The European Union Times |
- Opel recalls more than 47,000 to fix glitch
- Pope Francis lashes out at capitalism, calls for communism while in Bolivia
- China’s stock market bounces back, after government steps in to stop huge slide
- Many in US ‘want war with Russia’
- Donald Trump Hit in the Pocketbook for Daring to Exercise His First Amendment Right
- Drought puts North Korea kids in danger
- Jeb Bush tells overworked Americans ‘work longer hours’
|
Posted: 10 Jul 2015 01:26 AM PDT
 The German-based vehicle manufacturing company, Opel, has recalled more than 47,000 of its family-sized cars. On Thursday, Opel cited making repairs to the electrically-operated hatchback doors of the Insignia vehicle as the reason for the recall. Opel said in a statement that the flaw can lead to the door suddenly falling shut. The recall affects models from 2009 to 2015. The Insignia, available as a sedan and station wagon, is considered a large car in a size labeled as the D Segment by the European Union vehicle rules and regulations. Owners of the vehicles will be contacted a soon as possible, Opel said, promising to make the repairs free of charge. Almost all of the recalled vehicles are currently in the EU, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, according to Opel. Last year, Opel recalled thousands of cars from across the world for a glitch in their ignition switch. Opel is the European arm of General Motors (GM), the giant US car manufacturer based in Detroit, Michigan. Source           |
|
Posted: 10 Jul 2015 01:17 AM PDT
 Pope Francis has urged the people of Latin America to stand up to the world’s capitalist system and change the world economic order by creating a “truly communitarian economy” based on distribution of goods among all (communism). Starting his speech with the need to instigate change, he called on the faithful to fight to protect human dignity in a “system” where farm workers end up without land or home and laborers without rights. “Do we realize that that system has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature?” he asked at a powerful speech before a gathering of social movements in Bolivia. Once “capital” becomes an “idol” and guides individuals and once “greed for money presides over the entire socioeconomic system,” it ruins society, Francis said. It enslaves individuals and destroys “ fraternity,” a system which “excludes, debases and kills.” “This system is by now intolerable. So let’s not be afraid to say it: we need change; we want change,” Pope Francis said. The Pope called on his followers to create a “truly communitarian economy,” a system that would guarantee the three “L’s” of land, lodging and labor. “It is no utopia or chimera. It is an extremely realistic prospect. We can achieve it. Working for a just distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labor is not mere philanthropy. It is a moral obligation,” the Pope said in the city of Santa Cruz to participants of the second world meeting of popular movements, an international body that brings together organizations of people on the margins of society. The Argentinian-native Pope urged the crowd to tackle “three great tasks”. The first task is to create an economy at the ”service of peoples” not at the “service of money” Such an approach, the Pope believes, will focus on service rather than profits which in return will protect “Mother Earth.” The second task is to unite our peoples on the “path of peace and justice” to defend their sovereignty against “colonialism.” “The new colonialism takes on different faces. At times it appears as the anonymous influence of mammon: corporations, loan agencies, certain free trade treaties, and the imposition of measures of austerity which always tighten the belt of workers and the poor.” “Monopolizing communications” is yet another example of consumerism and “new colonialism” for the Pope that ultimately denies countries the right to development. Pope Francis called on social movements to protect their culture, their language, their social processes and their religious traditions. The third task is environmental: to “defend Mother Earth,” by breaking down the current “system” which ravishes the planet’s ecology. The pontiff issued a fierce condemnation of the world’s governments for what he calls “cowardice” in defending the Earth, calling it “a grave sin.” “We cannot allow certain interests – interests which are global but not universal – to take over, to dominate states and international organizations, and to continue destroying creation,” Pope Francis concluded. Source      |
|
Posted: 09 Jul 2015 09:47 AM PDT
 Chinese stock indexes rebounded Thursday. The Shanghai Composite added about 6 percent after the securities regulator made a bold move and stopped shareholders with more than a five percent stake in a listed company selling their stocks for six months. The Shanghai Composite Index closed 5.8 percent higher on Thursday and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index saw its biggest rise since April, up 3.8 percent at 24,393 points. The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced Wednesday that any shareholder, including foreign investors, who hold more than a 5 percent stake in any Shanghai or Shenzhen listed companies should not reduce their holdings over the next half a year. Any violation of the new rule would be treated “seriously,” the regulator said. The suspension aims to “maintain stability of the capital market and protect the legal rights and interests of investors,” the CSRC explained, as cited byXinhua. The move comes after another day of panic sales on Chinese markets on Wednesday, which seen the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closing down 5.9 percent, while the CSI300 index fell 6.8 percent. With investors having little hope in market recovery, some 500 additional Chinese companies halted trade of their stocks on Wednesday, bringing the total to over 1,200 or roughly 45 percent of the market. Since mid-June Chinese market value has shrunk by over 30 percent, and the government has taken a number of measures to restore investor confidence and stop the sell-off. On Tuesday the People’s Bank of China injected $8.2 bn into the money market on Tuesday, the 4th consecutive injection since June 25, and was expected to pour another $5.6 bn (35 billion yuan) into the market on Thursday, according to Xinhua. Source      |
|
Posted: 09 Jul 2015 09:40 AM PDT
 International lawyer Barry Grossman says there are people in the United States who are seeking a military conflict with Russia for their own economic profits. “There are many people in the US establishment who would be ecstatic about a shooting war with Russia since that would send the US economy and their own profits in to overdrive,” he told Press TV on Thursday. He added that the latest comments made by US Air Force Secretary Deborah James about considering Russia as the “biggest threat” to American national security is an indication of Washington’s addiction to militarism. “The United States, in short, is addicted to militarism and these comments, like Russia is the biggest threat to America are best seen as being comments made in a marketing campaign,” he said. “When they say things like this, they are conceding that they cannot compete with countries like Russia unless that country fully embraces the US dominated international system, with all that entails about the financial sector, ownership, and unqualified commitment to this military stage of the Pax Americana,” the analyst explained. According to Grossman, Washington is putting pressure on its NATO allies to commit to spend two percent of their Gross Domestic Product on military purposes and those countries, however, have been very slow to contribute and make the commitment. “Under a plan developed by former secretary of defense Chuck Hagel, the US aims to slash the size of its own active duty army while relying more and more on NATO to contribute to the US military effort around the world,” said Grossman. “In practical terms, this means that the United States is increasingly expecting its allies and its client states to carry the cost of establishing US hegemony around the world, even if it will continue to insist on controlling all such operations,” he added. The analyst argued that this NATO-related rhetoric “is all just a ploy to get Europeans to pay a larger slice of the cost of the United States Pax Americana foreign policy which is about anything but peace.” “In order to achieve that agenda and at the same time goad the public into being suitably frightened, the US establishment feels it is necessary to trot out these military administrators from time to time to make ludicrous statements like this one. But make no mistake about it. The financial cost of this militarization whether it is paid for by US taxpayers or European taxpayers will continue to overwhelmingly flow into private US coffers.” “So when talking heads and administrators like Deborah James are rolled out to make absurd comments like ‘Russia is the biggest threat to US national security,’ we should not understand this as being intended to mean that the US is speaking about Russia being a military threat,” he said. Source      |
|
Posted: 09 Jul 2015 09:27 AM PDT
 Following remarks about Mexico, economic warfare is being waged against presidential candidate Donald Trump for exercising his freedom of speech and speaking the truth about illegal immigration. He has lost tens of millions of dollars in response to his politically incorrect yet factually correct comments about illegal immigration. Trump has been dropped by Macy’s, the Professional Golfers’ Association, NASCAR, and others including PVH Corp., a menswear company responsible for brands such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Even the Serta mattress company has dumped the outspoken business magnate. Trump’s Miss Universe pageant has been cut from Univision and NBC and on Wednesday José Andrés, billed as a D.C.-based super-chef with a national brand, backed out of a deal to open the flagship restaurant in Trump’s planned Washington hotel. Trump’s comments that Mexico is “sending people that have lots of problems,” including criminals, drug dealers and rapists, has resulted in a number of scorching news articles and editorials. On Wednesday The New York Times characterized Trump as an insane “bully and bigot” and “ineradicable pest.” Frank Bruni wrote that it would be “transformative” if the Republicans dumped Trump from the party. NBC Nightly News said Trump has thus far done nothing to apologize for telling the truth. Others however are defending Trump, including the father of a man killed by an illegal immigrant. Establishment Media Ignores Dangers of Illegal Immigration The establishment media is notorious for ignoring important political issues by concentrating on individuals. In fact, illegal immigrants do pose a serious threat to the United States including:
Destroying America This “favored class” consisting to a large degree of criminals is being used by the global elite to take down America and reduce it to a third world cesspool. Last June University of California Professor Darrell Y. Hamamoto warned the current influx of illegal immigrants into the United States is part of a plan to create a new underclass of people who can be re-educated in order to create a subservient underclass. Hamamoto told Infowars he sees as a clear “plan to destroy national sovereignty” through mass uncontrolled illegal immigration. In 2005 Richard D. Lamm, a Democrat who served as governor of Colorado for twelve years, said multiculturalism was designed to destroy America. “Here is how they do it,” Lamm said. “Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bi-cultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual.” “Invent ‘multiculturalism’ and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture,” he continued. “I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.” “Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multiculturalism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of ‘Victimology,’ I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.” Source      |
|
Posted: 09 Jul 2015 09:16 AM PDT
 The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, made the warning on Thursday in a bid to push for international action to tackle the deadly crisis in N Korea. “The situation is urgent. But if we act now — by providing urgently needed expertise and supplies — we can save lives,” said UNICEF East Asia Regional Director Daniel Toole. “If we delay until we are certain of crop failures, it may well be too late to save the most vulnerable children,” Toole said in a statement. Pyongyang said last month that it is experiencing its worst drought in a century, with some of its main farming regions particularly hard hit. UNICEF also said that there had been in a sharp increase in cases of diarrhea among children in drought-affected areas, as access to safe drinking water and sanitation was severely compromised. “Lack of rain reduces access to clean water and undermines effective hygiene, putting children’s lives at risk,” Toole said. Concerns about the impact of the drought are heightened by the existing poor nutritional status of many children in North Korea. A 2012 study shows that as many as one in four children have symptoms of chronic malnutrition, UNICEF said. According to the UN body, responding to the current drought crisis was difficult given the international embargoes imposed on North Korea and the lack of funding for children-focused programs in the country. The international agency, however, has released emergency supplies to help those in the worst-affected provinces. The supplies, UNICEF said, include water purification tablets, water storage containers and health supplies for children with acute malnutrition. Last month, South Korea’s Unification Ministry, monitoring the drought on the Korean Peninsula, predicted that the North’s 2015 crop production could fall 20 percent year-on-year. UN figures show that over 70 percent of North Koreans are food insecure and 28 percent of children under the age of five have suffered stunted growth due to malnutrition. Source      |
|
Posted: 09 Jul 2015 09:02 AM PDT
 Jostling for the Republican presidential primaries is well underway, but Jeb Bush’s latest comments will not have endeared him to the US public. The White House hopeful says Americans should work longer hours. His comments drew criticism from Democrats. Speaking in Hudson, New Hampshire, Bush said he would be looking to improve the economy, if elected in November 2016, but in order to achieve this, people would have to work even more hours. “Workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows,” Bush said, as cited by Reuters. This means “that people need to work longer hours and through their productivity gain more income for their families.” However, his comments were instantly seized upon by the Democrats, who accused Bush of being out of touch with ordinary Americans – an accusation also leveled against Mitt Romney in 2012. “It is easily one of the most out-of-touch comments we’ve heard so far this cycle. Jeb Bush would not fight for the middle class as president,” DNC spokeswoman Holly Shulman said in a statement. Bush, who is looking to become the third president from his family dynasty, said his comments were taken out of context. He added that the US economy needs to grow faster by allowing people to move from part time work, into full time work. “You can take it out of context all you want, but high sustained growth means people work 40 hours rather than 30 hours, and that by our success they have disposable income for their families to decide how they want to spend it rather than standing in line and being dependent upon government,” he said. A report released by Gallop in September 2014, showed that Americans are working an average of 47 hours per week, which is almost a whole extra day. Just 40 percent of Americans said they worked an average 40 hour week, with over half saying they worked more. In fact, almost 20 percent of those surveyed said they worked over 60 hours per week, with just eight saying they worked less than 40 hours.  Gallup’s data was based on its annual Work and Education Survey, which combines data from 2013 and 2014, and includes 1,271 full-time employed adults, while it found that just 13 percent of those polled, actually enjoyed going to work.  “We’ve always encouraged young people: take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business,” Romney said in April 2012 at Otterbein University in Ohio. Source |
