tagged w/ EU
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Video in the comments below!
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Protesters take to the streets in Barcelona, Athens and Brussels
Tens of thousands of people from around Europe have marched across Brussels in a protest against spending cuts by some EU governments.
Spain has held a general strike, with protesters in Barcelona clashing with police and torching a police car.
Other protests against austerity measures have been held in Greece, Italy, the Irish Republic and Latvia.
Trade unions say EU workers may become the biggest victims of a financial crisis set off by bankers and traders.
Many governments across the 27-member bloc have imposed punishing cuts in wages, pensions and employment to deal with spiralling debts.
On Wednesday night, Portugal's minority government announced proposals to cut civil servants' pay and state spending while raising taxes in an attempt to lower the country's debt levels.
In Greece and the Irish Republic, unemployment figures are at their highest level in 10 years, while Spain's unemployment has doubled in just three years.
In Britain the government is planning to slash spending by up to 25% in some areas, while France has seen angry protests against a planned increase in the minimum retirement age.
Firecrackers
Police sealed off the EU headquarters and barricaded banks and shops ahead of the protest in Brussels. It was described by unions as a day of action under the slogan "No to austerity, priority to jobs and growth".
Tens of thousands of demonstrators, many carrying large red and green balloons and banners, headed towards EU institution buildings in the Belgian capital.
They made heard their voices, whistles, horns and anything else they could find, says the BBC's Nick Childs in the city, amid the sound and smoke of firecrackers.
Speaking at the march, Jean Claude Mailly, head of the French union Force Ouvriere, said there was still time to rethink the austerity measures.
"It is never too late because the austerity measures are in the process of being set up now," he told the BBC.
"So we are in a period where social movements of a different nature will have a big value in the weeks and months to come. There is a strong social tension."
Labour unions in Spain began the country's first general strike in eight years by marching through the capital, Madrid, in an effort to shut down the city.
Also in the capital, there were mass protests outside bus and metro stations, and few buses were running. Many high-speed trains were cancelled and only about a quarter of commuter trains were running.
Groups of strikers went into shops and banks trying to force them to close.
The airline Iberia said it expected to operate only 35% of scheduled flights.
'Banks to blame'
In the Irish Republic, a man drove a cement mixer covered with anti-bank slogans into the gates of the parliament in Dublin, in an apparent protest at the country's expensive bank bail-out.
The European Trade Union Confederation (Etuc) said the protesters were marching to voice their anger over budget-slashing plans and cuts which "could lead Europe into a recession".
The union warns that the financial crisis - which it describes as the worst in Europe since the 1930s - has already made 23 million people across the EU jobless. It fears that the austerity measures being implemented by various EU governments could "result in even more unemployment".
"We didn't cause this crisis. The bill has to be paid by banks, not by workers," Etuc said.
Instead, the organisation urges governments to guarantee workers stable jobs, strong social protection and better pensions.
Workers in many EU countries are frustrated that they are paying for the mistakes of the banks and the financial sector, the BBC's Christian Fraser in Brussels reports.
The recovery is still fragile. In some countries it has not even begun, and many fear the cuts could provoke further trouble, our correspondent says.
He adds that in short, it is a debate on austerity versus stimulus, cuts or spending, and the opinions are deeply and bitterly divided.******************
Video in the comments below!
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Protesters take... more
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UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Saturday criticized U.N. calls for increased "global governance" of the world's economy, saying the world body should leave that role to national governments.
The solution to dealing with the global economic crisis, Klaus told the U.N. General Assembly, did not lie in "creating new governmental and supranational agencies, or in aiming at global governance of the world economy."
"On the contrary, this is the time for international organizations, including the United Nations, to reduce their expenditures, make their administrations thinner, and leave the solutions to the governments of member states," he said.
The Czech president, a vocal skeptic of global warming, said the United Nations should also keep out of science, including climate change. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made fighting climate change one of his top priorities.
more at link...
At least there's one sensible politician in the E.U.S.S.R. fighting against the NWO and their 1 World Government, scientific, fascist dictatorship.UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Saturday... more
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Last night Tony Blair was in conversation with Katie Couric at the 92nd St Y in NYC. I happened to be in town for a board meeting so headed over to a sold-out house to see if I could get in. Luck was with me as I got a ticket about 13 rows from his chair on the aisle. Blair has been traveling across the US and UK recently to promote his new memoir, A Journey. Peace activists from both countries have rightly been calling it "A Journey to Crime," and have even been taking it upon themselves to move copies of the book to the Crime section of their local bookstores.
I had handcuffs in my purse and was ready to get to the front of the room in five strides. Very early on, Katie talked about him being forced out of Ireland by a pelting of eggs and shoes. His answer was that these actions are the 'tyranny of protesters.' "Those that shout the loudest don't necessarily deserve to be heard," he said. Undeterred by his attempt to marginalize people who speak out at his book events I waited to hear what he had to say.
Her next line of questions was about the Iraq War. Did he have regrets? No, he said, because he had acted correctly. Saddam wouldn't allow weapons inspectors in, so therefore there must have been WMDs. My blood was boiling. What about the weapons inspectors who were there, who had been given access to everything who said there were no WMDs??? He continued to say he had done right and it was just like Iran. No weapons inspectors means WMDs.
I leapt up with handcuffs held high above my head. "You Liar. I was in Iraq and met with weapons inspectors before we invaded and they said they had found no WMDs. You are a War CRIMINAL! LIAR!" At this moment I was surrounded by NYC cops and British Secret Service and they slammed me up against the wall and dragged me out of the room to cheers. The British guys were brutal, dragging me, yelling at me and begging the NYPD to arrest me. They looked at them like they were off a bit and didn't really react. One of the NYPD went back to get my purse and handed it to the British SS who has literally just thrown me out into the street. He was so furious that he put my purse far away from me. He told me to thank him for not putting me in jail. Just minutes before, he told me that the broadcast had cost a lot of money and that I have ruined it. I told him if he wanted to arrest me, then go ahead, it makes for a better story. He was not happy with me.
I brushed myself off and went to pick my computer bag, which I had left at Gloria Steinem's. There I met up with awesome feminist activist Shelby Knox, who took a photo of me with the handcuffs, which I somehow managed to leave the event with. I'll have to keep them handy with so many war criminals still on the loose.
What was really frightening to me, beyond the fear of being kicked out or arrested, was to be in an audience eating up his every word. I was in Iraq during the time we were discussing. International media and 30 some members of the EU Parliament were there at the same time being taken to all the supposed WMD sites that were just empty spaces in a desert. Medea Benjamin spoke to inspectors in their various languages (since she speaks them all) and they assured us they had found none and had been looking hard.
How do we bring liars like Tony Blair to justice? Continue to disrupt their lies everywhere they go. At noon yesterday, Medea disrupted Karl Rove at his speaking event in Washington DC. As he backed off from the podium, he exclaimed, "It's the CODEPINK women!" They know they are lying and we can't let them continue to re-write history.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01706/tony-Blair_1706284c.jpgLast night Tony Blair was in conversation with Katie Couric at the 92nd St Y in NYC. I... more
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Wikinews via Washington Post - Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Starting today, it is illegal to manufacture or import 75W incandescent light bulbs in the European Union. The phaseout started last year when 100W light bulbs were outlawed. Bulbs of 60W will be phased out next year, and incandescent lighting of all types will be phased out in 2012.
The phase-out of incandescent light bulbs is part of the EU's strategy to cut greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020. Replacing the old lamps with more efficient models is expected to reduce energy consumption for lighting by 60% in the EU, equivalent to saving 30 million tons of CO2 pollution every year.
Although energy-saving bulbs were available since 1998, their relatively high purchase price has inhibited take-up. When the decision for the ban was taken in 2008, it was estimated that around 2,000 to 3,000 jobs would become redundant in the light bulb industry, in particular affecting Hungary and Poland. However, the European Commission also assumed that halogen production and savings of 5-10 billion euro from energy bills could be injected back into the economy to create new jobs.
In its editorial yesterday, the conservative The Washington Times harshly criticized the ban, labelling it a result of "bureaucratic irritation" and a "war on Edison's greatest invention". General criticism of such bans includes panic buying prior to phase-out, environmental impacts of the mercury which is contained in small amounts in all fluorescent lamps, and increased upfront costs for the consumer.
Brazil and Venezuela started to phase out incandescent light bulbs in 2005, Switzerland in 2009, while Russia and Canada are planning it for 2012. The United States is scheduled to begin a phaseout similar to the European one from 2012.Wikinews via Washington Post - Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Starting today, it is... more
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Les Stroud has relied on his years of training, raw instincts and sheer will to survive in some of the most remote locations on earth. Now, he takes his knowledge deeper; seeks out the true masters of survival - the last indigenous tribes in the most remote corners of the planet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOAzRvsla7gLes Stroud has relied on his years of training, raw instincts and sheer will to... more
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In this Travel Bug Robert episode, Robert travels to Brussels, Belgium. This European city is the unofficial capital of the European Union. That being said, it has a similar feel to Washington D.C., only if D.C. were filtered through European sensibilities. Since Brussels is only EU's unofficial capital, it lacks the sweeping memorials like D.C. It does, however, have decent public transportation and some fine examples of Art Nouveau architecture from the turn of the 20th Century. You just need to keep your eyes open. The gorgeous buildings are sometimes stuck between stuffy office buildings.
Get more travel tips and videos at www.travelbugrobert.com.In this Travel Bug Robert episode, Robert travels to Brussels, Belgium. This European... more
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Los misteriosos chinos! China podria superar a USA en PIB.
Durante el segundo trimestre el PIB de China llegó a 1.33 billones de dólares y superó al de Japón, con lo cual arrebata la segunda posición mundial al gigante asiático
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_c9jL-wFP8&playnext=1&videos=1tXuDq9O0ioLos misteriosos chinos! China podria superar a USA en PIB.
Durante el segundo... more
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*Government destroys its own field trials
*Pioneer Hi-Bred seeds contaminated by Monsanto's NK603
*Call for investigation to determine extent of contamination
GM-free Ireland press release, 23 July 2010:
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/press/GMFI50.pdf
DUBLIN and GENEVA - The Irish Government has been accidentally growing GM maize, despite its own policy to ban field trials and commercial cultivation of GM crops in the Republic. [1]
The blunder is doubly embarrassing because this GM maize is an illegal variety that is not allowed for cultivation anywhere in the EU.
The discovery was made by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (DAFF) at four of its own field trial sites including the National Crop Variety Testing Centre at Backweston in Co. Kildare, and at three other undisclosed locations in Counties Kildare, Kilkenny, and Cork.
DAFF carried out the field trials with a supposedly Non-GM maize variety PR39T83 supplied by Pioneer Hi-Bred Northern Europe, a subsidiary of DuPont, the world's second biggest seed company and sixth biggest agrochemicals company. The purpose of the trials was to find out if this conventional maize is "suitable for cultivation and use under Irish farming conditions".
According to a press release issued late yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [2], routine tests by DAFF discovered that the Pioneer Hi-Bred maize is contaminated by Monsanto's patented GM "event" NK603. The genetic modification forces the crop to survive heavy spraying with glyphosate, part of the cocktail of toxic chemicals contained in Monsanto’s controversial Roundup herbicide. [3] Cultivation of this GM maize is illegal the EU, although importation is allowed for animal feed and human food. It is unclear when DAFF first discovered the contamination. The EPA says it was only notified on 3 June - 3 months after the same seeds were found to be contaminated in Germany, and long after they were sown in Ireland. DAFF re-confirmed the contamination on 19 July.
The EPA says that Pioneer provided a "certificate of analysis" claiming the maize was GM-free. But random tests by DAFF found that 3 out of every 1,000 plants were contaminated by the illegal GM maize variety. That's about 300 illegal GM crops per hectare. DAFF says it destroyed its fields of contaminated maize plants before they reached the flowering stage, in order to prevent pollen drift that would further contaminate neighbouring conventional and organic farmers, whose crops would then also have to be destroyed.
This is the first time a GM crop has been grown – albeit accidentally - in Ireland since protestors destroyed field trials of Monsanto’s patented GM beets in 1998.
Economic threat to Irish farmers and food producers
It is unclear how much, if any, of the illegal GM maize seeds have been sold and are now being cultivated by Irish farmers. This would cause large economic losses, and would be an ironic blow for farmers who would lose their biggest maize crop in history, thanks to this year's unusually hot and sunny summer. Contamination by pollen drift and seed dispersal from GM maize has already contaminated hundreds of conventional and organic farmers in Spain. [4]
Lack of due diligence and false certificates
GM-free Ireland spokesperson Michael O'Callaghan said "The Pioneer company has provided false GM-free certificates for its GM seeds on at least two previous occasions. The first was in 2007 when we discovered thousands of tonnes of Pioneer's Herculex GM maize (which was then illegal) entering the EU through Dublin port [5]. The second scandal occurred in March of this year, when Pioneer and other agri-biotech corporations sold 23 different varieties of maize seeds contaminated by Monsanto's illegal NK603 to farmers who cultivated them on 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) in seven states in Germany, where contaminated farmers had to destroy their crops. [6] According to the German-based Foundation on Future Farming [7], the seed companies refused to accept liability and have not compensated farmers for up to hundreds of millions of Euro in economic losses."
"The Department of Agriculture knew this and should therefore have exercised due diligence by testing Pioneer's maize seeds before the field trials began. This is another example of the Government's failure to implement the GM free policy it first agreed three years ago in 2007 and again in 2009."
Call for investigation
Michael O'Callaghan called on the Government to answer the following questions so as to protect the ability of Irish farmers and food producers to retain their share of the rapidly growing EU and US markets for GM-free meat and dairy produce. [8]
Why did the Department of Agriculture (DAFF) trust the GM-free certification provided by Pioneer Hi-Bred, even though it must have known that similar assurances provided in Ireland in 2007 and in Germany in 2010 proved to be false?
Why did DAFF not test the seeds before it planted them, in view of the fact that the same contamination by Monsanto’s NK603 was discovered 3 months ago in Germany, in early March?
When did DAFF make the discovery? Why did it wait until 3 June to notify EPA? And why did EPA wait until 22 July to issue a press release?
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Will the Government and the Northern Ireland Assembly require Pioneer Hi-Bred to provide a list of its customers in the Republic and Northern Ireland, publish the names of dealers that may have received the contaminated seeds, and make this information publicly available to farmers?
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Does the Government know if the illegal seeds have been sold and planted by Irish farmers? If so, how many acres of maize will have to be destroyed?
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Will the Government test all maize seed stocks and fields of maize crops for GM contamination?
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Who will pay the costs for testing, crop destruction, and related economic losses? Will the Government apply the Polluter Pays principle and demand reparation from Pioneer Hi-Bred, or will taxpayers and/or farmers end up having to foot the bill?
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Is this an isolated case? Will the Government now make a commitment to test every shipment of imported seeds for GM contamination, or will it continue business-as-usual with random tests?*Government destroys its own field trials
*Pioneer Hi-Bred seeds contaminated by... more
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In a decision that may threaten funding for other European science efforts, the European Union's 27 member states look set this week to formally decline a request from the European Commission, the union's executive body, to provide extra money to cover cost overruns for the €16 billion ITER fusion reactor project. The commission must now figure out how to find the extra money from within its own budget and get approval for those changes, a tall order in a region already reeling from the global financial crisis.
ITER, which is poised to begin construction at the reactor site in southern France, has yet to gain final approval for its design, schedule, and cost, collectively known as the project's baseline. The E.U., as host to the project, must pay roughly 45% of the total price tag. But as cost estimates have spiraled since the project began in 2007, the E.U. has stalled on approving the baseline while it figures out how it is going to pay for ITER. At the beginning of May, the commission revealed that its share of ITER construction costs had ballooned from €2.7 billion to €7.2 billion and that its current fusion funding, which runs to 2013, is short by €1.4 billion.
The commission asked E.U. member states to provide the extra cash to ensure the future of the project, but at the end of May the states instead set up a panel to find a solution. That group reported its conclusions at the end of June, and last week the Council of Ministers, which represents the member states, drew up a plan, a copy of which has been seen by Science. It stipulates that cost savings must be made to bring down Europe's contribution to €6.6 billion and the 2013 overspend should be covered from within the commission's existing budget, in particular from the same budget line that includes the Framework 7 research program and Europe 2020, the commission's 10-year strategy to revive the E.U. economy. The council says any unused appropriations in that budget line should be co-opted first, and then a flat-rate reduction should be applied to all funded projects. Once this is done, the council says, the commission should go ahead and approve the ITER baseline at the next ITER council meeting on 26-27 July.
In a response also seen by Science, the commission says that the council's proposals "would not resolve the long-term financing problems of ITER." The commission went on to say that it "reserves its position concerning the approval of the project baseline as well as its right to make more appropriate proposals to the budgetary authority." That budgetary authority, which must sign off on any changes to the budget, is the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, and the latter, according to a source in the commission, is very unlikely to approve a raiding of the budget for ITER.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) echo that sentiment. Rebecca Harms, an MEP representing Germany's Green Party, says taking money from this budget line would "collapse a part of this [Europe 2020] sustainability strategy and the next Framework program." If such a proposal comes before Parliament, she says, "I will organize a battle against it." Herbert Reul, a German Christian Democrat MEP and chair of the Parliament's Industry, Research and Energy Committee, agrees that "it would surely not be an option to cut funds from other important programs." But he thinks some sort of compromise is achievable. "We will have to check where reserves could be made available and explore how much member states would be willing to contribute. The large gap can surely not be bridged with just one single source of funding."In a decision that may threaten funding for other European science efforts, the... more
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The lawmakers adopted the bill in response to the latest round of sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme by the United Nations Security Council, the United States and the European Union.
Tehran: Iran's parliament approved a law yesterday calling on the government to retaliate against any countries that inspect the Islamic state's ships and aircraft or refuse to provide fuel to its aircraft as part of foreign sanctions, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The lawmakers adopted the bill in response to the latest round of sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme by the United Nations Security Council, the United States and the European Union.
The bill included no details of what form retaliation should take, and it was not immediately clear if it was more than a symbolic gesture of protest against the sanctions.
Uranium supply
The legislation also made the government responsible for supplying adequate amounts of 20 per cent enriched uranium for Iran's nuclear research reactors for medical, industrial and scientific use, Fars said.
The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran on June 9 over its disputed nuclear programme, and the United States and the European Union have imposed additional sanctions of their own.
Major powers suspect Iran is using its nuclear programme to develop atomic weapons, but Tehran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity generation.
Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, told reporters in Geneva "If they want to act illegally and inspect Iran's ships, then we will retaliate."
Retaliation
Larijani, formerly Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, did not say how Iran would retaliate for searches of its ships for suspected nuclear-linked material.
In Brussels, the European Union diplomats said that the foreign ministers will adopt tighter sanctions against Iran next week, including measures to block oil and gas investment and curtail its refining and natural gas capability.
A draft declaration prepared for a meeting of EU foreign ministers showed they would approve a decision taken by EU leaders on June 17 to adopt further sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme, and also call on Iran to resume talks.
The measures, which go beyond steps approved by the United Nations on June 10, are designed to put pressure on Tehran to return to talks on its uranium enrichment programme which Western powers believe is designed to produce nuclear weapons.The lawmakers adopted the bill in response to the latest round of sanctions imposed on... more
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It is necessary today to evalutate the technological choices resulting from research, based on scientific, ecological, economic, social and ethical criteria. This kind of risk assessment is the only way to legitimise the entry of any scientific application into the social sphere.
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José Bové, Green MEP
JOSE BOVE: "THE LOBBIES ARE TRYING TO FORCE GMOS ON EUROPE"
Le Monde [France],
http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/chat/2010/07/13/ogm-l-europe-va-t-elle-ceder_1387222_3244.html
[Translation courtesy of GM-free Ireland]
In a chat on LeMonde.fr, the Green MEP José Bové says that the proposals of John Dalli, the European Commissioner for health, create a framework to push GMOs inside European borders.
Chat moderated by Hervé Kempf
Toublant : Is Europe strong enough to face the lobbies of the big transnational corporations?
José Bové : The lobbies are all based in Brussels, and they try to impose their aims, including GMOs, on the Commission, and also on the Parliament. That said, one senses more and more resistance within the European Parliament in relation to questions that impinge on food and health. And the last vote of the Parliament to ban cloned meat and nanoparticles is proof of this.
Maxime : I'd like to know if you are not too discouraged by these money-hungry multinationals which will do anything to commercialise their seeds. Do you still have hope?
José Bové : In the twelve years since the start of this stuggle against the GM seed companies, we have won an important result against the odds, which is the affirmation of European public opinion against GMOs in farming and food.
And last week in Strasbourg, a majority of the Parliament said it favoured the labelling of produce from livestock fed on GMOs. Which shows that things are moving ahead toward GM-free farming.
isabelle : What are you concerned about in the Commission's proposal? After all, it looks as if it is returning their free choice in this dossier to the Member States?
José Bové : There are two concerns in the Commission's proposal. They both arise in a context where Commissioner Barroso clearly states that he himself favours the spread of GMOs inside the European frontiers. The proposals made this very day by Commissioner Dalli set the stage for the entry of these GMOs.
There are a number of problems : the first is a weakening of the risk assessment unit of EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority), including notably the promotion of substantial equivalence, which is the Trojan horse that was used when GMOs were launched in the USA
Second, Dalli's proposal is a false correct answer, because the renationalisation of GMOs will create problems for intra-European trade. Since there are no state controls at their borders, GMO products will circulate in all directions and contaminate consumers' food, to the extent that it will be impossible to organise segregated food chains.
In this regard, Commissioner Dalli says that the measures taken by the Member States must conform with the treaty, particularly in relation to the principle of non-discrimination between national and non-national production.
Another problem created by this re-nationalisation: the distortion of competition for organic farmers. Indeed, the selling capacity will be completely different for an organic farmer in a country where GMOs are banned, and an organic farmer where they are allowed.
These two first reasons will clearly create a risk of conflicts between Member States, whose only solution will be to appeal to the European Court of Justice.
Final problem : the WTO headache. Indeed, the 27 Member States are now represented by the European Commission when facing the WTO. And what will be the attitude of companies like Monsanto and others?
Will they, for example the United States or Argentina, turn against the Member States? And how will the Commission react? Will it defend its own proposal to allow things to take their course, or will it support the countries which will decide to ban GMO varieties?
TVR : Will Europe not risk depriving itself of a big part of the innovation and investment for research and development, if it adopts a too strong position on this theme? European groups like Bayer Crop are delocalising their R&D work.
José Bové : I don't think that GMOs are the main innovation in agriculture today.
I think there is truly a need to develop agriculture starting from biodiversity, especially by promoting participatory research between scientists and farmers.
This notably because of climate changes and the need to face new constraints linked either to water shortage or new agronomic conditions.
cont.It is necessary today to evalutate the technological choices resulting from research,... more
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The European Commission has unveiled plans to allow the production of GM crops in certain member countries. Both sides of this controversial issue are critical of the decision, but it seems like a win for GM companies and supporters more than anyone else.
The European Commission introduced plans this week that would give individual member states the authority to decide for themselves whether or not to allow genetically modified (GM) crops to be grown in their country. The responses are varied, but no one seems very supportive.
http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2010/07/15/gm-and-anti-gm-groups-unhappy-with-eu-proposal/The European Commission has unveiled plans to allow the production of GM crops in... more
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Turkey would immediately become the largest state in the EU. Rapidly Islamizing Ankara would be calling the shots for people in Berlin, London, Paris, and Rome. 70 million Muslims or more, including an untold number of active Islamic jihadists, would be able to enter Europe easily and travel around it freely. European Death Watch Alert: "Belgian EU presidency would support enlargement," from the Telegraph, June 28 :
Belgium will support the enlargement of the European Union to include Croatia, Iceland and Turkey during its forthcoming presidency of the bloc.
Olivier Chastel, the Belgian secretary of state for EU affairs, in a joint news conference with Spanish counterpart Diego Lopez Garrido, raised the possibility of the opening of a new chapter in negotiations with Turkey in the coming months after Spain, which currently holds the EU presidency, backed Ankara's bid despite resistance from France and Germany.
Belgium takes over the six-month rotating EU presidency from Spain on July 1.
The EU began membership talks with Turkey in 2005 but the process has made slow progress. Only 12 of the 35 policy chapters, which all EU candidate countries must successfully negotiate prior to membership, are open....Turkey would immediately become the largest state in the EU. Rapidly Islamizing Ankara... more
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Theresa May announced a cap to immigration outside the EU, which will reduce the numbers of highly skilled migrants workers "Numbers will go down to 24,100 between now and April 2011, 5% less than last year."-BBC. The cap was put in place to prevent a 'rush of applicants' before a permanent limit is placed in.
Business groups are worried by the cap because the cap will affect their recruitment of specialist skilled workers from overseas. "There is also anxiety at the imposition of another tier of regulation and claims it runs counter to the coalition's desire to promote Britain as "Open for Business"-BBC.Theresa May announced a cap to immigration outside the EU, which will reduce the... more
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The Independent, reports on the upset for health campaigners who saw MEPS in the EU vote against 'traffic light' labelling for food packaging. It's beleived the vote against could have resulted from a massive lobbying run by food manufacturers, which some MEPS saying the lobbyists in the EU walk into offices with appointments.
"As reported in The Independent on Tuesday, food manufacturers had mounted one of the biggest lobbying campaigns ever seen in Europe ahead of the vote. Yesterday one Conservative MEP, Struan Stevenson, described how hundreds of people from the industry had been trying to meet him."-Independent
The article contains more details into the labelling and reactions to the vote.The Independent, reports on the upset for health campaigners who saw MEPS in the EU... more
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Iran's president said Wednesday he will soon announce new conditions for talks with the West. But first, he wants to punish world powers for imposing sanctions on Tehran and force them to "sit at the negotiating table like a polite child and talk to the Iranian nation."
The United Nations Security Council approved a new round of sanctions against Iran last week for its refusal to curb the country's nuclear program, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is aimed at producing weapons. Iran denies that.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran favors a dialogue with the West, but will announce its conditions soon. He said the carrot-and-stick approach doesn't work and Iran will not make "one iota of concessions" to the West.
"You showed bad temper, reneged on your promise and again resorted to devilish manners," he said of the powers that imposed sanctions. "We set conditions [for talks] so that, God willing, you'll be punished a bit and sit at the negotiating table like a polite child," he told a crowd during a visit to the central Iranian town of Shahr-e-Kord. His speech was broadcast live on state TV.
Ahmadinejad also attacked the U.S., saying Iran needs to save Americans from their "undemocratic and bullying government." He charged there was no freedom in the U.S. and newspapers in America were not authorized to write against Israel or hold rallies against the "crimes" committed by their government.
Ahmadinejad was reacting to an invitation by the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili to discuss the nuclear issue. At the same time, though, EU foreign ministers agreed Monday to recommend additional sanctions over the nuclear issue.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/ahmadinejad-iran-will-punish-west-for-new-nuclear-sanctions-1.296578?localLinksEnabled=falseIran's president said Wednesday he will soon announce new conditions for talks... more
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A huge agenda of global issues was crammed into four days of 'secret' meetings by a mysterious group of power brokers. But who elected them and why are we paying for them?
Check out the agenda for Bilderberg 2010: "Financial reform, security, cyber technology, energy, Pakistan, Afghanistan, world food problem, global cooling, social networking, medical science, EU-US relations." That list is a window into your future. Don't think for one minute that it isn't. And don't ignore it, because it isn't ignoring you.
more at link...Please research the Bilderberg Group and the NWO...it may save your life.
www.current.com/groups/conspiracy-filmsA huge agenda of global issues was crammed into four days of 'secret'... more
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- The first shot to be fired at Europe's 21st century army plane came not from the barrel of a gun but a safety inspector's clipboard. In 2008, weeks after the first A400M troop transporter rolled off a gleaming new assembly plant in Seville, a group of inspectors traveled to southern Germany to scrutinize an important component for the plane's huge turbo-prop engines.
The inspectors were from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), an EU body responsible for certifying aircraft; they wanted to conduct a routine check of plans for the engine software. The A400M's maiden flight was already six months overdue, but in an industry which often measures delays in years, that was nothing much to worry about.
Soon after arriving in Munich, though, the inspectors discovered that MTU Aero Engines, the company behind the engine software, was so far behind schedule that there was no point even holding a meeting, according to people involved in the project.
This week, after almost three decades of squabbles over what the A400M should do, where it should be built, how much each plane should cost, the software catastrophe and uncertainty over 10,000 jobs, the 20 billion euro ($24 billion) troop carrier will finally woo crowds of plane-lovers during its first public display at the Berlin Air Show.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE6570NK20100608/- The first shot to be fired at Europe's 21st century army plane came not from... more
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