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Cruise ship adrift with 600 Westerners onboard
A luxury cruise ship was adrift in Philippine waters on Saturday after a minor fire onboard. The blaze disabled two engines on the Azamara Quest which was carrying around 600 mostly Western tourists on a trip which started in Manila on Wednesday. Rescue vessels were dispatched to where the cruise ship, which is owned by Royal Carribean International, is located. Officials said none of the passengers were injured but one crew member was given medical treatment onboard. The ship was due to visit Malaysia and Indonesia. More about: Fire, Philippines, Tourism

Mali’s military junta given 72 hours to hand back power
Clashes broke out between rival groups in Mali’s capital Bamako on Thursday as its west African neighbours issued a 72 hour deadline for the leaders of last week’s coup d’etat to return to democracy. Supporters of the new military junta threw stones at those opposed to the suspension of civilian rule. The five regional leaders of the economic group ECOWAS threatened Mali with diplomatic isolation, a closure of trade routes and a funding freeze from the region’s central bank. The ultimatum was made after an ECOWAS delegation was prevented from landing in the Malian capital Bamako. “There will be a recall of ambassadors of our member states and a travel ban for members of the military junta and their associates within our region,” said Desire Kadre Ouedraogo, Commission President of ECOWAS. As a land-locked country, neighbours have also threatened to cut Mali off from access to the region’s seaports. Neighbours fear their countries, many of which have been victims of civil war and revolutions before, could once again become vulnerable. Junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo called on ECOWAS leaders to let Mali solve its own problems. Renegade soldiers from Mali’s military seized power on March 21st, complaining about the handling of a rebellion in the north of the country by the nomadic Tuareg tribe. More about: Clashes and riots, Coup, Mali

Rescue off UK coast, fuel leak fears grow
Pollution fears are a growing concern after a cargo ship ran aground off north Wales. A dramatic late-night rescue was carried out and the seven Polish crew members were saved. The ship remains intact after getting into difficulties near Colwyn Bay after it reportedly hit a rock. Experts fear the 40,000 litres of fuel on board may start to leak if not properly secured. Lifeboats and two helicopters battled the elements the save the crew. Despite the weather conditions, no one was injured. Forcasters at Britain’s Meteorological Office have issued severe weather warnings for parts of Scotland, northern and central England. More about: Fuel, Rescue, Shipwrecks, United Kingdom

Austerity bites deeper in Spain
Spain’s government has announced further deep budget cuts for this year in its increasingly unpopular austerity drive, one day after an anti-austerity general strike paralysed Spain. All ministries will have their spending slashed by just under 17 percent. Civil servants’ salaries will also be frozen this year and electricity prices will rise by seven percent. The tough austerity measures were demanded by Brussels to slash Madrid deficit to manageable levels. Deputy Prime Minister S??enz de Santamar?�a said: “The government is trying to put in place all the measures necessary to change the situation – to end Spain’s complicated public deficit and unemployment situation, so that we can return to growth and hire workers. “ “This government will not raise value added tax but is calling for an extra effort within corporate taxes,” she added. The austerity measures – including some announced last December – add up to 27 billion euros. Changes in taxes on personal income and company profits should increase revenues — particularly the elimination of corporate tax deductions. Madrid hopes to cut the deficit this year to 5.3 percent of GDP, the level the European Union says is needed to avoid a Greek style bailout. Last year it was 8.5 percent. There will be no changes to jobless benefits, a major expense in a country which has the highest unemployment rate in Europe with almost 24 percent of the workforce is on the dole and half of all Spaniards of working age under 25 without a job. The cuts come despite popular resistance – a general strike on Thursday disrupted transport, halted industry and on occasion erupted into violence – and against a grim economic backdrop; Spain is thought to have fallen back into recession in the first quarter of 2012. Some economists are concerned that deep austerity measures could hurt already weakened growth and further endanger the deficit targets. Total cuts of over 42 billion euros between the central administrations and the regional authorities could be tough for an economy struggling to grow, economists warn. Power shock Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria said the seven percent increase in electricity prices would help contain an accumulated 24 billion euro deficit caused by utility companies selling electricity below what it cost to produce. He said the increase would have been 30 percent if consumers alone had been required to pay to keep the “tariff deficit” within legal limits for this year, and to eliminate it next year. However utilities would also contribute by cutting costs and some extra contribution would come from the government, he said. More about: Austerity, Spain, Spanish debt, Spanish politics

Spain on strike – unions call a national stoppage against labour reform
Thursday is general strike day in Spain and night shift workers were the first to down tools. Unions have called a 24-hour walkout the day before Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announces a new round of deep budget cuts. The stoppage is against changes to workers’ rights already passed by the government. In Madrid thousands gathered hours before the start of the strike claiming the labour legislation was ‘useless inefficient and unfair’.Companies can now lay workers off, cut wages or change conditions if citing productivity reasons. The budget expected on Friday is set to feature tens of billions of euros in deficit-reduction measures. Their aim is to help Spain in its struggle to satisfy both the European Union and international investors and to avoid the need for a bailout. Early polls showed that only 30 per cent of workers would take industrial action but an electoral setback last Sunday for the ruling People’s Party could encourage more to participate. More about: Austerity, Mariano Rajoy, Spain, Strike

Is the European Commission just another red tape brigade in the EU?
Alex Taylor “We all hate annoying bureaucracy and a mindless filling out of useless forms, whether it be on paper or on the net. Is the European Commission doing anything to reduce red tape from our daily lives or is it part of the problem? Here to answer your questions is the EU Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??. Did I pronounce your name right?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “Perfect, very good, very good pronunciation.” Alex Taylor: “You say Maro??….?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “Cheftchovitch” Alex Taylor: “Cheftchovitch. OK right. You’re ready to answer our citizens’ questions?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “Absolutely, yes.” Alex Taylor: “First question to you from Rafael.” “I want to know why the administration is so burdened with paperwork. There’s so much of it in relation to the administration; unemployment, the school enrolment of children…. there’s just too much! There are plenty of Municipalities, lots of jurisdictions, regional and federal and it’s very difficult to understand it all here in Brussels.” Alex Taylor: “We all thought that the internet was going to make things much easier, less paper and so forth. It’s not the case, why?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “Not always but I have to agree with our citizen here that sometimes we still have overlapping competencies, especially between the local and national level and sometimes even the European one.” Alex Taylor: “Can’t you do anything about that?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “Yes of course. I think when I was in Westminster we had a discussion how on we could reduce the bureaucracy and there was a suggestion that we should use the British approach: one directive in and one out. I said that we could have an even better approach: let’s put 27 national laws in and replace them with one European law.” Alex Taylor: “Haven’t we already been down that road?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “I think that this is a concept that we have to follow in the future because we can use European laws to replace most of the national laws and to use e-government much better than we do right now and I’m sure that the citizens would appreciate that.” Alex Taylor: “Well good luck on imposing that on the government. Second question from Alain.” “My name is Alain, I am Belgian. I would like to ask the following question: all European states have been requested by the European Commission to make serious efforts to reduce public spending, particularly in terms of operating costs and personnel costs. I wonder if the European authorities are ready to make the same effort? Thank you.” Alex Taylor: “Do you practice what you preach Mr ?�ef??ovi??? I mean the European Commission last year asked for a 4.9% increase in its budget.” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “Yes and you know why? Because 94% of our budget goes back to the member states. So actually now we have a big problem with unpaid receipts because we knew that in December we would receive the invoices coming from the member states for good executions of the program.” Alex Taylor: “Yes that’s true but all psychologically when you ask everybody else to make reductions….” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “I think we would really appreciate the help of the media and also the help of national politicians, to explain why we are asking for the 4.6% increase, because now we have a complaint from the national government that, ‘how come the receipts cannot be paid?’ When actually, by the end of the year we will be short by 11 billion euros, which we have to pay back to the member states. “But I think that the question the gentleman was asking about is what we do in the administration, how big an effort we show. I think that the very important thing to underline is that the administrative budget is only less than 6% of the overall budget, so 94% goes back to the member states. But nevertheless we appreciate how important this is and what I have suggested is a 5% cut in the personnel. I have also suggested prolonging working hours without pay increases and increasing the pension age – all the measures which are actually taking place on a national level as well.” Alex Taylor: “OK let’s have a third question here on I talk and it’s from Ignacio Martin.” “Good morning. My name is Ignacio Martin, I??�m Spanish. I would like to ask the Commissioner: about the possibility of improving the integration of the administrative systems on a European level, so that relations between the European citizens will be easier and the bureaucratic barriers between us can be reduced. Thank you very much.” Alex Taylor: “It’s what you were saying before Commissioner. Are some countries simply more bureaucratic than others?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “I think yes but I wouldn’t like to make some kind of comment.” Alex Taylor: “Come on, name names! Which ones? Are the Latin ones more bureaucratic than the Nordic ones?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “I think it really depends. I would base my evaluation on the efficiency of the administration and then you really see… Alex Taylor interrupts: “How do you measure that? In terms of public happiness?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “No, I would say that there are models where we can measure the efficiency or the capacity of administrations in the member states. Really I’m very close to them but there is the Greek administration, Italian administration, I also have to say the Slovakian administration, which is a surprise for me being from this country. Usually you have quite efficient administrations from Sweden, Denmark and from the countries….” Alex Taylor: “So you do you have their names?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “Yes, so you do see very good models and we can see the models where really we can improve things.” Alex Taylor: “Ok. Well Sophie from Belgium has a question which is particularly close to your heart. Listen.” “Hello my name is Sophie, I come from Brussels and I have a question for you Mr Commissioner: in relation to the European citizens’ initiative, if we reach one million signatures, how can we be certain of the real impact, in relation to decisions taken in Europe?” Alex Taylor: “Now this is something we are going to hear about more and more. A million citizens, it was in the Lisbon Treaty – if they sign from different countries on a particular initiative, then the European Commission must take notice of it but will it translate into acts?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “I think it will very much depend of course on the subjects of such initiatives because it’s quite clear that if one million citizens push for something it’s quite clear they are setting the agenda for the political debates and for the very serious exchange of views on this particular topic. What we have to do after one million signatures are collected is to organise a hearing together with the European parliament, to look at the proposal from all aspects and then the European Commission has to adopt the communication that clearly states what we are going to do. Are we going to legislate? Which I’m sure in many cases, will be the case. Or, do we need some kind of further information or impact assessment?” Alex Taylor: “So you have to answer every initiative, that’s a yes or no?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “We answer every initiative which passes the threshold of one million validated signatures.” Alex Taylor: “OK right, let’s have a final question on I talk for the Commissioner.” “Hello, my name is Tabata and I’m Belgian. We often hear about male/female parity and so I was wondering if within the European Commission, you enforce these laws?” Alex Taylor: “It’s quite fair in the European Commission, I’ve had a look, a similar number of men and women. How about generally in the administration? It’s much more tilted towards men.” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “I think that when we started with equal opportunities policies within the European Commission there were a very low number of women working at the executive or management positions, therefore we adopted the strategy on how to significantly improve the situation. By 2014, we would like to have 25% of senior managers to be women, we would like to have 30% of the Commission’s managers to be women and we want more than 43% of the executive officials to be women. Today, this morning I had a staff forum with our officials and I was presenting the latest figures and I am absolutely sure that we are going to exceed the numbers because today, they are very very close to these targets.” Alex Taylor: “Just a general question about administration, is there such a thing as a European Ombudsman? Somebody who people can complain to if they find they’re not happy with a particular form of bureaucracy?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “There is Mr Diamandouros and he is a very active ombudsman and he’s my very close partner in sorting out the different kinds of cases of maladministration.” Alex Taylor: “ He presents things to you and you act on them?” Maro?? ?�ef??ovi??: “Yes, he presents things to us and he’s very persistent I can assure you, so we have to respond to any requests he presents to us. We are always trying to sort things out in a mutual, forthcoming way and he also presents regular reports to the European Parliament on how we co-operate and on how happy he is with our co-operation.” Alex Taylor: “Mr ?�ef??ovi??, thank you very much indeed for having answered our questions. We’ll see you next time for another subject on I talk.” More about: EU Commission, European Union

Bin Laden relatives sentenced to jail in Pakistan
Three widows and two daughters of Osama Bin Laden have been sentenced to 45 days in a Pakistani jail. The five women have been found guilty of staying in the country illegally. However, they will only spend another 14 days behind bars, due to time already served since their detention on March 3. They were also fined around 80 euros each. After finishing their jail-time, the women will be deported to their home countries. It is believed the three widows are from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Following a 10-year manhunt, the head of al-Qaeda was shot and killed last May, as American special forces stormed his compound in Abbottabad, just over 60 kilometres from Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. Bin Laden’s body was buried at sea within 24 hours of his death. More about: Justice, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan

Satellite images show North Korea ‘rocket site’
New satellite images emerged on Friday that appeared to show preparations beginning for North Korea’s long-range rocket launch. The image from a privately operated satellite was taken Wednesday at the site where North Korea says it plans to launch the rocket next month. North Korea says it wants to fire an observation satellite into orbit. The U.S. says it is a cover to test long-range missile technology. The reclusive state is now led by Kim Jong Un, who took power after his father Kim Jong Il died in December. More about: Diplomatic tension, Japan, North Korea, USA

European supply ship docks with ISS
An unmanned European robotic supply ship has docked with the International Space Station in the first such mission since the shuttle retired.The spacecraft carried more than seven tons of supplies including food, and oxygen. It will eventually be filled with rubbish and sent off in a destructive plunge back through the Earth’s atmosphere. More about: Europe, European Space Agency, France, ISS, Space mission