[Al Jazeera] Morocco's king has announced a series of proposed changes to the country's constitution, including amendments that would strip him of some of his political powers.
The changes, announced by King Mohammed VI in a live address to the nation on Friday, will be put to a referendum on July 1.
"We have managed to develop a new democratic constitutional charter," the king said, adding that the constitution "enshrines a citizenship-based monarchy".
The proposed amendments would provide for the strengthening of the authority of the country's prime minister and parliament.
The prime minister would become the "president of the government", and would be able to appoint government officials - an authority previously held only by the king.
The new "president of the government" would also be able to dissolve parliament, the king announced, another role previously accorded only to Mohammed VI.
The new constitution ensures the prime minister is selected from the party that received the most votes in election, rather than just chosen by the king.
The reforms also strengthen parliament, allowing it to launch investigations into officials with the support of just one-fifth of its members or to begin a censure motion against a minister with the backing of a third, rather than needing the unanimous approval demanded by the current constitution.
The judiciary, which has long been criticised for lacking independence, would be governed by a supreme council composed of judges and the head of the national human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... council. The justice minister would not be on the council.
"We encourage a parliamentary authority that is ready to make sure that parliament makes final legislative decisions," the king said. "This parliament has the ability to question any official in the country."
However, Houston lies southeast of Dallas... the king would remain a key power-broker in the security, military and religious fields.
The king will continue to chair two key councils - the Council of Ministers and the Supreme Security Council - which make security policy. The prime minister can chair these councils, but only using an agenda set by the king.
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06/18/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] The Greek prime minister has replaced his finance minister as part of a broad cabinet reshuffle - an example of reforms aimed at tiding over the country's crippling debt crisis despite popular resentment.
George Papandreou's move came two days after protesters angry with harsh austerity measures clashed with riot police in the capital, Athens.
George Papaconstantinou, the finance minister, will move to the environment and energy ministry. He will be replaced by Evangelos Venizelos, a government front man said on Friday.
Venizelos, an influential Socialist politician, had challenged Papandreou for the party leadership four years ago.
Government portfolios were also redistributed to address demands for faster reform from Greece's debt monitors at the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
A new ministry for administrative reform was created to help scale back the country's public sector.
Dimitris Droutsas, a close friend of Papandreou, lost the foreign affairs portfolio to Stavros Lambrinidis,
who heads Greece's Socialists in the European Parliament.
The new cabinet ministers were sworn in shortly after being named on Friday, and went into a meeting with Papandreou.
The prime minister had said he would also seek to build consensus among various political parties while sticking to the course of economic reforms.
"We have some tough negotiations ahead of us and the next few days will be crucial ... These are critical moments for the country and we must have stability," he told parliament on Thursday.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... the leaders of Germany and La Belle France said they were united behind a new aid package for Greece.
Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... , the German chancellor, said the new package, which includes voluntary private sector participation, was a "good foundation" for a Greek deal.
"We have to move forward on this now and I think it makes sense to involve the private sector. This is important for us," she said at a joint presser with Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... on Friday.
Germany had previously said it wanted to forces banks to contribute funds to the bailout for Greece.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Merkel has just effectively written herself out of office, by clearing stating by her actions, that her loyalty is to Europe, not Germany.
That's a major flaw in internationalism. All politics is local, and people care for their own a lot more than they care for foreigners. Especially wasteful, stupid and arrogant foreigners.
#3
#1 yes. "That's a major flaw in internationalism". In Germany she does this!. We have the same problem with O. His problem also is he backhands our Allies and bows to the Arabs. Glaringly obvious when he met Netanyahu.
Workers at a Target Corp discount store in New York voted to reject union representation in what would have been the first unionized Target store in the country, while union officials vowed to press for another election.
Employees at the Valley Stream, New York, store voted against union affiliation, 137-85, Target said in a statement released Saturday. The vote was taken on Friday.
"We are looking forward to having another election," said Aly Waddy, director of special projects for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, which wanted to represent workers at the store, located about 15 miles east of Manhattan. Keep voting until they vote your way with "encouragement"? Parasitic fucks.
#1
NY? why is Target even there. The hostility of NY to any business and union threats make NY a lost cause anyway. I would shut the place down period. Even with a reservation or two since they didn't go union. Offer relocation to employee's but cross the state line. I suggest they deal with a threat rather than living with one. Have you ever had to deal with a threat?. They are big harry things that will eat you out of hose and home. They have the absolute worst table manners.
"The problem they've got is that they're never going to get back the revenue they've lost from public sector advertising, circulation is on a long downward slope and they are giving away their digital content.
"I think they will have to start charging for their online content if they are to improve their finances."
[Al Jazeera] A fragile global economic recovery could falter unless Europe averts sovereign defaults, the United States gets its fiscal house in order and emerging economies prevent overheating, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned.
In its regular assessment of global economic prospects released on Friday, the Washington-based global lender warned the US and debt-ridden European countries that they are "playing with fire" unless they take immediate steps to reduce their budget deficits.
It said bigger threats to growth had emerged since its previous report in April, citing the euro zone debt crisis and signs of overheating in emerging market economies.
IMF forecast that US gross domestic product would grow a tepid 2.5 per cent this year and 2.7 per cent in 2012. In its forecast just two months ago, it had expected 2.8 per cent and 2.9 percent growth, respectively.
With regard to the global economy overall, the IMF struck a measured tone, saying the slowdown of recent months should be "temporary."
It trimmed its forecast for global growth this year only slightly, to 4.3 per cent from 4.4 per cent, and maintained its estimate for robust Chinese growth of 9.6 per cent despite recent signs of a slowdown there.
'Playing with fire'
Yet that relatively benign global outlook could quickly fall apart if politicians in the United States and Europe do not start showing more leadership in addressing their countries' debt problems, the fund warned.
"You cannot afford to have a world economy where these important decisions are postponed, because you're really playing with fire," said Jose Vinals, director of the IMF's monetary and capital markets department.
"We have now entered very clearly into a new phase of the (global) crisis, which is, I would say, the political phase of the crisis," he said in an interview in Sao Paulo, where the updates to the IMF's World Economic Outlook and Global Financial Stability Report were published.
In the United States, the political problems include a fight over raising the legal ceiling on the nation's debt. A first-ever US default would roil markets, and Fitch Ratings said even a "technical" default would jeopardize the country's AAA rating.
The IMF said the outlook for the US budget deficit this year has improved somewhat due to higher-than-expected revenues.
In a separate report, it forecast a deficit of 9.9 per cent of GDP, better than the deficit of 10.8 per cent of GDP it foresaw in April, but still near historic highs.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Which in turn, once again, may hamper iff not prevent ....
* COASTTOCOASTAM/C2CAM > DARPA LAYS OUT TECH FOR 100-YEAR STARSHIP PROBLEM. Moon, Mars, and dem Mayan Stars.
as combined wid Political, Pert waffling on dev "universal" scientific consensus as per "PEAK EVERYTHING" + GLOBAL WARMING-CLIMATE CHANGE [GWCC].
D *** NG IT, I LIKE BLUEBERRY + BUTTERMILK WAFFLES MYSELF BUT DATS BESIDE THE POINT!
#3
Yet that relatively benign global outlook could quickly fall apart if politicians in the United States and Europe do not start showing more leadership in addressing their countries' debt problems, the fund warned.
Yeah, we been screaming at them too but they haven't been listening.
An upcoming Islamic reality television show in Malaysia wants to find the best women preachers and change traditional mindsets on the role of women in Muslim societies.
The 13-episode prime time program called "Solehah", an Arabic word meaning "pious female", is a talent contest that will feature charismatic young Muslim women judged by clerics on their religious knowledge as well as their public speaking skills and personality.
"If American Idol can help their contestants develop as singers, our show aims to help Muslim women develop as Islamic preachers," said Zulkarnaen Mokhtar, a manager for the private television station which produces the show.
The show is scheduled to start airing in October and follows on the heels of the hit Islamic themed show "Imam Muda," or Young Imam, which is shown on a rival TV station and seeks the best imam. Imam Muda is set to begin its second season.
The women will be judged primarily by their ability to "da'wah," an Arabic word literally meaning to spread Islam. In practice, it usually means delivering sermons to an audience of Muslims to get them to be better Muslims.
The first of two days of auditions for Solehah, open to Muslim women aged between 20 to 30, was held in the capital city on Saturday and drew a group of women clad in colourful headscarves, some chaparoned by their mothers. They were tested by a panel of judges on their skills, including reciting the Quran and delivering impromptu three-minute religious lectures on the responsibility of Muslims to help victims of natural disasters.
Prizes have not yet been decided. The prize for the Imam Muda men's program are a job as an imam, or mosque leader, a car, a cash prize of 30,000 ringgit($9,922), and a four-year scholarship to Al-Madinah University in Saudi Arabia.
#1
Of course, that's the official story. What's really going on is anyone's guess. What is known is that the left hates this W. Bush created program and has long wanted to gut it.
#2
"Morton said the number of criminals and serious offenders deported under the program has been steadily increasing, while the number of non-criminals removed through the program has been decreasing."
-umm, if they're here illegally - it still makes them a criminal whether they've had prior jail time or not...stupid ass article.
#3
Big difference. You're talking about MS-13 and other gangsters, murderers, rapists, child molesters, drug runners, etc., etc.
While there are a goodly number of these, in the tens of thousands, they are a distinct minority compared to 20-30 MILLION either hard working or not illegals.
So don't get caught up in an idea comparable to going to war with the entire ummah if you just want to take out al-Qaeda. Yeah, the entire ummah may be annoying, but there is one heck of a lot more of them than al-Qaeda.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Greek prime minister has replaced his finance minister as part of a broad cabinet reshuffle - an example of reforms aimed at tiding over the country's crippling debt crisis despite popular resentment.
Workers at a Target Corp discount store in New York voted to reject union representation in what would have been the first unionized Target store in the country, while union officials vowed to press for another election.
