Friday, April 13, 2007

British charity calls for Palestinian aid


- OK, take it... But buy only food, will ya!?...
On the bottle: War

Oxfam has called on the European Union to resume sending aid to the Palestinian government or risk its territories becoming a failed state. A report by the British charity says the year-long boycott of the Hamas-led government has seen an increase in poverty in Gaza and the West Bank.

More: BBC

- Cartoon by Rodrigo for Expresso (Lisbon)

posted by Vostradong @ 3:57 pm 176 comments

Thursday, April 12, 2007

The Portuguese economy
A new sick man of Europe

Look at any table of European economic data and Portugal stands out. GDP growth last year, at 1.3%, was the lowest not just in the European Union but in all of Europe. Since 2000 the Czech Republic, Greece, Malta and Slovenia have all overtaken Portugal in terms of GDP per head. And Portuguese GDP per head has fallen from just over 80% of the EU 25 average in 1999 to just over 70% last year.

More: The Economist

posted by Vostradong @ 10:18 pm 2 comments