The purpose of this inform is to clarify the method used to identify and quantify the progress made by the Latin American and Caribbean region and the challenges that remain to be met. The analysis also looks at the differences across countries in terms of their chances of attaining the Millennium Development Goals, and, wherever possible, the differences between trends in various segments of the population (classified by gender, ethnic group, age group, place of residence and income stratum) as a means of helping to pinpoint the areas in which efforts must be redoubled in order to ensure that advances are of benefit to all. This is supplemented by an integrated analysis of macroeconomic (including fiscal) factors as they relate to the Goal of eradicating poverty.
The disengagement plan is the focus of public debate in Israel, with attention centered on questions of implementation: will the prime minister overcome the internal political problems and deflect attempts to scuttle the plan? How violent will the reaction of the settlers and their supporters be to the evacuation process? Will there be a significant level of refusal to obey orders in the IDF? Will the disengagement plan be implemented under fire from the Palestinians? These and other related issues are important, but they pale in significance compared with the main question: what will Israel face the day after the disengagement? Will it have embarked on a route to reconcilement with the Palestinians and a solution to - or at least a moderation of - the decades-long conflict, or not?
A London morning that began tinged with joy and incredulity at victory in securing the Olympic Games was plunged into horrified disbelief as explosives tore through the underground arteries of the city, bringing death and dismay where, a few hours earlier, there had been celebration.
"It is important that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world."
"We condemn utterly these barbaric attacks. We send our profound condolences to the victims and their families. All of our countries have suffered from the impact of terrorism. Those responsible have no respect for human life. We are united in our resolve to confront and defeat this terrorism that is not an attack on one nation, but on all nations and on civilised people everywhere."
EU Action Plan against Terrorism on the recommendation to the European Council and to the Council on the EU anti-terrorism Action Plan
Map and Chronology of London Bombs
The Council adopted a Declaration condemning the terrorist attacks on London: “The Council of the European Union condemns the terrorist attacks on London. Considers that the attacks are an affront to universal values on which the European Union is based.”
Economic policy in the euro area pursues the objectives of achieving solid economic growth, a better performance of labour markets and restoring sound public finances in the context of a single monetary policy which aims at maintaining price stability. Although inflation has remained just above the ECB’s definition of price stability, longer-term inflation expectations remain firmly anchored to price stability. However, progress towards the other goals has been disappointing thus far partly owing to adverse shocks such as higher oil prices or exchange rate shifts. On unchanged policies and with population ageing the euro area’s potential output growth is set to decelerate over the next decades and eventually stabilises at around one per cent per annum by about 2020
Concerns over Islamic extremism, extensive in the West even before this month's terrorist attacks in London, are shared to a considerable degree by the publics in several predominantly Muslim nations surveyed. Nearly three-quarters of Moroccans and roughly half of those in Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia see Islamic extremism as a threat to their countries. At the same time, most Muslim publics are expressing less support for terrorism than in the past. Confidence in Osama bin Laden has declined markedly in some countries and fewer believe suicide bombings that target civilians are justified in the defense of Islam. (Pew Global Attitudes)
The UK’s armed forces and police have gained invaluable experience and expertise in counterterrorism through three decades of involvement in the effort to suppress terrorism in Northern Ireland and its overspill into the British mainland. It is hardly surprising that this understandable preoccupation with terrorism related to Northern Ireland diverted the attention of Britain’s intelligence agencies away from international terrorism. Until 7 July 2005 the only significant international terrorist attack on the UK homeland which MI5 and MI6 and the police had to deal with was the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988, but once the US and UK authorities had completed their investigation of the Lockerbie bombing and indicted two Libyan agents in 1991, British counter-terrorism efforts were almost entirely concentrated on the IRA’s bombing campaign, and then, in the late 1990s, on combating the hard-line opponents of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement who continued to employ terrorism.
The information presented in this dossier provides a unique insight into the human consequences of the US-led invasion of Iraq. War has many costs – social, economic, and political. But the loss of life and limb is the most immediate and profound cost. This dossier focuses on the 67,365 civilians (most of them Iraqi citizens) who have been reported killed or wounded during the first two years of the ongoing conflict, up to 19 March 2005.
The Iraqi Constitutional Drafting Commission has formed six subcommittees to draft the various sections of the text. One of those subcommittees is devoted to the second chapter of the constitution, focusing on rights, freedoms, and duties. The various subcommittees will each complete a section of the draft; an additional subcommittee is working to coordinate among the groups. Thus, this draft bill of rights is not only rough but also preliminary: it has not yet been formally approved by the Commission.
This Standard Eurobarometer was carried out between 9 May and 14 June 2005 in a European context that was both eventful and tense. Although the results of the various ratification processes, either through parliament or via a referendum, have varied from one country to another, this Eurobarometer, in line with the post French and Dutch referenda studies, shows that European citizens are today more critical in their analysis of the European Union, without however calling into question either their membership of the European Union or European construction itself. Nevertheless, certain indicators reveal significant changes since the last Eurobarometer survey (autumn 2004) and highlight just how necessary it is to bring European citizens and the European institutions closer together.
"The leadership of Oglaigh nah Eireann has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign. This will take effect from 4pm this afternoon. All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever…."
Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern have released a joint statement welcoming the IRA’s announcement to end its armed campaign. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. They said: “The two Governments are commited to its full implementation. It is our intention to work closely in partnership to grasp this opportunity to inject renewed momentum into the process”.
