Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hopes that the land of Lincoln will follow New York’s lead on gay marriage, reports Politico . “I would hope that the state would move in that direction,” said Emanuel. “Tremendous progress has been made across the country on a value statement. And I think that’s very…
Continue reading …Protests raged for a second day in Cairo yesterday, leaving more than 1,000 people injured—though most only lightly, according to the Egyptian health ministry. Protesters gathered outside the Interior Ministry, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails as police shot tear gas from behind barricades, the LA Times reports. “We…
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Fertility worldwide dropped but UK population rose by 470,000 in 2010 because, say experts, less educated had more children Highly educated young women in many rich countries have delayed having children because of the global recession, and may on average wait for a further five-to-eight years if governments slash public spending, say leading demographers. A study for the European Union by the Vienna Institute of Demography shows a steep decline in fertility rates in the US and Spain in 2009-10, and stagnation in Ireland and most European countries. However the report coincides with UK government figures that show Britain’s population rose by 470,000 in 2010, the highest annual growth rate for nearly 50 years. It rose 0.8% on the previous year and stands at 62.2m – a rise caused by natural change rather than immigration for the third consecutive year, according to the Office for National Statistics. “If this is the case, then Britain joins the very few countries who are increasing their fertility rate despite the recession,” said Tomáš Sobotka, one of the Austrian report’s authors. “It is possible this is because the educated women are choosing to delay having while the less educated are having more.” According to the report: “Highly educated women react to employment uncertainty by adopting a ‘postponement strategy’, especially if they are childless. In contrast, less-educated women often maintain or increase their fertility under economic uncertainty.” But it adds that the patterns differ for men. “Those with low education and low skills face increasing difficulty in finding a partner or in supporting their family, and often show the largest decline in first child birth rates.” Rising unemployment, failing consumer confidence, tighter credit and falling house prices have all affected the birth rates, says the study. In the year before the recession started, 26 out of 27 EU countries had rising birth rates, but by 2009, 13 countries saw their fertility rates decline and another four countries experienced stable fertility rates. The massive cuts in social spending in Greece, Britain, Ireland, Spain and elsewhere are likely to further arrest birth rates, it predicts. “This may prolong the fertility impact of the recent recession well beyond its end. It could lead to a double dip fertility decline,” said Sobotka. “A typical result of a recession in the past was [a lower birth rate for] 2-5 years. Put together with cuts in public spending and you could get [declines] of 5-8 years.” But whereas in previous recessions women have mostly postponed having children until better economic times, the present recession could have a more permanent effect on birth rates. “Women’s age at first birth has reached around 28 in most European countries and Japan,” Sobotka said. “This leaves women and couples less flexibility to postpone parenthood until a later age.” Population Recession Economics John Vidal guardian.co.uk
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US state department encouraging discussion of draft document which circulated at opposition talks, sources say The US is promoting a “roadmap” for political reforms in Syria which would transform the regime of Bashar al-Assad but leave him in place for now – despite demands for his overthrow during the country’s bloody three-month uprising. Syrian opposition sources have revealed that the US state department has been discreetly encouraging discussion of the unpublished draft document which circulated at an unprecedented opposition conference held on Monday in Damascus. The US ambassador is urging dialogue with the regime, the sources say. Assad would oversee what the roadmap calls “a secure and peaceful transition to civil democracy”. It calls for tighter control over the security forces, the disbanding of “Shabiha” gangs accused of atrocities, the legal right to peaceful demonstrations, extensive media freedoms, and the appointment of a transitional assembly. The carefully phrased 3,000-word document demands a “clear and frank apology” and accountability for organisations and individuals who “failed to accommodate legitimate protests”, and compensation for the families of victims of repression. The opposition says 1,400 people have been killed since mid-March. The government says 500 members of the security forces have died. It does not attack the president or other regime figures by name. It calls for the ruling Ba’ath party to be subject to a new law on political parties – though the party would still provide 30 of 100 members for a proposed transitional national assembly. Seventy others would be appointed by the president in consultation with opposition nominees – which will still leave Assad in a powerful position. Several of the proposed measures have already been mentioned in public by Assad, fuelling speculation he is at least partially following through on some of the document’s recommendations. The roadmap is signed by Louay Hussein and Maan Abdelsalam, leading secular intellectuals in a group called the National Action Committee. Both men met the vice-president, Farouk al-Sharaa, before Assad’s most recent speech, diplomats said. On Monday they chaired the Damascus conference, which had official permission, was attended by 150 people – and was publicly welcomed by the US. Wael Sawah, another member of the group, is an adviser to the US embassy in Damascus but did not sign the text, apparently so as not to discredit it in the eyes of Syrians suspicious of foreign meddling. Quiet US backing for the roadmap dovetails with public demands from Washington that Assad reform or step down. Robert Ford, the US ambassador, has been urging opposition figures to talk to the regime, said Radwan Ziadeh, a leading exile who insisted the strategy would not work. “They are asking Bashar to lead the transition and this is not acceptable to the protesters,” he said. “It is too late.” Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said Assad is losing legitimacy and is not indispensable because of his country’s strategic position in the Middle East. But the US has not called openly for his overthrow – in striking contrast to policy towards Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. “It would be a big mistake if the Americans tried to influence this initiative and a mistake for the opposition to let them,” warned a prominent Syrian intellectual with close links to the regime. “I would advise them to distance themselves from the US.” A US state department spokesman said: “We are encouraging genuine dialogue between the opposition and the regime but we are not promoting anything. We want to see a democratic Syria but this is in the hands of the Syrian people.” Opposition figures are deeply divided over the way ahead, though even those arguing for engagement with the regime are far from certain it will work: “The situation may be at such an impasse that it precludes opportunities for co-operation and political dialogue and the feasibility of any proposal for reconciliation,” the text warns. Worries are growing that the regime may be recovering its poise in the absence of significant defections from the military, government or business elite. Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma, said: “The US approach makes sense. Sanctions are a slippery slope and they’re not going to intervene militarily in Syria. They have to explore what this regime is capable of.” Others warn Assad may be flirting with these ideas to buy time and improve his battered image. “This is a blueprint for reform in Syria that would leave the regime in place,” warned one opposition figure. “It’s the minimum to keep the west happy. The regime wants to co-opt the opposition and independent intellectuals to create an official opposition and sideline others and paint them as being in collusion with foreign enemies. How can I give legitimacy to Bashar al-Assad when there are a million people on the streets demanding he be removed?” Syria Bashar Al-Assad US foreign policy Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East United States Ian Black guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Hackers have taken down a key al-Qaeda online forum and propaganda site, al-Shamukh, hitting not just the website but also the host server, reports the AP . Given the sophistication of the attack, security experts think the incident might have been government-sponsored, something that has happened several times in the past…
Continue reading …Here’s a bit of irony: Chris Hansen, who makes a living exposing sexual predators in hidden camera stings, has been caught—on a hidden camera—cheating on his wife. The To Catch a Predator host has been seeing Kristyn Caddell for almost four months, sources tell the National Enquirer . Caddell,…
Continue reading …A judge ruled yesterday that accused Tucson gunman Jared Loughner can be forced to take antipsychotic drugs in an attempt to make him mentally fit to stand trial, reports the LA Times . Defense attorneys for the schizophrenic Loughner had tried to block him from being medicated without his consent , but…
Continue reading …France has violated the UN arms embargo on Libya to drop assault rifles over the Nafusa Mountains southwest of Tripoli, the country acknowledged last night. A French military spokesman said they’d provided “light arms such as assault rifles” to civilian communities so they could “protect themselves against Colonel Gadhafi,” the…
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Family-owned company responds to downturn in sales by cutting half its workforce – and selecting only women for redundancy An engineering firm in northern Italy has sparked a controversy after making almost half its workforce redundant – and selecting only women. A union official quoted the company as having reported to the small businesses association: “We are firing the women so they can stay at home and look after the children. In any case, what they bring in is a second income.” No one at the company, Ma-Vib, which is based in Inzago near Milan, could be reached for comment. With Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi , on trial for paying an underage prostitute, there is a continuing and lively debate over the status of Italian women, which some international surveys suggest is abnormally low in comparison with the rest of Europe. In February, there were demonstrations in more than 250 cities around the world in defence of the dignity of Italy’s women. “In this country, at the government and company level, there is always the same old thinking – that it is preferable that women stay at home”, said Maria Sciancati, general secretary of the FIOM engineering union. There was condemnation too from the equal opportunities councillor in Milan’s conservative-led administration. Cristina Stancari, who once worked in Berlusconi’s press office, said the firm’s action showed “discrimination and an utter lack of respect for women – a return to the past that cannot in any way be justified”. Ma-Vib, a family-owned company, makes electric fans and blowers for air conditioning, refrigeration and heating equipment. According to the FIOM, it employed 12 men and 18 women before the redundancies. Faced with a downturn in sales, the firm decided to get rid of 13 of the women. The FIOM called a strike to protest at the move. But, in a development that raised further criticism, only one of the men whose jobs had been saved heeded the strike call. The women who have lost their jobs are all aged between 30 and 40. They were employed in the assembly of Ma-Vib’s products. Italy has one of the EU’s lowest female employment rates, partly because of pressure on women to give up their jobs when they become pregnant. One in five does not return to work after the birth of her first child. Italy Europe Gender Women Redundancy Equality Work & careers John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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PCS leader says unions will keep up protests until reform plans are dropped as doctors back ballot on industrial action Thursday’s 24-hour walkout by teachers, lecturers and civil servants over plans to overhaul public sector pensions should serve as a “wake-up call” for the government, said the leader of the Public and Commercial Services union. Mark Serwotka warned that the unions were determined to keep protesting until ministers change those plans as he claimed the strike was the “best we have seen for 10 years”. He hailed the turnout as proof of the anger felt towards the government by public sector workers, but Downing Street insisted disruption to the public had been “minimal”. The action by four unions came on the day that doctors overwhelmingly backed a ballot on industrial action over NHS pensions reform plans. The leader of the Royal College of Nursing, representing more than 400,000 members, warned that it may end up doing the same. The threat of further and more widespread industrial action loomed after thousands took part in a huge rally in central London, with others staged in towns and cities around the country. The London rally heard union officials and teachers criticise the government, while Labour leader Ed Miliband was branded “a disgrace” for failing to support the action. But the Cabinet Office countered the claim with figures suggesting that just under 100,000 civil servants – around one in five of the workforce and less than half of the 250,000 balloted-membership – had taken part in the action. Serwotka said the protest should jolt Francis Maude, the minister for the Cabinet Office spearheading the pension reform talks on behalf of government. “Maybe this is the wake-up call he needed,” said Serwotka. “What they now need to do is get around the negotiating table and try to negotiate an agreement. They haven’t done that yet, but hopefully having seen how strongly feel today they will have a change of heart. “It’s a very, very clear signal to the government that they have been rumbled. This is not about pensions, this is about making public sector workers pay for the economic problems, and we are determined to keep going until they change direction.” The PCS leader said 85% of his members had been on strike today, that MPs had refused to cross picket lines and staff in Downing Street had taken action. Maude claimed the turnout was lower than the 2004 and 2007 strikes against Labour’s pension reforms. “”I am not at all surprised by the very low turnout for today’s action – less than half of PCS’s own members chose to take part. Very few civil servants wanted this strike at all – less than 10% of them voted for it – and they are right. “It is simply wrong for their leader to be pushing for walkouts when serious talks, set up at the request of the TUC itself, are still ongoing.” More than 11,100 schools in Britain closed or cancelled lessons, forcing parents to stay at home or make other arrangements for their children. Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “We realise that’s very disruptive for parents, and we do regret that. We had hoped to reach a settlement before the industrial action, but the government isn’t serious about talks.” Michael Gove, the education secretary, said the strikes were “disappointing and unnecessary”. Downing Street insisted that Britain’s borders and essential services had remained “open for business”, with air travel unaffected. David Cameron suffered no disruption to his working day at No 10, where fewer than five civil servants took part in the strike action, according to a Downing Street spokeswoman. “The prime minister thinks these strikes are premature,” she said. “There has been minimal impact on services.” She added: “The civil service put rigorous contingency plans in place and essential public services are up and running.” In Wales, around 40,000 public sector workers joined the strike. An estimated 1,000 Welsh schools closed, and dozens of government buildings and services were also shut. The Met police put in place to police the march estimated to have drawn a crowd at least 20,000-strong. There were picket lines outside government buildings in Whitehall as well as well as schools, tax offices, courts and jobcentres across the country. Around 350 colleges and 75 universities also closed or operated a scaled-back timetable. Miliband denounced the strikes in a speech to the Local Government Association. “These strikes are wrong at a time when negotiations are still going on but parents and the public have been let down by both sides because the government has acted in a reckless and provocative manner,” said the Labour leader. “After today’s disruption, I urge both sides to put aside the rhetoric, get round the negotiating table and stop it happening again.” Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the London rally that his comments were a “disgrace”. “We are here because of our force of reason, not the Government’s reason of force.” Bousted, whose union has never before gone on strike, said Miliband should be ashamed of himself. “If our strike is a mistake, what has he done to oppose this devastating attack on our pensions?” Public sector pensions Public services policy Public sector cuts Public finance Protest Trade unions Civil service Schools NHS Doctors Local government Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
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