news LV

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• Aljazeera: Libya: How to end the political crisis?
• ANSA: Mps: ipotesi aumento fino a 5 miliardi
• ANSA: Petrolio: chiude in lieve rialzo
• ANSA: Eni: 78mila dipendenti, presente in tutto il mondo
• ANSA: Enel: 98 GW capacità installata e 61 mln clienti
• Financial Times: Chinese munis will help curb shadow banks
• Financial Times: Diageo bids $1.9bn for United Spirits stake
• Aljazeera: Berlusconi ordered to do community service
• Aljazeera: Turkey urges social media firms to pay tax
• Financial Times: A game change in public service
• Financial Times: A French mix of exotic high-tech
• Aljazeera: Sudan bans meetings of political parties
• Huffington Post: Pharrell Williams Cries On 'Oprah Prime' Watching People Around The World Dance To 'Happy' (VIDEO)
• Huffington Post: John Kasich Launches First TV Ad In Ohio Governor's Race
• Huffington Post: Dad Gives Sons The Coolest Music History Lesson Ever
• Huffington Post: China Expected To Prioritize Environment Over Development In Revised Law

Aljazeera: Libya: How to end the political crisis? Posted: 14 Apr 2014 11:48 AM PDT Political woes deepen in oil-rich country after interim prime minister resigns over security reasons.

ANSA: Mps: ipotesi aumento fino a 5 miliardi Posted: 14 Apr 2014 11:54 AM PDT Banca non commenta, operazione al vaglio del consorzio garanzia

ANSA: Petrolio: chiude in lieve rialzo Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:06 PM PDT Quotazioni salgono dello 0,09%

ANSA: Eni: 78mila dipendenti, presente in tutto il mondo Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:27 PM PDT Attiva in 90 Paesi, nel 2013 produzione 1,6 mln barili

ANSA: Enel: 98 GW capacità installata e 61 mln clienti Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:32 PM PDT Multinazionale attiva in 40 Paesi; 31,24% in mano al Tesoro

Financial Times: Chinese munis will help curb shadow banks Posted: 14 Apr 2014 10:38 PM PDT Beijing hastens plans to develop a domestic municipal bond market to curb excess lending by the shadowy non-bank lenders

Financial Times: Diageo bids $1.9bn for United Spirits stake Posted: 15 Apr 2014 01:44 AM PDT Diageo makes new bid for majority control of United Spirits with an open tender offer for up to 26% of the shares in India's largest liquor company

Aljazeera: Berlusconi ordered to do community service Posted: 15 Apr 2014 03:42 AM PDT Italian court orders former prime minister to do a year of community service, limit his movements and respect a curfew.

Aljazeera: Turkey urges social media firms to pay tax Posted: 15 Apr 2014 04:56 AM PDT Turkish government says social media firms should open offices in the country, amid accusations of tax evasion.

Financial Times: A game change in public service Posted: 15 Apr 2014 07:25 AM PDT Demand for once coveted civil servant jobs in China is declining as young people opt for more lucrative occupations, such as online gaming

Financial Times: A French mix of exotic high-tech Posted: 15 Apr 2014 08:16 AM PDT From 3D printers to undersea crawlers, Raphaël Gorgé is updating his family's industrial knowhow and expanding into new areas

Aljazeera: Sudan bans meetings of political parties Posted: 15 Apr 2014 08:29 AM PDT Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has issued a decree banning political parties from meeting without permission.

Huffington Post: Pharrell Williams Cries On 'Oprah Prime' Watching People Around The World Dance To 'Happy' (VIDEO) Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:28 AM PDT Before Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" was nominated for an Academy Award, before it reached the top of the Billboard charts, before it garnered 182 million views on YouTube and before it sold more than a million copies, it was just another song that wasn't even getting played on the radio. Then, on Nov. 21, 2013, Pharrell released "Happy" with a music video and everything changed. "Zero airplay, nothing. And the next thing you know, we put out the video on November 21 -- all of a sudden, boom," Pharrell says. "When I say, 'Boom,' I mean boom." People around the world responded to "Happy" by uploading videos of themselves dancing to the catchy song, from Malawi to Iceland to Washington, D.C. During Pharrell's interview for "Oprah Prime," Oprah plays a montage of these videos. As Pharrell watches, he becomes overwhelmed and begins to cry. Read More... More on Oprah Winfrey Network

Huffington Post: John Kasich Launches First TV Ad In Ohio Governor's Race Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:31 AM PDT The first TV ad from either side in the 2014 gubernatorial election will come from Republican Gov. John Kasich and begin airing today, several sources told The Dispatch. The 60-second commercial, titled Deliver, will air for one week. Sources estimated Kasich spent about $70,000 for Columbus media market air time and at least $350,000 statewide, though that total could be higher. A spokeswoman for the Kasich campaign would not confirm or deny the ad, but it is expected to be a biographical piece for the incumbent that will include a reminder of Kasich's blue-collar roots. Read More... More on John Kasich

Huffington Post: Dad Gives Sons The Coolest Music History Lesson Ever Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:32 AM PDT Dad knows what's going on. Lance Underwood photoshopped sons Taj and Amar into classic album covers featuring the likes of Nat King Cole, Bob Dylan and, of course, Marvin Gaye, the singer behind "What's Going On." Underwood and the lads also pay homage to works from OutKast, Dr. Dre and others. But there's nothing like old-school. Read More...

Huffington Post: China Expected To Prioritize Environment Over Development In Revised Law Posted: 15 Apr 2014 09:35 AM PDT (Adds response from environment ministry, summary of legislative process) By Sui-Lee Wee and David Stanway BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) - Smog-hit China is set to pass a new law that would give Beijing more powers to shut polluting factories and punish officials, and even place protected regions off-limits to industrial development, scholars with knowledge of the situation said. Long-awaited amendments to China's 1989 Environmental Protection Law are expected to be finalised later this year, giving the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) greater authority to take on polluters. While some details of the fourth draft are still under discussion, it has been agreed that the principle of prioritising the environment above the economy will be enshrined in law, according to scholars who have been involved in the process. The fourth draft is due to be completed within weeks. "(Upholding) environmental protection as the fundamental principle is a huge change, and emphasises that the environment is a priority," said Cao Mingde, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, who was involved in the drafting process. The first change to the legislation in 25 years will give legal backing to Beijing's newly declared war on pollution and formalise a pledge made last year to abandon a decades-old growth-at-all-costs economic model that has spoiled much of China's water, skies and soil. Cao cautioned that some of the details of the measures could be removed as a result of bureaucratic horsetrading. The MEP has called for the law to spell out how new powers can be implemented in practice, but the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planning agency, prefers broader, more flexible principles. "There is a usual practice when everyone is unable to come to a complete agreement - we first put an idea into the law and then draw up detailed administrative rules later," Cao said. Local authorities' dependence on the taxes and employment provided by polluting industries is reflected by the priorities set out in China's growth-focused legal code, said Wang Canfa, an environment law professor who runs the Center for Pollution Victims in China and also took part in the drafting stage. The environment ministry did not respond to detailed questions on its role in the drafting process and the specific content of the new amendments, but said the legislation was currently in the hands of the Legal Work Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's legislature. The protracted legal process usually kicks off with a number of drafts from academic institutions, which are then examined by ministries, local governments and industry groups. A new draft then goes to the legal affairs office of the State Council, China's cabinet, before being delivered to the NPC and opened up to members of the public to have their say. NEW POWERS In the absence of legally enshrined powers, the environment ministry has often made do with one-off national inspection campaigns to name and shame offenders, as well as ad hoc arrangements with local courts and police authorities to make sure punishments are imposed and repeat offenders shut down. It has also stretched existing laws to its advantage. Last year, it began to use its powers of approval over environmental impact assessments, which are mandatory for all new industrial projects, to force powerful industrial firms such as Sinopec and the China National Petroleum Corporation to cut emissions at some of their plants, threatening to veto all new approvals until the firms met their targets. The new law would give the ministry the legal authority to take stronger punitive action. "The environment ministry could only impose fines and management deadlines," Cao said. "Now we can close and confiscate them. It's an important right." It will also set up a more comprehensive range of punishments, putting an end to a maximum fine system that allowed enterprises to continue polluting once they had paid a one-off fee normally much lower than the cost of compliance. Cao said the final draft was also likely to impose an "ecological red line" that will declare certain protected regions off-limits to polluting industry, though detailed definitions are likely to come later. The legislation also proposes to formalise a system by which local cadres are assessed according to their record on pollution issues, including meeting emissions targets. Experts have welcomed commitments to improve transparency and compel polluters to provide comprehensive and real-time emissions data. Criminal penalties will also be imposed on those found guilty of trying to evade pollution monitoring systems. "The provisions on transparency are probably the most positive step forward. These include the requirement that key polluters disclose real-time pollution data," said Alex Wang, expert in Chinese environmental law at UCLA. Wang said he had not seen the later, non-public drafts of the legislation. FIERCELY CONTESTED For nearly two years, scholars, ministries, local governments, companies and environment ministry officials have been debating the changes to the environmental protection law. One of the most fiercely contested parts of the new draft was a clause designed to prevent most environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from filing lawsuits against polluters. The first draft said lawsuits could only be filed via the government-affiliated All-China Environmental Federation, though subsequent changes allowed other government-registered organisations that have been operating for at least five years to launch legal action. Polluting industries have lobbied government officials not to relax the restrictions on the rights of NGOs to file suits, said Cao, who has attended numerous meetings with government officials on the new legislation. UCLA's Wang said the ultimate success of China's war on pollution would be determined not by symbolic new legislation but by specific targets and guidelines that are now being imposed on local governments. "Many people point to China's laws as a sign of the government's concern about the environment," he said. "But changes in bureaucratic targets are a more direct indication of changing priorities and can tell us whether Beijing means business." (Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson) Read More... More on China

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