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DRAFT OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015, Section X - European External Action Service
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Zigmantas Balčytis

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

DRAFT OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015, Section III - Commission and executive agencies
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Zigmantas Balčytis

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

DRAFT OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2015, Section X - European External Action Service
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Zigmantas Balčytis

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - Draft opinion on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada of the one part, and the European union and its Member states, of the other part
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - Draft opinion on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada of the one part, and the European union and its Member states, of the other part
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Dinamikusan halad a Lengyel Légierő Leonardo Aermacchi M-346 Master kiképző repülőgép programja: 2016. november 14-én, hétfőn az első két példány (7702 és 7703) landolt Deblinben, a 41. kiképző bázison.

About a hundred Central American migrants crammed into a large truck were rescued in the Mexican state of Tabasco in October. It is not likely that Donald Trump’s arrival to the White House will dissuade people from setting out on the hazardous journey to the United States. Credit: Courtesy of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, Nov 17 2016 (IPS)

“Donald Trump will not stop me from getting to the U.S.,” said Juan, a 35-year-old migrant from Nicaragua, referring to the Republican president-elect who will govern that country as of Jan. 20.

Juan, who worked as a street vendor in his country and asked that his last name not be mentioned, told IPS: “I got scared when I heard that Trump had won the election (on November 8). Maybe with Hillary (Clinton) there would have been more job opportunities. But that won’t stop me; it has never been easy to cross, but it is possible.”

Juan set out from Nicaragua on September 13, leaving his wife and son behind, and on the following day crossed the Suchiate River between Guatemala from Mexico, on a raft.

In Mexico, he experienced what thousands of migrants suffer in their odyssey towards the “American dream”. He evaded at least four checkpoints in the south of the country, escaped immigration officers, walked for hours and hours, and was robbed of money, clothes and shoes by three men wearing hoods in El Chagüite, in the southern state of Oaxaca.

After filing a complaint for assault in a local public prosecutor’s office, he has been living since October in the “Hermanos en el Camino” shelter, founded in 2007 by the Catholic Church division of pastoral care for human mobility of the Ixtepec Diocese in Oaxaca, awaiting an official humanitarian visa to cross Mexico.

“I want to get to the United States. What safeguards me is my desire and need to get there. I want to work about three years and then return,” Juan said by phone from the shelter, explaining that he has two friends in the Midwestern U.S. state of Illinois.

The struggles and aspirations of migrants such as Juan clash with Trump’s promise to extend the wall along the border with Mexico, to keep out undocumented migrants.

While they digest the triumph by Trump and his Republican Party, migrant rights organisations and governments in Latin America fear a major migration crisis.

During his campaign, Trump vowed to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the United States, about half of whom are of Mexican origin.

And on Sunday Nov. 13 the president-elect said that as soon as he took office he would deport about three million unauthorised immigrants who, he claimed, have a criminal record.

A member of the migrant aid group “Las Patronas” waits for the train known as “The Beast”, that was used by undocumented migrants to cross southern Mexico, to give them water and food. The Mexican government shut down the notorious train in August. Credit: Courtesy of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement

“Trump’s policy would aggravate the migratory situation,” said Alberto Donis, who works at Hermanos en el Camino, one of the first Mexican shelters for migrants, which currently houses some 200 undocumented migrants, mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

“With Trump, we don’t know what else he will do, but it will be worse than what we have now. After what happened in the elections, people who are not able to cross will stay here. Mexico will be a country of destination. And what does it do? Detain and deport them,” he said, talking to IPS by phone from the shelter.

For the last eight years, the outgoing administration of Democratic President Barack Obama has implemented contradictory migration policies, that have demonstrated the scant influence that sending countries have on U.S. domestic policies.

On the one hand, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which delays deportation for migrants who arrived as children, was adopted in 2012. And a similar benefit was created in 2014: the Deferred Action for (undocumented) Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).

However, DAPA has been suspended since February by a court order and it is taken for granted that Trump will revoke both measures when he takes office.

And on the other hand, the Obama administration set a new record for deportations: Since 2009, more than two million migrants have been deported, mainly to Mexico and Central America.

In 2015 alone, U.S. immigration authorities deported 146,132 Mexicans, which makes an increase of 56 per cent with respect to the previous year, 33,249 Guatemalans (14 per cent less than in 2014), 21,920 Salvadorans (similar to the previous year) and 20,309 Hondurans (nine per cent less).

An estimated 500,000 undocumented migrants from Central America cross Mexico every year in their attempt to reach the 3,185-km border separating Mexico from the United States, according to estimates from organisations that work with migrants.

In the first nine months of this year, Mexico deported 43,200 Guatemalans, 38,925 Hondurans and 22,582 Salvadorans.

Central American mothers in search of their children who went missing on their way to the United States take part in a caravan that set out on Nov. 10 and is set to reach the Mexico-U.S. border on Dec. 2. Credit: Courtesy of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement

Activists criticize the Comprehensive Plan for the Southern Border, implemented since August 2014 by the Mexican government with the help of the United States to crack down on undocumented migrants. The plan includes the installation of 12 bases on rivers and three security belts along the Mexico-U.S. border.

But some migrant rights’ organisations have doubts as to whether Trump will actually carry out his threats, due to the social and economic consequences.

“He says so many outrageous things that I cannot imagine what he may do. He is a businessman and I don’t think he will risk losing cheap labour. None of it makes sense, it is nothing more than xenophobia and racism. The United States would face long-term consequences ,” Marta Sánchez, executive director of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, told IPS.

The Movement is taking part in the XII caravan of mothers of Central American migrants who have gone missing on their journey to the United States, made up of mothers from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, which set out on Nov. 10 in Guatemala and reached Mexico Nov. 15.

On Nov. 12 Claudia Ruiz Massieu, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, meet with this country’s ambassador and consuls in the U.S. to design plans for consular protection and assistance for Mexican nationals, with a view to the expected increase in tension.

The governments of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador do not appear to have devised plans to address the xenophobic campaign promises of Trump.

These economies would directly feel the impact of any drop in remittances from migrants abroad, which, in El Salvador for example, represent 17 per cent of GDP.

But the U.S. economy would suffer as well. The American Action Forum, a conservative think tank, estimated that the mass deportation of all undocumented migrants would cause an economic contraction of two per cent and a drop of 381 to 623 billion dollars in private sector output.

Juan just wants to cross the border. “The idea is to better yourself and then return home. People keep going there and they will continue to do so, because in our countries we cannot get by; the shelters are full of people looking for the same thing. If they were to deport me, I would try again,” he said.

For Donis from Hermanos en el Camino, migrant sending countries are not prepared to receive the massive return of their citizens.

“They already don’t have the capacity to sustain the people that are living in the country; it would be even more impossible for them to receive millions of deported migrants. Nor are shelters prepared. What these countries need to do is invest in sources of employment, in the countryside, in infrastructure, invest in their people, in order to curb migration,” said the activist.

During the caravan of mothers of missing migrants, which will end on Dec. 2 in Tapachula, Mexico, on the border with the United States, Sánchez anticipated that they would mention Trump and define their position. ”We will reject those measures and fight against them, this is just beginning,” she said.

Related Articles

• Mexico, a Democracy Where People Disappear at the Hands of the State
• Mexico Creates First and Second-class Migrants
• Migrants Deported from the U.S. in Limbo on the Mexican Border
• Child Migrants – A “Torn Artery” in Central America

Russian SKS Semi-Automatic Rifle

Benyújtotta lemondását James Clapper, az amerikai nemzeti hírszerzés igazgatója. A National Intelligence vezetője a szenátus hírszerzési bizottsága előtt, csütörtöki meghallgatásán közölte; már csak két hónapot marad a poszton.

Tovább olvasom

Une conférence des donateurs s'est ouverte à Bruxelles ce jeudi 17 novembre. Faustin-Archange Touadéra y a présenté son plan de redressement pour la Centrafrique de plus de 3 milliards de dollars sur 5 ans. Le président centrafricain appelle les bailleurs à la générosité.

Turkey has so far dismissed 20,088 people from its armed forces as part of fight against the movement of Fethullah Gulen, accused of involvement in the failed July 15 coup attempt, Defense Minister Fikri Isik said addressing the country’s parliament.

Mardi 8 novembre 2016, une attaque surprend un poste de la Garde nationale nigérienne, près de la frontière malienne. Les autorités nationales sollicitent immédiatement la chaîne de commandement française pour obtenir un appui rapide au profit de leurs forces armées agressées. Un Mirage 2000D et un Mirage 2000C de la base aérienne projetée (BAP) de Niamey interviennent aussitôt, mettant en fuite les assaillants.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday had a phone talk with US President Donald Trump, congratulating him on his election as president.

Plenáris ülés : A vadon élő állatok és növények jogellenes kereskedelme nemzetközi bűncselekménynek minősül, ami miatt elefántok, orrszarvúk és tigrisek ezrei pusztulnak el és fajok kerülnek a kihalás szélére. A Parlament a jövő heti plenáris ülésen szavaz Catherine Bearder (liberális, brit) jelentéséről, amely lépéseket javasol a tagállamok számára a vadon élő fajok védelme érdekében. Az EP-képviselőt kérdeztük a részletekről.

Forrás : © Európai Unió, 2016 - EP

Une Afrique unie face aux changements climatiques. C'est l'image que les chefs d'Etat et de gouvernement africains réunis en sommet ce mercredi à Marrakech ont voulu donner, sous l'impulsion du roi du Maroc Mohammed VI.

En Côte d’Ivoire, un banal contrôle a mal tourné au nord-est du pays, dans le village de Neamoue. Quatre personnes ont été tuées mercredi dans des affrontements entre populations et forces de l'ordre dans la région de Bouna, déjà secouée en mars par des troubles qui avaient fait 19 morts.

The rapid pace of digitalisation will have a dramatic impact on the world of work. A popular view is that the advance of digitalisation, automation and “Industry 4.0” doesn’t augur well for low-skilled workers in European industry, with some reports forecasting a massive contraction in the job market for low-skilled workers. According to an extremely popular 2013 study by Carl Frey and Michael Osborne, almost half of all employees in the United States could be replaced by computerised systems over the next two decades. A study presented at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this year stated that digitalisation and automation will lead to a net loss of five million jobs in industrialised nations by 2020.

But this isn’t realistic. It would be ill-advised to deal in nightmare scenarios of unemployment in the thousands or millions. We still can’t confidently say whether and where jobs will be lost. In any case, no company, especially a small or medium-sized enterprise, is in a position to digitalise everything overnight, either commercially
or organisationally. There won’t be wide-scale technological unemployment or factories and offices devoid of people. One survey of almost 500 companies from the metal and electrical industry, carried out for the Institute for Applied Work Science (IFAA), found that fewer than one in five companies have initiated any plans or projects for implementing digital ideas. Industry 4.0 is yet to make its presence felt across all companies, and this will remain the case for years.

The potential offered by automation for professions and workplaces is, typically, overestimated. The implementation of new technologies often fails to take sufficient account of social, legal and ethical barriers. And no conclusions can be drawn with regard to the effect on the workforce as a whole. Rather than eliminating jobs, new technologies often change the nature of work. Employees are freed up to focus on activities that can’t be automated. For example, having previously centred on precision craftsmanship, the profession of watchmaking is now evolving to encompass the programming of digital models for 3D watch printing. The result is a vast increase in creative freedom.

Just as with previous technological evolutions, some roles will be eliminated. When diesel and electric locomotives came along, steam boilers – and stokers – were no longer needed. But new professions and opportunities emerge. We will need app programmers and 3D modellers. Vehicles will increasingly have electronic control systems, requiring engineers specialised in this field.

But the advance of digital technologies doesn’t mean the only jobs remaining will be ones requiring a high degree of technical expertise. Creativity won’t be the only thing occupying the employees of the future, although the proportion of routine tasks performed by employees will decline. Some routine activities can be eliminated from simple work, thereby enabling low-skilled workers to increase their share of value added. This will help to make work productive and competitive across different levels of expertise, thereby keeping this work in Europe.

Digitalisation is expected to have another positive effect. Low-skilled workers, particularly those who are less physically able, can increasingly be positively integrated into the workforce with the help of robot-assisted work systems and body suits – “exoskeletons”. These technologies lower the physical impact of ergonomically-unfavourable movements on the assembly line, reduce the strain posed by heavy weights, and lead to improved quality thanks to precision process control.

“The integration of refugees can be made easier by the use of data glasses that explain work processes in various languages and media formats”

It’s also conceivable that low-skilled workers will be integrated into the labour market to a greater extent as a result of digital assistance systems – tablets, smartphones, data glasses, networked monitors, and so on. Employees could be deployed more flexibly and in more varied roles as they will receive the necessary information on-site and in real time. This can happen quicker and at shorter notice, as assistance systems will massively expand the options for on-the-job training, with information provided intuitively. Like today’s smartphones, the use of assistance systems must be simple and user-friendly. This includes multimedia information with extensive possibilities, including choices of languages, images, and video sequences. Even the integration of refugees can be made easier by the use of data glasses that explain work processes in various languages and media formats.

With digital technologies evolving at a considerable pace, low-skilled workers will have to develop a strong willingness to learn and adapt. Needs-orientated qualification measures, such as for operating equipment, can help support employees. The relevant learning content for digitalisation can still only be described in general terms, which makes it necessary to permanently compare training content with the relevant requirements while also focusing on the interplay between everyone in the production process.

“The advance of digital technologies doesn’t mean the only jobs remaining will be ones requiring a high degree of technical expertise”

Digitalisation offers a number of attractive opportunities. It means greater flexibility for employees, more demanding tasks, the provision of tailored information and relief from monotonous routine work. As well as the increased availability of information, digitalisation will improve companies’ coordination and communication processes. We will need many highly-qualified employees to get Industry 4.0 and digitalisation on the road, and low-skilled workers will remain in demand. But for all this optimism, there is a risk. Digitalisation could go too far if we end up shaping the work of the future so that we humans become mere appendages of intelligent digital systems and machines. To counter this, we need a fundamental debate about morality and ethics – one that takes into account not only the numerous benefits
of digitalisation, but also occupational safety.

 

The post Rise of the machines isn’t the end for manual labour appeared first on Europe’s World.

US-based The Daily Caller has published an article headlined “Religion, Freedom And The First Amendment”.

Etwa 2.