Ritambhara Rai Bhattarai, Correspondent (Politics) MALE — The Maldives Police have halted the first round of presidential elections that were to be held on October 19, 2013. Police surrounded the offices used by officials for the poll, saying that they could not let the elections start when the candidates themselves failed to sign a voter register, which is taken as a violation of the supreme court guidelines. After the police stopped the vote taking place, […]
Alejandro Faini, Editor (North America) OTTAWA — Last Friday the Canadian and EU representatives signed the beginning of the plea for a free trade treaty between the two governments. The free trade agreement, which still has to be accepted by the 28 state members of the European union and their 28 Parliaments, is one of the biggest and more influential for the two regions, after the time of austerity lived in the European Continent. […]
Viktor Tsvetanov, Correspondent (Europe) PARIS — French Socialist government officially announced its plans to put forward a new “Google tax” on all digital companies operating across the European Union. After a month of preliminary talks, the proposition was publicly aired by the French government, in the presence of EU taxation and customs union commissioner Algirdas Šemeta, at a conference held in Paris last week. The conference was only the first step of what turns out […]
Mark Green, Correspondent (Europe) LONDON — A report, commissioned by the Commissioner for Employment and Social Inclusion which has been seen by The Sunday Telegraph, has shown that over 600,000 migrants have moved to the United Kingdom (UK) from around the European Union (EU) without having a job. The 291 page report, which is released later this week, shows that there are currently 611,779 ‘non-active’ migrants living in the UK. This is a 42% increase […]
Victoria Pease, Correspondent (Europe) As Europe’s dominant economy, Germany’s decision to form a grand coalition in the next few weeks could have a wider effect on member states of the European Union. “It is crucial to think of how we can make demand grow in the euro zone, and to do so Germany must clarify its economic terms and role in Europe”, said Ebrahim Rahbari, research director at Citigroup at a panel discussion on […]
Mark Green, Correspondent (Politics) LONDON — The UK’s membership of the European Union (EU) has been a touchy subject for the Conservative party for many years. It is one of the biggest dividing fractions within the party with some MPs pro-EU and others against Britain’s membership. And now, as seen many times before, the issue of Britain’s membership is high on the Tory agenda. David Cameron has previously promised that there will be a simple […]
Radvile Dauksyte, Correspondent (Europe) ATHENS – Recently, the Greek government debated permitting supermarkets to sell expired food. After numerous discussions, it was decided that only those products that have passed their sell-by date will be allowed to be sold cheaper. The new system is being implemented as Greece continues to suffer from financial crisis. After announcing the new code, it was mistaken for expired food to be sold by the people which caused a massive […]
Nelson Moura, Correspondent (Europe) DUBLIN — Ireland has come out of economic recession and the new figures from the country’s National Statistics Centre reveal that it is due to an increase in exports and consumer spending. The Irish economy recorded a growth of 0.4% per capita in the first three months of the year after registering a 0.6% contraction in the first quarter, meaning an end to the country’s second recession in five years. The […]
Viktor Tsvetanov, Correspondent (Europe) KIEV – The Ukrainian government has agreed to sign an association deal with the European Union at the third Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, due to take place in November, which means that a customs union with Russia will no longer be on the agenda. The Eastern European country has long been rambling between the choice to association with the EU, thus gain trade access to the 27 EU member states […]
Samrawit Gougsa, Correspondent (Politics) HARARE — The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for the Western community to remove sanctions against Zimbabwe after it endorsed President Robert Mugabe’s victory in elections that took place last month. Malawi President Joyce Banda said she believes “Zimbabwe deserves better” and that the people “have suffered enough.” As the newly appointed chairwoman of SADC, her words were spoken at the end of the regional bloc’s summit in […]
