This video from the European Parliament says about itself:
Joe Higgins MEP challenges ECB President, Jean-Claude Trichet and EU Economics and Financial Affairs Commissioner, Olli Rehn, over their capitulation to the financial markets allowing them to create a panic in the Irish bond markets forcing the ECB to guarantee their gambling.
The RTÉ figures were too low: Ireland bailout protest draws 100,000 to Dublin streets: here. See also here.
Over 100,000 Irish working people turned out in freezing conditions in Dublin on Saturday to show their total opposition to the EU/IMF-led austerity measures: here.
This is a Dutch TV video on the demonstration in Dublin today.
L’Humanité: Ireland in the Clutches of the IMF and Financial Markets: here.
Ireland Responds – Labor Unions Mount Protest; Argentina as an Example (two posts): here.
Debt crisis escalates in Europe; fears grow about Spain: here.
This video from the USA is called South Korea: US war crimes and mad-cow beef imports-1/3.
Part 2 is here.
This video from the USA is called South Korea: US war crimes and mad-cow beef imports-3/3.
Six decades after US and Chinese troops waged bitter hand-to-hand combat south of the Yalu River, tensions on the Korean peninsula are being fed by and are in turn exacerbating great power conflicts between Washington and Beijing: here.
Philippines bans deployment of workers to South Korea: here.
China Proposes Emergency Talks on Korea Tensions: here.
The US and South Korean militaries launched a major show of force in the Yellow Sea Sunday in what is widely seen as both a threat to North Korea and an attempt to intimidate China into ceding to Washington’s position on the escalating crisis on the Korean peninsula: here.
While repeatedly declaring that China must intervene to contain North Korea, Washington and its allies have rebuffed China’s diplomatic efforts to calm the Korean conflict: here.
The Venezuelan government released a statement accusing the United States of provoking the ongoing conflict between North and South Korea to further US interests in the region, Venezuelanalysis.com said November 26: here.
S Korea culls diseased animals: Culling of more than 55,000 animals begin after foot-and-mouth disease confirmed: here.
South Korea’s government was forced on the defensive today after agreeing a deal to tear down many of the country’s trade barriers with the US: here.
Both the Obama administration and the South Korean government of President Lee Myung-bak hailed the renegotiation of the US-South Korean (KORUS) free trade agreement over the weekend as a “win win” deal. In reality, Washington has essentially forced its junior ally to make key concessions on the economic front, in exchange for greater US military protection amid sharp tensions on the Korean peninsula: here.
Bryan Kay, The Christian Science Monitor: “On the eve of South Korean live-fire drills that North Korea vows to answer with ‘merciless strikes,’ desperate Yeonpyeong Islanders are fleeing their homes for the second time in a month. Some stopped at a local church to make one final prayer for their hometown before boarding a boat for mainland South Korea”: here.
South Korea has blocked citizens from accessing websites using the north’s web domain name, saying that the sites contain “illegal information” under the country’s anti-communist and security laws: here.
S. Korea orders culling of more than 3 million livestock to control spread of foot-and-mouth disease: here.
The government plan published on Wednesday proposes a one euro cut to the minimum wage of 8.65 euros per hour and cuts to social welfare.
The ICTU warns that the plan includes a possible assault on the long-standing agreements which protect those in lower paid jobs such as cleaning, catering, construction and hotel work.
It does not set out any strategy for economic recovery and growth or any public investment programme to protect and create jobs.
The plan also proposes a tax on property which will unfairly hit the lower income groups and will bring tens of thousands of those on the lowest wages into the tax net.
There is no provision for a tax on asset wealth.
It fails to explain how the massive debts of the banks can be carried by the Irish people.
According to SIPTU and Congress President Jack O’Connor, the publication of the government’s budgetary plan meant it is now ‘imperative for working people and their families to join the national demonstration’.
O’Connor said that in the absence of a general election, today’s march and rally represented ‘the most effective way to insist on a say in the shape of our future’.
Congress General Secretary, David Begg, backed the call and said it was clear that people could not afford to wait until 8th December to protest at what will be a harsh and unfair budget.
The national demonstration has been called in support of Congress proposals on alternative ways to tackle the economic crisis, which include a focus on job creation, investment and growth.
Begg said the scale of the cuts proposed for Budget 2011 is clear evidence that Government strategy is not working.
He said: ‘We have had three austerity budgets to date and we are now in a worse position than when the process started.
‘The deficit is higher, there are more people out of work and emigration has returned.
‘Congress believes there is a better, fairer way to do this and we outlined a number of key proposals in our pre-budget submission.
‘We need to extend the period of adjustment and focus on jobs and growth.’
The European debt crisis intensified Friday, as speculators continued their latest attacks on Spain and Portugal. Meanwhile tensions rose between Germany and European officials over the amount of money to set aside for further bailouts: here.
