EU-DIGEST

France - Nicolas Sarkozy 'Le King of Bling Bling' YouTube video smash hit in France - by Umee Khan

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, is caricatured as "Le King of Bling Bling" in an animated YouTube clip which has become a hit in France. In the latest clip, the French leader can be seen surrounded by scantily-clad women, singing "I am the King of Bling-Bling" in the five minute video. At the start of the film, Miss Bruni's voice can be heard before Sarkozy is seen driving through town in a sports car. He is then seen wearing a lot of gold jewellery or "bling", smoking a cigar and clutching several mobile phones - before 'rapping' with glamorous women in a nightclub.

Labels: EU, France, King of Bling Bling, Nicolas Sarkozy

Europeans watch American elections as if they have a stake - because they do - by Steve Kettman

Through much of this year, the big story out of Europe was that people all over the continent were paying an unprecedented amount of attention to the long, intense and forever shifting U.S. presidential campaign.This rapt interest had in part to do with a palpable yearning to turn the page on the Bush years, and in part with excitement over what was widely seen as the likelihood of a boundary-busting candidate taking the White House, whether Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama. Yet there were voices in the United States who tried to paint this European interest in our presidential succession as somehow prurient, or based only on the celebrity factor, as if European interests were not very much at stake. When Obama brought his campaign here in late July and addressed me and 200,000 others gathered in Berlin's Tiergarten, he made a point of introducing himself as "a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world." He thus made clear that he saw the destiny and future of Europe and the United States as closely intertwined.

Many in Europe assume that in the aftermath of the economic crisis, the era of unquestioned U.S. economic leadership in the world will have passed. They see the turmoil now roiling the markets as an indication of the untrustworthiness of a U.S. model based so openly on encouraging what we call the profit motive and what others might simply refer to as greed.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, US elections

Turkey - EU Commission hails Turkey's role in regionalstability - by Elitsa Vucheva

Turkey's role as promoter of regional stability has improved in the last year, Brussels says in a draft report on Turkey and the western Balkans' progress towards the EU, while stressing that Ankara still has a lot to do in a number of areas before being judged fit to join the EU club."Turkey has played a constructive role in its neighbourhood and the wider Middle East through active diplomacy," reads the draft of the annual report seen by EUobserver. "Following the crisis in Georgia, [Turkey] proposed a Caucasus Stability and Co-operation Platform to promote dialogue between the countries of that region. [Turkish] President Gul paid a visit to Yerevan, the first visit ever of a Turkish president since the independence of Armenia. Turkey undertook efforts as a mediator between Israel and Syria and conducted a dialogue with Iran on the nuclear issue," the draft report goes on.

Labels: EU, Turkey

Britain - Court rules Islamic Sharia law discriminatory - by Robert Verkaik

Britain's highest court has criticised Islamic law for discriminating against women after a case in which a mother was forced to flee the Middle East for Britain to protect her son from his abusive father. In a 5-0 ruling, the law lords said that there was no place in sharia for the equal treatment of the sexes. It would be a "flagrant breach" of the European Convention on Human Rights for the Government to remove a woman to Lebanon, where she would lose custody of her son because of sharia-inspired family law.

Sharia was the product of a much-observed religious and cultural tradition, "but by our standards the system is arbitrary because the law permits of no exceptions to its application... It is discriminatory too because it denies women custody of their children after they have reached the age of custodial transfer simply because they are women." Yesterday's decision reversed rulings by the Court of Appeal, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and the Home Secretary that returning EM to Lebanon with her son would not violate her right to family life.

Labels: Britain, EU, Sharia law

Somalia Pirates Flourish in a Lawless Nation - by Jeffrey Gettleman

This may be one of the most dangerous towns in Somalia, a place where you can get kidnapped faster than you can wipe the sweat off your brow. But it is also one of the most prosperous.Money changers walk around with thick wads of hundred-dollar bills. Palatial new houses are rising up next to tin-roofed shanties. Men in jail reminisce, with a twinkle in their eyes, about their days living like kings. This is the story of Somalia’s booming, not-so-underground pirate economy. The country is in chaos, countless children are starving and people are killing one another in the streets of Mogadishu, the capital, for a handful of grain. But one particular line of work — piracy — seems to be benefiting quite openly from all this lawlessness and desperation. This year, Somali officials say, pirate profits are on track to reach a record $50 million, all of it tax free. More than 75 vessels have been attacked this year, far more than any other year in recent memory. About a dozen have been set upon in the past month alone, including a Ukrainian freighter packed with tanks, antiaircraft guns and other heavy weaponry, which was brazenly seized in September. People in Garoowe, a town south of Boosaaso, describe a certain high-rolling pirate swagger. Flush with cash, the pirates drive the biggest cars, run many of the town’s businesses — like hotels — and throw the best parties, residents say. Fatuma Abdul Kadir said she went to a pirate wedding in July that lasted two days, with nonstop dancing and goat meat, and a band flown in from neighboring Djibouti. “It was wonderful,” said Ms. Fatuma, 21. “I’m now dating a pirate.”

Note EU-Digest: "Its is incredible that with all the world's powerful navies, no one has been able to get rid of these pirate punks."

Labels: Pirates, Somalia

The Cordoba Great Mosque

For more reports related to Europe click on this link

Europe's Muslim Legacy

In a fascinating book, God's Crucible: Islam and the making of Modern Day Europe, by David Levering Lewis one will quickly agree with the author that it took two ingredients to make Europeans believe in themselves as the center of civilization. One was the creation of the vast Holy Roman Empire by Charlemagne. The other was the development of the Muslim culture in what is now known as the region of Andalusia, Spain. The Arabs called it al-Andalus with the Great Mosque as the most striking physical example of this Muslim foothold in Europe. What probably was even more impressive, leaving a lasting mark on Europe were the Muslims intellectual and cultural achievements. Hundreds of mosques, thousands of palaces, scores of libraries were build in Córdoba alone. Towards the end of the ninth century, those libraries had acquired hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. Nothing else on the continent of Europe could compare. Just imagine the university of Córdoba was established more than one hundred years before the one in Bologna, Italy, considered today as the first European university.

Al-Andalus was already a truly regional cosmopolitan agglomeration of cities, when the rest of Europe was still a feuding environment of country estates and small towns. Towards the end of the millennium, Córdoba had a population of more than 90,000, many times the size of any town in the territories occupied by Charlemagne. Those Andalusian cities also became a great ethnic melting pot of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Berbers, Germanic, Slavs, and countless other cultures. These eventually spread throughout the continent and transformed a barbaric Europe into a more enlightened and modern European society.

Maybe Europe's far right politicians, including Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, French "Front National" leader Jean-Marie le Pen and Belgian far-right politician Filip Dewinte should take the time to read God's Crucible: Islam and the making of Modern Day Europe, by David Levering Lewis. Who knows, they might realize al-Andalus showed Europe that what must empower man should always be compassion not hate.

Labels: Andalusia, Christianity, Cordoba, EU, Europe, Filip Fewinte, Geert Wilders, Islam, Jean-Marie le Pen, Spain

CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM MARRIAGES

Gé Speelman of Utrecht University in the Netherlands spoke on Christian-Muslim marriages during the Graz European Ecumenical Assembly in 1997. By clicking on the above link you can read a shortened version of her paper. The Muslim partner is often confronted with what most people around him think is natural, obvious, self-evident; he/her is the other, the one who has to prove him/her self. Many Muslim partners find they have to defend their faith against attacks which associate Islam with intolerance, backwardness and irrationality. In reaction, many Muslims become very much aware of their cultural and religious heritage. As one Muslim man said: “I would never have known so much about Islam if I had stayed at home and married an Egyptian girl.”

Another factor is that interfaith partners are seen as representatives of their communities. The Turkish Muslim represents the “terrible Turks” who have shaped the history of so many Eastern European countries. The German wife is the “imperialist European” whose community has been responsible for so much repression and bloodshed. Many problems in an interfaith marriage are exactly the same as those experienced by many other couples. But in their case, family and friends are looking out for problems; when they occur, they are defined as arising from differences in culture. A Dutch woman said she did not want to recognize the serious communication problem in her relationship because she was determined to prove to those who said it would never work that her marriage was fantastically successful. The partners had put off talking about their problems until it was too late.

Loved ones want to be more than merely “that Christian”, or “that Muslim”. Of course, they are also “a Christian” and “a Muslim” – much of what we are ties up with our religious traditions. German theologian Ulrich Dietzfelbinger, who described, in a lecture he gave in 1989, his relationship with his Turkish Muslim wife. He describes his tendency to reduce the differences in their beliefs to minor points, the pull to reduce their faith to the lowest common denominator. “After all, we both believe in Almighty God.” In the end, he recognizes that this way of reducing their differences is a way of denying them, leaving both partners with very little faith at all. What he learns is that one should not try to make the other the same as oneself. With new eyes he looks at the doctrine of incarnation. It is strange that God has community with a human being (and therefore with all human beings) in such a way that God is in his/her utmost being qualified by that humanity, while at the same time human beings are not deified and God remains God. Is there not in this strange incarnation something analogous to his marriage, where only love is the guarantor that he respects his partner as being inalienably other, different, and yet at one with himself? Maybe we should just let this question stand.

Labels: Christian, EU, Marriage, Musllim, Religion

Embarrassing loss for Real Madrid and scare after Ruben De La Red faints on the field

Third-division Real Union upset Real Madrid 3-2 in the Copa del Rey on Thursday, continuing the Spanish league champion's poor record in the knockout competition it hasn't won since 1993. Juan Dominguez scored twice and Inaki Goikoetxea netted the winner for Real Union. There was a scare in the 14th minute when Madrid's Spain midfielder Ruben De La Red fell as he walked away from the Real Union penalty area. De La Red was carried off on a stretcher after being treated for two minutes. Madrid medical chief Carlos Diez said De La Red suffered a sudden fainting fit brought on by exertion and was not in danger.
The 23-year-old Spain international was taken to hospital and will spend the night there as a precaution. Diez said De La Red has undergone tests which have produced normal results and he was expected to be released on Friday.

Labels: EU, Ruben De La Red, Soccer, Spain

Britain - Shop till you drop: Australian developer launches Europe's largest shopping complex in West London

Australia's Westfield Group has opened the biggest shopping centre in Europe, spending euro 2.08 billion (US $ 2.65b) on the project in West London. It is to be proceeded by an even bigger development by Westfield at the 2012 Olympic Site in East London. The timing is unfortunate given the fact that Britain is on the brink of recession and that consumer spending it set to fall in the next 12 months after a decade of solid growth.It is to be proceeded by an even bigger development by Westfield at the 2012 Olympic Site in East London.

Labels: Britain, Consumerism, EU, Retailing

Snow blankets London for Global Warming debate • by Andrew Orlowski

Snow fell as the House of Commons debated Global Warming yesterday - the first October fall in the metropolis since 1922. The Mother of Parliaments was discussing the Mother of All Bills for the last time, in a marathon six hour session. In order to combat a projected two degree centigrade rise in global temperature, the Climate Change Bill pledges the UK to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. The bill was receiving a third reading, which means both the last chance for both democratic scrutiny and consent.

Labels: Britain, EU, Global warming

Political Economy: Zero Bound - by John Cranford

In the past few months, Bernanke has deployed the central bank’s powers in extraordinary and flexible ways to flood the banking system with cash. At latest count the Fed has created at least a half-dozen new lending programs for institutions that aren’t its traditional borrowers and broadened its lending to ordinary banks. The amount of credit outstanding from the Fed is well in excess of $500 billion. That’s billion, with a “b.” A year ago, it was $500 million, with an “m.”

The next year or two will be trying as the Fed navigates yet another expanse of uncharted water. Bernanke has proved adept so far at finding creative ways to use the Fed’s resources, and it’s safe to expect him to continue doing so. But the days of just moving interest rates up and down to steer the economy are long past.

Labels: Interest rates, US Economy

Europeans need a ‘British’ navy, not a ‘German’ army

Over the weekend, the new British Defence Secretary, John Hutton, said in an interview in The Sunday Times that the time had come to consider the creation and mobilisation of a European army. He said the idea was simply ‘pragmatic’, and even went so far as to declare that while there were many anti-Europeans who opposed the idea in the United Kingdom, they were either ‘pathetic’ or at a loss with the times.

Labels: EU, Military

US Economic Meltdown: Economy flashes recession signal; GDP down at 0.3% rate

The government says the economy shrank in the third quarter as consumers cut back spending by the biggest amount in 28 years. It was the strongest signal yet the country is facing recession. The broadest barometer of the nation's economic health, gross domestic product, shrank at a 0.3% annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department said. It marked the worst showing since the economy contracted at a 1.4% pace in third quarter 2001, when the nation was suffering through its last recession.The deterioration reflects a sharp retrenchment by consumers, whose spending accounts for the largest chunk of national economic activity. Consumers ratcheted back their spending at a 3.1% annual rate in the third quarter, the most since second quarter 1980, when the country was in the grip of recession.

Labels: US Economy

Barack Obama lead slipping per newest national polls - by Joe Dwinell

It’s scary times for Democrats as the latest polls show Barack Obama’s lead slipping to a frightening three points over John McCain. The Gallup daily poll has Obama up 49-46 percent over McCain, as the race “tightens.” The Rasmussen daily poll also shows a 3-point lead for Obama, the first time McCain has been this close in more than a month.

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections

Alternative Energy - Turkey encourages Renewable energy

A draft of a new law encouraging renewable energy usage in Turkey has been presented to Parliament as part of a move to decrease Turkey's energy dependence. According to the draft, prepared by Soner Aksoy, the head of Parliament's Energy and Industry Commission, the state will guarantee that it will purchase electricity generated from renewable energy plants established within the next eight years. The state will buy electricity from renewable energy plants at higher rates than the average wholesale price arranged by the Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK). "The state will pay 5-18 cents per kilowatt hour for the electricity generated by the renewable energy plants until 2016," Aksoy noted, saying that this was a short-term incentive package and that such applications to encourage entrepreneurs would continue. For the first five years, the state will pay 5 cents per kilowatt hour for hydroelectric energy, 6 cents for wind, 7 for geothermal, 14 for biomass and 18 for solar energy.

As part of the incentives in the draft, state land will be made available for the establishment of renewable energy plants. The General Directorate of Electrical Power Resources Survey and Development Administration (EİE) will convey suitable construction plans to the state, which will allocate land to the project. New public buildings will be constructed in a form that will harness renewable energy as efficiently as possible.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Turkey

Oil giants try to polish image before latest fat profit gusher - by Elizabeth Douglass

The world's best-known oil companies are pouring on the charm as they get ready to parade another round of fat profits before a public that feels suddenly poorer. The spotlight will shine on Exxon today and Chevron on Friday. Royal Dutch Shell already reported a 71 per cent rise in profits to euro 8.5 billion ($10.9 billion/£6.54 billion) and still counting. The world's second largest oil company's steep rise in profits follows a 148 per cent increase reported by its rival, BP, earlier this week due to record oil prices over the summer.

In 1993, the five biggest publicly traded oil companies — Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips — spent 39 percent of their operating cash flow on development projects, 14 percent on exploration and only 1 percent on buying back their own stock. In 2007, they spent 34 percent on development, 6 percent on exploration and 34 percent on stock buybacks, according to a study co-written by Jaffe. Bottom line: when oil companies spend their money, it's less about you and me than about their shareholders. In many respects, industry experts note, what's good for Big Oil's bottom line isn't necessarily good for Joe Q. Jetta.

Labels: oil companies, Profit

"What Entrepreneurs Need to Know about Social Networking"

Everyone who has been keeping up to date on the latest marketing trends across corporations around the world, and up and down the organizational ladders, are talking about the benefits of social networking to increase their exposure and sales. It's a major development that has been growing rapidly during the past few years. People are exchanging information about everything under the sun via a variety of platforms on the internet and you can be part of it or not, because it happens with or without you. It's your choice whether you want to participate or ignore this technological tidal wave.

Labels: Business Development, Social Networking

Race Heats Up: China, India, Europe push ahead as U.S. program slows to a crawl - by Mark Kaufman

China conducted its first spacewalk last month. The European Space Agency is building a roving robot to land on Mars. India recently launched a record 10 satellites into space on a single rocket.Although the United States remains dominant in most space-related fields -- and owns half the military satellites currently orbiting Earth -- experts say that the nation's superiority is diminishing, and many other nations are expanding their civilian and commercial space capabilities at a far faster pace. "We spent many tens of billions of dollars during the Apollo era to purchase a commanding lead in space over all nations on Earth," said NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin, who said that his agency's budget is down by 20 percent in inflation-adjusted terms since 1992. "We've been living off the fruit of that purchase for 40 years and have not ... chosen to invest at a level that would preserve that commanding lead."

In a recent in-depth study of international space competitiveness, Futron, a technology consulting firm in Bethesda, Md., found that the globalizing of space is unfolding more broadly and quickly than most Americans realize. "Systemic and competitive forces threaten U.S. space leadership," the company president, Joseph Fuller Jr., concluded.

Labels: China, ESA, India, Space Exploration, US

Eurofighter refueling from Airbus A310
For the complete report from FlightGlobal click on this link

Germany launches Eurofighter refueling trials with A310 - by Craigg Hole

ADS has conducted the first of nine planned test flights leading to the certification of the Eurofighter combat aircraft to undergo in-flight refueling from the German air force's Airbus A310 multi-role tanker transports. Conducted from EADS Military Air Systems' Manching facility near Munich in late October, the first test lasted for about 5h and employed two of Germany's instrumented production aircraft.

Labels: Airbus Tanker, Aircraft Industry, EU, EuroFighter

"Slump", the new world order - by D Ravi Kanth

Darkening recessionary clouds are steadily enveloping country after country. While the mayhem caused by Wall Street continues unabated, its impact on the real economy is rather difficult to fathom.The underlying reality is finance played havoc with the real economy that produces goods and services for people to consume and survive. Those who depended on the production of these goods and services have not only suffered via depressed real wages during the last 30 years when the boom took the incomes of those in the financial sector to stratospheric levels.Those erstwhile heroes of "irrational exuberance" fame, like Alan Greenspan, are already admitting the "flaw[s]" and "mistake[s]" in their assessment of the credit boom and the housing bubble they unleashed on the world economy. Similarly, the pressure is mounting to put some of the high-profile Wall Street actors behind bars. Clearly, there is an urgent need for naming and shaming of all those who are responsible for creating this gigantic mess.

The person responsible for this drift towards unilateralism is none other than US President George W Bush. So, when he summons world leaders from 20 countries to "advance common understanding of the causes of the [financial] crash" and prepare "a common set of principles for the reform of the regulatory and institutional regimes for the world's financial sectors", it is hardly surprising there is a deep cynicism as to what this will achieve. Amid conflicting interests around the table next month in Washington , it will be too much to expect any radical policy prescriptions. For all we know, Karl Marx -- whose Das Kapital is selling more copies in Germany this year due to the financial plague -- might prove right once again when he said history repeats itself twice, "the first time as tragedy, the second as farce"!

Labels: US, World Economy

The way all the bubbles burst -- by Liu Junhong

"Back in the 1990s the US staged a rousing production known as "the new economy" very much to the envy of the whole world. One of the prime reasons for this success was the support from an extensive and very sophisticated financial market, which enabled emerging enterprises to go public anytime they wanted with the lowest possible cost guaranteed. This is also one of the fundamental forces that drove Japan's financial system reform at that time.Nowadays, however, the system of direct financing is in a shambles and enterprises have to rely on the old ways for direct financing by borrowing mostly from banks. The problem is that the crisis is spreading deeper into the banking industry, crippling the banking market as well. The two pillar systems of securities and banking are both in big trouble, causing the whole financial system to go haywire.Back to where it all began, the root of the US financial crisis has stemmed from the loopholes in the US-led "financial capitalism" format, with the bursting of "the real estate bubble" serving as the fuse. The "reverse asset effect" created by the bursting of the real estate bubble directly caused the "bursting of the consumption bubble".

It is widely known that the biggest characteristic of the US economy is consumption in overdrive, to the point that people would rather bury themselves in debts than cut back spending. As of August this year, the total value of individual consumption in the US accounted for over 70 percent of the country's GDP. If that is not a pillar of the US economy, I don't know what is".

Labels: World Economy

"New Europe' fears losing privileged status with US

No matter who becomes the next US president, Eastern European countries are afraid that the privileged relations they have enjoyed under the Bush administration could be lost. EurActiv's network in Central Europe and Turkey contributed to this report. The sentiment in Eastern European capitals is that the next US President will prioritzse repairing relations with Western European capitals, which have suffered under neo-conservative US rule, and that Eastern European countries – despite being America's strongest allies under Bush – could find themselves somewhat neglected. "

Labels: EU, New Europe, US elections

ECB put up more cash, Euro 12b (US 15.1B) to Denmark

The ECB, the central bank for the 15-nation euro zone -- of which Denmark is not a member -- said the 12 billion euro ($15.1 billion) swap will remain in effect as long as needed. It was done with the goal of increasing the amount of cash in short-term euro money markets. The move will make it easier for Denmark, whose krone currency is pegged to the euro, to get access to euros. The ECB provided similar moves for Hungary and Switzerland earlier this month. The swap will provide euros to the Danish bank in exchange for Danish kronor and should lower the exchange rate for euros in Denmark.

Labels: Denmark, ECB, EU

Reshaping World’s Financial System Now a Must - by Andrew C. Schneider

The West knows it can’t set the terms as it has in the past. That’s why the biggest developing nations were invited to join the G-8 in Washington on Nov. 15 for the first in a series of summits that will run well into 2009. Remaking the G-8 into something closer to the G-20 also appears likely. A large part of the reason the G-8 has been seen as increasingly irrelevant in recent years has been its exclusion of so many of the world's new stars.

Most of the economies poised to join the IMF's leadership are each worth $1 trillion or more. Two, China and Brazil, are already larger than some current members. The Group of 20, whose full membership President Bush invited to the Nov. 15 summit, comprises the G-8 countries as well as China, Brazil, India, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the European Union (EU).

Note EU-Digest: "contrary to what the above Kiplinger report indicates, the major hurdle to establish stricter international regulatory rules will be to overcome the US reluctance to allow more transparency and controls over their own financial system. They have historically opposed most forms of regulatory safeguards when it appears to tamper with their own laissez-faire style of capitalism. Unfortunately we recently have seen what kind of havoc this has created in the world financial system."

Labels: G20, World Economy

Switzerland is the second most competitive economy, behind the US, says the World Economic Forum

The competitiveness of Switzerland's economy has again been ranked second only to that of the United States in a World Economic Forum (WEF) annual survey. WEF awarded Switzerland top marks for innovation and the quality of infrastructure in its 2007/8 Global Competitiveness Report. But the country was held back by the relatively small size of its economy. It is the second year in a row that the Swiss have come runners-up in the poll of 12,000 business leaders, conducted by the Geneva-based organisation.

WEF asked respondents to rank 134 countries based on factors that promoted economic growth, such as the availability of talent, transparency of governance, infrastructure and openness to innovation.

Labels: competitiveness, Switzerland

Fraudulent Practices on Wallstreet USA: Jim Cramer brags about manipulating stock prices when he was a Wall Street trader

Jim Cramer, the boisterous host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” recently bragged in an interview about manipulating stock prices when he was a Wall Street trader, proving all too directly — and stupidly, I might add — that investment professionals profit off the backs of the naïve investing public.In the Web interview with TheStreet.com's executive editor Aaron Task, which is on YouTube and has been blasted all around the Internet, Cramer gave advice on how to keep a profit on a short-position by driving a stock price down. He gave a number of different examples of manipulation, which he admitted might be illegal, but said it didn't really matter because "the Securities and Exchange Commission never understands this."

And that is the sad point of Cramer's comments and this column: The people who are supposed to guard and protect the public's trust in the markets are letting the people down. They simply aren't doing their jobs effectively. For years the SEC tried to pin something, in a very public manner, on Cramer. But they could never really make anything stick; he ran circles around them. There are now thousands of hedge fund managers playing tricks just like the old Cramer used to when he was running a hedge fund. And regulators are looking on without making a call. And the public still continues to invest like they know better. And hedge fund managers continue to laugh all the way to the bank.

Note EU-Digest: "one day the market goes down 6oo points and the next day it goes up 600, with screaming "know it all" CNBC reporters hyping-up the public This has nothing to do with the investors money, but all about making a select group of Wall Street traders very rich. This fraudulent activity will never stop without very strict regulations on Wall Street".

Labels: CNBC, Fraud on Wall Street, Jim Cramer, US Economy, Wall Street

Iran opens trade center in Netherlands

The Mehr News Agency quoted TPOI Director for Foreign Branches Affairs Hamid Zadbum as saying that a number of Iranian and Dutch traders as well as Iran-Netherlands Cultural Council members also attended the inaugural ceremony. The two sides expressed hope that the trade center would pave the way for the two-way trade in the long run, Zadbum said, adding, they announced their full-fledged support of any activity which would enhance bilateral economic and commercial relations.

Labels: EU, Iran, Netherlands, Trade

Dutch say unlocked bike not enticement to steal

The Dutch Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a bicycle thief who stole a decoy bike planted by police. Lawyers for the convicted thief — a repeat offender who was sentenced to 22 days in jail — had argued that leaving the bike unlocked amounted to entrapment. But the five-judge court has rejected that, saying the man wasn't personally targeted.Tuesday's court ruling said placing an unlocked decoy bike didn't make the suspect do anything he had not intended doing beforehand.

Labels: EU, Judicial System, justice, Netherlands

Britain - At this rate, it won't be long before we're joining the euro - by Steve Richards

The calls for a significant cut in interest rates get louder. In the US there is speculation that before very long rates will be close to zero. The long list of those keeping their fingers crossed here that the Bank of England will deliver a headline-grabbing reduction next week includes home-owners with big mortgages, small businesses, big businesses, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prime Minister.

One wonders how long it will be before a traumatised senior minister thinks the following: "This wretched independence for the Bank is the worst of all worlds, yet it would make matters even worse to revert to the old arrangements. Therefore the least risky course is to join the euro". If the arrangements aimed at stabilising the currency are now a source of turbulence, and a return to the old system would cause even more storms, there is no obvious alternative option. That great sleeping issue, Britain's membership of the euro, will be waking soon.

Labels: Britain, EU, euro

US elections - The Republican shipwreck

The modern conservative movement is dying in front of our eyes, and its death throes aren't pretty. As John McCain heads for likely defeat, the GOP is eating itself. Right-wing politicians and pundits who never criticized Bush in eight years are suddenly jumping ship like rats, while bitter-end loyalists angrily accuse them of being "pathetically opportunistic." After months of veering from one tactic to the next, McCain has finally settled on one message for his campaign, but it's absurd: claiming that the party whose signature is tax cuts for the rich is really on the side of Joe the Plumber. Meanwhile, 3.1 million real Joe the Plumbers across America are sending Barack Obama hundreds of millions of dollars, a torrent of cash that is helping to flush the GOP down the national toilet. Right-wing hacks like Palin and Minn. Rep. Michele Bachman respond by doing the only thing they know how to do -- attack, demonize and divide.

Labels: John McCain, Republicans, US elections

Financial crisis builds Polish euro-entry momentum - by Philippa Runner

The financial crisis is building momentum for Poland to swiftly join the EU's single currency on 1 January 2012, with a positive political climate for the euro also developing in the Nordic states. "The world crisis has shown that it's safer to be with the strong, among the strong and to have influence on the decisions of the strong," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Monday (27 October), adding that his pro-euro policy is "not based on any orthodoxy, any ideology" of deepening EU integration.

Note EU-Digest: "being a part of the European Union also means carrying some of the burdens and not just profiting from its benefits. A stronger, integrated and unified Europe is an important part of keeping the euro strong. You can't have your cake and eat it too Mr. Tusk".

Labels: EU, euro, European Integration, Poland

The Vote Grab: How the Republicans stole the 2004 election - by Peter Tatchell

Will next week's US presidential vote be free and fair? Based on the conduct of the last election, possibly not. The 2004 election was marred by vote-fixing that would disgrace a banana republic. Four years later, few new safeguards have been implemented to prevent a re-run of the voter exclusion and ballot tampering of 2004.This is the conclusion of Robert F Kennedy Jr, civil rights lawyer and nephew of JFK. In one of the most important pieces of investigative journalism in recent years, published in Rolling Stone magazine in 2006, he revealed how voting irregularities in 2004 were enough to steal the presidency for the Republicans.

Labels: Fraud, John McCain, Republicans, US elections

French minister opposes Georgia, Ukraine entry to NATO

France's minister for European affairs on Wednesday said he was opposed to Georgia and Ukraine entering the NATO military alliance for now because it would not benefit Europe. "I think that it is not the right time for membership for Georgia and Ukraine," Jean-Pierre Jouyet said on the sidelines of a European Parliament session. "It is not in the interests of Europe or its relations with Russia." NATO foreign ministers are in December set to once again examine Georgia and Ukraine's candidacy for membership, strongly denounced by Moscow. While Jouyet said he was expressing his personal opinion, he in fact confirmed a view repeatedly expressed by Paris.

Along with Germany, France has been reluctant to take the two ex-Soviet states into the alliance and draw the wrath of Russia, which has made it clear it would regard such a move as something close to a hostile action by NATO. Note EU-Digest: this is a wise move. Letting these countries in might be of interest to the US government, it certainly is not in the interest of the EU's relationship with Russia.

Labels: EU, France, Georgia, Ukraine

US - Politics in the Age of George the Great - by Eddie J.Girdner

It has been eight years since the putsch in Florida by the neoconservative Storm Troopers stole the presidential election and installed George W. Bush on the White House Throne. The dark days had begun and these dark days have not yet ended.Indeed, it is difficult to think of any quarter, domestic or international, left untouched by the havoc brought to fruition in the Age of George the Great. Who would have thought, who could have imagined that such inordinate talent dwelt ensconced inside the scull of the former Governor of Texas? It is the great ineffable mystery of the Age of George the Great, who we have observed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. How do we unravel this inscrutable mystery?

Indeed, the trillion dollars for the two wars had been funded mostly by dollars the US did not have in supplementary off-budget funding. The national debt ceiling was raised to $ 11.3 trillion as the banks began to give up the ghost. George the Great had not got the Hogs out of the Dollar Creek. The Dollar Creek was so crowded that the dollars dried up, the banks collapsed and then the stock markets began to crash. As an experiment in neo-liberalism in the real world it was instructive. ‘One capitalist kills many.” Marx was certainly right about that. A herd of them can easily collapse the entire global financial system.

Labels: John McCain, Republican Party, US elections

The irresistible rise of renewables - by Jennifer Bollen

Clean energy deals are up more than 50% on last year. Tumbling oil prices have caused some to question the continued attraction of renewable energy in the face of more affordable oil, but private equity firms remain bullish about the sector’s prospects on the evidence of last week. Portuguese buyout firm Magnum Capital Industrial Partners agreed the biggest renewable energy deal in the last 13 years last week, with a €1.2bn ($1.6bn) acquisition of wind energy assets owned by Enersis, a portfolio company of Australian investment bank and infrastructure specialist Babcock & Brown. The transaction confirmed the sector’s rise in popularity during the credit crisis, overtaking an $895m (696m) acquisition of German wind turbine manufacturer RE Power by Citigroup Private Equity, the buyout arm of Citigroup, last year which had been the biggest renewable energy deal since data provider Dealogic’s records began. It took total deal values in the renewable energy sector to $2.4bn so far this year, up from about $1bn in the same period last year, according to Dealogic.

Labels: Alternative Energy

Labels: EU, Poverty

Sarkozy Wants to Lead Euro Zone Until 2010

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly said he wants to become president of the euro zone countries once his term as EU heads expires at the end of the year.According to the French daily Le Monde on Wednesday, Oct. 22, several advisors to the French president have confirmed this strategy. Sarkozy's ambition is based on his firm conviction that the crisis in Georgia and the financial crisis both demonstrated that Europe was in need of a strong leader. According to Le Monde, Sarkozy believes that without such an individual at the helm, the EU would never have been able to negotiate with Moscow or decide on an effective plan to rescue European banks. However, it seems unlikely that other EU countries will go along with the idea. In an interview published Wednesday in the French business daily La Tribune, German Finance Minister Michael Glos said the proposal of a single economic governance of euro zone countries was "not suitable for resolving the current problems."

Note EU-Digest: "the idea certainly has merit, or at least a compromise of the idea, whereby the 15 euro-zone leaders elect a Chairman to speak on behalf of the group".

Labels: EU, France, Sarkozy

The Muslim World and the Global Financial Crisis - by Terry Lacey

By the time a new President is elected the United States will be a different country in a different world. There will be no going back and no return to business as usual. What began as the sub-prime housing market crash has become a generalized banking crash, leading to a world financial crisis, and then into a world economic recession. There is no avoiding the impact of this series of financial and economic downturns and the associated stock market crashes and wild currency fluctuations. However for the developing economies of Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and even for Africa, these changes represent new opportunities as well as short-term problems. These events are symbolic of a changing global balance of power where the United States and Europe have to adjust to the rising economic power of Asia, the Middle East and the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China). This is a crisis of capitalism and even the greatest advocates of the free market are forced to face reality that when capitalism fails it has to be bailed out by the state. It is capitalist when it goes up and socialist when it comes down.

This does not mean, as suggested by the Indonesian Vice President Kalla, that sharia banking can suddenly present the comprehensive alternative to capitalism. The reality is that so far Islamic finance has been very integrated into global capitalist structures, with little emphasis on extending the more radical and unique profit and loss sharing concepts to poorer Muslims in poorer countries.

Labels: Global Economy, Islam, Sharia banking

McCain's Position on US International Policy by Category on :
* Position on Global Development and Health
* Position on Diplomacy
* Position on Aid Effectiveness
* Position on Other Foreign Policy Topics

Labels: John McCain, US elections, US Foreign Policy

Barack Obama's Position on International Policy

Obama Position on US International Policy by Category:
* Position on Global Development and Health
* Position on Diplomacy
* Position on Aid Effectiveness
* Position on Other Foreign Policy Topics

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections, US Foreign Policy

Czech Republic holds Senate runoff elections

Partial results from Czech elections to fill almost one-third of the Senate indicate Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's party will lose its majority in the upper house. Results from more than half of polling stations show the opposition Social Democrats leading second-round elections for 22 of the 26 seats up for grabs in the 81-seat Senate. The opposition party had campaigned on criticism of the government's plans for placing a U.S. missile defense radar base in the country.

Labels: Czech Republic, Elections, EU, Missile Crises

Dutch flower exports wilt amid world economic downturn

The Netherlands, the world's biggest flower exporter, has seen its bloom trade wilt as luxury items get passed over for essentials amid the global economic downturn. "When people have less money to spend, they tend to buy bread instead of flowers," sighs Mike Lansbergen, sales manager for a major Dutch producer of Barberton Daisies in Pijnacker-Nootdorp in the eastern Netherlands. Flower exports to Britain, a major Dutch market, fell by almost a fifth in September, losing 19 percent from the same month in 2007, according to figures published this week by industry body HBAG. Since the beginning of the year, exports to Britain have dropped by 84 million euros.

Labels: EU, Flower Industry, The Netherlands

The U.S. Dollar Death Dance - by Jim Willie

The US Dollar rally in the last several weeks has been remarkable. At closer examination, it highly resembles a spurt prior to death. Imagine an old man who just had a heart attack, lost feeling in certain body parts, his mind not working right, plenty of nonsense gibberish coming from his mouth, and now he is dancing hard on some last gasps. The vast liquidation movement is akin to the old man going through an embalming process while dancing atop the tables at the funeral parlor, as bidding proceeds for his cadaver.Are Americans last to realize the financial structure destruction means the US Economy does not enter a recession, but rather a bizarre unprecedented disintegration? It seems so. The liquidation of speculative positions, the massive de-leveraging, the payout's of defaulted bonds, these events are the opposite of developments toward revival or resuscitation, like business investment!! Liquidation is the exact opposite of investment, and precedes job cuts, not job creation.

What is pushing the US Dollar up cannot be construed as anything remotely resembling healthy factors. In no way whatsoever does it resemble investment. It is more like paid off death contracts, paid off death investments, paid off transfers from toxic US bonds into what are falsely regarded as safer US bonds with a guarantee from a crippled USGovt. Foreign financial entities are liquidating on massive scale. They need a tremendous amount of US Dollars in order to complete transactions. Also, a tremendous amount of US Dollars are needed for CDSwap payout's as defaulted bonds are resolved. Almost all CDSwap and other credit derivatives are paid out in US Dollars The Lehman Brothers payout was full of lies, again. The Lehman Brothers total volume of corporate bonds was $160 billion, but $400 billion existed in total CDS volume tied to them! It is no surprise that the Dow and S&P500 stock indexes fell hard (by almost 400 points on Dow) and on the Lehman resolution day. And market mavens boasted of no impact on the Lehman funeral date! Big disruptive events are occurring in the distribution system. Letters of credit are routinely being refused by export nations who distrust US sources. A fall of 10% to 20% in shipping traffic to western US ports has been reported. Ships are empty at Asian ports, some even loaded but interrupted on their voyage to US ports and European ports. Many details are given in the October Hat Trick Letter reports. Even manufacturers of shipping vessels are being severely affected, as credit has interrupted construction projects. Indian suppliers are often demanding 100% upfront on costs to east coast retailers, again showing the distrust. Almost total attention has been given to banks and credit markets and stock markets. The US Economy is moving from recession toward something different from depression. The current interruption could actually be more like disintegration. Short-term credit is soon to interfere greatly with truckers and railways in distribution channels on the domestic side, much like letters of credit are wrecking havoc on the overseas shipper side.

Labels: Dollar, meltdown, US Economy

U.S. has plundered world wealth with dollar: China paper

The United States has plundered global wealth by exploiting the dollar's dominance, and the world urgently needs other currencies to take its place, a leading Chinese state newspaper said on Friday.The front-page commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily said that Asian and European countries should banish the U.S. dollar from their direct trade relations for a start, relying only on their own currencies.The People's Daily is the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party. The Chinese-language overseas edition is a small circulation offshoot of the main paper. Its pronouncements do not necessarily directly voice leadership views. But the commentary, as well as recent comments, amount to a growing chorus of Chinese disdain for Washington's economic policies and global financial dominance in the wake of the credit crisis. "The grim reality has led people, amidst the panic, to realize that the United States has used the U.S. dollar's hegemony to plunder the world's wealth," said the commentator, Shi Jianxun, a professor at Shanghai's Tongji University."The U.S. dollar is losing people's confidence.

The world, acting democratically and lawfully through a global financial organization, urgently needs to change the international monetary system based on U.S. global economic leadership and U.S. dollar dominance," he wrote. Shi suggested that all trade between Europe and Asia should be settled in euros, pounds, yen and yuan, though he did not explain how the Chinese currency could play such a role since it is not convertible on the capital account.

Labels: China, Dollar, US Economic Meltdown

Crisis deepens for carmakers as forecasts are slashed in Europe - by John Reed

The crisis unfolding in car-making on both sides of the Atlantic deepened yesterday, as three of Europe's biggest producers slashed their profit forecasts for this year and General Motors and Chrysler announced more job cuts. In Europe, Daimler and Fiat warned of sharply slowing demand for cars this year. For the first time, Renault also cut its operating margin forecast, the most closely watched metric of Carlos Ghosn's three-year Commitment 2009 plan for the French carmaker as chief executive. "The crisis is here, and it is hitting the real economy," said Patrick Pelata, Renault's chief operating officer. "It is hitting automobiles, and therefore it is hitting Renault."

Labels: Car Industry, EU

Europeans Aim to Build Own Manned Spacecraft - by Jeremy Hsu

Plenty of European astronauts and hardware have gone up to the space station or to other orbits around Earth, but now the European Space Agency (ESA) is thinking of ways to get them back down on their own. A Vega rocket on the drawing boards is slated to carry ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) into space in 2012. The stubby white-and-black spacecraft is designed to use two rear flaps in a paddling motion to steer itself during atmospheric reentry. Such a demonstration craft could perhaps pave the way for Europe to return its astronauts to Earth without relying on the U.S. or Russian space programs."With ATV [Automated Transfer Vehicle] and Columbus, the European space laboratory, we believe Europe has now become one of the major players in manned space exploration," said John Ellwood, ATV mission manager.

Labels: ESA, EU, Manned Space Exploration

Running on fumes: U.S. must invest in new economies through support for education, research - by Shawn Lawrence Otto

In an effort to shore up the failing economy we've now seen the government pump hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into corporations in what is either the largest socialization of the free market or the largest raiding of the public trust in history, depending on your perspective. This emergency response may stop the bleeding, but it does little to tackle a major cause: inadequate investment in producing new economies as our old ones mature. As a result, we're running on fumes and debt.

And a 2005 Business Roundtable report projects that by 2010, 90 percent of all scientists and engineers will live in Asia. If that projection turns out to be even close, it represents a major shift in the underpinnings of the American economy.

Labels: Economy, Education, US

Leaders announce new Asia-Europe climate goals

Asian and European Union leaders on Saturday committed their 43 nations to agreeing to new goals on climate change by the end of next year. The 16 Asian and 27 EU leaders issued a joint statement saying they planned to finalize a post-Kyoto Protocol deal on climate change goals to 2012 at talks in Copenhagen scheduled for December 2009. New targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions would build on the December 2007 climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, they said, calling on developed nations to show "strong leadership".

Labels: Asia, Economic Crises, EU

A Lisbon perspective on the Lisbon Treaty - by Maria Joao Rodrigues

"As adviser to the prime minister of Portugal, I was in the European Council in October 2007 when champagne glasses were raised by all the European leaders to greet the final agreement on the new treaty. I remember the joy and relief when after two painful years (in fact five), it was possible to reach a consensus on a new treaty, which has several shortcomings but also many achievements: a Charter of Fundamental Rights, more effective and democratic decision-making, a more co-ordinated external focus for the European Union, a stronger euro zone, a bolder energy policy and a social clause. I also remember that a new determination was in the room when the European leaders turned to the future and to a central concern of citizens: how can Europe cope with globalisation? For all these reasons, the current crisis calls for a clear rendezvous in the European Council in December. Its central responsibility will be to adopt a fully-fledged plan to tackle the financial and economic crisis and to mobilise all necessary means.

This will very likely be the right moment for Ireland to clarify its willingness to promote a new consultation process in order to take into account the new current challenges, as well as the possibilities of accommodating specific Irish concerns regarding neutrality, the European Commissioner, abortion and other social issues. The rendezvous regarding the new treaty will be in December because the crisis will not wait. Stronger European action will be needed."

Labels: EU, Ireland, Lisbon Treaty

Europe Seeks to Implement New Bretton Woods Fiat Currency System

It looks like Europe wants to re-invent the wheel and soundings are being made to introduce a "new Bretton Woods". Bretton Woods was effectively an exchange rate mechanism, were gold backed the new kid on the world block, namely the post war US dollar and all other currencies floated around the dollar in a fixed range. If a currency moved too far either way of the range then the respective Central Bank stepped in and delivered the appropriate medicine. However the US dollar was pegged to the price of gold which was fixed at an official rate of $35. All went well until one or two countries, well, mainly France decided that they wanted the gold that backed the dollar reserves they had accumulated by repatriating the dollars back to Uncle Sam. Eventually President Nixon decided in 1971 to abandon the BW agreement, triggering other attempts to set other fixed currency systems which all failed. In the end FX became a free floating system that has resisted any attempts to regulate exchange rates other than "pegs".

European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet said officials reshaping the world's financial system should try to return to the "discipline" that governed markets in the decades after World War II. "Perhaps what we need is to go back to the first Bretton Woods, to go back to discipline," Trichet said after giving a speech at the Economic Club of New York recently. "It's absolutely clear that financial markets need discipline: macroeconomic discipline, monetary discipline, market discipline."

Labels: EU, World Economy

A New World Order: EU - China - Russia? Why EU and China need Russia - by Nicholas Kimbrell

It is necessary for the EU to go in a different direction, something which is already occurring with the idea of a Kerneuropa, which has its own constellation revolving around it, or the view of the EU as kind of super-market with some responsibilities which are shared and others which are kept rigorously separate. In any case, clarity is needed regarding the direction in which the EU, and not just Russia, is heading.

Note EU-Digest: Author and political analyst Parag Khanna of the New America Foundation set the tone at todays (Friday') opening seminar during a gathering of international scholars, diplomats and political analysts gathered in Beirut,when he said: "After the Uni-Polar Moment," suggesting that "the return to uni-polarity, American hegemony, is literally impossible." Advocating a more rigorous and collective analysis of multi-polarity, particularly in relation to Russia and India, Khanna cited the US, China and the EU as the incumbent and future "centers of gravity." Most of the speakers seemed to challenge the notion of US hegemony without questioning the still-dominant role Washington holds in much of the world. Indeed, featured speakers from rising powers sought to define their policies as distinct from the proactive US unilateralism, particularly in the Middle East. Chu Shulong, deputy director of the Institute of International Strategic and Development Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, emphasized China's desire to end its historic isolation and win regional and global "friends" based on economic and diplomatic terms. It seems the EU will soon need to seek more strategic and economically practical alliances than its present Trans-Atlantic Alliance which has mainly made it a cost sharing partner of the US in military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Labels: Alliance of Civilizations, China, EU, EU Russia, New World Order

Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open-source community. One of our most important activities is as a standards body, maintaining the Open Source Definition for the good of the community. The Open Source Initiative Approved License trademark and program creates a nexus of trust around which developers, users, corporations and governments can organize open-source cooperation.

Get great Open source software programs for your computer. Why pay a fortune if you can get it for free.

Free and open-source software is good for you and for the world. No adware, no spyware, just good software.

Labels: Internet, Open Source, Software

Cuba, EU re-establish cooperative ties

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and European Commissioner of Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, signed a declaration on Thursday to restore the bilateral cooperation at the headquarters of the Cuban Foreign Ministry in Havana. During the meeting both sides hailed the restoration of the bilateral ties, which are based on the principle of reciprocal and non-discriminatory treatment, with respect for each other's sovereignty. Michel said he was pleased with the agreement, and reaffirmed the European Union (EU)'s intentions to strengthen ties with Cuba. He also announced an emergency aid worth 2 million euros (2.6 million U.S. dollars) to help Cuba recover from hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which have produced more than 5 billion dollars in losses.

The EU will also provide 25 million to 30 million euros (32.5 million and 39 million dollars) to Cuba from next year to rebuild schools and damaged houses.

Labels: Cuba, EU

US Economy - Hank Paulson Sees Himself and Ben Bernanke As a Team of Outlaws - by Jessica Pressle

Joe Nocera had a long sit-down with the Treasury secretary for his book a dramatic Page One Times feature today, in which Paulson describes what was going through his mind during the early weeks of the financial crisis, as he raced from one problem to the next, trying to solve them, only to have another one appear on the horizon. “I feel like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," he told the Times. "Who are these guys that just keep coming?" Paulson is super-pleased with this analogy, you can tell. Like when he describes how Ben Bernanke asks him to go ask Congress for help, "it's just like when Butch, the thoughtful one played by Paul Newman, comes up with the idea for the two of them to go to Bolivia because there's gold there", he says.

See? They are partners till the death. Just like B&S! Only: no. No, no. No. This is basically like the worst metaphor ever for Paulson to have used. Not only were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbers — immoral, lawless, murdering robbers — they were feckless robbers. They had no idea what they were doing! But maybe Bernanke and Paulson also identified with that:

Labels: Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, US Economy

UK now leader in offshore wind energy

The UK has now surpassed Denmark as the country leading the world in production of offshore wind energy, said Mike O’Brien, a minister in the UK’s new Department of Energy and Climate Change. With the completion of Centrica’s Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms 5km off the Lincolnshire coast, the UK now has 579MW fully constructed—enough to power around 300,000 homes—and should add another 938 megawatts by the end of next year through new construction of five more wind farms.

Labels: Britain, EU, Offshore Wind Energy

Alternative Energy Suddenly Faces Headwinds - by Clifford Krauss

For all the support that the presidential candidates are expressing for renewable energy, alternative energies like wind and solar are facing big new challenges because of the credit freeze and the plunge in oil and natural gas prices.Shares of alternative energy companies have fallen even more sharply than the rest of the stock market in recent months. The struggles of financial institutions are raising fears that investment capital for big renewable energy projects is likely to get tighter. Advocates are concerned that if the prices for oil and gas keep falling, the incentive for utilities and consumers to buy expensive renewable energy will shrink. That is what happened in the 1980s when a decade of advances for alternative energy collapsed amid falling prices for conventional fuels.

Note EU-Digest

like most reactions in the financial world this one is also based on just a snapshot of the actual moment. Medium and long term predictions are a gradual phase out of fossil fuels and a rapid increase of alternative technologies and fuels.

Labels: Alternative fuels, Environment: climate change, Stock Market

Solbes Says Oil, Euro May Help Spain Avoid Recession - by Maria Leaniz and Emma Ross-Thomas

Spanish Finance Minister Pedro Solbes said lower oil prices and a weaker euro may help the country avoid a recession. ``We're very close to zero,'' growth, he said in an interview in Madrid yesterday. Still, cheaper crude and the euro's decline may ``allow that if there is negative growth in the Spanish economy that it would be limited, if possible, to one quarter.'' The euro's 20 percent decline since a July peak will help sustain exports, while the drop in oil prices is trimming production costs and leaving consumers with more to spend even as growth slows.

Labels: EU, euro, Spain

US Presidential elections: Obama 'heading for landslide victory' as he opens up 14-point lead over McCain

Barack Obama has opened up a commanding lead of up to 14 points over John McCain in the closing stages of the race for the White House, latest polls show today. As the Republican candidate's campaign appeared to falter, one poll showed the popularity gap between Mr Obama and Mr McCain has doubled from seven per cent earlier this month to 14 per cent. The Pew Research Centre's latest poll found Mr Obama's support had grown to 52 per cent of voters against 38 per cent for his rival. Independent voters, who have been the target of intense campaign efforts by both sides, have now swung behind Mr Obama by a 30-point margin, 59 per cent to 29 per cent.

The Illinois senator's decision to pull away from the campaign on Thursday and Friday to be with his gravely ill, 85-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, will cut seriously into the time he has left to persuade voters to support his candidacy. But the show of devotion to a central figure in his life could force McCain and Palin to suspend their attacks on Obama's character. Dunham helped raise Obama, a role he highlighted in accepting the Democratic presidential nomination nearly two months ago.

Labels: US presidential elections

Asia and Europe must 'swim together', Barroso says - by Tania Branigan

No one is immune from the economic crisis sweeping the west, the president of the European Union warned today ahead of the opening of the Asia-Europe Meeting in China. José-Manuel Barroso said that the two continents would "sink or swim together", adding that unprecedented cooperation was needed to deal with unprecedented times. "We have to face serious challenges which don't respect any borders because they are global ... no one in Europe or Asia can seriously pretend to be immune," he told a press conference shortly before the opening of the summit in Beijing. "Simply - we swim together or we sink together ... We need Asia to be on board and more particularly countries like China and India. "The eye of the storm was in the US, but it is a global storm and there will be ripple effects all over the world."

Labels: Asia, EU

Asia, Europe Beijing Conference To Discuss Financial Crisis, Climate Change

The largest gathering of leaders from Asia and Europe descends on the Chinese capital of Beijing today, Thursday for a two-day summit to discuss the unfolding global financial meltdown and the growing problem of climate change. The seventh biannual Asia-Europe Meeting will be attended by leaders from the 27 European countries and 16 Asian nations. Serge Abou, the European ambassador to China said he expects discussion on the financial crisis to be "very tense." And Herve Ladsous, French ambassador to China said the leaders attending the meeting aim to come out with a strong and united messages to encourage confidence back to the global markets. Among the high-profile leaders who confirmed attendance were European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Barroso is expected to hold a press conference Thursday afternoon in Beijing.

China's vice-minister of commerce Yi Xiaozhun said his government has committed to cooperate to bring to an end the slump in the financial markets. Yi said the expanding trade and service industries cooperation between Asia and Europe could help turn the tide and provide key solution to the problem. He said the proposal could stabilize the financial market and at the same time, open fair international trade relations to restore confide and drum up economic activities.

Labels: Asia, China, EU

The Lame Duckling - by JAMAAL YOUNG

"As the United States focuses their attention on the next would-be president, it’s not quite time to forget the one that’s screwed everything up.There once was a governor who, despite all the odds (including losing the popular vote), was elected President of the United States. He was never described as intelligent—or wise, or thoughtful, or even moderately clever—but, boy was he ever charming. He had a way of making everyone around him—including some of the nation’s most experienced public servants—feel all warm inside about policies and practices that were directly in opposition to their own beliefs and self-interests. He convinced millions of middle-class Americans that a tax cut that provided them only $300 in extra dough was enough to jumpstart the American economy—those taxpayers all went out and bought new televisions made in Asia. He bribed Senator Kennedy with the promise of copious amounts of money for public education in return for Uncle Teddy’s support of the No Child Left Behind Bill. That bill became law, but the promised cash never appeared, creating a national school system that focused on math and reading to the exclusion of art, music, physical education and even recess. The result: Cuba still had a higher literacy rate than the United States.

Yes, George W. Bush’s faux-Texan charm served him well as a first-term President; and if he would have called it quits in 2004, history might have remembered him as one of the nation’s more effectively persuasive politicians. Unfortunately for him, he stuck around for a second term, during which every new initiative he pursued ended in defeat.And that brings us to today, with less than two weeks until Election Day and our national attention squarely focused on Barack Hussein Obama and John Sidney McCain. But through all the talk of pigs and plumbers, terrorists and Tina Fey, let us not forget about the US current commander-in-chief who still pursues policies that will continue to contravene the interests of this nation long after he leaves.

Look, it’s not like the US expected a fairytale ending to eight years of Bush rule; but at least the US population expected the president of the United States to act with an awareness of the situation the country finds itself in and with an eye on the consequences his decisions would have on the world as we move forward."

Labels: George Bush, US elections

Norway fund to invest $2 bn in Indian stocks

Norway fund to invest $2 bn in Indian stocks

Even as foreign institutional investors rapidly pull out their money from Dalal Street, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s second largest, is set to invest $2 billion in Indian stocks.The Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark Sensex has been in a free fall this year, dipping below 10,000 last week, but the Norwegian government said the investments by the Government Pension Fund would take place between this month and January 2009.

The Norwegian Pension Fund, which has assets of EURO 273 billion, is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund after only the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, credited with assets of over EURO 682 billion.

Labels: India, Norway, Sovereign Funds, Stock Market

Hungary: Central bank makes emergency rate hike

Hungary's central bank Wednesday made a steep emergency interest rate hike to stabilize the country's currency, hurt by the financial crisis, raising the possibility that other countries in the region could follow its lead. The National Bank of Hungary's Monetary Council raised the base rate to 11.5 percent from 8.5 percent. The base rate is the interest paid by the central bank to commercial banks using its two-week bill facility, the main instrument used by the National Bank of Hungary to manage liquidity on the interbank market. The move is meant to protect the national currency, the forint, which has fallen 16 percent against the euro since the start of October, according to Neil Shearing of Capital Economics.

Labels: Economy, EU, Hungary

German Ministry of Foreign affairs protests mingling in EU energy security - by Vladimir Socor

According to German media reports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Berlin has protested to the U.S. Embassy over an op-ed article by the U.S. Ambassador in Sweden, who criticized the Russo-German Nord Stream gas pipeline project on the Baltic seabed and other aspects of Russian energy policy in Europe. German business leaders such as Eggert Voscherau of BASF (the world’s largest chemical concern and a partner in the Gazprom-led Nord Stream consortium) and left-leaning politicians such as Martin Schulz (the Social Democrats’ leader in the European Parliament) in turn complained that the United States was now publicly opposing Nord Stream and in doing so was “destabilizing Europe.” Former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the chairman of the Nord Stream consortium, portrayed Russia as a fully reliable energy supplier and dismissed the need for a diversification of Europe’s supplies. Note EU-Digest: Despite protests from Georgia and other former Eastern European block nations the EU and in particular its member states Germany, France and Italy seem to be on the right track to align themselves with Russia in developing a common energy policy within an overall cooperative economic treaty.

Labels: Energy, EU, Russia

EU contemplates 'common market' with Russia

French President and EU presidency holder Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday (21 October) unveiled a new cooperation strategy with Russia that would build stronger economic links between Europe and its largest Eastern European neighbor

Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Sarkozy called Russia "our neighbours" and surprised the audience by alluding to "a common economic space between Russia and the EU". The term recalls the early stages of EU history, which saw the development of a 'common market' that was subsequently renamed the 'single market' in the 1980s. Sarkozy's view of Russia sharing a common economic space marks another step in his attempt to forge a new relationship with Moscow based on trust and tighter integration.

At a recent meeting in Evian, the French president and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev voiced similar messages about the need to reconstruct Europe's security architecture

Labels: Economy, EU, Russia

Latvia to donate EURO 545.000 for Georgia reconstruction

Latvia is to give Georgia $700,000 to aid reconstruction efforts in the wake of its recent war with Russia, the Latvian foreign minister said on Tuesday. Maris Riekstins said the money would be provided from Latvia's state budget in 2010 and 2011. Russia launched a five-day military operation to "force Georgia to accept peace" after Georgian troops attacked breakaway South Ossetia on August 8, killing a number of Russian peacekeepers and hundreds of civilians.

Labels: EU, Latvia

Bulgaria’s Foreign Investments Drop by EUR 1,173 B in January-August 2008

The foreign direct investments in Bulgaria decreased by EUR 1,17 B in the first eight months of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007. The news were announced by Bulgaria's Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov during an investment forum in Sofia on Wednesday.

According to the preliminary data, Bulgaria's foreign direct investments amounted to EUR 2,980 B in January-August, 2008, or 8,8% of the GDP, compared to EUR 4,154 B or 14,4 of the GDP in the same period of 2007.

Labels: Bulgaria, Economy, EU

America must live within its means - by Hamish McRae

There are two bits of good news here for whoever is the next president. He cannot be held responsible for the recession because it is here now, but more important, in another four years when he comes up for re-election the economy will be growing again. There is a natural economic cycle from which we don't seem able to escape, and that makes it virtually certain that the next election will be against a much more favorable background. So there will be time to fix things for the longer term. Right now the US is consuming too much of its output: more than 70 per cent in fact, compared with 65 per cent or less for most developed countries. That money is indirectly borrowed from overseas, with the US having a current account deficit equivalent to some six per cent of GDP. So American consumers have maintained their standard of living, buying cheap goods from China, but the US has become the world's largest debtor nation.

So the central challenge for the next president will to persuade the country to live within its means. That has to happen at a personal level but also at a national level. This cannot be fixed in the next four years or the next eight but a start can be made. This does however mean a slower rise in US living standards and there is no getting away from that. And that raises the biggest question of all. Is the US willing in the 21st century to cede the economic leadership that it built up in the 20th?

Labels: meltdown, US Economy

Are Americans Better Off in 2008 Than they Were in 2000?

During the final presidential debate of the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan, running against Jimmy Carter, turned to the camera and asked “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” The debate took place against a backdrop of spiraling inflation and rising unemployment. A week later, Reagan won the election by one of the largest margins in recent history. Now, with the 2008 presidential election just weeks away and the economy once again in turmoil, a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) updates the Reagan question by comparing economic indicators in 2008 and 2000, and finds that most indicators suggest that voters are worse off now than they were eight years ago. The study finds that 23 out of 25 indicators are worse in 2008 than they were in 2000. Some of the indicators examined included the unemployment rate, annual inflation, the “Misery Index” (the sum of the the unemployment rate and the inflation rate), job growth, wage growth, the poverty rate, the number of uninsured, college tuition costs, and gasoline prices. Of these, only inflation-adjusted median family income and productivity growth were higher in 2008 than they were in 2000.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, US presidential elections

Alternative Energy - Sevilla Solar Capital of the world ready to link up with Middle East and Africa for more Alternative power - by Carolyn Whelan

On the outskirts of Seville, Spain, 600 rotating mirrors send shafts of light to a collector atop a soaring 380-foot- (115-meter-) tall tower. Its scalding 480-degree-Fahrenheit (250-degree-Celsius) steam drives a turbine generating a peak capacity of 11 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the national grid. This "power tower" is the first of nine to be built by Spanish engineering giant Abengoa Solar, which all told will produce enough electricity for 153,000 homes by 2013.

Plentiful sunshine isn't the only reason entrepreneurs and industry have flocked to Spain. The Spanish advantage includes abundant land, strong demand for air conditioning, mammoth infrastructural firms to fast-track projects, and, most importantly, generous subsidies. The nation's feed-in tariffs guarantee 25 years of up to triple the market price for solar energy, making it the world's hottest solar market, trailing only subsidy-richer Germany.In fact, money committed for Spanish PV projects (mostly ground-based) shot up nearly 500 percent from 2006 to 2007 to a total of $3.45 billion, according to London-based New Energy Finance, a renewable energy market research firm.

Most importantly, the initial African power plants and Spain's solar-thermal test bed pave the way for energy export from planned solar farms in the Sahara Desert across a high-voltage direct current trans-sea line to Europe, pending political will and public funds. French President Nicolas Sarkozy resurrected the idea this year in a Plan Solaire. Studies show that harnessing just 0.3 percent of the sunshine on North African and Middle Eastern deserts could power those regions and Europe. Optimists, such as Nikolai Ulrich, head of renewables Europe at Germany's Nordbank, foresee energy export from Africa within seven years. Imminent milestones include talks in Algeria and Tunisia for transmission lines to Italy, planned for next year. Spain has an edge, because it has been swapping electricity with Morocco over their own two-way line for about a dozen years.

Labels: Alternative Energy, EU, Solar Energy, Spain

UK - Bring on energy revolution - by Gloria McShan

Nervous retailers, panicky bankers, gloomy estate agents - amid the continuing global stock-market turmoil, many investors are running scared. But is renewable energy one of the sectors with brighter financial prospects, due to EU and UK climate change targets?Mark Dowdall, of North-east land and property development company The Banks Group, believes renewables are where “the wise money is going” and says his company’s sustainable energy interests are helping offset a lean period in the property sector. Since in 2007 less than 5% of the UK’s electricity came from renewables, there is a mountain to climb even to meet 2020 EU goals. However, even more than investment, he flagged up the planning process as a critical area for the Government to address.

For example, protests against wind farms often held up projects for several years. “We’re pussyfooting around,” he added. Government targets make renewable energy an attractive sector.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Britain, EU, Windpower

Russia, Iran, Qatar discuss OPEC-style gas cartel

Russia, Iran and Qatar took their first serious steps toward forming an OPEC-style cartel for natural gas on Tuesday, a prospect that has unnerved energy-importing nations in Europe and the United States. The three countries together account for 60 percent of the world's gas reserves, and Russia and Iran have both been accused of using their hold on energy supplies to bully neighboring countries. The European Union, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, criticized the proposal, saying "energy supplies have to be sold in a free market."

Note EU-Digest: The three countries do not control 60% of the gas supplies and the idea of a gas cartel makes little sense unless it includes at least the top ten suppliers of natural gas which are:

1. Russia … 656.2 billion cubic meters (19.9% of estimated world total)

2. United States … 490.8 billion cubic meters (14.9%)

3. Canada … 178.2 billion cubic meters (5.4%)

4. Iran … 101 billion cubic meters (3.1%)

5. Algeria … 84.4 billion cubic meters (2.6%)

6. United Kingdom … 84.2 billion cubic meters (2.6%)

7. Norway … 83.4 billion cubic meters (2.5%)

8. Netherlands … 77.3 billion cubic meters (2.3%)

9. Indonesia … 74 billion cubic meters (2.2%)

10. Turkmenistan … 72.3 billion cubic meters (2.2%).

Labels: Cartel, Gas Supplies, Iran, Quatar, Russia

Religion vs science: can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled? - by Paul Vallely

''A clergyman in charge of education for the country's leading scientific organisation – it's a Monty Python sketch," pronounced Britain's top atheist, Richard Dawkins, recently. The problem was that Reiss, as well as being an evolutionary biologist and population geneticist, is a non-stipendiary priest in the Church of England. When he said recently that science teachers should answer questions about creationism if pupils asked them he was deemed to have been advocating the idea that British schools should teach the idea that the world was magicked up (complete with fossils and ancient geology) just 6,000 years ago – and then tell pupils to make their own minds up between that and the theory of evolution to which the overwhelming scientific evidence points.The idea that science and religion are incompatible is a fairly recent import into contemporary culture. It has been given huge credence by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The pronounced motivation of Islamic fundamentalists in 2001 hammered home that some people are prepared to inflict outrageous acts of inhumanity in the name of religion.

Labels: Britain, evolution, Religion, Science

47,730 visitors at Horti Fair 2008 in AMSTERDAM

The international Horti Fair, which was held in Amsterdam during last week, was with 47,730 visitor very successful. 900 Companies from 49 countries took part. The horticultural sector is becoming more and more international. About half the number of visitors came from the Netherlands and the other half literally from the rest of the world and especially the large number of visitors from Eastern Europe and the Middle East attracted attention.

According to director Wim van der Loo this has confirmed the top position of the Netherlands in the worldwide horticultural sector.New pavilions such as the Logistics Pavilion, the House of Software. Good and Green Pavilion and other initiatives, such as the accent on food horticulture, were a valuable addition to the show concept. The week of the Horti Fair is also always a motive to organise extra activities in the Dutch horticultural areas. "The international drawing influence of the Horti Fair is utilised to position the Dutch
Horticulture more intensively.

Labels: EU, Horticulture, The Netherlands

Cannabis/Marihuana Crimes in Holland: "A big problem which needs to be stopped by changing Dutch laws on the use of Cannabis"

The Netherlands' marijuana tolerance policy was meant to prevent use of harder drugs. But Max Daniel, who heads up the Netherlands police unit charged with combating the organized crime behind the cannabis trade, says a violent industry has developed with exports of €2 billion.

Daniel said, "One man asked his nephew to look after his house for six months. When he returned, his home was filled with cannabis plants. He got rid of them. Afterwards he was shot in the knees and told he needed to repay €18,500 ($24,800). We know there are shops that bring cannabis-growing equipment directly to people's homes. They then provide the names and addresses to criminal organizations, which come and steal the harvest. Today, cannabis is involved in nearly all major cases involving murder, weapons and drugs". When Daniel was asked why the police did not act sooner he said, "Because everyone, including the police, said: "It's only cannabis." It costs the police just as much to arrest someone for cannabis as for cocaine. But for dealing in coke you go to prison, whereas for cannabis you just have to pay a laughably small fine. So police don't have much incentive to invest in the latter. In our Dutch society, we have been brought up to believe that cannabis is not something criminal".

Labels: Cannabis, Crime, EU, Marihuana, The Netherlands

Privacy is a human right: US and EU Privacy Laws Differ Greatly - EU must not buckle under pressures to follow US laws

In reference to a court case between the aging French Literary personality Dumas and a photographer, who had sold "risky" pictures he took of Dumas and his 32 year old Texas actress girlfriend Adah Isaacs Menken, Yale law professor James Whitman wrote in a paper titled “The Two Western Cultures of Privacy: Dignity versus Liberty, “One’s privacy, like other aspects of one’s honor, are not a market commodity that could simply be definitively sold.” In the Dumas case the French court had decided that posing for the photographs did not mean Dumas and Menken had surrendered their rights to privacy and dignity, even if they consented to do just that during a heady romantic moment. These rights trumped any commercial property rights the photographer might have claimed, the court said. It was a ruling which would certainly not have been given in an American court.

EU privacy laws are very different from those in America and some of the European rulings might seem like a dream for those Americans who believe their privacy is slowly eroding.

Some of the differences between US and EU privacy include:

* Personal information cannot be collected without consumers’ permission, and they have the right to review the data and correct inaccuracies.
* Companies that process data must register their activities with the government.
* Employers cannot read employees’ private e-mail.
* Personal information cannot be shared by companies or across borders without express permission from the data subject.
* Checkout clerks cannot ask for shoppers’ phone numbers.

Those rights, and many others, stem from The European Union Directive on Data Protection of 1995, which mandated that each EU nation pass a national privacy law and create a Data Protection Authority to protect citizens' privacy and investigate attacks on it.

National European laws also come in a variety of forms based on varied traditions. But taken together, they are the backbone of a basic European principle: Privacy is a human right. European citizens should make sure this right never gets watered down by outside or internal pressures.

Labels: Citizens Privacy Rights, EU, Privacy Laws

France's point man on poverty fights to tax the rich - by Susan Sachs

At a time when some politicians here are calling for lower taxes and a growing number of working families are sliding into poverty, a French Robin Hood has appeared on the scene. Martin Hirsch, a long-time social activist and former president of France's biggest private charity, is fighting to tax the rich to pay the poor.It is a battle that many of Mr. Hirsch's sympathizers thought was not winnable under a right-wing government, and it might seem even more so with bank bailouts and stock market volatility grabbing headlines. But Mr. Hirsch, working from inside the system as President Nicolas Sarkozy's point man on poverty, appears to be close to pulling off the most costly French aid program in years

Labels: EU, France, Social responsibility

EU opens the door to Iceland

Iceland could "quickly" join the EU if it decided to apply for membership, the bloc's Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday (20 October 2008), as the country reconsiders its opposition to accession in view of the financial crisis, which has brought the island to the brink of bankruptcy.

"Iceland is clearly a democratic European country," which has "already negotiated perhaps two-thirds" of the criteria needed to join the current 27-nation bloc, Rehn told AFP. "This means that were Iceland to pose its candidature, we could quickly complete the negotiations," he said. Iceland was an early member of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) and through 1994's European Economic Agreement (EEA) applies most of the bloc's single market legislation, with the notable exceptions of agriculture and fisheries. The EEA also allows Iceland to participate - albeit with no voting rights - in a number of EU agencies and programs, covering enterprise, environment, education and research. Furthermore, Iceland is also an associated member of the Schengen zone, providing for passport-free travel within most EU countries and Norway.

Labels: EU, Iceland

The Fraudacity of American Finance - by Karl Denninger

John Mack yesterday in a CNBC interview said that the capital deployed by Treasury into the banks was going to rebuild their capital ratios - not be lent out. In other words, they intend to hoard it. This means, bluntly, that not one nickel of benefit will be seen by Main Street, despite claims by Paulson, Bush and others that this bailout is necessary for "Main Street, not Wall Street." Where is the accountability? CNBC's Fast Money finally started talking about the outright fraud and lies last night. Dylan Ratigan was absolutely on fire about the fact that Paulson was in fact one of the executives lobbying hard for removal of leverage limits in 2004, just two years before he took the position at Treasury (and cashed out $500 million in Goldman Sachs stock tax free.)

Labels: US Economy, Wall Street

US economy - October's index will plunge,'' said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist - by Timothy R.Homan

``October's index will plunge,'' said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics Ltd. in Valhalla, New York, who correctly forecast the gain. The index ``is consistent with recession, and it has not hit bottom yet.''The leading index was forecast to decline 0.1 percent, according to the median of 53 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from a drop of 0.6 percent to a gain of 0.5 percent. Bernanke, broke with the Bush Administration, and endorsed consideration of a second fiscal stimulus package. The housing slump is showing no indication of abating.

Building permits, a sign of future construction, dropped 8.3 percent in September, matching the lowest level since 1981, and single-family home starts fell to a 26-year low, the Commerce Department reported last week. The U.S. has lost 760,000 jobs so far this year, and the jobless rate held at a five-year high of 6.1 percent in September. More job cuts are on the way

Labels: US Economy

Airlines scamming passengers on fuel surcharges: Surcharges paying the bulk of airline fuel bills

The cost of jet fuel for a transatlantic flight on British Airways can now be paid by the airline company almost completely by surcharges that are levied on passengers, according to a recent report. Beginning in May, BA added fuel surcharges to its ticket prices, with passengers paying from euro 100 to 130 additional on long-haul services of less than nine hours’ duration. These charges bring in euro 14.000 to the carrier on a 224-seat Boeing 777 London-New York flight. The same is true for flights on Virgin Atlantic. For some time, airlines have complained about the cost of fuel. Manufacturer testing shows that a Boeing 777 carrying 305 passengers typically requires 44 tons of fuel on a London-New York run. The estimate includes cargo and luggage in the calculation. At current oil prices of euro 600.85 a ton, the cost to the carrier would be euro 15.021.00, which would be nearly covered by fuel surcharges. Only very few airline companies reduced the fuel charges as fuel cost dropped dramatically during the past two months.

Many other airlines including KLM/Airfrance are involved in this "extra fuel surcharges" scam and several consumer organizations are not only looking into these charges, but are also planning to take legal action. In the meantime the European Parliament has been requested by representatives of European political parties to look into the matter. It was disclosed on Dutch TV this evening that there is also no transparency as to how these surcharges are calculated by the airline companies.

Labels: Airline Industry, British Airways, Delta, EU Parliament, Fuel Surcharge, KLM Airfrance, scam

Russia - Crisis spares Russia's 'average Joe - by Fred Weir

While many Americans are watching as their pensions crash with the markets, across Russia it's a different story. Though their stock market crash has been longer and deeper than in almost any other country, most Russians remain relatively unaffected. Meanwhile, Russia's wealthiest man, aluminum king Oleg Deripaska, has reportedly lost $16 billion over the past month.While Russian industrial barons are falling like kingpins, the government has maintained a budget surplus thanks to oil revenues and sovereign debts paid off by former President Vladimir Putin. Additionally, the general population has also been largely protected due to outmoded financial practices and social beliefs that kept pensions separate from the stock market. The varied effects of the market crisis are likely to alter the underpinnings of Russian society, say many Russian economic analysts. "The Russian economy will survive this crisis, but will emerge greatly changed," says Olga Kryshtanovskaya, director of the independent Institute of Applied Politics.

Labels: Economy, Russia

Russia should join EU, Berlusconi says

Russia should be allowed to join the European Union in the coming years, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday. "I consider Russia to be a Western nation. So my project is that the Russian Federation should become a member of the EU in the coming years," Berlusconi told Italian reporters on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.Asked whether the time had come for the EU to normalize its relations with Moscow, Berlusconi said: "I would go beyond that." Berlusconi has frequently touted his close friendship with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and Putin's two daughters have been spotted in the past spending their summer holidays at Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia.

Labels: Berlusconi, Economy, EU, Putin, Russia

Netherlands Conference Held At Turkish Foreign Ministry

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has said that the Netherlands was a powerful partner of Turkey, and they aimed at further intensifying and deepening the bilateral relations with that country in all areas. Babacan attended the Second Turkey-Netherlands Conference at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen who is currently in Ankara on a formal visit. Speaking at the conference, Babacan said that the Netherlands was one of the countries making the most investments in Turkey. Our bilateral trade has been rapidly growing, he said. "More than 400 thousand people of Turkish descent live in the Netherlands. We expect number of Dutch tourists spending their holidays in Turkey to exceed 1 million by the end of this year. Relations between Turkish and Dutch peoples constitute an important part of the relations between the two countries," Babacan said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Verhagen, in his part, expressed his profound sorrow over killing of Turkish police officers in Wednesday`s terrorist attack in Diyarbakir. Referring to the bilateral relations, Verhagen said that the 400th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands would be celebrated in 2012. Verhagen said that Turkey was the fourth biggest commercial partner of the Netherlands.

Labels: Economy, EU, Netherlands, Tourism, Turkey

Turkey:Wake Up to Rising Economic Risks - by Wolfango Piccoli

Despite its large parliamentary majority and past pragmatism, the government led by Turkey's Justice & Development (AKP) party has remained essentially idle as the country faces the dual challenges of a slowing domestic economy and a global credit crunch. A risky sense of overconfidence and lack of focus on economic issues seems to prevail among policymakers. The Turkish banking sector appears relatively shielded from global liquidity problems. This is mainly thanks to reforms introduced after a 2001 banking crisis, including the creation of a bank regulatory and supervision agency and strengthened requirements for risk management, internal control, and auditing. Regulators say the banking system at the end of July had a healthy capital adequacy ratio of about 17% overall, while the loans-to-deposit ratio was 86.8%.

However, there are still risks to watch for. Foreign exchange liabilities of Turkish corporations to local banks had reached $39.42 billion as of March 2008. Local banks' gross debt to banks abroad stood at about $45 billion at the end of the first quarter. Credit-card default risk is another worry. Individual consumer credit-card debt is $26.9 billion, and the default rate is around 6.3%.

Labels: Economy, Turkey

Real Estate: Agents warn housing market meltdown is global

Whilst the banking system remains in turmoil, the effect on the housing market, both global and local, is becoming more and more marked. According to a survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), estate agents sold, on average, under one property per week each in September, and the number of properties sold across the UK is the lowest since the RICS surveys began in 1978. Sales are 52 per cent lower than in September last year. London had the fewest sales per estate agent, with an average of just eight in the previous three months. Nationwide, 91 per cent of estate agents saw prices fall over the preceding three months.

Labels: EU, Real Estate

Black cloud over EU climate change deal

The emerging pressure from different member states to scale back EU climate policy in the face of economic downturn is a major blow, both to the environment and to the EU economy (Europe's leaders struggle to stop emissions package unravelling, October 17). The French presidency appears to be driving for an agreement based on the lowest common denominator, effectively giving every member state the possibility to beg for special treatment. The aim is clearly to bully the European parliament into accepting an agreement at any cost. The parliament must not and will not succumb. This a la carte approach would rip all substance out of the package, leaving the EU with an empty shell of legislation which makes a mockery of its supposed "global leadership".

Note EU-Digest: The EU parliament should not buckle under the pressure of some states which have outdated equipment environmentally unsafe production facilities like Poland. The alternative energy lobby in Bruxelles, including the windmill and solar sector also have to stir up their opposition, because any weakening of the proposed climate policy regulations would also effect the alternative energy sector, which is becoming more and more profitable.

Labels: Climate Change, EU, EU Parliament

"Pentecostalism is the largest self-organized movement of urban poor in the world," according to the U.S. urban specialist Mike Davis. His opinions on this religious movement tend to be rejected outright by many leftist intellectuals. However, Davis is convinced that "many people on the left have made the mistake of assuming that Pentecostalism is a reactionary force—and it's not." "Pentecostals not only get many people away from alcohol, but also occasionally get them to give up drug trafficking and delinquency. And they do it without pressure. However, Pentecostals are also a social and political force, not just religious. In an historical irony, the largest left party on the Latin American continent, the Workers Party (PT), created by the Catholic Church and other entities, came into power with a Pentecostal vice president, José Alencar.

The vice president's Brazilian Republican Party (PRB), created in 2005 and linked to the Universal Church, is the fastest growing political force in the country. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God to which he belongs controls 70 television and 50-plus radio stations, a bank, several newspapers, and has 3,500 temples. Its Record TV Network vies for the largest audience against the legendary Globo Network and earns a billion dollars a year.

"It's a question of giving people alternatives and hopes for a better future". Of the 550 total legislative representatives in Brazil, 61 are Pentecostals, and 91 call themselves militant Catholics. "Anyone living in the urban peripheries of today's Brazil, can confirm that this is an important phenomenon. Many participants in the Homeless Workers Movement are also members of the local Pentecostal church. We cannot forget that religion played an important role in the formation of our left," says Marco Fernandes, an historian and social psychologist who participates in the Homeless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto, MTST).

Labels: Christianity, Economy, Latin America, Pentacostals, Political

Consortium Plans World's Largest Wind Farm in UK - by Michael Graham Richard

A joint venture between Shell, E.On UK and Core Limited has for goal to build an offshore wind farm off the South-East coast of England. The power generation potential would be of 1,000 megawatts, making it the biggest in the world and allowing it to power about 25% of London, which would cut emissions of carbon dioxide (the main greenhouse gas) by 1.9 million tonnes a year. Currently, "the world's biggest offshore wind farm that's already in operation is Denmark's Nysted windfarm, which can produce 165 megawatts."

Labels: Alternative Energy, Britain, EU

The Woman Steering Denmark’s Alternative Energy Success : by Gavin Hudson

Since 2007, Connie Hedegaard has been behind Denmark’s energy successes. In April, she signed an action plan with India on renewable energy. One notable achievement was her role in introducing Denmark’s Energy Policy 2008-2011. The policy made her country the first in the world to commit to an overall energy reduction, not just a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. It includes the following language.Denmark is an exemplar of successful sustainable energy policy. Today, around 20% of Denmark’s energy is supplied by wind power. Not only is the country energy independent, its energy consumption hasn’t risen since the ’70s, despite 50% economic growth, according to Flemming Hansen, former Minister of Transport and Energy.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Denmark, EU

USA Alteranative energy: Block Island embracing offshore wind farm plan - by Bina Venkataraman

The wind whips an American flag towering over the palatial lawn that carpets this hilltop. A gust topples a paper coffee cup, half-full, onto a Victorian patio chair on the veranda of the island's oldest hotel. "If we did have wind turbines, they would be smokin'," said Dave Houseman, general manager of the 19th-century Spring House Hotel, looking out at the breakers below. "Chances are you wouldn't even see them. But I think if you did, it's something you could get used to." His remark reflects a widely held sentiment here since a developer recently proposed erecting a $1.5 billion wind farm in the waters off this isolated island. The company has proposed building more than 100 turbines, each one up to 240 feet tall.

Labels: Alternative Energy, North East, US

The wind shifts for renewable energy - by Tom Wright

The prospects of renewable-energy companies soared with oil prices, but the global credit crunch and the easing of energy costs have brought them back to earth with a thud. Stronger players, such as Iberdrola of Spain, are buying wind farms from cash-strapped rivals. With banks reluctant to lend and their stock prices tumbling, many green-energy concerns are struggling to find the long-term funding they need to expand in a capital-intensive industry. In the past three months, global renewable-energy stocks tracked by New Energy Finance, a London-based consultancy, have dropped about 45 per cent, compared with a 23 per cent decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the same period. The sector's problems have been compounded by the skid in oil prices to below $US70 a barrel last week from more than $US147 in July. The sudden reversal in crude prices has removed -- at least temporarily -- a key rationale for investors to pump billions of dollars into alternative fuels, industry analysts say.

The result: At least in the short term, a slew of projects from palm-oil-based biodiesel plants in Indonesia and Malaysia to wind farms and solar projects across the U.S. and Europe may not be able to get funding.

Labels: Alternative Energy

Krugman Proves Keynesianism Isn't Dead After All - by William Pesek

Krugman, 55, didn't get the Nobel for his work on Japan's lost decade, but for ``analysis of trade patterns and locations of economic activity.'' The Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist is among President George W. Bush's most prominent critics. Coming less than a month before an election, the award left some economists wondering if the Nobel committee was playing politics. Krugman's work is getting considerable attention in Asia, and for good reason. His reputation in this region was made in the mid-1990s when he was among the most consistent predictors of the 1997 Asian crisis. A couple of years later, Krugman correctly opined that Asia would stage an impressive comeback. Far from it. At the rate the U.S. is socializing its financial system, it seems only a matter of time before airlines, automakers and major retailers find their way onto the government's balance sheet. It would be the ultimate irony if the U.S. had to bail out Wal-Mart Stores Inc. with borrowed Chinese money so that it can support all those Chinese factory workers. Globalization is bringing the world full circle -- from state-owned companies to privatization to the re-nationalization of those enterprises. It's no wonder Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is referring to the U.S. leader as ``Comrade Bush'' and saying ``now Bush is to the left of even me.''

Note EU-Digest: What could probably immediately stimulate the US economy is for the Government to advice those banks which received bailout money to earmark some of that liquidity to provide credit card holders in the US a one year moratorium on their credit card payments. Total US consumer debt (which includes installment debt, but not mortgage debt) reached $2.46 Trillion in June 2007, up from $2.398 Trillion at the end of 2006 (Source: Federal Reserve). Total US consumer revolving debt reached $904 Billion in June 2007, up from $879 billion at the end of 2006 (Source: Federal Reserve) The median U.S. household income is currently $43,200 and the typical family's credit card balance is now almost 5 percent of their annual income. (Source: Federal Reserve) Of the households that do owe money on credit cards, the median balance was $2,200 -- meaning half owe more, half less. (Source: MSN Money)National credit card debt in the US per credit card borrower increased 8.6 percent to $1,717 in the second quarter of 2008, compared to the same period 2007, according to a study by TransUnion.

Labels: Credit Card Industry, economic meltdown, US Banking System

Europe and US wrestle for control of global markets - by Tom Baldwin

A weekend meeting at Camp David with President Sarkozy of France and José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, produced a joint statement promising to hold “a series of summits on addressing the challenges facing the global economy”. The first will be held soon after the US elections on November 4, when Mr Bush will still be President. He hopes to put his stamp on policies that will largely be implemented by either Barack Obama or John McCain after one of them is inaugurated on January 20. Mr Bush said: “As we make the regulatory institutional changes necessary to avoid a repeat of this crisis, it is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism — commitment to free markets, free enterprise and free trade. “We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world.”

Mr Sarkozy, who holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, which has a tradition of deeper and stronger intervention in markets, advocates a new form of “regulated capitalism” because there is “no liberty without some regulation and stability”.

Labels: EU, US, World Economy

Oil producers set to cut output

The chief of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has said that there must be a "substantial" cut in output when the group meets in Vienna next week. "There will be a reduction in production at the next extraordinary meeting of Opec, and it will have to be a substantial one to get the balance right between supply and demand," Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeria's energy minister, said. "If it has to be 1.5 million barrels per day, or two million barrels per day, that's what it will be."

Labels: Oil Production, Opec

Two Russian soldiers killed in attack in Ingushetia

Rebels in the Caucasus republic of Ingushetia attacked Saturday a Russian army convoy, killing two soldiers and wounding at least five, the military said. A military staff spokesman told the Interfax agency that at least 30 rebels took part in the attack on the convoy.Ingushetia, located in between the Russian republics of Chechnya and North Ossetia, is considered as extremely unsafe amid the fighting between rebels and security forces of the Moscow loyalist government in the capital Magas.

Labels: Russia

Europe matters once again, thanks to its impatient, competent, and hyperactive leader - by Lara Marlowe

CAN NICOLAS Sarkozy save the world? In just two months, with his stewardship of crises in the Caucasus and on world financial markets, the French president has attained the image of an international statesman of rare ability. Mr Sarkozy is changing the way the world sees Europe, and the way Europe sees itself. "All has to change," he said at the closing of the EU summit here yesterday. "This [financial] crisis has given us the opportunity to reconcile Europeans with Europe. I'm ready to place a bet: Europe will have a better image after the crisis." Mr Sarkozy called the euro group's emergency summit on Sunday, then on Wednesday persuaded all 27 member states to adopt the bank rescue plan. His next mission - one he has talked about for years - is to "refound capitalism" the world over; nothing less.

Labels: EU, France, Sarkozy

Sarkozy, joined by European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, heads to the storied US presidential retreat armed with a mandate from his EU colleagues to push for a top-to-bottom revamp of the world's financial system. But the White House has preemptively declared that the talks will yield no new policy proposals, and no date or location for a world leaders summit that the French leader hopes will generate sweeping reforms. "I don't believe that tomorrow night's meeting will have any new policy announcements or any decision on a date or a location for that meeting -- although everybody is working towards that," said spokeswoman Dana Perino."There's a lot of things to work through and we'll find a date; that won't be -- that's the least of our worries, is finding a date," said Perino, who poured cold water on Sarkozy's call for a wholly new economic framework.

Sarkozy on Thursday renewed his call for a wide-ranging summit "before the end of the year" -- something the White House now supports -- while warning that reforms cannot wait for Bush's successor to take office in January.

Labels: EU, US Economy, World Economy

Obama promotes alternative energy plan - Great business opportunities await more advanced European alternative energy corporations

The focus of Barack Obama's energy plan in a video message to supporters used during the Democratic party organized "house parties" while supporters watched the fall campaign's final presidential debate Wednesday night.In a video Obama highlighted his agenda to spend $150 billion over 10 years on alternative energy to create 5 million new jobs in America.

To view one of Obama's speeches on alternative energy opportunities click on this link

Labels: Alternative Energy, Obama

UK - Relaxing constraints on off shore Wind farm regulation to cut euro 20 billion from costs

Relaxing the constraints that dictate where offshore wind farms can be built could cut £16bn from the overall cost of developing offshore wind, according to a new report from The Carbon Trust. Applying all the current constraints would require the UK’s next round of offshore wind farms to be built at great expense 70 miles from the shore and in deep waters. But allowing wind farms to be built nearer to the shore and in shallower waters could enable 29GW of offshore wind farms to be built by 2020. This, the trust argues, would help the UK meet renewable energy targets, cut carbon emissions by 14 per cent, create 70,000 new jobs and bolster energy security.

Tom Delay, chief executive of The Carbon Trust, an independent company set up by the UK government in response to the threat of climate change, said: 'If we are to meet our 2020 renewable targets we need a dash for wind on a comparable scale to the dash for gas of the 1990s. ‘Slashing the costs of offshore wind must now be a priority for UK energy policy.

Labels: Alternative Energy, EU, Wind farms

Wind Energy Corporation Showcases Revolutionary On-Site Vertical Axis Wind Turbine at Japanese Tech Expo

Wind Energy Corporation (Wind Energy) announced today that they will be participating in one of the largest trade shows in Asia later this month. Taking place in Fukuoka, Japan, the Eco-Technology Expo attracts the most advanced developers of renewable energy, pollution control and eco-system restoration technologies. The Expo attracted more than 200 exhibitors and 29,000 visitors in 2007 and is expected to be even larger this year. The show runs from October 22-24. Wind Energy Corporation which has developed Vertical Axis wind turbine technology will be setting up a prototype of their product at the Exposition.

Wind Energy Corporation is a pioneer in the untapped commercial and community distributive energy market. "Distributive" means providing power directly to, and under the control of, consumers and businesses. While many are focused solely on massive wind farms designed to sell electricity into the overtaxed national power grid, Wind Energy Corporation is bringing an on-site, alternative wind energy solution to the marketplace.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Wind farms

U.S. Economy: Years of Hardship Ahead - by John Schmitt

The U.S. economy is now almost certainly in the early stages of a long and deep recession. No, not a Great Depression. Economic policymaking has come a long way since the 1930s, and we now know how to avoid the worst mistakes. Nevertheless, we’re facing something akin to the severe recession of the early 1980s, when unemployment crossed 10%, rather than the relatively short, shallow recessions of the early 1990s and 2000s. The root cause of the recession is the $4 trillion decline in the value of U.S. homes, which may well total $8 trillion before prices hit bottom. Econometric evidence suggests that for every $1 decline in housing prices, homeowners cut back spending by about 6cent;. Using this formula, a $6 trillion drop in prices translates into a $360 billion annual decline in consumption—just under three percentage points of gross domestic product.Get ready for nasty, brutish, and long.

Labels: US Economic Meltdown

UK - The mad world of shadow bankers -by Ian Macwhirter

The madness of the shadow banking system became apparent over a year ago when Northern Rock was nationalised, but regulators ignored the implications. The Treasury minister Yvette Cooper discovered to her dismay that Northern Rock didn't own half of its own mortgages: £50bn had been hived off to a Jersey-based company, Granite, registered as a charity benefiting Down's syndrome children in the north-east of England. Needless to say, the charity didn't get any cash - this was a special-purpose vehicle that allowed the Rock to trade in complex securities without having to meet the stringent capitalisation requirements of a normal bank. But it wasn't just the Rock. Most banks and other financial institutions did exactly the same, setting up "orphan companies", often under charitable trusts, that did not appear on their published balance sheets. This is one reason why such apparently well-capitalized and solvent institutions as Royal Bank of Scotland collapsed so suddenly. Their true liabilities had been hidden for years in the shadow system while they made huge profits from lending.

How did they get away with it? If you or I set up fictitious offshore identities to evade tax and conceal high-risk financial activities, we would end up in jail. But the regulators turned a blind eye, partly because they didn't fully understand structured finance, and partly because the government believed that it must be a good thing, as it generated so much profit and tax revenue. This was the regime of "light-touch regulation" of the City that turned the British economy into a cross between a Liechtenstein tax haven and a giant hedge fund.

Labels: Banking system, Britain, EU, Fraud

Where would we be now without the euro? - by Hans Martens and Fabian Zuleeg

As John Thornhill noted in the Financial Times earlier this month: "The creation of the 15-country euro zone has introduced greater stability into the heart of the European economy, ending the frenzy of competitive devaluations that marked previous financial panics." It is easy to forget that not very long ago, a financial crisis in Europe went hand-in-hand with currency turmoil. In volatile financial markets, speculation often focuses on exchange rates, especially in cases where countries aim to maintain a level of parity with other currencies.

As former European Central Bank Executive Board member Otmar Issing recently put it in The Japan Times: "It is not difficult to imagine what would have happened during the recent financial-market crisis if the euro-area countries still had all their national currencies: immense speculation against some currencies, heavy interventions by central banks and finally a collapse of the parity system."

In times of rising scepticism towards the EU, highlighting the benefits of established 'core' common policies is all the more necessary. More needs to be done to improve Europe-wide supervision and coordination. But maybe the time has come for countries that are not in the euro zone (or indeed those which have not yet joined the EU), to reconsider whether it is better to be outside when coordination and integration inside can offer a degree of additional stability in an uncertain and volatile world.

Labels: EU, euro, European Unity, monetary stability

New Energy Economy: Energy Economy Emerging in the USA - by Lester R.Brown

As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging in the United States. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not have imagined even a year ago. Consider Texas. Long the leading oil-producing state, it is now also the leading generator of electricity from wind, having overtaken California two years ago. Texas now has nearly 6,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity online and a staggering 39,000 megawatts in the construction and planning stages. When all this is completed, Texas will have 45,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity (think 45 coal-fired power plants). This will more than satisfy the residential needs of the state’s 24 million people, enabling Texas to feed electricity to nearby states such as Louisiana and Mississippi.

After Texas and California, the other leaders among the 30 states with commercial-scale wind farms are Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, and Colorado. And other states are emerging as wind superpowers. Clipper Windpower and BP are teaming up to build the 5,050-megawatt Titan wind farm, the world’s largest, in eastern South Dakota. Already under development, Titan will generate five times as much electricity as the state’s 780,000 residents currently use. This project includes building a transmission line along an abandoned rail line across Iowa, feeding electricity into Illinois and the country’s industrial heartland.

TO ORDER OUR SPECIAL REPORT ON WINDMILL POWER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE US, INCLUDING MANY LINKS TO RESOURCES CLICK ON THIS LINK

Labels: Alternative Energy Resources, Offshore Wind Energy, US, Windpower

Editorial: Tell PSC what you think of offshore wind farms

The good news is that it is technologically feasible to erect electricity generating wind turbines in the Great Lakes. The bad news is that the cost of the power produced is significantly higher than that from land-based turbines. More good news is that there are no neighboring residents who would be affected by the sight and sound of the turbines. More bad news is that the lake-based turbines would likely require an expensive upgrade in transmission systems including new transmission lines. These observations and more are part of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission's draft report on wind-energy potential in Lake Michigan. The PSC issued the report last week and will be accepting comments from the public on it until Nov. 10.

Labels: Offshore Wind Energy, US

Experts call for rethink of siting of British offshore wind farms - by Richard Bowden

A British environmental group has called on the U.K. to review its policy on offshore wind farms in order to trim costs for the next phase of alternative energy for the country. The Carbon Trust has said in a new report titled "Offshore wind: big challenge, big opportunity" that the government should rethink the rule that states wind turbines be placed at least 70 miles from shore. The Trust claims such a move would cut around euro 20.50 billion($27.5 billion USD) or 20 percent of the cost in setting up the offshore wind farms.

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said the government needed to make wind power as attractive as possible in order for the country to meet its renewable energy targets. "If we are to meet our 2020 renewable targets we need a dash for wind on a comparable scale to the dash for gas of the 1990s," he said. "Slashing the costs of offshore wind must now be a priority for UK energy policy. The Government must use the upcoming consultation on this important issue to unlock the most economically attractive sites for development. This would dramatically reduce the cost of development - essential if we are going to meet our 2020 renewable targets and deliver significant reductions in our carbon emissions.

Labels: EU, Offshore Wind Energy, UK

The Monroe Doctrine Revisited: China’s Increased Role in Latin America - by Eliot Brockner

Situated on the banks of the Paraná River, Rosario is a mid-size city located approximately 300 kilometers north of Buenos Aires. Its strategic location makes it one of Argentina’s main hubs for international and domestic shipping, which has prompted the emergence of hundreds of local businesses to meet the needs of the city’s one million inhabitants. Many of the owners of these businesses commute from the peripheral southern edge of the city to do business in the vibrant center. Unlike their Bolivian, Paraguayan, and Argentine neighbors, they speak Chinese and hold Chinese passports.

The presence of Chinese communities in cities like Rosario is not surprising. Chinese immigration and adaptability is common worldwide. In 2006, reported Chinese remittances from abroad totaled over $22 billion, and the global Chinese Diaspora is estimated to be 40 million strong. What is noteworthy is the symbolism of their success: the ability of the Chinese to seamlessly integrate and flourish in business climates all throughout Latin America is symbolic in a region ever more open to trade with these business owners’ country of origin. US popularity has sunk to all-time lows. The global financial crisis could turn out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for US-regulated economic policy in Latin America. Mounting tensions and disillusionment with failed policies and a system that still has not benefited most will only be exacerbated by the collapse of what were once considered sound institutions. As a result, Latin American governments, already warming to China because of China’s huge market potential and need for commodities to fuel their industrial boom, may look farther east.

Labels: China, Latin America, US

Picture "Burger Queen" from CandianContent

For the complete report from the Telegraph click on this link

British Queen owns a McDonald's

Among Her Majesty's Queen Elizabeth II most recent acquisitions was a retail park in Slough - which encompasses a drive-through McDonalds. Bath Road Retail Park was purchased in June by the Crown Estate, which administers the monarch's property portfolio, for euro 100 million. The site, which is visible from the Queen's State Apartments at Windsor Castle, is also home to a B&Q superstore, and branches of Comet, JJB Sports and Mothercare. But it seems unlikely that the Royal taste buds will be tempted by the fare on offer too often. The purchase will be good news for shops in these times of uncertainty, because having the Queen as landlady means the future of the site is secure.

Labels: Britain, EU, McDonalds, Queen Elizabeth

The damage to Brand USA needs urgent repair - by Francis Fukuyama

"The implosion of America's investment banks... the vanishing of more than a trillion dollars in stock- market wealth in a day: the scale of the Wall Street crack-up could scarcely be more gargantuan. Yet even as Americans ask why they have to pay a mind-bending $700 billion to prevent the economy from imploding, few are discussing a potentially much greater cost to the United States - the damage to America's “brand”.

The biggest change that America must make is in its politics. The Reagan revolution broke the 50-year dominance of liberals and Democrats in US politics but what were once fresh ideas have hardened into dogmas. The ultimate test for the US model will be its capacity to reinvent itself. Good branding is not a matter of putting lipstick on a pig. It's about having the right product to sell in the first place. American democracy has its work cut out."

Labels: Image, US elections, USA

EU takes historic step and seizes the initiative for the construction of a new and fair world economic order

This Thursday, the 27 member European Union leaders will call for a supervising body to oversee the world's 30 largest financial companies, among other sweeping changes to the global economic order. This was disclosed today as the EU political leadership began a two-day meeting to consider further steps to tame the global financial crisis, and will agree to expand a rapid action plan the U.K. and 15 euro-zone countries drew up Sunday to other countries in the bloc.

With the U.S. temporarily hobbled by the approaching election, the majority of E.U. politicians see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to seize the initiative, and play a major role in the construction of a badly needed new and fair economic order. Drawing heavily on proposals made earlier in the week by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the leaders will call for the overhaul of the Bretton Woods system, an outdated US designed global financial framework which has existed since 1944.

The Europeans want to hold a meeting of leaders from around the globe to get the process underway after the U.S. presidential election. "I've proposed an international summit by the end of the year, preferably in New York, where all these problems started," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in his opening address to the meeting. France holds the rotating presidency of the EU for the six months ending December, and Sarkozy is chairing the meeting of leaders. Sarkozy added that he wants to see financial supervision extended to hedge funds, and to eliminate offshore financial centers.

Long derided for its lack of maneuverability, the E.U. has surprised observers by responding decisively and coherently to the sharp declines in share prices that accompanied rising fears about the viability of the bloc's banking system in recent weeks.

Labels: Brown, Economic World Order, EU, Financial Crises, Sarkozy

For the complete report from Radio Netherlands Worldwide click on this link

A growing number of Dutch provinces and councils have revealed huge investments in the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers bank and in Iceland's failed financial institutions. The Dutch government says that more than 250 million euros worth of taxpayers' money was invested or deposited in now-bankrupt financial institutions. It is not yet clear if it will be possible to get any of the money back. The hardest hit province is North Holland, it had 100 million euros invested with Lehman Brothers and Iceland's Landesbanki. Groningen has also been hard hit; it had 30 million euros deposited in an Icelandic bank. With 15 million euros deposited in Landesbanki, Amstelveen tops the list of municipalities facing huge losses. Texel stands to lose eight million, while Opmeer is facing losses of seven million. The authorities in Opmeer say they could be facing serious problems if they do not get the money back. The cabinet is considering measures to help regional authorities experiencing difficulties. Finance Minister Wouter Bos says that in future, provincial and municipal authorities should not be allowed to invest taxpayers' money themselves and recommended that money be deposited in the Dutch Municipal Bank.

Labels: Economy, EU, Iceland, meltdown, Netherlands

No change for Canada

IT IS an emphatic victory, even if the ruling party has failed, again, to secure a majority in parliament. Results from the general election held on Tuesday October 14th suggest that the Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, have secured 143 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, a gain of 16 seats. The Liberal Party, led by Stéphane Dion, has suffered a serious defeat, picking up just 76 seats. Not everything has gone to plan for Mr Harper. Conventional wisdom in Canada suggests that no party can form a majority government without a strong showing in the French-speaking province of Quebec. His assiduous courting of Quebeckers since he took office in January 2006 produced no results. He learned to speak French passably, declared them a nation and gave the province a special seat at international gatherings. Despite those efforts, the big gains he envisaged did not materialize.

Some pundits are predicting that the new government will not last long. For weary Canadians, who have now voted three times in less than five years, the prospect of another election would be unwelcome. The only consolation is that tight restrictions on both political contributions and spending mean that general elections cost a pittance compared with those next door USA.

Labels: Canada, Elections

USA - Offshore Windfarms: Green light for New Yersey Garden State Wind Energy<

New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities gave a green light to Garden State Wind Offshore Energy, a joint venture between PSEG Renewable Generation and Deepwater Wind, one of several competitors, including BlueWater Wind, Fishermen’s Energy of New Jersey LLC, Occidental Development & Equities LLC, and Environmental Technologies LLC. The $1 Billion project will generate 350 megawatts of power, enough for 125,000 homes, and meet approximately 5% of New Jersey’s needs. The $1 Billion cost for the 350 mw facility is $2.86 per watt for construction, compared to $1.87 for the Atlantic City wind farm, and $6.00 per watt, according to Rebecda Smith in the Wallstreet for Florida Power & Light’s proposed Turkey Point 3 & 4 nuclear plants. The wind farm will be generating energy within four years, and be completed by 2013. The first 1 gw wind farm that T.Boone Pickens Mesa Power, is building in Texas is forecast to cost $2.00 per watt and be operational by 2011.
New Jersey’s wind farm will be historic. It will be the first offshore wind farm in New Jersey, and with the Delmarva Wind Farm that BlueWater Wind is building off Delaware, and the plant that Deepwater Wind is building off of Rhode Island, one of the first three offshore wind farms, possibly the first in the United States.

TO ORDER OUR SPECIAL REPORT ON WINDMILL POWER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE US, INCLUDING MANY LINKS TO RESOURCES CLICK ON THIS LINK

Labels: Alternative Energy, Offshore Wind Energy, USA, Wind farms

Iceland secures €200m from Norway, Denmark - by Angela Jameson and Steve Hawkes

Iceland secured €200million (£156million) from Norway and Denmark yesterday as it sought help to stablise its stricken economy, but talks to secure a far larger loan from Russia continued. It also emerged yesterday that the country, which has been forced to nationalise its banking sector, is only one of several asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance. According to reports, Hungary, Ukraine and Serbia have signalled that they need help, too.

Labels: Denmark, Iceland, Norway, World Economy

Iraqi Christians fleeing murder in Mosul - by Martin Barillas

The Barnabas Fund, a charitable of the worldwide Anglican Communion, reported on October 13 that Iraqi Christians are fleeing Mosul as Islamic extremists launch campaign against them in Iraq. Said Ni’ma Noail, a 50 year-old civil servant, "We left everything behind us. We took only our souls." Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled the city of Mosul in northern Iraq over the past week after Sunni Muslim extremists launched a deadly campaign to remove the Christian community from the city. Christian houses have been blown up, and at least 744 Christian families (approximately 3,750 people) have left their homes to find refuge with relatives or in churches and Christian centers in seven towns and villages to the north and east of Mosul. Some are sleeping in their cars. They are in desperate need of food, clothes, bedding, items for personal hygiene and other basic necessities.

Labels: Christians, Iraq

US financial system headed to intensive care says Paul Volcker

The US financial system is already in the emergency ward and will move into intensive care, Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, said in Singapore on Tuesday. "I'm afraid it's going to be there for a considerable period of time before it returns to normal," he said in a lecture here, painting a gloomy picture of current economic woes. The crisis that began in the United States has become a global problem which needs a global solution, he said. Volcker said the United States appeared to be in recession, and he feared Europe was in the same situation but he hopes a series of bailout measures announced by governments around the world will ensure any recession is manageable and short-lived. The former chairman called bailouts and guarantees "distasteful" because they are inconsistent with capitalism but said they were crucial in the current climate.

"However distasteful, I'm afraid that they are necessary, necessary in this emergency to restore some sense of stability in financial markets," Volcker told an audience of academics at the event hosted by the Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy.

Labels: US, World Economy

A Quick Fix: The Candidates and Energy Independence - by John Becket

To get the recent $700 billion bailout passed, some "sweeteners" were added to the package by the Senate to attract votes from certain constituencies. Among them were $18 billion in tax breaks for businesses and individuals who want to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient and/or invest in green technology. Lacking an overall strategy and insufficient funds for the job, the "sugar high" will have little lasting impact. So goes the quest for "energy independence" touted by Congress and the presidential candidates. While Congress steadfastly declines to increase taxes on an oil industry making record profits — taxes which could be used to develop alternative energy — Europe and other nations, including China, forge far ahead in weaning themselves from dependence on petroleum. While the government stumbles all over itself to hand hundreds of billions to reckless speculators, only grudgingly does it support alternative energy. And although Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is likely to be more supportive of alternative energy than Republican John McCain, neither party's platform includes the sort of aggressive plan that America really needs.

The U.S., meanwhile, has nothing like a Minister for Sustainable Development. What passes as energy policy in America is a piecemeal, stops-and-starts approach that is often ill-conceived and just as often more rhetoric than action. In late 2007, Congress called for the nation to pursue 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. But Dan Arvizu, director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Colorado-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory, told a Harvard University audience such a goal is laughable to Germany, where 25 percent is a business-as-usual mark. One hundred percent renewable by 2025, Arvizu said, is cited by the Germans as their "stretch goal." In fact, Arvizu said, U.S. public investment in renewable energy research has fallen 78 percent since 1978. To put things into proper perspective, the $150 billion total cost of alternative energy Obama's proposal is only about one-fifth of what Congress recently approved for the Wall Street bailout and one-quarter of this year's defense budget. What Obama is pledging to spend each year is slightly more than what the US is currently spending each month for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, Political, US elections

Global Economic Crisis Likely To Have Profound Consequences For US Politics, World Relations

In the United States, economic developments have the potential to lay the groundwork for a political transformation with major alterations in both the composition of, and balance of power between, the major political parties. There are "reasons for thinking that the American election of 2008 may be the equivalent of the election of 1932 - an electoral sea change ushering in a new wave of government intervention and, if that intervention is successful, a durable electoral realignment," says Peter Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies at Harvard, in a wide-ranging analysis he provided to the Huffington Post.

In Europe, Hall contends, "the political effects are likely to be more diffuse. If the ensuing recession is not too deep, the current crisis may provide Prime Minister Gordon Brown with just enough credit for the Labour party to survive the next British election and Angela Merkel with the wherewithal to remain German Chancellor. But history suggests that electorates tend to punish governments that preside over deep recessions and to look, in some cases, to the political extremes for new faces and voices. Therefore, there is reason to worry about the rise of far right parties in Europe, in particular, where they have already made inroads by running against the market-oriented policies of the European Union. Although enthusiasm for market competition has been waning in European capitals for some years, the current financial crisis will strike it a serious and potentially fatal blow," according to Hall.

"Most Europeans and some Americans attribute the crisis to subprime lending in the US housing market, but that was only the trigger for contemporary events," Hall argues. "The deeper roots of the crisis lie in shifts in banking practices that led many financial institutions to borrow heavily in short-term capital markets to finance the purchase of riskier securities than they once held. The 'financial innovation' behind the development of these securities was said to diffuse risk. Indeed, it did and now everyone is at risk.

Labels: economic meltdown, Poltical, World Economy

Deregulation fails big time

Thoughtful people have warned of approaching economic disaster for some time, and these thinkers included professional economists. The recent noble prize winner Paul Krugman quickly comes to mind. Editorialists who regularly mocked Krugman's writings have grown quiet lately. But you really didn't need advanced degrees in economics to see the present mess coming. All that was required was some understanding of human nature, specifically the nature of the right-wing financiers who apply great influence on the American government. Greed drives them; moderation is repugnant. When deregulation became official government policy, when the upscale operators were no longer restrained by statutes or security guards, it was inevitable they would gorge themselves sick. They regard the American public as a dog regards a garbage can. They must be called off; they never quit voluntarily.

Note: EU-Digest: Even after we saw most of the stock market listed shares rise quickly again when governments around the world pumped billions of cash into what is basically a defunct Global financial and banking system, you can be sure the euphoria won't last. Unfortunately the present bail out plans applied are still based on the belief that a deregulated "trickle down" economic theory works.It does not. What really matters is to improve the financial health and economic status of the consumer.

When the consumer stops or slows down on his or her spending habits, for a variety of reasons, including unemployment, the party basically ends for the corporations supplying the goods and services to the consumer. No matter how much the government pumps into the financial system. Right now this is exactly what is happening. What is required are government funded programs which stimulate job creation or at least programs that are a mixture of corporate bailouts and economic rescue plans for the lower and middle class. A study by Acxiom, a data collection company in Little Rock, Arkansas, estimates that 19 percent of US households are "digging in" by dramatically tightening their belts, while 48 percent are maintaining the status quo on. Whit Andrews, vice president at Gartner, Inc. the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, concludes: "a financial era is ending. The age of conspicuous consumption is over, and the age of conspicuous frugality starts now".

Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Gordon Brown, Barrack Obama and a few other enlightened politicians understand that capitalism needs an urgent overhaul and have been saying so.The formula is simple: job creation = spending power = economic growth. Unfortunately moving the "fat cats" from the strategic positions they presently hold will be a herculean task.

Labels: Asia, Bailout, Barack Obama, deregulation, Economy, EU, John McCain, US

A United Europe Takes Charge: Germany and France lead €1 trillion European bailout - by Charles Bremner and David Charter"

Germany and France put mountains of cash on the table today as they led continental Europe in an offensive to rebuild trust in banks with state guarantees worth over €1trillion (US dollars 1.36 trillion). Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Sarkozy, chiefs of the two big euro-zone economies, also joined Gordon Brown in calling for a deep reform of the global financial system after the dust settles from the autumn earthquake. “When calm returns, those who have sinned will be punished,” Mr Sarkozy said.

Mr Sarkozy was gratified, he said, that “United Europe has done more than the United States in terms of the sums committed” to tackling the crisis. Europe must now convince the United States of the need to “rebuild the foundations of capitalism”. France wanted to support entrepreneurs and not speculators, he said. Like Mr Brown, Mr Sarkozy has been praised at home and abroad for his handling of the crisis. “Super-Sarko”, a politician who thrives as a crisis-manager, landed the role of chief European fixer because France holds the rotating six-month Union presidency until next January.Both Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy said that banks receiving capital would have to comply with conditions, including limits on management pay and requirements to keep credit moving to small and medium-sized business.“We have today laid the first foundation stone for a new financial market constitution,” Mrs Merkel said after her Cabinet settled the plan, which should be passed by both houses of Parliament by Friday.

Note EU-Digest: If there was any better example for proving that a United Europe works and has what it takes, then this financial crises is the proof. Euro Sceptics eat your heart out.

Labels: EU; EURO ZONE, European Bailout

A Few Snags, but Hopes Are Still High for Offshore Wind in Texas - by Kate Galbraith

While the race to develop offshore wind energy is heating up in the Northeast, things have hit a few speed bumps in the waters off Texas — already the nation’s leader in on-land wind power production. Wind Energy Systems Technology (W.E.S.T.), a company that holds all five offshore wind leases in state waters in the Gulf of Mexico, is still looking for $311 million to build a 62-turbine farm nine miles off of Galveston, in 50-foot depths. It recently lost two potential investors — Lehman Brothers and Wachovia — which foundered amid the recent financial turmoil. And the wind boom in the mesas of west Texas has so far served to reduce interest in offshore wind in the Gulf, according to Jerry Patterson, Texas’s land commissioner. Offshore wind projects have not yet been developed in the United States, mainly because it is far more expensive than onshore wind.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Texas, Windpower

Vista R.I.P - on its way to the Microsoft junkyard - by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Vista is awful. Everyone knows it, including Microsoft, and now Microsoft's actions have made it clear that Vista is on its way to the Microsoft junkyard with such similar failures as Windows ME and Microsoft Bob. You don't have to believe me. Just look at what Microsoft has been doing. First, Microsoft started fast-tracking Vista's successor, Windows 7. Recently, we discovered that Windows 7 alpha will be coming to developers this October.

Why not, instead of waiting for 7, which may or may not be any good, try desktop Linux or Mac OS X? After all, they're actually available today and works as advertised unlike, oh, say, Vista.

Labels: Microsoft Vista

As U.S. moves to buy bank stock, Europeans plan to guarantee loans

Struggling to contain a credit crisis. European countries have reached a deal to guarantee future loans among private banks and Washington is set to buy ownership stakes in a broad array of American banks. The Associated Press reported Sunday that a draft declaration by the 15 eurozone governments says they will guarantee new loans between private institutions for five years. The governments — representing the countries that use the euro — were meeting in Paris to work on a co-ordinated response to the global financial crisis.

In Washington, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said late Friday the government will buy stock in U.S. financial firms to help them raise desperately needed money. French President Nicolas Sarkozy included British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Sunday's meeting, even though Britain does not use the euro.

Labels: EU, US

Turkish energy sector chasing windmills and profits

When it comes to the burgeoning Turkish wind energy sector, prospects are as varied as the weather. Turkey is a relative newcomer to the renewable energy market, a field that includes diverse applications and innovative technologies for utilizing wind, solar and geothermal energy. Despite the government support, in 2005 the current phase of the Turkish wind energy sector's development got off to a turbulent start. As regards the renewable energy sector with which Turkey has so little experience, Turkish government authorities appear to have fumbled regulations and procedures and exhibited poor interagency coordination, complicating the sector's development. Despite barriers and a slow start, interest in the sector has continued to rise in 2008. When Sunday's Zaman spoke with sector representatives from foreign and domestic firms last week, they indeed seemed largely positive with respect to the future of wind energy investment in Turkey.

Turkey is home to an ideal geography for wind and solar energy investments, with an average of over seven hours of sunshine a day and borders with the Aegean, Black and Mediterranean Seas. Turkish electricity demand is increasing steadily, and Turkish policymakers are eager to decrease its dependence on foreign nations for the gas and oil that, among other things, fuel Turkish electricity production plants.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Turkey

France eyes local tax overhaul - by Ben Hall in Paris

The French government is to reform the country’s system of local taxation within three years in a bid to improve the competitiveness of its business, according to the industry minister. Luc Chatel told the Financial Times that Paris would initiate an overhaul of the taxe professionnelle in the new year and aim to put the changes in place before the end of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-year term, which ends in 2012.

Labels: Economy, EU, France

After Weekend Financial Huddle, No Sign That Lenders Will Thaw -by Floyd Norris

At the end of a weekend when nearly all of the world’s major bankers and finance ministers gathered in Washington to stanch the global credit crisis, there was no assurance that credit would flow when markets reopen this week.In an effort to get credit moving, European leaders on Sunday promised to guarantee new loans to banks, which have stopped lending to one another as the crisis has deepened. But they left it up to each nation’s government to provide details of how its own banking system would be protected. Australia also announced such guarantees, but there was no similar announcement from the United States, where officials declined to say what action, if any, they would take.

Many of the financial support measures rushed through by American and European leaders recently have been aimed at restoring that lost faith. But while it is not at all clear that a return to normal lending between banks would restore credit availability to companies that are finding it difficult to borrow, it is hard to imagine that happening unless the interbank market starts functioning smoothly again. Monday is a partial holiday in the United States, with the stock market open but some banks celebrating Columbus Day. That could delay until Tuesday the development of clear evidence of whether the banks are still afraid to lend to each other — and of whether the credit crisis will continue to worsen.

Labels: US Economic Meltdown

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Darwind poised to lead the Duch comeback as a nation of superior Windmill builders

Windmills, Bicycles, and efficient Public transportation have given the Netherlands a green reputation. But that image is deceptive. Some 100 years ago there were over 10,000 windmills in the Netherlands. Today this long tradition of building windmills as a source of inexpensive energy has just about disappeared. The major windmill producing giants in Europe can now be found in Germany, Denmark and Spain.

When it comes to producing energy from alternative resources, such as wind power, the Dutch now seem to have the reputation of having the tendency to just talk and talk, but are not too good at decision making. Case in point, after the German energy giant RWE said it wanted to invest €6bn in five major off shore wind parks in the Netherlands by 2020, supplying green power to around 2.5 million households, the deal soured because of confusion around subsidies by the government.

Darwind Holding BV, a new Dutch company based in Utrecht is poised to take the Netherlands back to its historic leadership role in the windmill industry. Vincent van den Brekel, Managing Director of Darwind is convinced that his company can become a major global player as a full service supplier to the offshore wind energy sector. "Our next generation high yield boosting turbine design offers potential customers output at a significantly improved economic return with minimum maintenance downtime", says den Berkel. By next year Darwind expects to have a prototype of their new advanced wind turbine operating. They plan to go into full production in 2011.

Labels: Alternative Energy, Darwind, EU, The Netherlands, Wind Turbines

The leaders hope that by suspending this requirement, banks balance sheets will look more healthy and the risks will be reduced that they be swept away by a run on the markets.

Is this the End of Capitalism? Its enemies wish it were so. This so-called financial crisis may in fact be the greatest crisis of confidence yet experienced by the free market economy. In other words, the protagonists of the capitalist system could hardly batter their own convictions more effectively. The gravest danger is—next to the impact on economic growth and overall economic health—a long-term shift in peoples’ mentality. The depressing economic slump can only give strength to anti-capitalists. The crisis of confidence in capitalism can be observed in three main areas: Disenchantment with the dogma of the self-regulating powers of the markets, deregulation as necessary for the flourishing of the private sector, and the policy of the U.S. government precluding nationalization and state intervention in the private economy. In the end, the American president and his finance minister threw all principles over board and did exactly that, which America has for decades—rightly—criticized other nations of doing. They intervened and nationalized like a ‘East Germany lite’. It is this ‘Lafontaineization’ of American policy—even if out of desperation—which will for years and even decades bring a derisive sneer to the lips of socialists. They will say: ‘Look then, when it really matters, only the strong state can set things right again.’

In the end, the crisis of capitalism is a crisis of values. Therefore we do not need to change the basic economic order and sing the song of the socialist cynics. Instead, one can all to mind Ludwig Erhard’s closing statement: “Freedom and responsibility constitute the basis of the free market economy.” If as a consequence of the crisis responsibility returns to the forefront, the present debacle can emerge as a great opportunity: for the rebirth of a better, stronger capitalism, the nightmare of its enemies.

Labels: US, US Economic Meltdown

Europe: Credit Card Fraud Ring Funnels Data From Cards to Pakistan - by Siobhan Gorman

European law-enforcement officials uncovered a highly sophisticated credit-card fraud ring that funnels account data to Pakistan from hundreds of grocery-store card machines across Europe, according to U.S. intelligence officials and other people familiar with the case. Specialists say the theft technology is the most advanced they have seen, and a person close to British law enforcement said it has affected big retailers including a British unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tesco Ltd. The account data have been used to make repeated bank withdrawals and Internet purchases, such as airline tickets, in several countries including the U.S. Investigators haven't pinpointed the culprits. Early estimates of the losses range of $50 million to $100 million, but the figure could grow, said the person close to British law enforcement.

Labels: Credit Cards, Europe, Fraud

Europe to suspend banks mark-to-market accounting- "Legalizing Banking Fraud"

European leaders have agreed to seek measures to suspend so-called "mark-to-market" accountancy rules in order to stabilise bank balance sheets, a statement said on Sunday. According to an action plan released by the 15 leaders of the eurozone single-currency bloc, equities held by banks will no longer be recorded at their current values on the world's severely depressed markets. "Under the current exceptional circumstances, financial institutions should be allowed to value their assets consistently with risk of default assumptions rather than immediate market value which, in illiquid markets, may no longer be appropriate," the statement said.

The leaders hope that by suspending this requirement, banks balance sheets will look more healthy and the risks will be reduced that they be swept away by a run on the markets.

Labels: Banking system, EU, Eurozone, meltdown

The US Government Is Contributing to the Panic - by Jonathan Macey

Despite all the hard work and good intentions on the part of our public officials, when economists and historians look back on the current financial crisis they are likely to conclude that government intervention prolonged and deepened it. In particular, officials at the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Treasury Department are to blame for publicly losing confidence in the very economic system they are supposed to protect.

Labels: US, US Economic Meltdown

US Economic Meltdown: The Woman Greenspan, Rubin & Summers Silenced - by Katrina van den Heuvel

More than a decade ago, a woman you're likely never to have heard of, Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission-- a federal agency that regulates options and futures trading--was the oracle whose warnings about the dangerous boom in derivatives trading just might have averted the calamitous bust now engulfing the US and global markets. Instead she was met with scorn, condescension and outright anger by former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and his deputy Lawrence Summers. In fact, Greenspan, the man some affectionately called "The Oracle," spent his political capital cheer leading these disastrous financial instruments.

Barack Obama might do well to bring back Brooksley Born and promote to his team economists who haven't contributed to the ugly mess the world is in.

Labels: US, US Economic Meltdown

Netherlands, Iceland reach deal on deposits

The Dutch and Icelandic governments reached an agreement Saturday over how to compensate Dutch depositors at one of Iceland's troubled banks. Under the deal, the Icelandic government will compensate each Dutch depositor up to a maximum of 20,887 euros (US$28,281.6). The government of the Netherlands is offering a loan to Iceland to make that possible. The money will go to those holding accounts with IceSave, an online company that was part of Landsbanki, an Icelandic bank recently put into receivership.

Labels: EU, Iceland, Netherlands

G20 meeting Washington - Paulson could face backlash from poorer countries

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson may get an earful Saturday in a meeting with developing country officials whose economies have been harmed by the global credit crisis, analysts said.The move puts emerging market economies such as China, South Korea, and India on a similar footing as the richer countries that make up the G-7, which will meet with Paulson on Friday. On Monday, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, said the G-7 should be expanded to include major growing economies such as Brazil, China, India, and Mexico.

Labels: Henry Paulson, meltdown, US Economy

G7 meeting Washington "talk but no action" - G7 agree to 'aggressive action plan' to fight crisis - but no action - by David J.Lynch

The G7 group of nations agreed Friday on what U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called "an aggressive action plan" to combat a worsening global financial crisis. The five-point, single-page document gave evidence of a shared approach on the part of several of the world's major economic powers, but the meeting ended with no specific new anti-crisis measures."It doesn't sound like any fresh initiatives…The market was hoping for some sort of bolder, coordinated initiatives," said Marc Chandler, senior vice president at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.

In the days leading to today's meeting, hopes built in financial markets for specific measures that would address a crisis of confidence in the markets. Among them: provisions to guarantee lending between banks. But Paulson said demands for "precisely the same policies" from countries with different legal systems, banking industry structures and regulatory systems was "naive." Saturday, in an unusual step, President Bush is scheduled to meet with the finance ministers and release an early-morning statement.

Labels: meltdown, US Economy

Why The Bailout Won't Work - by Pat Barron

The decision by the U.S. government to bailout the banking system is consistent with its Keynesian interpretation of how an economy works, why it stops functioning efficiently, and the methods required to restore its productive capacity. Keynesian theory burst upon the world in the mid 1930s at the height of the Great Depression. Free market capitalist economies, say the Keynesians, are prone to overproduction. Modern industrial techniques allow capitalists to produce more with fewer people, throwing masses of workers on the streets and destroying their financial power to purchase industry's goods.Since the workers can no longer afford to purchase the massive amount of industry's production, factories shut down, throwing even more workers on the streets and destroying even more purchasing power. The free-market economy goes into a death spiral of rising unemployment and rapidly dropping demand for goods. Prices plummet as demand falls, forcing more and more businesses into bankruptcy. The only way to break this calamitous cycle is for government to intervene by increasing demand for goods. It can deficit spend, enforce higher wages for workers, prosecute businesses that dump cheap goods on the economy, and similar actions to bring demand back into equilibrium with supply. Government is the key actor, for only government has sufficient purchasing and regulatory power to counter free market capitalism's inherent weaknesses.

Labels: Bailout, US Economy

The European Wind Energy Association Sends an Open Letter to the French Energy Minister

In the light of the upcoming Energy Council meeting this Friday 10 October, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has sent an open letter to French Energy Minister Borloo. EWEA expresses its concern about a proposed 'review clause' in the Renewable Energy Directive, and underlines the importance of priority grid access for renewables. The letter also addresses some of the other key issues on the table, such as the internal electricity market, grid integration and EU competitiveness.
A 'review clause' is currently being debated in Council as part of the Renewable Energy Directive. The clause would introduce a review, in 2014, of whether the flexibility mechanisms were ensuring that the Member States were meeting their targets. This could undermine stable national support mechanisms, market stability and investor certainty, as well as discourage Member States from ensuring adequate domestic investments before the results of such a review were known. EWEA considers it vitally important that renewables are integrated into the EU grid system in a timely manner, and in the quantities necessary to meet the EU target. It supports the European Commission's proposal on grids and urges the Council to maintain it.

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Labels: Alternative Energy, EU, EU-Digest Special Reports, Legislation, Renewable Energy

World Economic Woes: Canadian PM blames US financial woes on 'irresponsible' policies

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday blamed the current US financial crisis and its worldwide fallout on "irresponsible" policies. "The economic and financial mess in the US is disastrous and the policies have been irresponsible," Harper said during a televised political debate ahead of an October 14 vote. "In the US right now, let's be clear, they are bailing out the banking system because of misregulation. We are not doing that in Canada," he said, dismissing accusations his Conservative government has not done enough to bolster Canada's slowing economy.

Labels: Canada, US Economic Meltdown

UK and US 'share blame' over world financial crisis

Gordon Brown has accepted that British banks must take their share of the blame for the global financial crisis. The prime minister has previously consistently emphasised the role of the United States in the turmoil stalking world markets and economies. But in an interview on Thursday he said irresponsible behaviour in the City had to be punished. "Most of this has come out of America and then affected the British banking system, but there have been abuses in our system as well and these have got to be dealt with too," Mr Brown told GMTV. "Where these guys have taken irresponsible risks; that is completely unacceptable. The problem is they didn't know what they were buying from America."

Labels: Britain, US Economic Meltdown

Russia's Medvedev supports G-8 meeting on economy

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday he supports holding an emergency meeting of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations to discuss the global financial crisis. Medvedev said he had discussed the idea with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, adding that consultations between the G-8 members are going on, but no time or venue has been set for the summit yet. Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven nations will meet Friday to discuss the economic meltdown. One of the potential remedies expected to be discussed at the meeting in Washington is for governments to guarantee lending between banks. Medvedev told reporters it would make sense to invite other leading economic powers to join the G-8 meeting.

Labels: G7, G8, Russia, The US economic meltdown