Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

The European Union Times


Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:56 PM PDT

​Overweight staff may be provided with larger office chairs, lifts and priority parking by their employers, following a European court judgment on Thursday.
The chief legal adviser to the European Court of Justice, Niilo Jaaskinen, said it was ‘unlawful’ to discriminate against a person if their weight affects their work, as they would technically be classified as disabled.
He also argued that “extreme, severe and morbid obesity” prevents staff from “participation in professional life.”
The test case comes following a claim by Karsten Kaltoft, a Danish childminder who was dismissed by the local city council in 2010 for reportedly being unable to bend down and tie his shoelaces. Kaltoft weight more than 160kg at the time of the claim.
The judgment, which will be considered by senior judges at the full court in coming months, is likely to affect anyone classified as severely, or morbidly obese, and under the Equality Act 2010.
If passed, bosses would not be allowed to treat grossly overweight staff less favorably.
Kaltoft, whose BMI is a whopping 54, argued at the European Court of Justice that he lost his job with Billund City Council because of his weight. However, the council disputes this.
But businesses have warned that if passed into law, the ruling would have disproportionate impact on them.
“This decision shifts the burden of keeping those who are severely obese in the workforce to employers, who must make adjustments to accommodate any special requirements arising from a person’s disability,” said Nicola Rabson, of law firm Linklaters.
“Obesity, particularly severe obesity, can be a sensitive subject, so employers will have to tread carefully and not make assumptions about the needs of an obese worker.”
Others have warned that businesses will endure even higher costs in providing specialist equipment and healthcare provisions for employees deemed obese.
In Britain, 64 percent of adults are classified as overweight or obese, and it is estimated that obesity costs the NHS 5 billion pounds a year.
According to the National Obesity Forum, current trends suggest that nearly half the UK population will be severely overweight by 2050.
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Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:44 PM PDT

US President Barack Obama has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of backing Ukraine’s pro-Russian fighters, threatening Moscow with more sanctions.
“If Russia continues to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and to back these separatists,” President Obama said on Monday, then the country will “further isolate itself from the international community and the costs for Russia’s behavior will only continue to increase.”
The US president also urged his Russian counterpart to compel the forces in Ukraine to stop hampering the probe at the crash site of a Malaysian airliner.
The passenger jet was shot down on July 17 and all 298 people on board were killed.
“Given its direct influence over the separatists, Russia and President Putin in particular has direct responsibility to compel them to cooperate with the investigation,” he said.
“That is the least that they can do.” Obama said. “This is an insult to those who have lost loved ones. This is the kind of behavior that has no place in the community of nations.”
“Our immediate focus is on recovering those who were lost, investigating exactly what happened and putting forward the facts,” Obama said. “We have to make sure the truth is out, that accountability exists.”
Meanwhile, President Putin in a brief statement on Monday said that investigators must have access to the crash site.
The White House has been accusing pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine of shooting down the Malaysian plane. However, Obama offered no new evidence over the accusation.
The Obama administration has also been pressing the European Union to ratchet up economic sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.
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Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:33 PM PDT

The establishment media has virtually ignored the carnage in eastern Ukraine while it focuses on the alleged shoot down of MH17.
Vladimir Putin is widely condemned while the indiscriminate killings and ethnic cleansing of the Ukraine Security Service and military are left unmentioned.
Since the regime’s crackdown on “terrorists,” in other words separatists in the eastern part of the country opposed to rule imposed by the Kyiv regime, nearly 500 hundred civilians have died, including seven children. 1,392 civilians have been wounded. 279 remain in the hospital.
The body count is verified by the regime’s own Ministry of Health.
250 of the dead were in the opposition-controlled city of Lugansk, according to the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe.
The OSCE figures did not include civilians killed in close vicinity of combat zones outside the city as well as causalities among those involved in fighting, according to the report.
The OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission added that “increasingly more people were being killed by booby traps and mines.”
The civilian deaths are not reflected in most corporate media stories because this information conflicts with a narrative designed to single out Russia as the perpetrator of violence in Ukraine.
This is part of a larger agenda to undermine Russian influence in Europe and sabotage BRICS, the emerging economic association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
BRICS directly challenges the Wall Street and City of London dominated financial order and threatens U.S. dollar hegemony.
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Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:18 PM PDT

Latest reports say Israeli aerial and ground forces are using white phosphorus bombs to pound several residential areas across the besieged Gaza Strip.
The lethal bombs violate all international conventions and are considered as banned weapons in civilian areas.
This comes as a Norwegian doctor in the besieged coastal enclave has recently criticized Israel for using cancer-inducing bombs against Palestinian civilians.
Medics say some Palestinians in the besieged enclave have been wounded by a new type of weapon that even doctors with previous experience in war zones do not recognize.
Israel also used depleted-uranium and white phosphorus shells in the besieged region during their previous assaults.
The latest revelation comes as Israeli tanks and warplanes keep pounding the besieged enclave. Sources say at 39 Palestinians were killed on Monday alone.
Sunday has been the bloodiest day of the two-week conflict. More than 100 Palestinians were killed in the Shejaiya neighborhood near Gaza City on Sunday. The majority of the victims were civilians including children, women and the elderly.
The latest casualties bring the Palestinian death toll to 510 from 14 days of Israeli attacks. Over 3000 Palestinians have also been injured in the onslaught.
Medical workers are now raising the alarm over a humanitarian crisis in Gaza where hospitals are running low on basic medical supplies.
The UN Security Council has expressed serious concern over the growing number of casualties in the Gaza Strip, calling for an immediate ceasefire between the conflicting parties.
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Posted: 21 Jul 2014 03:01 PM PDT

The Russian military detected a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jetgaining height towards the MH17 Boeing on the day of the catastrophe. Kiev must explain why the military jet was tracking the passenger airplane, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“A Ukraine Air Force military jet was detected gaining height, it’s distance from the Malaysian Boeing was 3 to 5km,” said the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the HQ of Russia’s military forces, Lieutenant-General Andrey Kartopolov speaking at a media conference in Moscow on Monday.
“[We] would like to get an explanation as to why the military jet was flying along a civil aviation corridor at almost the same time and at the same level as a passenger plane,” he stated.
“The SU-25 fighter jet can gain an altitude of 10km, according to its specification,” he added. “It’s equipped with air-to-air R-60 missiles that can hit a target at a distance up to 12km, up to 5km for sure.”
The presence of the Ukrainian military jet can be confirmed by video shots made by the Rostov monitoring center, Kartopolov stated.
At the moment of the MH17 crash an American satellite was flying over the area of eastern Ukraine, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. It urged the US to publish the space photos and data captured by it.
‘Ukrainian Buk missile system transported to militia-held area’
In addition, MH17 crashed within the operating zone of the Ukrainian army’s self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air ‘Buk’ missile systems, the Russian general said.
“We have space images of certain places where the Ukraine’s air defense was located in the southeast of the country,” Kartapolov noted.
The first three shots that were shown by the general are dated July 14. The images show Buk missile launch systems in about 8km northwest of the city of Lugansk a TELAR and two TELs, according to the military official.
Another image shows a radar station near Donetsk.
Radar stations of the air defense in Donetsk Region, 5km north of Donetsk city, on July 14, 2014. Photo courtesy of the Russian Defense Ministry.
While the third picture shows the location of the air defense systems near Donetsk, he explained. In particular, one can clearly see a TELAR launcher and about 60 military and auxiliary vehicles, tents for vehicles and other structures, he elaborated.
Buk missile defense units in Donetsk Region, 5km north of Donetsk city, on July 14, 2014. Photo courtesy of the Russian Defense Ministry.
“Images from this area were also made on July 17. One should notice that the missile launcher is absent [from the scene]. Image number five shows the Buk missile system in the morning of the same day in the area of settlement Zaroschinskoe – 50km south of Donetsk and 8km south of Shakhtyorsk,” the Kartapolov said.
No Buk missile defense units in Donetsk Region, 5km north of Donetsk city, on July 17, 2014. Photo courtesy of the Russian Defense Ministry.
Buk missile defense units in Zaroschinskoe, 50km south of Donetsk city and 8km south of Shakhtyorsk, on July 17, 2014. Photo courtesy of the Russian Defense Ministry.
The question that has to be answered is why the missile system appeared in the area controlled by the local militia forces shortly before the catastrophe, he stated.
Images taken on July 18 show that the missile systems left the area of the MH17 crash, the military official said.
Kartapolov also pointed to the fact that on the day of the plane crash Ukraine’s military increased activity on the part of Ukraine’s Kupol-M1 9S18 radars, which are part of the Buk system.
“..there were 7 radars operating on July 15, 8 radars operating on July 16, and 9 radars operating on July 17 in the area. Then, starting with July 18, the intensity of radar activities radically decreased, and now there are no more than two or three radars operating a day. The reason behind this is yet to be found.”
In response to Moscow’s evidence, Kiev said on Monday it had proof the missile that brought down a Malaysian airliner last week came from Russia.
“There is evidence that the missile which struck the plane was fired by terrorists, who received arms and specialists from the Russian Federation,” spokesman for Ukraine’s Security Council Andrey Lysenko told a news conference. “To disown this tragedy, [Russia] are drawing a lot of pictures and maps. We will explore any photos and other plans produced by the Russian side.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday that Kiev has “strong evidence” of the causes of the MH17 crash.
“We know exactly the place [the surface-to-air missile was] launched, we know exactly the place where it hit the civilian plane and the place where the plane crashed.”
Kiev is ready to hand the information to the international investigation commission, according to the presidential press-service.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 10:31