Research shows that crisis has left 47,000 immigrants in the area jobless

Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the number of unemployed people in the North East of Italy has increased by 65,000, of which 17,000 are foreigners. This means that 26,3% of the new unemployed people in the area are immigrants, a new report by Fondazione Leone Moressa shows.

The report shows that at the moment 13,4% of immigrants in the North East are unemployed, compared to 5,5% of Italians in the area.

In the last two years, 17,000 people became unemployed throughout the North East of Italy. In Veneto Region alone, more than 11,000 people lost their jobs, followed by Trentino Alto Adige where almost 3,000 lost their jobs. In Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, some 2,600 people became jobless.

In Trentino Alto Adige, 40% of immigrants lost their jobs while 25,5% and 24,4% lost their jobs respectively in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto.

Generally speaking more than 47,000 foreigners throughout the North East are jobless, of which 33,000 are within Veneto Region.

Unemployment which has seriously hit immigrants risks affecting negatively their presence in the area, researchers say. This is because an immigrant requires a job in order to maintain his/her legal status in the country.

What can be considered partial good news is that this year many firms will continue to look for immigrant workers, especially low skilled ones.  Researchers therefore hope that this may lead to the hiring of those immigrants who have been seriously hit by the crisis and left unemployed.

By Stephen Ogongo Ongong’a

"You all are the true action heroes because you are risking your life"

Arnold Schwarzenegger has hailed British troops as the "true action heroes".

The movie star and politician joined Prime Minister David Cameron on a visit to Wellington Barracks, near Buckingham Palace, where he met soldiers from 1st Battalion the Grenadier Guards.

He told the troops: "I get hailed a lot of times when I travel around the world as being the action hero. But I know the difference between a movie action hero who is make-believe and the true action heroes.

"You all are the true action heroes because you are risking your life. You are risking your life every day when you go out to the front so I say thank you, thank you, thank you for the great work that you are doing."

Speaking in front of about 300 troops, the governor of California said: "I'm always interested to hang out with heroes."

He paid tribute to the UK armed forces for being "great partners" with the US and doing a "great job".

The former Mr Universe said he had walked about the barracks and visited the gym.

He said: "First of all, I was amazed when I saw your guys pumping up in the gym with those deltoids and those biceps and the six-pack. Wow, you guys are really in great shape."

But he said he then went to the rehabilitation centre where he met a man who had a cage around his lower leg with pins through it who was undergoing months of intense recovery treatment.

He said: "That, to me, is really tough and brave. To make this mental adjustment and to go through this pain and torture and through the rehabilitation training, I admire that."

By The Press Association

The mergers will see 118 bodies reduced to 57

A total of 192 quangos are to be scrapped under new plans set out by the Government.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said a further 118 bodies would be merged and another 171 "substantially" reformed in the long-awaited "bonfire of the quangos".

Mr Maude said the changes would usher in a "new era of accountability" in government. In all, the total number of quangos will be cut from 901 to 648, with the future of 40 bodies still under consideration.

"We know that for a long time there has been a huge hunger for change," Mr Maude said. "People have been fed-up with the old way of doing business, where the ministers they voted for could often avoid taking responsibility for difficult and tough decisions by creating or hiding behind one of these quangos. Today's announcement means that many important and essential functions will be brought back into departments, meaning the line of accountability will run right up to the very top, where it always should have been."

Among the bodies to be axed are the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Renewable Fuels Agency and the Appointments Commission, which will all have their functions taken on by Government departments.

Enabling organisations such as the Design Council and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and Arts will be turned into charities, while the work of the development corporations will be turned over to local government.

The mergers - which will see 118 bodies reduced to 57 - include the amalgamation of the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission into a single competition and market authority.

Bodies facing major reform include the Environment Agency and the Homes and Communities Agency, which will have their work "streamlined".

Mr Maude said he would be introducing a Public Bodies Bill to implement the changes.

The figures include the abolition of a number of quangos which had already been announced, the regional development agencies and the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency.

By The Press Association

RELATED ARTICLE
Demo against budget cuts to be held in London

2010 Global Hunger Index report: Levels of hunger in some African countries "extremely alarming"

Malnutrition among children under two years of age is one of the leading challenges to reducing global hunger, and can cause lifelong damage to mental and physical development, productivity, and earning potential, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report has revealed.

The report published annually by Concern Worldwide, the international humanitarian agency; the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); and German aid group Welthungerhilfe, is released to coincide with the World Food Day, being marked internationally on 16th October.

The annual Index scores and ranks levels of hunger across 122 countries on a 100-point scale—with zero being the best score—based on three indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the child mortality rate. 

Since 1990, Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Vietnam have all seen positive progress in terms of their ranking by the GHI. However, this year's report also finds that 29 countries, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, have levels of hunger that are "extremely alarming" or "alarming."

With a special focus on malnutrition among children, the 2010 index shines a light on the window of opportunity for improving nutrition for pregnant women and from the time a child is born through age two. "Ensuring appropriate and adequate nutrition during the first 1,000 days of development is absolutely critical. Proper nutrition until a child reaches the age of two is vital to growth and development. Damage done before the age of two from under-nutrition is largely irreversible," said Concern Worldwide CEO, Tom Arnold.

The Global Hunger Index echoes the message delivered by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Martin at a major event held during the September UN Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York. "1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Future" is a joint initiative—formally launched on 21st September 2010—of the Irish and US governments to urge greater accountability, attention and leadership on under-nutrition. 

"This report is a further contribution to our understanding of the challenges and the solutions to the scandal of world hunger. It articulates clear recommendations to inform and encourage the international community to take decisive action and hold themselves accountable. Our hope is that those recommendations will now be acted upon. Those suffering hunger on a daily basis deserve no less," said Arnold, an internationally recognized expert in food security.