Spain Unemployment rate Hits 27% this quarter 2013

Spain's unemployment rate records highest this month which is 27.2% of the workforce in the first quarter. Over six million people are unemployed now shows the record. 

The figure underlines the country's struggle to escape from an economic crisis which began in 2008.
Big demonstration in Madrid is showing up against the austerity measures.

The Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is going to uncover the fiscal and policy measure aiming to halt recession in Spain which is the fourth largest economy in Eurozone.

IMF forecasts the growth of the country to be in 2013 is 1.5% and the unemployment would be 27% in last week.

The number of Jobless is the highest now in Spain since 1976.

European nations interested investing in shipping, pharma, jute in Bangladesh: demands changes of investment rules.

The European Union countries want to invest in Bangladesh’s shipping, pharmaceuticals and jute sectors, but demand changes to some rules and regulations to ensure a good return of their investment.
“We have put forward a set of suggestions about changing some laws and regulations so the EU investors get interested in Bangladesh,” EU Ambassador William Hanna told reporters after a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday.

Five ambassadors of EU countries accompanied Hanna at the meeting.
Finance Minister told the reporters that the EU investors cannot come to Bangladesh due to the prevailing political turmoil.

The finance minister said he has assured the ambassadors that the unrest will end soon.
Hanna said the EU is a very important trading partner for Bangladesh as the country exports more to the European bloc than any other part of the world.
Muhith said a committee has been formed to remove the obstacles to attracting foreign direct investment.

He said the proposals made by the EU ambassadors will be sent to the committee.
“I have told them [the EU envoys] that we are providing some protection measures for our domestic industries for their expansion. But such measures will not continue for long and will be withdrawn after a certain period.”

Currently many EU products do not have access to Bangladesh as the same pharmaceutical products coming from a country beyond agreement do not get entry into Bangladesh. The EU envoys proposed easing such barriers.
The EU investors also want to invest in jute, education, health care and shipping sectors, they said.

No Blasphemy law is needed in Bangladesh: PM Sheikh Hasina

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday firmly rejected the Islamists’ demand for a blasphemy law to punish those who defame Islam and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

In an interview with the BBC World, she said that there are already laws and ways to protect the religious rights of people.
“They have demanded it. Actually, we don’t have any plan [to bring in the law]. We don’t need it. They should know that existing laws are enough,” Hasina said.
“This country is a secular democracy. So each and every religion has the right to be practised freely and fairly. But it is not fair to hurt anybody’s religious feelings. We always try to protect every religious sentiment.”
The prime minister’s remarks came barely two days after Hefajat-e Islam, a Chittagong-based Islamist group, held a huge rally in the capital’s Motijheel and called for the death penalty for those “guilty of blasphemy”.
The Islamists also claimed the government declare the Ahmadiyyas non-Muslim, demolish all sculptures in the capital, ban free mixing of men and women, and tussle women policy and education policy.
PM said, “We will go through all the demands and then we will see. If there is any reasonable one, we will fulfil. If it is not reasonable or not suitable for our country or society we will not accept it.”
Commenting on the criticism that her government is talking about secularism, and yet at the same time it’s showing a softer attitude towards the Islamists, she told BBC Bangla, “Secularism doesn’t mean religionlessness.
“Secularism means equal rights and dignity of every religion. However, it doesn’t mean someone can write anything about any religion. The critics are not doing the right thing.”
Talking about the fear of Jamaat-Shibir involvement in Hefajat’s long march on Saturday, Hasina noted that a delegation of BNP-Jamaat-led 18-party alliance took the stage and extended its support. “The fear was not baseless.”
She, however, thanked Hefajat for going back after the rally. “They did not walk into the trap of Jamaat.”

Hefajat-e Islam has taken centre stage in recent days as an opposite force to the Shahbagh Gonojagoron Mancha, which has been demanding capital punishment to 1971 war criminals.
Hefajat’s Motijheel rally was the culmination of a Jamaat-orchestrated propaganda that organisers of the Shahbagh movement were atheists.
Talking to the BBC, the prime minister also defended the arrest of four bloggers on suspicion of harming religious sentiments through their work. She said if anybody tries to hurt the sentiments of the followers of any religion or its venerable figures, there was a law to deal with it.
The arrests drew sharp reactions from the liberals who accused the government of yielding to Islamist pressure.
Asked why the arrests came in the run-up to the long march, she said, “It has no relation with the long march.”
She added, “A committee is going through all electronic media, blogs, Facebook and others. If they find anyone guilty, they must be brought to book.”
PM termed not true the claim that the government was not doing enough to protect the minority communities. She blamed the Jamaat for unleashing the recent communal attacks.
She dismissed any possibility of declaring a state of emergency in the wake of escalating political violence. “Why should I declare emergency? We have enough laws to protect our people,” she said, adding that some people were trying to spread such rumours.

RIP The Iron Lady - British Ex-PM Margaret Thatcher passed away

Margaret Thatcher (87) who was called the “Iron Lady” and who transformed Britain and inspired conservatives around the world by radically rolling back the state during her 11 years in power, died yesterday following a stroke. ;

Britain’s only woman prime minister who was the unyielding, outspoken led the Conservatives to three election victories, by governing from 1979 to 1990, the longest continuous period in office by a British premier since the early 19th century.

A grocer’s daughter with a steely resolve, she was loved and loathed in equal measure as she crushed the unions, privatised vast swathes of British industry, clashed with the European Union and fought a war to recover the Falkland Islands from Argentine invaders.

She struck up a close relationship with US President Ronald Reagan in the Cold War, backed the first President George Bush during the 1991 Gulf War, and declared that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was a man she could do business with.
The Queen said she was sad to hear the news of Thatcher’s death and sent a message of sympathy to her family.
“We’ve lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton,” Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Cameron cut short a visit to Europe to return to Britain after the death was announced and British flags at Cameron’s official residence, 10 Downing Street, were lowered to half mast.
Mourners began to lay flowers outside her house in Belgravia, one of London’s most exclusive areas. One note said: “The greatest British leader.”

Thatcher died peacefully on Monday morning, said Lord Bell, a spokesman for the family. She had been in poor health for months and had declined into dementia in her final years.

The British government said Thatcher would have a ceremonial funeral with military honours at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, which falls short of a full state funeral, in accordance with the wishes of her family.

The abiding images of her premiership will remain those of conflict: huge police confrontations with the miners’ union, her riding a tank in a white headscarf, and flames rising above Trafalgar Square in the riots over an unpopular local tax which ultimately led to her downfall.