Hat tip to Michelle Malkin Woman who claimed to find finger at Wendy's has litigious history
LAS VEGAS — The woman who claims she bit into a human finger while eating chili at a Wendy's restaurant has a history of filing lawsuits — including a claim against another fast-food restaurant in Nevada. Anna Ayala, who hired a San Jose, Calif., attorney to represent her in the Wendy's case, has been involved in at least half a dozen legal battles in the San Francisco Bay area, according to more than a decade of court records. They include the suit she brought against an ex-boss in 1998, seeking $500,000 for sexual harassment, and the 2000 case she filed against an auto dealership alleging the wheel fell off her car. That suit was dismissed after Ayala fired her lawyer, who said she had threatened him.
The radio had a rumor that there's a dead aunt mixed up in this too...possibly missing a...um, digit.
Posted by: Biff Wellington ||
04/09/2005 12:28:50 AM ||
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Many years ago, I was actually standing at the counter in a fast-food place when an employee accidentally cut his finger off with a meat-slicing machine. The guy screeched, blood spurted everywhere, and the manager ran back to see what was happening. The manager fainted dead away but a 16 year-old bus-boy scooped up the finger and wrapped it in a towel. I suggested that he add some ice from the Coke machine and he promptly did. Another customer revived the manager, while the busboy and the wounded cook sped off to the hospital, iced finger in hand. I learned later that it was successfully re-attached.
A Labour councillor who stole postal votes in a local council election was jailed for three years and seven months yesterday. Judge Peter Openshaw, who described the system as being "wide open to fraud", said: "The defendant has literally stolen votes." Muhammed Hussain, 61, had arranged the collection of blank ballot papers posted to homes in the ward he was contesting in Blackburn, Lancs, Preston Crown Court was told. Campaigners went from house to house asking voters to hand over papers, saying: "Don't worry we'll take care of them." Hussain pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiring to defraud the returning officer. He defeated the sitting Tory candidate in Bastwell ward in the May 2002 local elections by a 685 majority. Police investigated the unusually high number of postal votes. On Monday, six Labour councillors (named Shafaq Ahmed, Shah Jahan, Ayaz Khan, Mohammed Islam, Muhammed Afzal and Mohammed Kazi) were found guilty of electoral fraud in two Birmingham wards. Commenting on which, a High Court Judge"criticised the government's insistence that the current postal voting system was working. 'Anybody who has sat through the case I have just tried and listened to evidence of electoral fraud that would disgrace a banana republic would find this statement surprising'". The two cases which came to trial are generally considered to be just the tip of the iceberg of postal voting irregularities which happened last year, the vast majority, if not all of which, apparently benefitting Labour. The same flawed system will be operating nation-wide next month for the General Election. I won't be voting for Labour on May 5th. That is, I don't intend to - unless one of Blair's minions steals my vote.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
04/09/2005 6:29:50 AM ||
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In Dagestan, the Islamic clergy has launched a mass campaign against local entertainment establishments. Imams urge owners of public saunas, casinos and night clubs to change the specific of their establishments, otherwise "damnation will strike their families." To make the prophecy even more effective, imams decided to make an inspection of saunas in Makhachkala and say prayers there. Imam of Dagestan's central mosque, Magomedrasul Saaduyev, told the Izvestia newspaper: "To go to a sauna means today that a man spends time with a prostitute there. We are astonished that law enforcement structures have been always that inert as concerning public saunas and so on. The Penal Code classifies organization of sex services as a crime. But today, we cannot stand this mess any longer."
Several days ago, the Council of Imams appealed sauna owners with the following statement: "You disobey the Most High by running saunas, and God will visit retribution on you for this. By receiving profits from public saunas you incur troubles upon yourself, your families and even your descendants. God will reward you in case you close your establishments; the people will be grateful to you for this doing and your family will prosper." In case sauna owners ignore the appeal, the community will be requested not to come to their funeral and ask Allah to send troubles on them.
President of the republic of Dagestan, Magomedali Magomedov, supports the initiative. Dozens of Moslem groups have been formed to say prayers in saunas. One of the group members Ahmed Abakarov, 25, told Izvestia that each of sauna owners reacted to the visit his particular way. "Some owners preferred to escape; then sauna administrators said they were no authority and could not change anything. Others said they never considered the religious and moral aspect of their business, and promised to think it over now."
The Islamic groups intend to change the public life in Makhachkala. "This is true that we are living in a secular state; but what we are doing does not contradict the temporal law. There is no violence in our visits to saunas; we just say prayers and urge to think about the moral aspect of this business," imam from one of Makhachkala's mosques, Ibragim Kuliyev, told the Izvestia. But in fact, with this initiative imams are making attempts to regulate not only the public life in the republic, but also the funding of illegal entertainment. A source in the Dagestan Interior Ministry department for struggle with economic crimes told the Izvestia that up to 300 million of rubles pass through this illegal business. The Islamic groups are still persistent with the idea, and they are encouraged with the success of their first visits: seven saunas have already been closed, and owners of 23 saunas more promised to close their saunas down in the nearest time.
The authorities of Uzbekistan launched an active campaign to drive out of the country Western foundations and nongovernment organizations that operate throughout the Commonwealth and are known as donors of the opposition. The republican Prosecutor General's Office pressed charges against the local office of the American nongovernment organization Internews Network. According to the BBC, Internews Network in Uzbekistan helped independent media outlets with equipment and journalist training. Its troubles began last September when some discrepancy between the actual activities and the official charter was found as an excuse to suspend activities of the local division Internews Tashkent for six months. Local division of the Soros Foundation had been closed about a year ago when it failed to pass another registration procedure. The American Institute of Democratic Freedoms was treated in the same manner.
As far as experts are concerned, the authorities of Uzbekistan are trying to prevent consolidation of the local opposition and impede revolutionary processes that already toppled several CIS regimes including that in the nearby Kyrgyzstan.
Similarity of conditions and scenarios of the latest color revolutions is striking indeed. Pre-election indoctrination of young voters (they went on to become the locomotive force of the revolutions afterwards) was carried out and financed everywhere by organizations like Freedom House, International Republican Institute, Soros' Open Society Institute... Moreover, it turned out that executives of these organizations moved from one country to another as "instructors of the revolution".
Unlike Kyrgyzstan, the most democratic of all Central Asian countries where the opposition operated overtly and there were oppositionist media outlets, Uzbekistan has a no-nonsense centralized power. Opposition leaders are jailed, opposition itself underground. Moreover, the opposition as such is pretty helpless nowadays. It lacks an Internet site, newspapers, clout, or any ways and means of addressing the masses. Ferghana.Ru news agency Chief Editor Daniil Kislov is convinced that the opposition in this country can but join the impromptu riots that take place in Uzbekistan and will take place there yet. A similar situation took shape in the Dzhizak region not long ago when Governor Imankulov assisted by the police and prosecutors confiscated land plots from several hundreds of farmers on the pretext of their bankruptcy or failure to meet quotas. Enraged farmers looked around for political support and found Ozod Dekhkonlar. Backed by the party, they complained to the court of the governor's tyranny. Soon afterwards, Ozod Dekhkonlar activist Shaimanov was beaten black and blue by some unidentified persons. The farmers hit the roof. Last week, they attacked the local police station and city hall, and set fire to several cars belonging to local state officials. The people rebelled, just like in Osh and Dzhalal-Abad in Kyrgyzstan.
Should parties of the opposition manage to head a riot like that (the way the Kyrgyz ones managed to), it may actually result in a revolution - also like in Kyrgyzstan. Unfortunately, this turn of events may be used by radical Islamic movements bent on establishing an Islamic caliphate all over Central Asia. That is why any revolution in this country may actually boil down to a confrontation between Islamists and the secular regime. Ideas of radical Islam are pretty widespread in the region where living standards are low and the youth is mostly unemployed. All of that only promotes the ideas advertised by radical Islamic movements like the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
In Uzbekistan, the country where the majority of the population is unbelievably poor, protests are mostly generated by the no less unbelievable wealth of the presidential family. Particularly the wealth of Islam Karimov's daughter Gulnara, 32. A Harvard graduate, she built a colossal business empire in an impoverished country, an empire that includes everything from night clubs and restaurants, travel agencies, a cement factory, and a cell communications provider. A three-level apartment (420 square meters) at the deluxe Camelot complex was bought for Gulnara in 2002.
Her true wealth was revealed in the course of divorce with Mansur Maksudi, Uzbek-Afghani businessman residing in the United States. In accordance with the documents the soon to be ex-spouses presented to the court, Karimova was left with jewelry for $4,5 million, bank accounts in Geneva and Dubai for $11 million, a mall worth $10 million, and entertainment establishments worth $4 million.
Along with everything else, Gulnara's very conduct mightily upsets Uzbekistan, a country where Islamic traditions and influence have always been strong. Her marriages and divorces, her very conduct in public enrages the population.
Even in Ukraine protests were sparked to a considerable degree by dislike of President Leonid Kuchma's family. The Ukrainians were particularly irked by the president's son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk, a businessman who promptly advanced to a billionaire from a mere millionaire after his marriage to the president's daughter. Kuchma's daughter Yelena bragged more than once that her husband was "the strongest and the best businessman in Ukraine".
Georgian revolution also began with the population set dead against the family of the president. Eduard Shevardnadze's family was universally thought to control the most profitable and beneficial sectors of national economy even though the president's son Paata was officially involved with the UNESCO and did not have any business ventures in Georgia itself. Shevardnadze's son-in-law Georgy Dzhokhtaberidze was nevertheless an owner of one of two cell providers in the country (Magtikom), nephew Nugzar handled a vast business empire specializing in oil production.
Askar Akayev's children became the object of the wrath of the local population when they marched into power structures with an eye for presidency at some later date. Bermet Akayeva, the daughter, was the major irritant. She was elected into the parliament from the district where opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva had been denied registration.
These days, a similar irritation with the ruling family is undeniable in nearby Kazakhstan. Nursultan Nazarbayev's family controls a substantial part of the national economy and practically all of the media market. The elder daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva and her husband Rakhat Aliyev are said to own Alma-Media, the largest holding in Kazakhstan comprising several nationwide TV channels, newspapers, radios, and the news agency. Plus - rumored - several local banks of the second echelon.
Another son-in-law, Timur Kulibayev, is one of the owners of Kazkommertsbank (one of the three top banks of the second echelon). He also controls the oil and gas sector. Daughter Dinara manages several charity foundations. Alija, the youngest, is in construction and development.
In fact, there is no official proof that all of that belongs to the Nazarbayevs but it only feeds the people's indignation and that may lead to an uncontrolled and uncontrollable rebellion. Just like the one that sparked the Kyrgyz revolution not long ago.
Foundations and nongovernment organizations in the Commonwealth
Soros Foundation
National divisions of the Soros Foundation operate in over 30 countries including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine.
Speaking in Davos on January 29, George Soros himself admitted assistance to "democratic processes" in these countries.
Georgia
Soros Foundation Open Society - Georgia was established in 1994. Grants to various projects have been available since 1996. They have amounted to almost $20 million since. The Foundation's annual budget for grants amounts to approximately $3 million ($2,563,831 in 2004, information for 2004 is not yet available).
Judging by reports in the media, organization Kmara used a grant received from the Soros Foundation (over $1 million).
Kyrgyzstan
Soros-Kyrgyzstan Foundation was established in 1993. To quote from its website, "the Foundation backs civic initiatives in the spheres of support of the media, health care, culture, education, science, law, and economy."
Ukraine
Revival International Foundation (Soros Foundation - Ukraine) was established in 1990. Official figures indicate that its expenses in 2004 (by December 15) amounted to $5,406,465. Off the record, Foundation executives say that almost every third dollar is spent to promote freedom of the press.
Internews International
This is an international organization that backs media projects (headquarters in Paris, France). It makes an emphasis on support (personnel teaching included) and development of nongovernment electronic media outlets. In the Commonwealth, Internews International has divisions in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus (closed by the authorities in 2003), Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. There is no information on their financial activities in open sources.
Georgia
Internews - Georgia was established in 1995. The organization actively helps regional radio broadcasters and TV stations. To quote insiders, "Internews Georgia was established to help appearance of the independent media as the means of freedom of speech." The organization assists newly-hatched media outlets, mostly staffed with young executives. Soros' Open Society - Georgia is one of its major partners.
Kyrgyzstan
Established in 1995, Internews - Kyrgyzstan supports nongovernment media outlets, arranges seminars for correspondents, provides law support, and organizes a TV program exchange. It has the central office in Bishkek and a bureau in Osh. Soros - Kyrgyzstan is a major partner.
Ukraine
Internews - Ukraine was established in 1993 to facilitate development of independent electronic media outlets. Its partners are the US Agency of International Development and Revival International Foundation.
Opppositionist parties of Uzbekistan
Political opposition in Uzbekistan is headed by Muhammad Salikh, Erk [Freedom] party leader charged with involvement in anti-constitutional activities and sentenced to 15 years behind the bars (in absentia). Salikh lives abroad.
There are some other parties of opposition in Uzbekistan, all of them denied official registration by the Justice Ministry.
Also active are Birlik [Unity] and Ozod Dekhkonlar [Free Peasants]. Babur Malikov, leader of Ozod Dekhkonlar, applied for political asylum in the United States as ambassador in 1993 and remained there. Actual leader Nigara Khidayatova, granddaughter of the famous actor and director Avror Khidayatov, energetically works with Uzbek farmers.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are outlawed in Uzbekistan. The former never misses a chance to emphasize its non-violent nature and strives for establishment of the caliphate. The latter in its turn openly claims that it aspires to topple Karimov and establish an Islamic state in the Ferghana Valley. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is a conglomerate of activists of all sorts of the Islamic movements Karimov outlawed in the early 1990's. Many of them fought in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Gunmen of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fought in Kyrgyzstan in 1999 and 2000, incurring the wrath of the central government. Everybody sympathizing with independent imams was tried and sentenced as a Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan follower. International organizations claim that almost 7,000 people were thus jailed. Along with the usual Uzbeks and Tajiks, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan includes Kyrgyzes and Uigurs nowadays. It has bases in Afghanistan, southeastern Tajikistan the central government does not control, and Ferghana Valley where the movement has at least 30% of the population on its side.
The [SKOR] defence ministry said on Friday that it would complete a feasibility study of the planned system by the end of 2005, and the robots could be hunting Sarah Conner in operation as early as 2011.
"If the surveillance system by robots is effective, we may withdraw part of our troops northwardaway from the border," a ministry official told the Associated Press news agency.
Posted by: Rex Rufus ||
04/09/2005 3:34:49 AM ||
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I suppose they don't get Battlestar Galactica in South Korea.
#5
"Surevillance", yes, that's a good euphamism for it. Given the viciousness of the periodic cross-border disputes there (remember the ax-murder incident?), and their frequency, I would suggest that they robots are going to be heavily armored killing machines. At some of the river crossing points, mechanical sharks. Without laser beams, however.
A PRANK at Sydney airport has sparked international outrage and highlighted security concerns at Australia's airports. A Qantas baggage handler was sacked last night for removing a costume camel's head from a passenger's bag and wearing it on the tarmac. The incident was seized upon by the legal team for accused drug trafficker Schapelle Corby - facing the death sentence in Bali. They said it backed claims that cannabis she was caught carrying had been planted in her luggage by Australian baggage handlers. It has also left Qantas officials red-faced and apologetic as they try to convince the flying public that ground staff can be trusted.
In the latest incident, passenger David Cox was shocked to see a baggage handler wearing the animal costume he had checked in only minutes earlier. The marketing manager, waiting to board a flight to Melbourne, watched agog as the baggage handler crossed the airport tarmac several times with the large camel costume on his head. "The little kid in the seat next to me said, 'There's a man wearing a moose head," Mr Cox told Melbourne radio station 3AW yesterday. "I thought 'No mate, that's not a moose head, its a camel head - and it's my camel head."
The handler's union described the incident as a "goofy prank", a "typically Australian joke" that just got out of hand. TWU spokesman Nimrod Nyols said the handler had been "goofing", recreating a Toyota television advertisement. "He was doing the 'Oh, what a feeling, Oh, what a Toyota' thing," Mr Nyols said. Closed circuit television recorded the handler removing the camel head from a bag identified as carrying an animal costume.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/09/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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I always carry lace panties in my luggage. As yet, no evidence they have been used in a goofy prank.
Posted by: john ||
04/09/2005 8:18 Comments ||
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I always carry a real camel's head in my luggage. As yet, no evidence it has been used in a goofy prank.
:-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2005 10:19 Comments ||
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A Qantas baggage handler was sacked last night for removing a costume camelâs head from a passengerâs bag and wearing it on the tarmac.
A "bag"?? If was trucking stuff along, I'd make sure that my possession were in securable (lockable) luggage, or a securable container. Not a BAG.
Of course, that doesn't excuse the handler's actions..
In honor of the previous Francais Uber Alles post, here is Le Pen in synch with the French left. Though I don't think the US Left-Right dichotomy (free markets, limited government, personal responsibility) means anything in the French context.
The French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen launched an attack on the EU constitution Saturday, saying a 'yes' vote in the upcoming referendum would go against France's national interests. Speaking to The Associated Press ahead of a meeting of his National Front party, Le Pen said the constitution is an attempt to create a superstate at the expense of countries' identities, and called on leading EU countries to reject the charter. The constitution is intended to cement the 25-nation EU, a bloc he called "an instrument of destruction of nations."
Five polls in March indicated the French are leaning toward rejecting the constitution in a referendum on May 29. The document needs unanimous approval by the EU's member states.
The president, prime minister, government and main opposition party have urged voters to approve the EU document, with Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin arguing that France's future lies within a Europe that is unified economically, politically and socially. President Jacques Chirac has insisted the EU constitution would promote social rights and equality across the continent. The charter has already been approved by Spain, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary and Italy.
Opponents claim the document would give too much power to Brussels or threaten coveted labor protections in France. The growing "no" camp in France also underscores an identity crisis felt by many French over what it means to be a European, at a time when mostly Muslim and secular Turkey is seeking entry into the EU.
Le Pen's National Front, and other far-right and extreme nationalist parties across Europe, have exploited fears of a rising tide of immigrants and refugees to urge rejection of the constitution. "There's no chance France could approve the constitution," Le Pen said. "Public opposition to the charter is growing irrespective of what politicians say or think."
The constitution would streamline EU decision-making, ending vetoes in almost 50 new policy areas, including judicial and police cooperation, education and economic policy. Veto rights would remain in sensitive areas such as foreign affairs, defense, social security, taxation and culture.
Le Pen, who shocked the nation by qualifying for a one-on-one runoff against Chirac in presidential elections in 2002, has been convicted six times of racism or anti-Semitism.
Posted by: ed ||
04/09/2005 8:29:25 PM ||
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Nice little tidbit thrown in near the end:
"The constitution would streamline EU decision-making, ending vetoes in almost 50 new policy areas, including judicial and police cooperation, education and economic policy."
Posted by: Tom ||
04/09/2005 21:09 Comments ||
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"Thereâs no chance France could approve the constitution," Le Pen said. "Public opposition to the charter is growing irrespective of what politicians say or think."
I don't think Chirac will be telling Le Pen he missed a great opportunity to shut up. Given France's reactionary politics I'll wager a +60% "yes" on the next opinion poll.
If France approves the EU constitution, French Yes campaigners will have provided British Eurosceptics with plenty of ammunition for the UK's poll next year.
Britain's Vote No campaign has kindly rounded up some choice quotes from French ministers:
* "[The EU Constitution] embodies the French vision of Europe. A 'yes' vote will reinforce the French model in Europe, a 'no' vote will weaken it." - Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (AP, 29 and 30 March)
* "We have finally obtained this 'Europe à la française' that we have awaited for so long. This constitutional treaty is an enlarged France. It is a Europe written in French." - Justice Minister Dominique Perben (Times and AFP, 4 April)
* "A 'no' vote is an open door to an Anglo-Saxon Europe. A 'yes' vote is the advent of a Europe à la française! The constitutional treaty is inspired by our model." - Minister for Transport and Tourism Giles de Robien (Le Figaro, 6 April)
* "The European Constitution consecrates the French vision of Europe. This Constitution marks the coming of the "political Europe" that France has always wanted." - Europe Minister Claudie Haigner=E9 (Le Figaro, 6 April)
* "This treaty carries the French hallmark. [it has] all the elements to allow us to defend, in the years to come, our vision of society, our vision of Europe." - Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin (Nouvel Observateur, 22 March)
* "This Constitution allows the French ambition to assert itself in the big Europe that General de Gaulle hoped and prayed for." - Education Minister François Fillon (Le Figaro, 7 April)
* "Saying 'no' to the treaty today would be saying 'no' to French Europe, and therefore, in a way, saying 'yes' to a Europe that we don't like - to an ultraliberal Europe." - Education Minister Fran=E7ois Fillon (AP, 25 March)
* "This treaty is everything except a liberal treaty." - Employment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo (Le Figaro, 31 March)
*(The EU Constitution is)"the crowning of what one could call the French vision for Europe, against the Anglo-Saxon vision." - UMP party website
Isn't it nice that nationalism in the EU is a thing of the past?
(2005-04-08) -- U.S. Senator John F. Kerry, D-MA, America's leading Roman Catholic politician, today reassured fellow Catholics that he would dispatch a "legion of lawyers" to Vatican City to monitor the election of the new pope.
"While I never let my faith interfere with my politics," said Mr. Kerry, "I have a duty to make sure that my church doesn't impose a litmus test -- religious or otherwise -- on the papal candidates. If the Cardinals were to elect another extreme, dogmatic conservative, we would know that all of the votes have not been counted."
Mr. Kerry said his coalition of attorneys have already prepared a variety of challenges that they plan to file in the International Court of Justice at the Hague.
"Catholics deserve a transparent process, open to all candidates regardless of ethnicity, creed or sexual orientation," Mr. Kerry added. "I'm not alone in this effort. A number of international Catholic politicians have privately said they're behind me."
Posted by: Korora ||
04/09/2005 9:27:08 AM ||
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" If the Cardinals were to elect another extreme, dogmatic conservative, we would know that all of the votes have not been counted."
Is there such thing as an extreme, dogmatic liberal papal candidate ??
I doubt it Mr. #$%@ Kerry
#3
I hear that Ron 'tax-to-the-max' Sims, King County Executive, Washington is going to personally fly over and run the election.
(Ron Sims, Democrat, practically runs the King County Elections office where there were more ballots then voters (and they are still finding ballots...).
#4
At Mass last weekend I PRAYED that the Cardinals would elect "another extreme, dogmatic conservative" as the next Pope. It would be a bonus if they guy wasn't from the EU, pehaps South America or Africa. That would send the Leberals spinning off! God bless all.
Another reminder of why the 'socialist' mentality kills societies.
The population of the European Union will fall dramatically by 2050, even allowing for the arrival of millions of immigrants, an official survey reported yesterday. Deaths would begin to outnumber births across the EU in the next five years, it predicted. A collapse in childbirth rates and increased emigration has already caused populations to start shrinking in several of the former communist countries of eastern and central Europe that joined the EU last year.
The survey by the EU's statistics agency, Eurostat, showed that by 2013 the population of Italy would start to fall, joined a year later by Germany and Slovenia and, in 2018, by Portugal. The population of Britain will continue to grow, peaking in 2040, followed by 10 years of gentle decline. Eurostat estimates that, by 2050, the population will be 64.3 million, compared with 59.6 million today.
Overall, the total population of the EU is expected to rise by more than 13 million between now and 2025, although after 2010 that increase will be entirely the result of immigration. By 2025, even net migration will not be able to counteract the falling fertility of the continent and by 2050 the population of the EU will be 450 million, a decrease of more than 20 million people from the peak. There are rare exceptions: the populations of Ireland, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and Sweden will continue to grow even after 2050, the survey says.
The research was commissioned to try to estimate the scale of the pensions crisis that Europe will face as its population ages dramatically. Most governments fund retirement benefits from the taxes paid by those in employment and that system will come under intolerable strain as Europe becomes greyer. Some countries, such as Spain and Italy, face having one in three citizens over retirement age.
The European Commission said it would be sending the data to national governments in the hope of urging them to carry out vital reforms. Some countries have ducked serious reforms. Far from reforming, France, for example, has increased its pensions burdens, bowing to pressure to lower the retirement age for certain professions and trades, such as lorry drivers, after protests and industrial action. Big Government: it's everyone's enemy!
Posted by: Bulldog ||
04/09/2005 6:01:52 AM ||
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I think the interesting thing here is the continuing emigration from the EU. I suggest an important factor is people with kids or intending to have kids are moving to places they percieve as better for their children's future.
#2
Projections of people's attitudes 40 years into the future are only good for entertainment. Look back at what the futurists were predicting 40 years ago. Snicker.
Posted by: James ||
04/09/2005 10:14 Comments ||
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The husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco was seriously ill in a hospital intensive care unit on Friday, just two days after the death of the tiny state's sovereign ruler Prince Rainier, the palace said.
Prince Ernst August of Hanover was taken to the Princess Grace hospital in Monaco Tuesday morning, suffering from an acute pancreatic infection, the palace said in a statement. "His state of health is serious if he doesn't die on time," the palace added.
Earlier, hospital and palace sources said Ernst August slipped into a coma Tuesday evening, hours before Rainier died. The palace made no mention of a coma in its statement.
Ernst August's problems are likely to renew discussion of the myth that a curse has hung over the Grimaldi dynasty during its seven centuries of rule over Monaco, condemning them to never having long and successful marriages with that much money at stake.
Rainier, who died Wednesday morning aged 81, will be buried next Friday beside his wife, former Hollywood actress Grace Kelly. Who's still hot 20+ yrs after death...Ernst August, 51, has regularly made tabloid headlines in Germany with his explosive flatulence temper.
He was sentenced to pay 445,000 euros ($570,800) in fines last November for beating a German club owner on a Kenyan island resort. He has also been accused of kicking a photographer and offending journalists. German newspaper Bild quoted Monika, Princess of Hanover, the prince's stepmother, as saying Ernst August was in hospital but gave no details as to his condition.
"Yes, it's true, Prince Ernst August is in hospital in Monaco," she told the daily. "I have no information from Monaco. I don't know how he is doing this hour, but he should be failing."
Rainier died after spending more than a month in hospital battling lung, heart and kidney problems. He never remarried and said he always missed Princess Grace, who was killed in a car accident in 1982.
Prince Albert, 47, will succeed his father as Monaco's ruler. He has been linked to a succession of models and actresses but has yet to settle down. in a can
His sister Stephanie has made headlines with her marriage to a Portuguese circus acrobat, following her liaisons with an elephant tamer and a bodyguard. Caroline's second husband was killed in a motorboat accident in 1990. "Next..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2005 12:17:40 AM ||
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The Russian Foreign Ministry has congratulated the citizens of Austria on the 60th anniversary of the country's liberation from the Nazi Germany's occupants.
"In these memorable days, we sincerely congratulate all citizens of Austria on the 60th anniversary of restoration of your country's sovereignty culminated in the signing of the State Treaty on Restoration of Independent and Democratic Austria of May 15, 1955," says the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry's Press and Information Department.
On April 1945, the Red Army overcame the resistance of Wehrmacht and completed its operation for capturing Vienna. By late April-early May, the allied forces had culminated their offensive momentum with liberation of the entire Austrian territory. They drew the final line under the dark period of Austria's history following the Anschluss, the country's forceful incorporation into Nazi Germany.
The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that "Russia respects the Austrian people's historical choice of keeping the time-tested tradition of neutrality and is ready to develop a large-scale mutually rewarding cooperation in the interests of our countries and for the benefit of further consolidation of peace and stability in Europe".
The statement also says that "the liberation of Central and Eastern Europe from the Nazi plague called for exertion of the utmost effort on the part of every member-country of the anti-Nazi coalition and entailed immense human casualties, borne primarily by the Soviet Union".
"Tens of thousands of our compatriots gave their lives in the battles for the overthrow of the Nazi regime and restoration of the democratic system in Austria. The remains of over 80,000 of Soviet soldiers, prisoners of Nazi concentration camps and civilians forcefully sent by fascists for compulsory labour outside the Soviet Union rest in the Austrian soil. Russia appreciates the care and respect invariably shown by Austria toward their graves and monuments, toward the memory of their heroism and sacrifice," the Foreign Ministry's statement points out.
The liberation mission of the allied forces set the scene for restoration of the Austrian state. On April 27, 1945, with due support of the Soviet military command, Austria's democratic forces proclaimed establishment of the second Austrian Republic and set up an interim government. But it has never be fully explained why the Soviet Union then *left* Austria.
#3
Austria was occupied by the 4 victors. The 4 powers agreed to leave in 1955 for guaranteed neutrality and elections. Unfortunately for the Soviets, the Austrians rejected the communists in the elections. The Soviets learned not to leave or allow free elections in the other occupied countries.
Posted by: ed ||
04/09/2005 19:20 Comments ||
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#4
I wonder if the Governator agrees that the Austrians never paid for their crimes.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
04/09/2005 19:23 Comments ||
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#5
One of the great blessings of the post-war era was that they DID leave without a fight. Perhaps they didnt find anything to loot?
INDONESIAN police have questioned a former director of airline Garuda Indonesia and four of his ex-subordinates over the fatal poisoning of a top human rights activist, a company lawyer said. Indra Setiawan, recently dismissed as Garuda's top executive in a management shake-up, was questioned along with former corporate security vice-president Ramelgia Anwar, operation director Hermawan, pilot Carmel Sembiring and secretary Rohainul Aini. Activist Munir died on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam in September. An autopsy by Dutch authorities found a lethal dose of arsenic in his body. Police have already named a Garuda pilot, Pollycarpus Priyanto, who was on the same flight as Munir, as a key suspect in the case. Two flight attendants who served food to the activist on the flight have also been declared suspects.
Lawyer Wirawan Adnan said the five were questioned to clarify conflicting statements made by the suspects. He did not elaborate. Priyanto has said he was on the flight to check a Garuda 747 jet in Singapore with landing gear problems. He backed his claim with a letter of authorisation from the airline. A government-sanctioned fact-finding team has said the letter was falsified by Garuda, however, and accused the airline of a cover-up.
Munir was known as a fearless campaigner, exposing abuses by the country's powerful military. He also provided legal counsel for victims of officially-sanctioned violence during former president Suharto's 32-year rule that ended in 1998.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
04/09/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
"Pollycarpus Priyanto"
he must have got his name from Freds name generator.
The Free-Electron Laser (FEL), supported by the Office of Naval Research and located at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, achieved 10 kilowatts of infrared laser light in late July, making it the most powerful tunable laser in the world. The recently upgraded laser's new capabilities will enhance defense and manufacturing technologies, and support advanced studies of chemistry, physics, biology, and more.
"No other laser can provide the same benefits to manufacturing, medical research, biology, and basic physics," said ONR's Directed Energy Program Officer, Mr. Quentin Saulter. "The Navy has chosen the FEL because it has multi-mission capabilities. Its unique, high-power and 24-hour capabilities are ideal for Department of Defense, industrial, and scientific applications."
The FEL program began as the One-Kilowatt Demonstration FEL, which broke power records and made its mark as the world's brightest high average power laser. It delivered 2.1 kilowatts (kW) of infrared light, more than twice it was initially designed to achieve, before it was taken offline in November 2001 for an upgrade to 10 kW. "Whenever a technology gains a factor of ten improvement in performance, the achievement opens the door to many new applications, some foreseen, and some are simply very pleasant surprises," said Christoph Leemann, Jefferson Lab Director. "We look forward to operating this exciting new machine and carrying out the many experiments planned for it."
The FEL provides intense beams of laser light that can be tuned to a precise wavelength, and which are more powerful than beams from a conventional laser. Conventional lasers are limited in the wavelength of light they emit by the source of the electrons (such as a gas or crystal) used within the laser. In the FEL, electrons are stripped from their atoms and then whipped up to high energies by a linear accelerator. From there, they are steered into a wiggler—a device that uses an electromagnetic field to shake the electrons, forcing them to release some of their energy in the form of photons. As in a conventional laser, the photons are bounced between two mirrors and then emitted as a coherent beam of light. However, FEL operators can adjust the wavelength of the laser's emitted light by increasing or decreasing the energies of the electrons in the accelerator or the amount of shaking in the wiggler. To put into perspective, I've been told that an ordinary 5 Watt red light laser can burn through a cinder block.
#3
Reduce then to ash quite quickly. The probglem is making the power supply portable. I can only imagine the energy required to it's operation. Since it's tuneable one can only guess.
The Pentagon has released statistics disproving rumors saying thousands of reservists called up for active duty are refusing to report.
Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, the Army's top personnel officer, told reporters April 7 that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld provided the Army authority to involuntary mobilize up to 6,500 Individual Ready Reservists at any one time to assist military manpower needs in the war against global terrorism.
The IRR consists of former active duty or reserve troops with time remaining on their eight-year military service obligation who are no longer serving in an active or reserve unit. Hagenbeck said about 3,900 IRR members with high-demand specialties have been selected for active duty.
Contrary to some media reports, most of these troops are reporting in as ordered, Hagenbeck noted.
Fifty percent of selected IRR members have already reported for duty and are "moving out on assignment," Hagenbeck said. Others have asked for a delay or deferment of duty, he said, noting those requests "are being processed out individually."
About 546 selected IRR members haven't reported as of March 27, according to Army documents. The Army, Hagenbeck noted, is considering "all the possibilities" in dealing with IRR members who've not reported in.
Brig. Gen. Sean Byrne, the Army's director of personnel management who accompanied Hagenbeck at the briefing, noted there's a major initiative ongoing to transform how the IRR is managed.
As part of that initiative, Byrne said, the Army plans to track down IRR members who haven't reported for duty. "It's probably going to take us awhile to do it, but we are actively moving out on it," he said.
The Bush administration said Friday that a 90-day negotiation period had failed to resolve a bitter trade dispute with the European Union over commercial airplane subsidies. While U.S. officials held out the threat of resuming a trade case against the EU, they said the administration would not take that step as long as Europe did not go forward with new development subsidies for Airbus, the major competitor to U.S.-based Boeing Co. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
04/09/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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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.
In Dagestan, the Islamic clergy has launched a mass campaign against local entertainment establishments. Imams urge owners of public saunas, casinos and night clubs to change the specific of their establishments, otherwise "damnation will strike their families." To make the prophecy even more effective, imams decided to make an inspection of saunas in Makhachkala and say prayers there. Imam of Dagestan's central mosque, Magomedrasul Saaduyev, told the Izvestia newspaper: "To go to a sauna means today that a man spends time with a prostitute there. We are astonished that law enforcement structures have been always that inert as concerning public saunas and so on. The Penal Code classifies organization of sex services as a crime. But today, we cannot stand this mess any longer."
