Hotel, plans to adopt a program and vote for a party board on Sunday.

Many of the attendees expressed anger about what they said have been unfair money transfers from German taxpayers to help bail out countries such as Cyprus and Greece. "This party has good ideas," said Andreas Fluegge, 49, a software specialist from Limburgerhof in the country's southwest. "The euro is a big problem for us. Since we have had the euro I'm making less money and paying more taxes for things I don't understand. I hope these politicians will change this."

For all the talk about what it doesn't like, however, the party has been short on what it does like, and its leaders were slammed in an editorial this week in the top-selling Bild newspaper as "political amateurs."

The conservative tabloid has never shied away from accusing southern Europeans of being lazy, nor has it stopped deploring the cost Germany shoulders to bail out other nations, but turning against the euro itself remains unthinkable.

"They can craftily explain what is wrong with rescuing the euro, but they have no concept on how the future of Europe should look," Bild wrote. Experts believe the party has little chance of garnering enough of the protest vote to reach the 5 percent threshold. But it could draw enough voters away from Merkel's center-right coalition to force her into an alliance with the opposition or give the opposition an outright majority.

"There is space for an anti-euro party in Germany," said Oskar Niedermayer, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University. "So far this position hasn't really been represented in the German party system."

Underlining the potential appeal, a recent poll showed that even though 69 percent of Germans now back the euro — up from about 50 percent last year — a significant minority of 27 percent said they'd like to see a return to the mark. The survey of 1,003 people was conducted April 2-3 for the business daily Handelsblatt. The poll had an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Abandoning the euro currency would have significant costs, especially for Germany as a heavily export-oriented economy. According to analysts' estimates, it could easily knock down the country's annual output by a double digit percentage figure.

"I think the Germans know, and to some extent accept, that they have to pay the bill for saving the euro," said Ursula Weidenfeld, an economist and author. "They just want to make sure that they aren't paying more than necessary."

Other nations such as the Netherlands, Austria and Finland have also insisted on the same austerity measures that Germany has demanded in exchange for European bailouts, but as the bloc's largest economy and the largest single contributor to the funds, most of the anger has been directed at Germany and Merkel.

Some of Merkel's voters are now beginning to wonder whether their country — and their savings — should be tied to the struggling euro project, and Weidenfeld said support for the euro "could quickly change if a new rescue package has to be negotiated."

Should the eurozone's woes spread to fully engulf Italy or Spain — the bloc's third- and fourth-largest economies — and require them to ask for a bailout, German voters could panic, said Niedermayer. In Germany's election in September, the issue poses the greatest threat to the Free Democratic Party, Merkel's junior coalition partner, which has a pro-business platform. Because the party has polled only slightly above five percent, even the loss of a few thousand voters could mean disaster.

"It's not impossible that this new party could sap half a percent from the FDP and thereby kick them out of parliament," said Niedermayer. That could create a huge headache for Merkel, who may find it hard to form a workable majority in parliament without the FDP.

Merkel's own party, too, could suffer if conservative voters see Alternative for Germany as a credible way to express their frustration about her leadership. Economist Rudolf Hickel told Germany's Deutsche Welle, however, that even though there is anti-euro sentiment out there, Alternative for Germany doesn't have broad enough appeal to effectively tap it.

"They are professors and frustrated economists," he said. "If the party were headed by a populist, I'd consider them dangerous."

AP correspondents Kirsten Grieshaber and Kerstin Sopke contributed from Berlin.

Economic crisis sets back peace in divided Cyprus

May 21, 2013

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — When the barriers carving Cyprus in half were finally breached 10 years ago, Turkish Cypriot Fethi Akinci forged what some might consider the unlikeliest of friendships with Yiannis Maratheftis — the Greek Cypriot he almost killed in battle with a gunshot to the head.

The shooting took place on a July morning in 1974, as invading Turkish forces pushed forward in the wake a failed coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece. The friendship took root once the two men, now in their 60s, met in 2009, an encounter made possible by the checkpoint openings. Akinci had discovered from a book about Maratheftis that the soldier he'd shot was alive — and sought out his onetime enemy.

The story of Maratheftis and Akinci was one of the many signs of reconciliation that emerged after the barriers were opened, allowing crossings after three decades of complete separation. The number of crossings has now reached into the millions. But these flickers of hope for reunification are at risk of being snuffed out as the island confronts what could be its worst economic crisis, making prospects for reconciliation appear dimmer than ever.

With its once-robust banking sector decimated and unemployment soaring amid harsh EU-imposed austerity, Greek Cypriots seem to have little appetite for any radical and potentially expensive change that would add to their overwhelming sense of uncertainty about their future. The island joined the European Union in 2004, but membership benefits only extend to residents in the south. The Turkish Cypriots, on the other hand, have had a close-up look at the financial chaos that EU membership can bring, and may be in no hurry to join the club.

"It worsened the prospect for settlement," says Hubert Faustmann, political science professor at the University of Nicosia. "A solution is costly, and there is less money now or hardly any money if any money left to finance that."

There was no 10th anniversary commemoration the week of the anniversary. That early euphoria amid scenes of a crush people eager to cross over and see homes and properties that belonged to families for generations — then left hastily left behind — is now a faded memory.

Turkish Cypriots were first to rebel in the early 2000s against their isolation, angry at seeing their future drying up amid a collapsing economy. That compelled Turkish Cypriot authorities to loosen restrictions on crossings and to open checkpoints, putting an end to the Turkish Cypriots' nearly complete isolation on a sliver of territory recognized by no other country than Turkey.

"The opening of the gates, had opened a big door for ... the Turkish Cypriots because we were in a sort of enclave" said Turkish Cypriot Hassan Cirakli, sitting with his former Greek Cypriot schoolmate and close friend, Andreas Paralikis, in the shadow of a 12th-century cathedral converted into a mosque in the northern part of Nicosia. "We didn't have any relations with the outside world."

But the lack of a deal after so many failed attempts has sapped all optimism that reunification is possible, says Ahmet Sozen, chair of the political science department at Eastern Mediterranean University in the north.

Sozen said without real political progress, all the crossing points appeared to do was to bestow a kind of strange "normality" to the status quo. "Unfortunately the crossing openings failed to make a huge positive difference as to how people on both sides of the divided perceive each other," says Sozen. "People in their subconscious have been reconciled with the idea that this is perhaps the best arrangement."

That pessimism doesn't faze Maratheftis or Akinci. "Now we're fighting for peace in the same trench," said Akinci. Maratheftis still has the bullet fragments embedded in his skull but bears no grudges. These days, the two men recount their story to schoolchildren on both sides of the divide, part of a personal quest to erase the mistrust that the barriers sustained.

Francis without Roman numeral

March 13, 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says the new pope's official name is Pope Francis, without a Roman numeral.

Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi sought to clear up any possible confusion, noting that Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who announced the name to the world, said simply Francis. It is listed that way in the first Vatican bulletin on the new pope.

"It will become Francis I after we have a Francis II," Lombardi quipped.

Catholics, world leaders welcome church's new pope

March 13, 2013

LONDON (AP) — World leaders sent in their congratulations and Catholics around the world were celebrating Wednesday after the Vatican announced the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to the papacy — making him the first pontiff from the Americas.

As bells tolled and crowds cheered across Latin America, President Barack Obama offered warm wishes to Pope Francis and said the selection speaks to the strength and vitality of the New World. "I offer our warm wishes to His Holiness Pope Francis," Obama said. "As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than 2,000 years."

In Europe, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also issued statements of congratulations. Wednesday was "a momentous day for the 1.2 billion Catholics around the world," Cameron said in a message posted to Twitter, while Merkel, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, said millions of Catholics and non-Catholics alike would be looking to the new pope for guidance not just in questions of faith but in matters of peace, justice and protecting creation.

Merkel said she was particularly happy for Christians in Latin America, who now had one of their own called to be pope for the first time. Francis was elected after German-born Pope Benedict XVI stepped down last month, saying he lacked the strength to continue in the job.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he looked forward to cooperation with the Holy See under Pope Francis' "wise leadership," while European Union leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso wished the new Catholic leader "a long and blessed pontificate."

The atmosphere across Latin America brimmed with excitement and surprise, with people bursting into tears and cheers on streets from Buenos Aires to Caracas, Venezuela. "It's incredible!" said Martha Ruiz, 60, who was weeping tears of emotion in the Argentine capital. She said she had been in many meetings with the cardinal and said, "He is a man who transmits great serenity."

At the St. Francis of Assisi church in the colonial Old San Juan district in Puerto Rico, church secretary Antonia Veloz exchanged jubilant high-fives with Jose Antonio Cruz, a Franciscan friar. "It's a huge gift for all of Latin America. We waited 20 centuries. It was worth the wait," said Cruz, wearing the brown cassock tied with a rope that is the signature of the Franciscan order.

Arcilia Litchfield, a 57-year-old tourist from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was walking down the cobblestone streets when they glanced at a TV and saw that a new pope had been chosen. She and her husband then went to the San Juan Cathedral, where the remains of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon are buried.

"It's historic. It's the first time a pope has been chosen from this part of the world," she said. "It hasn't sunk in yet." Even in Communist Cuba, there was pride as church bells rang to celebrate the news. Elsewhere on the continent, people traded stories about the new pontiff.

"You would see him taking public buses," said Maurizzio Pavia, an Argentine now working in Puerto Rico, who said he was familiar with Bergoglio because they both came from the same region. "He would cook his own food. He would not let anyone serve him."

In the United States, the archbishop of Philadelphia said the new pope is a man of "extraordinary intellectual and cultural strengths." Archbishop Charles Chaput calls Francis a "wonderful choice" who comes from the "new heartland of the global church."

Despite the overwhelming outpouring of joy and goodwill, not everyone thought the news was positive. Andrew Reding of the World Policy Institute in New York said the choice of Bergoglio was an example of "superficial change."

"Once again, a conclave has made a bold geographical move while choosing a doctrinal conservative," he said. "To paraphrase an old saying, the more things change in the Roman Catholic Church, the more they stay the same."

On Twitter, the pope's mothballed account was revived and read: "HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM," a reference to the cardinal's new name: Pope Francis.

Associated Press writers from across the globe contributed to this report.

Pope Francis: Simple image, complex past

March 14, 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) — On the streets in Buenos Aires, the stories about the cardinal who would become the first pope from the Americas often include a very ordinary backdrop: The city bus during rush hour.

Tales are traded about chatting with Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio as he squeezed in with others for the commute to work. They sometimes talk about church affairs. Other times it could be about what he planned to cook for dinner in the simple downtown apartment he chose over an opulent church estate.

Or perhaps it was a mention of his affection for the tango, which he said he loved as a youth despite having one lung removed following an infection. On the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica just after a rain shower Wednesday, wearing unadorned white robes, the new Pope Francis also appeared to strike the same tone of simplicity and pastoral humility for a church desperate to move past the tarnished era of abuse scandals and internal Vatican upheavals.

While the new pontiff is not without some political baggage, including questions over his role during a military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s, the selection of the 76-year-old Bergoglio reflected a series of history-making decisions by fellow cardinals who seemed determined to offer a suggestion of renewal to a church under pressures on many fronts.

"He is a real voice for the voiceless and vulnerable," said Kim Daniels, director of Catholic Voices USA, a pro-church group. "That is the message." Pope Francis, the first from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order, bowed to the crowds in St. Peter's Square and asked for their blessing in a hint of the humble style he cultivated while trying to modernize Argentina's conservative Roman Catholic Church and move past a messy legacy of alleged complicity during the rule of the military junta of 1976-83.

"Brothers and sisters, good evening," he said before making a reference to his roots in Latin America, which accounts for about 40 percent of the world's Roman Catholics. Groups of supporters waved the white-and-blue Argentine flags in St. Peter's Square as Francis made his first public appearance as pope. Bergoglio reportedly had envoys urge Argentines not to fly to Rome to celebrate his papacy, but instead donate money to the poor.

In taking the name Francis, he drew connections to the 13th century St. Francis of Assisi, who saw his calling as trying to rebuild the simple spirit of the church and devote his life to missionary journeys. It also evokes references to Francis Xavier, one of the 16th century founders of the Jesuit order that is known for its scholarship and outreach.

Francis, the son of middle-class Italian immigrants, came close to becoming pope during the last conclave in 2005. He reportedly gained the second-highest vote total in several rounds of voting before he bowed out of the running before selection of Vatican insider Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI.

By returning to Bergoglio, the conclave confounded speculation that it would turn to a younger candidate more attuned to younger elements in the church and with possibly more stamina for the rigors of the modern papacy with nearly nonstop obligations and frequent global travel. Francis appears in good health, but his age and possible limitations from his single lung raise questions about whether he can face the demands of the position.

Unlike many of the other papal contenders, Bergoglio never held a top post inside the Vatican administration, or curia. This outsider status could pose obstacles in attempts to reform the Vatican, which has been hit with embarrassing disclosures from leaked documents alleging financial cover-ups and internal feuds.

But the conclave appeared more swayed by Bergoglio's reputation for compassion on issues such as poverty and the effects of globalization, and his fealty to traditional church teachings such as opposition to birth control.

His overriding image, though, is built around his leaning toward austerity. The motto chosen for his archdiocese is "Miserando Atque Eligendo," or "Lowly but Chosen." Even after he became Argentina's top church official in 2001, he never lived in the ornate church mansion where Pope John Paul II stayed when visiting the country, preferring a simple bed in a downtown building, warmed by a small stove on frigid weekends when the building turned off the heat. For years, he took public transportation around the city, and cooked his own meals.

He accused fellow church leaders of hypocrisy and forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes. "Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony. Go out and interact with your brothers. Go out and share. Go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit," Bergoglio told Argentina's priests last year.

Bergoglio almost never granted media interviews, limiting himself to speeches from the pulpit, and was reluctant to contradict his critics, even when he knew their allegations against him were false, said Bergoglio's authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin.

Bergoglio's legacy as cardinal includes his efforts to repair the reputation of a church that lost many followers by failing to openly challenge Argentina's dictatorship. He also worked to recover the church's traditional political influence in society, but his outspoken criticism of President Cristina Fernandez couldn't stop her from imposing socially liberal measures that are anathema to the church, from gay marriage and adoption to free contraceptives for all.

His church also had no say when the Argentine Supreme Court expanded access to legal abortions in rape cases, and when Bergoglio argued that gay adoptions discriminate against children. Fernandez compared his tone to "medieval times and the Inquisition."

Yet Bergoglio has been tough on hard-line conservative views among his own clerics, including those who refused to baptize the children of unmarried women. "These are today's hypocrites; those who clericalize the church," he told his priests. "Those who separate the people of God from salvation. And this poor girl who, rather than returning the child to sender, had the courage to carry it into the world, must wander from parish to parish so that it's baptized!"

Bergoglio himself felt most comfortable taking a very low profile, and his personal style has been the antithesis of Vatican splendor. "It's a very curious thing: When bishops meet, he always wants to sit in the back rows. This sense of humility is very well seen in Rome," said the biographer Rubin.

His preference to remain in the wings, however, has been challenged by rights activists seeking answers about church actions during the dictatorship after the 1976 coup, often known as Argentina's "Dirty War."

Many Argentines remain angry over the church's acknowledged failure to openly confront a regime that was kidnapping and killing thousands of people as it sought to eliminate "subversive elements" in society. It's one reason why more than two-thirds of Argentines describe themselves as Catholic, but less than 10 percent regularly attend Mass.

Under Bergoglio's leadership, Argentina's bishops issued a collective apology in October 2012 for the church's failures to protect its flock. But the statement blamed the era's violence in roughly equal measure on both the junta and its enemies.

"Bergoglio has been very critical of human rights violations during the dictatorship, but he has always also criticized the leftist guerrillas. He doesn't forget that side," said the biographer Rubin.

The statements came far too late for some activists, who accused Bergoglio of being more concerned about the church's image than about aiding the many human rights investigations into the junta era. Bergoglio twice invoked his right under Argentine law to refuse to appear in open court. When he eventually did testify in 2010, his answers were evasive, human rights attorney Myriam Bregman said.

At least two cases directly involved Bergoglio, who ran Argentina's Jesuit order during the dictatorship. One examined the torture of two of his Jesuit priests — Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics — who were kidnapped in 1976 from the slums where they advocated liberation theology, which is the belief that Jesus Christ's teachings justify fights against social injustices.

Yorio accused Bergoglio of effectively handing them over to the death squads by declining to tell the regime that he endorsed their work. Jalics refused to discuss it after moving into seclusion in a German monastery.

Both men were freed after Bergoglio took extraordinary, behind-the-scenes action to save them, including persuading dictator Jorge Videla's family priest to call in sick so that Bergoglio could say Mass in the junta leader's home, where he privately appealed for mercy. His intervention likely saved their lives, but Bergoglio never shared the details until Rubin interviewed him for the 2010 biography.

Bergoglio told Rubin that he regularly hid people on church property during the dictatorship, and once gave his identity papers to a man with similar features, enabling him to escape across the border. But all this was done in secret, at a time when church leaders publicly endorsed the junta and called on Catholics to restore their "love for country" despite the terror in the streets.

But rights attorney Bregman said Bergoglio's own statements proved church officials knew from early on that the junta was torturing and killing its citizens, and yet publicly endorsed the dictators. "The dictatorship could not have operated this way without this key support," she said.

Bergoglio also was accused of turning his back on a family that lost five relatives to state terror, including a young woman who was five months' pregnant before she was kidnapped and killed in 1977. The De la Cuadra family appealed to the leader of the Jesuits in Rome, who urged Bergoglio to help them; Bergoglio then assigned a monsignor to the case. Months passed before the monsignor came back with a written note from a colonel: The woman had given birth in captivity to a girl who was given to a family "too important" for the adoption to be reversed.

Despite this written evidence in a case he was personally involved with, Bergoglio testified in 2010 that he didn't know about any stolen babies until well after the dictatorship was over. "Bergoglio has a very cowardly attitude when it comes to something so terrible as the theft of babies. He says he didn't know anything about it until 1985," said the baby's aunt, Estela de la Cuadra, whose mother, Alicia, co-founded the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo in 1977 in hopes of identifying these babies.

"He doesn't face this reality and it doesn't bother him," the aunt said. "The question is how to save his name, save himself. But he can't keep these allegations from reaching the public. The people know how he is."

Initially trained as a chemist, Bergoglio taught literature, psychology, philosophy and theology before taking over as Buenos Aires archbishop in 1998. He became cardinal in 2001, when the economy was collapsing, and won respect for blaming unrestrained capitalism for impoverishing millions of Argentines.

Later, there was little love lost between Bergoglio and Argentina's government. Relations became so frigid that the president stopped attending his annual "Te Deum" address, when church leaders traditionally tell political leaders what's wrong with society.

"Is Bergoglio a progressive, a liberation theologist even? No. He's no Third World priest," said Rubin. "Does he criticize the International Monetary Fund, and neoliberalism? Yes. Does he spend a great deal of time in the slums? Yes."

Associated Press writer Brian Murphy reported this story at Vatican City and Michael Warren reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Papal names are rich with meaning

March 12, 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) — What's in a name? A lot if you are the next pope.

Every time a new pontiff is chosen in a conclave, a senior cardinal goes up to him and asks: "And by what name do want to be called?" The question is popped immediately, while all electors are still locked in the Sistine Chapel. So the winner had better have done his homework and already picked a name.

Shortly after, the senior cardinal reads out the pontifical name in Latin from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica as part of the "Habemus Papam" — "We have a pope" — formula that proclaims the election of a new pope.

"The name the new pope chooses tells a lot about the thrust of his papacy," said Ambrogio Piazzoni, a church historian and vice-prefect of the Vatican library. Benedict XVI, the German Joseph Ratzinger who stunned the world last month by announcing his retirement, told pilgrims at his first public audience in 2005 that he had chosen the name in order to be guided by the early 20th-century Pope Benedict XV.

"In his footsteps I place my ministry, in the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples," said Benedict. The earlier Benedict, pope from 1914-22, led the church through the turbulent years of World War I and devoted much of his papacy to healing the rifts the war had created in Europe.

Ratzinger, who focused on Europe's Christian heritage throughout his papacy, said he also drew inspiration from the 6th-century St. Benedict, founder of Western monasticism and considered responsible for helping to spread Christianity throughout Europe. One of Benedict XVI's main priorities was trying to revive the faith in Europe.

Other popes in recent times have also looked to previous popes for inspiration. In 1978, John Paul II kept the name of his immediate predecessor, John Paul I, out of deference to the earlier pope's short-lived papacy. John Paul I — who took the first double name in history — was found dead in his bed in the papal apartments, after only 33 days as pontiff.

The Polish John Paul II, born with the name Karol Wojtyla, had also reportedly considered Stanislaw, out of respect for the patron saint of his native Poland. Until the first millennium, popes were called by their first names, except for the 6th-century Roman Mercurious, who having been named by his parents after a pagan god, decided the name would not be appropriate for a pope. He chose the name of John II.

Speaking of Johns, Giuseppe Roncalli in 1958 became John XXIII because John the Baptist was the name of the parish church in the small town of Sotto il Monte in northern Italy where he was baptized. Over the 2,000 year history of the church the most popular name is John followed by Gregory and Benedict. Pius was the most popular choice in the past century, picked by three popes. Another famous Pius was the 19th-century Pius IX, who holds the record as the longest reigning pope — almost 32 years.

So what is the new pope's choice likely to be? "It all depends on what message he wants to give out from the very first day," Piazzoni said.

Italy's voters give boost to fragile coalition, shun Grillo

By Steve Scherer
ROME | Tue May 28, 2013

(Reuters) - Italian voters gave Prime Minister Enrico Letta's fragile coalition government a badly needed boost in local elections, shunning Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement three months after its spectacular success in a parliamentary vote.

Letta's battered and divided Democratic Party (PD) won control of five of the 16 biggest cities that voted on Sunday and Monday, and is in the lead before run-offs in two weeks' time for the rest, Interior Ministry results showed.

Its coalition partner, billionaire and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party, came in second.

The rival parties are uncomfortable bedfellows in a right-left coalition that is struggling to halt a slump in its popularity as Italians fret over how the country will emerge from the longest recession in its post-war history.

Fiery comic Grillo's 5-Star Movement did not win in any of the 564 towns and cities that voted and gained only 12.8 percent of the vote in Rome, less than half its result in the capital three months ago.

"It's clear that this is good for Letta because it gives him a couple of months to work," said Maurizio Pessato, vice chairman of the SWG polling institute. "Grillo's movement has suffered a setback."

In February, the 5-Star stormed into parliament for the first time by winning a quarter of the national vote as Italians turned their backs on traditional political parties, who they blamed for corruption, waste and mismanaging the economy.

Pessato said the 5-Star Movement's defeat was in part because Grillo had rebuffed overtures to back a PD-led government, disappointing the traditional center-left voters who chose Grillo over the PD.

"The center-left voters who voted for Grillo three months ago returned to the center-left," Pessato said.

5-STAR DISSENT

In a blog on Tuesday, Grillo said sarcastically he "understood" why voters would choose the old parties that accept public financing over the 5-Star, which does not.

But there is growing dissent among the 162 5-Star lawmakers. Earlier this month a group openly rebelled against Grillo's orders to hand back a portion of parliament's generous expense allowances and some have criticized their leader's heavy-handed tactics.

Media reports say some lawmakers are considering abandoning the 5-Star and forming their own bloc.

"People who voted for us with their gut three months ago have responded with their gut," Tommaso Curro, a 5-Star deputy, told Reuters in reaction to the local vote.

"Our entry into parliament brought a lot of hope to a lot of people, and those hopes were not turned into reality."

But Riccardo Nuti, who will become the movement's lower-house leader in June, played down the defeat, saying the local vote was not comparable to the national one. He did not see the group splintering.

"But if someone decides to abandon ship when there are some difficulties, they cannot be chained down."

(Additional reporting by Francesca Piscioneri; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Angus MacSwan)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/28/us-italy-politics-idUSBRE94R0K720130528.

Hungary torches 500 hectares of GM corn to eradicate GMOs from food supply

Wednesday, May 29, 2013
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

(NaturalNews) When it comes to protecting the public from GMOs, Hungary knows how to get the job done: set fire to the fields growing GM corn!

Although environmentalists might at first argue about the ramifications of burning so much organic matter right out in the open, the deeper truth is that genetic pollution poses a vastly more serious threat to our world, and burning GM corn is the one sure way to destroy the poisonous genetic code contained in plant tissues. In fact, I hope to see the day when the U.S. courts order the destruction of all GM corn fields across America. And I suspect that if the courts won't rise to the occasion, the People will sooner or later find a way to get it done on their own. Think "Army of the 12 Monkeys" but with a GMO slant.

Lajos Bognar, Hungary's Minister of Rural Development, reported this week that around 500 hectares of GM corn were ordered burned by the government. Hungary has criminalized the planting of genetically modified crops of any kind, and it has repeatedly burned thousands of hectares of illegal GM crops in years past.

This news was originally published in Portuguese at Rede Brasil Atual. An English translation has been posted at GMwatch.org.

GMOs are outlawed across the planet

GMOs have been banned in 27 countries, and GMOs are required to be labeled in at least 50 countries. In America, where Monsanto has deployed an insidious degree of influence over the legislature and courts, GMOs are neither illegal nor required to be labeled. In fact, 71 U.S. Senators recently voted against a measure that would have allowed states to pass their own food labeling laws.

Those Senators are now known as the Monsanto 71. The list includes Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, both senators from agricultural states (Kentucky and Texas) where Monsanto continues to exercise heavy influence over farmers.

Shockingly, most farmers who are planting GMOs have no knowledge whatsoever of what GMOs are or why people don't want them in their food. They've been lied to by the biotech industry which promised them "higher yields" and "greater profits." In reality, GM crop yields have plummeted even while giving rise to herbicide-resistant "superweeds" that now threaten many farms. With soils that have been rendered sterile with glyphosate and crop yields falling, farmers are increasingly finding themselves in dire straights.

Their only way out, of course, is to return to planting non-GMO crops. But wisdom moves very, very slowly through Texas A&M, a Monsanto stronghold and key propaganda center for pushing frankenfoods in the South.

A genetic apocalypse may devastate America's bread basket

Hungary was wise to protect its agricultural sector from Monsanto's imperialism. In contrast, America is incredibly foolish to sell out its food supply to destructive corporate interests that value nothing but profit.

By disallowing GMO labeling and promoting the continued commercialization of genetically modified crops (thanks, USDA!), the U.S. government is playing Russian roulette with America's food future. One day, something the scientists didn't anticipate will kick in, and the crimes against nature that have been committed by Monsanto will explode into a genetic apocalypse that threatens the future of life on our planet.

Remember: GMOs aren't merely "pollution" in the classic sense. They are self-replicating pollution that may be impossible to stop. Hence the wisdom of burning GM corn fields to the ground. Fire destroys DNA and breaks down vegetable matter into its elemental constituents: carbon and mineral ash, essentially. Fields that were once dangerous are now harmless. Fire restores sanity by destroying the engineered DNA dreamed up by mad scientists working for arrogant, foolish corporations who think they're smarter than Mother Nature and God.

Mark my words: there will come a day when Americans will wish they had burned all the GM corn fields to the ground. But by then it will be too late. The blight will be upon us, and with it comes the starvation, the suffering, the desperation and the riots. Hunger turns all family men into savages, just as greed turns all corporate men into demons.

To avoid both outcomes, we must banish GMOs now. Indict the executives of Monsanto for conspiracy to commit mass poisoning of the people. Invoke the RICO Act. Pull out the Patriot Act. Use whatever laws are on the books to put this monster away so that future generations do not have to suffer the devastating consequences of open-world genetic experiments gone awry.

If we don't learn from Hungary, we will sooner or later be schooled by hunger.

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/040525_Hungary_GM_corn_burning_fields.html.

New Bulgarian government may struggle to govern

By Tsvetelia Tsolova
SOFIA | Wed May 29, 2013

(Reuters) - Bulgaria's new Socialist-led government won a parliamentary vote of confidence on Wednesday, ending months of political impasse but lacking the broad backing that may be required to steer the economy and attract much needed investment.

The European Union's poorest member has been without a permanent administration since February, when street protests against low living standards and corruption toppled a government led by the center-right GERB party.

The minority government received 119 votes in favor and 98 against. Backed by the Socialists and their ethnic Turkish MRF allies, it will be led by Plamen Oresharski, 53, a non-partisan former finance minister.

"Maybe we won't be able to become rich and prosperous, but our minimum task is for Bulgarians to have bigger hope and more confidence that we are on the right track at the end of our term," Oresharski told reporters.

The new finance minister, economist Petar Chobanov, 36, said avoiding risks to a currency peg to the euro will be his priority. Bulgaria operates in a currency board regime which prevents its central bank from setting interest rates, leaving fiscal policy as the main tool to influence the economy.

One in five Bulgarians still live under the poverty threshold, six years after EU entry. The population has an average monthly salary of just 400 euros and pensions half that, a fraction of EU's average.

To soothe public anger, the government will also have to work to improve incomes and hold electricity costs at bay or risk renewed demonstrations - no easy task while keeping a tight rein on spending.

NATIONALIST BACKING

The leader of the nationalist Attack party, Volen Siderov, provided the one vote needed to open the parliament session and elect the government. But he said his party would withdraw its silent support if it sees the new administration was not working for "the national interest".

After hours of political bickering, Boiko Borisov - the leader of the largest party GERB, which failed to secure enough support to form a cabinet - said having a government was better for Bulgaria than continued uncertainty.

The government's lack of broad support will make it hard to push reforms in inefficient labor, healthcare and education but analysts said it was unlikely to allow uncontrolled spending given lessons from the 2009 credit boom and bust.

"While his position will be precarious in the perfectly hung parliament, Attack and GERB will not have the necessary majority to remove him, until we start to see some parliamentary deserters from his own party or their MRF allies," said Otilia Simkova, an analyst with political risk consultancy Eurasia.

Finance minister Chobanov said he would target a fiscal shortfall of 1.3 percent of national output this year, up from 0.8 percent in 2012.

Oresharski appointed another economist, Dragomir Stoynev, to overhaul the inefficient energy sector and keep electricity prices unchanged to avoid new protests over power bills, which eat up a large part of Bulgarian incomes in the winter.

When finance minister, Oresharski oversaw a period of dizzying economic boom and bust in a previous Socialist-led government in 2005-2009. He plans to attract more foreign investment to boost growth of about 1 percent expected this year.

(Additional reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Writing by Radu Marinas; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/29/us-bulgaria-government-idUSBRE94S0FN20130529.

EU ends arms embargo against Syrian rebels

Brussels (AFP)
May 28, 2013

The European Union finally agreed Monday to lift its embargo against arming Syrian rebels, after tough talks that exposed sharp differences between Britain and France, champions of the move, and their more reluctant partners.

However none of the 27 European member states intends to send any arms to the rebels in the coming months, for fear of endangering a US-Russia peace initiative for Syria.

After a grueling 12 hours of talks, British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced the deal to lift the arms embargo against the rebels, while maintaining the remainder of a far-reaching two-year package of sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Without such a deal, the entire set of sanctions, including an assets freeze on Assad and his cronies, and restrictions on trade in oil and financial transactions, would have lapsed at midnight on Friday.

But the agreement reached by EU foreign ministers in Brussels failed to come underpinned by a tight range of safeguards demanded for both ethical and political reasons by opponents of the long-running Franco-British push to arm Syria's rebels.

"It was not possible to find a compromise with France and Britain," said Austrian Foreign Michael Spindelegger, a longtime outspoken opponent of the move.

Austria, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic were reticent about pouring more arms into a conflict that has already cost some 94,000 lives.

To send arms is "against the principles" of Europe which is a "community of peace", said Spindelegger.

A French official in Paris stressed that "this is a theoretical lifting of the embargo. In concrete terms, there will be no decision on any deliveries before August 1".

Such a delay will allow for the planned US-Russia sponsored international peace conference on Syria, which it is hoped both the Assad regime and opposition figures will attend, to take place in Geneva in June.

The deal made in Brussels leaves the decision to supply arms to the rebels up to each nation. Ministers nonetheless vowed to stick to safeguards against misuse and to respect EU rules on arms exports.

Hague stressed that Britain, while championing the move, had "no immediate" plans to supply weapons to the rebels fighting Assad.

"None of the member states have the intention of actually providing arms at this stage," said Frans Timmermans, the Dutch minister who tried to steer a compromise.

"Member states will have to decide for themselves in the future whether they will provide groups with arms in that region."

But a written vow to respect a joint moratorium on supplying arms until after the planned peace conference in Geneva next month was eliminated in the final deal.

In Istanbul, Syria's opposition Coalition had urged EU foreign ministers to lift the embargo.

"It's the moment of truth that we've been waiting for for months," said spokesman Khaled al-Saleh.

Hague said it had been a "difficult" decision for EU partners who believe delivering arms would serve only to fuel the conflict.

"I think it is the right decision," he added. "It will support political progress on Syria and our attempts to bring together a Geneva (peace) conference."

Hague said Britain saw only a political solution and a diplomatically supported solution for Syria but that Monday's ground-breaking decision "sends a very strong message from Europe to the Assad regime of what we think of the continued brutality and murder and criminality of this regime".

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius left the talks before the finish to meet in Paris with his Russian and US counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and John Kerry, over efforts to convene the Syria peace conference in Geneva.

According to a document obtained by AFP, a compromise favored by most nations would have formally postponed the actual delivery of arms until a fresh political decision by all EU members by August 1 "in light of the developments related to the US-Russia initiative".

"Quite a lot of arms are already going to the wrong hands," said Timmermans. "The parties to the conflict don't have a shortage of arms, frankly."

EU diplomats said Britain had refused to agree to put the decision to the EU a second time by August 1. It wanted the deal to be implemented automatically after a set period.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/EU_ends_arms_embargo_against_Syrian_rebels_999.html.

China to provide Sri Lanka's first communication satellite

May 29, 2013

BEIJING, May 29 (UPI) -- China's Great Wall Industry Corp. has signed a contract to provide Sri Lanka's first communication satellite.

The company, in which China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. has an equity interest, is China's only authorized provider of commercial satellite launch services to the global market, the official media said. The contract will help further expand China's growing presence in the strategically located Indian Ocean island nation.

The deal, whose financial and other details were not disclosed, was signed Tuesday in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

It is part of an agreement between the two countries to expand bilateral trade, investment and cooperation in agriculture, space technology and infrastructure, China Daily reported. Last year, bilateral trade totaled $2.68 billion, up 19.6 percent from 2011.

The satellite to Sri Lanka will be based on the DFH-4 satellite platform, which would provide telecommunications and broadcasting services to Sri Lanka and its neighboring countries and regions, the report said.

China Daily, quoting a source, said several countries intend to buy the services from Sri Lanka.

The Chinese company said as of May it has launched 43 satellites and 37 launch services for foreign clients, covering 18 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceania.

China hopes to have a 10 percent share of the global satellite market and 15 percent of the world's commercial launch market by 2015, China Daily reported.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Technology/2013/05/29/China-to-provide-Sri-Lankas-first-communication-satellite/UPI-21451369804254/.

International trio takes shortcut to space station

Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP)
May 29, 2013

An international trio flying in a Russian capsule docked with the International Space Station on Wednesday with a busy schedule full of space walks and an encounter with a pioneering US cargo craft.

The six-month mission of Russian commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and his two flight engineers -- Karen Nyberg of NASA and Italian Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency -- began once their craft sidled up to the orbiting lab six hours after blasting off from the Moscow-owned Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz took a shortcut that slashed the travel time from the usual 48 hours thanks to a special orbit that catapults the astronauts directly to their destination.

The abridged journey had rarely been tried in the past because it puts greater stress on the astronauts' bodies.

But one such trip was successfully completed earlier this year and Russia decided to repeat the experience with a view to making the six-hour journey the norm for future travel to the ISS.

"It was a pretty cool ride," Nyberg told her husband on Earth via video linkup after the trio had reached the ISS and floated on board the station.

Italy's Parmitano said he was especially excited because this was his first chance to experience space flight after years of grueling training and practice.

"I feel the importance of performing well for all those people who have been working with me through all those years of training to get me to this point," he told reporters shortly before liftoff.

"Because of the training, you feel confident that you know you can do the job you've been trained for."

Past astronauts have made a habit of chronicling their experience with the help of social media websites such as Twitter -- winning tens of thousands of followers as a result.

Canada's Chris Hadfield took that social media experiment to new heights this month by releasing a link to his celestial performance of David Bowie's classic "Space Oddity".

The performance earned him nearly a million followers overnight.

Hadfield and his two fellow travelers returned safely to Earth on May 14. Left behind are Russian commander Pavel Vinogradov and his own two flight engineers -- Chris Cassidy of NASA and the cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.

Both Parmitano and Nyberg have their own Twitter accounts that were filled with their emotions prior to liftoff.

Nyberg has already tweeted a link with a performance of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for her son back home in the United States.

She tweeted Wednesday that she enjoyed a walk along the Avenue of Cosmonauts in Baikonur just hours before she was due to suit up and rumble up to the ISS.

The trio's six-month mission will include six space walks and a link-up with a pioneer US spacecraft called Cygnus.

The Cygnus is an unmanned resupply ship being designed by the private Orbital Sciences Corporation as part of a broader NASA effort to get commercial firms to fill the void left by the retired US space shuttle program.

The craft that will dock to the ISS some time in June will arrive empty and not deliver any cargo as part of its very first launch.

The demo flight is due to be followed later in the year by an actual delivery of cargo using a more powerful upper-stage rocket.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/International_trio_takes_shortcut_to_space_station_999.html.

A Hidden Population of Exotic Neutron Stars

Huntsville AL (SPX)
May 28, 2013

Magnetars - the dense remains of dead stars that erupt sporadically with bursts of high-energy radiation - are some of the most extreme objects known in the Universe. A major campaign using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other satellites shows magnetars may be more diverse - and common - than previously thought.

When a massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses to form a neutron star, an ultradense object about 10 to 15 miles wide. The gravitational energy released in this process blows the outer layers away in a supernova explosion and leaves the neutron star behind.

Most neutron stars are spinning rapidly - a few times a second - but a small fraction have a relatively low spin rate of once every few seconds, while generating occasional large blasts of X-rays. Because the only plausible source for the energy emitted in these outbursts is the magnetic energy stored in the star, these objects are called "magnetars."

Most magnetars have extremely high magnetic fields on their surface that are ten to a thousand times stronger than for the average neutron star. New observations show that the magnetar known as SGR 0418+5729 (SGR 0418 for short) doesn't fit that pattern. It has a surface magnetic field similar to that of mainstream neutron stars.

"We have found that SGR 0418 has a much lower surface magnetic field than any other magnetar," said Nanda Rea of the Institute of Space Science in Barcelona, Spain. "This has important consequences for how we think neutron stars evolve in time, and for our understanding of supernova explosions."

The researchers monitored SGR 0418 for over three years using Chandra, ESA's XMM-Newton as well as NASA's Swift and RXTE satellites. They were able to make an accurate estimate of the strength of the external magnetic field by measuring how its rotation speed changes during an X-ray outburst. These outbursts are likely caused by fractures in the crust of the neutron star precipitated by the buildup of stress in a relatively strong, wound-up magnetic field lurking just beneath the surface.

"This low surface magnetic field makes this object an anomaly among anomalies," said co-author GianLuca Israel of the National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome. "A magnetar is different from typical neutron stars, but SGR 0418 is different from other magnetars as well."

By modeling the evolution of the cooling of the neutron star and its crust, as well as the gradual decay of its magnetic field, the researchers estimated that SGR 0418 is about 550,000 years old. This makes SGR 0418 older than most other magnetars, and this extended lifetime has probably allowed the surface magnetic field strength to decline over time. Because the crust weakened and the interior magnetic field is relatively strong, outbursts could still occur.

The case of SGR 0418 may mean that there are many more elderly magnetars with strong magnetic fields hidden under the surface, implying that their birth rate is five to ten times higher than previously thought.

"We think that about once a year in every galaxy a quiet neutron star should turn on with magnetar-like outbursts, according to our model for SGR 0418," said Jose Pons of the University of Alacant in Spain. "We hope to find many more of these objects."

Another implication of the model is that the surface magnetic field of SGR 0418 should have once been very strong at its birth a half million years ago. This, plus a possibly large population of similar objects, could mean that the massive progenitor stars already had strong magnetic fields, or these fields were created by rapidly rotating neutron stars in the core collapse that was part of the supernova event.

If large numbers of neutron stars are born with strong magnetic fields then a significant fraction of gamma-ray bursts might be caused by the formation of magnetars rather than black holes. Also, the contribution of magnetar births to gravitational wave signals - ripples in space-time - would be larger than previously thought.

The possibility of a relatively low surface magnetic field for SGR 0418 was first announced in 2010 by a team with some of the same members. However, the scientists at that time could only determine an upper limit for the magnetic field and not an actual estimate because not enough data had been collected.

SGR 0418 is located in the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 6,500 light years from Earth. These new results on SGR 0418 appear online and will be published in the June 10, 2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/A_Hidden_Population_of_Exotic_Neutron_Stars_999.html.

Russia to launch 12 Proton-M rockets in 2013

Moscow (XNA)
May 28, 2013

Russia would launch 12 Proton-M heavy space rockets this year, Khrunichev space industry center said Wednesday.

Three had already been launched and a further nine would be launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Khrunichev CEO Alexander Seliverstov told reporters.

Meanwhile, the new Angara-5 heavy rocket would be launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Far Eastern Amur region after its construction was completed, Khrunichev general designer Yuri Bakhvalov said.

Bakhvalov said the first launch of an Angara-5, which is capable of placing manned spacecraft in orbit, was scheduled for late 2014 from the existing Plesetsk space site in Northern Russia.

Besides manned space missions, Russian scientists also plan to conduct daring biological experiments in space, including sending a "crew" of mice 200,000 km from the Earth, chief scholar of the Medico-Biological Institute Eugeny Ilyin told reporters.

"We are working on creating a spacecraft which could be launched to an orbit at 200,000 km distance for cell, gene and molecular experiments on mice following its return to Earth," he said.

However, Russia no longer planned to send large animals on space missions, the scientist said. "There is no need for a dog or a monkey. Whatever we test on them, we can test on humans as well," he said.

Ilyin said, if federal space agency Roscosmos gave the green light to that experiment, it could be conducted within three to five years.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_to_launch_12_Proton_M_rockets_in_2013_999.html.

Soyuz capsule docks with space station

May 29, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — A Soyuz capsule carrying an American, Russian and Italian successfully docked Wednesday with the International Space Station, where the new crew will spend six months conducting a variety of experiments.

The docking took place at 8:10 a.m. (0210 GMT, 10:10 p.m. EDT) less than six hours after the Russian spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia leases in Kazakhstan. Live footage provided by NASA TV showed it soaring into the clear night sky. About four minutes later, the announcer said the Soyuz was traveling at 4,700 miles per hour (about 7,500 kilometers per hour).

The cramped capsule carrying NASA's Karen Nyberg, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and Italy's Luca Parmitano orbited the Earth four times before docking with the space station. After docking, two hours passed before pressure equalized between the capsule and the station, allowing safe entry.

The three new arrivals were greeted by NASA's Chris Cassidy and Russians Alexander Misurkin and the station's commander Pavel Vinogradov, who have been aboard the space station since late March. "It was a pretty cool ride," Nyberg said upon arrival.

Cassidy had shaved his head clean to match Parmitano's look and got a thumbs-up from the Italian. Yurchikhin, 54, is a veteran of three previous spaceflights, while the 36-year-old Parmitano, a former test pilot, is making his first trip into space. Nyberg, 43, spent two weeks in space in 2008 as part of a U.S. space shuttle crew.

Shortly after their arrival, the incoming team spoke via video link with their relatives and officials back in Baikonur. Parmitano's mother wept throughout the chat with her son. Four spacewalks are planned during the expedition, including what NASA said would be the first by an Italian.

The International Space Station is the biggest orbiting outpost ever built and can sometimes be seen from Earth with the naked eye. It consists of more than a dozen modules built by the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann won't seek re-election

May 29, 2013

WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., a Tea Party movement leader in Congress, announced Wednesday she wouldn't seek re-election.

"After a great deal of thought and deliberation, I have decided next year I will not seek a fifth congressional term," Bachmann said in a video posted on her campaign website. "After serious consideration, I am confident this is the right decision."

She said the constitutional limit of eight years in office imposed on the president also was "long enough for an individual to serve as a representative for a specific congressional district."

Bachmann said her decision not to seek re-election wasn't influenced by questions about whether she could win re-election nor "impacted in any way" about inquiries about her 2012 presidential campaign and presidential campaign staff.

Bachmann had sought the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2012, winning the Ames, Iowa, straw poll, before falling behind in the state's caucuses. Her presidential bid prompted an ethics investigation into alleged improper payments to campaign consultants.

Bachmann slogged through a tough congressional race last year, besting her Democratic challenger, hotelier Jim Graves, by 4,300 votes. Graves announced last month that he would run again for Minnesota's 6th Congressional District.

"I've never considered holding public office an occupation," Bachmann said in the video and pledged to fight for conservative causes for the next 18 months. "I've always considered it to be an honor and privilege."

Thanking her husband, children, foster children and constituents, Bachmann said her future "is full. It is limitless and my passion for America remains."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/05/29/US-Rep-Michele-Bachmann-wont-seek-re-election/UPI-25371369826080/.

Iran sees new voter interest in June contest

May 29, 2013

TEHRAN, May 29 (UPI) -- More than 1.5 million voters are expected to cast ballots for the first time in June's presidential election, the Iranian Interior Ministry reports.

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said more than 50 million people are eligible to vote June 14. It will be the first voting opportunity for more than 1.5 million people, Iran's state-funded broadcaster Press TV reports.

Iranian leaders have said a high voter turnout would send a strong signal about the resiliency of the Islamic republic. Presidential elections in 2009 were marred to violence following the controversial victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ineligible to compete in June because of term limits.

Mohammad-Najjar said there would be more than 130,000 ballot boxes open domestically on Election Day and 285 polling stations overseas.

There are eight candidates qualified for the election. Most of them are considered conservative leaders allied with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei told lawmakers Wednesday that candidates should campaign honestly.

"The words of the candidates should be real, friendly, (and) based on accurate and true information," he was quoted as saying.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/05/29/Iran-sees-new-voter-interest-in-June-contest/UPI-22841369832965/.

Outside View: What to make of Rafsanjani's disqualification

by Alireza Jafarzadeh
Washington (UPI)
May 28, 2013

The Iranian regime's presidential election, which is scheduled for June 14, took several dramatic turns last week when the Guardian Council disqualified former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had surprised everyone by standing in for the elections.

In the theocratic regime of Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei holds absolute power and ultimate authority on all matters relating to foreign policy and national security, including the nuclear file.

Still, the candidacy of Rafsanjani posed perhaps the greatest challenge to the ruling clique since the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic in 1989.

But Rafsanjani is no light weight and the decision to bar him will have serious implications for the totality of the regime.

Since the inception of the clerical regime in 1979, Rafsanjani has always been the No. 2 figure after Khomeini. At that time, Khamenei was a low-ranking cleric from the city of Mashhad.

Rafsanjani, as he recently reminded everyone, almost singlehandedly raised Khamenei's profile and secured his presidency in 1981. After Khomeini's death, Rafsanjani was instrumental in installing Khamenei as the new supreme leader.

Rafsanjani has always been a kingmaker in the regime and he wants to make sure that Khamenei never forgets the immeasurable debt he owes to him.

The 2009 post-election uprisings were brutally suppressed by the regime in large measure due to the West's misguided reluctance to proactively side with the Iranian street. Nevertheless, the regime failed to put a lid on its deepening divisions.

Since then, Khamenei's authority has been significantly eroded and the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began to challenge him openly. Ahmadinejad handpicked Rahim Mashaei as his successor to keep the presidency within his own faction, only to be stymied by the Guardian Council.

This widening internal rift, coupled with the crippling impact of international sanctions on Iranian economy and the faltering state of the Assad regime in Syria, which is Tehran's main strategic regional ally, has significantly dented the Supreme Leader's aura and authority, thereby accelerating the regime's ultimate demise.

This explains why Rafsanjani, who until now was marginalized and driven into the shadows, had once again felt emboldened to make a last ditch effort to claim his share of power.

Indeed, anticipating Ahmadinejad's defiance and Rafsanjani's ambitions, the Khamenei faction had unleashed an extensive propaganda blitz to discredit and, at the same time, threaten the current and former presidents, calling Mashaei "deviant" and Rafsanjani "seditious." But these efforts failed to dissuade Rafsanjani from pushing ahead with his challenge.

So, the regime, which had emerged out of the 2005 elections relatively unipolar and monolithic, is now fragmented as never before, splitting into three major irreconcilable camps. Khamenei's cronies in the Parliament and elsewhere vociferously urged the Guardian Council to disqualify Rafsanjani and Mashaei, days before this unelected watchdog made its announcement.

In reality, when Rafsanjani stood for the elections, Khamenei was caught between a rock and hard place. None of the options seemed appealing, either to disqualify Rafsanjani outright or swallow his pride and in effect share power with Rafsanjani as president.

Khamenei finally chose to take the "nip in the bud," option, which seems to be, on the surface at least, the less risky option.

By disqualifying Rafsanjani, however, the Supreme Leader further eroded the regime's power base and delegitimized the regime and its election in the eyes of the most inner circles of the regime.

The bad news for Khamenei is that the windfall gains of four major regional conflicts -- the 8-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the first Persian Gulf War in 1991, the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and the foolhardy invasion of Iraq in 2003 -- which had him to not only attack the regime's democratic opposition but also consolidate power internally, have receded.

One thing is for sure: Whatever the outcome, Khamenei and the ruling clique will emerge much weaker and more vulnerable. The regime's political star is dimming and this will significantly improve the prospects of democratic change by the Iranian people and their organized opposition. As such, the United States can ill-afford to be a passive bystander and squander the opportunity this time around as it did in 2009.

Instead of investing in either of the regime's factions, Washington should shift gears altogether,and evolve its policy from seeking behavioral change to standing with the millions of Iranians who have lost faith in the ballot box long ago, and are longing for a democratic, non-nuclear and peaceful Iran.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Outside_View_What_to_make_of_Rafsanjanis_disqualification_999.html.

Kenyan MPs defy president, hike pay to 130 times minimum wage

By James Macharia
NAIROBI | Tue May 28, 2013

(Reuters) - Kenyan members of parliament, already among the world's best-paid lawmakers, voted on Tuesday to increase their salaries to more than 130 times the minimum wage in defiance of government plans to cut them as part of spending reforms.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won a closely fought March 4 election on an economic growth agenda, has implored lawmakers to accept pay cuts and help rein in public sector salaries to free up cash to create jobs.

Many Kenyans view members of parliament as symbols of a greedy political culture, seeking public office as an opportunity for personal gain at the expense of a country mired in poverty and where the unemployment rate stands at 40 percent.

Lawmakers on both sides of the house voted overwhelmingly for higher pay.

"They have taken away our dignity and we must reclaim it," member of parliament Jimmy Angwenyi told the assembly, backing a motion to overturn a legal notice slashing their pay and to increase it to an average of 851,000 shillings ($10,000) a month, up from 532,000.

The average monthly wage in Kenya is 6,498 shillings ($76).

Many Kenyans expressed outrage at the pay increase.

"Did we vote in the wrong guys? This is nonsense! What work have they done in the last two months to deserve this?" prominent businessman Chris Kirubi said on Twitter.

The president has no direct power to determine MP salaries, and the legislators' decision is expected to be challenged in court by civic rights groups.

The lawmakers' move to overturn a reduction in their pay decided by the state Salaries and Remuneration Commission before the election has caused anger that has led to street protests.

But lawmakers said the pay cut was imposed illegally. They argued they needed high wages because constituents expected them to provide charitable support. Some also said that MPs could be vulnerable to bribes if their salaries were set too low.

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) said it would go to court seeking to challenge whether the MPs can set the new salaries.

"The supreme law (Constitution) ended the era when elected leaders could use their muscle to illegally determine their remuneration," LSK chairman Eric Mutua said in a statement.

Kenyans are worried that by increasing their pay, the lawmakers could provoke demands for higher wages from local officials in the country's newly-demarcated counties, as well as teachers, police and doctors.

Kenyatta, who made an election pledge to achieve double-digit economic growth in his five-year term, wants a slimmer government as part of efforts to make savings. He has proposed a cabinet of 18 members instead of the maximum 22 granted by law.

Officials say the economy will grow 6 percent in 2013, up from 4.6 percent last year.

Kenya's public sector wage bill stands at 50 percent of annual government tax revenue. The International Monetary Fund puts the global benchmark at about 35 percent.

Kenyatta's Jubilee coalition has promised to deliver free maternity care, laptops to primary school children, better roads and a million new jobs a year.

(Reporting by James Macharia; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/28/us-kenya-reform-idUSBRE94R0MW20130528.

Beavers attack people in Belarus, fisherman dies

May 29, 2013

OSTROMECHEVO, Belarus (AP) — The fisherman wanted his photo shot with a beaver. The beaver had other ideas: It attacked the 60-year-old man with razor-sharp teeth, slicing an artery and causing him to bleed to death.

It was the most serious in a string of beaver attacks on humans in Belarus, as the rodents have turned increasingly aggressive when confronted by humans after wandering near homes, shops and schools. "The character of the wound was totally shocking for us medical professionals," recalled village doctor Leonty Sulim. "We had never run into anything like this before."

Once hunted nearly to extinction in Europe, beavers have made a comeback as hunting was banned or restricted and new populations were introduced. In Belarus, a former Soviet nation between Russia and Poland, the beaver population has tripled in the past decade to an estimated 80,000, according to wildlife experts. That has caused beavers increasingly to wander into populated areas, creating more grounds for conflict.

The Belorussian emergency services said that this year, for the first time, they have received a rash of reports of aggression by beavers, which can weigh up to 30 kilograms (about 65 pounds) and stand about a meter (three feet) high. Officials have responded to some calls by sending out crews to drive away the animals, often by spraying them with water from a fire-hose.

The fisherman, who has not been named at the request of his family, was driving with friends toward the Shestakovskoye lake, west of the capital, Minsk, when he spotted the beaver along the side of the road and stopped the car. As he tried to grab the animal, it bit him several times. One of the bites hit a major artery in the leg, according to Sulim.

The man's friends were unable to stop the blood from spouting, and he was pronounced dead when he arrived at Sulim's clinic in the village of Ostromechevo. He is the only person known to have died from a beaver attack in Belarus.

Wildlife experts attribute the upsurge in attacks partly to spring bringing about more aggressive behavior in young beavers that are sent away to stake out their own territory. Largely nocturnal, beavers can also become disoriented during the daytime and attack out of fear, according to Viktor Kozlovsky, a wildlife expert.

Kozlovsky said the large beaver population is beginning to cause significant damage to forests and farms. The Forestry Ministry said it was encouraging the hunting of beavers, once prized for their fur and gland secretions, which were used for medicinal purposes. But since they're such easy targets near dams, says ministry spokesman Alexander Kozorez, "beaver hunting holds little sporting interest."

"Hunting them is more like work," he said.

Striking Green-Eyed Butterfly Discovered in the United States

May 28, 2013 — A new butterfly species from Texas, given the common name Vicroy's Ministreak, was discovered because of its striking olive green eye color, and was given a formal scientific name (Ministrymon janevicroy). This beautiful new butterfly may be the last truly distinctive butterfly species to be discovered in the United States.

Although individuals of Vicroy's Ministreak were deposited in the Smithsonian entomology collections a century ago, this species was unrecognized because it was confused with the common, similar-looking Gray Ministreak. Interestingly what distinguishes the two species is the distinctive olive-green eyes of the new species in contrast to the dark brown/black eyes of the Gray Ministreak.

As their common names suggest both species are diminutive, about the size of a thumbnail, and may occur at the same time and place. Besides eye color, each has different wing patterns and different internal structures. They have different, but overlapping, geographic distributions and habitat requirements.

Jeffrey Glassberg, President of the North American Butterfly Association, discovered Vicroy's Ministreak, and he named the species after his wife (Jane Vicroy Scott). Bob Robbins, the butterfly curator at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, together with Glassberg, are the authors of the paper officially describing Vicroy's Ministreak, published in the open access scientific journal ZooKeys.

Regardless of whether Vicroy's Ministreak turns out to be the last truly distinctive butterfly to be discovered in the United States, the era of new butterfly species, which began with Linnaeus more than 250 years ago, is ending in the United States. In tropical America, however, there are still hundreds upon hundreds of butterfly species awaiting discovery.

Source: Science Daily.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130528122510.htm.

German Parliament approves Cyprus aid package

April 18, 2013

BERLIN (AP) — The German Parliament on Thursday approved a 10 billion euros ($13 billion) rescue package for Cyprus by a wide margin.

Lawmakers voted 487-102 in favor of the bailout deal hammered out last month. Thirteen abstained. Cyprus will receive 10 billion euros in loans after its bloated banking sector threatened to destroy the economy.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, insisted on making those holding large deposits in Cyprus' biggest banks contribute to the rescue. That position was shared by the German opposition. All the rescue agreements involving euro countries need approval from the German Parliament.

Although some in Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition are uneasy about bailouts, the main opposition parties so far have supported them. In separate votes Thursday, lawmakers approved by a similarly wide majority agreements to grant Ireland and Portugal seven years more years to pay their bailout loans — a move meant to ease the burden on their economies and pave the way for a quicker return to sustainable growth.