Italy's borrowing costs rise ahead of elections

ROME (AP) ? Italy's borrowing costs rose slightly Thursday in an auction of six-month bonds held in the wake of Premier Mario Monti's resignation and uncertainty about his participation in the campaign for February's elections.

The Italian Treasury sold the ?8.5 billion ($11.24 billion) in paper Thursday, but the interest rate charged on the bond was 0.949 percent, up from 0.919 percent in November's auction. Demand was 1.57 times the amount on offer.

Italy's borrowing costs have fallen over the past year thanks to a combination of the reforms introduced by Monti's technical government and the European Central Bank's offer to buy up bonds in countries struggling with their debts. However, Monti resigned last week after Silvio Berlusconi's party yanked support for his technical government. He remains on in a caretaker role.

In his end-of-year press conference, Monti excluded running for office but said he would consider leading the next government if politicians who back his reform agenda request it. In the days since, he has published a detailed, 25-page political platform and urged like-minded politicians to back it. He sent his first tweet boasting of having saved Italy "from disaster" and calling for politics to be renewed.

All of which has led to widespread speculation that it's just a matter of time before he becomes an official candidate, in one form or another. Italian newspapers on Thursday were full of speculation about Monti's behind-the-scenes jockeying, whether he'll head a ticket of likeminded politicians, his role in selecting other candidates to run, possible alliances and feuds that will be formed in the next two months.

"No one understands if he'll remain neutral, if he'll head a Monti ticket linked to other like-minded tickets, or if he will lead a single ticket that absorbs all the centrist parties," analyst Luca Ricolfi wrote in Thursday's La Stampa, adding that it is unlikely that Monti himself has decided on what course to take.

The center-left Democratic Party is ahead in the polls with about 30 percent of the vote, and is eager to see Monti fade from the political scene for fear that he will take away votes. Berlusconi's People of Liberty party trails in the polls and is even more openly hostile to Monti's jockeying after the he spurned Berlusconi's offer to lead a center-right ticket.

The Democratic Party got a boost Thursday with the decision by the country's respected anti-mafia prosecutor, Pietro Grasso, to run for office under the party ticket. The ANSA news agency said Grasso would make the announcement official at a press conference Friday with the center-left's candidate for premier, Pierluigi Bersani.

Berlusconi, meanwhile, has been on TV over the past few days, promising that if elected he would remove the property tax on primary residences that Monti re-imposed as part of his austerity measures. Berlusconi had cut the unpopular tax soon after taking office in 2008, at the start of his third stint as premier.

Monti has defended the tax as both necessary and reasonable, given that most industrialized countries impose such a tax on homeowners' primary residence.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italys-borrowing-costs-rise-ahead-elections-133212981--finance.html

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Parental leave global comparison: US still among least generous

Parental leave policies that guarantee new moms leave with income are available in 169 countries ? the US is not among them, showed a study by Harvard and McGill Universities.

By Stephanie Hanes / December 26, 2012

Parental leave policy in the US is not guaranteed. Ingrid Ahlgren ( ), a New York City mom, leaves her child Annika Liu with the baby's great-grandmother Rita Cheong when she's at work.

Ann Hermes / The Christian Science Monitor

Enlarge

There?s a factoid that regularly comes up when we report about?childcare costs? or work-life balance or any number of the policy-related topics that impact American moms and dads.?

Skip to next paragraph Stephanie Hanes

Correspondent

Stephanie Hanes is the lead writer for Modern Parenthood and a longtime Monitor correspondent. She lives in Andover, Mass. with her husband, Christopher, her daughter, Madeline Thuli, a South Africa Labrador retriever, Karoo, and an imperialist cat named Kipling.

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The United States., advocates will say, is one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to maternity leave.? (And paternity leave, for that matter.)?

RELATED: 5 top childcare options: costs and value, from day care to nanny?

It?s the only developed country that doesn?t guarantee some form of paid leave to new moms, they say, and it?s one of only a very few even when you include impoverished and developing countries. One recent report, for instance, identified only four nations ? the US, Swaziland, Liberia, and Papua New Guinea ? that do not guarantee a new mom income while she stays home with her baby.?

This is the sort of tidbit that makes the rounds via Facebook. (One recent meme ?mapped? paid maternity leave, showing how many more weeks of paid leave Pakistan, South Africa, Mexico, and Venezuela give to new moms, compared with zero from the US.) It gets repeated as a given in debates and on social action websites such as Change.org.??

So we wanted to find out ? is it true?? Is the US, globally, really all that bad when it comes to family leave policies??

It?s an important question. The lack of paid leave has major ripple effects. Although the US Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees eligible employees 12 weeks off after the birth of the child, it only covers a fraction of the US workforce, and does not require employers to pay the parent's salary. This means that many moms (and some dads) face the financial lose-lose of either giving up large amounts of income while they stay home with baby, or spending lots of money on high-priced infant day care.?

Researchers have found that a new baby in the house is one of the top reasons for a ?poverty spell,? when a family?s income dips below what is needed to pay for basic expenses.? Some studies have also connected bankruptcy filings and foreclosures to moms or dads who take leave without pay after the birth of a child.?

But does the US actually ?lag behind,? as a number of advocates say??

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/MKTqJsQ9A3Y/Parental-leave-global-comparison-US-still-among-least-generous

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Dell Has A New Platform As A Service That Actually Makes Sense

Dell has a new platform as a service (PaaS) and it actually makes sense. The service is called Project Fast PaaS, part of the new Dell Cloud Labs, which also includes Project Sputnik, the Linux laptop for developers and Crowbar, the?open-source cloud deployment framework. Crowbar was originally created to support its “OpenStack- and?Hadoop-powered offerings.” FastPaaS and the new Dell Cloud Labs reflects a paradox that I felt all week at Dell World. While Fast PaaS represents the innovation happening at Dell, as with any big enterprise company, it is dependent on making big deals with high margins that serve the basic demands of large enterprises. On Tuesday, I moderated a think tank?discussion that unfortunately was stacked with Dell managers. One customer attended. To my fault, a few Dell managers took control of the conversation at certain points,?which?was unfortunate. But they did express some perspectives that reflect the real conflict at Dell these days. Michael Cot?, a former RedMonk analyst who is now Dell’s director of cloud strategy and special programs summed it up well in a blog post yesterday: IT faces a real conflict. It’s a time of rapid technology advancement. Customers want access to the latest and greatest but IT still needs to keep?everything?running, too.?They are expected to make sure the email works and be innovative, too. It’s an impossible mission. In Cot?’s?words: The mind set of keeping things stable a reliable (the five nines crowd) doesn?t fit with coming up with new stuff. Practices like Agile and the rapid delivery cycles in DevOps can help, but at some point, the two paths of ensuring stability and profiting from disruption are divergent enough that you can?t perfectly co-mingle them?and yet, that?s what we expect from the IT department. Fast PaaS is a great example of how Dell is seeking to be innovative in developing a unique strategy but cloaking it as a “solution.” It tells a good story about what Dell is trying to do with its cloud strategy. Dell does not want to be like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and offer a blank virtual machine. It wants to offer solutions. And I think the strategy works. Project Fast PaaS is built on Cloud Foundry, the open-source PaaS developed initially by VMware and now operating under an Apache license. The PaaS is on-premise — it’s private. Everything comes fully packaged. A developer fills in some forms that include the

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nPxHmY-95wI/

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7-player Dickey trade nearly done

We?re finally nearing the finish line, folks.

According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Mets and Blue Jays have agreed ?in principle? on a seven-player trade that will send knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, catcher Josh Thole and a (non-elite) prospect to Toronto in exchange for catcher Travis d?Arnaud, right-handed pitcher Noah Syndergaard, catcher John Buck and a (non-elite) prospect.

The only hold-up at this point is a 72-hour negotiating window which the Blue Jays will use to attempt to work out a contract extension with their new ace.

That negotiating window expires on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET.

Dickey, who?s owed just $5 million in 2013, posted a 2.73 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 230/54 K/BB ratio in 233 2/3 innings this summer for New York en route to capturing Cy Young Award honors in the National League.

Syndergaard and d?Arnaud ranked third and first, respectively, on Baseball America?s most recent listing of the Blue Jays? Top 10 prospects. They should be great pieces to build around for the?Metropolitans.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/16/mets-blue-jays-agree-in-principle-on-seven-player-trade-involving-knuckleballer-r-a-dickey/related/

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Christians left out as Egypt gets draft constitution

By NBC News wire services

CAIRO -- Islamists approved a draft constitution for Egypt early Friday without the participation of liberal and Christian members, seeking to pre-empt a court ruling that could dissolve their panel with a rushed, marathon vote that further inflames the conflict between the opposition and President Mohammed Morsi.

The vote by the constituent assembly advanced a charter with an Islamist bent that rights experts say could give Muslim clerics oversight over legislation and bring restrictions on freedom of speech, women's rights and other liberties.

The draft, which the assembly plans to deliver to the president Saturday, must be put to a nationwide referendum within 30 days. Morsi said Thursday it will be held "soon."

'No place for dictatorship'
Morsi added that the decree halting court challenges to his decisions, which provoked protests and violence from Egyptians fearing a new dictator was emerging less than two years after they ousted Hosni Mubarak, was "for an exceptional stage."

"It will end as soon as the people vote on a constitution," he told state television on Thursday night. "There is no place for dictatorship."

Ahmed Youssef / EPA

Eighteen days of popular protest culminated in the downfall of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011.

The Islamist-dominated assembly that has been working on the constitution for months raced to pass it, voting article by article on the draft's more than 230 articles for more than 16 hours. The lack of inclusion was on display in the nationally televised gathering: Of the 85 members in attendance, there was not a single Christian and only four women, all Islamists. Many of the men wore beards, the hallmark of Muslim conservatives.

ANALYSIS: Crisis tests Egyptians' constitution

For weeks, liberal, secular and Christian members, already a minority on the 100-member panel, have been withdrawing to protest what they call the Islamists' hijacking of the process.

"This constitution represents the diversity of the Egyptian people. All Egyptians, male and female, will find themselves in this constitution," Essam el-Erian, a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood, declared to the assembly after the last articles were passed just after sunrise Friday.

President Mohammed Morsi recently granted himself unprecedented power, leaving many Egyptians furious. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

"We will implement the work of this constitution to hold in high esteem God's law, which was only ink on paper before, and to protect freedoms that were not previously respected," he said.

The sudden rush to finish came as the latest twist in a week-long crisis pitting Brotherhood veteran Morsi and his Islamist supporters against a mostly secular and liberal opposition and the powerful judiciary. Voting had not been expected for another two months. But the assembly abruptly moved it up in order to pass the draft before Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court rules on Sunday on whether to dissolve the panel.

"I am saddened to see this come out while Egypt is so divided," Egypt's top reform leader, Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei said, speaking on private Al-Nahar TV. But he predicted the document would not last long. "It will be part of political folklore and will go to the garbage bin of history."

NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin discusses Egypt unrest

A new opposition bloc led by ElBaradei and other liberals said the assembly had lost its legitimacy.

"It is trying to impose a constitution monopolized by one trend and is the furthest from national consensus, produced in a farcical way," the National Salvation Front said in a statement, read by Waheed Abdel-Meguid, one of the assembly members who withdrew.

Thursday's vote escalates the already bruising confrontation sparked last week when Morsi gave himself near absolute powers by neutralizing the judiciary, the last branch of the state not in his hands. Morsi banned the courts from dissolving the constitutional assembly or the upper house of parliament and from reviewing his own decisions.

In a sign of the divisions, protesters camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square who were watching the interview chanted against Morsi and raised their shoes in the air in contempt.?

The president's edicts sparked a powerful backlash in one of the worst bouts of turmoil since last year's ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. At least 200,000 people protested in Cairo's Tahrir square earlier this week demanding he rescind the edicts.

Several hundred Egyptian protesters and police faced off again today in central Cairo. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

Street clashes have already erupted between the two camps in the past week, leaving at least two people dead and hundreds injured. And more violence is possible.

The opposition plans another large protest for Friday, and the Brotherhood has called a similar massive rally for the following day, though they decided to move it from Tahrir to avoid frictions. Bands of youths have been daily battling police on a road leading off the square and close to the U.S. Embassy.

Defiance
The Constitutional Court's announcement that it would rule on the legitimacy of the assembly was in direct defiance of Morsi's edicts. It will also rule Sunday on whether to dissolve the upper house of parliament, which is overwhelmingly held by Islamists. Most of the nation's judges are on indefinite strike to protest the edicts.

It is not clear what would happen to the approved draft if the court dissolves the assembly. The crisis could move out of the realm of legal questions and even more into the more volatile street, to be decided by which side can bring the most support.

The opposition is considering whether to call for a boycott of any referendum on the constitution or to try to rally a "no" vote, said Hamdeen Sabahi, a National Salvation Front leader who ran in this year's presidential race and came in a surprisingly strong third.

"The people should not be made to choose between a dictatorial declaration or a constitution that doesn't represent all the people," he told independent ONTV, referring to Morsi's decrees. "He is pushing Egypt to more division and confrontation."

During Thursday's session, assembly head Hossam al-Ghiryani doggedly pushed the members to finish. When one article received 16 objections, he pointed out that would require postponing the vote 48 hours under the body's rules. "Now I'm taking the vote again," he said, and all but four members dropped their objections. In the session's final hours, several new articles were hastily written up and added to resolve lingering issues.

"We will teach this constitution to our sons," al-Ghiryani told the gathering.

More Egypt coverage from NBC News

Islamist members of the panel defended the fast tracking. Hussein Ibrahim of the Brotherhood said the draft reflected six months of debate, including input from liberals before they withdrew.

"People want the constitution because they want stability. Go to villages, to poorer areas, people want stability," he said.

Over the past week, about 30 members have pulled out of the assembly, with mainly Islamists brought in to replace some. As a result, every article passed overwhelmingly.

Egypt's president Mohamed Morsi, who had granted himself sweeping new powers that would have made all of his rulings immune to judicial review, is facing continued public outcry despite his decision to soften the decree by limiting those rulings to 'sovereign' matters. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

Human Rights Watch Rights groups criticized the hurried manner in which the constituent assembly pushed the draft charter through, saying it not the right way to guarantee fundamental rights or the rule of law.

"Rushing through a draft while serious concerns about key rights protections remain unaddressed will create huge problems down the road that won't be easy to fix,"said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director for the New York-based group.

The draft largely reflects the conservative vision of the Islamists, with articles that rights activists, liberals and others fear will lead to restrictions on the rights of women and minorities and on civil liberties in general.

'Morals and values'
One article that passed underlined that the state will protect "the true nature of the Egyptian family ... and promote its morals and values," phrasing that suggests the state could prevent anything deemed to undermine the family.

The draft says citizens are equal under the law but an article specifically establishing women's equality was dropped because of disputes over the phrasing.

As in past constitutions, the new draft said the "principles of Islamic law" will be the basis of law.

Previously, the term "principles" allowed wide leeway in interpreting Shariah. But in the draft, a separate new article is added that seeks to define "principles" by pointing to particular theological doctrines and their rules. That could give Islamists the tool for insisting on stricter implementation of rulings of Shariah.

Another new article states that Egypt's most respected Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, must be consulted on any matters related to Shariah, a measure critics fear will lead to oversight of legislation by clerics.

The draft also includes bans on "insulting or defaming all prophets and messengers" or even "insulting humans" ? broad language that analysts warned could be used to crack down on many forms of speech.

It also preserves much of military's immunity from parliamentary scrutiny, putting its budget in the hands of the National Defense Council, which includes the president, the heads of the two houses of parliament and top generals.

The final draft contains historic changes to Egypt's system of government. It limits to eight years the amount of time a president can serve, for example. Mubarak was in power for three decades. It also introduces a degree of oversight over the military establishment - though not enough for critics.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/30/15561689-christians-liberals-left-out-as-islamists-back-egypts-draft-constitution?lite

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