100,000 Poles in anti-govt march, threaten strike

September 14, 2013

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Threatening a general strike, throwing smoke grenades and blowing whistles, around 100,000 Polish union members marched through Warsaw on Saturday to vent their anger against the government's labor and wage policies.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government is rapidly losing popularity after recently raising the retirement age, announcing a reform of the pension system and relaxing some labor code provisions that allow for longer daily and weekly working hours.

The demonstrators marched to the historic Castle Square with flags and balloons in national white-and-red colors and with banners saying "Tusk's government Must Go," and with individual plaques reading: "I am Tusk's Slave."

They converged on Warsaw from all over Poland on the last of four days of major protests in the city that also included meetings with politicians and debates with labor market experts. Some of them have camped in front of parliament since their first march Wednesday.

The organizers — Poland's largest union, OPZZ, Solidarity and groups representing various professions — said about 120,000 participated in the march Saturday. City authorities said there were some 100,000.

The unionists said that the policies of Tusk's pro-market government hurt the interests of workers and of their families. Tusk is in his sixth year in office and is Poland's longest-serving premier since the fall of communism in 1989.

A nurse interviewed on TVN24 said that after 31 years in her job her monthly earnings are 2,000 zlotys ($630.) OPZZ leader Jan Guz said the march was a warning and if the government does not change its policies "we will block the whole country, we will block every highway, every road" to demand better work conditions.

"We don't accept a policy that leads to poverty," Guz said amid the noise of whistles and horns. Poland has experienced big strikes in the past. In the 1980s, the Solidarity freedom movement organized nationwide strikes that eventually led to democratic reforms.

The marchers complained of large-scale layoffs after economic growth slowed down to 1.9 percent of gross domestic product last year from 4.5 percent in 2011. They want job security and contracts that guarantee health care and retirement benefits at a time when unemployment is at 13 percent and many companies offer short-term contracts without social security.

Workers say average monthly wages of about 3,700 zlotys ($1,150) before tax are among Europe's lowest. They also want the reversal of a recent raise in the retirement age to 67 years from the previous 60 years for women and 65 years for men.

The ruling coalition of Tusk's center-liberal Civic Platform and a peasant party has been losing popularity to the nationalist opposition Law and Justice party of former prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and its parliament majority has shrunk precariously to 232 votes in the 460-member lower house.

Italian government sees hope of survival

September 30, 2013

ROME (AP) — The Italian government's chances of survival rose on Monday as some of former Premier Silvio Berlusconi's longtime loyalists vowed they would not support his attempt to bring down the fragile coalition.

Berlusconi demanded last weekend that the five ministers from his political party quit Premier Enrico Letta's government. He asked them to resign in a show of solidarity ahead of a Senate vote to strip him of his seat because of his tax-fraud conviction.

The ministers, some of them reluctantly, bowed to Berlusconi's demand, plunging the country into political uncertainty. Letta called a confidence vote in Parliament for Wednesday to determine the five-month-old administration's future.

The prospect of the government collapsing worried investors, who sold off the country's stocks and bonds early Monday. There are fears the country would suffer weeks or months of political uncertainty that could derail its attempts to get the economy back on track. Memories are still fresh of this year's inconclusive elections, which left politicians squabbling for two months before Letta's unusual left-right coalition was cobbled together in April.

Letta wants to press ahead with reforms needed to bring the economy, the eurozone's third-largest, out of recession and reduce public debt, which is forecast to near 130 percent of GDP this year. An unstable Italian economy could, some argued, revive the European financial crisis, which had lain dormant for months.

But such fears eased somewhat as a split emerged in Berlusconi's party over whether to pull the plug on the government. At least four of the ministers who quit have said they are considering giving their support to Letta in Parliament. There were also signs of a challenge to Berlusconi's leadership from his political heir, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. Alfano was reportedly worried about the political repercussions — for himself and the Freedom People party — of bringing down the government in the middle of a recession for no better reason than to defend Berlusconi in his personal judicial woes.

Dissent among Berlusconi's aides also was fueled by a decision by many senators in Berlusconi's party to quit in protest if a Senate committee later this week votes to strip him of his seat because of his conviction.

"I have expressed strong opposition to our lawmakers' decision to resign," said just-resigned Reforms Minister Gaetano Quagliariello, a longtime Berlusconi stalwart who appeared to be shaping up to be the leader of an influential, disenchanted faction in the media mogul's leadership ranks.

In an interview with one of Berlusconi's networks, Quagliariello urged his center-right colleagues to avoid "the risk of a crisis that would explode for the country and not be understood by our electorate." He said it would be "folly" if his own party brings down Letta's government.

A late-day strategy huddle with Berlusconi and his key lawmakers only yielded confused signals and no immediate way out of the political crisis, said Fabrizio Cicchitto, a former parliamentary whip who has blasted the conservative leader's strategy to make the ministers quit and provoke the parliamentary showdown.

"I asked for a debate, but (the request) was politely blown off," Chicchitto said after emerging from the hours-long meeting. Participants said Berlusconi did all the talking and quoted him as offering to back Letta for "seven days," in other words, just enough limited support to pass the stability bill, as well as reverse a sales-tax hike and abolish a property tax, both promises to his electorate.

But Cicchitto indicated that Berlusconi's hardliner tactics had essentially left him with no room to maneuver. "Either we freeze the ministers' resignations, and in doing so, eliminate the reasons for a confidence vote, or (Berlusconi's) party must vote in favor" of Letta in order to keep the government afloat, so the tax relief can be passed, Cicchitto said.

Further easing concerns about a government collapse, a top leader in Letta's center-left Democratic Party said the government might avoid a make-or-break confidence vote. Instead, it might seek Parliament's approval on specific motions, likely tied to key economic measures and electoral reform that could serve to calm jittery markets.

"It's very likely that what will happen is that individual motions will be voted on" in confidence votes not formally tied to the government' survival, said Dario Franceschini, minister of parliamentary relations.

Should Letta's government fall, the president has said he will make dissolving Parliament his last resort. That means several weeks could go by while the president sees if another coalition can be cobbled together, possibly with moderates defecting from Berlusconi's ranks. That should earn the government enough time to pass a key budget law by mid-October. The law is needed to bring the deficit back within EU limits and avoid sanctions by the European Union.

By the end of the day, the Milan stock index was down 1.2 percent, half as much as it had dropped earlier. The 10-year bond yield — a measure of investor wariness — was unchanged, having been sharply higher in the morning.

Analysts say that even in the event of a government collapse, financial markets are unlikely to panic. That's mainly thanks to the European Central Bank's promise made 13 months ago to buy the government bonds of heavily indebted countries, if they agree to cut their deficits and debt levels. That means Italy has a backstop from the central bank's theoretically unlimited financial power — even if bond investors were to lose faith and start selling Italy's government bonds, the ECB could step in.

Still, while financial markets are "accustomed to dysfunctional and unstable Italian politics, the latest bout of renewed tensions is unwelcome at a time when Italy remains entrenched in a severe and prolonged economic turndown," said Raj Badiani, an analyst at IHS Global Insight.

Letta's office said the premier received a call in the afternoon from German Chancellor Angela Merket, wishing him "political stability for Italy and continuity in the government's work." The Italian uncertainty is unlikely to seriously threaten the eurozone, for now. The continent's debt crisis has been subdued since the ECB made its promise last year to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro.

The eurozone economy is also "less fragile than it was six months ago," economist Christian Schulz from Berenberg Bank wrote in a note to investors. "That reduces the risk that contagion could again spread like wildfire across the eurozone."

That holds, however, only so long as the political turmoil does not prevent Italy from being able to agree to the deficit reductions that would be required to get the ECB's help in the bond markets.

McHugh contributed from Frankfurt, Germany

Golden Dawn lawmakers to appear in court

October 01, 2013

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Four lawmakers from the extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party are to appear in court for a preliminary hearing into charges of participating in a criminal organization.

Ilias Kassidiaris, who is also party spokesman, Ilias Panagiotaros, Yiannis Lagos and Nikos Mihos were to appear in court Tuesday afternoon for a deposition. Another three party members were to head to court earlier in the day.

The party's top leadership, including its leader, are among 22 people arrested in a crackdown on the Nazi-inspired party sparked by the fatal stabbing of a Greek rap singer. Arrest warrants have been issued for another 10 people.

Golden Dawn rose from a fringe group to become Greece's third most popular party in recent years, riding on a wave of anger over the country's deep financial crisis.

Greek PM vows to eradicate far-right Golden Dawn

September 30, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — Greece's prime minister said Monday his government will do "whatever it takes" to completely eradicate the extreme-right Golden Dawn party, whose neo-Nazi leaders have just been arrested.

Antonis Samaras said the Greek people "are very smart" and are now seeing the party for what it really is. "I believe that they will realize that they should not follow the party that has such extreme ideological positions and ideas," he told a meeting in New York of AJC, the American Jewish Committee, which advocates globally on Jewish issues.

Samaras, in New York to attend the U.N. annual meeting of world leaders, added that he does not believe the party will return with greater popularity because its leaders will be viewed as victims or martyrs. Golden Dawn's approach and thinking about politics is "so negative" and "so hideous ... (and) so catastrophic to Greeks and Greece that I do not believe they might come back," he said.

Golden Dawn, a formerly fringe nationalist group with neo-Nazi roots that started in the late 1980s, enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity during Greece's financial crisis which began about six years ago. They won 18 seats in the 300-member Parliament in the 2012 election.

Since the election, Golden Dawn has been blamed for numerous violent attacks, mostly against dark-skinned immigrants but also against gays and left-wing activists. The party has been increasingly on the defensive since the Sept. 17 fatal stabbing of a left-wing Greek activist rapper, blamed on a Golden Dawn supporter. Though the party has vehemently denied any role in the killing, it has appeared to dent its appeal among Greeks and apparently sparked the current government crackdown.

Several of the 100 invited guests at Samaras' speech expressed concern at Golden Dawn's anti-Semitic and fierce anti-immigrant stance, and the crowd loudly applauded his pledge to crack down on the party.

"We are dedicated (to) completely eradicating such a shame," he said. "There is no room for the neo-Nazis in any part of the democratic world, and there is no tolerance for the neo-Nazis, or for any kind of extremism, undermining democratic institutions."

On Saturday, police counterterrorism units started arresting key Golden Dawn leaders and by Monday, six lawmakers — including the party's top two officials — 14 other members and two police officers with alleged sympathies had been arrested. Warrants have been issued for 10 more people.

The crackdown marks the first time since the 1974 restoration of democracy after a military dictatorship that sitting members of a Greek parliament have been arrested. On several occasions in his speech and the questions that followed, Samaras used the word "deracinate" — meaning uproot or eradicate — to describe his government's goal. He said Greek authorities reacted decisively in "identifying the culprits" of alleged crimes by Golden Dawn leaders and those "who possibly stand behind them."

The judicial system is now in charge — not the government and it will "take care of them" and it "will deracinate this phenomenon from Greece," he said. As for the government, Samaras said: "We are going to do everything we can for the justice system to do exactly what it has to do, and I think they started correctly and will finish in the best way."

The Greek leader stressed the link between New Dawn's rise and Greece's depression, which has erased about 25 percent of Greece's gross domestic product and sent unemployment as high as 27 percent. Youth unemployment skyrocketed to more than 60 percent.

Despite the standard of living dropping by about 40 percent, which hasn't happened anywhere in the post-World War II era, Samaras said, "the Greek people showed maturity, resilience and determination and we now have started to ascend, getting up step-by-step out of the worst part of the crisis."

He stressed that the people who voted for Golden Dawn were not neo-Nazis. "The heads of the group are neo-Nazis," he said. But their supporters were reacting to the terrible times that Greece went through.

"I would never call the people who voted for them neo-Nazis," he said. Samaras stressed that the arrest of the Golden Dawn supporters was a first in Europe, but he said other countries in the region are facing people with similar ideologies.

"What to me is important is to deracinate totally this group, and the only way you can do it is when unemployment will start falling," he said. "That's what we're planning to do, and hopefully this will be done, and this will establish a precedent ... for the rest of Europe."

With 18 lawmakers in the 300-member Parliament, the Golden Dawn is slated to receive more than 873,000 euros ($1.18 million) in 2013. The Greek government submitted draft legislation to Parliament late Monday aimed at cutting state funding to the party. The proposed legislation would suspend state funding for a party if any members of its leadership or lawmakers are being prosecuted for felonies.

"Democracy cannot fund its rivals," said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos. "When you have a criminal organization which is operating inside a political party, there must be sanctions regarding funding."

Associated Press writers Nicholas Paphitis and Elena Becatoros contributed to this report from Athens.

Wanted Greek lawmaker gives himself up

September 29, 2013

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek lawmaker sought by police surrendered on Sunday, bringing to six the number of legislators from the extreme-right Golden Dawn party now in custody and accused of being members of a criminal organization with intent to commit crimes.

The government crackdown on the fiercely anti-immigrant party marks the first time since 1974 that sitting members of a Greek Parliament have been arrested. The arrests underline the government's efforts to stifle Golden Dawn, which has been increasingly on the defensive since the Sept. 17 fatal stabbing of a Greek man blamed on a Golden Dawn supporter.

Thirteen Golden Dawn members and two police officers also have been taken into custody, and arrest warrants issued for 11 other suspects who remain at large, officials said. As he turned himself in at police headquarters in Athens on Sunday, Christos Pappas — a lawmaker described by prosecutors as the Golden Dawn's No. 2 official — condemned the crackdown on his party and the painful austerity measures that have been imposed during the bailout of Greece's battered economy.

Several Greek TV channels broadcast his arrival live, showing him leaving a taxi, ducking under the cordon surrounding the building, and turning to the cameras. "I present myself voluntarily. I have nothing to hide, nothing to fear. The occupation government of the bailout deals has begun unprecedented political persecutions, using so-called independent justice. Nationalism will prevail. Golden Dawn will survive," he said.

Pappas then shouted, "Hail Golden Dawn!" and waved as he entered the building. Five other legislators from the party, which has neo-Nazi roots, have been in custody there since Saturday, including Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos. They were charged with membership in a criminal organization with intent to commit crimes, as Pappas will be.

Court hearings before a magistrate are scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday. Given the seriousness of the charge they face, the arrested Golden Dawn suspects are expected to be transferred to a prison as they await trial. However, the jailed lawmakers will remain members of parliament and only lose their seats if they are convicted or resign.

The government said it plans to introduce legislation Monday aimed at cutting all state funding to Golden Dawn, which is slated to receive more than €873,000 ($1.18 million) in 2013. On Sunday, the Brussels-based European Jewish Congress welcomed the crackdown on Golden Dawn, calling it "a long overdue move which will hopefully send a very strong message to neo-Nazis in Greece and across Europe."

In a statement, congress President Moshe Kantor, said: "We congratulate Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on the crackdown ... and hope that the Greek leadership will make this a central part of the European Union presidency, which they will assume in January 2014."

A formerly marginal organization, Golden Dawn won only 0.29 percent of the vote in a 2009 national election in Greece, but saw its popularity explode by capitalizing on public resentment over an influx of illegal immigrants.

Downplaying its extremist roots and presenting itself as a "patriotic" force, the party won public support by patrolling streets, doing the shopping for elderly residents, and collecting back rents for apartment owners with migrant tenants.

During the heyday of Greece's anti-austerity protests in 2011, Golden Dawn members carried Greek flags and loudly blamed migrants and foreign "predators." Last year's election put 18 Golden Dawn lawmakers in the 300-member parliament, and party members have frequently been suspected of physically attacking immigrants.

Austria's governing coalition slips in elections

September 29, 2013

VIENNA (AP) — Austria's two government coalition parties appeared to have lost some support in parliamentary elections Sunday but seemed likely to keep the absolute majority they need to stay in power for the next five years.

Meanwhile, a right-wing, anti-immigrant party made gains. With more than 60 percent of the vote counted, the Socialist Party had 26.5 percent backing and its centrist People's Party partner was at 23.7 percent. That was a loss of more than 2 percentage points each for both parties.

A final official tally was expected later in the day. The right-wing Freedom Party had 22 percent, a gain of nearly 4 percentage points, after a campaign strong on anti-immigrant and European Union-skeptic sentiment.

The Greens gained only slightly from the last elections five years ago, with 11.5 percent. Also clearing the 4-percent hurdle needed to get into parliament were the liberal NEOS at 4.6 percent and the populist Team Stronach of Austro-Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach with 5.9 percent.

The partial results reflected some erosion of support for the mainstream Socialists and People's Party and their pro-EU stance, particularly in the context of the gains by the Freedom Party and Team Stronach's relatively strong showing in its first federal election.

Many Austrians are opposed to their government's financial and moral backing for the bailouts of Greece and other economically struggling eurozone countries during the protracted crisis that has gripped some of the 17 nations using the EU's common currency.

Unmanned cargo ship docks with orbiting Space Station

Washington (AFP)
Sept 29, 2013

An unmanned cargo ship successfully berthed with the orbiting International Space Station on Sunday following a one-week delay due to a technical glitch, NASA said.

ISS astronauts "successfully captured the Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo spacecraft with the station's robotic arm" at 1100 GMT, NASA said.

"Following its capture, the spacecraft is being maneuvered by Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Karen Nyberg of NASA for installation onto the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module," the space agency said on its website.

The Cygnus capsule, built by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences, launched on September 18 on a demonstration mission meant to show it can successfully deliver cargo to the space station.

Orbital Sciences has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA that requires the company to deliver freight to the ISS over the course of eight flights by the beginning of 2016.

However a software problem delayed the Cygnus spacecraft's planned approach to the research outpost. The capsule manufacturers eventually figured out how to fix what they called a data format mismatch.

Orbital Sciences is one of just two private US firms enlisted by NASA to carry payloads to the ISS.

California-based SpaceX already showed it could send its reusable Dragon capsule to the ISS bearing cargo in May 2012.

Cygnus's delay however allowed time for three new ISS crew members -- Michael Hopkins of NASA and Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian space agency -- to launch aboard a Russian Soyuz.

Their Soyuz-TMA-10M capsule blasted off from Kazakhstan and docked successfully with the ISS just six hours later, in a new shortcut route now used by the Russian space agency.

The capsule orbited the Earth just four times on its way to the ISS as opposed to the usual 30, under a technique originally devised in the Soviet era but only adopted on a regular basis in the past year.

The orbiting space lab is typically staffed by six international astronauts -- traveling in overlapping groups of three -- who live on board for missions that last six months.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Unmanned_cargo_ship_docks_with_orbiting_Space_Station_999.html.