Greece Looks to Spin Off Part of State Power Firm

ATHENS—Greece's government is drafting plans to split up the country's state-owned power company, a move it hopes will breathe new life into a stuttering privatization program while addressing creditor demands for a radical overhaul of the economy.

According to senior government officials, the plan calls for spinning off roughly one-third of Greece's Public Power Corp., or PPC—the country's one-time monopoly power producer and still dominant market participant—and selling it to private investors. The government would also seek a strategic investor for the slimmed down parent company, which would remain under state control.

GREECE: Clashes in Athens as protesters break into govt. building (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Austerity enraged protesters broke into a government building and threatened the labor minister, Wednesday. Riot police then intervened with tear gas, batons and pepper spray, with one person taken to hospital.

 

The protest, by a few hundred people, was organized by a Communist backed labor union, and took place in front of the Labor Ministry building. 

At least one person was hospitalized and two others collapsed from the effects of pepper spray and were treated at the scene by other protesters. The government said damage was caused inside the office of minister Yianni Vroutsi and threats had been made against the minster himself.

 

Over 30 protesters were detained and scuffles broke out when the crowd outside attempted to stop the bus taking them to police headquarters from leaving. Some of the protesters followed on foot and continued their demonstration outside the police station.

“Violence in all its forms must be condemned, not only in words but also by actions. The raid on the office of the labour minister, the material destruction and the threats against Yianni Vroutsi are practices which aim to dynamite the political climate at a very critical time for the country," government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told reporters.

Union members involved were protesting planned reforms to the pension system – part of the latest spending cuts in the Greek bailout program.

 

Other spending cuts that took affect this year include a 25% cut in the incomes of most civil servants.

Public transport workers and hospital doctors are to hold a 24 hour strike in Athens on Thursday, while dockers and port workers will also stage a 48 hour walkout, which will leave the many Greek islands without crucial ferry services.

 

In return for these handouts the Greek government has had to impose a raft of stringent austerity measures, including spending and salary cuts and tax hikes. Unemployment in Greece has spiraled to more than 26%. 

The government response to recent protests in Greece has been heavy handed and is part of a deliberate zero tolerance campaign by the authorities in Athens, lawyer and professor of constitutional law, George Katrougalas, told RT.

“The government has decided to follow a policy of zero tolerance against, as it says, the resistance to the austerity measures. So we have seen the government take emergency measures that are not constitutional, against the recent strikes. Now we have seen the police act very violently against a generally peaceful and calm demonstration,” he said.

Robert Swartz - The father of information activist Aaron Swartz: Aaron was killed by the government

The father of information activist Aaron Swartz blames US prosecutors for his son’s death, RT’s Andrew Blake reports from an emotional Tuesday morning funeral outside of Chicago.

 

Aaron Swartz, 26, was found dead on Friday of a reported suicide. Swartz had been instrumental in designing software that aimed to make the Internet easy and open for everyone, and also co-founded both Reddit.com and Demand Progress — one of the most visited sites on the Web and an highly touted activism organization, respectively.

But while friends, family and loved ones recalled Swartz’ compassion for technology and his utter selflessness during Tuesday’s service, those in attendance did not shy away from acknowledging the tremendous legal trouble that plagued the activist in recent years.

In 2011, federal prosecutors charged Swartz with a series of counts under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, crimes that could have sent him away to prison for upwards of 35 years if convicted. Swartz, said the government, entered a building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and downloaded millions of academic and scholarly papers from the service JSTOR with presumably the intent of distributing them for free.

“Aaron did not commit suicide but was killed by the government,” Robert Swartz said during Tuesday’s service at the Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois. “Someone who made the world a better place was pushed to his death by the government.”

During the funeral, which lasted little less than 90 minutes, phrases such as “Googled,” “Anonymous,” “hackers” and “the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act” were spoken so nonchalantly it was as if including them in the service was simply to be expected. Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, Swartz’s partner, said amidst laughter and tears that one of her fondest memories of Aaron as of late was an early-morning moment from only weeks earlier when he insisted she help him spend hours analyzing an advanced algebraic math equation he was determined to solve.

In her eulogy as well as those offered by others, the take-away by and large was that Swartz, to the ones closest to the computer genius, was adamant on social change.

“Aaron meant more to our people than I think anyone else we know,” said Stinebrickner-Kauffman, who met Swartz through a tight-knit circle of activists from New England.

“Aaron wanted so badly to change the world,” she said, more so than acquiring wealth or fame.

Despite those intentions though, loved ones said the looming possibility of a felony conviction complicated matters for Swartz since his indictment in 2011.

“He was so tired” in recent weeks, Stinebrickner-Kauffman recalled. “He said to me, ‘Am I always going to feel that way?’”

With Swartz’ passing, though, his partner said it was now up to his colleagues and peers to push forward with the advocacy that Aaron was so incredibly passionate about.

“There’s nothing Aaron would want more than for us to take this moment and change the world,” she said, calling for the community Swartz was a part of to continue rallying for justice without him. If the community can combine forces and further his advocacy, she said, “prosecutors can stop going after innocent young people” like Aaron.

Elsewhere during her eulogy, Stinebrickner-Kauffman spoke harshly of the Massachusetts attorney general that filed charges against Swartz, as well as the institution that some say could have stopped the federal government from following up with the hacking case but did not.

That “false characterization” spearheaded by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, said Swartz’ dad, was likely the cause of his son’s death. Whereas the public applauds computer icons like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as visionaries, Robert Swartz said his son was much more innocent in the eyes of the world at large, just not the federal government.

Before his days with Apple, recalled Mr. Swartz, Jobs and his business partner Steve Wozniak “used to criminally defraud the phone company” by selling small “blue box” devices that allowed anyone in the country to conduct long-distance calls for free. Gates’ development of Microsoft’s BASIC, Swartz said, was “sketchy” at best.

“These are people who are lionized,” he said, and “treated like idols in our culture.”

“How is that Aaron did something that legally wasn’t illegal — and he was destroyed by it,” he asked.

Mr. Swartz also had harsh words for MIT, who, unlike JSTOR, was relentless in their pursuit of the alleged criminal hacker.

“We tried and tried to get MIT to help and show compassion,” he said, but “their institutional concerns were more important than compassion.”

Following Swartz’ passing, members of the hacktivist group Anonymous gained unauthorized access to MIT’s servers and posted a tribute that was cited during Tuesday’s service, which also included eulogies from some of the most respected figures of Internet culture.

Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist responsible for developing the World Wide Web, called Aaron Swartz “an elder” of the computer and information community during the funeral. When Berners-Lee first met Swartz, the young prodigy was all of 14 years old.

“I have not met anyone else so ethical,” Berners-Lee said. “He knew by writing code . . . he could change the world.”

“Up until the end, he was fighting for right,” he said.

Lawrence Lessig, an academic and political activist who knew Aaron Swartz for over a decade, called the government’s attempt to prosecute his friend pointless and an example of “idiocy” during the service. Elliot Peters, Swartz’ attorney in the JSTOR case, said his client’s peers are now without someone whose “passion for freedom and fairness” and a “mistrust for power” was unmatched. Peters echoed that same mistrust in his eulogy, which condemned the federal prosecutors that he suggested were at least partially responsible in his client’s death.

“Aaron, sadly, provided them the opportunity to make a case,” he said. “Something they could brag about.”

“They didn’t care who Aaron really was, or what he was doing,” Peters said. Meanwhile, he considered Swartz a“young, diminutive and oh so brilliant client” and compared his advocacy against the government to that of the American patriots during the US revolution.

“Aaron still lives as a voice for good,” his father said as the ceremony neared ending. “He spent his short life selflessly trying to make the world a better place for everyone.”

“Selfless” was an adjective used countless times during the funeral by several persons who cited Swartz’ insistence on putting others first as perhaps his most powerful trait.

“Your grief should not be equal to his work, because then your sorrow will never end,” Peters said at one point to quote Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

“As much as we despair, and we all do, we must know that we do all change the world. And we must never stop,” Mr. Swartz said before the ceremony concluded.

Memorial services for Swartz across the country are currently being planned. Hundreds are expected to gather in New York City later this week for a tribute planned in Times Square.

MOZILLA vs. SECRET INTERNET TREATY - Silicon Valley’s Mozilla now officially opposes the ITU

 

Add another name to the list of critics concerned with attempts to rewrite the International Telecommunication Union to give governments control of the Internet: Silicon Valley’s Mozilla now officially opposes the ITU.

Mozilla, the makers of the highly successful Firefox Web browser for Macs, PCs and smart phones, have come out to condemn a top-secret meeting in Dubai this week that could lead to changes with how the world is wired to the Internet.

The details of the closed-door discussions being held between members of the United Nation’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) this week in the United Arab Emirates remains a secret, and that’s exactly why Mozilla is speaking up. In a plea posted on Mozilla.org, the developers write, “The issue isn't whether our governments, the UN or even the ITU should play a role in shaping the Web. The problem is that they are trying to do it behind closed doors, in secret, without us.”

“The Web lets us speak out, share and connect around the things that matter. It creates new opportunities, holds governments to account, breaks through barriers and makes cats famous. This isn't a coincidence. It's because the Web belongs to all of us,” insists Mozilla. “We all get a say in how it's built.”

Now in order to raise awareness of what the WCIT can do by rewriting the ITU, Mozilla has released an “Engagement Kit” in order to get people around the globe talking about what could happen to the Web without their input ever being considered.

“Mozilla has made it our mission to keep the power of the web in people's hands,” the developers say.

Mozilla now joins a list of major Internet names opposed to the ITU talks, which in recent days has added both Vint Cerf and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, two computer scientists widely regarded as instrumental figures as far as getting the world online goes.

Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, spoke openly against the ITU just recently while attending the WCIT, warning that rewriting the international treaty to put Internet regulation in the hands of government is not just unnecessary, but would cause a “disruptive threat to the stability” of the Internet as we know it.

"A lot of concerns I've heard from people have been that, in fact, countries that want to be able to block the Internet and give people within their country a 'secure' view of what's out there would use a treaty at the ITU as a mechanism to do that, and force other countries to fall into line with the blockages that they wanted to put in place,” Berners-Lee said.

Leaked documents from the WCIT meeting suggest that shot-callers from across the globe have floated the idea of adopting a new standard for the Internet that will implement deep packet inspection, or DPI, essentially allowing all traffic sent across the Web to be reviewed by a governing body.

“It’ll be the biggest power grab in the UN’s history, as well as a perversion of its power,” blogger Arthur Herman wrote of the proposal.

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Greek MPs allowed to carry guns in Parliament

Last week two MPs from Greece's ultra-nationalist party attempted to enter the Greek Parliament carrying guns, but were ejected. Now the Minister of Public Order has confirmed that MPs may carry guns in Parliament providing they hold a legal gun licence.

Eight of the eighteen Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi) members of Parliament hold gun licences. Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias has confirmed that all MPs are allowed to carry licenced guns without restriction. Ekathimerini reported Dendias said: "The admission and movement of all deputies is conducted without restriction the House."

According to Business Insider two Golden Dawn deputies were recently ejected from Parliament after metal detectors revealed they were carrying firearms. Following the incident the IB Times reported House Speaker Vangelis Meimarakis proposed stricter rules regarding carrying firearms in Parliament should be introduced.

Dendias has now concluded that MPs, police and the personal guards of the prime minister and high-ranking members of Parliament may carry licenced weapons in Parliament, whilst others attempting to enter Parliament with licenced weapons may be requested to turn their firearms over to security staff, depending on the level of risk.

Offices of the Golden Dawn have recently been subjected to firebomb attacks, for which the Anti-Fascist Front has claimed responsibility.

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Britain will change laws of succession to the Throne, ending discrimination against women and Catholics

The British Government will introduce legislation to change the rules of succession to the throne, ending the rule of male primogeniture and the ban on members of the royal family marrying Catholics.

The British Government is to introduce legislation “at the earliest opportunity” to change the rules of succession to the throne by abolishing the principle of male primogeniture and removing the 300 year-old ban on members of the royal family marrying Catholics.

Deputy-Prime Minister Nick Clegg made the announcement on December 4. He revealed that the British Government has received the unanimous; final consent of the Governments of the 15 other Commonwealth nations to press ahead with the legislation that would end both the discrimination against women in the line of succession to the British throne, and the prohibition on members of the royal family marrying Catholics.

He said that the British government would introduce the Succession to the Crown Bill to the House of Commons as soon as the parliamentary schedule permits.  It would be introduced at the earliest possible opportunity. 

The proposed change would mean that the first-born child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who on December 3 announced they were expecting a baby, will become third-in-line to the throne after Prince Charles and Prince William, regardless of whether it is a boy or a girl.

Under current legislation, male heirs take precedence over women in the line of succession even if the women were born first.  Queen Elizabeth II was able to succeed to the throne because she did not have any brothers.

At the October 2011 meeting of the heads of Government of the 16 Commonwealth nations where the Queen is head of State, which was held in Perth, Australia, it was agreed in principle that this discrimination based on gender was unfair and should be changed, as should the law barring members of the royal family from marrying Catholics.

The proposed new legislation would make it possible for members of the royal family to marry Catholics without losing their chance to succeed to the British throne. It should be noted, however, that the monarch cannot be a Catholic.

Ever since the 1701 Act of Settlement, British monarchs  were barred from converting to the Roman Catholic faith and were expressly forbidden from marrying a Roman Catholic, whether British or foreign-born. If they did so, the Act said, they "should be excluded” and “made forever incapable to inherit or enjoy the Crown and Government of this realm". The purpose of that Act of Settlement was to guarantee that British monarchs should continue to follow the established Church of England.

Last year, the British Prime Minister’s office explained that changing the rules of succession to the throne would be a "difficult and complex matter", as parallel legislation is required in all the 16 states of the Commonwealth. These are the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Granada, Jamaica, St Christopher and Nevis, St Lucia, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Papua New Guinea.  They will all have to pass the new legislation, but their assent is now assured after the October 2011 meeting.

In addition to all that parallel legislative process, the new legislation will also involve amendments to some of Britain's key constitutional documents, such as the Bill of Rights and Coronation Oath Act of 1688, the 1701 Act of Settlement and the 1706 Act of Union with Scotland.

It is understood that the proposed legislation will take effect from 28 October 2011, the date the Commonwealth Governments agreed in principle to the plans for change. It will not be retroactive.  This means it will take effect for the children of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and from then on.

Likewise, starting from that date too, members of the royal family who marry a Catholic will be able to succeed to the throne.

“This s a historic moment for our country and our monarchy”, Mr. Clegg stated. But the royal historian, Robert Lacey, cast a note of caution, saying, “We know that the wishes of politicians are written in water.  Law only becomes law when the law is made — and the law has not been made!"

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