Monday, June 8, 2009

The first members of parliament for the British National Party (BNP) were elected today, in the United Kingdom elections for the European Parliament. Nick Griffin, the leader of the party, was elected Member of the European Parliament in the North West England region, and Andrew Brons was elected in the Yorkshire and the Humber region. This is the first time that the BNP has won a parliamentary seat in any European Parliamentary or U.K. General Election.

Although the number of votes cast for the BNP in the North West England region in the 2009 election (132,094) was lower than the number of votes cast for the BNP (134,959) in the previous election in 2004, the percentage of the popular vote achieved by the BNP rose, from 6.4% to 8.0%, because of a lower overall voter turnout. Nick Robinson claimed this was because of the abolition in postal ballots in this years elections. He went on to say that BNP voters are more enthusiastic on voting, so their votes wouldn’t decline as much as other parties.

Similarly, in the Yorkshire and the Humber region, the number of votes cast for the party fell from 126,538 in the 2004 elections to 120,139 in the 2009 elections, but a lower turnout resulted in the party’s percentage share in the popular vote rising from 8.0% to 9.8%.

The BNP will now receive EU funding, in the form of MEP expenses and office and staff allowances. What it will receive will be governed by the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, new rules for MEP expenses introduced for the newly elected 2009 parliament. Mr Griffin and Mr Brons will each receive a €7,000 per month salary (formally, 38.5% of the basic salary of a judge at the European Court of Justice), paid from the EU budget, and a pension when they leave office. They will also be entitled to employ personal staff, whose salaries are also paid from the EU budget.

The election of BNP MEPs has caused protests. Mr Griffin was accosted by political protestors when he attended the vote counting on the night of June the 7th, and was forced to enter the building via a rear entrance. When he stepped forward to make his victory speech, after the result had been declared, all other parties’ candidates took the unusual step of leaving the stage.

Monday, September 27, 2021

Since June 2019, the people of South Gippsland Shire, located at the southernmost tip of Australia, have been without a local council, after a state government inquiry found “high levels of tension” within the council. Administrators were appointed by the Victorian state government in July 2019, who have governed the shire since then. However, South Gippsland’s council is scheduled to be restored with an election to be held via post from October 5–22, 2021.

Wikinews interviewed one of the candidates standing in this election, David Liebelt, an independent candidate running in the Coastal-Promontory Ward. The Coastal-Promontory ward covers towns such as Venus Bay, Waratah Bay, Yanakie, Foster, Port Welshpool, and Toora, and elects three councillors to the South Gippsland Shire Council.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Student protests against the French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin job reform plan to give employers the right to dismiss young employees within the initial two years of their employment turned increasingly violent over the last two weeks.

The controversial program called the CPE, “First Job Contract”, is to encourage employers to hire people under the age of 26. The French government claims that this process is necessary to reduce the unemployment rates of young people, which is pegged as high as 23% (this rate is the quotient of the number of people under 26 deemed to seek employment over the total of those employed and deemed to seek employment, which excludes the large proportion of students in that population). However, student protestors and trade unions say that the legislation infringes on workers’ rights, and opinion polls show that some two-thirds of the population want the CPE either modified or dropped altogether.

The CPE allows employers to hire people age 26 and younger on a contract for up to two years which may be terminated at any time without explanation. While supporters of the law say that it will make younger people more attractive for employers, opponents say it makes it harder for young people to find long-term employment as there is no incentive for employers to offer any other form of contract.

Labour unions and student organisers are calling for a national strike on Tuesday, the fifth strike in the past two weeks.

The French labor laws are claimed to be among those protecting employees the most in Europe; they prevent employers from trimming their workforces without paying substantial severance packages. Prime Minister de Villepin’s claims to intend to reduce youth unemployment by focusing on attracting modern industries relying on higher employee turnover and more flexible employment arrangements.

The current program is similar to the CNE ordinance the Prime Minister issued last summer for small businesses in France.

CPE was adopted under an exceptional “fast-track” procedure allowing the executive to pass legislation through Parliament without Parliament having to approve it, known as “49-3” following from the number of the relevant article in the French Constitution. This procedure is normally reserved for important but controversial texts considered a crucial and urgent element of the policies of the Prime Minister. Once 49-3 is declared, the law is considered adopted by Parliament unless the National Assembly votes a motion of censure, which terminates the Prime Minister and his cabinet’s term. Following standard practice when 49-3 is used, a motion of censure was proposed by the opposition, then voted down by the Assembly (in which the ruling UMP party has a majority).

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Group of 20 (G20) of the world’s leading developed and developing countries’ finance ministers agreed on Saturday to pursue a plan that would avoid dangerous currency devaluations and would also would attempt to reduce trade imbalances. The plan was introduced by the United States, and the G20 meeting was held in South Korea.

The plan was announced amid rising worries of a “currency war” that would lead to devalued currencies in order to get an export advantage and would damage the global economy. “Our cooperation is essential. We are all committed to play our part in achieving strong, sustainable and balanced growth in a collaborative and coordinated way,” a statement released by the G20 said.

On the topic of trade imbalances, the G-20 stated that “excessive imbalances” would be “assessed against indicative guidelines to be agreed.” This statement was weaker than a commitment proposed by United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, which would keep trade imbalances “below a specified share” of GDP for the next few years. This proposal was met with strong opposition from export-based economies such as Japan, whose Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda argued that specific targets were “unrealistic”, but approved of unspecific “guidelines”. He added: “There are many perspectives on the current account issue. Every country has a different situation when it comes to surpluses and deficits. So we need to study this carefully.”

The United States said that they will continue to push for numerical targets and specific time frames at next month’s South Korean summit, where the heads of state of the G20 will convene. “If the world is going to be able to grow at a strong, sustainable pace in the future . . . then we need to work to achieve more balance in the pattern of global growth as we recover from the crisis,” US Treasury Secretary Geithner declared. The finance ministers also set China on the track to floating its currency more, and overhauling the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to give more representation to developing powers such as China and India.

The G20 was created in 1999, includes both developed and developing countries, and represents 85% of the world’s economy. The G20’s heads of state will meet in Seoul, South Korea, next month.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

An Auckland, New Zealand policewoman, who has not been named, has been working part-time as a prostitute. Her employer, Auckland City Police, did not know that she had been working as a prostitute for a limited time. She has been able to keep her police job.

Prostitution became legal in New Zealand in 2003.

The police officer was prostituting herself because of financial difficulties. A person working in the Christchurch sex industry said “It’s usually either for debts or drugs.”

She is now undergoing counselling.

The New Zealand Police would not comment on how long she had been acting as a prostitute.

Lyn Provost, Deputy Commissioner, said “the nature of the secondary employment was incompatible with policing and would never have been approved.”

The police say that if a police officer was to seek secondary employment then it must be signed off, this job hadn’t been. It would have been a conflict of interest.

Ron Mark, New Zealand First Party Law and Order spokesman, said “the case is concerning, because while prostitution is legal, it is associated with criminal activity.”

A representative of the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective (NZPC) said there were law students and doctors who were sex workers.

“NZPC’s philosophy is that we support people that are in that secondary employment … we support them for their sexual health needs or any other needs – emotionally, physically, spiritually – that we can accommodate.” a representative of the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective said.