Froom The Daily Mail
Foreign workers drag down UK wages, says bank chief: Carney’s explosive intervention as number of EU migrants working here hits 2million
- Mark Carney, head of the Bank of England, issued stark warning
- Influx of foreign workers is threatening economy by holding down wages
- He said rates of immigration explained why pay rises have been subdued
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A huge influx of foreign workers is threatening the economy by holding down wages, the head of the Bank of England warned yesterday.
In a dramatic intervention, Mark Carney said high rates of immigration helped explain why pay rises had been subdued for several years.
He said sluggish earnings were a key risk to the country’s recovery from the worst recession in a century. The comments coincide with the release of figures showing a record 4.8million foreigners work in Britain – making up one sixth of the labour force. Almost two million of them are from the European Union – another all-time high.
From PressTV
21 Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli forces in West Bank
At least 21 Palestinians have been injured in an attack by Israeli forces on a group of young Palestinian men in the northern part of the West Bank.
Palestinian security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said more than 30 Israeli military jeeps entered the city of Nablus, about 49 kilometers (30 miles) north of al-Quds (Jerusalem), as they escorted some 1,500 Israelis from nearby illegal settlements into the city with the ostensible aim of visiting Joseph’s Tomb early on Friday.
Violence broke out when Palestinian youths protested. Israeli forces fired live and rubber-coated steel bullets as well as tear gas canisters and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, injuring 21 Palestinians in the process.
Israeli forces as well as settlers regularly engage in violence against Palestinians in the occupied territories.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East al-Quds, in 1967.
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From PressTV
Unexploded Israeli missile injures 70 Gazans
Scores of Palestinians have been injured after an unexploded missile from the Israeli regime’s last year war against the besieged Gaza Strip went off in the coastal enclave’s north.
Palestinian medical sources said on Thursday that 70 people were wounded in the explosion in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahyia.
The injured were taken to the al-Shifa hospital. Medics say an unknown number of the wounded are currently in critical condition.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, the blast occurred during the dismantling of an unexploded F16 rocket left by the Israeli army.
Reports say the explosion also caused property damage to Beit Lahyia’s al-Atatra neighborhood.
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From PressTV
Leave or go behind bars: Israel tells refugees
The Israeli regime has further toughened its approach toward immigration, pressing African refugees to go back home or face indefinite imprisonment.
A report by The Washington Post on Thursday said Israeli officials were sending letters to the first group of some 45,000 Eritrean and Sudanese refugees, ordering them to leave Israel within 30 days for their home or an unnamed third country in Africa or choose indefinite incarceration at prison.
The Israeli regime’s strict policy includes building a fence along the Egyptian border, denying illegal migrants work permits and holding them in a detention center in the desert.
According to the report, Israel has spent more than USD 350 million to build a fence along its entire border with Egypt to block the entry of Africans, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea.
The Tel Aviv regime defends its tough crackdown on refugees as fair, saying the new policy is designed to help those who have been denied asylum or have not applied for asylum to go back home or to third countries.
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From PressTV
Israeli forces abduct six Palestinians in West Bank
Israeli forces have abducted at least six more Palestinians during a series of raids on a number of houses in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
This comes after Israeli soldiers broke into dozens of homes in the al-Faraa and Askar refugee camps in northern Nablus as well as a village east of the city.
Local residents and witnesses say the Israeli forces violently searched the houses, causing excessive property damage before detaining the Palestinians.
Sources said a member of Palestinian security services is among the captives.
Local residents say the Palestinians were taken to an unknown location.
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From PressTV
Israeli soldiers shoot 3 Palestinian children, detain 6 in West Bank
Three Palestinian children have been wounded and six others arrested after Israeli military forces attacked a group of young Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank.
On Thursday, clashes broke out between Israeli troopers and Palestinian students in the Jabal al-Tawil neighborhood of the city of al-Bireh, located 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) north of al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Israeli soldiers then started shooting to disperse the crowd, and three children sustained gunshot wounds as a result. The Israelis also arrested six students, all under the age of 10, in the process.
Separately, a young Palestinian man was injured in the leg after Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of Palestinian youths in the central West Bank city of Bethlehem, located about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of al-Quds.
The violence erupted after Palestinian youths threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at an Israeli military tower in the area. Israeli troopers fired live and rubber-coated steel bullets as well as tear gas canisters in return.
According to the Ahrar Center for Prisoner Studies and Human Rights, Israeli forces fatally shot seven Palestinians in the Palestinian territories and arrested at least 375 others, among them 55 children and 19 women, last month.
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From Russia Today
Booze booboo: Gorbachev admits USSR mid-80s anti-alcohol campaign ‘too hasty’
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledges his anti-alcohol drive in the mid-1980s was a mistake, stressing that it should had been gradual and relentless. The campaign led to a spike in bootlegging and eroded the tax base.
The USSR government headed by Gorbachev introduced an anti-drinking campaign in 1985, which was popularly dubbed ‘Gorbachev’s Prohibition’.
“I believe the anti-alcohol campaign and how it was implemented was a mistake in the long run,” Gorbachev told Komsomolskaya Pravda media outlet.
READ MORE: ‘America needs a Perestroika’ – Gorbachev to RT
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From The Times of Israel
With ‘best allies’ like these, who needs enemies?
While Netanyahu fantasizes about a détente with the Arab world, the US and EU are ready to turn up the heat on his new government
Forget the United States of America. Move over, Canada, Australia and Germany. The days when those countries were considered Israel’s closest friends are over. The Jewish state’s new best buddies are Egypt and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
At least that’s the impression one could get if one listened carefully to a recent speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Our best allies actually these days are some of our Arab neighbors, because they know we face a common threat,” Netanyahu said Tuesday at a conference in Jerusalem.
The idea he referred to is not new: Israel and the so-called moderate Sunni Arab states have a common foe in Iran, and the enemy of my worst enemy must be my best friend.
In recent days, Netanyahu has repeatedly talked about this convergence of interests, suggesting that it could lead to a regional peace agreement. The Gulf states’ declared unhappiness with the US administration over its rapprochement with Iran further fuels the prime minister’s declared hopes of enhanced cooperation with the Arab world.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
House overwhelmingly passes Iran review act
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill requiring congressional review of any nuclear deal with Iran.
The bill approved Thursday 400-25 allows Congress up to 52 days to reject any sanctions relief for the nuclear activity rollback deal between Iran and the major powers. Congress could scuttle such a deal by keeping sanctions in place.
The House leadership would not allow amendments to the bill that would have set in place requirements for such a deal.
Some Republicans, heeding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted to stipulate that any deal approved by Congress must include an Iranian agreement to end support for terrorism as well as an Iranian recognition of Israel, among other measures.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New Israeli government ministers approved and sworn in
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition government was approved and sworn in.
Netanyahu was continuously heckled as he introduced his new Cabinet to a Thursday night session of Knesset. Several Knesset members were removed from the chamber due to their disruptions.
The vote on the new Cabinet passed 61-59, the exact numerical breakdown of the coalition and the opposition.
The session started two hours late as Netanyahu worked to distribute the ministerial positions to members of his Likud Party. He kept four portfolios for himself, including foreign minister, saying in his inaugural address: “I am leaving the door open for broadening the government. The country needs this.” He added, to opposition leader Isaac Herzog, “I assume that the leader of the opposition won’t enter the government, but we must come together to change the system.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Anti-BDS bill passes Illinois House committee, Senate
(JTA) — A bill that would bar state pension funds from including companies that participate in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel passed an Illinois State House of Representatives committee.
The bill on Wednesday was unanimously approved by the Illinois State House of Representatives Executive Committee by a vote of 10-0 and will now move forward for a vote by the full chamber. It previously passed the Illinois State Senate unanimously, 49-0.
The bill requires the state’s pension system to remove companies that boycott Israel from their portfolios. The bill, an amendment, is based on existing legislation that the Illinois Investment Policy Board currently enforces, mandating that state pension funds be divested from foreign firms doing business in Iran, Sudan or other countries with known human rights violations.
In a statement, B’nai B’rith International said it “applauds Illinois citizens and their representatives for taking such a strong stance against a movement rooted in anti-Semitism that ultimately impedes the peace process by opposing constructive dialogue between Israel and Palestinians.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
George W. Bush made a painting for Sheldon Adelson
Jewish casino magnate and political mega-donor Sheldon Adelson is now the proud owner of a painting by a reclusive artist whose works are rarely seen in public – and happens to be a former U.S. president.
The New York Times has reported that George W. Bush, who began painting amateur portraits in 2012, gave Adelson one of his original paintings at last month’s Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas.
According to the Times, the painting is of Adelson’s Marina Bay Sands resort and casino in Singapore, which is one of the most expensive buildings ever constructed.
From PressTV
Israel fails to deter Gaza-bound Swedish trawler
A Swedish trawler which has departed for Gaza to challenge Israel’s siege on the impoverished Palestinian territory sails on undeterred by Tel Aviv’s warnings.
The fishing trawler “Marianne of Gothenburg” left on the nearly-5,000-nautical-mile journey from Gothenburg, Sweden on May 10. It carries solar panels and medical equipment, Danish and Norwegian members of Parliament as well as other well-known Scandinavian activists, artists, and academics.
The vessel, leading the Freedom Flotilla III, has arrived in the harbor of Copenhagen, citizen journalism website and photo agency Demotix reported on Thursday.
The campaign is a new effort to break Israel’s eight-year embargo on the enclave.
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon called the action “an unnecessary provocation,” adding that Tel Aviv would not allow what he called unauthorized boats to enter Palestinian waters.
From The Times of Israel
Obama: Prospect of two-state solution seems distant
US president insists peace vital for Israeli security, though he acknowledges ‘some folks’ in new Israeli cabinet disagree
CAMP DAVID — The United States still believes Israel’s long-term security is best served by reaching an agreement to live alongside a recognized Palestinian state, though such a deal seems a “distant” prospect at the moment, US President Barack Obama said Thursday.
Obama was speaking shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed a new right-wing ruling coalition seen as likely to further strain already damaged ties with the Palestinians.
“I continue to believe a two-state solution is absolutely vital for not only peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but for the long-term security of Israel as a democratic and Jewish state,” Obama told a Camp David news conference.
The traditionally close alliance between the United States and Israel has been damaged by disagreement over the peace process with the Palestinians and by the perception of personal animus between Obama and Netanyahu.
While both sides continue to pay public tribute to the relationship, the new Israeli government appears unlikely to make the kind of concessions needed to restart the moribund negotiations.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Canadian football player fined for anti-Semitic tweets
MONTREAL (JTA)—Canada’s professional football league has fined a player for posting anti-Semitic material on his Twitter account.
The Canadian Football League (CFL) fined U.S.-born Khalif Mitchell, a defensive lineman for the Montreal Alouettes, an undisclosed amount.
He also received the “maximum allowable” fine from his team, which signed him to a three-year contract in February.
Mitchell, 30, tweeted a link to a 2015 YouTube video called, “The Greatest Lie Ever Told — The Holocaust,” and has posted or retweeted material on ISIS.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Why ‘Mad Men’ was one of TV’s most deeply Jewish shows
AMC’s ad campaign for the second half of the final season of “Mad Men” centered on the phrase “The End of an Era.” The clever double meaning of the phrase was that this was not only the end of an era within the show, as the plot spilled into the 1970 and left the ’60s behind – it might also be the end of an era (albeit a relatively brief one) of sublime television largely ushered into existence by the success of “Mad Men.”
When the revered show airs its final episode on Sunday night, most viewers will likely be more concerned with these poignant endings – and not the fact that television is losing one of its most unexpectedly Jewish shows.
Apart from “Mad Men,” this recent so-called “Golden Age of Television” (which is more accurately the Second Golden Age, after the first golden epoch of the ’50s) has not been very Jewish.
Take any of the dramas commonly associated with television’s comeback in quality – “The Wire,” “Breaking Bad,” “Game of Thrones,” “True Detective,” “Orange is the New Black,” “The Walking Dead” – and nothing significantly Jewish comes to mind, even though many of the writers and producers are Jewish. (Comedies like “Weeds” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” have had considerable Jewish content, but it’s debatable whether they make the “Golden Age” cut.) Sure, there are two standout characters named Saul in the mix – Mandy Patinkin’s Saul Berenson on “Homeland” and Bob Odenkirk’s faux-Jewish Saul Goodman on “Breaking Bad” (and for what it’s worth, “Homeland” is a remake of the Israeli series “Prisoners of War”). But while these shows may tackle big questions in the same graceful ways as “Mad Men,” none feature consistent, standout Jewish themes.
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From Russia Today
No Ukraine for McCain: US constitution precludes senator from joining reform council
US Senator John McCain says he won’t be joining Ukraine’s International Advisory Council as the US constitution forbids it. The board, headed by Georgia’s fugitive ex-leader Mikhail Saakashvili, was created on President Poroshenko’s order.
“I was honored to be asked to join Ukraine’s International Advisory Council on Reforms, a forum for discussing ways to ensure Ukraine’s territorial integrity and security and support the country’s democratic future in the face of Russian aggression. However, under provisions of the US Constitution concerning the interaction of Members of Congress with foreign governments, I am obligated to decline the invitation,” McCain said in a statement on his website.
Honored to be invited to #Ukraine advisory grp, but unfortunately against Senate rules- always stand w/ free Ukraine!http://t.co/zZHgMKbAQL
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) May 14, 2015
The hawkish politician added he was “deeply proud to be a friend to Ukraine,” while he said he would also do his best to support the new efforts of the council. McCain has previously advocated providing Kiev with lethal aid on numerous occasions.
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From Russia Today
’Like spilled blood’: 1st ever Gaza film festival rolls out red carpet among ruins
In eastern Gaza City, among ruins and memories of war and destruction, a red carpet was laid out for a film festival on human rights. The event was held amidst rubble in the Shujaiyeh neighborhood, where some 100 Palestinians died in last year’s Gaza war.
The Karama (‘Dignity’ in Arabic) Human Rights Film Festival was the first of its kind to ever be held in Gaza – and the chosen location was just the “right place” to hold such an event, according to organizer Saud Aburamadan.
“When we were looking for locations to screen the films we arrived in Shujaiyeh in eastern Gaza City, a large part of which was turned to rubble. We stood there next to the destroyed mosque, surrounded by destroyed homes in every direction, and became clear that it was the right place to hold a film festival focused on human rights,” Aburamadan told +972 Magazine.
From The Times of Israel
For Netanyahu and Obama, mistrust is personal — and cynical
The acrimony is even now finding its way into what would normally be routine statements of friendship
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Obama administration officials have long contended that the friction between the US president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not personal and that American support for Israel remains as robust as ever — and arguably even more robust by some metrics.
But a year of tense and angry exchanges between President Barack Obama and Netanyahu has yielded an atmosphere of deep mistrust, with each side insinuating the other is acting in bad faith. Conversations with current and former officials from both countries, as well as with Jewish community sources, suggest that there is a deeply personal dimension to the mistrust, with each leader and his aides ascribing malevolent motives to the other side.
“Part of the reason there’s a presumption of bad faith is that the channels of communication aren’t working,” said Ilan Goldenberg, until last year the chief of staff on the State Department’s Middle East peace team. “When you don’t talk to the other side a lot, you assume bad faith.”
Accusations of bad faith are sharpest in conversations behind closed doors, but the acrimony has found its way into what would normally be routine statements of friendship.
Congratulating Netanyahu on May 7 on forming a new government, the White House said that it “looked forward” to discussing with Israel’s leaders “the importance of pursuing a two-state solution” — a pointed rejoinder to Netanyahu, who pledged on the eve of his reelection not to allow the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch, though he subsequently clarified that he remains committed to a two-state solution but conditions are not yet ripe for it.
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