Europe
German court backs ESM bailout fund
Germany’s Constitutional Court has rejected calls to block the permanent eurozone rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), but has imposed conditions including a cap on Germany’s contribution to the fund, which it said could only be overruled by the German parliament. The euro rose in value almost immediately as the markets reacted with relief to the decision. Critics had argued that the ESM committed Germany to potentially unlimited funding of debt-ridden eurozone members and petitioned the Court to block it and subject it to a referendum. Some 37,000 people had signed the petition. The court said that any future increase in the size of the €500bn rescue fund, or of Germany’s 27% contribution to it, could only be permitted with the express agreement of Germany’s parliament. The fund is integral to the current proposals to resolve the eurozone crisis and the German court’s decision has been anxiously awaited for weeks, since given the size of Germany’s contribution to the ESM a rejection would have sunk it. There were signs of relief across Europe, with shares rising and the euro posting a new four-month high against the dollar, at $1.29.
Dutch election dominated by eurozone crisis
Voters in the Netherlands are going to the polls today in a general election overshadowed by the eurozone debt crisis. The result is expected to be close between the centre-right VVD Liberal party, led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the centre-left Labour Party. Both are pro-European. Mr Rutte wants to reduce the Netherlands’ deficit and stimulate the economy by investing in infrastructure, while Labour’s Diederik Samsom is promoting spending on job-creation programmes. After a final TV debate last night, opinion polls put the two parties on almost even footing.
North America
Former academic pleads guilty to Alabama University shootings
Amy Bishop, a former US biologist, has pleaded guilty to murdering three colleagues and wounding three others in a 2010 shooting rampage at a meeting of the faculty of the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Ms Bishop, 47, had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. She said she was angry at having been denied tenure in the university’s biology department, which effectively ended her employment there. Prosecutors said Ms Bishop stood up in the middle of a faculty meeting in February 2010, produced a 9mm pistol and opened fire at staff. She killed the head of the department and two other professors in addition to three further woundings. Prosecutors dropped their demand for the death penalty after she changed her plea.
Africa and Middle East
South African politician calls for full mining strike
Firebrand South African politician Julius Malema has called for a nationwide strike in the country’s mines. Strikes have already halted production at several gold and platinum mines in the resource-rich country. “There must be a national strike… they have been stealing this gold from you,” said Mr Malema to cheering miners striking at a gold mine west Johannesburg. “Now it’s your turn.” Critics accuse Mr Malema of political opportunism and exploiting the seething anger over last month’s deaths at Marikana mine, where 44 people were killed – 34 of them in a single day by police suppressing the mid-August riots. Mr Malema is branded a demagogue by critics. He was expelled from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and is being investigated for corruption.
Death toll soars in Pakistan factory fires
More than 100 people are now known to have died in a fire at a garment factory in the Pakistani city of Karachi, according to officials. Many more have been injured, some while jumping from the burning building. The fire broke out yesterday evening and roughly 40 firefighting vehicles were needed to suppress the blaze, which a BBC reporter suggested could be the country’s worst in over a decade. Local police said they fear more bodies could still be inside the building, and a definitive list of casualties has not been completed. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. A separate fire in a shoe factory in the Pakistani city of Lahore killed 23 people earlier in the day.
US official dies in attack on consulate in Benghazi, Libya
A US state department official was killed and at least one other American was wounded when militiamen stormed the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. It is believed the violent raid was provoked by a US-produced film that is said to be insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. Unidentified armed men raided the grounds, shooting at buildings and throwing handmade bombs before setting it on fire. Security forces returned fire but Libyan officials say they were overwhelmed. In a separate incident yesterday, other protesters against the film breached the walls of the US embassy in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. The film that provoked the violence was said to have been produced by a 52-year old US citizen from California named Sam Bacile, and promoted by an expatriate Egyptian. The two are said to hold anti-Islamic views, and a trailer of their film has appeared on YouTube in Arabic translation.
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