By the smallest of margins, Swiss voters passed a controversial anti-immigration law by referendum on Sunday, which returns strict quotas on migration from the European Union in spite of existing trade and labor agreements with Brussels. The verdict has been met with dismay by the Swiss government and business leaders, as well as E.U. officials who may now seek reciprocal, punitive measures that affect the importation of Swiss goods into the European market. “It means that Switzerland wants to withdraw into itself,” lamented French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
Migrants make up roughly a quarter of Switzerland’s population and increasing fears over overcrowding and cultural dilution have led right-wing groups to push back using the country’s unique system of direct democracy. The Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has spearheaded earlier initiatives to ban burqas and the construction of minarets in the country; it championed the yes vote in this referendum. The SVP’s
The revelations this week about the extent to which the government national-security apparatus has been data-mining phone records and Internet communications may have come as a complete shock. It may, if you’d seen the reporting on surveillance and data-mining under the PATRIOT Act since after 9/11, may have been less of a surprise, whether or not you’d guessed at the extent.
Or it may have been something you more or less assumed was going on all along, depending on how many primetime spy shows you watch.
Intelligence and surveillance have been part of TV drama since the Cold War, and newer dramas like Homeland have complicated the theme by interrogating the tradeoffs and violations that might be made in the name of security. (One fascinating thing about the entangled spy and romantic plots in Homeland is how it conveys that surveillance itself is a kind of intimate violation.)
By Tom Watkins / Produced by Claire Calzonetti, CNN
Bangladesh’s prime minister acknowledged Thursday that her nation’s garment industry is beset with problems, but said her government was moving rapidly to fix them.
“Bangladesh now is a place for good conditions for the investment,” Sheikh Hasina told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour eight days after a nine-story building collapsed on the outskirts of Dhaka, killing at least 437 people, most of them garment workers. She said 2,437 survivors were pulled from the rubble, where recovery work was continuing.
“Yes, there are some problems,” she said, but added that a committee has been formed to ensure the safety of buildings and workers.
“BOSTON’’ read one sign in the front row of the upper bowl, directly behind the net the Bruins defended in the first and third periods. “Beacon Of Strength That Overcomes Negativity.’’
そして、そのような力強さののろし(beacon of strength)を示すために行わた、試合前の17,000人を超えるファンによる国歌斉唱。映像を見るだけでいろいろなものが伝わってくることでしょう。
(T)his time next year, on the third Monday in April, the world will return to this great American city to run harder than ever, and to cheer even louder, for the 118th Boston Marathon. Bet on it.
(C)an we truly say, as a nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children — all of them — safe from harm? Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know that they are loved, and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?
もちろんこれらの答えは明白です。
(T)he answer is no. We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change.
We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change … In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens — from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators — in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this.
He didn’t directly mention gun control, but speaking in front of an audience of the bereaved and their friends in Newtown, it is the strongest pledge a president has ever made to wrestle with the powerful gun lobby.
