MARLA BOJORGE

http://www.docv.gva.es/portal/portal/2009/01/05/pdf/2008_15129.pdf

La presente convocatoria tiene como objeto la concesión de tres
becas dirigidas a la financiación de estudios universitarios de jóvenes
socios de centros valencianos en el exterior durante el ejercicio 2009,
que se efectúen en alguna de las Universidades de la Comunitat Valenciana.

1. Bahamas: Defense forces apprehend over 
300 illegals thus far in 2009
2. U.K.: Experts warn gov't immigration
 must be reduced
3. Ireland: Applications for asylum declined 
three percent in 2008
4. Ireland: Transfer of asylum seekers
 to other EU states in last year
5. Ireland: Group aids recovery of refugees
 suffering torture
6. Ireland: Deportation of drug runner cost
 state 150,000 euros
7. France: Ministers fret 'spillover' of violence 
instigated by Gaza conflict
8. Spain: Illegal surrenders to police, requests
 to return home
9. Italy: Chinese immigrants establishing 
firm foothold
10. Nigeria: Overseas passport offices 'besieged' 
by ex-pat applicants
11. Mali: French delegation to finalize agreement 
on bilateral immigration policies
12. Lebanon: Labor exporting Arab states grapple 
with declining remittances
13. S. Korea: Gov't publishes accounts of immigrant
 life to aid integration
14. Japan: Nationality laws unlikely to accept 
multi-nationalism
15. Philippines: Group warns against worsening 
conditions in overseas employment

-- Mark Krikorian]


1.
Migrant Influx Intensifies
By Tamara McKenzie
The Bahama Journal, January 5, 2009
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/news/45/ARTICLE/18993/2009-01-05.html

The Royal Bahamas Defence Force appears to have its hands full as just five days into the New Year, a total of 363 illegal immigrants have so far been apprehended.

The Royal Bahamas Defence Force appears to have its hands full as just five days into the New Year, a total of 363 illegal immigrants have so far been apprehended.

The latest apprehension came Monday morning when residents of Venice Bay – a gated community off Carmichael Road – spotted a Haitian sloop in nearby waters shortly after 6:00am.

Members of the RBDF were immediately dispatched to the area and as a result of the combined efforts of residents, the Department of Immigration, and the Police, 132 migrants – 101 males, 23 females and eight children – were apprehended.

RBDF authorities said a 40-ft white and blue sailboat was also found in the same vicinity of Venice Bay where the migrants were apprehended.

The 132 Haitian nationals have since been turned over to immigration officials for further processing at the Carmichael Road Detention Center, where as of Monday afternoon, Senior Immigration Officer Leonard Smith said a total of 370 immigrants were being housed.

But late yesterday evening that number decreased after 124 immigrants were repatriated, according to Immigration Director Jack Thompson. He said a pregnant woman who arrived in the group that was captured Monday was also repatriated.

This latest apprehension on Monday came less than a week after two separate apprehensions were reported last Friday, when the RBDF apprehended 75 undocumented Haitians off the southern tip of Long Island. On that same day, 156 Haitians made landfall on Ragged Island.

Royal Bahamas Defence Force Sr. Lt. Sonia Miller told the Bahama Journal Monday that while concerned, the Force is doing its best to keep illegal migration under control.

'When it comes to any influx of illegal migrants or activity within the waters of The Bahamas, we would be concerned about it,' she said. 'I also want to say that we are putting our best efforts forward to prevent those [illegal immigrants] from coming in. We have our vessels in the southern Bahamas. They are doing patrols down there. We have them in the central and northern Bahamas and we also have air surveillance.'

The Senior Lieutenant said so many immigrants risk travelling to The Bahamas during the winter months because the weather conditions are very favourable for sailing vessels that are used by many immigrants.

Meanwhile, the Department of Immigration spent $1.1 million dollars last year, repatriating 7,058 illegal immigrants to their respective homelands, of which Haitians made up the majority of immigrants, followed by Jamaicans and Dominicans.

Last week, Director of Immigration Jack Thompson maintained that the illegal immigration problem is under control.

'We are just doing all that we can to ensure that illegal immigrants are not ‘meshing’ in our communities,' he said. 'There is no way that we in The Bahamas can take so much people in these large numbers. As fast as they are coming in we are taking them out. I don’t think we should be concerned. We have it under control.'

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2.
Immigration 'has to be reduced'
Publicservice.co.uk, January 6, 2009
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=8137

The government needs to take a serious look at just how many people the UK can support if quality of life and the environment are not to suffer, the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) has said.

Writing to immigration minister Phil Woolas, the think tank warned that 'overpopulation' would put Britain's security at risk and has called for a Royal Commission to draw up an 'environmentally sustainable level of population for the UK'.

The OPT pointed out that while the UK is one of the world's least self-sufficient countries it is also one of the most overpopulated with around 42m 'too many' people. Population is expected to reach 70m in the next 20 years and 85m by 2081, with immigration the main factor, responsible for at least two thirds of projected growth. The think tank said that immigration feeds through into rising greenhouse gas emissions, more crowding, congestion and development, and increased pressure on water and energy supplies, farmland and green space.

OPT also pointed out that if this growth does happen, at least 10m more flats and houses will be needed for new immigrants and their descendants, roughly three times the number of dwellings in London.

The think tank told Woolas that a policy of 'zero net' migration to the UK, matching incoming to outgoing numbers, could cut the UK's forecast population in 2081 by up to 28million (33 per cent) from 85m to 57m. This is the equivalent in population to nearly four cities the size of London or the combined populations of Holland and Belgium.

Acting chair Edmund Davey said: 'Rapid population growth, and in particular immigration on the scale we have witnessed in recent years, raises questions about environmental sustainability that the government had barely begun to think about until recently. Yet to the ordinary individual the costs and dangers of an overpopulated Britain have long been clear.

'We're immensely encouraged that the minister responsible for immigration has spoken out on the issue, risking the usual slurs about racism and anti-libertarianism, and we hope it signals a change of direction by the government. We simply cannot go on sacrificing our environment for the illusory economic gains of population growth and mass immigration. It's up to Mr Woolas and his colleagues to make good on his words and act quickly and fairly to restrain rising numbers.'

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3.
Decline in asylum applications last year
By Charlie Taylor
The Irish Times (Dublin), January 5, 2009
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0105/breaking32.htm

There was a 3 per cent decline in the number of applications for asylum in the Republic last year, according to new figures released today.

New figures released by the Department for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, indicate that application numbers are at levels not seen since the mid-nineties.

Last year 3,866 people sought asylum, compared to 3,985 in 2007.

When voluntary returns, deportations and transfers are taken account of, a total of 952 persons were either assisted to return home voluntarily or were removed from the State last year. This marks a 23 per cent increase on the corresponding figure for 2007.

The largest share of applicants came from Nigeria (26 per cent), followed by Pakistan (6 per cent), Iraq (5 per cent), China (4.7 per cent), and Georgia (4.7 per cent).

Asylum applications reached a peak figure of 11,634 in 2002. Since then application figures have been continuously falling with the most dramatic decline occurring in 2004. In each year since 2006, the annual number of applications has been about one third of the number received in 2002.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern today welcomed the fall in asylum applications.

'Further reductions in asylum numbers and processing times are likely under the new single procedure for investigating asylum cases set out in the new Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill,' he said.

'This reform of the processing framework will lead to the removal of the existing multi-layered and sequential process and will allow an applicant to get a final decision on their application in a more timely and efficient manner.'

In 2008, 162 deportation orders to non-EU countries were affected.

In addition, 271 transfer orders to other European States under the Dublin II Regulation were effected – an increase of over 20 per cent on 2007.

The rate of success for effecting transfer orders signed last year was 74 per cent, up from 62 per cent in 2007 and 53 per cent in 2006..

An additional 519 persons were assisted to return home voluntarily, compared to 416 individuals in 2007.

New figures supplied by the Courts Service today reveal that there were 780 live cases in the list to fix dates in December 2008.

Hearing dates were assigned to 240 cases in the coming law term leaving 540 cases in the list.

Since the start of October 2008 the High Court has been taking in an average of 17 new cases per week.

The Courts Service said an extra four High Court judges will be appointed full-time to asylum hearings this month to get through the backlog of cases.

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4.
Jump in the number of asylum seekers transferred out of State
By Tom Brady
The Independent (Ireland), January 6, 2009
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/jump-in-the-number-of-asylum-seekers-transferred-out-of-state-1592928.html

There was a major increase in the number of asylum seekers transferred from here to another EU country last year.

Official end-of-year statistics last night showed there were 271 transfer orders to other European states under the Dublin II regulation -- a rise of over 20pc on 2007.

Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that four extra High Court judges have been assigned to hear asylum disputes in a bid to clear a backlog of 540 cases.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said he was particularly pleased with the continued increase in the level of success in implementing the transfer orders.

'These transfers reduce the number of asylum applications, which have to be processed in the State and their associated cost,' he added.

The minister said the Government attached special importance to the use of the Dublin II arrangements and co-operation with other EU states.

He promised that the government would continue to use this effective measure this year.

The statistics confirmed a 3pc fall in the overall number of asylum applications in the past year, down from 3,985 in 2007 to 3,866.

The top five source countries were Nigeria (26.1pc), Pakistan (6.1pc), Iraq (5.3pc), Georgia (4.7pc) and China (4.7pc).

Dramatic

Asylum applications reached a record high of 11,634 in 2002 and since then have been falling continuously, with the most dramatic drop coming in 2004.

Over the past three years, the annual total has been around a third of the peak achieved in 2002 and are now at levels not seen since the mid-1990s.

Those reductions were attributed by the minister to the implementation of strategies aimed at combating abuse across the spectrum of the asylum process and streamlining procedures.

'This allows the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service to continue to focus on other areas of its operations, such as processing applications for visas and citizenship, increasing the effectiveness of returns strategies as well as other immigration-related functions,' he said.

He pointed out that the success rate in implementing transfer orders last year was 74pc, compared to 62pc in 2007 and 53pc the previous year and that was high by European standards.

An additional 519 people, who would otherwise have been removed from the State opted to be assisted to return home voluntarily, representing a substantial increase on 2007 when the total was 416 while 162 deportation orders to non-EU countries were effected.

These all resulted in the overall removal of 952 people from the State last year, an increase of 23pc on 2007.

Mr Ahern also noted that:

* prioritised asylum applications were now being processed in under 20 working days.

* non-priority applications were being processed within 20 weeks -- a 15pc improvement on 2007.

* and at year end only 116 applications were on hand at the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner for more than six months.

He predicted that further reductions in asylum numbers and processing times were likely under the new single procedure being introduced for investigating asylum cases under the new immigration bill currently before the Dail.

'This reform of the processing framework will lead to the removal of the existing multi-layered and sequential process and will allow applicants to get final decisions on their cases in a more timely and efficient manner,' he added.

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5.
State spent over €150,000 to deport Ghanaian man
By Conor Lally
The Irish Times (Dublin), January 3, 2009
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0103/1230936613237.html

The State spent more than €150,000 deporting a convicted Ghanaian drug smuggler last year, it has emerged.

The money was used to charter an aircraft to fly the man from Dublin to Ghana after he became violent during attempts to deport him on scheduled commercial flights.

While French and Italian authorities brought a number of Ghanaians to Dublin to be deported on the chartered aircraft, it has now emerged that neither country shared the €151,900 cost.

The aircraft chartered to deport the man from Ireland was a Boeing 737, which seats more than 100 people. Garda sources said that a large aircraft was needed because a smaller one could not make the journey without stop-offs.

Joint deportations involving EU member states attempt to maximise the use of aircraft chartered for deportations to countries into which there are few direct commercial flights. The multinational deportations are usually organised by the EU border security agency Frontex. Irish authorities used Frontex to invite the Italians and French to join the flight to Ghana last March.

However, because the charter was organised by Ireland, rather than Frontex, the cost was not shared by the participating countries.

The Ghanaian at the centre of the case served a prison sentence in Ireland for trying to smuggle cocaine valued at €400,000 from Brazil into Ireland. He was to be deported straight from prison at the beginning of last year.

Gardaí tried three times to fly him to Accra, in Ghana, via Germany on board commercial flights, which would have cost less than €6,000. Each time, the man became so violent he could not be put on an aircraft with other passengers.

A Garda source said the chartering of an aircraft was the only possible way to execute the deportation. The same source said the cost incurred was unavoidable.

Fine Gael spokesman on immigration Denis Naughten TD said if the Department of Justice had been more efficient, Frontex would have been involved at the beginning of the plan rather than 'as an afterthought'. 'At least then the cost would have been shared.'

Ireland participated in three multinational Frontex-led deportations to Nigeria in June, July and August of last year. Because they were Frontex-led, the €360,000 cost - for a total of 19 deportees - was shared.

Mr Naughten said he accepted that deportations had to take place, and that in the case of people too violent for scheduled flights, chartering an aircraft was sometimes the only option.

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6.
Helping survivors escape the agony of painful memories
A low-profile support group helps rebuild the shattered lives of torture victims
By Ruadhán Mac Cormaic
The Irish Times (Dublin), January 3, 2009
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0103/1230842386949.html

It could be the faintest sound - a stuttering exhaust or a falling pen - that would unsettle him in those early days. In the very first session, he sat rigidly in the small prefab office in the back yard of Spirasi House, all but silent and constantly on edge.

There were physical symptoms, too - a missing toe, severe scarring on his back and shoulders and damage to nerve endings where the electrodes had been used. He asked straight out: was there hope for him?

'His big thing was safety,' recalls Margaret O'Reilly Carroll, the psychotherapist who sat across from the refugee that day more than two years ago.

'That blind would have to be down, because he couldn't be in an enclosed space. It was so extreme, this man's panic, that when the pears would fall from the tree outside and hit the roof, he would go into complete and utter panic. He would sit frozen - immediately his memories would go back.'

As the months passed and the pair built a rapport, the man told O'Reilly Carroll that he had been taken from his home, blindfolded and tortured along with a number of other men for just over two months. Each night they would sleep alongside one another in their handcuffs, he said, occasionally hearing digging outside and wondering each time if it was their grave that was being dug. Silence could oppress like thunderous noise. 'There might be a gunshot but you didn't know if somebody was killed or wasn't. So night-time became a time of terror. Then there was the physical torture, which was sometimes extreme.'

To listen to O'Reilly Carroll describe the man who visits her these days is to hear of a man transformed. He has obsessive compulsive disorder - he checks and re-checks the windows of his flat each night, then rises at the slightest sound and checks them once more - and prefers to sleep in the morning than at night. But his situation is improving by the week. 'He can smile now. He can come into the building without feeling terrified. He interacts, he chats to people. He's stable emotionally - he can go to the supermarket, and that's a big thing,' she says.

In its 10 years in operation, Spirasi has provided services to more than 20,000 people in its rambling Georgian building on Dublin's North Circular Road. Some have availed of English language and computer courses; others have come for health information sessions or orientation programmes. The ethos is scrupulously multidisciplinary, but the primary focus has been the Centre for the Care of Survivors of Torture, which was established in 2001 and remains the only specialist centre of its kind in the Republic.

Spirasi is one of the biggest immigrant support groups in the State, but most of its work is done quietly, without press releases or much public recognition. To protect its clients' privacy and to avoid distressing them further, it declines media requests for interviews with survivors - despite a pressing need to find new donors.

The corridors of the centre are lined with artwork contributed by former clients, each one telling another of the thousands of personal stories that staff can relate.

'Can you imagine the hours of work that went into that,' Fr Begley asks admiringly, pointing to a striking painting donated by a Georgian man. 'He learned his English with us.' There's another by Femi, a Nigerian who first came to Spirasi as a 17-year-old. 'He did his Leaving Cert eventually and now has got a degree in IT. Delightful fella. These are imprints of integration.'

Between 10 and 35 per cent of all refugees settled in Europe, it is estimated, have experienced torture or other forms of serious violence in their country of origin. But according to Spirasi's strategy and development manager, Greg Straton, there is little public awareness of the problems faced by torture victims living here.

Spirasi says international evidence suggests the consequences of a failure to invest in torture care will be keenly felt in years to come. 'The situation for survivors of torture currently in Ireland is almost like a Pandora's box,' Straton says. 'The country now has the opportunity to invest in preventing the transfer of the trauma from the torture survivors to the next generation.'

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7.
France nervous of Gaza violence spillover
By James Mackenzie
Reuters, January 6, 2009
http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE50538120090106?sp=true

Paris (Reuters) -- French ministers condemned a petrol bomb attack on a synagogue in the southern city of Toulouse on Monday night which triggered fears that anger over Israel's offensive in Gaza could spill over into violence in France.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie described the attack, in which two cars packed with petrol bombs were launched at the doors of the synagogue, as 'particularly stupid and revolting' and the government pledged to crack down on violent acts.

'The Republic will not allow certain extremists to use this conflict to stoke violence between communities in our country,' Prime Minister Francois Fillon told parliament on Tuesday.

No one was hurt in the attack, which took place as about a dozen people were attending a class with a rabbi, but it underlined fears of a repeat of attacks against Jewish people and property in France after past Israeli offensives.

'What I want to avoid above all is that a worrying international situation should be transposed onto our national territory,' Alliot Marie said.

Clashes between police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a rally in Paris on Saturday had already aroused fears of violence and raised the spectre of the riots that shook France's run-down urban 'banlieues' in 2005.

More than a dozen cars were overturned and several others torched on Saturday as mainly younger demonstrators took on riot police and firefighters in the streets near some of the biggest department stores in the French capital.

France is home to western Europe's largest Muslim community but many young people from North African immigrant families still complain of discrimination.

With frustrations rising over the economic crisis and memories of the weeks of rioting in Athens still fresh, there have been concerns that broader social tensions could be fuelled by the crisis in Gaza.

'I am extremely worried about the way in which some people want to encourage a part of the population or young people in particular to replay in France conflicts that are taking place thousands of kilometres away,' Dominique Sopo, president of the SOS Racism association told France Info radio.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy completed a visit to the region on Tuesday in a bid to encourage a cease-fire between Israel and the militant Hamas group.

But despite his condemnation of both Israel's land offensive in Gaza as well as rocket attacks by Hamas, he is unpopular with many young people of Arab origin for his perceived hardline stance as interior minister before he became president.

Many of the demonstrators on Saturday chanted 'Sarko accomplice' as they denounced the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

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8.
Immigrant asks local police to send him home to Brazil
Typically Spanish, January 5, 2009
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_19512.shtml

The 36 year old phoned the police to say he did not want to commit a crime to be arrested.

Local Police in Málaga received an unusual phone call on New Year’s Day.

‘Good evening, I am here in Spain illegally and want to return to my country, although to do so I have to carry out a serious crime’.

The call was made from a phone box in Málaga by a 32 year old Brazilian who had decided to take advantage of the Foreigners’ Law to be expelled back home. Diario Sur reports that he waited by the phone box in the La Luz area of the city until the police came to arrest him.

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9.
Chinese immigrants to Italy build no ordinary Chinatown
The Tribune's Christine Spolar explores how Chinese workers are transforming Italy's fashion industry. Says a son of immigrants in the Tuscan city of Prato: 'This is not like being in Chinatown in Chicago or New York or anywhere else. This is like China.'
By Christine Spolar
The Chicago Tribune, January 1, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-090102-italy-china,0,1337042.story

Prato, Italy -- In the heart of 'Made-in-Italy' fashion country, China has carved out a home.

Signs in Chinese script hang from wrought-iron balconies in this Tuscan city. Hot dumplings and fried fish—flown in from China—are served in cafes. Chinese men and women, tourist visas in pocket, hang out on street corners in the center of town angling for jobs. Not a one speaks Italian.

Dozens of Chinese jam up to a wall filled with taped notes, all written in Chinese. Job offers are plentiful if brutal by Italian standards. Seamstresses can earn 90 euro cents a dress—about $1.50—if they work all night in small workshops. A man can earn up to 500 euros a month—$700—if he works all his waking hours.

The transformation of Prato, just outside Florence, marks a remarkable chapter in European immigration. This city has become the latest gateway for Chinese ambitions.

Like some city neighborhoods, suburbs and small towns across the U.S. where Mexicans and other immigrants gather in search of jobs, Prato is a place where two culturally different communities can live side-by-side and never really know each other.

'In all my travels, I had never seen anything like it,' said Roberto Ye, a son of Chinese immigrants and an Italian citizen who opened a Western Union office in the heart of Prato. 'I said to myself: This is not like being in Chinatown in Chicago or New York or anywhere else. This is like China. White people are the foreigners here.'

To understand the impact, follow the money. This year, Chinese immigrants in Italy sent home a whopping 1.68 billion euros, about $2.4 billion, the lion's share of all 6 billion euros in remittances recorded by Italy's government.

'You have to forget anything you have ever learned about immigration when you come to Prato. Forget typical patterns. Europe has turned itself into a global marketplace and the Chinese who come are trying to take advantage of that,' said Andrea Frattani, Prato's multicultural minister.

Frattani has overseen immigrant outreach since 2002 and, since then, Italy has realized a dramatic rise in Chinese labor, he said. Prato has seen a particular surge.

An estimated 30,000 Chinese are legal immigrants in this city of 180,000. Another 30,000 illegal immigrants are also suspected to live here. Many among the Chinese work in small hidden factories for as long as 14 hours a day. They keep to themselves, they buy everything with cash and they see work as a mission, Frattani said.

Prato is the core of pronto moda fashion—a manufacturing sector of cheap clothes overwhelmed by Chinese workers and entrepreneurs. Government officials estimate that 5,500 textile workshops and factories in the region that has long been the backbone of small business in Italy, are now Chinese-owned.

Large-scale warehouses line the motorway leading to Prato's historic center. One warehouse—shown to a Tribune correspondent on condition that its name not be revealed—opened a door to another continent.

Inside a vast storeroom of cotton sweat pants, skirt and blouses, a Chinese seamstress operated a high-speed Japanese-made Juki sewing machine. Nearby, a Chinese man lorded over thick layers of jersey cloth with massive electric shears. With every buzz, he created sleeves, pant legs and bodices for Chinese men waiting with open arms.

They ran the pieces over to a red Fiat, trunk open and motor running. A Chinese driver soon revved the packed car away. She'd return in hours with clothes sewn by women closeted in nearby houses.

That visit was a snapshot of a pure Chinese work ethic. There are grimmer images.

Police have raided hundreds of crowded workshops in the past few years where Chinese live, work and sleep. They earn far-below standard wage yet produce wares reportedly sold even in designer shops.

Some Chinese offer excuses for breaking labor laws. Workers still find conditions in Italy better than in China, they claim. But law-enforcement agents argue that Italian and Chinese entrepreneurs wrongly squeeze the most vulnerable. Italians subcontract with Chinese businessmen to cover dodgy business practices. Chinese owners rule over workers desperate for jobs.

Authorities worry about potential dangers: Criminal networks can prey on outsiders who don't speak the native language — and Italy is a place where mafias already operate.

Social integration between Italians and Chinese is almost non-existent; schools are the few places where the young of both cultures mingle.

'Chinese businesses exist in Italy but they aren't part of Italy. There has been Immigration but not integration,' said Daniele Cologna, a sociologist at the Codici research group in Milan.

Tensions can erupt. In Milan, home to generations of Chinese, riots broke out last year after police ticketed some Chinese traders who tried to turn Via Sarpi, a street known for shoe shops, into a wholesale district with near non-stop deliveries. The city eventually restricted deliveries to two hours a day.

Dongke Mo, who heads the Italian Chinese Association in Prato, said his storefront office is a haven for Chinese workers. They struggle with harsh work demands, he said, and they cope with repeated document raids by Italy's finance police.

'In America, you absorb immigrants. In Italy, the Chinese are looked on as labor,' Mo said.

Multicultural Minister Frattani said the speed and scale of this Immigration has forever changed Italian markets. Chinese who landed in Tuscany are now moving into the nearby leather-trade region of Le Marche, he said.

'We believe that the migration of Chinese is done with the will of the China government,' Frattani said. 'How else can you explain what is happening here? Look at the license plates of the buyers at those warehouses: Germany, Turkey, Sweden…

'The Chinese know: Distribution is key.… This is the way to distribute all over Europe,' he said.

In December 2007, a national TV channel broadcast a documentary, 'Schiavi del Lusso' or 'Slaves of Luxury,' that linked several luxury firms in Italy to low-paid and often illegal Chinese labor, often hired by subcontractors. Prada and Ferragamo, cited in the report, were quoted in the documentary as stopping such subcontract work when alerted to the issue.

In Prato, in Milan and in Le Marche, such revelations triggered shrugs and smiles. The program told Italian and Chinese businessmen what they already knew. Chinese workers keep 'Made-in-Italy' fashion afloat.

'In official factories, everyone has to have a certain amount of space and work a certain amount of hours. Well, if you follow those rules, costs will keep you out of the market,' said Luigi Sun, owner of Uniontrade, a Milan-based importer of Japanese and Chinese food, and a respected figure in the older Chinese community.

'If you are in the garment businesses here—and I don't care who you are—sooner or later, you will have to work with the Chinese,' he said. 'Prato is just an extraordinary example.'

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10.
e-Passport: Nigerians Living Abroad Besiege Immigration Office
This Day Online (Nigeria), January 6, 2009
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=132356

Thousands of Nigerians living abroad yesterday besieged the Ikoyi Passport Office of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) in Lagos in quest of e-passports.

A check by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) showed that majority of them, including children, were resident in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

Mr Uche Nwankolo, a UK resident said that owning a Nigerian passport was not only patriotic but also it gave him a sense of belonging.

He said it was easier and cheaper acquiring the passport here at home than in the U.K.``We spend over N40,000 to procure it in the UK and it costs just about N10,000 here in Nigeria,’’ Nwankolo said.

Another U.K-based applicant, who simply identified herself as Marian, said that she was getting the passport for her daughter who was born in the U.K.``Can you imagine that my daughter had to obtain a visa to visit her own country? I therefore decided to use the opportunity of this visit to get her a Nigerian passport,’’ she explained.

Other foreign-based Nigerians told NAN that they were making efforts to acquire the e-passport because the manual passport would be phased out soon.

``Since we are in the country, we are taking the opportunity to get the new e-passport.’’ George Igbo, a US resident said.

Commenting on the development, the Passport Control Officer, Ikoyi, Mr Chris Gaduya, explained that although the NIS had established new centres in some countries to issue the e-passports, they were adequately prepared for the upsurge.

``The only problem we are facing is with some children who would not want to appear in the acquisition room for fear of the cameras,’’ he said. Gaduya, a Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, recalled an instance where his officers had to seek the assistance of a parent after battling for three hours to capture his child’s image on camera. The e-passports were introduced in August 2007 while the machine-readable passports would remain valid until 2010.

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11.
French immigration officials expected in Bamako Wednesday
Afrique En Ligne (France), January 5, 2009
http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/french-immigration-officials-expected-in-bamako-wednesday-2009010518837.html

Bamako, Mali - A delegation of the French immigration ministry is expected here Wednesday to finalise an agreement with Mali on the 'proper management' of the influx of immigrants between France and Mali, local media reported Monday.

The accord, initially slated to be signed 25 November, is aimed at urging Malian authorities to cooperate in fighting illegal migration by facilitating the issuance of passes to deserving Malians and properly deporting illegal Malian immigrants.

In return, the French government is promising very limited possibilities for migration and development aid.

Malian civil society organisations are of the view that the agreement should discourage the deportation of other countries' nationals to Mali.

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12.
Migrant income set to fall
By Heba Saleh in Cairo and Anna Fifield
The Financial Times (London), January 5, 2009
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e98d25ae-db45-11dd-be53-000077b07658.html

With one or two exceptions, the Arab countries of the Middle East fall neatly into two categories; those that export hydrocarbons and those that export labour.

While the first group now faces the threat of a prolonged period of low oil prices, the second has to grapple with the prospect of a decline in remittance flows from expatriates, whether they work in the wealthier oil-producing parts of the region or elsewhere in the world.

The World Bank expects remittance flows in the Middle East and North Africa to decline by 6.7 per cent in 2009, and to plunge even lower if the global crisis turns out to be worse than expected.

Money repatriated by the millions of Arabs working abroad in the oil-rich states of the Gulf, as well as in Europe and the US, represents a crucial contribution to the economies of their home countries.

According to the World Bank, remittances in 2007 were equal to 24 per cent of Lebanon’s gross domestic product, 22.5 per cent of Jordan’s, 9 per cent of Morocco’s and 6 per cent of Egypt’s.

Cash transfers to families in the home country help to alleviate poverty, fuel demand for real estate and provide national economies with an additional source of foreign currency.

Egypt is the top recipient of remittances in the region with $8.5bn in the fiscal year 2007/2008 according to preliminary figures released by the central bank in November. Remittances are the country’s second-biggest source of foreign revenue after tourism.

For decades, Egypt has supplied the schools, hospitals, offices and construction sites of the oil-rich countries of the region with both professionals and blue-collar workers. There are also sizeable Egyptian communities in both the US and Europe. The US is the source of about a third of private transfers to Egypt.

Remittance growth stopped in the third quarter of 2008, says Simon Kitchen, economist at EFG-Hermes the private investment bank. He expects a decline in the second half of 2009.

'Remittances are hugely important, not only in terms of gross domestic product, but also in terms of domestic consumption,' he says. 'Any drop will affect consumption. A remittance from a worker might support five people or more, and a lot of the money sent home is used to consume. If it is invested, it goes into real estate.'

With 3.3m Moroccans living abroad, most of them in Europe, remittances to the kingdom are important to a range of sectors, from real estate to the stock exchange.

'There is a threat to the growth of remittances, or even the possibility of some decline,' says Larbi Jaidi of the Centre Marocain de Conjoncture, an economic think- tank, adding migrant workers in Europe could be more affected than others.

Economists say younger Moroccans born in Europe transfer less money directly to relatives in the kingdom, but contribute to the economy by buying second homes and by bringing their families on holiday, so swelling tourist numbers.

Transfers to Morocco grew to $5.7bn in 2007, up from $2.6bn per year in the earlier part of the decade. Economists say, however, growth in 2008 has been flat, which is a potential reflection of the international crisis.

'Growth since 2000 has been driven by a new wave of immigrants who went to Europe and the US,' says one investment banker. 'These are mainly skilled people like engineers and IT specialists. But we are now seeing Moroccan investment bankers considering returning home. Everyday we see resumes sent by them.'

Remittances represent almost a fifth of Jordan’s GDP and experts say the affects will depend on the extent to which the crisis affects the Gulf countries where Jordanian expatriates work in less-vulnerable professional jobs.

'Remittances are important to Jordan because they help narrow the current account deficit,' says Farouk Sousa, sovereign ratings director at Standard & Poor’s. 'The external balance, which is already weak, would be even weaker if it weren’t for remittances.'

Lebanon is also heavily reliant on remittances from 12m Lebanese who live abroad, three times as many as live in the country. They are expected to be hurt by job losses in the global financial sector, which in turn should see a slowdown in remittances sent back home.

Remittances accounted for a quarter of Lebanon’s GDP, or $5.7bn, last year, and the World Bank estimates that remittances will hit $6bn this year.

After accelerating quickly in the first nine months of the year, there are indications the inflows of remittances are starting to wane as a result of the financial crisis, although no hard data is yet available.

'It is very difficult to assess the impact,' says Nassib Ghobril, head of research at Byblos Bank. 'But there are indicators that show there will be a decline, such as the slowdown in outflows from the Gulf and the US.'

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13.
Migrant Spouses Talk Up Life in Korea
By Bae Ji-sook
The Korea Times (Seoul), January 6, 2009
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/01/117_37385.html

When Lorphoumara, a Cambodian native, came to Korea to live with her Korean husband six years ago, all she knew about the country was that it had just hosted the World Cup.

She married her husband after meeting him through one of her acquaintances who is also married to a Korean man. Lorphoumara wanted to leave Cambodia because she couldn't make more than $70 a month as a teacher in Phnom Penh.

``He was a bit short and we couldn't fully communicate in English, but life was good in every way,'' she said, recalling her first impression of her husband.

But when she was pregnant with her first child, bad luck struck the family. Her husband suddenly collapsed and couldn't move for a single day. He had high fever all over his body and was diagnosed with spondylitis, inflammation on the spine. ``I had to take care of him all day long for three months. I was full of tears,'' she said.

Now fully recovered, he is running a small business alongside his wife.

Lorphoumara is also helping other fellow migrant spouses. The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs has designated her a mentor for them.

She said her happy life in Korea has brought her friends and her family to Korea. Four of her neighbors in Cambodia came over to Korea and her brother is now preparing to work here.

Of course, she is one of the lucky cases. Her story, along with other tales of foreign spouses, has been released in a collection of essays published by the ministry.

Marites from the Philippines, who has stayed here for more than nine years, said she has not yet fully adapted to living in Korea because she is busy farming. ``All I do is work at a family tomato farm all day long. I have no time to learn the Korean language because I have no time to go to school and no one talks to me during work,'' she said.

She also revealed that some wives are suffering from domestic violence. ``I have a friend who went back to the Philippines because her husband would hit her hard when drunk. My husband drinks alcohol a lot and every time he drinks I get scared, too. I am lonely,'' she said.

Their Korean spouses also suffer difficult times when communication falters and the cultural gap is wider than they thought. Park Byoung-yun, married to a Vietnamese woman Guenjjukli, who is 12 years younger than he, said for the first year, the marriage was littered with rows and fighting. ``We didn't really know about each other's country and we had such high expectations for each other,'' he said.

For migrant spouses to learn about Korea and build friendships with fellow migrant spouses, the ministry has set up ``Multicultural Home Centers'' across the nation. The centers, located in suburban areas from where many foreign women marry males in the agricultural industry, help Korean spouses understand their partners' problems and help them find ways to communicate.

``We went on a seminar trip and, while there, I understood how ignorant I was about our relationship, about her. I always tried to make her a Korean, thought low of her culture and never tried to learn it,'' Park said. He is now head of the local center's users meeting.

The government, too, has set out to help these spouses become accustomed to living in Korea. Alongside various educational programs, the education ministry recently announced a plan to hire migrant spouses as local language instructors, giving them the chance to make money, and the welfare and family ministry is also planning to hire them as local counselors.

``They are not foreigners and too different from us. They are just neighbors in society,'' welfare minister Jeon Jae-hee said in a previous interview with The Korea Times.

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14.
Multinationalism remains far from acceptance in Japan
By Setsuko Kamiya
The Japan Times, January 4, 2009
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090104f1.html

In a country notorious for its exclusive immigration policy, the question of whether to allow Japanese to hold dual citizenship became a surprisingly hot policy topic last year after members of the ruling party breached the issue.

In many other parts of the world, it's a matter that has already been discussed in great depth, and observers agree that an increasing number of countries are moving toward allowing citizens to become multinational.

As of 2000, around 90 countries and territories permitted dual citizenship either fully or with exceptional permission, according to the 'Backgrounder,' published by the Center for Immigration Studies in the United States, and 'Citizenship Laws of the World' by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Since the reports came out, several countries have lifted bans on dual nationality. As a consequence, there are more than 90 countries backing dual nationality by default today.

'The trend is dramatic and nearly unidirectional. A clear majority of countries now accepts dual citizenship,' said Peter Spiro, an expert on multi nationality issues at Temple University Beasley School of Law.

'Plural citizenship has quietly become a defining feature of globalization.'

Countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom who go by the principle of jus soli, which gives nationality to everyone born on their soil and territories, have long been lenient in permitting dual citizenship.

The shift is also being seen in countries that have traditionally adhered to jus sanguinis, which says that a child's nationality is determined by his parent's citizenship.

The change in jus sanguinis countries first grew prominent in European countries, followed by some South American and Asian states, largely as a result of economic globalization and the expansion in people's mobility over the past few decades.

Europe's general acceptance of dual nationality is stated in the 1997 European Convention on Nationality, which stipulates that while member states can define their own citizens, they must at least allow children of international marriages and immigrants to hold dual nationality.

This was a major shift from traditional attitudes in the region, stated in a 1963 convention that supported the single nationality principle.

Atsushi Kondo, a law professor at Meijo University, explained that the economic growth after World War II and the formation of the European Union are two major reasons driving the change.

After WWII, the western European countries, who had been a source of emigrants, began accepting foreigners in their labor forces to deal with the rise in economic development they were enjoying.

Contrary to the initial presumption of European states that immigrant workers will eventually pack up and leave at some point, many foreigners have stayed longer and settled. They not only brought in more family members to their new homes, but married citizens of those countries as well, Kondo said.

As more immigrants virtually became permanent residents, many governments eventually reached the conclusion that securing the rights of foreigners and integrating them with society was unavoidable if they were to bring about a fair and democratic society, he explained.

'These countries have become aware that leaving the status of foreigners unstable was violating their human rights and making society unfair' and wanted to avoid that, Kondo said.

Meanwhile, countries whose citizens are migrating to other countries have also granted dual citizenship to the Diaspora.

Among them are many Latin American countries, who took this step in the 1990s because many of their citizens were immigrating to the U.S.

For example, Colombia acknowledged dual nationality in 1991, the Dominican Republic in 1994, Brazil in 1996 and Mexico in 1998.

Joining the club in recent years have been Asian countries, such as the Philippines, India and Vietnam.

Since September 2003, native Filipinos who have become citizens of other countries through naturalization have been able to reacquire Filipino citizenship by taking the oath of allegiance to their motherland.

In 2005, India began granting people of Indian origin living in other countries, except Pakistan and Bangladesh, 'Overseas Citizenship of India' if their habitual resident countries recognize dual citizenship.

While voting rights are not given, OCI holders will be allowed multiple-entry visas and hold equal economic, financial and educational benefits.

And from this year, some 3.5 million Vietnamese living abroad will also be able to obtain citizenship thanks to legislation passed by the Vietnamese parliament in November allowing dual nationality.

Last year, South Korea began reviewing ways to permit Koreans to hold dual nationalities under certain conditions. This is in line with the policies that President Lee Myung Bak has said he wanted to actualize.

Spiro of Temple University, who recently wrote the book 'Beyond Citizenship,' said states that are major producers of immigrants have been looking into cementing ties with emigrant populations, largely for economic reasons.

'Embracing dual nationality is like a tool for harnessing the economic power of external citizens,' Spiro said.

'Instead of forcing emigrants to make a choice, or treating them like traitors to the homeland, emigrants can both integrate with their new place of residence at the same time that they maintain the citizenship tie with their homeland,' he noted.

While simultaneously holding citizenship in more than one country can bring more opportunities to individuals, it also brings risks, such as mandatory military service or taxation obligations.

But both Spiro and Kondo said many countries have reconciled this on the basis of residence.

For example, in European countries, if one holds citizenship in two countries where military service is mandatory, the person only need serve one of them, usually the country in which they reside.

People with dual nationality are also warned about the risk of running into trouble or accidents when one of the two countries does not acknowledge dual citizenship. In those circumstances, the other government is limited in what it can do for the person.

Kondo, however, said that in many cases, especially emergencies, many governments take humanitarian actions and make claims to the other country in a peaceful manner to secure the safety of the citizen.

Jus sanguinis countries like Japan have traditionally been less tolerant of dual nationality because people tend to regard themselves as an exclusively racially homogeneous, Kondo explained.

While Japan does not allow dual citizenship, people can acquire more than one nationality upon birth if the parents are a Japanese and a foreigner, or if a Japanese couple have a baby in countries where citizenship is given to those born on their soil.

In such cases, Japanese nationality law stipulates that the child must select one of the nationalities permanently before turning 22 years old.

While the law is rigid about this rule, the reality is that the Justice minister has never strictly imposed it on anyone who actually has two nationalities.

'It's not favorable to force a citizen to choose one among his parents,' Kondo said.

'It will take a very, very long time before Japan becomes a jus soli country, but at least it is possible to gradually set the bar lower' and accept dual citizens as other countries have done, he said.

Even in countries like the U.S., for example, there are voices calling for scaling back birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants.

However, Spiro said that there is very little real political support in U.S. for opposing dual citizenship.

This is partly due to the rise of dual citizens among powerful political constituencies, such as Irish-, Italian- and Jewish-Americans, but also because dual citizens pose very little threat of any description to local society, he said.

'The U.S. and many European nations now understand that dual citizenship doesn't pose much of a threat . . . In many states, the acceptance is now nearly absolute,' Spiro said.

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15.
Migrant Group Warns of Bleak 2009
By Delfin Mallari Jr.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 6, 2009
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view/20090106-181665/Migrant-Group-Warns-of-Bleak-2009

Lucena City, Philippines -- As the government seeks to deploy two million laborers abroad next year, Filipino workers should brace themselves for more retrenchments, lower wages and worse working conditions overseas, Migrante International warned.

At the same time, it would hold the Arroyo administration 'fully accountable for being hell-bent in exporting the most number of Filipinos abroad amidst the worsening global crisis.'

Garry Martinez, chairman of Migrante International, recalled that in her 2007 state-of-the-nation-address, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pledged to deploy two million OFWs before her term ends in 2010. 'Time and again, we say that labor exportation is neither a tool for development nor an answer to the present crisis. We agree with CBCP [Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines] president Angel Lagdameo when he lamented the breakup of Filipino families because of parents working overseas,' he said in a statement to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Bishop Lagdameo had lamented that poverty forced parents to work overseas just to make ends meet, breaking up the family in the process. There are more than 11 million overseas legal and illegal Filipinos workers abroad, equivalent to about 11 percent of the total population of the country. Each year, more than a million Filipinos leave to work in different countries, most of them as domestic helpers and blue-collar jobs.

Recent data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration disclosed that a total of 1,221,829 OFWs were deployed worldwide from January 1 to November 30. The POEA said that there were close to half- a-million job orders that have not been filled; of the number more than 100,000 were new additions from October to December this year.

However, an undetermined number of overseas Filipino workers have lost their jobs due to the global crisis, which, according to the International Labor Organization, could render 20 million people jobless by the end of 2009. Martinez said that contrary to the claims of Arroyo, the Middle East region remains the worst destination for OFWs in terms of labor rights protection, especially now that it was also being hit hard by the global crisis.

He cited that in Dubai alone, labor complaints in the Ministry of Labor have tripled since November, most of which were cases of illegal termination and non-payment of salaries. The group said that the situation was similar even in Saudi Arabia, the top destination country of OFWs in the region. 'It is gibberish when the Arroyo administration said that Middle East countries remain[ed] a haven for overseas employment just to cover up its inutility in addressing the crisis. Quite the opposite, the Ittefaq Steel Products Factory, the second largest steel manufacturer in Saudi Arabia, had announced that it would send 80 percent of its 2,145 workers on leave without salary for three months beginning Jan. 1, 2009,' Martinez disclosed

He added that in the United Arab Emirates, not only the real estate and construction industry were being affected by the present economic downturn. Big multinational companies like General Electric, IBM, and Jeffries International are likewise retrenching their workforce or are totally pulling out operations from the gulf country, he said. The Migrante chair urged government to concentrate on protecting the rights and welfare of overseas workers instead of focusing mainly on aggressive marketing of OFWs abroad.

'In this time of crisis the main problem of OFWs is the lack of access to legal protection. Migrant workers are the first one to be hit by this crisis and, more often than not, they don't have anyone to turn to in the event of labor disputes. It is unfortunate that our government remains callous on this problem,' Martinez said.

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B.O.E Núm 314, de 30 de diciembre de 2008
MINISTERIO DE TRABAJO E INMIGRACIÓN
Seguridad Social. Pensiones.— Real Decreto 2127/2008, 
de 26 de diciembre, sobre revalorización de las pensiones 
del sistema de la Seguridad Social y de otras prestaciones 
sociales públicas para el ejercicio 2009.
Salario mínimo interprofesional.— 
Real Decreto 2128/2008, de 26 de diciembre, 
por el que se fija el salario mínimo 
interprofesional para 2009.

+LUCHA CONTRA LAS MAFIAS DE LA PROSTITUCIÓN: 
La trata de las personas es el segundo negocio más lucrativo
del mundo, sólo por detrás del tráfico de drogas. Según la
Policía , el 90% de las mujeres que ejercen la prostitución
en España son extranjeras; de ellas, más de la mitad
están en manos de redes y fueron captadas mediante
engaños. Para combatir el problema, se acaba de aprobar
el Plan Integral contra la Trata de Seres Humanos , que
contempla la creación de un fondo de bienes decomisados
para asistir a las víctimas; asistencia letrada gratuita
en su lengua; protección especial para los testigos
y ayudas económicas temporales.

+LAS HIPOTECAS, CADA VEZ MÁS BAJAS:
El tijeretazo  a los tipos de interés es la mejor noticia para 2009.
El último recorte dek Banco Central Europeo ha 
puesto el Euríbor a un nivel que permitirá
ahorrar más de 1000 EUROS a quienes 
actualicen la hipoteca a partir de enero . El
ahorro en la cuota crecerá sin freno hasta Septiembre
2009, cuando podría llegar casi a triplicarse.
www.euribor.es

+ CUATRO MESES DE PERMISO DE
PATERNIDAD:
Los padres de familias numerosas y de
familias monoparentales con dos hijos
podrán disfrutar de 20 días de permiso
de paternidad a partir del próximo
1 de enero, un plazo que se ampliará
a 22 días por cada hijo , a partir del
segundo, si uno de ellos nace con
alguna discapacidad.

+60.000 nuevas plazas de Educación
Infantil:
La Conciliación entre el trabajo y la 
familia sigue siendo una asignatura
pendiente.El Ministerio de Educación 
invertirá más de 100 millones de
euros. El objetivo es que las Comunidades
autónomas creen 60.000 plazas para niños
de hasta 3 años.

+UN TELÉFONO DE ATENCIÓN PARA
MALTRADORES
No será un teléfono para maltradores que ya 
los son, sino un servicicio de información para
hombres que tienen el ánimo de prevenir
conductas violentas y que servirá para 
incidir en las conductas  y comportamientos
de los hombres que pueden ser violentos"

+NUEVAS VACUNAS EXPERIMENTALES
Para erradicar la malaria, la adicción
a la cocaína, y la infección por VIH. En la
primera participirán 10 hospitales españoles,
dentro de un ensayo clínico europeo. La
segunda comprobará la eficacia en 
personas sanas de una medicamento
desarrollado por el Centro Nacional
de Biotecnología del Consejo Superior
de Investigaciones Científicas.

+MÁS MUJERES EN LAS INTITUCIONES
EUROPEAS
En junio acudiremos a las urnas para
renovar el Parlamento Europeo. Esta
vez, 5.000 organizaciones se han unido
para crear el Lobby Europeo de Mujeres,
con el fin de que haya una representación 
más equitativa en las instituciones 
europeas, un objetivo cada vez más 
próximo.
en

Si está interesado en obtener la Nacionalida Española 
en virtud de su derecho propio y desea hacerlo desde su
País de Origen de forma organizada, garantizada , legal 
y cómodamente...Puede ponderse en contacto con nosotros
por correo electrónico: marla@icav.es

Feliz Año 2009!!

Huge Spanish immigration rush expected
By Gareth McConnell
Global Visas, December 30, 2008
http://www.globalvisas.com/news/huge_spanish_immigration_rush_expected733.html

A new Spanish immigration law
 is expected to result in up to a million 
people claiming citizenship.

The ‘grandchildren’s law’ which was 
passed on 29 December 2008, allows 
the grandchildren of the citizens exiled 
from Spain during the civil war between 
1936 and 1939 to claim their Spanish citizenship.
Also allowed to reclaim a Spanish visa are 
the descendents of those who fled 
the country during and after the Franco 
dictatorship, until 1977.

The legislation has been passed 
to “mitigate the impact that the Francoist 
dictatorship had on Spain,” according 
to Agustin Torres, the director-general 
of Spanish immigration. Although up 
to a million people could be effected
by the laws, around half a million 
new Spaniards are expected to be created as a result.
In order to gain a Spanish passport, 
visa applications from those whose 
grandparents fled the country between 1955
 and 1977 will have to prove they helped 
other Spanish people while living abroad, 
while those whose descendents fled between 
1936 and 1955 will simply have to prove ancestry.
The Cuban Spanish consulate is taking on 
extra staff to cope with the expected quarter 
of a million applications.
Cubans are able to circumvent laws 
preventing them from leaving the island
 if they hold dual nationality.
Further visa applications are expected 
from countries including Mexico, 
Chile and Argentina.

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/01/01/espana/1230815012.html?a=7773e29ff4d10b0a644b65831b61ce96&t=1230823087

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-08-112/EN/KS-SF-08-112-EN.PDF

La presente ley tiene como fin 
establecer las bases fundamentales
de un modelo que posibilite la efectiva 
integración social de las personas
inmigrantes que se encuentran
 en la Comunitat Valenciana. Una
integración que deberá consolidarse 
mediante una convivencia respetuosa
con los valores constitucionales 
y que contribuya al bienestar de
todos. El número de personas que,
 provenientes del resto del mundo,
deciden buscar nuevas oportunidades
 en la Comunitat Valenciana es
cada vez mayor, una realidad 
que ha quedado reflejada en el propio
Estatut d’Autonomia al referirse a este 
colectivo social como uno de
los ámbitos de actuación primordial 
de la Generalitat. Así pues, el crecimiento
de la población inmigrante en la Comunitat 
Valenciana arroja
nuevos retos a la sociedad valenciana 
en general, y a los poderes
públicos en particular.
La integración de las personas inmigrantes 
en la sociedad valenciana
implica el reconocimiento de una serie 
de derechos, así como el
cumplimiento de unos deberes que parten
 de los criterios de convivencia
y organización característicos 
de la sociedad española y valenciana.
Todo ello dentro del respeto a la identidad 
cultural y religiosa de
los recién llegados. En este sentido, la integración 
sólo puede hacerse
efectiva a través del conocimiento mutuo. 
Para ello, los poderes públicos
deberán promover las medidas necesarias 
para alcanzar dicho fin.
En este sentido, la presente ley recoge medidas
 ya existentes y establece
otras nuevas, otorgándoles el rango de ley.
La Ley de Integración de las Personas Inmigrantes 
en la Comunitat
Valenciana tiene en cuenta diversos aspectos, 
en armonía con las
directrices marcadas por la Unión Europea 
en la Directiva 2003/109/
CE, relativa al Estatuto de los nacionales 
de terceros países residentes
de larga duración; en la Decisión del Consejo 
de Ministros de Justicia
y Asuntos de Interior en Bruselas de 19 de noviembre 
de 2004, y en la
Comunicación de la Comisión (2005) 
389 que lleva por título «Programa
Común para la Integración-Marco para 
la integración de los
nacionales de terceros países 
en la Unión Europea». 
Estos documentos
subrayan el carácter transversal de
 las políticas de integración, las cuales
deben tener en cuenta no sólo aspectos 
económicos y sociales, sino
también aquellos relacionados 
con la diversidad cultural y religiosa, la
ciudadanía y la participación.
Ciertamente la extranjería es una competencia del Estado, 
pero una
vez que las personas inmigrantes 
entran en España se originan necesidades
que deben ser atendidas, con independencia
 de la situación en
que se encuentren. Esas necesidades se centran,
 básicamente, en las
áreas de los servicios sociales, 
de educación y de sanidad, materias
que han sido objeto de transferencia 
a la Generalitat.

Podrán solicitar la Nacionalidad Española
a partir del Lunes y durante 2 años.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/12/17/espana/1229505393.html?a=63e3f7c552e03a400b9e95c5ef511868&t=1230374427
El Mundo

Los ciudadanos de la UE ya pueden llamar 
a los servicios de urgencia marcando 
simplemente el 112, el número único 
europeo de urgencia. Ahora que ya puede 
llamarse al 112 desde cualquier teléfono 
de Bulgaria, se ha logrado la disponibilidad 
completa justo antes del periodo navideño, 
cuando miles de personas viajan de 
un Estado miembro a otro para visitar a sus familias
, disfrutar de sus vacaciones de esquí 
o en busca del sol de invierno. 

Desde el 15 de diciembre de 2008,
 Suiza pasa a formar parte del Espacio Schengen,
 lo que significa que los controles fronterizos 
entre este país y los 24 Estados firmantes 
del Acuerdo Schengen, entre los 
que se encuentran la mayoría de Estados 
miembros de la UE, desaparecen. 
Suiza también ha adoptado el llamado 
“Sistema de Dublín”, que establece 
los criterios para determinar 
qué Estado miembro es responsable 
de examinar una petición de asilo.

En relación a India, ofrecemos servicios de establecimiento
en la misma. Recientemente lo ha hecho VODAFONE en una
compleja operación ,..
Con respecto a algún País Árabe, cualquier empresa  
Española que esté buscando un distribuidor 
( según su producto) o desee establecer 
relaciones comerciales, también puede ponerse
en contacto con nosotros.

http://www.bancomundial.org/interactivo/charlas/martin_preciosalimentos.htm

 http://go.worldbank.org/524N8BU4G0

EL BANCO MUNDIAL ESTÁ LISTO
PARA AYUDAR A LAS VÍCTIMAS DEL
TERREMOTO EN CHINA, DICE EL
PRESIDENTE ZOELLICK
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/BANCOMUNDIAL/NEWSSPANISH/0,,contentMDK:21768805~menuPK:51191012~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:1074568,00.html

http://www.europarl.es/sala_prensa_ultimas_noticias.php?id=4959&opcion=3&accion=rp
La Eurocámara ha aprobado una nueva legislación 
para elevar la cobertura de los depósitos bancarios 
hasta los 100.000€ en 2010. De acuerdo con la nueva 
directiva, los depositantes podrán acceder 
más rápidamente a sus ahorros en caso 
de emergencia y existirá un mecanismo 
de cooperación transfronteriza para reaccionar 
ante las crisis. Esta propuesta forma parte 
del conjunto de medidas pactadas 
para combatir la actual crisis financiera.

www.museumwnf.org/exhibitions/ISL/

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/12/19/espana/1229698026.html

El Plan Avanza 2009-2012 permitirá crear 
casi 200.000 puestos cualificados en cuatro años 
a través de la generación de unos 45.000 puestos anuales, 
según ha informado hoy el ministro 
de Industria, Turismo y Comercio, Miguel Sebastián,

http://www.docv.gva.es/portal/portal/2008/12/12/pdf/2008_14439.pdf

ORDEN de 9 de diciembre de 2008, de la Conselleria de
Inmigración y Ciudadanía, por la que se regulan y convocan
ayudas para los centros valencianos en el exterior de
la Comunitat Valenciana en el ejercicio 2009.