Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

The European Union Times


Posted: 15 Apr 2014 03:15 PM PDT

For the first time in more than two years, Americans will have a chance to see a total lunar eclipse, an event made even more exciting by the fact that a very rare “blood moon” will also be viewable in the sky.
The lunar eclipse will begin early Tuesday morning at 12:53 a.m. EDT, when the Earth will start to move in between the sun and the moon. Once the moon becomes completely blanketed by the Earth’s shadow, however – around 3 a.m. – this eclipse will become even more interesting: the moon will be covered in a red or orange light.
Speaking with ABC News Digital, NASA scientist Michelle Thaller explained the phenomenon.
“The moon is going to line up in just the right angle to pass through the shadow of the Earth,” she said. “That’s going to block the sun’s light from reaching the moon, and that means we’ll actually see the earth’s shadow creep across the full moon. At the deepest part of the eclipse, the moon does actually look red, it really does.”
“This is happening because the sunlight that’s reaching the moon is just the sunlight bending through the earth’s atmosphere,” she added. “The same reason that a sunset is red, the earth’s atmosphere scatters away blue light but lets red light through.”

Tuesday’s blood moon will mark the first of four that will occur over the next year and a half – a series of consecutive total lunar eclipses known as a “tetrad.”
As noted by NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak, sometimes centuries can pass before a tetrad occurs, so the fact that one is about to unfold is a special occurrence – one that Americans should enjoy considering they’ll be able to see all four blood moons.
“The most unique thing about the 2014-2015 tetrad is that all of them are visible for all or parts of the USA,” Espenak said in a statement.
According to CNN, blood moons will occur again this year on October 8 and next year on April 4 and September 28.
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Posted: 15 Apr 2014 02:56 PM PDT

The bacterium that causes whooping cough has mutated in Australia, most likely in response to the vaccine used to prevent the disease, with a possible reduced effectiveness of the vaccine as a result, a new study shows.
A team of researchers analyzed strains of the virus from across Australia and found that many strains no longer produce a key surface protein called pertactin.
About 80 per cent of the 2012 whooping cough cases in Australia studied by the team were caused by pertactin-free strains. Pertactin is one of the three proteins present in the vaccine currently used in Australia.
“It’s like a game of hide and seek. It is harder for the antibodies made by the body’s immune system in response to vaccination to ‘search and destroy’ the whooping cough bacteria which lack pertactin,” says the senior author of the study.
Australia has only recently emerged from an epidemic of whooping cough that went on for an unusually long period with about 142,000 cases from 2008 to 2012. Although the number of cases identified was greatly increased by more and better testing, the epidemic was still a major one. Nine babies died of whooping cough during the five years.
Babies need to be immunized at six to eight weeks of age, four months and six months, with a booster at four years.
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Posted: 15 Apr 2014 02:40 PM PDT


Ron Paul appeared on Fox News with Neil Cavuto last night to warn that the federal government could be planning to launch a Waco-style assault against Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy.
Expressing hope that last week’s events, during which Bundy supporters faced down armed BLM agents and forced them to release Bundy’s cattle, represented a new benchmark for Americans standing up against federal government intrusion, the former Congressman suggested that it would be naive to think that the feds have thrown in the towel.
“They may come back with a lot more force like they did at Waco with the Davidians,” said Paul, adding that he hoped the situation remained non-violent.
Host Neil Cavuto remarked that the potential for violence across the United States was on a “very slight trigger,” to which Paul responded, “That’s the great fear… especially if the financial crisis gets much worse which I anticipate.”
Concerns that the feds may be gearing up for a massive show of force directed against Bundy and his family were also shared by former sheriff of Graham County, Ariz. Richard Mack, who told radio host Ben Swann that Saturday’s stand down was a “ploy” to disperse the thousands of Bundy supporters who had gathered as part of a long term plan to isolate and target the Bundy family.
“If they do that kind of raid, I don’t believe there’s any way that could happen without bloodshed,” Mack told Swann.
During his appearance on Fox News, Paul made the wider point that the Bundy dispute would not have escalated if the issue of land ownership was made clearer, noting that in Texas for example there is no “public ownership,” whereas in states like Nevada “everybody owns it yet nobody owns it.”
“They had virtual ownership of that land because they had been using it….but it’s not clean enough, I think land should be in the states and I think the states should sell it to the people, it’s worked out quite well in big states,” said Paul, adding that publicly owned land only causes problems and wrangling between government, environmentalists, energy companies and ranchers.
“You need the government out of it and I think that’s the important point, if you don’t look at that you can expect more of these problems, especially when our economy gets into more trouble,” said Paul, adding that violence could be directed towards the feds when in reality the real problem is bad ideas and bad politics that need to be changed.

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Posted: 15 Apr 2014 02:33 PM PDT
Financial problems in Spain increase the number of children living below the poverty line.
The charity Save the Children has warned of growing poverty among children in Spain, saying the situation needs to be addressed urgently.
The charity launched a petition on Tuesday urging the Spanish government to do more for deprived children in the crisis-hit country.
According to the aid group, a third of all Spanish children, or some 2.7 million kids, are at the risk of “social exclusion” due to living in poor conditions.
“The problem is real, it is here, and it is only going to get worse and worse unless urgent social programs are launched by the state” the charity warned, adding, “An entire generation of Spaniards are about to be lost forever”.
Save the Children called on the government to extend payments of child benefit to all families living below the poverty line.
The petition also insisted that Madrid should increase the amount of payments and move to monthly payments instead of paying twice a year.
The charity found cases of children who were going to school without textbooks because their parents could not afford them.
Spain has been struggling to deal with its worst economic crisis since World War II.
A fifth of the Spanish population is currently living under the poverty threshold as defined by Eurostat, the European Union’ statistics office.
Lack of jobs and the deepest austerity in more than 30 years in Spain have pushed average household income down 10 percent since 2008.
Spaniards have staged numerous protests against the government’s spending cuts, arguing that austerity measures have resulted in more job losses in recent years.
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Posted: 15 Apr 2014 02:09 PM PDT

France’s lower house of parliament passed a law Tuesday prohibiting genetically modified (GM) maize from being grown, citing environmental concerns. The law can be applied to any GM strain that is adopted at EU level.
The law follows a decree last month, which halted the planting of Monsanto’s insect-resistant maize MON810, which will be allowed for cultivation in the EU, Reuters reported.
But if any strain of GM crop is adopted in the future at EU level – including Pioneer 1507, which was developed by DuPont and Dow Chemical – it will be subsequently banned in France.
Pioneer 1507 could be approved by the EU later this year, after 19 of the 28 EU member states failed to gather enough votes to block it.
The law adopted Tuesday by France’s lower house (National Assembly) is similar to one rejected by the upper house (Senate) in February, which was seen as unconstitutional.
“It is essential today to renew a widely shared desire to maintain the French ban. This bill strengthens the decree passed last March by preventing the immediate cultivation of GMO and extending their reach to all transgenic maize varieties” Jean Marie Le Guen, the minister in charge of relations with parliament, told the National Assembly.
The current Socialist-led government in France, like the previous conservative one, has opposed the growing of GM crops because of public suspicion and protests by environmentalists.
Le Guen called for an EU system that would make sure that the decisions of member states not to adopt GM crops could not be challenged legally.
A debate on the future of EU policy is going on at EU level, with the European Commission suggesting an opt-out that would allow individual countries to ban GM crops.
The French ban on GM maize will now have to go to the Senate for approval. However, even if it is rejected again, the National Assembly will have the final say.
While France is against genetically modified crops, the UK argues that without them, Europe risks becoming “the museum of world farming.” Spain also says its own farmers have to be able to compete with those outside the EU – many of whom are growing GM crops.
GM crops, though still unpopular in Europe, are widely grown in the US and Asia.
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Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:55 PM PDT

The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued an official warning to all citizens who travel abroad, saying they might be detained and extradited to the US for a biased trial on inflated charges.
“Without any reasons the US administration is refusing to recognize the reunification between Russia and Crimea that fully meets the international legal standards and the UN charter. It tries to make a routine practice out of hunting for Russian citizens in third countries with subsequent extradition and conviction in the USA, usually over dubious charges,” reads the statement posted on the Ministry’s web-site on Friday.
Russian diplomats say that US justice is biased against Russians and processes usually result in lengthy prison sentences.
Considering these circumstances the ministry again strongly advised all Russians who suspect they could have any conflict with US justice to refrain from travelling abroad, especially to countries that have mutual extradition agreements with the United States.
Russian diplomats repeated that the embassies and consular offices abroad are continuing to render assistance to all Russian citizens who find themselves in difficult situations, including conflicts with foreign justice.
The warning is very similar to the one issued in September 2013, after the detention of Russian citizens in third countries at the request of US law enforcers had become more frequent. The statement mentioned the arrests of Dmitry Ustinov in Lithuania, Dmitry Belorossov in Spain, Maksim Chukhrayev in Costa Rica and Aleksander Panin in the Dominican Republic.
The release also mentioned the two cases that ended in prison sentences – the trials of transport company owner Viktor Bout and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko who got 25 and 20 years in prison respectively. Both Russians were convicted as a result of sting operations and the main argument for the prosecution was the testimony of undercover agents, not material evidence. Both men pleaded innocent in court and continue to do so to this day.
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Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:20 PM PDT

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has retained his two-thirds majority at the parliament following last week’s elections.
With over 99 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Office said on Saturday that Orban’s ruling Fidesz party had won 133 seats in the 199-seat legislature.
Fidesz, a right-wing populist party, and its small ally, the Christian Democrats, received 45.1 percent of the list votes, well ahead of its nearest rival party, the center-left Socialists that received only 25.7 percent of the vote. The patriotic Jobbik party also scored its best result ever with 20.3 percent.
Fidesz party will have 133 seats, the Socialist party 38 seats, and the Jobbik party 23 seats in Parliament in the April 6 election, the National Election Office said.
The small green party, LMP, will also have five seats after winning 5.4 percent of the vote.
Orban has pushed through a series of reforms over the past four years, including passing a new constitution and adopting controversial economic policies.
The 50-year-old premier has often clashed with the European Union and foreign investors over what he considers Hungary’s national interests.
Orban enjoys huge popularity among many voters for cutting bills and stabilizing public finances, but critics say he has restricted the freedom of media and other democratic institutions.
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Posted: 14 Apr 2014 10:22 AM PDT
Many boats have left North Africa and have been heading to the Italian island of Lampedusa – such as these migrants who arrived earlier this year in February.
More than 4,000 migrants have arrived on Europe’s shores by boat in the past two days, with the Italian government calling the crisis ‘increasingly glaring’.
The emergency comes days after Italy’s Home Secretary Angelino Alfano warned that more than half a million migrants were ready to set sail from Northern Africa for Europe.
Italy’s southernmost island, Lampedusa, is the gateway for illegal immigrants to enter Europe.
More than 40,000 people made the journey to Italy last year, often on unseaworthy boats.
So far this year 15,000 migrants have landed on the Italian coastline, a ten-fold increase on the first three months of 2013.
British experts believe one in five of them continue on to the UK.
Mr Alfano told Italian radio: ‘The landings are non-stop and the emergency is increasingly glaring.
‘Right now two merchant ships are rescuing two boats with 300 and 361 people aboard.
‘It appears there’s at least one corpse on board’.
He added: ‘ Europe must take the situation in hand.’
The traffickers, who reap vast profits from the boatloads, are equipped with satellite phones and send out requests for help just 30 to 40 miles after leaving the Libyan coasts, he said.
One Italian Navy ship, the San Giorgio, was called to the rescue of four overcrowded boats containing 1,000 people, including women and children, who did not have life jackets.
The other 3,000 migrants were rescued by a combination of coastguard, patrol vessels and merchant ships before being brought ashore.
On Tuesday Mr Alfano called an emergency summit with police, Navy and coast guard officials participating in the rescue-and-surveillance operation to deal with the emergency.
Illegal migrants landing in the EU have to remain in the country where they first seek asylum.
But many hope to pass through Italy undetected to northern Europe, which has better job prospects and generous benefits.
In the wake of a tragic shipwreck last year in which more than 300 migrants died, Italy called for a pan-European search and rescue mission to intercept migrant boats ‘from Cyprus to Spain’.
Colonel Gaddafi was right
In 2010, deceased Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi made a speech in Rome warning that illegal African immigration into Europe would turn it into the new Africa.
In his speech he said:
“Europe runs the risk of turning black from illegal immigration, it could turn into Africa. [...] We need support from the European Union to stop this army trying to get across from Libya, which is their entry point. [...] At the moment there is a dangerous level of immigration from Africa into Europe and we don’t know what will happen. [...] What will be the reaction of the white Christian Europeans to this mass of hungry, uneducated Africans? [...] We don’t know if Europe will remain an advanced and cohesive continent or if it will be destroyed by this barbarian invasion. We have to imagine that this could happen but before it does we need to work together.”
Back in 2011, just before being killed Muammar Gaddafi warned Europe again, saying “if I go down you will be flooded with millions of blacks”.
Gaddafi’s observation was 100% correct, and in just two days this year, around 4,000 illegal immigrants have entered into Europe from Africa.
The first quarter of 2014 has seen 15,000 illegal immigrants entering on Europe by the Italian coastline.
Over 40,000 illegal immigrants were recorded doing the same thing since last year, and now many more are expected to enter Europe this year.
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Posted: 14 Apr 2014 09:57 AM PDT

Ukrainian security forces have launched a crackdown on separatist protesters in the eastern town of Slavyansk, where pro-Russian protesters have seized government buildings.
“An anti-terrorist operation has begun in Slavyansk. It is being directed by the anti-terrorist center of the state security service. Forces from all the security units of the country have been brought in,” Ukraine’s Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page on Sunday.
There are reports of gunfire in the city and military helicopters flying over the seized police headquarters.
Following Avakov’s announcement, nearly a dozen women, who had been in the building when it was seized, were evacuated.
Earlier on Saturday, the interior and defense ministries announced their plans to launch operational responses to separatist sentiments in the eastern parts of the country after the seizure of government buildings by the pro-Russian protesters in Slavyansk in southern Donetsk.
Following the secession of Crimea from Ukraine in March, the secessionist movement soon spread to other regions including Odessa, Lugansk, Nikolayev, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkovka, which are all located in Donetsk Province.
Protesters in these areas have taken control of government buildings and raised the Russian flag on the buildings.
Reports say fighting has erupted in several towns in eastern Ukraine. Protesters demand a referendum on breaking away from Ukraine and integrating into Russia, but Ukrainian officials say their demands are unacceptable.
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Posted: 14 Apr 2014 08:16 AM PDT

​The local government of Gothenburg, Sweden, is to begin a yearlong experiment to see if cutting the working week to 30 hours will be more efficient. It is hoped working less hours will cut down on sick leave, and save money.
Under the plan, the employees will remain on the same pay.
“We think it’s time to give this a real shot in Sweden,” as deputy mayor Mats Pilhem told the Swedish edition of The Local.
He explained that the municipal council experiment would involve two different departments: a test group and a control group. The working week of the staff in the first section won’t exceed six hours a day, while their colleagues in a different section will stick to the ordinary forty-hour week schedule. All employees will be given the same pay.
“We’ll compare the two afterwards and see how they differ. We hope to get the staff members taking fewer sick days and feeling better mentally and physically after they’ve worked shorter days,” Pilhem told The Local.
He added that the local car factory had already experimented with shorter working hours and the results showed an increase in productivity. It’s hoped the practice will create more jobs and reduce inefficiency in the public sector.
The move has been criticized by the city council opposition – the Moderate Party, which reportedly described the experiment as a “dishonest and populist ploy” on the eve of the 2014 local elections.
However the council’s executive committee refuted the statement, arguing “We’ve worked a long time on this, we’ve not planned it to be an election thing. These people [Moderates] are always against shortening hours.”
Currently, Belgium and the Netherlands enjoy a 30-hour working week, with an average worker in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, spending 35 hours a week at work.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 20:07