Zone 3- Euro-Americas Summary Week # 115

Week # 115 – Dated 11-18 April 2010

WESTERN EUROPE

A damning report on human rights reveals that the discrimination Muslims face all across Europe is alarmingly on the rise, mainly due to raging conflicts.

UK Conservatives launched their manifesto earlier this month for the May 6 general election, with a raft of pledges they say will put power back in people's hands. Meanwhile British voters witnessed the first U.S.-style political debate, a historic event billed as an exciting prelude to one of the closest elections in years.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday he would decide next year if he will stand for re-election in 2012. Sarkozy's center-right party was heavily beaten in regional elections last month and his approval ratings have fallen sharply as concern over the fragile state of the economy and disapproval of his restless governing style have grown.

Eurozone finance ministers gathered last week to seek ways to halt a government debt crisis as Greece asks the European Union and the International Monetary. The first debt sale since then raised 1.56 billion euros indicating improved investor confidence.

The Vatican responded Monday to allegations it long concealed clerical sex abuse by making it clear for the first time that bishops and clerics worldwide should report such crimes to police if they are required to by law.

Meanwhile Italy's constitutional court has rejected bids to have gay marriages recognized in two Italian cities i.e. Venice & Trento.

Belgium soon may be the first European nation to outlaw the burqa and other Islamic garb that completely hides a woman's body and face. Neighboring France and the Netherlands may also outlaw attire that is viewed by many in western European societies as demeaning to women. It is also considered a gateway to radical Islam, a fear that is stoking rightwing sentiment across the continent.

In Greece earlier this month Prosecutors pressed charges against six people over their alleged membership in the far-left terror group Revolutionary Struggle. The suspects -- five men and a woman -- are accused of multiple counts of attempted homicide, setting off explosions and armed offences. Meanwhile the Police also detained about 70 demonstrators who had gathered in downtown Athens to protest the arrests.

France last week voiced its opposition to a U.S. extradition request for an Iranian, Majid Kakavand, a 37-year-old engineer, accused of evading export controls to purchase technology over the Internet to sell to Iran's military.

Germany's defense minister said last week that military restructuring could free up more soldiers for international missions, potentially bringing it in line with other countries' efforts. Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg's comments come as the country faces pressure from the United States to send more soldiers to Afghanistan, where it currently has about 4,000 troops. The war is extremely unpopular at home and Chancellor Angela Merkel has resisted the request for further troops.

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Albania’s Defence Minister Arben Imami has said that the country plans to have all old ammunition destroyed by 2013 under a new dismantling effort in Elbasan and Polican, financed by Denmark. In need of dismantling are more than 90,000 tonnes of ammunition inherited from the communist regime. Meanwhile earlier this month Albania abolished its visa regime towards Serbian citizens, another sign of improving bilateral relations.

The Court of BiH has decided to release former Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Gojko Klickovic on bail. Klickovic is accused of war crimes committed in Bosanska Krupa during the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict.

The cloud of volcanic ash over Europe led US President Barack Obama and other World Leaders to cancel their trip to Poland to attend funeral of President Lech Kaczynski.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has announced that the country will give up its eurozone application for the time being due to its current inability to meet the European Monetary Union criteria.

The Kosovo Embassy in London received a note earlier this month informing it that Swaziland has recognized Kosovo's independence, the 66th country to do so since Pristina's declaration of independence in February 2008.

Montenegro’s Lawmakers with a 47 to 27 vote rejected a no-confidence motion last week against Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's cabinet, submitted by the opposition Movement for Changes (PzP) and other parties.

Romania, Georgia and Azerbaijan signed an official agreement in Bucharest last week to provide natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Romania.

Serbian President Boris Tadic has stated that Serbia and Croatia are searching for an out-of-court solution to the two countries' reciprocal genocide lawsuits filed at the International Court of Justice, for war crimes committed during the 1990s.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a fierce critic of the European Union and its reforming Lisbon Treaty and the last EU leader to sign the reform deal said last week that the pact has failed to boost the 27-member bloc's effectiveness.

In Hungary the right-wing Federation of Young Democrats (FIDESZ) with 52.7% of the vote won an absolute majority in parliamentary elections held last week. The neo-fascist Party for a Better Hungary (Jobbik), which ran a racist election campaign directed against Roma and foreigners, obtained 17 % of the vote.

Kyrgyzstan’s ousted president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, claims that two countries, Kazakhstan and Belarus have offered him political asylum.

Russia’s first Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has disclosed that the nation may abandon its plans to join the World Trade Organization in a joint bid with Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Since Belarus was not invited to participate in the top-level 47-nation nuclear security summit in Washington on April12-13, during which world leaders agreed to ‘secure all vulnerable nuclear material in four years’, the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has announced that the nation has hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium and it is not going to get rid of.

At the economic front, Czech central bank Vice-Governor Miroslav Singer very strongly condemned IMF for its ‘misleading reports’, painting a miserable picture of the country's financial exposure.

According to a Bloomberg survey, average gross wages in Hungary has probably advanced 3.5 % in February. Meanwhile the yield on Hungary’s 8 % bond due February 2015 fell 2 basis points to 5.789 percent.

The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic has awarded US Company Ness Technologies, Inc. a contract to provide the first phase of an electronic healthcare services system valued at €32.4m.

According to the Statistical Committee reported, Belarus’ gross domestic product (GDP) rose 4.0 % in the first quarter of 2010 from a year earlier.

the Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said last week that his country and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to revise its two-year bail out program that was approved in 2008 and Ukraine has so far received 11 billion U.S. dollars out of a 16.4-billion-dollar loan from the IMF while the rest had been suspended since last November.

Estonia is likely to become the seventeenth member of the euro zone in 2011 as its macro-economic performance remains under control despite the recession. The European Commission is set to give its green light in mid-May.

The Polish constitution stipulates that if a president dies in office, the speaker of parliament assumes his duties and must decide on an election date within 14 days, with the election to follow no less than 60 days after that. Acting president Bronislaw Komowski announced the election will be held on June 20.

Belarus has initiated discussions on the formation of active citizenship among the young generation of the CIS countries aimed at involving of youth in development and strengthening of human values, education for their civil and patriotic feelings.

The Ministry of Regional Development and Local Government presented to the Latvian Cabinet an information report on the implementation of the e-Government Development Program 2005-2009. This includes the introduction of a secure e-Signature infrastructure, national e-Procurement system, new State and municipal information systems etc.

RUSSIA

The 47-nation U.S. summit on nuclear security earlier this month got off to a rocky start when Russia indicated that it did not favor tough economic sanctions against Iran. Further news of Iran buying an ultra-sophisticated missile system from Russia to protect its nuclear sites has caused fury and fear among Western powers seeking to stop the country from developing nuclear weapons. The new START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between Russia and the United States was signed by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama on April 8, 2010 in Prague. A ceiling was fixed for each country of 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 deployed nuclear delivery vehicles. The new limits are about a third lower than the previous ones negotiated by George W. Bush in the 2002.

President Dmitry Medvedev participated in a summit of four i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, and China in Brasilia aimed at strengthening cooperation. The leaders called for a 'new international order' as they reached consensus to file a draft resolution before the Group of 20 (G20) in Canada in June, demanding more power for emerging and developing countries in global decision-making bodies.

After the Summit Medvedev said that Russia will leave the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions if a deal can't be reached on carbon emission reduction. The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Russia's uneasy ties with Poland face a test after Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and dozens of other senior Polish officials died in a weekend plane crash tentatively blamed on fog and pilot error.

The foreign minister of Kazakhstan, who currently chairs the OSCE stated that the United States, Russia and Kazakhstan worked together to allow Kyrgystan's ousted president to leave the country. Meanwhile Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has linked the collapse of political regime in Kyrgyzstan with the failure to solve social and economic issues and announced to continue its humanitarian aid to the nation but will conclude major agreement only with a legitimate government that will be able to cope with them.

According to Moscow’s central bank reports the ruble weakened 0.2 % to 29.0225 per dollar. Also the yield on the 7.5 % government bond in dollars due March 2030 fell 1 basis point to 4.791%.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week said that Russia might lend $5 billion to $6 billion to Ukraine to construct two nuclear reactors, while promising to consider a new deal on gas supply prices.

Three suspected Islamic insurgents blew themselves up as security forces stormed the private house where they were hiding in an Ingush village last week, and the widow of one of them attacked investigators killing one police officer.

According to a statement by the Russian Orthodox Church the bodies of victims of Stalinist purges found in a mass grave during the construction of a road near the Russian Far Eastern town of Vladivostok are to be reburied.

US/CANADA

Last week just hours after Congress passed an $18 billion bill to restore unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, President Barack Obama made it the law of the land. A measure to restore eligibility for the jobless to receive up to 99 weeks of unemployment checks appears on track despite objections from Republicans concerned about its cost.

Allied activists demonstrated this month all over the US protesting government spending and what they deem as the Washington tax grab. Meanwhile former President Bill Clinton warned of a slippery slope from angry anti-government rhetoric to violence like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, saying "the words we use really do matter."

Obama opened the global security summit earlier this month after two days of meetings with selected presidents and prime ministers of the 47 countries assembled to recharge efforts to keep nuclear material out of terrorist hands.

According to reports The United States is leading an effort by a handful of anti-whaling nations to broker an agreement that would limit and ultimately end whale hunting by Japan, Norway and Iceland.

In Canada a scandal involving a former cabinet minister has helped cut public support for the Conservatives. Meanwhile the weekly Ekos survey for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp put popular support for the Conservatives at 31.4%, down from 33.6% last week. Support for the main opposition Liberals rose to 29% from 27.3%.

On the Canadian financial front stronger-than-expected trade figures for February and a steady housing market confirm the Canadian economic recovery is picking up speed ahead of expected interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced that Canada will return spent nuclear fuel to its supplier, the United States, as part of a global drive to secure fissile materials.

LATIN AMERICA

Earlier this month Argentina's Cristina Fernandez rejected the idea that her leftist politics would prevent a strong working relationship with Sebastian Pinera, a right-wing billionaire whose inauguration last month ended 20 years of center-left rule in Chile.

A landslide swept away dozens of houses near Rio de Janeiro last week, worsening a disaster caused by heavy rains that has killed many around Brazil’s second-biggest city. In a recent statement officials updated the number of confirmed dead to 219.

According to Agencia Angola Press reports Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-run oil company, plans to expand its exploration activities in Angola.

Brazilian opposition candidate Jose Serra launched his bid for the presidencylast week, buoyed by an opinion poll lead and extensive experience ahead of what promises to be a tough race until the October 3 poll. According to a recent poll candidate Jose Serra and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, are in a statistical dead heat six months before the October election.

Meanwhile President Barack Obama met with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week in Washington D.C. to discuss Iran's controversial nuclear program. The meeting took place on the sidelines of a summit that focused on nuclear security in the face of terrorist threats.

On the economic front according to reports Brazil may need to drill more wells to find the 5 billion barrels of oil reserves needed in a proposed swap for new shares in state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

The United States and Brazil signed an agreement last week meant to bolster military ties, but Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim did not offer any hint about a key defense contract sought by U.S.-based Boeing Co. The accord, which was signed at the Pentagon by Jobim and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, is the first agreement of its kind in more than 30 years between the two countries.

Seeking to smooth relations with Mexico at the annual gathering of the NAFTA partners last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper blamed Canada’s decision to impose visas on Mexican nationals on Canada’s refugee system, and urged Parliament to enact changes to stem the flow of “bogus” claims.

Despite a severe energy-related crisis at home Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered last week to help Uruguay expand a refinery and supply it with crude oil at discounted rates. Meanwhile President Chavez extended an electricity emergency for another 60 days despite recent rainfall that raised hopes that severe power shortages would end in the oil-exporting nation. According to the South American OPEC nation's oil minister Venezuela has diversified its oil markets and is selling more than 460,000 barrels per day to China, a 21 % increase from a year ago.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in a recent statement during a ceremony to receive the first of eight naval patrol boats purchased from Spain, called U.S. officials "stupid" for criticizing his arms purchases from Russia and said he would keep buying weapons until the country is ready to defend itself.

AUSTRALASIA

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd threatened last week to ask voters to directly back his sweeping health reform plans as opposition from powerful state leaders threatens to hobble his re-election strategy. Rudd has played down early polls, but said he would go ahead with a risky referendum alongside the election if state leaders rejected his health shakeup.

Web attackers in China flooded an international network link to one of Optus' large commercial clients in Australia in what is known as a denial-of-service attack. This caused congestion that significantly slowed Internet and e-mail links to other customers on that link, including AAP and News.

The United Nations has raised concerns about Australia's decision to freeze asylum applications from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, saying it could leave people in detention for prolonged periods. Australia this month suspended applications from Afghans and Sri Lankans, saying the situation in their war-weary homelands had improved and fewer nationals of these countries would likely be considered refugees in the future. §

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