Sushi restaurant raided after Hollywood sting

The producers of the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove teamed up with government agents to investigate a California restaurant rumoured to be selling whale meat

Iraqi Christians fleeing religious violence in Mosul receive UN support

The United Nations and local authorities in northern Iraq are providing food, hygiene kits, kerosene and other humanitarian aid to hundreds of Christian families who fled their homes in the city of Mosul following targeted intimidation and violence.

Head of UN mission in Haiti says humanitarian aid will be needed until 2011

Nearly two months after Haiti was struck by a catastrophic earthquake, the top United Nations official there says the country is moving towards recovery and reconstruction but will need continued urgent humanitarian relief for at least the next 12 months.

Ban to visit Israel and occupied Palestinian territories later this month

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after attending next week’s meeting in Moscow on the Middle East peace process, his spokesperson announced today.

West African farmers receive boost from UN organic food exporting initiative

Some 5,000 West African farmers are reaping the rewards from a United Nations scheme aimed at helping them export produce to the growing organic food market in the industrialized world.

Threat or opportunity?

The German-led calls for an IMF-style bailout fund for the EU have caught most people on the hop, including the French, and the lack of detail suggests that the practicalities are only now being worked on inside the German Finance Ministry.

French officials have said that there are two fundamental issues still up for debate: whether the European Monetary Fund would cover only the eurozone or all of the EU’s 27 member states, and whether the EU treaties should be amended to create the fund. Plainly, there is a long way to go before the EMF gets off the ground and the current debates are highly speculative.

But as far as the first question goes, if the proposed EMF were to include all 27 member states, rather than just the eurozone, this would obviously have significant implications for the UK as British taxpayers would be asked to underwrite other EU governments’ debts. It would also draw the UK into a system of EU ‘economic government’ that would potentially give the EU greater powers to interfere in monitor the Government’s handling of the economy.

For both of these reasons, any UK government is likely to stay well clear of any participation in the EMF.

The second issue, over whether an EMF would require treaty change, is far from clear but there are a few hypothetical scenarios.

Paris appears cautious about any proposal for an EMF that would require treaty change. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde reportedly said that “Other avenues should be explored” that are in line with the existing Lisbon Treaty. This suggests one of those creative legal EU solutions which confuses everyone (possibly involving the Lisbon Treaty’s ratchet clause which allows for amendment of the Treaty without it being considered an actual treaty change).

However, Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday made it clear that she thought that the creation of a bailout fund would certainly require changes to the EU treaties. “Without treaty changes we can’t form such a fund,” she said. And given that it would amount to a breach of the current ‘no bailout’ rules in the treaties, it is hard to argue with her.

Commentators are already suggesting that new EU treaty negotiations would present both Labour and the Conservatives with big problems. Gordon Brown promised MPs that after Lisbon there would not be any institutional changes in the next Parliament:

I can confirm that, not just for this Parliament but also for the next, it is the position of the Government to oppose any further institutional change in the relationship between the EU and its member states. [Hansard, 22 October 2007]

Similarly, the Conservatives announced last year that they would give voters a referendum on future transfers of power to the EU.

However, depending on how this plays out, an EMF that didn’t include the UK could actually present the UK with a sizeable bargaining chip, particularly a future Conservative government. Treaty change would require the Government’s consent, whether the UK is involved in the EMF or not. In other words, this could be an opporunity for an incoming Conservative government.

The Conservatives have said they want to renegotiate areas of the UK’s membership, notably opt-outs from costly EU employment regulation and intrusive justice and home affairs legislation. In addition, an incoming UK Government has a lot of work to do on the EU budget and the single market issues, including financial legislation.

There is possibly a deal to be done here – the Tories could say “we’re happy for you to go ahead with the EMF and closer economic integration of the eurozone as long as we get what we want in return.” In Cameron’s own words, it would be the ideal opportunity to argue and demonstrate “that European integration is not a one way street and that powers can be returned from the EU to its member countries”.

The tricky issue is of course that the Conservatives’ promised - or at least are now percieved to have promised - that any siginficant treaty change leading to further integration would trigger a referendum in the UK. And the establishment of an EMF would be a big change, as it would create a whole new EU institution and a lender of last resort at the EU-level. This, in turn, is a clear step towards fiscal federalism, regardless of whether the UK takes part.

At the same time, if not involving Britian at all, the argument can be made that it does not involve a transfer of powers from the UK to the EU per se, and therefore that there is no need for a referendum. Indeed, if put in the right context, it could be presented as a method of regaining powers from the EU.

The critics were quick to say that Cameron’s policy was unrealistic and undeliverable, but if the proposal for an EMF gains speed he may be presented with an early opportunity to prove them wrong.

If all the pieces fall into place, he should take it.

UN and aid partners call for $60 million to help 110,000 Congolese refugees

The United Nations and its partners today launched an appeal for just under $60 million to help more than 100,000 refugees from the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who have fled ethnic violence and are seeking refuge in neighbouring Republic of Congo (ROC).

Today on New Scientist: 9 March 2010

All today’s stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: extermination in paradise, the “midwife molecule” that could have assembled Earth’s first life, and why chameleons can eat breakfast

How could boozing help you lose weight?

A report suggests that women who drink moderately are less likely to pile on the pounds – what does the study really mean, asks Jessica Hamzelou

Secretary-General leads UN tribute to colleagues killed in Haitian quake

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today led United Nations staff and the family and friends of personnel who perished in the Haitian earthquake in honouring the memory of the 101 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of the Organization.