Category: Featured
Van Rompuy, Ashton appointments could boost French protectionism within Europe
By Alan Osborn, International News Services
The share-out of top jobs in the EU announced last Thursday night after weeks of political maneouvring has had an almost universally poor reception. The appointment of Mr Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister, to be the first full-time EU president, and that of the British peer baroness Catherine Ashton to be the EU’s foreign policy chief, (both of them relative unknowns) have been widely seen as disappointments and the waste of a chance to put the EU on the world stage by appointing well-known, assertive figures.
Middle East faces demographic timebomb
By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut
With the end of the summer holidays, children and young people across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) once again donned uniforms, packed satchels and headed to school, amounting to more than a quarter of the region returning to class.
In Syria, a quarter of the country's population, some 5.3 million people, are enrolled in schools, while 38% of Saudis, 46% of Yemenis, 31% of Jordanians and 31% of Egyptians are below 14 years of age. Altogether, including Iran, half of the MENA's 300 million-plus people are under 24 years old.
The parsimony of rich governments starves the world’s poor
By Alan Osborn, International News Services
Nature has dealt a string of savage blows to the world’s hungry and poor over the past year or so but just when we might have hoped for rich countries and individuals to help out by digging a bit deeper into their pockets, along comes the economic recession. The crunch may or may not have imposed genuine limits on the cash available to alleviate drought and famine but it has certainly given cautious people a wonderful excuse for doing less, especially after the record food aid donations of 2008.
Should cultural clothing rules be imposed in age of globalisation?
By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut
In an age of mass migration on a global scale, is it possible for governments to impose on the public, particularly immigrants, what they can and cannot wear? Take the diktats on women's wear in France versus Iran. In the Islamic Republic, females above the age of nine are required to wear the hijab (veil) and cover up their bodies.
Lisbon treaty passed: now politicians must persuade citizens to think European
By Keith
Nuthall, International News Services
So the Treaty of Lisbon has been ratified. With the Czech Constitutional Court backing its contents as legal and a new national opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights portion of the treaty given to his country, Czech president Václav Klaus has at last signed the treaty.
Kidnapping and human trafficking – the seamy side of globalisation
By Leah Germain, International News Services
Globalisation has created new opportunities for the transfer of people and products across borders, and broadened the scope of many businesses around the world. But it’s not all good news of course: one of the seamier sides of growing international commerce is the abduction and trafficking of human beings.
Sanctions could make flying more dangerous
By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut
Sanctions are one of those political issues that can make amiable dinner conversation turn unpleasant, as the battle lines are drawn down the table between those for and against. They have certainly had mixed success, starting with the first recorded case of a trade embargo some 2,400 years ago between Athens and neighboring Megara. That embargo failed and sparked a war.
Submarine cabinet meeting highlights island nation’s plight as global warming raises the oceans
By Raghavendra Verma, International News Services
In an underwater cabinet meeting held on October 17 in the Island nation of Maldives, President Mohammed Nasheed and 12 of his cabinet colleagues signed a document calling on all countries to cut their carbon dioxide emissions.
It was staged to help focus attention on the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December where world leaders plan to negotiate a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
New EU diplomatic service raises questions and confusion
By David Haworth, in Brussels
Next Monday, (19/10) Mrs. Catherine Day will deliver the most important speech of her life.
Who is she, you’ll probably ask. Indeed, for someone of immense influence this tall, blond middle-aged Irishwoman is a reclusive figure, shy – not writing very much, still less seeking out audiences.
But, as the secretary general of the European Commission, the lady is the power behind Commission president José Manuel Barroso’s throne.
New EU diplomatic service raises questions and confusion
By David Haworth, in Brussels
Next Monday, (19/10) Mrs. Catherine Day will deliver the most important speech of her life.
Who is she, you’ll probably ask. Indeed, for someone of immense influence this tall, blond middle-aged Irishwoman is a reclusive figure, shy – not writing very much, still less seeking out audiences.
But, as the secretary general of the European Commission, the lady is the power behind Commission president José Manuel Barroso’s throne.