Tuition fees: Poorest students to get year for free

In Britain the government will have a vote to raise college-fees from £3.375 to £9.000. The proposed rise in tuition fees has made student all over Britain to protest. The Liberal Democrats are still unclear how their 57 MPs will vote even though the party had promised to abolish tuition fees in their election manifesto. Leader Nick Clegg and other Lib Dem MPs even signed a pre-election pledge to vote against any rise in tuition fee.
Universities minister David Willets already said up to 18.000 students from poorer backgrounds could get support for their fees from a new fund if the raise would come through. This fund would significantly increase the number of children from poorer families going to college. These students would have their tuition fees paid for up to two years under new government proposals. Ministers will meet student representatives and consult them on the plans.
The president of the National Union of Students already said the plans won’t get very far. This fund will only have a limited impact. The debt of students leaving the universities will be too big.
There are disagreements between the Lib Dems over the plan to raise tuition fees. Nick Clegg is trying to get a consensus within the party. One of his MPs, Norman Lamb, wants to vote for the proposals. He believes that 25% of the poorest students would pay less than now and this would be an engine for social mobility. While Nick Clegg wants everyone to vote in accordance with the Lib Dem Values. He wants to lower barriers of entry to university.
Labour Leader Ed Milliband wants the Lib Dem MPs to vote against the plan. He believes it the proposals are an act of cultural vandalism. It’s an assault on social mobility and it would leave students with huge debts.
Mr Miliband has an alternative plan for a graduate tax but senior figures within his own party doubt this is workable.

I personally believe this rise in tuition is unfair. A lot of people won’t be able to afford their tuition fee and if they do go to college, many of them will already face huge debt when they graduate. The Liberal Democrats promised to vote against any rise in tuition fee and still some MPs of the party will vote for the proposal. This is outrageous. People voted them to govern because they believed the Lib Dems were against any rise in tuition fees. Politicians, who is ever going to trust them? I never did and I probably never will. It seems everyone has a hidden agenda.

Steven Vonckers

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11920628

In the Gulf of Aden, a pirate ransom becomes the cost of doing business

Piracy is a well known industry in Africa. So far this year there have been 376 attacks on ships with 172 of those being from Somali pirates. 44 ships have actually been hijacked and 40 of those hijackings were made by Somali pirates.
There has been a small increase in frequency but the more alarming part of all has been the growth of the ransoms. The ransoms keep on rising.
The inflation has hit a new peak this month. A $9.5m ransom has been paid for the release of the Samho Dream, a supertanker which was hijacked in the Indian Ocean. Knowing that the ransom is mostly only 40% of the total bill incurred (lawyers, negotiators, crew compensation and penalties for late delivery of cargo), this is quite a big problem.
Even though these ransoms are quite big, the value of a ship and its cargo trumps the amount of ransom. In these cases the payments are made by insurance companies but some are starting to charge more for insurance for ships travelling through the Gulf of Aden off the Somalia coast.
Another problem is the pure risk-reward calculation. The pirates are rarely brought to a court of justice which makes it very attractive to continue in their criminal activities.
Some people are starting to believe western countries aren’t really intervening because the pirates and their militias are the only force that prevent that outright Islamists take control in Somalia. There hasn’t been a real political will to take captured pirates, put them into prison and prosecuting them.
It’s hard to protect ships against these pirates. The European Union try to protect vulnerable shipping but they can only give guidelines for ships to follow. Some ship-owners are even starting to hire armed guards despite the fact it’s a grey area of law.
The author the article concludes that getting rid of piracy would depend on a wholesale change to the political situation in Somalia or a wholesale refusal of ships to transit the Gulf of Aden. He believes both ‘solutions’ are unlikely to happen.

I find it quite shocking that the western world is just looking the other way. It’s quite obvious they don’t want to solve the situation because they don’t want an Islam regime in Somalia. They are sending out the wrong message. Piracy can’t be tolerated and here we are now, tolerating pirates hijacking ships for enormous amounts of ransom.
It’s just a matter of time before there are going to be a lot of casualties on both sides. The ship-owners aren’t naive. They are hiring guards to protect the ships against pirates and who can blame them. Insurance costs are rising and they will keep on rising as long the situation isn’t resolved. People take matters into their own hands eventually and I’m afraid blood will be shed.

Steven Vonckers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/19/pirate-ransom-cost-of-doing-business

French court blames Continental Airlines for fatal Concorde crash

In July 2000, the Concorde crashed near Paris which killed 113 people. After catching fire, the Concorde failed to gain height and crashed into a motel immediately after take-off. All the passengers, nine French crew and four motel employees were killed. What was the cause of this tragedy?

The court ruled that the Concorde crashed due to the illegal repair by Continental Airlines. A strip of titanium fell on the runway from a Continental DC-10 that took off four minutes before the Concorde. This caused a fire and explosion just after the take-off.

The court at Pointoise, near Paris, rejected the defender’s counter-argument that the repair by Air France was the real cause of the tragedy and not the one by Continental Airlines. The judicial investigation took seven years. The French aviation officials were found partially guilty because they hided evidence of structural weaknesses concerning the Concorde.

The judge ignored this element and found Continental Airlines guilty of manslaughter and ordered the company to pay fines and damages of at least €1,2 million. John Taylor, the Continental mechanic was also convicted for manslaughter and has a 15-month suspended sentence. (Both said they would appeal.)

“EADS”, the successor to Concorde’s French manufacturer “Aerospatiale”, should pay 30 per cent of the damages already paid out to the families of the victims. The remaining 70 per cent must be paid by Continental.

It is very sad that such things happen. Unfortunately for the friends and families of the victims. They received an amount of money as compensation for their losses but the money can never replace their sorrow. It is disappointed that while it could be prevented, no one stood up and took responsibility.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-court-blames-continental-airlines-for-fatal-concorde-crash-2153054.html

Daphné V.E.