EURCP NEWS OCTOBER 2010 ATTACHMENTS
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
ROMA EXPULSIONS ARE SIGN OF 'DANGEROUS TIMES' IN EUROPE, HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF SAYS
http://euobserver.com/9/30928/?rk=1
VALENTINA POP
30.09.2010 @ 10:51 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The French Roma crisis is a sign of a "dangerous" drift to the right in European politics but also an opportunity to do "something real" for the minority, the secretary general of the Council of Europe has said in an interview with EUobserver.
Referring to the high-profile dispute between Brussels and Paris over Roma expulsions, Thorbjorn Jagland, the head of the Council of Europe, the oldest intergovernmental organisation promoting human rights and democracy, said EU politicians should stop competing for media coverage and "start doing something real for this minority.""The Council of Europe has a very clear stand on this and I see my role as trying to use this situation for something constructive. It is a crisis and normally something positive can come out of a crisis," he said, noting that his institution is currently re-allocating resources to give legal aid to Roma if they want to defend their rights in court.
The EU commission on Wednesday backed down on its earlier threat to take France to court on anti-discrimination grounds. It instead asked Paris for extra information and gave it a two week deadline to comply with EU law on freedom of movement “It remains to be seen now what the response from France is. If France is clearly demonstrating that it is abiding by the EU aquis and therefore also by the rules in the European Convention [on human rights], then we have achieved a lot," Mr Jagland said
PRAYER ISSUE: THE FRENCH ROMA CRISIS IS A SIGN OF A "DANGEROUS" DRIFT TO THE RIGHT IN EUROPEAN POLITICS
EU COMMISSION
REDING DID NOT MEAN THE HOLOCAUST, BUT THE 'GREAT DEVOURING,' ANDOR SAYS
http://euobserver.com/9/30835/?rk=1
LEIGH PHILLIPS
17.09.2010 @ 17:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Weighing into the bitter European Union debate over the Roma, the bloc's social affairs chief, Laszlo And/or, uniquely among his commission colleagues, has come to the defence of vice-president Viviane Reding's comparison of France's expulsions to the horrors that befell the continent during World War II. Although most leaders defended the commission's right to investigate France for a breach of EU law, almost uniformly, they have said Ms Reding went too far when she said: "This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War."But Mr Andor, Hungary's representative in the commission, and by some degree its most left-wing member, has said her comparison is historically accurate and he "totally" supports all her words.
PRAYER ISSUE: EXTREME APPLICATION OF A RIGHT TO INVESTIGATE FRANCE FOR A BREACH OF EU LAW
EU COURT
INSURANCE POLICIES SHOULD NOT BE BASED ON SEX, EU JURIST SAY
http://euobserver.com/9/30941/?rk=1
HONOR MAHONY
Today @ 09:28 CET
Insurers should no longer take a person's sex into account when calculating policies, an advisor to the European Court of Justice said on Thursday (30 September), provoking anger in the industry, which adjusts life and health contracts according to whether they are for men or for women.
The preliminary opinion, by Advocate General Juliane Kokott, said that statistics showing different risks for the two sexes may not be used as a basis for treating men and women differently because they do not show an innate difference between them. about longevity, which sees women often pay less for life insurance as they tend to live longer, Ms Kokott argued that the difference is due to behavioural habits such as eating, smoking and exercise."The Advocate General takes the view that it is legally inappropriate to link insurance risks to a person's sex," said her statement. "Differences between people, which can be linked merely statistically to their sex, must not lead to different treatment of male and female insured persons when insurance products are developed”
PRAYER ISSUE: . WOMEN TEND TO LIVE LONGER THAN MEN AND HAVE BENEFITTED FROM CHEAPER LIFE INSURANCE
EU BANKING
IMPACT OF BANK RULES LIKELY TO BE 30% TOUGHER
By Brooke Masters
Published: September 16 2010 23:01 | Last updated: September 16 2010 23:01
The full impact of the new global bank capital rules announced at the weekend is likely to be 30 per cent tougher than the headline ratio suggests, according to regulators and industry participants who have studied private banking data.
The data model the impact of earlier rule changes approved by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision narrowing the definition of what banks can count towards core tier one capital ratio. On Sunday, the committee ordered banks to raise their minimum core tier one capital from 2 per cent to 7 per cent of their risk weighted assets by 2019 or face restrictions on pay and bonuses. That more than tripled the old requirement of 2 per cent to force banks to hold more top quality capital against potential losses.
But the banks will also have to subtract items such as goodwill, some tax credits and minority investments from equity and retained earnings. The aim is to make this key measure of capital reflect the equity that would be available to absorb losses in a crisis. The data submitted to the committee suggest the real impact of the change could be equivalent to raising the minimum capital requirement from 2 per cent to 10 per cent for many banks. The deductions are likely to cut many banks’ equity totals by between 30 per cent and 40 per cent, according to people who have seen the data.
PRAYER ISSUE: THE FAIRNESS OF THIS ACTION ON THE MINIMUM CORE TIER
IRELAND
IRELAND REVEALS MASSIVE EXTENT OF BANKING DEBT
http://euobserver.com/9/30934/?rk=1
HONOR MAHONY
30.09.2010 @ 17:40 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Union attention swung to Ireland on Thursday (30 September) as the government revealed the full extent of the country's banking crisis, likely to result in a budget deficit of 32 percent of GDP this year.
The total cost of the bailouts for Irish banks could run to €50 billion, with the lion's share of this going to the massively indebted Anglo Irish Bank, potentially needing as much as €34.3 billion and certainly no less than €29.3 billion.
Anglo-Irish bank's abandoned headquarters (Photo: darren webb)"Anglo Irish developed to a size where its balance sheet, its annual turnover, was half the national wealth and it became in itself a systemic threat to the financial viability of the state," finance minister Brian Lenihan said on Thursday."That particular nightmare the government has had to live with, the Irish people have had to live with, and I have had to live with since September 2008. We're now bringing closure to that."
PRAYER ISSUE: THE TOTAL COST OF THE BAILOUTS FOR IRISH BANKS COULD RUN TO €50 BILLION
INTERNATIONAL
TURKEY: REDING'S ROMA STATEMENT COULD HELP EU FOREIGN POLICY -
http://euobserver.com/9/30808/?rk=1
ANDREW RETTMAN
15.09.2010 @ 09:30 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Turkish ambassador to the EU, Selim Kuneralp, has said that Viviane Reding's attack on French Roma expulsions will help non-EU countries to swallow Brussels' criticism of human rights in future.
Speaking to EUobserver on Tuesday (14 September), a few hours after the EU commissioner dubbed as a "disgrace" the French policy of mass Roma deportations, the senior diplomat said: "I am very happy to see the commission showing the same kind of sensitivity to human rights violations at home as it does in candidate countries or third countries.""We are being kept under very close watch and in Turkey, sometimes; this causes frustration, at the popular level, so this statement will be welcome because it shows the commission takes equally seriously perceived violations in influential member states as it does in third countries."
PRAYER ISSUE: REDING'S ATTACK ON FRENCH ROMA EXPULSIONS WILL HELP NON-EU COUNTRIES TO SWALLOW BRUSSELS' CRITICISM OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN FUTURE
INTERNATIONAL RELATION
BEWARE 'NEO-IMPERIAL' RUSSIA, KACZYNSKI SAYS
http://euobserver.com/9/30936/?rk=1
MATEJ HRUSKA
30.09.2010 @ 18:53 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Former Polish prime minister and leader of Poland's main opposition party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has warned of Russia's "neo-imperial" foreign policy to all 738 MEPs in Brussels and to dozens of ambassadors. The message, in the form of an as-yet-unpublished opinion piece due to appear shortly in the Wall Street Journal, accuses Russia of "systematically" trying to "re-acquire its sphere of interest" at a time when the US is paying less attention to Europe. Mr Kaczynski (l) on a visit to Brussels during his time at the head of the Polish government
"There are more signs that there is increasingly less America in Europe. This is bad for both sides. Unfortunately, this is taking place at a time when Moscow's neo-imperial foreign policy causes no objections from the major playmakers in Europe and the US."It criticises EU states for allegedly putting bilateral business interests with Russia ahead of EU values and strategic considerations.
"Such attempts are simply a gift to those states that do not recognise democratic values and human rights. They [Russia] may appear to be more attractive business partners but they do not adhere to the values and standards that dominate the Euro-Atlantic political sphere."It also defends the idea of national vetoes against EU policy - a tactic for which the Kaczynski-era Poland became notorious in Brussels in 2006 and 2007. Referring to Belgium and Germany, Mr Kaczynski wrote: "Two out of three EU countries that use the instrument of veto most often are the 'A students' of European integration ... This means that it is possible to love European unity and, at the same time, creatively oppose some of its aspects."
PRAYER ISSUE: RUSSIA IS "SYSTEMATICALLY" TRYING TO "RE-ACQUIRE ITS SPHERE OF INTEREST" AT A TIME WHEN THE USA IS PAYING LESS ATTENTION TO EUROPE
UK LEADERS RELIGION
ED MILIBAND: I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD
Subject: Prayer Alert 4010
Date: 10/1/2010 6:41:08 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: editor@prayer-alert.net
New Labour leader Ed Miliband does not believe in God, he has said. He had previously said his religious views were a ‘private matter’, and his declaration means two of the three leaders of major British political parties are self-proclaimed atheists. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also confirmed he does not believe shortly after being named Liberal Democrat leader, while David Cameron last year said religious faith was ‘part of who I am’ but admitted he did not go to church regularly. The Labour leader's atheism puts him in stark contrast to his predecessors Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, for whom religion was a central part of their lives. Mr Miliband and brother David are of Jewish descent, but religion did not play a large part in their upbringing by their Marxist father Ralph Miliband. David has said publicly he is an atheist, and was the target of some criticism for sending his son to a Church of England school.
PRAYER ISSUE: THAT OUR NATION'S LEADERS RECOGNISE BY GOD’S GRACE THE NATION’S SPIRITUAL DIMENSION. (PS. 57:8)
RELGION
POPE BENEDICT XVI NEEDS TO 'LISTEN NOT LECTURE,'
SAYS BRITISH THINK-TANK DURING POPE'S VISIT TO LONDON
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com
Friday, September 17, 2010
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
LONDON, UK (ANS) -- "Public gaffes" made by Pope Benedict XVI and his retired senior adviser Cardinal Kasper, in aligning atheism with Nazism and describing Britain's social mix as being "like a Third World country," show that the Roman Catholic Church needs to re-learn how to communicate by listening not lecturing, says the UK-based religion and society think-tank, Ekklesia.The strongly-worded comments were made during the second day of the Pope's four-day visit to the United Kingdom.
"The pontiff has misjudged his wider audience by pandering to exaggerated fears of antagonism to religion, rather than building bridges of understanding and cooperation between the peacemaking and justice-loving heart of Christianity and those of other or no faith committed to doing good in a plural society," said Ekklesia's Simon Barrow in a statement sent to the ASSIST News Service. "It is not clear what the pontiff means by 'aggressive secularism.' This makes discussion difficult. The equality legislation he criticizes is backed by many believers and invites the church to practice what it preaches about non-discriminating love of neighbor. As for cases of alleged discrimination against Christians, the overwhelming majority of these have been found to hold no water."
PRAYER ISSUE: ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH NEEDS TO RE-LEARN HOW TO COMMUNICATE BY LISTENING NOT LECTURING