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IF YOU THOUGHT that going on holidays meant you’d use your phone less, today’s slashing of roaming charges could change things.
It’s good news for those who need to use their phones abroad, as roaming charges for EU mobile phone users reduce further from today, including a 55 percent price cut for data downloads.
The European Commission made the announcement last month.
What the changes mean
From today, mobile phone subscribers across Europe will pay a maximum extra charge of 20c per megabyte for downloads while visiting another member country. Until today, that cost 45c.
Here’s what the roaming caps look like now:
In April, the European Parliament endorsed a package of telecommunications reforms introduced by the Commission, including a move to scrap roaming fees altogether.
“By the end of this year I hope we see the complete end of roaming charges agreed,” Commissioner for the digital agenda Neelie Kroes said.
Kroes has previously said that she hopes to see the complete end of roaming charges by the end of this year.
- Additional reporting AFP
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I don’t see how the US Navy was allowed to wash its hands of the clean up….it’s the Navy’s mess.
Why don’t they drop another big bomb and exploded all the unexploded stuff. Tongue firmly in cheek.
Drumph intends to have Obama exiled along with all the Homes and Esse’s to make up ‘his’ old ‘hood great and safe again…..Hildog would have it re-carpet bombed with nut-clusters and napalm at the behest of her many donors and enablers in the shocking and awesomely lucrative military deathware racket!
The “Cleaners” must have left all that crap in the first photo behind them. There is no way that crap has been there for 1 year never mind 40. It’s looks to have been just dumped.
Now how can the council blame the North inner city residents for this?
Probably good for the wildlife though. If it was cleaned it’d be razed and turned into real estate.
Bit like the streets of Cork.
by John Pilger
I have been filming in the Marshall Islands, which lie north of Australia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Whenever I tell people where I have been, they ask, “Where is that?” If I offer a clue by referring to “Bikini”, they say, “You mean the swimsuit.”
Few seem aware that the bikini swimsuit was named to celebrate the nuclear explosions that destroyed Bikini island. Sixty-six nuclear devices were exploded by the United States in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958 — the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima bombs every day for twelve years.
http://johnpilger.com/articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence-
The Bikini Atoll is one of the few places on earth that has been completely “ethnically cleansed” of it’s native inhabitants. I don’t mean of course that the people were slaughtered but that an entire people were completely displaced. Even during the removal of Native American tribes from Florida, for example, a few small groups hung on. Diego Garcia and it’s surrounding archipelago is another example of complete displacement.
Capitalism, where 10% of the global population live like kings, and the other 90% live in squalor, hoping one day they will join the 10%. Wally is a sap though.
Interesting that a lot of people believe that figure but actually it’s 1% own 23%
Capitalism is probably the best method we’ve tried at organising ourselves, but it’s far from perfect. Love the faux outrage all over the internet when anybody questions it. Currently a tiny percentage of people live a comfortable life while the rest live in poverty. Statistically we are extremely lucky to be born in Ireland where there’s little poverty and despair compared other countries. Not necessarily saying it’s a completely flawed system but I wonder if you were in Poland or Ghana you would think the same way. But yeah i’m sure all them red thumbs are from Chinese workers making iphones for 50 euro a week, because i’m sure they believe in the current state of capitalism.
I’ll take that over Communism where only the party members live in luxury while the working class slave away under dangerous conditions.
Top 1 percent own more than half of world’s wealth
A new report issued by the Swiss bank Credit Suisse finds that global wealth inequality continues to worsen and has reached a new milestone, with the top 1 percent owning more of the world’s assets than the bottom 99 percent combined.
Communism is worse for society than Capitalism, and I never actually mentioned it. Why does it have to be one extreme or another? But cheers for confirming my point that anyone who dare question the current state of capitalism is instantly labeled a commie.
Pádraig, I read that report and it’s quite interesting. The main issue is that much of that ‘wealth’ held by the 1% doesn’t actually exist. If you were to exclude wealth earned on the financial market and look exclusively at wealth generated by the regular economy (consumer goods, services etc) then you’d see a much smaller gap.
Ted, honestly I don’t think that full-blown Capitalism is a good idea but in that respect point out one single example of a pure Capitalist state. The truth is everyone realises that completely unrestricted Capitalism is also a bad idea and at least some degree of socialism is required.
That doesn’t mean that Capitalism isn’t needed. Even the most successful Socialist states today needed a solid Capitalist foundation before they could afford to invest more in social policies without bankrupting the state.
Quite possible, Jason. I wonder though with the widening of the 1% portfolio into large property acquisitions if that indeed will widen the gap again. After the GFC there has been an increased and accelerated purchasing of property worldwide, even happening here.
Pure Capitalism has not been a friend to the people it is more than likely increasing socialism systems is a way to wind back some of that damage. The BEIN initiative being just one of those methodologies to help address inequality.
Padraig, that 1% report was done by credit Suisse, it also states anybody with assets of over €80,000 is in the top 10%. It excludes all debt from its valuations. So if you own a house in Ireland with a huge mortgage you are in the 10%
Show us a non-capitalist system that has worked? We need to get the balance right between distribution of wealth and creating it. France has messed it up one direction. US the other. No one likes saying anything positive about Ireland on the Journal but I don’t think we are not too bad. Scandis are very strong on the socialist side but it’s unsustainable. Canada seems a pretty good balance.
Really? How do you base that idea off of Ireland? With a never ending brain drain, high unemployment, homeless, and housing crisis, a two-tier tax system and crippling inequality. Is that a bubble you live in or just don’t read much apart from RTE?
Repost – wrong thread
It still does not diminish the elitist wealth problem @ Wayne Economists throughout the world talk of the issue, social scientists throughout the world are increasingly worried and creating change platforms. In many ways, if you do have a mortgage you are in the 10% as so much of the world does not even have that. Granted it is not a true to scale representation, however, negating inequality is an argument based on futility.
Supporters of both communism and capitalism like to claim they’re radically different but the end result is the same. A few elites get rich while the rest struggle along. There are other economic models such as Participatory Economics or Parecon etc but for the moment they remain theoretical. On a side note those who extol the virtues of capitalism would do well to remember they are lucky that they live in one of the luckier countries and those who extol communism would do well to remember that their system would irrevocably damage that. Also worth pointing out that the 40 poorest countries in the world are capitalist states. We really need to start looking into other economic models.
And isnt it frightening that that puts you in the 10% club…what must it b like to be in the bottom 50%?
I remember Magnum, TC & Co getting stuck on that island just before a bombing test.
So they have spent $444 million to clean up 45 square miles. You’d think about $10 million per square mile would put a dent in the clean up.
You don’t just go around with a wheel barrow, shovel and a black bin bag.
40 year clean up? Sounds like a bunch of lazy bums to me. Reminds me of the Haitian earthquake. An article written 6 years later describing rubble everywhere and how the international community hadn’t done enough to help. Meanwhile excusing the Hatians themselves who were sitting around complaining about the inactivity of the international community.
Hati was one of the first successful slave rebellions to overthrow their masters ie French the beat them of the land but could not defeat the navy they had to pay 85% of their Gpd for decades.. American then invaded and split the island in 2
Yes I know. So much for for Liberty, equality and fraternity.
If you have no money how do you rebuild?
I read the first 5 words of the headline and clicked onto it. Then I read the rest of the headline.
Congratulations
It still does not diminish the elitist wealth problem @ Wayne Economists throughout the world talk of the issue, social scientists throughout the world are increasingly worried and creating change platforms. In many ways, if you do have a mortgage you are in the 10% as so much of the world does not even have that. Granted it is not a true to scale representation, however, negating inequality is an argument based on futility.
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