Tag Archives: European Union
EU court confounds US and limits sanctions on Iran
In a setback for the United States’ attempts to isolate Iran, a European Union court threw out sanctions Friday on seven Iranian companies, including four banks, rejecting arguments that they were acting as front companies to bypass the punitive measures. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/07/world/europe/european-union-wrongly-imposed-sanctions-on-iranian-companies-court-rules.html?ref=world The General Court in Brussels, the union’s second-highest tribunal, ruled that the bloc wrongly […]
EU bank deal gives Cyprus, warm water port to Russia
European leaders engineered a harsh bailout deal for this tiny Mediterranean nation in March and the Russians are now in a position to get something that has previously eluded even Moscow’s most audacious oligarchs: control of a so-called systemic financial institution in the European Union. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/world/europe/russians-still-ride-high-in-cyprus-after-bailout.html?pagewanted=1&ref=world “They wanted to throw out the Russians but in […]
Amazon will lead destruction of EU unions with robots
Amazon was facing strikes at warehouses in Germany, its second-biggest market. Unions there say the company has imported American-style business practices — in particular, an antipathy to organized labor — that stand at odds with European norms. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/business/workers-of-amazon-divergent.html “In Germany, the idea that warehouse workers are going to be getting opposition from an employer when […]
EU antitrust suit uncovers bankster derivative scheme
Back in 2009, the Justice Department said it was investigating the large Wall Street banks for possible collusion in the huge and opaque credit default swaps market. The question was whether the big financial institutions had worked to keep transactions in these insurance-like instruments closed to competitors and more profitable for themselves. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/business/trying-to-pierce-a-wall-street-fog.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130721&_r=0 Not much […]
EU agrees on drone surveillance program
Three European aerospace companies called on Europe to launch its own independent drone programme to equip armies across the continent. “European sovereignty and independence in the management of information and intelligence would be guaranteed while at the same time delivering a robust system resilient against cyber attacks,” Northrop Grumman signed a $1.7 billion (1 billion […]
German drones and the anti-surveillance state
Germany’s national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, plans to test small drones to try to reduce the amount of graffiti being sprayed on its property. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22678580 The idea is to use airborne infra-red cameras to collect evidence, which could then be used to prosecute vandals who deface property at night. But it is not yet clear […]
IMF head accused of financial misdealing
Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, will soon learn if she must face a full criminal investigation over her role in a contentious financial deal that dates back to her time as French finance minister. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/business/global/lagarde-to-appear-in-french-court.html Ms. Lagarde, Nicolas Sarkozy’s finance minister from 2007 to 2011, allowed a court case to go […]
Austerity starving Greek children
In Greece children are picking through school trash cans for food; needy youngsters asking playmates for leftovers; and an 11-year-old boy was bent over with hunger pains. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/world/europe/more-children-in-greece-start-to-go-hungry.html?hp&_r=0 “He had eaten almost nothing at home,” The parents, who were ashamed and embarrassed but admitted that they had not been able to find work for months. […]
IMF more powerful than EU countries
The I.M.F. has more say over crisis management than many euro zone members, and Christine Lagarde, the managing director, has become a quasi head of state, whose views carry more weight than those of many elected leaders. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/business/global/euro-zone-crisis-has-increased-imfs-power.html?ref=world More than half of the I.M.F.’s lending goes to the euro zone. Poorer nations that contribute to […]
Dirty Babylon 