From Mubarak to Worse

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

CAIRO, May 18, 2012 (IPS) – More than 15 months after Egypt’s Tahrir Square uprising and four months after free parliamentary polls, many Egyptians say that daily living conditions are worse now than they were in the Mubarak era.
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Apocalypse Fairly Soon

By PAUL KRUGMAN – The New York Times

Suddenly, it has become easy to see how the euro — that grand, flawed experiment in monetary union without political union — could come apart at the seams. We’re not talking about a distant prospect, either.
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Tea Party Loses in Fight with Big Business

By Jim Lobe*

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2012 (IPS) – For leaders of the right-wing populist “Tea Party” who have bragged about their growing influence – if not domination – of the Republican Party, the past week’s battle over the future of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) has been a humbling experience.
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India’s proposal will help take the web out of U.S. control

Parminder Jeet Singh , THE HINDU

Unnerved by the Indian stand, IT monopolies are propagating the myth that a multilateral governance structure will kill the decentralised, multi-stakeholder nature of the Internet and lead to ‘government control’
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Era of a diminished superpower

By Martin Wolf Financial Times

What will be the role of the US in the 21st century? This is a question I rashly agreed to address last week at the Carnegie Council in New York. In analysing it, I considered a closely related issue that also exercises Americans: is the future role of the US in its own hands? The answer is: yes, but only up to a point. The US can control what it does. But it cannot control what others do.
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“Small Five” Challenge “Big Five” Over Veto Powers

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 15, 2012 (IPS) – The 193-member General Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution – described as “historic” – requesting the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council to consider “refraining from using their vetoes on action aimed at preventing or ending genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
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Greek crisis: The euro exit is a bluff

Stefano Lepri – La Stampa

As speculation rages about a Greek exit from the eurozone, we must grasp that the country cannot survive without the single currency and that Europe cannot afford to let it leave. That’s why everyone should put their cards openly on the table.
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Beware the new Beijing-Berlin bond

By Hans Kundnani and Jonas Parello-Plesner* – Financial Times

Over the past year there has been much agonised debate in the eurozone about whether a “German Europe” is emerging from the eurozone crisis. In much of Europe the jury is still out. But for many officials and analysts in China the conclusion is clear. They see a Germany that is increasingly powerful, a France that is weakened and a UK that is marginalised.
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Rebalancing the Eurozone

Kemal Dervis* – Project Syndicate

WASHINGTON, DC – The eurozone crisis unfolded primarily as a sovereign-debt crisis mostly on its southern periphery, with interest rates on sovereign bonds at times reaching 6-7% for Italy and Spain, and even higher for other countries. And, because eurozone banks hold a substantial part of their assets in the form of eurozone sovereign bonds, the sovereign-debt crisis became a potential banking crisis, worsened by banks’ other losses, owing, for example, to the collapse of housing prices in Spain. So a key challenge in resolving the eurozone crisis is to reduce the southern countries’ debt burdens.
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VICTORY OF HOLLANDE A CAUSE FOR HOPE IN EUROPE

By Mario Soares*

LISBON, May (IPS) I have known French president-elect Francois Hollande since the days of his predecessor and my friend Francois Mitterand. A man of broad vision, he is what France needs to pull itself out of the current crisis and put in place a policy for economic and social recovery. But his victory at the run-off election on May 6 goes far beyond this: it is a resounding confirmation of numerous signs that Europe has recognised the failure of neoliberal ideology and is changing course.
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Labour needs a fresh leader

Vijay Prashad* – The Hindu

A defence of the golden age gone by might feed one’s nostalgia but it does not provide good ideas to move us out of the morass of the present
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Is Europe on a Cross of Gold?

Barry Eichengreen* – Project Syndicate

ROME – Increasingly, one hears predictions that the euro will go the way of the gold standard in the 1930’s. And, increasingly, the reasoning behind such forecasts seems persuasive. But does that mean that the euro doomsayers are right?
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Waiting for Copernicus

By John Feffer*

WASHINGTON, May 2012 (IPS) – It’s happening in Buenos Aires. It’s happening in Paris and in Athens. It’s even happening at the World Bank headquarters.
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Global Governance of the Internet must be Democratised

Joint statement

Following the announcement by Other News about commitment to the campaign on urgent action required for Democratising the global governance of the Internet, we send this additional documentation, asking for your support before 16 May. Best regards, the editor.

Call for Support and Endorsement

Global Governance of the Internet must be Democratised!
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What Hollande must tell Germany

By Martin Wolf – The Financial Times

The elections in France and Greece tell us that austerity fatigue has set in. This is not surprising. For many countries no plausible exit exists from depression, deflation and despair. If the currency union were a normal fixed exchange rate arrangement, it would collapse, as did the gold standard in the 1930s and the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s. The question is whether the fact that it is a monetary union will do more than delay that outcome.
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Africa’s Two Female Presidents Join Forces for Women

By Travis Lupick*

MONROVIA, May 9, 2012 (IPS) – The only two female heads of state in Africa, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Malawian President Joyce Banda, have just committed to using their positions to improve the lives of women across the continent.
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Mubarak Still Has His Billions

By Cam McGrath

CAIRO, May 8, 2012 (IPS) – More than a year since president Hosni Mubarak was removed from power, the money he allegedly syphoned from Egypt during his 29-year rule remains beyond the reach of authorities attempting to recover it.
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Austerity Faces Sharper Debate

By ALAN COWELL and NICHOLAS KULISH – The New York Times

PARIS — Hours after voters in France and Greece delivered sharp rebuttals to advocates of austerity as the antidote to Europe’s financial crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on Monday pointedly insisted that neither she nor her government favored a renegotiation of a fiscal pact underpinning the Continent’s belt-tightening.
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Greek, French Elections Sound Death Knell for Austerity

By Julio Godoy

BERLIN, May 7, 2012 (IPS) – The voting out of conservative governments in France and Greece this weekend heralds the end of harsh European austerity programmes and ushers in an era of new economic, investment, and social policies aimed at restoring growth and employment across the continent.
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Urgent action required for democratising the global governance of the Internet

Parminder Jeet Singh*

Other News has decided that it is vital to support this crucial campaign. We ask our readers if they agree, sign the appeal before the 16th of May. My warmest regards, Roberto Savio.

A draft statement by civil society organizations for the UN CSTD meeting on ‘Enhanced Cooperation on Public Policy Issues Pertaining to the Internet’ to take place in Geneva on May 18th, 2012 (**)
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