Swiss knife

The Swiss army knife had humble beginnings, and, at the start, it wasn't even red.

In the late 19th Century, the Swiss army issued its soldiers with a gun which required a special screwdriver to dismantle and clean it.

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Communal Webcasting platform at UC Berkeley

An interesting piece of news

As a growing number of worldwide learners log on, free of charge, to video and podcast lectures and events at the University of California, Berkeley, the campus is leading an international effort to build a communal Webcasting platform to more easily record and distribute its popular educational content.

With grants from the Andrew W. Mellon and William and Flora Hewlett foundations totaling $1.5 million, the project will bring together programmers and educational technology experts from an international consortium of higher education institutions, including ETH Zürich in Switzerland, University of Osnabrück in Germany, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and Canada's University of Saskatchewan.

Through the Web, Matterhorn members from around the world will develop "open source" software designed to automate their recording and posting of academic content, making the process less costly and labor intensive. The $1.5 million in funding for the project includes $220,000 for planning and design activities that have taken place over the past year.

"Right now, colleges and universities want to provide their academic resources to students and global learners but are stymied by high technical barriers and costs. Opencast Matterhorn holds the promise of significantly lowering these barriers by developing open source software that meets the specific needs of academic institutions," said Mara Hancock, UC Berkeley's director of educational technologies and director of the Opencast Matterhorn project.

The software will support the scheduling, capture, encoding and delivery of educational content to video-and-audio sharing sites such as YouTube and iTunes, so that learners can access lectures when and where they need it. With additional funding, expertise and labor from other members of the consortium, the Opencast Matterhorn platform is scheduled to be up and running by summer 2010.

"Opencast Matterhorn entails more than just video capture and processing. It's also about tools and features that allow all of us to shape the media into something that's more meaningful for the learner to engage with," said Adam Hochman, UC Berkeley project manager for Opencast Matterhorn. For example, students and lifelong learners will have access to a suite of "engage" tools, including bookmarking and annotations.

Coursecasting is a growing trend in educational technology, enabling students and the general public to download audio and video recordings of class lectures to their computers and portable media devices. This latest innovation will solidify UC Berkeley's position as a leader in knowledge-sharing through open access Internet channels, campus officials said.

UC Berkeley has been making its academic content available to the public since 2001 and maintains a growing inventory of video content supplied by taped events and lecture rooms that are wired for automated webcasting. In 2007, UC Berkeley became the first university to make videos of full courses available through YouTube. Course topics include bioengineering, peace and conflict studies, "Physics for Future Presidents," "Environmental Law & Policy," and "General Psychology."

"Students and lifelong learners are becoming increasingly aware of the value of audio and video content that supports their learning, and universities are becoming more committed to providing that service to students," said Christina Maslach, UC Berkeley vice provost for teaching and learning and principal investigator for the Hewlett and Mellon grants.

The project is very much in step with the campus's open source tradition. In the 1970s, UC Berkeley's Computer Systems Research Group laid the foundation for today's open source community. The group developed Berkeley Software Distribution, also known as Berkeley Unix, whose popularity among academics led to the widespread adoption of the Unix operating system. Since then, UC Berkeley has played a leadership role in other worldwide open source projects such as Sakai, Fluid, CollectionSpace and Kuali.

As opposed to proprietary software, open source software makes its program source code available to the public, giving users access to core design functionalities and allowing them to tweak and add features. The software is licensed so that individuals are free to adopt and change it for their own needs.

Other institutions partnering in Opencast Matterhorn are the University of Vigo in Spain, University of Toronto, University of Copenhagen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University in Ilinois, Open University of Catalonia in Spain, Indiana University and the Jožef Stefan Institute in Slovenia.

"Our partners have created their own version of an academic webcasting system, and so bring a wealth of expertise and lessons learned to the project," said Hancock. "Through this collaboration, Matterhorn will gain the benefit of that collective knowledge."

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Politicians, officials and rabbis in a corruption scandal

More than 40 people, including politicians, officials and several rabbis have been arrested in a major FBI operation in the US.

Three hundred agents raided dozens of locations in New Jersey and New York as part of a 10-year probe into corruption and money laundering.

Three mayors from the state of New Jersey and two members of the state legislature were among those held.

One man is accused of kidney trafficking involving Israeli donors.

Prosecutors say the arrests were part of a "dual-tracked" investigation.

Acting US Attorney Ralph Marra told reporters there were 29 suspects on what he termed the "public corruption" side of the investigation, including the politicians.

On the other side, he said, there were 15 suspects in connection with alleged international money-laundering, including the rabbis and their "associates".

Prosecutors accuse one man of dealing in human kidneys from Israeli donors for transplant for a decade.

It is alleged that "vulnerable people" would give up a kidney for $10,000 (£6,000) and these would then be sold on for $160,000 (£97,000).

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Obesity 'link to same-sex parent'

There is a strong link in obesity between mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, but not across the gender divide, research suggests.

A study of 226 families by Plymouth's Peninsula Medical School found obese mothers were 10 times more likely to have obese daughters.

For fathers and sons, there was a six-fold rise. But in both cases children of the opposite sex were not affected.

The researchers believe the link is behavioural rather than genetic.

They say the findings mean policy on obesity should be re-thought.

Researchers said it was "highly unlikely" that genetics was playing a role in the findings as it would be unusual for them to influence children along gender lines.

Instead, they said it was probably because of some form of "behavioural sympathy" where daughters copied the lifestyles of their mothers and sons their fathers.

It is because of this conclusion that experts believe government policy on tackling obesity should be re-thought.

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Ethnicity segregation in UK schools

Schools in parts of England are becoming increasingly segregated, deserted by white parents if they find their children becoming outnumbered by pupils from ethnic minorities, a report by a thinktank set up to promote community cohesion has warned.

Councils should consider allocating school places using lotteries in some inner-city areas to tackle a growing phenomenon of "white flight" in the education system, the Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) said.

Researchers also found evidence of pupils of different ethnicities not mixing even when they were sharing classes and playgrounds.

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Cutting Calories prolongs life?

Over 20 years, monkeys whose diets were not restricted were nearly three times more likely to have died than those whose calories were counted.

Writing in Science, the US researchers hailed the "major effect" of the diet.

It involved reducing calorie intake by 30% while maintaining nutrition and appeared to impact upon many forms of age-related disease seen in monkeys, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy.

Whether the same effects would be seen in humans is unclear, although anecdotal evidence so far suggests people on a long-term calorie-restricted diet have better cardiovascular health.

....

"People would have to weigh up whether they are prepared to compromise their enjoyment of food for the uncertain promise of a longer life, and a life which could be dogged by all sorts of problems - including osteoporosis."

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Coffee against Alzheimer's'

Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease, US scientists say.

The 55 mice used in the University of Florida study had been bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

First the researchers used behavioural tests to confirm the mice were exhibiting signs of memory impairment when they were aged 18 to 19 months, the equivalent to humans being about 70.

Then they gave half the mice caffeine in their drinking water. The rest were given plain water.

The mice were given the equivalent of five 8 oz (227 grams) cups of coffee a day - about 500 milligrams of caffeine.

The researchers say this is the same as is found in two cups of "specialty" coffees such as lattes or cappuccinos from coffee shops, 14 cups of tea, or 20 soft drinks.

When the mice were tested again after two months, those who were given the caffeine performed much better on tests measuring their memory and thinking skills and performed as well as mice of the same age without dementia.

Those drinking plain water continued to do poorly on the tests. In addition, the brains of the mice given caffeine showed nearly a 50% reduction in levels of the beta amyloid protein, which forms destructive clumps in the brains of dementia patients.
Further tests suggested caffeine affects the production of both the enzymes needed to produce beta amyloid. The researchers also suggest that caffeine suppresses inflammatory changes in the brain that lead to an overabundance of the protein.
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Swedish pirates capture EU seat

Sweden's Pirate Party has won a seat in the European Parliament.
The group - which campaigned on reformation of copyright and patent law - secured 7.1% of the Swedish vote.
The result puts the Pirate Party in fifth place, behind the Social Democrats, Greens, Liberals and the Moderate Party. Rickard Falkvinge, the party leader, told the BBC the win was "gigantic" and that they were now negotiating with four different EU Parliamentary groups. "Last night, we gained political credibility," said Mr Falkvinge.
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Google's Wave

Google is uniting instant messaging, e-mail and document collaboration into a new service with the audacious goal of changing how people communicate online.
The service, called Wave, will erode the distinction between the various ways people keep in touch on the Web and eliminate the need to use multiple tools to do so, the company said.
Wave's users invite others to join their "wave" about a particular topic so they can follow the thread of messages, much like a bulletin board. Everyone on the list can see individual messages as they're being typed, letter by letter, like instant messaging taken to the extreme, to speed up the conversation.
There's an option to turn off the real-time feature, which will no doubt be handy for people who often revise what they write before hitting send.
Users can drag and drop photos and maps onto the waves to make them immediately visible to others. They can also edit documents together, potentially appealing to workers who are collaborating on a project and who would otherwise use wikis.
Wave is designed for use by both consumers, for communicating with family and friends, and businesses.
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World's 100 most influencial people

The TIME 2009 list is here

YouTube helps man deliver baby

An engineer in Cornwall delivered his baby son after watching an instructional video on YouTube.
Marc Stephens watched the videos as a precaution when his wife Jo started to feel some discomfort.
Four hours later, his wife went into labour and started giving birth before an ambulance could arrive at their home in Redruth.
"I Googled how to deliver a baby, watched a few videos and basically swotted up," Mr Stephens told the BBC.

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Nude hiking in Alps

Voters in the heart of the Swiss Alps on Sunday passed legislation banning naked hiking after dozens of mostly German nudists started rambling through their picturesque region.
By a show of hands citizens of the tiny canton (state) of Appenzell Inner Rhodes voted overwhelmingly at their traditional open-air annual assembly to impose a 200 Swiss franc ($176) fine on violators.
The cantonal government recommended the ban after citizens objected to encountering walkers wearing nothing but hiking boots and socks.
A similar legal move is expected in neighboring Appenzell Outer Rhodes. The nationalist Swiss People's Party has advised the cantonal parliament it is preparing legislation against "this shameless behavior."
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Peter Zumthor wins the Pritzker Prize

The prize, worth $100,000, is given for a body of work across a career, and is mainly valued for the prestige and commissions it can bring.

Zumthor's works are found mainly in his native Switzerland, as well as elsewhere in Europe and the US.

His most famous commission is the thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland.

Peter Zumthor is about as far as its possible to be from the star names who have recently dominated architecture.

He has worked in his native Switzerland for the past 30 years and has become known for quietly elegant museums, housing complexes and hotels with a fondness for using natural materials and a great interest in the the interior spaces he creates.

He trained as a cabinet maker and there's a strong feel of craft and care to his work.

He says he doesn't ally himself to an ideology or school of architecture, but aims above all at creating an interior suited to place and use, simple principles aimed at producing human architecture.

One extraordinary recent building is a chapel built by wrapping concrete round a wigwam structure of tree trunks.

Zumthor then burnt away the trunks, leaving the imprint of the wood as the texture of the interior, which retains the smell of charred wood.

Zumthor is said to turn down most requests to design, embarking only on projects he feels a passion for and which he then oversees from start to finish.

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Iowa Supreme Court ruling on Gay Marriage

It was not just the California Supreme Court... And it is a unanimous decision!

(From the Des Moines Register)

The Iowa Supreme Court this morning upheld a Polk County judge’s 2007 ruling that marriage should not be limited to one man and one woman.

The ruling, viewed nationally and at home as a victory for the gay rights movement and a setback for social conservatives, means gay couples can legally marry in Iowa beginning March 24.

Shelly Wolfe and Melisa Keeton, who waited for word of the ruling outside the Polk County Recorder’s Office, immediately called their pastor anyway to make plans.

“We’re going to make it legal,” Keeton, 31, of Des Moines said.

Wolfe, 38, and Keeton, who is 21 weeks pregnant, went through a commitment ceremony two years ago. Their marriage certificate was among the 26 that were put on hold when Polk County Judge Robert Hanson’s decision to open the door for gay marriage was delayed until the high court could weigh in.

Today’s decision makes Iowa the first Midwestern state, and the fourth in the country, to allow same-sex marriages. Lambda Legal, a gay rights group, financed the court battle and represented six couples who challenged Iowa’s 10-year-old ban on gay marriage.

Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady, who wrote the unanimous decision, at one point invoked the court’s first-ever decision, in 1839, which struck down slavery laws 17 years before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of a slave owner to treat a person as property.

Iowa’s gay marriage ban “is unconstitutional, because the county has been unable to identify a constitutionally adequate justification for excluding plaintiffs from the institution of civil marriage,” Cady wrote in the 69-page opinion that seemed to dismiss the concept of civil unions as an option for gay couples.

“A new distinction based on sexual orientation would be equally suspect and difficult to square with the fundamental principles of equal protection embodied in our constitution,” Cady wrote.

The ruling, however, also addressed what it called the “religious undercurrent propelling the same-sex marriage debate,” and said judges must remain outside the fray.

Some Iowa religions are strongly opposed to same-sex marriages, the justices noted, while some support the notion.

“Our constitution does not permit any branch of government to resolve these types of religious debates and entrusts to courts the task of ensuring that government avoids them,” the opinion says.

The ruling explicitly does not affect “the freedom of a religious organization to define marriage it solemnizes as unions between a man and a woman,” the justices stressed.

The case, Varnum vs. Brien, involved couples who sued Polk County Recorder Timothy Brien in 2005 after his office denied them marriage licenses. Hanson sided with the couples last year but then suspended his decision pending a high court ruling.

“We won! It is unanimous!” Camilla Taylor of Lambda Legal exclaimed when the ruling was announced. “Today the dream becomes reality … and Iowa constitution’s promise equality is fulfilled. Iowans have never waited for others to do the right thing. Iowa took its place in the vanguard of the civil rights struggle, and we couldn’t be more proud to be part of this.”

Gov. Chet Culver e-mailed a response to reporters that said: “The decision released this morning by Supreme Court addresses a complicated and emotional issue, one on which Iowans have strong views and opinions on both sides. The next responsible step is to thoroughly review this decision, which I am doing with my legal counsel and the attorney general, before reacting to what it means for Iowa.”

Richard Socarides, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay civil rights, said today’s decision could mean as much to gay couples outside Iowa.

“I think it’s significant because Iowa is considered a Midwest sate in the mainstream of American thought,” Socarides, a senior political assistant for Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin in the early 1990s, said Thursday. “Unlike states on the coasts, there’s nothing more American than Iowa. As they say during the presidential caucuses, ‘As Iowa goes, so goes the nation.’”

Opponents have long argued that allowing gay marriage would erode the institution. Some Iowa lawmakers, mostly Republicans, attempted last year to launch a constitutional amendment to specifically prohibit same-sex marriage.

Such a change would require approval in consecutive legislative sessions and a public vote, which means a ban could not be imposed until at least 2012, unless lawmakers take up the issue in the next few weeks. Leaders this week said they had no plans to do so.

Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, nonetheless called for an immediate move to amend the constitution.

“The decision made by the Iowa Supreme Court today to allow gay marriage in Iowa is disappointing on many levels,” he said. I believe marriage should only be between one man and one woman, and I am confident the majority of Iowans want traditional marriage to be legally recognized in this state.

“Though the court has made their decision, I believe every Iowan should have a voice on this matter and that is why the Iowa Legislature should immediately act to pass a Constitutional Amendment that protects traditional marriage, keeps it as a sacred bond only between one man and one woman and gives every Iowan a chance to have their say through a vote of the people.”

State Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mount Pleasant, said he would support a constitutional amendment. However, he also believes lawmakers would have to work on parallel legislation that would grant civil unions or some sort of way to grant legal rights to same-sex couples.

“I firmly believe marriage should be between a man and a women but I at the same time, I believe we should address these issues,” Heaton said. I would rather recognize a civil union than to have same-sex marriage.”

Diane Thacker’s eyes filled with tears as the ruling were read to an crowd opposed to gay marriage that had gathered on the north side of the judicial building.

“Sadness,” she whispered.. “But I’m prayerful and hopeful that God’s word will stand.”

Thacker said she joined to group “because I believe in the marriage vow. I can’t see it any other way.”

Democratic State Sen. Matt McCoy of Des Moines, saw the decision a different way.

“I’m off the wall. I’m very pleased to be an Iowan,” said McCoy, who is openly gay.

Voices from outside the state quickly took sides. The Iowa Supreme Court’s Web site was deluged with more than 1.5 million visitors as of 11 a.m., court spokesman Steve Davis said..

Doug Napier, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund in Arizona, said the Iowa Supreme Court “stepped out of its proper role in interpreting the law.”

Napier said the legislature should place a constitutional amendment on a statewide ballot to let Iowans decide.

The Defense of Marriage Act “was simple, it was settled, and overwhelming supported by Iowans,” Napier said. “There was simply no legitimate reason for the court to redefine marriage.”

Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, a New Jersey group, said “once again, the most undemocratic branch of government is being used to advance an agenda the majority of Americans reject.”

“Marriage means a husband and wife. That’s not discrimination, that’s common sense,” she said in a press release. “Even in states like Vermont, where they are pushing this issue through legislatures, gay marriage advocates are totally unwilling to let the people decide these issues directly.”

Mark Kende, a constitutional law professor at Drake University, described the ruling as narrowly written and “very well reasoned,” and predicted it will have national, possibly international, influence. But it also could create new, inter-state legal battles, he said. Couples who flock to Iowa to marry may not have their marriage recognized in other states that prohibit same-sex marriage, he said.

The decision also is limited to civil marriages performed in county buildings, he said.

Meanwhile, Kate and Trish Varnum, whose surname will forever be attached to the historic decision, called it “a great day for Iowa.”

At a press conference this morning, Kate Varnum said: “Good morning… and I’d like to introduce you to my fiancé. Today I am proud to be a lifelong Iowan.”

Trish Varnum added: “It’s been a wonderful adventure, and we’re looking forward to the next wonderful adventure — as a married couple in Iowa.”

A Des Moines Register poll in 2008 of Iowa lawmakers showed that a majority of Iowa’s lawmakers —123 of 150 — said they believed marriage should only be between a man and a woman. It was unclear whether those lawmakers had enough votes to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

An Iowa Poll in February 2008 showed that most Iowans believed marriage should be only between one man and one woman. However, the poll also showed that a majority of Iowa adults supported the creation of civil unions that would grant benefits to gay couples similar to those offered to heterosexuals in marriage.

In the poll, 62 percent of Iowans said they believed marriage should be only between a man and a woman. Thirty-two percent said they believed same-sex marriages should be allowed, while 6 percent were unsure.

Iowans were split, however, on whether the state constitution should be changed to ban gay marriages. More than half of Iowans who responded to the poll supported civil unions for same-sex couples. About four in 10 Iowans opposed civil unions, and 4 percent were unsure.

Harkin, a Democrat, issued a written statement today that said: “my personal view has been that marriage is between a man and a woman, and I have voted in support of that concept. But I also fundamentally believe that same sex couples in a civil union should be entitled to all the basic legal protections and benefits of marriage.”
“I know that this decision will be very hard for many to accept,” he added. “But I also know that it will provide many committed same sex couples and families important rights, as well as an important sense of recognition and belonging.”

Religious leaders who support gay-marriage rights praised the ruling as an affirmation of equal rights for all Iowans.

“The court’s ruling shows Iowa is a place that celebrates fairness and equality for all Iowans,” said Connie Ryan Terrell, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa. “It upholds the spirit of Iowa’s constitution, which clearly states each of us has the right to equal protection and recognition under the law.”

The Rev. Mark Stringer said he cried when he heard of the decision. Stringer performed the only legal same-sex marriage in Iowa when he officiated a ceremony for Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan in 2007.

“It was such a sense of relief to me as someone who has cared about marriage equality,” Stringer said, adding that he is happy gay couple will have the same rights as he and his wife.

“It’s really an astounding moment under our history,” he said. “What really excites me is that Iowa is the first in our area of the country. We are being a leader in civil rights, which will be part of our state’s history.”

Polk County Attorney John Sarcone, whose office represented Brien, said has no plan to seek a new hearing on the case or appeal to the federal courts. Sarcone said the case involved “a substantial time and monetary commitment” for the county, although he did not know the dollar amount. Assistant County Attorney Roger Kuhle, who argued the case to the high court, traveled to England and Canada at county expense to take depositions, he said.
“This was never anything personal,” he said. “We have a responsibility to defend the recorder. We defended the statute, and we had a fair and full hearing in the district court and the supreme court. Everything was done with dignity.”

The full decision of the court is here.

Chris Knight and the Bankers

Chris Knight, of the University of East London, told BBC Radio 4 things "could get nasty" after ex-bank boss Sir Fred Goodwin's Edinburgh home was attacked.
The university confirmed in a statement the professor of anthropology had been suspended from duties on Thursday.
An investigation was being launched into his comments, it said.
The statement read: "Professor Chris Knight has been suspended from his duties at the University of East London, pending investigation.
"In order not to prejudice this process we cannot make any further comment."
Mr Knight, who was organising protests next week, said: "We are going to be hanging a lot of people like Fred the Shred [Sir Fred Goodwin] from lampposts on April Fool's Day and I can only say let's hope they are just effigies.

"To be honest, if he winds us up any more I'm afraid there will be real bankers hanging from lampposts and let's hope that that doesn't actually have to happen. "They [bankers] should realise the amount of fury and hatred there is for them and act quickly, because quite honestly if it isn't humour it is going to be anger. "I am trying to keep it humorous and let the anger come up in a creative and hopefully productive and peaceful way.
"If the other people don't join in the fun - I'm talking about the bankers and those rather pompous ministers - and come over and surrender their power obviously it's going to get us even more wound up and things could get nasty. Let's hope it doesn't."

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The Science of the Pope and HIV/AIDS

From the Lancet (March 28, 2009)

The Vatican felt the heat from an unprecedented amount of international condemnation last week after Pope Benedict XVI made an outrageous and wildly inaccurate statement about HIV/AIDS. On his first visit to Africa, the Pope told journalists that the continent's fight against the disease is a problem that “cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms: on the contrary, they increase it”.
The Catholic Church's ethical opposition to birth control and support of marital fidelity and abstinence in HIV prevention is well known. But, by saying that condoms exacerbate the problem of HIV/AIDS, the Pope has publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue.
The international community was quick to condemn the comment. The governments of Germany, France, and Belgium released statements criticising the Pope's views. Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society, called the comment “irresponsible and dangerous”. UNAIDS, the UN Population Fund, and WHO released an updated position statement on HIV prevention and condoms, which said that “the male latex condom is the single, most efficient, available technology to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV”. Amidst the fury, even the Vatican tried to alter the pontiff's wording. On the Holy See's website, the Vatican's head of media, Father Federico Lombari, quoted the Pope as having said that there was a “risk that condoms…might increase the problem”.
Whether the Pope's error was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to manipulate science to support Catholic ideology is unclear. But the comment still stands and the Vatican's attempts to tweak the Pope's words, further tampering with the truth, is not the way forward. When any influential person, be it a religious or political leader, makes a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they should retract or correct the public record. Anything less from Pope Benedict would be an immense disservice to the public and health advocates, including many thousands of Catholics, who work tirelessly to try and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide.

Twitter and blogs in primary schools in the UK

(From the Guardian)

Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned.

However, the draft plans will require children to master Twitter and Wikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes.

The proposed curriculum, which would mark the biggest change to primary schooling in a decade, strips away hundreds of specifications about the scientific, geographical and historical knowledge pupils must accumulate before they are 11 to allow schools greater flexibility in what they teach.

It emphasises traditional areas of learning - including phonics, the chronology of history and mental arithmetic - but includes more modern media and web-based skills as well as a greater focus on environmental education.

The plans have been drawn up by Sir Jim Rose, the former Ofsted chief who was appointed by ministers to overhaul the primary school curriculum, and are due to be published next month.

The papers seen by the Guardian are draft plans for the detailed content of each of six core "learning areas" that Rose is proposing should replace the current 13 standalone subject areas.

The proposals would require:

• Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell.

• Children to be able to place historical events within a chronology. "By the end of the primary phase, children should have gained an overview which enables them to place the periods, events and changes they have studied within a chronological framework, and to understand some of the links between them." Every child would learn two key periods of British history but it would be up to the school to decide which ones. Schools would still be able to opt to teach Victorian history or the second world war, but they would not be required to. The move is designed to prevent duplication with the secondary curriculum, which covers the second world war extensively.

• Less emphasis on the use of calculators than in the current curriculum.

• An understanding of physical development, health and wellbeing programme, which would address what Rose calls "deep societal concerns" about children's health, diet and physical activity, as well as their relationships with family and friends. They will be taught about peer pressure, how to deal with bullying and how to negotiate in their relationships.

The six core areas are: understanding English, communication and languages, mathematical understanding, scientific and technological understanding, human, social and environmental understanding, understanding physical health and wellbeing, and understanding arts and design.

John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said: "It seems to jump on the latest trends such as Wikipedia and Twitter. Then it has very traditional descriptions of chronological teaching of history. It seems to be about trends on the one hand, then political pressure on the other hand - the government didn't want to look like it is scrapping traditional education. Computer skills and keyboard skills seem to be as important as handwriting in this. Traditional books and written texts are downplayed in response to web-based learning."

Teresa Cremin, president of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, said: "We are very pleased to see a higher profile given to oracy but we are concerned that there seems to be no drama in the upper primary years linked to literacy. But our main concern is that there is no emphasis on reading for pleasure or the enjoyment of literacy."

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "They are much more sensible programmes of study. We are pleased they give the profession much more flexibility to meet the needs of their pupils. Children need to be enthused by learning, so they want to learn and gain the skills which will enable them to learn in later life. The debate is not about whether the Victorians are in there or not."

The leak led to a row when it emerged unions had been excluded from the consultation about what should be included, and subject specialists were given only three days to respond. Bousted said: "It's entirely unacceptable that it hasn't come to the teaching unions. Our members have to teach this. We've responded at all other stages of consultation. I don't know why we have been missed out now."

The Department for Children, Schools and Families, which initially refused to comment on the leaked report, issued a statement last night setting out its "general position" on history in primary schools. "Of course pupils in primary school will learn about major periods including the Romans, the Tudors and the Victorians and will be taught to understand a broad chronology of major events in this country and the wider world," it said.

The US economy and China

Despite the new enthusiasm at the White House and on Wall Street, there is little solid evidence to suggest an end was in sight to the severe recession that has already cost 4 million American jobs, driven down home values and sent foreclosures soaring.
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he was concerned about the safety of the stimated $1 trillion his country has invested in U.S. government debt.
(From the Huffington post)

The elections in El Salvador

Leftist Mauricio Funes of El Salvador's former Marxist rebel FMLN party has won the country's presidential election.
He defeated his conservative rival, the Arena party's Rodrigo Avila, who has admitted defeat. Arena had won every presidential election since the end of El Salvador's civil war 18 years ago.
The FMLN won 51.3% of the vote against Arena's 48.7%, Reuters news agency reported.
FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) party was founded by Marxist guerrilla fighters from the civil war.The conflict ended in a UN-sponsored peace accord in 1991, after the loss of some 70,000 lives over less than two decades.
Mr Funes is a former television journalist.
El Salvador has one of the world's highest murder rates. It has also been badly hit by the world economic downturn, with remittances from Salvadorians living abroad falling dramatically.
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Echoes of Plato today

An interesting article by Harry Eyres in the Financial Times

Echoes of Plato today
By Harry Eyres
Published: March 14 2009 01:10 | Last updated: March 14 2009 01:10

I have just been giving a talk about Plato at the Aldeburgh Literary Festival – or rather engaging in a Platonic dialogue with Irene Noel-Baker, the only translator I know who has ever dared to render the great poet-banisher into verse. This has meant going back to one
of those texts that repay endless rereading; I always expect to be surprised by The Republic (despite, or because of, being the author of a small book on the subject), but this time I am amazed by its relevance to our particular dark and uncertain time, as if it had been
written not in 380BC but the day before yesterday.

The bit that grabs me is the section on democracy in the entertaining description of a downward, vicious spiral of corrupt societies. I suppose everyone knows that Plato had a low opinion of democracy. But usually this is the cue for thoughtful consideration to be replaced by
righteous indignation. How could anyone prefer the cruel, militaristic, apartheid and philistine regime of ancient Sparta to the rich democracy of Athens, celebrated in the noble words of Pericles’ funeral oration and adorned with works of art and architecture (the Parthenon, the statues, the black figure vases) that still draw the crowds?

But if you go back to the words themselves, written with a playfulness and grace that have eluded most readers and nearly all translators, you find much food for thought, or arguments that should not be dismissed out of hand.

First of all, Socrates, the main speaker in The Republic, does not deny the attractions of democracy. If constitutions were goods on sale in a shop, everyone would choose democracy – it is like a coat of many colours compared to a suit of sombre grey. “There is liberty, and lots
of freedom of speech, and the individual is free to do as she or he likes.”

This sounds pretty good. But might excessive liberty end up enslaving us, both our minds and our societies, rather than setting us free?

To explain how this could happen, Socrates starts with finance.
Democracy evolves from oligarchy, the system in which wealth is what counts. “The [oligarchic] Rulers, who are in power because they have amassed so much wealth, do not want to prohibit by law the extravagance of the young, and stop them from wasting their money and ruining themselves. Their intention is to make loans to such imprudent people or by buying up their property to hope to increase their own wealth and influence ... The moneymakers continue to inject the toxic sting of their loans wherever they can, and to ask for high rates of interest, with the result that the city becomes full of lazy drones and paupers.” Has any better diagnosis of the origins of the credit crunch been written recently?

Democracy fosters all sorts of unnecessary desires and appetites. We end up getting addicted to these desires and appetites, and so, as Plato says, “the likely outcome of excessive freedom is only slavery in the individual and in the society”.

Then, even more ominously: “Probably then tyranny develops out of no other constitution than democracy – from the very heights of liberty, I take it, to extreme and savage servitude.” Words that could have been inscribed on the grave of the Weimar Republic. Democracy is “a
wonderfully pleasant way of carrying on in the short term”, as Socrates puts it. But chronic short-termism could be its fatal flaw.
Politicians have to pander to electors; weak government is the result, in which tough decisions are endlessly put off. Plato would have been darkly amused by our attempts to deal with climate change, as short-term decisions to build runways trump long-term attempts to curb emissions, or carbon trading schemes turn into perverse incentives to pollute.

But it is not only as a stern critic of democracy that we want to celebrate Plato. Somehow, The Republic is always turned into a gloomy tract or something like a government white paper. One aspect that gets left out is love. No doubt Plato speaks about love with still greater freedom, playfulness and humour in The Symposium and in Phaedrus. But there is still a lot of love in The Republic.

Socrates famously concluded that there will only be justice in the city when philosophers rule, or “when those now called kings and potentates be imbued with a sufficient measure of hilosophy”. But what does he mean by a philosopher? A philosopher is first of all a kind of lover, someone who loves wisdom, that is to say a joyful, insatiable polymath, not a dry and dusty specialist.

Love is what sets the whole thing going – the passionate and excited love of inquiry that prolongs a short walk down to Piraeus into one of the great thought-adventures in human history. I happen to disagree with Plato on democracy – not that his criticisms are without weight, but that they are outweighed by the criticisms to be levelled against the other systems he apparently preferred.

But returning to this most thought-provoking of all books written in the West is always a tonic and refreshment to the mind – like going back to the music of JS Bach. As Emerson said: “He points and quibbles; and by and by comes a sentence that moves the sea and land.”

harry.eyres@ft.com

Travel Alert for Mexico

an email sent to Berkeley faculty and students.

The U.S. Department of State has issued a travel alert for Mexico due to a sharp increase in violence and crime along the northern Mexican border. The Berkeley International Office strongly encourages all students and scholars who plan to visit Mexico during spring break to read the travel alert and consider revising travel plans. The increase in violence and crime, primarily associated with the drug trade, has involved innocent bystanders and tourists. Please see the Department of State Travel Alert for details and travel safety information.

Federal funding for stem cell research

At last!

US President Barack Obama is expected to lift restrictions on federal funding for research on new stem cell lines.
Officials say Mr Obama will authorise the move by executive order on Monday, a major reversal of US policy.
Ex-President George W Bush blocked the use of any government money to fund research on human embryonic stem cell lines created after 9 August 2001.
Scientists say stem cell research will lead to medical breakthroughs, but many religious groups oppose the research.
Correspondents say the policy change is part of President Obama's pledge to make clear that his administration wants scientific research to be free from political interference.
It expected that his announcement about federal money will be accompanied by a promise that what he calls "sound science" will be respected by his administration.
It is also thought that the announcement is timed to allow an adequate period for health officials to draw up research guidelines before a deadline for government stimulus money runs out.
Stem cells are cells with the capacity to turn into any other type of human cell, be it bone, muscle or nerve cell.
One embryo can provide a limitless supply because the cell lines can be grown indefinitely.
But the use of human embryonic stem cells in research is controversial with some campaigners saying it is unethical.

more

Chavez wins referendum

With 94% of votes counted, 54% backed an end to term limits, a National Electoral Council official said.
More than 11 million voters out of almost 17 million who were eligible took part in Sunday's referendum, said the head of the electoral body, Tibisay Lucena.
International observers said the ballot was free and fair, and opposition leaders were quoted as saying they would not contest the vote.
more

A cure for common cold (and asthma attacks)?

A very interesting scientific finding reported in today's NYT.

Curing the common cold, one of medicine’s most elusive goals, may now be in the realm of the possible. Researchers said Thursday that they had decoded the genomes of the 99 strains of common cold virus and developed a catalog of its vulnerabilities.
“We are now quite certain that we see the Achilles’ heel, and that a very effective treatment for the common cold is at hand,” said Stephen B. Liggett, an asthma expert at the University of Maryland and co-author of the finding.
Besides alleviating the achy, sniffly misery familiar to everyone, a true cold-fighting drug could be a godsend for the 20 million people who suffer from asthma and the millions of others with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The common cold virus, a rhinovirus, is thought to set off half of all asthma attacks.
The rhinovirus has a genome of about 7,000 chemical units, which encode the information to make the 10 proteins that do everything the virus needs to infect cells and make more viruses.By comparing the 99 genomes with one another, the researchers were able to arrange them in a family tree based on similarities in their genomes.That family tree shows that some regions of the rhinovirus genome are changing all the time but that others never change. The fact that the unchanging regions are so conserved over the course of evolutionary time means that they perform vital roles and that the virus cannot let them change without perishing. They are therefore ideal targets for drugs because, in principle, any of the 99 strains would succumb to the same drug.
The researchers, who conducted the genetic decoding with the aid of Dr. Claire Fraser-Liggett at the University of Maryland, published their insights into the rhinovirus on Thursday in the online edition of Science.

more

Tom Daschle's nomination

Today's excellent editorial of the San Francisco Chronicle on the issue.

PS. I have just read that Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination to be US health secretary. In a statement, Obama said he regretted the way he had handled the case. "I've got to own up to my mistake which is that ultimately it's important for this administration to send a message that there aren't two sets of rules," he said, according to a transcript. "You know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes."

Does anyone important in Washington pay taxes? Or is that civic duty - like jury duty or serving in the military - now something that only the "little people" in America, those without deep pockets and connections, do?

Tom Daschle is the latest Obama appointee to make the American middle class feel like suckers. Daschle's confirmation as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services is in jeopardy over his failure to pay $140,000 in back taxes and interest, as well as the odious revelation that he's been raking in cash ($5 million in the last four years alone) "advising," "consulting," "speaking" and "fundraising" for a string of industry clients seeking influence with the government. Included in that string of clients were many members of the health care industry that Daschle would be expected to regulate, as Health and Human Services secretary, and eventually, retool, as the architect of Obama's health care plan. Daschle's wife is also an influential lobbyist.

Daschle's troubles are unlikely to deter the Senate from approving him. For one thing, Daschle was once the Democratic leader in the Senate, and it'll be hard for the Senate's 58 Democrats to tell him no. Also - and here is where things get really odious - by the standards of Washington, Daschle's misdeeds really aren't that bad. Treading the well-worn path from Capitol Hill to K Street (where Washington's lobbyists reside) is a longstanding and bipartisan tradition. And the taxes? Pfft. Let them eat cake!

But here's where Obama needs to remember his campaign promise to restrict the influences of lobbying. Daschle, for all of his experience and knowledge of health care, has disqualified himself from this important position because of his own personal greed. The Senate should reject his nomination.

Addison St., Berkeley

Deemed the Downtown Berkeley Arts District in recent years, this lively, revitalized area bustles with university students, businesspeople and visitors. Distinguished by a cluster of low-rise 19th and 20th century buildings, it's centered on Addison Street. With live theater, music and more, there's plenty to keep one engaged.
more

al-Zaidi seeks political asylum in Geneva

According to an exclusive of Tribune de Geneve

The Tribune de Genève just learned that the Iraqi journalist Al-Zaidi Mountaz is seeking political asylum in Switzerland and wanrts to move to Geneva. Imprisoned in Baghdad, he fears for his safety.
Since last week, his lawyer in Switzerland, Mr. Mauro Poggia, intensifying its activities towards this. "Earlier this month, his family got in touch with me via the ICRC, and I'll write this week to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs to encourage Switzerland to grant him political asylum. Once installed at Geneva, this man, unmarried and without children, may very well work as a journalist at the United Nations. "

Iowa City

I found the following information about Iowa City (a city a have a soft spot for).

In 2008 Forbes ranked Iowa City #10 America's Smartest City. In 2007 Sperling's ranked Iowa City #5 Best Places to Live in the nation, and Outdoor Magazine ranked Iowa City the #1 Best Midwestern Town. In 2006 Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine ranked Iowa City the #10 Smartest Places to Live in the nation. Iowa City is located within 300 miles of Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Minneapolis. The regional airport isserved by 5 airlines. For more information on Iowa City, please visit: http://www.icgov.org/.

How science works

A nice image on how science works.
The flowchart represents the process of scientific inquiry. Most ideas take a circuitous path through the process, shaped by unique people and events.

Let people know what happens there in Gaza

I received the following e-mail, will a request to circulate it.

Making sure they get to school.

Helping Ladies across the street..





Providing childcare.



Allowing them a place to rest (permanently)






Access to Health care.
Construction projects (demolition)





Respecting American and British pacifist resisters (such as American Rachel Corrie)









And others.




And if you are not satisfied, now, with the truth the following pictures are war crimes as defined by the UN, The Hague and the Geneva Convention

Using images of your enemy dead or alive (violation)




Human shields (violation)



Live Burial Torture (violation)



And as a last resort, Execution (violation)

These IDF soldiers have faces... I can clearly see them...Cant you? Why are they not being prosecuted? Because it is systematic process that is driven by the government designed to force the people of Palestine into exile so Israel can claim all the land and resources.


This where my American tax dollars are going, do you know where your tax dollars are at? TAKE THE TIME TO FIND THE TRUTH. So many lives depend on it I, like so many Americans, am Caucasian, non-Arab, and religious. I can no longer sit back with good conscience and do nothing while my government is supporting the types of terrorist actions that we have condemned Muslim Fundamentalist for. Call your Congressman and Senator, send an email to the White House and demand that our government negotiate FAIRLY with both sides and bring a fair and just solution to Palestine and Israel .

(CRUELTY OF ISRAEL
PLS SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS

Panetta in the CIA

Most of the criticism towards B. Obama for his choice of Leon Panetta to head the CIA refers to Panetas' inexperience in intelligence matters and that, at 70, he will be the oldest CIA director ever.

No mention is made to the fact that this last remaining appointment will make the Obama presidency look more like a continuation of the Clinton one.

Berkeley vs Stanford: AAAS fellows 2008

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), is the world's largest general scientific society. This year it has nominated 486 new fellows. The honor, bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers, recognizes distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
Eleven faculty members at the University of California, Berkeley, have been named 2008 Fellows.
Four scientists at the School of Medicine and the university librarian of Stanford University have been named fellows.

Hamas and Israel

I don't think that the following is widely known.

Hamas, the Islamist armed group and political party was launched in 1987 with the backing of Israel, which hoped it would draw support from Yasser Arafat's Fatah.

Detecting cancer

A team led by Stanford researchers has developed a prototype blood scanner that can find cancer markers in the bloodstream in early stages of the disease, potentially allowing for earlier treatment and dramatically improved chances of survival.
more

Divorce in Bhutan

I have referred to Bhutan in a previous post.

Now, I see another interesting piece of news about the country. Namely, that the divorce rate is rising.

more

Is socialism still relevant?

A very interesting analysis by Guy Sorman in the Guardian.

The riots that have rampaged across Greece may have many causes, but one that is rarely mentioned is the fracturing of the Greek left into George Papandreou's traditional socialist party, Pasok, and an increasingly radicalised faction that refuses all accommodation with either the European Union or modern economics. To varying degrees, this divide is paralysing socialist parties across Europe.
....
The lesson from Greece, however, is that what European socialists should fear most is the far left's taste and talent for disruption. For the hollowing out of socialism has a consequence. To paraphrase Marx, a spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of chaos.

the full article

Steven Chu of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab for energy secretary

Steven Chu, the 60 years old Nobel Prize-winning physicist is Barack Obama's choice for energy secretary.

Since 2004, Chu has been director of the Berkeley lab, the oldest of the Energy Department's national laboratories, with its 4,000 employees and a budget of $650 million. The laboratory does only unclassified work and under Chu has been a center of research into biofuels and solar energy technologies. He is a former head of the physics department at Stanford University.

Chu has been a vocal advocate for more research into alternative energy, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming.

Chu, a Chinese-American, has in recent years campaigned to bring together a cross-section of scientific disciplines to find ways to counter climate change.

Chu as energy secretary would head a department with a $25 billion budget and 14,000 employees and more than 193,000 contract workers. Two-thirds of its budget involves activities related to nuclear weapons research and maintenance.

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Assisted Suicide

This is a controversial issue. But it has to be debated.

The widow of a former university professor who killed himself has defended the broadcasting of his death on a television programme. Craig Ewert, who suffered from motor neurone disease, died in Switzerland, having been helped by the controversial charity Dignitas.
the video
dignitas

Heroin and Cannabis in Switzerland

Swiss voters have backed a change in health policy that would provide prescription heroin to addicts. Final results from the national referendum showed 68% of voters supported the plan. The scheme, where addicts inject the drug under medical supervision at a clinic, began in Zurich 14 years ago before spreading across the country.

In another referendum, the Swiss appear to have rejected the decriminalisation of cannabis. The heroin vote was one of a series of referendums held to decide policy on illegal drugs. Switzerland would be the first country to include it in government policy. Supporters say it has had positive results - getting long-term addicts out of Switzerland's once notorious "needle parks" and reducing drug-related crime. Under the scheme, addicts visit clinics up to twice a day, where they inject the drug under medical supervision. They can also be treated for other medical issues or mental health problems.

On cannabis things were less clear - Swiss police regularly turn a blind eye to moderate cannabis use. But recent studies suggesting that long-term use of the drug may be more harmful than previously thought looked likely to encourage a "No" to decriminalisation. Early results showed only 36.8% of those voting supported decriminalising cannabis, the Associated Press (AP) news agency said.

more

Martine Aubry is the new leader of the French Socialist Party

Lille Mayor Martine Aubry won the Socialist Party's leadership vote with 50.02%, beating rival Ségolène Royal by 42 votes, the party leadership announced. Royal won 49.98% of the votes in Friday's second round of voting. Valid votes were cast by only 134,784 of the party's 233,000 members. more

Proposition 8 in the Supreme Court of California

The SC of Cal will rule on a motion filed on November 19, 2008 to declare proposition 8 unconstitutional because it is a revision of the constitution and not an amendment and because it violates the separation of powers doctrine of the California Constitution .
My earlier post on the court's decision on gay marriages can be found here.

e-mails and Obama

The first president "addicted" to the BlackBerry Barack Obama, who gave up smoking before running for office, now faces a break with another habit - e-mail.

The US president-elect is likely to give it up, aides told the New York Times, because transparency laws would open his correspondence to public view. 

Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush both gave up e-mail in office, but Mr Obama will be the first BlackBerry user to occupy the White House. He took mobile e-mail everywhere with him on the campaign trail. In the summer, cameras filmed him checking his BlackBerry while watching one of his daughters playing football. His wife Michelle slapped at his hands, obliging him to put it away."I think Obama is the first president who is addicted to the BlackBerry like the rest of us, and there's a lot of presidential records and archive rules on what gets stored and what doesn't," former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart told the Associated Press. 

A final decision on whether Mr Obama will become the first e-mailing president has yet to be made. He is expected to be the first to have a laptop on his desk in the Oval Office. 

One possibility reported to be under consideration is that he could continue to receive e-mails, but not send them. During the campaign, the New York Times reports, his advisers rarely printed out memos but simply e-mailed them to his BlackBerry. The paper quoted aides saying that his emails, sometimes sent as late as 0100 or 0300, were "generally crisp, properly spelled and free of symbols or emoticons". As well as the problem of the Presidential Records Act, which could open all presidential emails to public scrutiny, there are also security concerns. 
Experts say there is always a risk of digital communication being hacked into.There is also the possibility that the location of a presidential mobile telephone could be tracked. Benjamin Nugent, author of the book American Nerd, says the president-elect is a techie, who will have difficulty parting with his BlackBerry. 

the full story

A referendum on the autonomy of the University of Geneva

Geneva - 12 November 2008

A referendum at the end of the month will determine the future of legislation designed to give the University of Geneva more autonomy. Administrators say the new law is needed to modernize the institution, which turns 450 next year, while they allay fears from employee and student groups that it will lead to a loss of independence, privatization of operations and tuition fee increases.

The fate of a new law to give the state-owned University of Geneva more autonomy will be determined by cantonal voters at the end of the month. The proposed legislation – to replace the oldest law of its kind in Switzerland, dating from 1974 – has been challenged by student and staff groups. They fear it will lead to a hike in tuition fees and privatization of operations, while worsening conditions for employees and threatening the university’s independence. But the Geneva government and the university administration say these concerns are unfounded.
Jean-Dominique Vassalli, the university’s rector, has led a media campaign for the past several weeks to explain why the new law is needed to modernize the institution and help if function more efficiently as its heads into its 450^th anniversary next year. Founded by celebrated protestant theologian Jean Calvin in the 16^th century, the university needs to be able to respond more flexibly to global conditions, by attracting the best possible academics and offering appropriate courses on a timely basis, Vassalli argues. The impetus for the legislation followed a scandal in 2006, involving the misappropriation of expenses by a professor, which led to the resignation of the previous rector. The new law calls for a clearer delineation of responsibilities while also providing university administrators more freedom to make decisions without having to seek parliamentary backing for such decisions as new curricula.

The recently launched master’s degree programme in international trading, for example, took 18 months to set up because of the cumbersome approval process involving the Geneva parliament. The English-language programme, sought by companies in Geneva’s booming trading sector needing highly trained staff, could have been more quickly established under the new law, university administrators say. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, the Geneva chamber of commerce and right-wing political parties have lined up in support of the legislation.

Vassalli stresses that the bulk of the university’s budget – 627 million francs this year – will continue to be provided by the cantonal and federal governments. It currently receives grants of about 75 million francs from private and public research foundations, but it has far less private funding than, for example, American universities, where corporate funding is rampant and fees are considerably higher.

The Geneva parliament will continue to establish the university’s budget under the new law, and it will remain responsible for setting tuition fees, although the legislation would allow for increases in line with the Swiss average. At 1,000 francs a year, students at the University of Geneva currently benefit from the lowest tuition in the country.

Among other things, the law calls for the establishment of a 45-member university assembly, representing academic staff, charged with setting strategic goals and an ethical charter for the university. This would replace a smaller 21-member council that includes seven representatives from outside the university. Another aspect of the law would see the university become the direct employer of its staff, rather than the canton. Paolo Gilardi, leader of the public service employees’ union, believes this would lead to worse conditions for employees, while favoring the hiring of temporary employees.

Gilardi says a proposed lifting of the cap on professors’ salaries – currently held at around 200,000 francs a year – would increase the disparities between select “mandarins” and poorly paid teaching assistants. The law would allow for wages up to 300,000 francs, an amount Vassalli says is necessary to attract the top talent. Three weeks ago “two professors of medicine, including one who works in Basel, refused posts in Geneva for pay reasons,” he told the Tribune de Genève. “Compared to other Swiss universities we are not competitive,” Vassalli added.

the full story

California state Ballot results, November 4, 2008

The November 4 results on the various measures in California.

Opinion Polls in the US elections

An interesting article on US opinion polls in today's Times of London.
Bottom line (literally) is that all polls indicate an Obama win.

An old newspaper photograph haunts the dreams of every US pollster. A grinning Harry Truman, having won the 1948 presidential election despite every prediction, is holding up a copy of the Chicago Tribune. It reads: “Dewey defeats Truman”.

Could it happen again? Every pollster is predicting a victory for Barack Obama. Might a grinning John McCain be pictured on Wednesday triumphantly holding a pile of incorrect polling data?

There are two things that say that he might.

The first is that American pollsters have not yet experienced what happened here in 1992 – when the polls pointed to a Labour victory but John Major won. The conventional wisdom is that 1992 was great for the Tories but terrible for the pollsters. In the long run, the opposite turned out to be true. Victory in 1992 turned to ashes for the Conservatives, whereas the pollsters used the debacle to get themselves sorted out.

Now British polls are properly and carefully weighted, taking account of what is known as the spiral of silence – the tendency of voters for the less fashionable party to keep their intentions to themselves. British pollsters weight their results to allow for these shy voters. US pollsters do not.

It isn’t unreasonable to believe that there could be a Republican spiral of silence. And that US pollsters are all missing it.

There is some evidence of mistakes among US pollsters. Every poll has a margin of error, to take into account the fact that a limited sample has been consulted. But the website fivethirtyeight.com has shown that during the primaries there was on average a 2.3 per cent pollster-introduced error, caused by poor methodology. This is not the case in Britain.

The second, widely canvassed, reason why the polls could be wrong is known as the Bradley Effect. In 1982 exit polls showed the African American Tom Bradley to be on course for victory as Governor of California. He lost. It is argued that voters had refused to support him because of his race but didn’t want to tell a pollster. Could this happen to Obama?

The Bradley Effect is talked about as if it were incontrovertible but it is only a theory. One of Bradley’s campaign team pointed out recently that the same exit polls that predicted victory for Bradley also projected that the white Democrat Jerry Brown would be elected US Senator.

And he lost too. These two question marks over the polls are ones that McCain can cling to as the campaign comes to a conclusion. They are not, however, the only reason to doubt the pollsters.

The other ones suggest that the pollsters may be underestimating, not overestimating, Obama.

In an election where only 60 per cent may vote, all pollsters have to weigh their findings to reflect how likely respondents are to cast their ballot. The difficulty is deciding how. Usually pollsters use previous elections to help them to decide who is going to vote. But what if, in this election, different sorts of voters are going to turn out?

There is reason to believe that young people and African Americans will turn out for Obama as never before. Some pollsters are adjusting for this, others are not (hence some of the variability in the polls). The result will depend to an extent upon who is right about this.

A second unknown is the use of mobile phones. A segment of the electorate – on the whole younger, poorer people – no longer have land lines. Yet pollsters use random digit dialling of landlines to build their samples.

Some say that this undercounts Obama support by 2 or 3 per cent.

Lost in all this detail? Then cling on to this. The polls may vary, the methods differ, the lead goes up and down. But every poll by every pollster still agrees that Obama will win.

Adoption in Nepal

Nepal's government is once again allowing foreign nationals to adopt children from the country. Adoptions were halted last year after allegations of corruption and reports that children were being sold off.
more

The reason for suspending the program last year can be found here.

The full text of the decision by the EU court of Justice on the recognition of Dipomas

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Second Chamber)
23 October 2008 (*)
(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Directive 89/48/EEC – Workers – Recognition of diplomas)
In Case C-274/05,
ACTION under Article 226 EC for failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 4 July 2005,
Commission of the European Communities, represented by G. Zavvos and H. Støvlbæk, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg,

applicant,
v
Hellenic Republic, represented by E. Skandalou, acting as Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg,
defendant,
THE COURT (Second Chamber),
composed of C.W.A. Timmermans, President of Chamber, J.-C. Bonichot, K. Schiemann (Rapporteur), J. Makarczyk and L. Bay Larsen, Judges,

Advocate General: Y. Bot,
Registrar: L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator,
having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 18 January 2007,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 19 April 2007
gives the following
Judgment
1 By its application the Commission of the European Communities seeks a declaration from the Court that:
– by failing to recognise the diplomas awarded by the competent authorities of another Member State in the context of franchised education and training;

– by providing for the application of compensatory measures in more cases than those allowed by the directive;
– by entrusting to the Council Responsible for Recognising Professional Equivalence of Higher Education Qualifications (Symvoulio Anagnoriseos Epangelmatikis Isotimias Titlon Tritovathmias Ekpaidefsis; ‘the Saeitte’) the power to assess whether ‘the educational establishment in which the applicant completed his education and training belongs to the higher education sector’ and whether ‘the applicant has the necessary professional experience, in a case where the duration of the education and training falls short by at least one year of that required in Greece in order to pursue that profession’;

– by failing to take into account the professional recognition of qualifications as regards employment in the public sector and registration in the Technical Chamber of Greece, and

– by requiring, for registration in that technical chamber, the submission of supporting documents validated by a Greek consular authority and translated by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs or by a lawyer,

the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 1, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 10 of Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a general system for the recognition of higher education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years’ duration (OJ 1989 L 19, p. 16), as amended by Directive 2001/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2001 (OJ 2001 L 206, p. 1; ‘Directive 89/48’).

2 The principal question of law raised in this case is analogous to that in the case which gave rise to today’s judgment in Case C­286/06 Commission v Spain [2008] ECR I­0000. These cases both concern the extent to which the provisions of Directive 89/48 may be relied upon in order to oblige a Member State to recognise diplomas awarded following studies in an individual’s own Member State by the authorities of another Member State.

Legal context
Community legislation
3 According to the third and fourth recitals in the preamble to Directive 89/48, the purpose of the directive is to introduce a general system for the recognition of diplomas such as to enable nationals of Community countries to pursue all those professional activities which in a host Member State are dependent on the completion of post-secondary education and training, provided that they hold diplomas preparing them for those activities awarded on completion of a course of studies lasting at least three years and issued in another Member State.

The concept of ‘diploma’
4 Article 1(a) of Directive 89/48 provides:
‘For the purposes of this Directive the following definitions shall apply:
(a) diploma: any diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications or any set of such diplomas, certificates or other evidence:

– which has been awarded by a competent authority in a Member State, designated in accordance with its own laws, regulations or administrative provisions;

– which shows that the holder has successfully completed a post-secondary course of at least three years’ duration, or of an equivalent duration part-time, at a university or establishment of higher education or another establishment of equivalent level and, where appropriate, that he has successfully completed the professional training required in addition to the post-secondary course, and

– which shows that the holder has the professional qualifications required for the taking up or pursuit of a regulated profession in that Member State,

provided that the education and training attested by the diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications were received mainly in the Community, or the holder thereof has three years’ professional experience certified by the Member State which recognised a third-country diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications.

The following shall be treated in the same way as a diploma, within the meaning of the first subparagraph: any diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications or any set of such diplomas, certificates or other evidence awarded by a competent authority in a Member State if it is awarded on the successful completion of education and training received in the Community and recognised by a competent authority in that Member State as being of an equivalent level and if it confers the same rights in respect of the taking up and pursuit of a regulated profession in that Member State’.

The obligation to recognise
5 The first paragraph of Article 3 of Directive 89/48 provides that a host Member State which makes the taking up of a profession subject to possession of a diploma may not, on the grounds of inadequate qualifications, refuse to authorise a national of a Member State to take up that profession if the applicant adduces certain qualifications specified in that provision. That is the case in particular if the applicant holds the diploma required in another Member State for the taking up or pursuit of the profession in question in its territory, such diploma having been awarded in a Member State.

The compensatory measures
6 Notwithstanding Article 3 of Directive 89/48, Article 4 thereof authorises the host Member State, in certain circumstances which are set out in that article, to require the applicant to provide evidence of professional experience of a specific duration, to complete an adaptation period not exceeding three years or to take an aptitude test (‘the compensatory measures’).

7 According to the third subparagraph of Article 4(1)(b) of Directive 89/48, the host Member State which imposes compensatory measures must, in principle, leave the choice between an adaptation period and an aptitude test to the applicant. By derogation from that principle, the host Member State may stipulate either an adaptation period or an aptitude test for professions ‘whose practice requires precise knowledge of national law and in respect of which the provision of advice and/or assistance concerning national law is an essential and constant aspect of the professional activity’. The introduction of derogations for other professions as regards an applicant’s right to choose is subject to the application of the procedure laid down in Article 10 of that directive, which presupposes in particular communication of the draft derogation to the Commission and gives the latter the option of taking a decision to the contrary within three months of its notification.

Provisions relating to professions regulated by associations or organisations recognised by the State
8 Article 1(d) of Directive 89/48 draws a distinction between professional activities regulated directly or indirectly by the State and those regulated by associations or organisations recognised by the State. According to that provision, the following definitions apply:

‘regulated professional activity: a professional activity, in so far as the taking up or pursuit of such activity or one of its modes of pursuit in a Member State is subject, directly or indirectly by virtue of laws, regulations or administrative provisions, to the possession of a diploma. The following in particular shall constitute a mode of pursuit of a regulated professional activity:

– pursuit of an activity under a professional title, in so far as the use of such a title is reserved to the holders of a diploma governed by laws, regulations or administrative provisions,

– pursuit of a professional activity relating to health, in so far as remuneration and/or reimbursement for such an activity is subject by virtue of national social security arrangements to the possession of a diploma.

Where the first subparagraph does not apply, a professional activity shall be deemed to be a regulated professional activity if it is pursued by the members of an association or organisation the purpose of which is, in particular, to promote and maintain a high standard in the professional field concerned and which, to achieve that purpose, is recognised in a special form by a Member State and:

– awards a diploma to its members,
– ensures that its members respect the rules of professional conduct which it prescribes, and
– confers on them the right to use a title or designatory letters, or to benefit from a status corresponding to that diploma.

A non-exhaustive list of associations or organisations which, when this Directive is adopted, satisfy the conditions of the second subparagraph is contained in the Annex. Whenever a Member State grants the recognition referred to in the second subparagraph to an association or organisation, it shall inform the Commission thereof, which shall publish this information in the Official Journal of the European Communities’.

9 Article 7(3) of Directive 89/48, which lays down a specific provision for professions regulated by an association or organisation within the meaning of the second subparagraph of Article 1(d) of that directive, is worded as follows:

‘Where a profession is regulated in the host Member State by an association or organisation referred to in Article 1(d), nationals of Member States shall only be entitled to use the professional title or designatory letters conferred by that organisation or association on proof of membership.

Where the association or organisation makes membership subject to certain qualification requirements, it may apply these to nationals of other Member States who are in possession of a diploma within the meaning of Article 1(a) or a formal qualification within the meaning of Article 3(b) only in accordance with this Directive, in particular Articles 3 and 4.’

Evidence which may be required by the host Member State
10 Pursuant to Article 8(1) of Directive 89/48, the host Member State is to accept as proof that the conditions laid down in Articles 3 and 4 of that directive are satisfied the certificates and documents issued by the competent authorities in the Member States, which the person concerned is to submit in support of his application to pursue the profession concerned.

National legislation
11 Presidential Decree 165/2000 of 28 June 2000 (FEK A’ 149), as amended by Presidential Decrees 373/2001 of 22 October 2001 (FEK A’ 251) and 385/2002 of 23 December 2002 (FEK A’ 334; ‘Decree 165/2000’), is intended to transpose Directive 89/48 into the Greek legal system.

12 Article 10 of Decree 165/2000 conferred exclusive powers on the Saeitte, which, pursuant to Article 11 of that decree, was made responsible for adjudicating on applications for recognition of higher education diplomas falling within the scope of Directive 89/48.

13 Where the Commission challenges specific provisions of national law by its complaints, those provisions will be identified in the context of the assessment of those complaints.

The pre­litigation procedure
14 Following complaints from 37 individuals, the Commission took the view that the Greek legislation did not comply with Directive 89/48 on several points. It therefore sent the Hellenic Republic a letter of formal notice on 27 July 2001, followed, on 21 December 2001, by a supplementary letter of formal notice. The Greek Government replied to those communications by letters of 12 October 2001 and 13 March 2002 respectively.

15 The Commission considered that those replies were inadequate and sent the Hellenic Republic a reasoned opinion on 1 July 2002 and, on 9 July 2004, a supplementary reasoned opinion, calling upon that Member State to adopt the measures necessary to comply with those opinions within two months of their notification. The Member State concerned replied to those opinions by communications of 3 September 2002, 26 August 2004 and 7 April 2005.

16 Whilst acknowledging that the information provided by the Hellenic Republic answers its complaints on certain points, the Commission maintained its stance that that Member State had not taken all the measures necessary to transpose Directive 89/48. It therefore decided to bring this action.

The action
17 In its application, the Commission puts forward seven complaints in support of its action for failure to fulfil obligations. In the light of the arguments and clarifications provided by the Hellenic Government in its defence, the Commission, in its reply, withdrew its fourth and seventh complaints, so that it is no longer necessary to examine them.

The first complaint: failure to recognise education and training provided within the framework of a homologation agreement

18 The first complaint put forward by the Commission alleges systematic refusal to recognise diplomas obtained following education and training provided within the framework of an agreement pursuant to which education and training provided by a private body in Greece is homologated by a competent authority of another Member State which awards diplomas to students who have received that education and training (‘a homologation agreement’).

19 It is common ground in this respect that the Hellenic Republic reserves the provision of university and higher education to public establishments only. It therefore refuses to recognise education and training provided in the framework of a homologation agreement as well as diplomas awarded by the competent authorities of other Member States following such education and training.

20 According to the Commission, that refusal constitutes an infringement of Articles 1(a) and 3 of Directive 89/48. It maintains that the diploma conferred following education and training provided in the framework of a homologation agreement is a diploma, as defined in Article 1(a) of Directive 89/48, awarded by a competent authority in another Member State, which must therefore be recognised by the Hellenic Republic pursuant to Article 3 of that directive.

21 By contrast, the Hellenic Republic submits that a host Member State is not obliged to recognise a diploma awarded by a competent authority in another Member State if that diploma is awarded on completion of education and training received, in whole or in part, in the host Member State and which, under the legislation of that State, is not recognised as higher education.

22 First, the Hellenic Republic observes that, pursuant to Articles 149 EC and 150 EC, the content and organisation both of the education system and of professional education and training fall within the competence of the Member States. Education and training provided on the territory of a Member State are therefore governed by the domestic law of that State, which is free to establish in particular the legal form of higher education establishments, together with the content and level of the university or higher education and training offered by the public or private establishments on its territory. An obligation on a Member State to recognise education and training received on its territory as university or higher education and training, whilst, according to national law, it does not constitute such education or training, would infringe the distribution of powers resulting from Articles 149 EC and 150 EC.

23 The Hellenic Republic observes in that context that, pursuant to Article 16 of the Greek Constitution, university and higher education is provided in that Member State solely and exclusively by public establishments and the creation of higher education institutions by individuals is expressly prohibited. Any possibility of recognising, as a university or higher education diploma, an educational qualification awarded by a private education institution of whatever nature established in Greece is therefore precluded.

24 Second, as regards the specific provisions of Directive 89/48, the question whether an educational establishment situated a Member State is ‘a university or establishment of higher education’ or ‘another establishment of equivalent level’, within the meaning of the second indent of Article 1(a) of Directive 89/48, must be assessed solely by reference to the law of the Member State on whose territory the education and training are provided. In the present case, it is therefore solely by reference to Greek law that the status of the establishments in question must be assessed. In so far as the education and training provided within the framework of a homologation agreement are provided in establishments situated in Greece which do not satisfy the conditions required by Greek law, diplomas awarded following that education and training are not therefore diplomas within the meaning of Article 1(a) of Directive 89/48. Consequently, no obligation to recognise flows from Directive 89/48 as regards those qualifications.

25 The Commission contends in this regard that education and training provided within the framework of homologation agreements and diplomas conferred on completion of such education and training fall entirely within the education system of the Member State in which the establishment awarding the diploma is established, irrespective of the Member State where the courses took place. According to the Commission, it is therefore, pursuant to Articles 149 EC and 150 EC, for the Member State in which the establishment awarding the diploma is established to determine the content and organisation of the education and training and evaluate the level of the courses provided. By the same token, Article 16 of the Greek Constitution is not applicable to education and training provided within the framework of homologation agreements since they do not fall within the Greek education system.

Findings of the Court
26 Subject to the provisions of Article 4 of Directive 89/48, subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 3 of that directive entitles any applicant who holds a ‘diploma’, within the meaning of that directive, enabling him to pursue a regulated profession in one Member State to pursue the same profession in any other Member State.

27 The definition of the concept of ‘diploma’ set out in Article 1(a) of Directive 89/48 limits, to a certain extent, the applicability of that directive to qualifications acquired in non­Member States.

28 However, neither Article 1(a) nor any other provision of Directive 89/48 contains any limitation as regards the Member State in which an applicant must have acquired his professional qualifications. It follows expressly from the first paragraph of Article 1(a) that it is sufficient that the education and training were received ‘mainly in the Community’. It has already been held that that expression covers both education and training received entirely in the Member State which awarded the formal qualification in question and that received partly or wholly in another Member State (Case C­102/02 Beuttenmüller [2004] ECR I­5405, paragraph 41).

29 Furthermore, no reason can justify such a limitation, since the main question, for the purposes of adjudicating on the applicability of Directive 89/48, is whether the applicant is or is not entitled to pursue a regulated profession in a Member State. According to the system put in place by that directive, a diploma is recognised not on the basis of the intrinsic value of the education and training to which it attests, but because it gives the right to take up a regulated profession in the Member State where it was awarded or recognised. Differences in the duration or content of education and training acquired in another Member State by comparison with that provided in the host Member State are not therefore sufficient to justify a refusal to recognise the professional qualification concerned. At most, where those differences are substantial, they may, in accordance with Article 4 of that directive, justify the host Member State requiring that the applicant satisfy one or other of the compensatory measures set out in that provision (see, to that effect, Beuttenmüller, paragraph 52, and Case C­330/03 Colegio [2006] ECR I­801, paragraph 19).

30 The general system for the recognition of higher education diplomas laid down in Directive 89/48 is based on the mutual trust that Member States have in the professional qualifications that they award. That system essentially establishes a presumption that the qualifications of an applicant entitled to pursue a regulated profession in one Member State are sufficient for the pursuit of that profession in the other Member States.

31 It is inherent in that system, which does not harmonise the education and training giving access to the regulated professions, that is for the competent authorities awarding diplomas giving such access alone to verify, in the light of the rules applicable within the framework of their professional education and training system, whether the conditions necessary for their award are fulfilled. It may be observed, in this respect, that Article 8(1) of Directive 89/48 expressly obliges the host Member State to accept, in any event, as proof that the conditions for recognition of a diploma are satisfied, the certificates and documents issued by the competent authorities in the other Member States. Consequently, the host Member State cannot examine the basis on which such documents have been issued, although they do have the possibility of carrying out a review as regards those of the conditions laid down in Article 1(a) of Directive 89/48 which, on the face of those documents, do not appear to have been satisfied already.

32 Consequently, it is also solely in the light of the rules applicable within the framework of the professional education and training system of the Member State to which the competent authority awarding a diploma belongs that it can be assessed whether the educational establishment in which the holder received his education and training is ‘a university or establishment of higher education’ or ‘another establishment of equivalent level’ within the meaning of the second indent of the first paragraph of Article 1(a) of Directive 89/48.

33 The approach advocated by the Hellenic Republic in this respect, which is to apply the rules laid down by the Member State in which the education and training were received, would have the effect of obliging the competent authorities awarding the diplomas to treat the persons who received education and training of an equivalent quality differently, depending on the Member State in which they undertook their education and training.

34 It should also be noted that, according to the wording of Directive 89/48 itself, the education and training must not necessarily have been received in a university or in a higher education establishment. According to the second indent of Article 1(a) of that directive, it is sufficient that it is an ‘establishment of equivalent level’. Consequently, the condition imposed by that provision is not intended to ensure that the educational establishment fulfils formal conditions as to its status, but refers essentially to the level of the education and training provided. That condition is closely linked to the characteristics of the diploma awarded. The assessment carried out in this respect must therefore fall within the purview of the competent authority awarding the diploma; that authority must ensure that the diploma is conferred only on persons who are sufficiently qualified to pursue the regulated profession to which it gives access.

35 It is apparent from the abovementioned considerations that Articles 1(a) and 3 of Directive 89/48 must be interpreted as meaning that a host Member State is obliged, subject to the application of Article 4 of that directive, to recognise a diploma awarded by an authority of another Member State even if that diploma is awarded on completion of education and training received, in whole or in part, in the host Member State and even if, according to the legislation of that State, that education and training is not recognised as higher education.

36 It should be added that that interpretation does not call into question the responsibility of the Hellenic Republic for the content of teaching and the organisation of the education system.

37 First of all, it should be pointed out in this respect that Directive 89/48 does not concern the recognition of academic qualifications, but relates solely to professional qualifications giving access to regulated professions.

38 Next, unlike the sectoral directives relating to specific professions, Directive 89/48 is not intended to harmonise the conditions for the taking up or pursuit of the various professions to which it applies and the Member States therefore remain competent to define such conditions within the limits imposed by Community law (Case C­149/05 Price [2006] ECR I­7691, paragraph 54).

39 Lastly, the recognition method established by Directive 89/48 does not lead to automatic and unconditional recognition of the diplomas and professional qualifications concerned. Article 4 of that directive expressly makes it possible to impose compensatory measures if it transpires that the education and training received by an applicant differs in terms of its duration or content from the education and training required in Greece.

40 Similarly, since they are awarded by the competent authorities of other Member States solely in the light of the applicable rules within the framework of their respective education and training systems, diplomas awarded on completion of education and training provided within the framework of homologation agreements do not fall, in the context of Directive 89/48, within the Greek education system. Consequently, the objective of ensuring a high level of Greek university education and training is not called into question by such education and training, the quality of which it is for the competent authorities of the other Member States issuing the diplomas awarded on completion of that education and training to ensure.

41 In the light of the above, the Court holds that the Commission’s first complaint is well founded.
The second complaint: absence of choice in relation to the various types of compensatory measures
42 Article 5(1)(b),(bb) of Decree 165/2000 lays down the principle that, where it is necessary to impose compensatory measures on an applicant, that applicant may choose between an adaptation period and an aptitude test. That provision contains a derogation to that principle, formulated in the following terms:

‘That right to choose does not apply in respect of professions whose practice requires precise knowledge of national law and in respect of which the provision of advice and/or assistance concerning national law is an essential and constant aspect of the professional activity, nor in respect of all the other professions covered by various specific provisions.’

43 According to the Commission, that provision is contrary to the third subparagraph of Article 4(1)(b) and Article 10 of Directive 89/48, in that it derogates from the principle that the choice of the type of compensatory measures is a matter for the applicant, not only so far as concerns the professions which require knowledge of national law, but also ‘in respect of all the other professions covered by various specific provisions’.

44 It must be held that the second complaint put forward by the Commission is well founded for the reason stated by the Commission.

45 The Hellenic Republic recognises moreover that that complaint is well founded and states that the provision at issue was caused by a ‘drafting error’. It states that a presidential decree withdrawing the part of the sentence concerned is in the process of adoption.

The third complaint, relating to the powers of the Saeitte
46 As provided in Article 10(1)(b),(aa) and (bb) of Decree 165/2000, the following powers were conferred on the Saeitte:

‘the assessment of any question which is decisive for the recognition of professional equivalence and, in particular, the question whether:

(aa) the educational establishment in which the applicant completed his professional education and training belongs to the higher education sector,

(bb) the applicant has the necessary professional experience, in a case where the duration of the education and training falls short by at least one year of that required in Greece in order to pursue that profession.’

47 According to the Commission, the above provision is contrary to Article 8(1) of Directive 89/48 in so far as it gives power to an authority of the host Member State to verify facts which are, pursuant to Article 8(1), definitively established by certificates and documents issued by the competent authorities of the Member State of origin.

48 It must be held that the third complaint put forward by the Commission is well founded for the reason stated by the Commission.

49 The Hellenic Republic moreover recognises that that complaint is well founded and states that a presidential decree repealing Article 10(1)(b), (aa) and (bb) of Decree 165/2000 is in the process of adoption.

The fifth complaint: failure to recognise the diplomas of persons recruited in the public sector
50 In the fourth indent of the claims made in its application, the Commission raised a fifth complaint relating to the progression of salaries and careers of persons recruited in the public sector.

51 According to the Commission, the administrative practice followed by the Saeitte and the various services in the Greek public sector is contrary to Article 3 of Directive 89/48 in so far as holders of diplomas within the meaning of that directive working in the public sector are deprived of the possibility of having the professional equivalence of their qualifications recognised for the purposes of obtaining a higher grade or salary and therefore the possibility of pursuing their profession in conditions identical to those to which holders of national diplomas are entitled.

52 The Hellenic Republic contests those claims. In its rejoinder, it claimed that the provisions of the Civil Service Code resulting from Law 2683/1999 (FEK A’ 19) entitle persons recruited after the entry into force of Decree 165/2000 who consider that they have been classified incorrectly in a given civil service category to apply for reclassification in posts in higher grades, on condition that they fulfil the conditions laid down by the provisions in force.

53 In response to a question put by the Court, the Hellenic Republic stated that the right to be reclassified applies to persons recruited both before and after the entry into force of Decree 165/2000.

54 Article 70(1) and (2) of Civil Service Code, cited in that connection by the Hellenic Republic, is worded as follows:

‘Reclassification in a post in a higher category
1. An official may, at his request, be reclassified in a vacant post in a higher category within the same ministry or the same public-law corporation. The official must fulfil the formal and substantive conditions required to occupy the post in which he is reclassified. A probationary official may not be reclassified.

2. Officials who, at the time of their recruitment application, fulfilled the formal conditions to be recruited to a post in a higher category may not be reclassified until eight years have elapsed since their recruitment.’

55 The Commission claimed at the hearing that that provision does not ensure the necessary legal certainty for the persons concerned recruited before the entry into force of Decree 165/2000 at a level lower than that to which they would have been entitled if their diplomas had been recognised in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 89/48. In that connection, the Commission observed in particular that, pursuant to Article 70(2) of the Civil Service Code, an official who has been incorrectly classified in a given grade must wait eight years from the time of his recruitment before he is eligible for reclassification in a post in a higher category.

56 Further, in response to a question put by the Court at the hearing, the Hellenic Republic confirmed that, according to the wording of Article 70(1) of the Civil Service Code, persons who have been classified incorrectly can apply for their reclassification only if a post in a higher category within the same ministry or the same public-law corporation becomes available.

57 On those points, the Hellenic Republic stated at the hearing that ‘it [was] committed to settling all the applications for reclassification in the best possible way’ and that it always endeavoured to reclassify the persons who had to be so reclassified by reason of Community law. As regards the eight­year waiting period provided for in Article 70(2) of the Civil Service Code, that provision did not concern persons who, on account of an error by the administration, were not classified from the outset in the grade to which they were entitled. Furthermore, the Hellenic Republic stated that it was prepared to regularise with retroactive effect the situation of persons who had not been recruited at that grade on account of the belated transposition of Directive 89/48 into the national legal system.

58 It should be recalled that the provisions of directives must be implemented with unquestionable binding force, and with the necessary specificity, precision and clarity, in order to satisfy the requirements of legal certainty. In this respect, mere statements, such as those made by the Hellenic Republic at the hearing, which, in the continued existence of express provisions of the Civil Service Code, maintain, for the persons concerned, a state of uncertainty as regards the extent of their rights in an area governed by Community law are not sufficient (see, to that effect, in particular Case C-80/92 Commission v Belgium [1994] ECR I-1019, paragraph 20; Case C­151/94 Commission v Luxembourg [1995] ECR I-3685, paragraph 18; and Case C-415/01 Commission v Belgium [2003] ECR I-2081, paragraph 21).

59 The Court therefore holds that the fifth complaint put forward by the Commission is well founded in so far as it alleges a failure by the Hellenic Republic to allow, in the public sector, the reclassification in a higher grade of persons recruited at a level lower than that to which they would have been entitled if their diplomas had been recognised by the competent authority in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 89/48.

The sixth complaint: conditions for registration in the Technical Chamber of Greece
60 In the fourth indent of the form of order sought in its application, the Commission also raised a sixth complaint concerning the conditions for registration in the Technical Chamber of Greece (Techniko Epimelitirio Ellados; ‘the TEE’).

61 In Greece, the engineering profession is a regulated profession pursuit of which is reserved for members of the TEE. The latter is a public-law corporation under the control of the Ministry of Public Works. It was established by the Presidential Decree of 27 November and 14 December 1926 codifying the provisions on the composition of the TEE (FEK A’ 430), as amended by Law 1486/1984 (FEK A’ 161) and by Presidential Decree 512/1991 of 30 November and 12 December 1991 (FEK A’ 190).

62 Article 4(3) of Law 1486/1984 provides, inter alia, that the TEE is to conduct examinations, grant authorisations to pursue the profession of engineer in accordance with the provisions in force and keep registers of engineers.

63 Interministerial Order ED 5/4/3399 of the Minister for Public Works and the Minister for Education and Religious Affairs of 14 September 1984 (FEK B’ 713) laid down the procedure for the granting, by the TEE, of authorisation to pursue the profession of engineer. That interministerial order provides in the first and second paragraphs of its sole article as follows:

‘1. Authorisation to pursue the profession shall be granted by the TEE, following an oral examination, to engineers holding diplomas from national higher education institutions and to engineers holding equivalent diplomas from foreign higher education institutions.

2. The persons concerned must submit to the TEE the following documents:
…
(d) (for holders of diplomas from abroad): certificate of conformity of the diploma produced, issued by the Inter­University Centre for the Recognition of Foreign Diplomas (Diapanepistimiako Kentro Anagnoriseos Titlon Spoudon tis Allodapis, ‘the Dikatsa’);

…’
Arguments of the parties
64 According to the Commission, the TEE makes registration, in its registers, of engineers qualified in another Member state holding a diploma within the meaning of Directive 89/48 subject, first, to success in a competition and, second, to the presentation of a certificate of conformity of that diploma issued by the Dikatsa. The Commission relies in this respect on the wording of Interministerial Order ED 5/4/3399 and refers to complaints that dozens of applications for registration in the TEE remain unanswered.

65 According to the Commission, those requirements are contrary to Article 7(3) of Directive 89/48, since, pursuant to that provision, an association or professional organisation may make membership subject to certain qualification requirements only in accordance with that directive, in particular its Articles 3 and 4.

66 The Hellenic Republic expressly acknowledges that the TEE cannot make registration, in its registers, of engineers holding a diploma within the meaning of Directive 89/48 subject to success in a competition or the presentation of a certificate issued by the Dikatsa. Once the Saeitte, which is alone competent in this respect, has recognised the diploma concerned, the TEE is automatically required to register the person concerned in its registers.

67 However, the Hellenic Republic contests the Commission’s complaint on the facts. TEE’s practice has changed following the adoption of Decree 165/2000, since registration of the persons concerned has since been automatic on the basis of recognition of the diploma by the Saeitte.

68 Interministerial Order ED 5/4/3399 does not apply to holders of diplomas which fall within the scope of Directive 89/48 and are recognised pursuant to Decree 165/2000. The competitions in question concern solely the other categories of applicants wishing to take up the profession of engineer in Greece. Holders of diplomas which fall within the scope of Directive 89/48 are recognised pursuant to Decree 165/2000 and such holders are not therefore required to sit a competition. Accordingly, the mere fact that the competition notice does not expressly refer to holders of such diplomas cannot give rise to an infringement of Directive 89/48. The Hellenic Republic adds in its rejoinder that the TEE intends to amend the competition notices so that no doubt subsists.

69 As regards the complaints received by the Commission, the Hellenic Republic emphasises the fact that each case is unique and it refers moreover to six individual cases in which the TEE reacted immediately to applications by registering the persons concerned in its register.

70 The Commission counters by stating that Article 1 of Interministerial Order ED 5/4/3399 refers in general terms to ‘engineers holding diplomas from national higher education institutions and to engineers holding equivalent diplomas from foreign higher education institutions’ without drawing a distinction according to whether or not the diplomas in question have been recognised pursuant to Decree 165/2000. Even if the TEE’s practice has changed, the current situation is a source of legal uncertainty for migrant workers.

Findings of the Court
71 As the Hellenic Republic acknowledges, and as is moreover apparent from the case­law, the TEE cannot make registration, in its registers, of engineers holding a diploma within the meaning of Directive 89/48 subject to success in a competition or the presentation of a certificate issued by the Dikatsa (see, to that effect, Case C­141/04 Peros [2005] ECR I­7163, paragraphs 35 and 39). Such requirements are contrary to subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 3 of Directive 89/48.

72 None the less, it should be noted that the Commission bases its complaint in this respect entirely on Article 7(3) of that directive.

73 However, Article 7(3) applies only to professions regulated in the host Member State by an association or organisation referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 1(d) of Directive 89/48.

74 In this respect, it must be stated that the professional activities placed under the responsibility of the TEE fall not within the second subparagraph of Article 1(d) of Directive 89/48 but within the first subparagraph of Article 1(d). In Greece, the taking up and pursuit of the profession of engineer are made directly subject to the possession of a diploma by legislative provisions.

75 In those circumstances, the sixth complaint raised by the Commission cannot succeed since it refers solely to a provision of Directive 89/48 which is not applicable in the present case. The Commission’s sixth complaint must therefore be rejected.

76 In the light of all the above, it must be held that:
– by failing to recognise the diplomas awarded by the competent authorities of another Member State following education and training provided within the framework of a homologation agreement;

– by providing for the application of compensatory measures in more cases than those allowed by Directive 89/48;
– by entrusting to the Saeitte the power to assess whether ‘the educational establishment in which the applicant completed his education and training belongs to the higher education sector’ and whether ‘the applicant has the necessary professional experience, in a case where the duration of the education and education falls short by at least one year of that required in Greece in order to pursue that profession’, and

– by not allowing, in the public sector, the reclassification in a higher grade of persons recruited at a level lower than that to which they would have been entitled if their diplomas had been recognised in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 89/48,

the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 1, 3, 4, 8 and 10 of Directive 89/48.
Costs
77 Pursuant to Article 69(3) of the Rules of Procedure, where each party succeeds on some heads and fails on others, the Court may order that the costs be shared. Further, according to Article 69(5) of the Rules of Procedure, a party who discontinues or withdraws from proceedings shall be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the observations of the other party on the discontinuance. In those circumstances, it is appropriate to order the Hellenic Republic to pay two thirds of the Commission’s costs and to decide that, for the remainder, each party should bear its own costs.

On those grounds, the Court (Second Chamber) hereby declares that:
1. The Hellenic Republic,
– by failing to recognise the diplomas awarded by the competent authorities of another Member State following education and training provided within the framework of an agreement pursuant to which education and training provided by a private body in Greece is homologated by those authorities;

– by providing for the application of compensatory measures in more cases than those allowed by Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a general system for the recognition of higher education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years’ duration, as amended by Directive 2001/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2001;

– by entrusting to the Council Responsible for Recognising Professional Equivalence of Higher Education Qualifications the power to assess whether ‘the educational establishment in which the applicant completed his education and training belongs to the higher education sector’ and whether ‘the applicant has the necessary professional experience, in a case where the duration of the education and training falls short by at least one year of that required in Greece in order to pursue that profession’, and

– by not allowing, in the public sector, the reclassification in a higher grade of persons recruited at a level lower than that to which they would have been entitled if their diplomas had been recognised in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 89/48, as amended by Directive 2001/19,

has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 1, 3, 4, 8 and 10 of Directive 89/48.
2. The action is dismissed as to the remainder.
3. The Hellenic Republic shall pay two thirds of the costs of the Commission of the European Communities and bear its own costs.

4. The Commission of the European Communities shall bear one third of its own costs.
[Signatures]