Tunisia in Turmoil After PM Quits

In his resignation speech, Hamadi Jebali did not rule out a return to government. Photograph: Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters

 Tunisia in Turmoil After PM Quits

Stephen: Another major leadership change for the African country which saw the birth of what became known as the Arab Spring back in January 2011.

By Angelique Chrisafis and agencies, The Guardian – February 20, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/20/tunisia-prime-minister-turmoil

• Hamadi Jebali steps aside after failing to appoint new technocratic government

Tunisia’s political uncertainty continued on Tuesday after the moderate Islamist prime minister resigned, having failed to appoint a technocratic, caretaker government to end the long-running political crisis.

The political stalemate prompted an international ratings agency to downgrade Tunisia’s credit rating, putting further strain on its struggling economy.

Hamadi Jebali, from the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, stepped down after failing to push through his plan for a technocrat, non-political caretaker government to get Tunisia out of its political deadlock.

Greeks Strike Against Austerity – Again

Striking Greek journalists caused a media blackout on Tuesday

Greeks Strike Against Austerity – Again

Stephen: It seems to me that the smaller the country, the more active the general populace is in showing that they want to to live in a world that works for everyone. Or maybe it’s just easier to bring everyone together in a smaller nation? Take Iceland, Ireland and Greece as examples…

Greeks in Fresh General Strike Against Austerity

From BBC News Europe – February 20, 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21515012

Greece is being hit by the first general strike of 2013 as workers renew their protest over austerity measures.

The 24-hour strike is forcing the closure of schools and state-run offices and leaving hospitals working with emergency staff.

The strike has been called by Greece’s two biggest labour unions, representing half the four million-strong workforce.

It comes days before international lenders are due in Athens to discuss the next instalment of a bailout.

The debt-ridden country is being kept afloat by billions of euros from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

Bulgarian Government Resigns Amid Growing Protests

Thanks to Suzi.

Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests

Sam Cage and Tsvetelia Tsolova | Reuters, Feb. 20, 2013

http://news.yahoo.com/bulgaria-government-resigns-national-protests-073220738.html

SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s government resigned on Wednesday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis.

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graft and raise incomes in the European Union’s poorest member, faces a tough task of propping up eroding support ahead of an expected early election.

Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where earnings are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting “Mafia” and “Resign”.

Moves by Borisov on Tuesday to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes was to no avail and an eleventh day of marches saw 15 people hospitalized and 25 arrested in clashes with police.

The Guardian – Henry McDonald – Ireland Secures Deal To Reduce Anglo Irish Bank Debt Repayments

Taoiseach says plan, which the ECB appears to back, will save €20bn over next decade and bolster global confidence in Ireland

Ireland has secured a deal from its European partners on crippling bank debt that will save it at least €1bn this year and €20bn over the next decade.

Enda Kenny on Thursday told the Irish parliament the dramatic reduction in payments to bondholders of the now defunct Anglo Irish Bank was “an historic step in our economic recovery”. The taoiseach predicted the cut in bank debt payments would bolster global confidence in Ireland.

Vatican Receives 600 Abuse Cases a Year

The Vatican’s new chief prosecutor against child abuse says he receives around 600 new cases a year.Source: AAP

Vatican Receives 600 Abuse Cases a Year

Is this a sign that the Vatican, not known for its transparency, is now sharing its dark truths. Even the appointment of a Chief Presecutor against child abuse is a huge internal shift – and a much-awaited public admission. Thanks to Phillip.

From: AAP, The Australian – February 6, 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/vatican-receives-600-abuse-cases-a-year/story-fn3dxix6-1226571294749

THE Vatican’s new chief prosecutor against clerical child abuse says his office is receiving around 600 new cases a year, many of them dating back to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Father Robert Oliver, a canon law specialist who previously worked at the archdiocese of Boston in the United States where abuse cases came to light a decade ago, was appointed in December.

Oliver, whose official title is “promoter of justice” for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said on Tuesday the peak in reported cases was in 2004 with 800 denunciations.

Is Ireland Now Following Iceland’s Lead?

Is Ireland Now Following Iceland’s Lead?

Stephen: Rather than sit down and take the wrap and the financial burden of bank bailouts, it seems the citizens of Ireland are saying: we won’t do this any more.

Thanks to Sinead, this story, about a  new online petition – ourcountry.ie -  shows that the Irish may follow Iceland’s lead and stand up to the banks en masse. The petition reads as follows: “As citizens of Ireland, we believe that the payment of €3.1 billion a year, every year until 2023, for Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide is reckless, immoral and unjust. These ‘promissory notes’ have imposed the debts of now-defunct private institutions on Irish citizens as a whole. These are debts which we cannot, should not and will not pay.

“We therefore instruct our Government: (a) to declare by March 17th, 2013, that it will not make the payment of €3.1 billion due on March 31st, 2013, and to inform the European Central Bank that it will no longer co-operate with this unjust imposition of private debts on the Irish people.”

More UK Senior Banker Resignations

John Hourican is expected to leave the bank at the end of the month, with a successor to be announced in due course Photo: Getty Images

More UK Senior Banker Resignations

Stephen: There seems to be a flurry of activity among the big banks, in the UK at least, as senior key players continue to leave the upper ‘echelons’ of banking as bankers’ big bonuses continue  to be disputed and/or waived (or are they simply being withheld?).

Here are just three departure and bonus-related stories. It’s the comments posted by readers of these stories that tell the real story. To read these, click through via the links at the very end of this post.

Story 1: Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Investment Chief to Resign and Waive £4m Bonus

By Helia Ebrahimi, and Harry Wilson, The Telegraph, UK – February 6, 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9851327/RBS-investment-chief-John-Hourican-to-resign-and-waive-4m-bonus.html

UK Chancellor Says Banking System Must Be ‘Re-Set’

George Osborne will reveal that the Coalition intends to “electrify” the ringfence that will separate the day-to-day retail operations of a bank from its potentially riskier investment banking division. Photo: AFP

UK Chancellor Says Banking System Must Be ‘Re-Set’

No, sadly, it’s not a complete re-set of the financial system (yet), but a very interesting move by the UK Chancellor – equivalent to the US Treasury Secretary – to create more transparency and public protection while ensuring less widespread havoc should one area of a bank’s business go into freefall. Naturally, the bankers’ aren’t too happy.

Now for the rest of the system…

Banking System Must Be ‘Reset’, says Osborne

The Chancellor pledges today to “reset” Britain’s banking system, warning that banks will be broken up if they ignore orders to ringfence their investment and retail banking divisions.

By Graham Ruddick, The Telegraph UK – February 4, 3013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9846197/Banking-system-must-be-reset-says-Osborne.html

This Is What a Humane Economy Looks Like

(Photo: Popicinio / Flickr)

By Inés Benítez, Inter Press Service – February 2, 2013

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/this-is-what-a-humane-economy-looks-like/

Malaga, Spain – The severe crisis crippling Spain is also sparking some creative responses, such the Okonomía project, a teaching initiative that helps individuals and communities to understand the workings of the economy and make more informed decisions to manage their finances.

“Things have gotten so bad, with people out of work, losing their homes and watching their savings vanish, that something has to be done to economically empower people,” said activist Raúl Contreras, one of the academics behind this initiative that in February will open its first school in Benimaclet, a multicultural neighbourhood in the southeastern city of Valencia.

Contreras – an economist who also heads the company Nittúa, which sponsors this project – spoke with IPS about the powerlessness and fear that is taking hold of many people who do not understand how the economy works and how it affects their lives, and are thus made vulnerable to manipulation.

Barclays Chief Gives Up US$4.3 Million Bonus

Photograph: Justin Thomas/AFP/Getty Images

Barclays Chief Gives Up US$4.3 Million Bonus

What? The CEO of a  major bank CEO forgoing his multi-million dollar bonus? It’s unheard of…

Plagued by legal issues, the Libor scandal and more, Barclays’ current CEO Antony P.  Jenkins is giving up his 2012 bonus.  He says it would  be ‘wrong’ for him to accept it.

This could be a broader PR strategy aimed at restoring the bank’s reputation (with a bigger bonus for the CEO built into his 2013 package?) or it could be a step towards a banking system that works for everyone. I trust it is the latter.

Amid Bank’s Legal Problems, Barclays Chief Gives Up Bonus

By Mark Scott and Julia Werdigier, DealBook, The New York Times – February 1, 2013

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/amid-banks-legal-problems-barclays-c-e-o-gives-up-bonus/

Antony P. Jenkins, the new chief executive of Barclays, said on Friday that he would forgo his bonus as the British bank struggled to rebuild its reputation after recent missteps.

UK PM Advocates Focus on Extreme Poverty

UK PM Advocates Focus on Extreme Poverty

Is it just me? Or is his polling in the doldrums? Either way, UK PM David Cameron seem as though he has been in containment – and released. Or is it just the new energies entering his being? Thanks to Alice C.

David Cameron in Liberia: We Must Eradicate Extreme Poverty

PM also calls for focus on education during visit to school with Liberian president ahead of role co-chairing UN poverty meeting

By Patrick Wintour, The Guardian – February 1 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/01/david-cameron-liberia-poverty-talks

Is Egypt the Barometer of Wider Global Change?

The entrance of Egypt’s presidential palace in Cairo is in flames Friday, February 1, as protesters battle security forces. Egypt has been embroiled in violence after a series of events last week. There were protests on the two-year anniversary of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak’s former regime and deadly clashes after a judge sentenced 21 people to death over a 2012 soccer riot.

Is Egypt the Barometer of Wider Global Change?

The Arab Spring led to governmental and societal changes in several countries. Yet the world’s most populous Arab nation remains in complete turmoil, as ‘change’ at the top seems to have seen little real change for the people. In fact, it seems that their day-to-day lives are even worse.

But are we in the so-called West in any better position? Other than the fact that many of us don’t live in a situation of continual, countrywide violence? In my opinion, we are just as captive to the whims of ‘elite’ leadership and  control – those same things the Egyptians are still ‘fighting’ to be free of.

While this article concludes with the statement that revolution usually “gets replaced by more radical elements of society” maybe an altogether more radical shift is actually underway?

AmericanKabuki – Michael Tellinger – South Africa : Our Countries Are Corporations

From: Michael Tellinger

Sent: 31 January 2013 02:07 AM

To: Lynton

Subject: Our Coutries Are Corporations

Our countries are registered as corporations. What does that make us – Trading stock?

Dear Lynton

Part of discovering our human origins is discovering some sobering and shocking information that we do net expect. It is up to us to be strong in our conviction to get as close to the truth as possible. The path that brought us here as a species is not only filled with lies and deception of unimaginable proportion, but also with continuous manipulation of the human race that goes back thousands of years. When I started researching human origins some 30 years ago, I never imagined that it would bring me to this juncture, where the sum of our knowledge crosses over and paints a new picture of our turbulent past, and present.

Zimbabwean Government Bank Balance ‘Down to $217′

Tendai Biti, the Zimbabwean finance minister, who said the government finances were in ‘paralysis’. Photograph: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images

Zimbabwean Government Bank Balance ‘Down to $217′

How’s this for an indisputable example of our world’s complete inequality? US$217 is an entire African nation’s government bank balance post a hyperinflation rate of an astounding 231,000,000 per cent! Meanwhile, the country’s multi-million dollar diamond resources are pilfered by a former leader’s war machine.

By David Smith, African correspondent, for the Guardian Africa Network – January 30, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/30/zimbabwean-government-bank-balance-down

Two hundred and seventeen US dollars – the equivalent of £138. That is all that remains in the public account of the Zimbabwean government, a bewildered finance minister has announced.

Bank of Israel Chief Resigns Two Years Ahead of Schedule

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer to step down at end of June, two years before his term was supposed to end • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanks Fischer for his service, calling him “an economic ambassador for the State of Israel.”Photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO

Bank of Israel Chief Resigns Two Years Ahead of Schedule

Despite the platitudes, is this a possible protest statement against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent re-election? Or is something more global underway here?

Bank of Israel Chief Stanley Fischer to Leave Post This Summer

By Zeev Klein and Israel Hayom Staff, Israel Hayom – January 29, 2013

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7223

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer will be leaving his post at the end of June, two years before his term was supposed to end. Fischer informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his decision on Tuesday, Fischer has led the Bank of Israel for the past eight years.

Dutch Queen Abdicates

(Lucas : It is because it seems to be world news  that I post this. We should really be looking into new ways of doing things in 5D and not be looking to do things  in the old ways as it has been done  for so long in 3D – duality.)

Queen Beatrix abdicates after a 54 state visits and five prime ministers

Monday 28 January 2013

Queen Beatrix and prince Claus at the coronation in 1980. Photo: RVD

Thirty-three years after her coronation, after 54 state visits abroad and having lived through five prime ministers, queen Beatrix is stepping down.

Profiting off hunger: Wall Street makes big gains over food price spikes

Powerful firms like Goldman Sachs have made hundreds of millions of dollars in food future trades. Critics accuse them of profiting off starvation and market manipulation, while traders claim their profits are due to increasing consumption in China.

World food prices tracked by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have more than doubled in the past 10 years. The FAO’s Food Price Index, which baskets prices for five prime food commodities, peaked in 2008 and 2011, each time rising more than 50 percent from the previous year. The latest price spike was one of the key factors that triggered the series of uprisings in the Arab world resulting in the fall of several governments.

World’s 100 richest earned enough in 2012 to end global poverty 4 times over

“The richest 1 percent has increased its income by 60 percent in the last 20 years with the financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process,” while the income of the top 0.01 percent has seen even greater growth, a new Oxfam report said. For example, the luxury goods market has seen double-digit growth every year since the crisis hit, the report stated. And while the world's 100 richest people earned $240 billion last year, people in "extreme poverty" lived on less than $1.25 a day.

Oxfam is a leading international philanthropy organization. Its new report, ‘The Cost of Inequality: How Wealth and Income Extremes Hurt us All,’ argues that the extreme concentration of wealth actually hinders the world’s ability to reduce poverty.

The report was published before the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, and calls on world leaders to “end extreme wealth by 2025, and reverse the rapid increase in inequality seen in the majority of countries in the last 20 years.”

Pakistan supreme court orders arrest of prime minister on corruption charges

Intervention against Raja Pervaiz Ashraf provokes fear that fragile democracy could be derailed

Pakistan's prime minister, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, has been arrested in connection with a scandal involving contracts for power stations. Photograph: Waqar Hussein/EPA
Pakistan's supreme court has ordered the arrest of the country's prime minister on corruption charges, heightening already extreme political uncertainty and fears the country's fragile democracy could be derailed.

The news broke on television stations as a Muslim cleric addressed tens of thousands of protesters who have massed on the capital city for an extended sit-in to protest against corruption and electoral malpractice by Pakistan's politicians.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf's arrest was ordered in connection with a long-running scandal involving contracts for power stations, but the timing of the intervention by Pakistan's highly political judiciary raised instant suspicions.

Global banking to be joined by 'Google Bank' and 'Apple Bank'

Reuters / Courtesy Square / Handout

Conventional banking could soon become a thing of the past with the use of the internet and mobile devices booming. They are gradually replacing usual banking cards as a means to pay a bill, Deutsche Bank warns.

Following a technological revolution in payments the web services could take the final step by developing their own facility for allowing credits and taking deposits, says Interfax news agency referring to a research by Deutsche Bank.

A ‘Google bank’ or ‘Apple bank’ that’ll certainly emerge will swallow the greatest part of the traditional banking market. Despite falling incomes and tightened regulation, the existing banks need to invest into new technologies to remain competitive at a time when new technology is advancing, the research says.

Traditional banks are getting unexpected rivals like Google, Apple, Amazon and Paypal that are working out mechanisms to effect mobile payments. The client base of Paypal is already comparable to that of many banks.