World
What are EU member state policies on minimum wage?
EU establishments on Wednesday struck a deal to make sure there may be an “enough minimal wage” in every member state and to strengthen wage negotiations between unions and corporations.
Twenty-one of the EU’s 27 member states have a minimal wage that ranged on January 1, 2022 from €332 per 30 days in Bulgaria to €2,257 per 30 days in Luxembourg.
In the meantime, wage ranges within the six different member states — Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden — are decided via collective bargaining.
In response to the brand new EU Directive, the minimal wage can be thought-about adequate if it ensures an honest way of life which member states can calculate by establishing a basket of products and providers at actual costs.
Alternatively, they will set the minimal wage at 60% of the gross median wage or 50% of the gross common wage.
The brand new EU regulation, which nonetheless wants formal approval from the parliament and EU Council, may also drive member states during which lower than 80% of the workforce is protected by a collective settlement to create an motion plan to extend this protection.
Beneath we break down a number of the particular person member states’ insurance policies.
Austria
Collective agreements negotiated by commerce unions and the Chamber of Commerce imply that almost all staff obtain a de-facto minimal wage.
The collective agreements are struck on a sectoral foundation which signifies that not everybody receives the identical minimal wage though the federal authorities and social companions agreed in 2017 that the month-to-month gross minimal wage shouldn’t fall underneath €1,500 for all sectors.
France
The minimal wage in France is at the moment set at €10.85 gross per hour and €8.85 web and applies to all sectors.
On the premise of 35 work hours per week, the month-to-month minimal wage corresponds to a gross quantity of €1,645.58 and a web quantity of €1,302.64.
This takes the yearly minimal wage to €19,747.00 gross and €15,631.75 web.
Italy
Staff’ wages within the non-public sector are established by collective agreements between commerce unions and corporations. A complete of 888 of them are registered on the Nationwide Financial and Labour Council — estimated to cowl about 80% of staff — with most reaching about €9 gross per hour.
Nonetheless, not less than 11% of staff that are supposed to be protected by a collective settlement don’t obtain the minimal wage set by the deal.
Germany
The minimal wage in Germany was launched in 2015. It was then €8.50 per hour and has since risen progressively to succeed in €9.82 per hour on 1 January 2022. It’s now set to extend to €10.45 per hour on 1 July 2022 and rise additional to an hourly €12 on 1 October.
That is because of the record-high inflation seen in latest months throughout the eurozone.
Portugal
The minimal wage was first launched in Portugal one month after the April 1974 army coup.
Between 2015 and 2022, it went from €505 to €705, a rise of 39.6%.
The present Socialist authorities has pledged to extend it to €750 euros in 2023.
Spain
On February 9, the Spanish authorities raised the month-to-month minimal wage to €1,000.
This enhance got here after an settlement with the coalition authorities companions: the left-wing social gathering Unidas Podemos, and two of the nation’s predominant commerce union organisations, Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.) and the Unión Basic de Trabajadores (UGT).
This will not be the final enhance within the minimal wage. The target of the federal government is to put the minimal wage on the finish of the legislature, in 2023, on the degree of 60% of the typical wage — round a complete of €1,050 ).
In response to the research carried out by the CC.OO’s financial bureau, almost two million staff will profit from this enchancment. Particularly, the principle beneficiaries are younger individuals and girls.
World
Jay-Z’s Accuser Can Remain Anonymous, Judge Criticizes His Lawyer’s ‘Relentless’ Filings
The woman accusing Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 can proceed anonymously (“at least for now”) in her lawsuit against the rappers, a judge ruled Thursday.
New York Judge Analisa Torres also condemned the legal team representing Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) for the “relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks [on accuser’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee],” according to a court order obtained by Variety. “Since Carter’s attorney first appeared in this case seventeen days ago, he has submitted a litany of letters and motions attempting to impugn the character of Plaintiff’s lawyer [Buzbee].”
Judge Torres continues, calling the complaints “inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client [Jay-Z].”
Jane Doe, who filed her original lawsuit against Combs in October, and re-filed it with Carter’s name in early December, will remain anonymous at this early stage of the litigation. She could still be required by the court to reveal her identity.
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Carter, recently asked the judge to dismiss the entertainer from the woman’s lawsuit. He cited a report from NBC News that revealed the accuser had admitted to some “inconsistencies and outright impossibilities” in her allegations. His team has also issued public statements referring to Buzbee as a “1-800 lawyer” who is “in the pursuit of money and fame.”
Judge Torres denied Carter’s request to dismiss the case. Representatives for Carter did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
In the last few weeks, Buzbee issued his own lawsuit against Roc Nation, the entertainment company owned by Carter, claiming they are using “shadowy operatives” to bribe his former clients into filing “frivolous” complaints against him. Carter has also sued Buzbee for defamation.
Jane Doe, who alleges she was 13 when Combs and Carter raped her in 2000, says she encountered the pair at an afterparty for the MTV Music Video Awards.
Carter responded to the allegation almost immediately. “You have made a terrible error in judgment thinking that all ‘celebrities’ are the same,” Carter wrote in a letter addressing Buzbee. “I’m not from your moral world. I’m a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn. We don’t play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children, you seem to exploit people for personal gain. Only your network of conspiracy theorists, fake physics, will believe the idiotic claims you have levied against me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding harm to kids, would be laughable.”
Combs has been held in a Brooklyn jail since September. He will remain there until his trial is scheduled to begin in May.
World
China unveils world's largest amphibious warship
China has launched the first of its new line of amphibious assault ships and its biggest warship yet, strengthening what is already the world’s largest navy.
The Sichuan, a type 076 new-generation amphibious assault ship, was put into the water at a launch and naming ceremony on Friday.
With a full load displacement of 40,000 tons, the warship ranks among the world’s largest amphibious assault ships, featuring a dual-island superstructure and full-length flight deck, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) said in a statement.
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China Bugle, an news outlet associated with the PLAN’s news media center, reported the ship will play a key role in transforming and developing the Chinese navy and enhancing its combat capabilities in the far seas.
The Sichuan is capable of launching fighter jets and unmanned drones from an electromagnetic catapult. It is designed to carry ground troops in landing craft with air support.
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The ship also features “arrester technology” that Chinese researchers boast will allow fighter jets to land on its deck, similar to an aircraft carrier.
China launched its first amphibious assault ship, a type 075 class warship called the Hainan, in 2019.
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The PLANmi has been working on modernizing its forces for more than a decade, with the aim of being able to operate globally rather than being restricted to waters near the Chinese mainland. China first managed to launch fighter jets with the new electromagnetic technology on its homemade aircraft carrier, the Fujian, which launched two years ago.
The Sichuan will now undergo additional tests at sea.
China has the largest navy in the world and is consistently trying to upgrade its fleet. Recently, researchers found that the country is working on designing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which would allow it to deploy its ships in distant waters without needing a base to refuel.
The U.S. Navy currently has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers deployed in strategic locations globally, including in the Asia-Pacific.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Health worker displaced by Israeli attacks in Gaza dies of ‘extreme cold’
Many people in Gaza lack adequate shelter and are malnourished after more than a year of Israeli attacks and blockades.
A Palestinian healthcare worker has died due to “extreme” weather conditions, according to a statement by the enclave’s Ministry of Health, as severe cold compounds the hardship faced by people displaced by Israel’s relentless attacks.
The body of Al-Hakim Ahmed al-Zaharneh, who worked at the European Gaza Hospital, was found inside his tent in al-Mawasi area, west of the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, the ministry said on Friday.
“This incident comes in light of the difficult humanitarian conditions that displaced citizens are experiencing, as the suffering of Gaza residents increases due to low temperatures and the lack of heating means in tents,” the ministry said.
The ministry said earlier that four Palestinian babies have died in tents in recent days amid the cold weather and widespread malnutrition.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said that the number of casualties in vulnerable groups is increasing due to worsening weather conditions.
“For 14 months now, people here have been lacking basic necessities to help them survive these difficult conditions – even in summer,” he said.
“Now in winter, the temperature has dropped very low, [and] people in tent camps feel the cold as being [colder] than the actual levels.”
He said that mothers often lack the strength or ability to breastfeed as they are malnourished and unwell.
“The conditions are worse for vulnerable groups like babies and, in the absence of [humanitarian aid], it is natural that deaths will happen.”
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once since war broke out with the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023, with many people living in tents that offer little protection from the cold, rain and flooding.
The United Nations and other organisations have repeatedly decried the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, as Israeli attacks and blockades severely curtail access to food, water, medicine and other supplies.
A leading United States government organisation monitoring food crises around the world withdrew a new report this week warning of imminent famine in north Gaza under what it called Israel’s “near-total blockade,” after the US asked for its retraction, US officials told The Associated Press.
The move follows public criticism of the report from the US ambassador to Israel.
The report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) had warned that a “famine scenario” was unfolding in northern Gaza where Israel launched a renewed offensive in early October.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the director of Gaza’s Health Ministry told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few remaining medical facilities in north Gaza, and forced the 350 people there to evacuate, including all the patients and staff. He said contact with the hospital had been lost.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 45,436 Palestinians and wounded 108,038 since October 7, 2023, according to figures released on Friday by Gaza’s Health Ministry.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day and more than 200 were taken captive.
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