To do good, we must first understand and be understood well. I have a conviction that the Intellectual Property is extremely important. More than a third of jobs in Europe (76 million!) depend, either directly or indirectly, on industries that use intensively the intellectual property rights. And these jobs are quality jobs, the pay is 40% higher than other jobs.

Michel Barnier

Said : Michel Barnier, Member of the EC in charge of Internal Market and Services, in his opening remarks at the release function of the first study on EU's "Intellectual property rights intensive industries" in Brussels, according to a press release from European Commission on September 30, 2013.

"What this study shows us is that the use of intellectual property rights in the economy is ubiquitous: from high-tech industries to manufacturers of sports goods, toys and computer games, all are making intensive use of not just one, but often several types of intellectual property rights,” Michel Barnier added.

The findings of the study are brought out as "Intellectual property rights intensive industries: contribution to economic performance and employment in the European Union Industry-Level Analysis Report, September 2013" under a joint project between the European Patent Office and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market - the two highest level institutions that are most important for the protection of intellectual property Europe. The report is available here.

The report is aimed at providing the first broad, credible assessment of the combined contribution of industries that make intensive use of the various types of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to the economies of the EU as a whole and of the individual Member States. The analysis was conducted in autumn 2012 and spring 2013. It only includes the 27 pre‑July 2013 Member States. Thus, Croatia, which became the EU’s 28th Member State on 1 July 2013, was not included.

The study covers a broad range of IP rights – trade marks, patents, designs, copyright and Geographical Indications (GIs) – and considers a variety of economic indicators, in particular Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment, external trade and wages. 

Some of the key findings of the report are :

• IPR-intensive industries contribute 26% of employment and 39% of GDP in the EU.
• IPR‑intensive industries also pay significantly higher wages than other industries, with a wage premium of more than 40%. This is consistent with the fact that the value added per worker is higher in IPR‑intensive industries than elsewhere in the economy. The average weekly wage in IPR‑intensive industries is € 715, compared with € 507 in non‑IPR‑intensive industries – a difference of 41%. This “wage premium” is 31% in design‑intensive industries, 42% in trade mark‑intensive industries, 46% in GI‑intensive industries, 64% in patent‑intensive industries and 69% in copyright‑intensive industries.
• In absolute terms, Germany ranks first for patents, trade marks and designs. The other top spots are occupied by the UK, France, Spain and Italy. There is some variation among the Member States; for example, while Spain is in the top 5 for trade marks and designs, it is only in 11th place for patents. The group of the largest economies is followed by a group of smaller northern European countries, including the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden. The highest placed among the 12 countries that joined the EU in 2004 or 2007 is Poland, which is also the largest of these countries.

In the course of the preparation of this report, useful input was received from the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO), the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) – whose earlier report on US IPR‑intensive industries was the first study of this type.

I believe the greatest threat to Muslims today comes not from the outside world, but from within. The conflict between Sunni and Shia threatens the lives and livelihoods of millions of Muslims. Across the Islamic world, extremists are wrapping their perverse agenda in religious cloth; tearing families, countries and the ummah (ummah - the Muslim community throughout the world) apart.

Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak,
Prime Minister of Malaysia. UN Photo/Ryan Brown

Said Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, in his speech at the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 28, 2013.

The Malaysian Prime Minister said : "As authoritarian regimes have fallen, and governments have been swept away by political change, extremists have tried to fill the space that remains. Around the world, extremism is taking lives and crushing opportunity. The corrosive influence of extremism cannot be easily countered. But we are not powerless to act. I believe moderation in religion and the political process can stem the loss of life and liberty in the Muslim world". He expressed his anguish at the violent situation prevailing in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Pakistan. He stressed the need to find the vision and the political will to commit to a just solution for Palestine. 

The Prime Minister quoted several verses from Quran to illustrated that Islam was the religion of peace, of moderation, of tolerance. "The Quran not only condemns suicide, unjust war, and retribution by force; it also makes clear the Prophet’s desire for Muslims to live in peace with one another and their neighbours", he added.

He concluded by saying : "Finally, we should continue to focus on building stronger and more prosperous societies, predicated on the rule of law and the practice of democracy. The Arab Spring showed that the Muslim world is crying out for change. Governments must answer that call. We must provide good governance to fight corruption, create jobs to tackle poverty, and deliver sustainable growth that builds a world of opportunity for our citizens. We must create economies in which people can fulfil their own aspirations, not those of extremists. Muslim leaders should speak up and condemn such violence, lest their silence is mistaken for acceptance.  

Rouhani's speech was nice but it was based on a false reality as Iranian centrifuges, at this very moment, continue to work and produce enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb

President Peres at the International Court of Justice 

in The Hague (Copyright: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)

Said Shimon Peres - President of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize winner for 1994 - during his meeting with the president and judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday, 30 September 2013, according to a press release from the Office of the President.

President Peres visited the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague (Netherlands) and held a rare meeting with the judges of the court including President Peter Tomka. He updated the judges about the status of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and said: "The negotiations with the Palestinians opened not long ago and we hope that they will bear fruit for the two sides who want to live side by side in peace and security. Completing the negotiations is of the utmost importance – it is perhaps the last and most significant conflict between us and the Arab world."

In the press conference which followed the meeting, President Peres addressed the speech by the President of Iran at the United Nations and said: "Rouhani's speech was nice but it was based on a false reality as Iranian centrifuges, at this very moment, continue to work and produce enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb, the program to develop long range missiles which can carry nuclear warheads is being expanded and the Revolutionary Guards continue to support terror organizations. We listen to the speeches at the United Nations, but the only way to test Iran's intentions is by deeds and not just words. The Iranian nuclear threat is not just an Israeli problem but for the whole world which doesn't want to be threatened by one country." 

​Benjamin
Netanyahu

According to The Times of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made his way to Washington on Monday (30 September) for a marathon of meetings with US President Barack Obama and other top officials, with Iran the major focus. On Tuesday, Netanyahu will travel to New York, as the final speaker at this year’s UN General Assembly, where he has promised to “tell the truth about Iran” following Tehran’s recent moves toward detente with the West. 

Dr. Norman A. Bailey - an adjunct Professor of Economic Statecraft at The Institute of World Politics, Washington, DC, and a researcher at the Center for National Security Studies, University of Haifa - in a letter published in globes online on September 29, 2013 conveying greetings to the Jewish people on the occasion of Rosh Hashanah  (Jewish New Year) has warned that no-one should be taken in by the Iranian president's charm offensive, but the West has strong cards to play. President Rouhani spreads the honey. His "honey" may indeed work as he intends. If so, it will be to the detriment of the West, the United States, the Gulf States. Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Keep all fingers crossed. Dr. Bailey says Rouhani is not a "moderate reformer" but the fact is that he is terrified about the economic/financial situation that Iran is in, and which he inherited from Ahmadinejad without knowing the severity of the problems.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (United States of America). The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies. The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French.

If you want to get young people to better learn about the risks associated with their choices, you might want to focus on the benefits that a positive change would bring rather than hounding them with horror stories

Dr Tali Sharot

Said Dr Tali Sharot, the senior author and a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, commenting on the findings of researchers at UCL that young people have greater difficulty in learning from bad news to interpret their risk of future events. 

According to a press release issued by The Wellcome Trust - a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health - the study suggests that campaigns to get young people to stop smoking may be more successful by focusing on the positive benefits, such as having more money and better skin, rather than emphasising negative outcomes like increased disease risk.

Dr Christina Moutsiana

Dr Christina Moutsiana, leading author said : "The findings could help to explain the limited impact of campaigns targeted at young people to highlight the dangers of careless driving, unprotected sex, alcohol and drug abuse, and other risky behaviours." The researchers suggest that reframing information to highlight beneficial outcomes of desired behaviours, such as the positive effect of reduced alcohol consumption on sports performance, rather than the dangers of undesired ones, could have a greater impact.

Dr John Williams, Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the Wellcome Trust, said: "It’s important that we understand how young people interpret risk to make lifestyle choices that will impact on their future health if we are to stem the rise in preventable diseases."


Researchers feel that the findings might partly explain why displaying health warnings and graphic images of diseased lungs on cigarette packaging has had little effect in reducing the number of teens taking up smoking.

The setting of the Poverty Line shows Hong Kong’s determination of tackling the poverty problem

Mr C Y Leung

Said Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, while chairing the first Commission on Poverty (CoP) Summit on September 28, 2013. Setting a poverty line has been one of the priorities of the CoP. After ten months of consultations and analysis the CoP eventually agreed to adopt the concept of relative poverty and set the poverty line at 50 per cent of the median monthly household income before tax and welfare transfers (i.e. pre-government intervention). 

The poverty line for 2012 in accordance with household size is as follows :

One-person households                                   $3,600
Two-person households                                   $7,700
Three-person households                              $11,500
Four-person households                                $14,300
Five-person households                                 $14,800
Households with six persons or more           $15,800

The analysis of the poverty situation in Hong Kong in 2012 showed that before policy intervention, there were 541 000 poor households, involving 1 312 000 persons, and the poverty rate was 19.6 per cent. The administration has worked out various policy interventions such as Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), the Old Age Allowance and financial assistance for students which can effectively alleviate poverty, bringing down the number of households in poverty to 403 000 and involving 1 018 000 persons, resulting in a poverty rate of 15.2 per cent. 

The Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, chaired the
Commission on Poverty Summit to discuss the
poverty situation in Hong Kong and the way forward.
Photo shows Mr Leung addressing the summit. (September 28)

The Societal Engagement Task Force (SETF), set up by the administration, has launched a three-year poverty alleviation program. Three projects have been identified by the SETF which will start rolling out towards the end of 2013 or in early 2014. The SETF is expecting to receive financial contributions from chambers of commerce and other bodies by establishing a tripartite partnership among the community, the business sector and the Government.

The Chief Executive has set up CoP to serve as the major policy platform for the Government's work in poverty alleviation. It will take into account the needs of poor households and public views to explore appropriate measures and initiatives to help the needy.

A detailed presentation on "Analysis of the Poverty Situation" during the Summit can be found here.

Homelessness is a broader concept than just the image of what we can see, for example, at the main train station in Prague. The homeless include many families with children, individuals, medically disadvantaged people, seniors and young couples living with friends and relatives, often in cramped conditions

David Beňák

Said David Beňák, a member of the Czech Social Democratic Party in an article published in News server Romea dated September 25, 2013. David Beňák is candidate number 9 for the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for the Prague electoral district.

Many families and individuals are forced to live in unsuitable residential hotels, where their rents are comparable to those for apartments in the centers of big cities. The Regional Development Ministry and the State Fund for Housing Development have failed across the board. They have merely become distributors of money for construction projects. Prices should not be an obstacle to acquiring housing. In the case of the most impoverished, welfare should help them afford it. The Czech Republic, as a state, is leery of owning and leasing housing. That is its basic mistake - in many localities, this is exactly the help that is needed. The government should establish partnerships with the private owners of apartment buildings. Property owners would definitely be willing to strike some kind of agreement with the state, but no one is negotiating with them.

One of the residential hotels in Ostrava on Cihelná street

Another report says the number of people living in residential hotels is rising sharply and the owners of these facilities are making very good money. Many people are ending up in these residential hotels unnecessarily, where they are living in unsuitable conditions. This is also uneconomical. The state pays a monthly rate of CZK 4 000 per adult tenant in a residential hotel and CZK 2 500 per minor, but it costs CZK 300 000 per year to institutionalize a child. Some NGOs feel it will be less expensive to give the poor a chance and address their needs. It is reported that real estate speculators are buying up large number of very inexpensive apartments and leasing them to the socially vulnerable. Czech Radio reports that it is possible to buy an average-sized apartment in a prefab building near the town center there for as low as CZK 150 000. Those buying up the apartments lease them to socially vulnerable people whose rents are paid by the state, which means their profits are guaranteed. 

According to Martin Šimáček, director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, the extensive privatization undertaken during the 1990s also led to the town and its municipal departments having very few units left in their own housing stock to offer those in need. "The privatization, among other things, resulted in the forced evictions of some tenants into residential hotels as a result of their apartment buildings deteriorating," explained Šimáček in a press release.  

Street musician Ondra who was formerly homeless

Ondra, a musician, who was homeless for several years but now works as a guide for Pragulic, a project offering alternative guided tours of Prague given by homeless people, feels that social housing is important, but the problem with this is that if people get free housing, they think they don't have to try anymore. The best thing would be if people had to do something to get that in return. "Government institutions need to actually go to the street, meet people and talk to them to understand what they really need," he said.

As the nights get longer and temperatures begin to drop, this year an estimated 30,000 homeless people in the Czech Republic face the prospect of spending winter out in the cold.

Burka ban in Ticino could help curb Islamic extremism before it takes root, and would be "a strong signal for Switzerland and maybe for other countries" to follow suit

Giorgio Ghiringhelli

Said  Giorgio Ghiringhelli, a 61-year-old political activist and former journalist, whose proposal to ban burka in Ticino was approved on September 22, 2013, in a public refrendum with 65.4% people of the state voting in favour of the constitutional ban as reported in the International Service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Ticino has become the first Swiss canton to approve a ban on face-covering headgear in public places. There are 26 cantons in Switzerland and Ticino is home to two of the UNESCO World Heritage sites : Castles of Bellinzona and Monte San Giorgio. The vote of approval to the "anti-burqa" campaign, launched by Giorgio Ghiringhelli, forbids the use of burka and disguise the face. This result has boosted the hopes of those backing a future nationwide initiative. It will now be up to the federal parliament to accept the change to Ticino's constitution. Giorgio Ghiringhelli said the result would send a message to "Islamist fundamentalists" across Switzerland. "Those who want to integrate are welcome irrespective of their religion," he said in a statement. 

A similar proposal for a nation-wide ban put forward by canton Aargau was rejected by the federal parliament in 2012. The proposal had the support of leaders of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party. Ulrich Schlüer, a former member of the House of Representatives, is best known as the driving force behind the anti-minaret initiative accepted by Swiss voters in 2009. One of his party colleagues, Walter Wobmann, told Swiss television that the effort to collect the 100,000 signatures needed to force a vote on a burka ban would likely begin in spring 2014.

There are roughly 400,000 Muslims in Switzerland, about five percent of the population. It is believed that the massive turnout in favour of banning burkas from public spaces in Ticino could lead to a nationwide vote on the same issue, a possibility of real concern to human rights organisations and Switzerland’s Muslim community. A prominent local lawyer, Paolo Bernasconi, said a ban was not compatible with European human rights, and it would sully the image of the canton. He was supported in his views by NGOs including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which put adverts in local newspapers, declaring that the wearing of burkas posed no risk to public order or safety. The European Muslims League and Islamic Central Council Switzerland held a joint news conference in Ticino's largest city, Lugano, to express their opposition. They called the ban "discriminatory". 

The burka ban could fail to pass muster in the court, however. It could be deemed disproportionate, counter to freedom of religion and not sufficiently justified to be in the public interest. The Federal Court has never had to rule on this kind of legislation. The European Court of Human Rights will reach a verdict by the end of the year on a number of complaints filed after France introduced legislation making it illegal to conceal one’s face. France was the first country in Europe to pass a law banning full-face veils in public, in 2010, and Belgium later followed suit. 

The anti-burka proposal has some support on the centre-right as well. “Burkas are not compatible with our values or integration goals,” Christophe Darbellay, president of the Christian Democrats, told the Nouvelliste newspaper. “I know the difference between a tourist and a person coming to live in Switzerland, who is expected to integrate.” “It’s a matter of security,” added his party colleague Urs Schwaller. “The police have to be able to identify people, and to do that you have to see their face.”

It is interesting to note that a French businessman Rachid Nekkaz has announced that he will pay all the fines levied against women for wearing burkas and niqabs in Switzerland. Already active in France and Belgium, he says he wants to extend his fight against “runaway Islamophobia” after the vote in Ticino. In July 2010, he set up a fund with €1 million (CHF1.23 million) to pay fines in France and Belgium. So far, he has paid 682 fines worth a total of €123,000, according to his own figures. Nekkaz says he is a human rights activist, ready to show how ridiculous any government or parliament is if it refuses to respect the fundamental rights set out by the European Human Rights Convention.

Oskar Freysinger, one of the leaders of the Swiss People’s Party and a vociferous supporter of the burka ban, says there is no desire to discriminate against the Arab world or any kind of racism behind a ban. Quite the opposite, he believes. “We want these women to become European citizens, like our women. We are attacking a ferociously patriarchal society that applies a brutal form of segregation. I am surprised that people on the Left would defend that,” he added.

Ticino  - home to two of the UNESCO World Heritage sites : Castles of Bellinzona and Monte San Giorgio - is situated on the main St. Gotthard road and railway link, connecting the north and south of Europe, Ticino can easily be reached by train, car or plane with fast and frequent connections. The international airport of Milano Malpensa (Italy) is only one hour away by car and there is also a regional airport in Lugano.