British Rail Maritime and Transport union workers have voted to strike over changing work practices, just as British Air strike talks broke down, threatening to create travel chaos during the upcoming Easter holidays. The union says that 54 percent of its 5,500 signalers voted to strike. Meanwhile, BA says it is preparing for the three-day strike that begins at midnight tonight, 19 March.
Lyons, France / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Dubai police have added 16 more international arrest warrants to the 11 already issued, linked to the 20 January death of Hamas military leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. Interpol has added the new warrants to its existing Red Notices for the case. Interpol, based in Lyons, insists on the likely use of identity theft by the murderers. “Since Intepol has reason to believe that the suspects linked to this murder have stolen the identities of real people, the Red Notices specify that the names used were aliases used to commit murder,” its web site notes. “Interpol has officially made public the photos and the names fraudulently used on the passports in order to limit the ability of accused murderers from traveling freely using the same false passports.”
The international criminal police organization says it contacted the Geneva-based World Economic Forum in January to alert it to the increased risk of terrorists traveling on documents using stolen identities, which makes it easier for them to avoid detection.
British civil servants are striking for a second day, Tuesday 9 March, over cuts in redundancy pay, while Portugal’s government has announced austerity measures that could match those of Greece. In other world financial news, Aer Lingus announced losses for 2009 of €81 million that are four times the loss in 2008, just three days after cabin crrew rejected a negotiated €97 million plan to cut costs.
Link to other sites: Irish Times, RTE, Ireland, Deutsche-Welle
Reuters news video
Housing prices rose in Great Britain in January 2010 for the first time in 10 months, but early reports for February show some slippage, down 1.4 percent over January. Prices are nevertheless 9.2 percent higher than in February 2009. The housing price news is accompanied revised figures published 25 February by the government that show the UK grew by 0.3 percent in the last three months of 2009, slightly more than earlier reports showed.
Links to other sites: BBC, Market Watch
Gus O’Donnell, head of civil servants in Great Britain, says that with 18 years of Conservative rule followed by 13 years of Labour, few UK civil servants will know how to deal with an election that bears no decisive results. He and his team have “rushed out a chapter dealing with elections and hung parliaments from an administrative manual it is working on,” reports Reuters UK.
Links to other sites: CS Monitor, Guardian, UK
Vancouver, BC, Canada (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss curling team beat the British team 4-3 in a tense match. The British skip was not pleased, blaming “the usual negative Swiss tactics” as his team was beaten despite being ahead going into the last end. The Swiss then lost their fourth match 7-4 against Norway to give up their unbeaten record. Canada beat Sweden 7-3.
Links to other sites: BBC, Vancouver Winter Games results
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez da Kirchner announced 16 February that ships going from the South American mainland to the Falklands/Malvinas will need a licence from Argentina. Britain promptly rejected the move, saying that the waters around the Falklands are UK territorial waters and the licenses will not apply. It has told the shipping industry to ignore the Argentine instructions when going from international waters to Falklands territorial waters. The two countries have disputed ownership of the islands since the 19th century and in 1982 they fought a short war, which the British Royal Navy won. Diplomatic relations were resumed in 1990. Observers are calling the new, stronger stance by Argentina “worrying”, suggesting that drilling for oil in the region may lie behind the move, with Argentina wanting a share.
Links to other countries: BBC, Canadian Press, El Pais (Spa), Mercopress
Credit is easing and property prices are starting to move up in the UK, two of the factors that have led PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute report to name London as investors’ most popular choice for new real estate developmen in Europe. The city moved up several slots on the international scale, a sign of renewed investor faith in both the market overall and the UK’s improved situation.
Links to other sites: PWC and Urban Land report, Reuters
Cadbury, the independent British chocolate maker, will take on an American flavour, news that sent its shares up by 3 percent Tuesday morning 19 January. The company announced that it has accepted US multinational Kraft’s takeover bid, which has been opposed by British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson. The final details, including the price paid, will be released shortly, the companies said in a joint announcement. The Financial Times reports that the deal could be worth £11.7bn ($19bn). Mandelson has voiced concerns that the US company wanted to make a “fast buck” from Cadbury’s, and unions have expressed fear that jobs will be lost. Cadbury employs 45,000 people worldwide, including staff at a Swiss site in Rolle, canton Vaud.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Times, UK
The UK is being warned to prepare for more icy roads and freezing temperatures, with motorists being warned to stay home if possible. The bright note is that it should soon warm up but, reports the BBC, “More freezing conditions are forecast, before a weekend thaw threatens floods.”Meanwhile, the “Met” has come under fire for failing to predict early enough heavy snow that fell Wednesday 13 January, particularly in southwest Britain. Wales had drifts of up to 7 feet.
Links to other sites: BBC, Telegraph, UK Meteorology Office
Rupert Hamer, who worked for the Sunday Mirror in Britain, was killed in Afghanistan when the US patrol he was working with was hit by a bomb. The explosion also killed an American soldier and seriously injured the Mirror photographer working with Hamer. Two weeks earlier a Canadian journalist was killed while she was out on a patrol with troops.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Thousands of airline passengers trying to head for the UK have found themselves stranded at Geneva’s Cointrin Airport, with flights canceled because of the coldest weather in the UK in 30 years and fresh snow in many parts of Britain. Airport spokesperson Bertrand Staempfli has recommended that passengers contact their airlines for more information. London is the top destination from Geneva. Flights from Zurich and Basel have also been delayed or cancelled.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s woes with Libya continue this week, with Tripoli postponing the trials of two Swiss businessmen. The two are to stand trial for visa and tax irregularities, Libya has said. They were arrested shortly after the arrest in Geneva in July 2008 of Hannibal Qadaffi, son of the country’s leader. Libya in early January issued a list of reasons why the son should not have been arrested; it continues to argue, as it did in 2008, that he should have received diplomatic immunity.
The son is reported 6 January by Swiss media to have hosted singer Beyoncé for New Year’s Eve festivities at the Nikki Beach Club in Saint-Barthélemy, the Antilles, a week after he avoided police charges in Britain.
The British government has confirmed that China executed Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen, for drug smuggling. The man was considered by his family and the government to be mentally unstable but China ignored a request from Gordon Brown, British prime minister, to treat him with clemency. Official Chinese news agency Xinhua says the country’s Supreme Court reviewed and approved the death sentence, saying that the family had not provided documents showing he was mentally unstable, nor did the family have a history of mental illness. “ “There is no reason to cast doubt on Akmal Shaikh’s mental status,” the court determined. China’s criminal law mandates the death penalty for anyone carrying more than 50 grams of heroin and Shaikh was caught carrying more than 4 kg of the drug.
Britain continues to suffer travel woes linked to cold, snowy, icy weather, with flights cancelled on the busiest travel day of the year, 23 December, trains suspended and icy road warnings out for much of the country, reports The Times, UK. The national weather service is forecasting improvements starting Christmas Day, 25 December. Meanwhile, Liverpool airport was forced to close, a Ryanair plane skidded off a runway but caused no injuries, and a record 116,000 motorists were helped by the Automobile Association.
Eurostar, the operator of high-speed trains through the Channel tunnel, was ordered by French President Nicholas Sarkozy to resume regular service by Tuesday 22 December after he met with Guillaume Pepy, the head of the SNCF, the French national railways operator. The French president also demanded that appropriate information be supplied to passengers, in a communique 21 December.
British Air staff have voted in favour of a 12-day strike starting 22 December. Britain’s largest airline is widely expected to create chaos if the strike over the end of year holidays goes ahead. The 22,000 employees polled voted 92.5 percent in favour of the strike, to protest cost-cutting measures. The airline had a record loss in the six months that ended 30 September 2009. BA has posted information for travelers on its web site.
British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson lashed out at media mogul Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corporation, in a speech in the British parliament Wednesday 2 December. He accused Murdoch of having a stranglehold on TV-for-pay, of trying to weaken media regulatory body Ofcom and also of ruining British media traditions by bringing rightwing Fox News-style reporting to the UK. Murdoch came in for criticism from some observers Wednesday after the announcement that Google bowed to pressure from News Corporation and agreed not to allow news-for-pay to be displayed in full. Google’s new protection tools came out this week.
The speech could indicate that the British government, like the Australian, will now be going after News Corporation for avoiding capital gains taxes, the Guardian suggests.
Links to other sites: Forbes, Fox TV News, Guardian, Telegraph and background, Independent (12 November)
Swiss, aloft
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Airline Swiss will offer more connections between Britain and Geneva starting 10 January 2010, with six new flights daily to Heathrow. The company is reducing the number of flights between Geneva and London City from the current six a day to four. The additional flights will be provided in part by an additional Heathrow-based airplane, but Swiss will be working closely with British Midlands and some of the new connections will be codeshare flights.
(Reuters video) The European Union has two new leaders, in posts created by the Lisbon Treaty, which goes into effect 1 December 2009 following final approval by Ireland and the Czech Republic. Herman van Rompuy, Belgian prime minister, was named President of the European Council, a two-and-a-half year job. He was elected by a majority vote by the 27 members states. A key part of his job is to chair meetings of the European Commission. Catherine Ashton was made EU high representative for foreign affairs. She has been the EU’s trade commissioner for the past year.
The election of the pair, both of whom have relatively low profiles in international affairs, has been praised by the US, France and Germany but those who were hoping to see the first European president play a strong role are expressing disappointment. Turkey’s leaders are unhappy with Rompuy, who resisted Turkish membership and the UK media reaction has been more puzzled than enthusiastic.
Links to other sites: BBC, Die Welt (Ger), Guardian, UK, Le Monde (Fre), Le Temps (Fre), Times, UK
The UK weather service has told Britain to expect heavy rain Thursday and Friday, accompanied by widespread flooding in northwest England and southwest Scotland. A tidal surge in the Irish Sea could spell flooding in and north of Aberystwyth, Wales and gusting up to 70 miles per hour in some areas could add to the weather woes.
Lords, a name that in the world of cricket means something akin to the holy ground, as the sport’s “most famous ground” according to the Times, UK, is considering selling its name. It becomes the latest major traditional sport venue in Britain to consider selling naming rights to a major sponsor. Wembley Stadium and Twickenham considering doing the same, in rugby. Lords cricket grounds are part of a major redevelopment project in London, England.
Three men have been sentenced to life in prison in Britain for plotting a series of bombing on airliners between the UK and the US or Canada. Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain must serve at least 40, 36 and32 years respectively. The plots were well advanced when police arrested the men in 2006, the judge noted: “Had this conspiracy not been interrupted, a massive loss of life would almost certainly have resulted – and if the detonation was over land, the number of victims would have been even greater still.” He said in his concluding remarks that while the plot was directed from Pakistan the men in Britain where high-level “executives.” BBC, Times, UK and Reuters
Britain’s housing market is getting some relief after prices fell dramatically in mid- to late 2008. Mortgage lender Halifax, which tracks sales nationwide, is showing the fourth straight monthly increase in prices, 0.8 percent, which brings them up to the level seen at the end of 2008. The company says recent rises mean prices have remained relatively stable for 2009, but are now 10.1 percent lower than in August 2008. Prices are climbing faster in some parts of the country, notably London. Times, UK
The friendly corner newsagent in the UK is closing at the rate of over one day, a victim of competition from supermarkets, crime and the economic downturn. In 2008, 510 newsagents closed, 6.25 percent more than in 2007, reports the BBC. The national federation of retail newsagents (NFRN), which counts 17,500 members, wants the government to help newsagents to install closed-circuit cameras (CCTV) and shutters to combat crime. It is also asking the government to make a distinction between “normal crime and retail crime”. There are some 30-35,000 newsagents in Britain, 75 percent of them owned by Asians. BBC, This is Nottingham
