WESTERN EUROPE
A British venture capital firm plans to launch Europe's first halal industrial park, tapping an under-served market worth up to $6.27 billion a year.
The number of people claiming jobless benefits in the United
Kingdom has hit a 12-year high meanwhile the bank of England remains uncertain regarding policy related to stimulus provision. Bank of England policymakers voted unanimously in a recent meeting to keep British interest rates at a record low level and to freeze radical credit-easing plans.
The finance ministers of the 16 members of the euro zone urged Greece on Monday (February 15th) to further slash spending and raise taxes or face possible sanctions next month. Meanwhile the German finance ministry has said that countries using the euro currency will together provide aid worth between 20 and 25 billion euros ($27.2 and $34 billion) for Greece. Last week at a government session Prime Minister George Papandreou accused the bloc of using Greece as a scapegoat to hide the 27-member group's own failures.
France's highest court last week overruled a lower court's acquittal of five former inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison and ordered an appeals court to rehear the case centring on terrorism charges.
Britain's human rights watchdog called last week for an urgent independent probe into claims that the security services were complicit in the torture of more than 20 of its terror suspects. Meanwhile a probe into similar allegations regarding Britain's last remaining Guantanamo Bay detainee, continue.
British Diplomats met Israel's ambassador last week to discuss fake British passports used by alleged killers of a Hamas chief amid speculation its Mossad spy agency was behind the murder in Dubai. Meanwhile hundreds of peace protesters demonstrated last week outside a factory in southern England where warheads for Trident nuclear submarines are made.
Britain and France led a call last week for an international probe into the violence that followed last year's disputed presidential election in Iran. The demand, which Iran swiftly rejected, came during the U.N. Human Rights Council's first review of Iran's rights record since the organization was founded in 2006.
The Dutch coalition government collapsed last week over whether to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan, leaving uncertain the future of its 1,600 soldiers fighting there. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced that the second largest party in his three-party alliance is
quitting, in a breakdown of trust in what had always been an uneasy partnership.
Following media reports a scandal has erupted regarding French military having purposely exposed soldiers to a 1961 nuclear test in the Sahara. The government has denied these allegations but reportedly did concede last year to compensate victims.
Several prominent Anglican British bishops are urging Christians to keep their carbon consumption in check this Lent a 40-day period of penitence before Easter where observant Catholics, Anglicans, and Orthodox Christians give up meat, alcohol or chocolates.
SOUTH-EAST EUROPE
A political stalemate continues in Albania as diplomatic efforts are under way to bring opposing parties to the table. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Mevlut Cavusoglu is expected to head a delegation to assist President Bamir Topi in mediating political negotiations between the government and the opposition in the ongoing boycott of parliament.
According to Bulgaria Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s statements last week the US is expected to hold preliminary talks with the Bulgarian government on the possibility of hosting elements of the US anti-missile defence shield. Meanwhile Russia has demanded more details from Bulgaria regarding the deployment.
European Union aspirant Croatia will inaugurate its new president, leftwing intellectual Ivo Josipovic this week.
According to local media Kosovo's visa liberalisation process with EU countries is conditioned on the repatriation of thousands of Kosovo citizens living illegally across Europe. The government says it has already reached a repatriation agreement with several EU countries, including France, Belgium and Switzerland, and is in the process of hammering out agreements with Germany and Scandinavian countries.
RUSSIA AND THE BALKANS:
Election officials named Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych as the official winner of Ukraine's presidential election Sunday, thwarting Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's hopes of overturning the vote. Meanwhile Russia has terminated a number of armament projects with Ukraine in the wake of supplies of Ukrainian weapons to Georgia, according to Valery Konovalyuk, who heads the Ukrainian parliament’s commission for investigating illegal weapon supplies.
According to U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle the United States and Russia have agreed that a new arms control treaty will mention a link between offensive nuclear arms and defenses against them. Meanwhile Russia tested its fifth-generation Sukhoi fighter jet in the Russian Far East last week. Russia has also moved to bolster its military presence in Abkhazia, signing an agreement last week to establish a Russian military base in the separatist territory, a focal point of Russia’s war with Georgia in August 2008. In the mean time Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has criticized French plans to sell a warship and armored vehicles to Russia.
Meanwhile four civilians were killed during anti-militant operations in the volatile southern Russian republic of Ingushetia. Also a Russian group that advocates for human rights, Memorial, said last week that four civilians who were killed during recent operations against Islamist militants in the North Caucasus region had not been accidentally caught in a cross-fire, as Russian authorities have contended
Top managers of a popular Scandinavian retail chain IKEA have been fired for alleged bribery of state officials. Dmitry Medvedev also launched a purge of Russia’s interior ministry last week, firing 18 senior police officers as part of a drive to root out rampant corruption plaguing the country’s law enforcement system. On the environment front Some 2,000 people rallied in the Siberian city of Irkutsk last week to protest the opening of one of Russia's dirtiest factories, the Baikalsk Paper and Cellulose Plant.
With Iran's announcement that it has enriched uranium to 20 per cent, Russia's policy towards the Islamic state is reflecting a shift. Officials have suggested Russia could support a new round of crippling UN sanctions against the Ahmadinejad regime, and now there is a new line of confrontation over its delay in delivering a batch of anti-aircraft missiles.
On the economic front in Russia oil for February delivery rose $2.15, or 3%, to close at $81.51 a barrel, the highest settlement since Oct. 9, 2008. Meanwhile Finland's decision last week to give its final environmental approval to the Nord Stream gas pipeline came as Russia signaled a concession on another key issue for its Nordic neighbor - a further delay in imposing prohibitive export tariffs on raw timber.
US/CANADA
US President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order establishing a bipartisan commission to find ways to reduce the gaping US budget deficit. Plans for a congressionally mandated fiscal commission earlier failed to pass through the Senate. The budget deficit is expected to swell to a record 1.556 trillion dollars in fiscal 2010.
Last week President Barack Obama hailed the one-year-old economic stimulus law as an accomplishment that staved off another Great Depression and kept up to 2 million people on the job. Many however remain sceptical.
Muslim scholars have criticized the use of body scanners for security in US airports as a violation of religious teachings on decency in all faiths, asserting a need for respecting people’s religious convictions.
In a recent report two former high-level Bush administration officials who provided legal justification for harsh interrogations of overseas terror suspects have been vindicated against any legal responsibility and may avoid formal punishment.
According to a new poll Canada's Liberals have failed to gain any ground on the Conservatives, despite discontent with the government's decision to suspend Parliament until early March.
LATIN AMERICA
Argentina said last week that boats sailing between it and the British-ruled Falkland Islands will need a government permit, deepening a row over oil exploration in the disputed archipelago.
Last week the first round of Pakistan-Brazil Bilateral Political Consultations was held in Brasilia where the two sides exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern.
As the Mexican war on Drugs continues, the murders of 12 teenage students in Ciudad Juárez is igniting calls for an overhaul of the drug-war crackdown on which President Felipe Calderón has staked his presidency. President Felipe Calderon has promised a new strategy against drug-related violence in Mexico amidst rising public sentiment.
Last week Mexico’s lower house of Congress approved a constitutional amendment that formally establishes the separation of church and state after religious leaders criticized legislation on gay rights and abortion.
On the climate front, Mexico, which will host the United Nations’ main annual climate change meeting in November and December, has proposed two further negotiating sessions to prepare for the talks.
On the economic front Mexican auto production is expected to rise 20 percent this year as demand locally and in the neighboring U.S. rebounds after the global economic crisis, according to Ana Ruth Solano, the Economy Ministry official who oversees the industry.
Amidst a growing energy crisis, the Venezuelan Ministry of Electric Energy has banned the use of electric power in billboards and indoor and outdoor advertising displays. Also Venezuela awarded last week the largest oil investment of President Hugo Chavez's 11-year rule, drawing tens of billions of dollars of much-needed foreign finance to the Orinoco Belt just three years after the leftist leader nationalized operations there.
Meanwhile Chavez said last week that he wanted to govern the country till 2030, to consolidate his socialist project against capitalism. His statement came during the closing celebration of Youth Day, which was celebrated last week with a march of thousands of his followers.
AUSTRALASIA
According to reports Britain's far-right BNP has welcomed news that controversial Australian politician Pauline Hanson is emigrating and offered her the chance to restart her stalled career among its ranks.
Five Muslims were sentenced last week to 23 to 28 years in prison in Australia for stockpiling explosive chemicals and firearms for terrorist attacks on unspecified targets. §
A British venture capital firm plans to launch Europe's first halal industrial park, tapping an under-served market worth up to $6.27 billion a year.
The number of people claiming jobless benefits in the United
Kingdom has hit a 12-year high meanwhile the bank of England remains uncertain regarding policy related to stimulus provision. Bank of England policymakers voted unanimously in a recent meeting to keep British interest rates at a record low level and to freeze radical credit-easing plans.The finance ministers of the 16 members of the euro zone urged Greece on Monday (February 15th) to further slash spending and raise taxes or face possible sanctions next month. Meanwhile the German finance ministry has said that countries using the euro currency will together provide aid worth between 20 and 25 billion euros ($27.2 and $34 billion) for Greece. Last week at a government session Prime Minister George Papandreou accused the bloc of using Greece as a scapegoat to hide the 27-member group's own failures.
France's highest court last week overruled a lower court's acquittal of five former inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison and ordered an appeals court to rehear the case centring on terrorism charges.
Britain's human rights watchdog called last week for an urgent independent probe into claims that the security services were complicit in the torture of more than 20 of its terror suspects. Meanwhile a probe into similar allegations regarding Britain's last remaining Guantanamo Bay detainee, continue.
British Diplomats met Israel's ambassador last week to discuss fake British passports used by alleged killers of a Hamas chief amid speculation its Mossad spy agency was behind the murder in Dubai. Meanwhile hundreds of peace protesters demonstrated last week outside a factory in southern England where warheads for Trident nuclear submarines are made.
Britain and France led a call last week for an international probe into the violence that followed last year's disputed presidential election in Iran. The demand, which Iran swiftly rejected, came during the U.N. Human Rights Council's first review of Iran's rights record since the organization was founded in 2006.
The Dutch coalition government collapsed last week over whether to extend the country's military mission in Afghanistan, leaving uncertain the future of its 1,600 soldiers fighting there. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced that the second largest party in his three-party alliance is
quitting, in a breakdown of trust in what had always been an uneasy partnership.Following media reports a scandal has erupted regarding French military having purposely exposed soldiers to a 1961 nuclear test in the Sahara. The government has denied these allegations but reportedly did concede last year to compensate victims.
Several prominent Anglican British bishops are urging Christians to keep their carbon consumption in check this Lent a 40-day period of penitence before Easter where observant Catholics, Anglicans, and Orthodox Christians give up meat, alcohol or chocolates.
SOUTH-EAST EUROPE
A political stalemate continues in Albania as diplomatic efforts are under way to bring opposing parties to the table. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Mevlut Cavusoglu is expected to head a delegation to assist President Bamir Topi in mediating political negotiations between the government and the opposition in the ongoing boycott of parliament.
According to Bulgaria Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s statements last week the US is expected to hold preliminary talks with the Bulgarian government on the possibility of hosting elements of the US anti-missile defence shield. Meanwhile Russia has demanded more details from Bulgaria regarding the deployment.
European Union aspirant Croatia will inaugurate its new president, leftwing intellectual Ivo Josipovic this week.
According to local media Kosovo's visa liberalisation process with EU countries is conditioned on the repatriation of thousands of Kosovo citizens living illegally across Europe. The government says it has already reached a repatriation agreement with several EU countries, including France, Belgium and Switzerland, and is in the process of hammering out agreements with Germany and Scandinavian countries.
RUSSIA AND THE BALKANS:
Election officials named Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych as the official winner of Ukraine's presidential election Sunday, thwarting Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's hopes of overturning the vote. Meanwhile Russia has terminated a number of armament projects with Ukraine in the wake of supplies of Ukrainian weapons to Georgia, according to Valery Konovalyuk, who heads the Ukrainian parliament’s commission for investigating illegal weapon supplies.
According to U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle the United States and Russia have agreed that a new arms control treaty will mention a link between offensive nuclear arms and defenses against them. Meanwhile Russia tested its fifth-generation Sukhoi fighter jet in the Russian Far East last week. Russia has also moved to bolster its military presence in Abkhazia, signing an agreement last week to establish a Russian military base in the separatist territory, a focal point of Russia’s war with Georgia in August 2008. In the mean time Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has criticized French plans to sell a warship and armored vehicles to Russia.
Meanwhile four civilians were killed during anti-militant operations in the volatile southern Russian republic of Ingushetia. Also a Russian group that advocates for human rights, Memorial, said last week that four civilians who were killed during recent operations against Islamist militants in the North Caucasus region had not been accidentally caught in a cross-fire, as Russian authorities have contended
Top managers of a popular Scandinavian retail chain IKEA have been fired for alleged bribery of state officials. Dmitry Medvedev also launched a purge of Russia’s interior ministry last week, firing 18 senior police officers as part of a drive to root out rampant corruption plaguing the country’s law enforcement system. On the environment front Some 2,000 people rallied in the Siberian city of Irkutsk last week to protest the opening of one of Russia's dirtiest factories, the Baikalsk Paper and Cellulose Plant.
With Iran's announcement that it has enriched uranium to 20 per cent, Russia's policy towards the Islamic state is reflecting a shift. Officials have suggested Russia could support a new round of crippling UN sanctions against the Ahmadinejad regime, and now there is a new line of confrontation over its delay in delivering a batch of anti-aircraft missiles.
On the economic front in Russia oil for February delivery rose $2.15, or 3%, to close at $81.51 a barrel, the highest settlement since Oct. 9, 2008. Meanwhile Finland's decision last week to give its final environmental approval to the Nord Stream gas pipeline came as Russia signaled a concession on another key issue for its Nordic neighbor - a further delay in imposing prohibitive export tariffs on raw timber.
US/CANADA
US President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order establishing a bipartisan commission to find ways to reduce the gaping US budget deficit. Plans for a congressionally mandated fiscal commission earlier failed to pass through the Senate. The budget deficit is expected to swell to a record 1.556 trillion dollars in fiscal 2010.
Last week President Barack Obama hailed the one-year-old economic stimulus law as an accomplishment that staved off another Great Depression and kept up to 2 million people on the job. Many however remain sceptical.
Muslim scholars have criticized the use of body scanners for security in US airports as a violation of religious teachings on decency in all faiths, asserting a need for respecting people’s religious convictions.
In a recent report two former high-level Bush administration officials who provided legal justification for harsh interrogations of overseas terror suspects have been vindicated against any legal responsibility and may avoid formal punishment.
According to a new poll Canada's Liberals have failed to gain any ground on the Conservatives, despite discontent with the government's decision to suspend Parliament until early March.
LATIN AMERICA
Argentina said last week that boats sailing between it and the British-ruled Falkland Islands will need a government permit, deepening a row over oil exploration in the disputed archipelago.
Last week the first round of Pakistan-Brazil Bilateral Political Consultations was held in Brasilia where the two sides exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern.
As the Mexican war on Drugs continues, the murders of 12 teenage students in Ciudad Juárez is igniting calls for an overhaul of the drug-war crackdown on which President Felipe Calderón has staked his presidency. President Felipe Calderon has promised a new strategy against drug-related violence in Mexico amidst rising public sentiment.
Last week Mexico’s lower house of Congress approved a constitutional amendment that formally establishes the separation of church and state after religious leaders criticized legislation on gay rights and abortion.
On the climate front, Mexico, which will host the United Nations’ main annual climate change meeting in November and December, has proposed two further negotiating sessions to prepare for the talks.
On the economic front Mexican auto production is expected to rise 20 percent this year as demand locally and in the neighboring U.S. rebounds after the global economic crisis, according to Ana Ruth Solano, the Economy Ministry official who oversees the industry.
Amidst a growing energy crisis, the Venezuelan Ministry of Electric Energy has banned the use of electric power in billboards and indoor and outdoor advertising displays. Also Venezuela awarded last week the largest oil investment of President Hugo Chavez's 11-year rule, drawing tens of billions of dollars of much-needed foreign finance to the Orinoco Belt just three years after the leftist leader nationalized operations there.
Meanwhile Chavez said last week that he wanted to govern the country till 2030, to consolidate his socialist project against capitalism. His statement came during the closing celebration of Youth Day, which was celebrated last week with a march of thousands of his followers.
AUSTRALASIA
According to reports Britain's far-right BNP has welcomed news that controversial Australian politician Pauline Hanson is emigrating and offered her the chance to restart her stalled career among its ranks.
Five Muslims were sentenced last week to 23 to 28 years in prison in Australia for stockpiling explosive chemicals and firearms for terrorist attacks on unspecified targets. §
________________________________________________________
Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and jointly developed by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
Please Preview your comments before posting.
Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and jointly developed by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
Please Preview your comments before posting.
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