Lakes Balaton and Neusiedl, Hungary Hungary - May 8th, 2012 Visible in the lower half of this image is the light greenish-blue Lake Balaton, a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and the canalized Sió is the only outflow. The region by the northern shores is mountainous, while the land by the southern shores is flat. Visible to its northwest is the tan Lake Neusiedl, the second largest steppe lake in Central Europe, straddling the Austrian–Hungarian border.
What The World Can Learn From Iceland's Default Model What The World Can Learn From Iceland's Default Model The Icelandic Model of Handling Debt Crises Iceland did something right in the credit crisis, perhaps offering lessons both for Greece and Occupy Wall Street protesters The latest euro rescue plan lurched into crisis this week after the Greek prime minister decided to put the package to a popular vote. This unexpected gesture of independence “sent tremors through Europe’s financial markets,” according to The New York Times, and “hammered” U.S. markets, “showing once again how the domestic politics of even the smallest members of the European Union can create troubles” beyond all proportion. The panic over Greece, of course, is panic over the euro. Two years on, Iceland’s economy is recovering, while Greece and Ireland and other euro-zone members struggle with huge taxpayer-funded bank bailouts and austerity measures that will probably fail to create jobs. Private bankers in Iceland piled up mountains of risky debt in the heady days of cheap money after 2001 — like bankers did around the world. [class name="dont_print_this"]
La croissance, la croissance… et la décroissance ? - Idées Suivez-nous aussi sur : Il y a un mois, nous faisions le constat dans cette émission qu’après avoir été quelque peu mise de côté, crise et austérité obligent, la croissance était de nouveau à la mode. Mieux : revendiquée par l’ensemble des décideurs, qu’ils soient politiques ou économiques. Croissance par la relance de la demande, par une politique de l’offre, par la poursuite des efforts budgétaires : tous ne mettaient certes pas la même chose derrière ce mot valise, mais tous en parlaient désormais comme d’une évidence. Christian Arnsperger et Philippe Aghion J Gacon©Radio France A la suite de cette émission, un de nos auditeurs (il se reconnaîtra sans doute) postait un commentaire sur notre site. Les temps semblent avoir radicalement changé depuis. La croissance, la croissance…et la décroissance ? Et le contrepoint de Julie Gacon.
British and French still worst at foreign languages - France - Europe Tests in 14 countries of the 27 EU countries showed only 42 per cent of teenage pupils competent in a first foreign language and just one out of four able to converse in a second foreign language, a the European Commission report showed. "We must do more to improve the teaching and learning of languages," said education commissioner Androulla Vassiliou. "Being able to communicate in a foreign language broadens your horizons and opens doors." The worst offenders are in Britain, where only nine percent of teenagers are competent in French, followed by France, where just 14 per cent of students of English can hold their own in a conversation. However Malta and Sweden score well. Its thought this was partly due to the fact that Russian and German were no longer compulsory in schools in central and eastern Europe. The five most widely spoken foreign languages remain English at 38 per cent, French at 12 per cent, German at 11, Spanish with seven per cent and Russian at five per cent.
Hollande's jobs strategy challenged by transport authority's call centre relocation - Analysis: France The mainstream right-wing opposition UMP and the far-right Front National are crying “hypocrite” over the decision by the Ile de France regional transport network, Stif, to switch its customer relations helpline to a call centre in Morocco. Stif is the public transport network covering Paris and the surrounding region, with a population of over 12 million people. Webhelp, the company that has run the line up until now, did so from two call centres, one in Fontenay-le-Comte in the western Vendée region, the other in Saint-Avold in Moselle near the German border. It provided work for 80 of the 200 employees at the two sites, it says. Many companies, including Webhelp, operate call centres in French-speaking countries like Morocco where labour is cheaper, just as British and American helplines are often run from India or other former British colonies. The UMP, which is struggling to recover from presidential and parliamentary election defeats, has seized on the bad news.
Plan C AGENDA :- 20/2/2011, Six-Fours, avec Culture Libre : "le tirage au sort comme bombe politiquement durable contre l'oligarchie". Vidéo.- 26/2/2011, Paris, Repaire de Là-bas si j'y suis (20e), "Centralité du tirage au sort dans une vraie démocratie". Enregistrement mp3.- 9/4/2011, Paris, Repaire de Là-bas si j'y suis (20e), "L'enjeu de la souveraineté monétaire". - 24/4/2011, Marseille : "1. L'enjeu de la création monétaire" (1 h), puis "2. le tirage au sort comme bombe politiquement durable contre l'oligarchie" (1 h 30).
A Fat Cat Explains Basic Economics Zillionaire venture capitalist Nick Hanauer says his marginal propensity to consume is lower than mine: Since 1980, the share of the nation’s income for fat cats like me in the top 0.1 percent has increased a shocking 400 percent, while the share for the bottom 50 percent of Americans has declined 33 percent. At the same time, effective tax rates on the superwealthy fell to 16.6 percent in 2007....In my case, that means that this year, I paid an 11 percent rate on an eight-figure income. The rest is worth a read. (Via Jared Bernstein.)
Hollande slumps in polls ... and it could get worse - Analysis: France The number of people unhappy with Hollande’s performance rose 11 per cent in September to 56 per cent, according to an Ifop opinion poll published in the Journal du Dimanche on Sunday, confirming a slide in popularity that was already apparent. It’s not the biggest drop of any president ever – Charles De Gaulle did worse after agreeing to quit Algeria and so did Jacques Chirac in 2005 after a referendum rejected the European constitutional treaty he and most of the political establishment had supported. But it’s not good news for a president whose principal weapon in the fight to be elected was widespread disillusion with his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy. The government can’t gain much comfort from the performance of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, either. Hollande on Saturday appealed to be “judged on results” and ministers have pleaded for time to tackle an economic crisis they insist was not of their making. That will mean cuts and tax rises. Green Euro-MP Daniel Cohn-Bendit agrees.
New look at human fossil suggests Eastern Europe was an important pathway in evolution A fossilized bone fragment found buried deep in the soil of a Serbian cave is causing scientists to reconsider what happened during a critical period in human development, when the strands of modern humanity were still coming together. The partial lower jaw, originally unearthed in 2006, could at first only be established to be older than 130,000 years. Evidence suggested it could be much older, but no one could prove it until now. The fragment is now securely dated to be at least 397,000 years old and could even be older than 525,000 years. They worked with partners from France, England and Serbia, including Dušan Mihailović of the University of Belgrade. "This is opening up the window to study eastern Europe as an important place in human evolution. The electron spin resonance analysis was carried out in Rink's laboratory and at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor.