Olympics brought huge profits
Net revenue from the Olympic Games in Turin amounted to €268 million. These figures were published by the Games organizing committee and the Turin city administration.
The cost of holding the Games amounted to €707 million, of which €163 million went to provide the necessary infrastructure, and €257 million for technical equipment. At the same time, they managed to earn €974.4 million: €470 million came from the sale of television broadcast rights, €420 million was provided by sponsors, €15 million was earned from the sale of licenses, and another €69.4 million was earned from ticket sales.
Originally, it was planned to earn only €64.4 million from ticket sales, but the organizers' expectations in this regard were exceeded already on the sixth day of the Games. In just two weeks of the Winter Olympics, 900 thousand tickets were sold. To this number should be added 30 thousand tickets bought by those who wanted to watch athletes' training at one of the Olympic venues in Turin.
Turin and the region of Piedmont, to which it belongs, were visited by about 1 million tourists during the Olympics. This is the estimate of the Turin city administration. In Turin itself, public transport carried about 3 million people to the mountains where many competitions took place.
World population surpassed 6.5 billion
Every ten seconds, 41 people are born in the world, but 18 die. The U.S. Census Bureau issued the following statement: "At this minute, somewhere in the world a woman is giving birth to a child who will become the 6.5 billionth inhabitant of planet Earth." These data are based on the International Database (IDB), compiled by American statisticians on the basis of operational information coming from 227 state and international statistical organizations.
The IDB began collecting data in 1950, and today, on the basis of their analysis, it provides demographic forecasts all the way to 2050. The next milestone - 7 billion people - will be crossed, according to IDB data, on October 19, 2012. Let us recall that the six billionth inhabitant of the Earth was born in 1999, humanity crossed the five billion threshold in 1987, and reached 4 billion in 1974. At the time of the start of data collection - in 1950 - the world population was about 2.5 billion people. At the time of this material going to press, the world population was 6,500,117,140 people.
Latvia may change citizenship rules
The Latvian Ministry of Justice has prepared changes to the rules for passing exams for obtaining citizenship. If the changes are adopted, retaking exams an unlimited number of times will be prohibited. Now the maximum number of attempts to pass the Latvian language is four. The same number of times can be taken for history.
In addition, the rules stipulate that if an applicant fails to appear for an exam within two months without a valid reason, this is grounds for terminating the consideration of the application.
EU opens labor market for the "Polish plumber"
The European Parliament approved the provisions of a draft law on the liberalization of the services market for EU countries that relate to the activities of immigrant workers, reports the Guardian. The "Polish plumber" may receive the right to legally work in the territory of developed states that are members of the EU, if the amendments pass through the coordination stages in the European Commission and the EU Council of Ministers.
It is assumed that this law will eliminate administrative barriers that limit the penetration of labor from Eastern Europe, which is forced to use the "black" labor market, which restricts their rights. According to these provisions, immigrants will receive the right to work in EU countries, but with the preservation of some restrictions. The parliamentarians left the point on the principle of "country of destination," against which developed EU states protested. According to it, immigrant workers will work on the basis of national labor legislation and codes. In other words, citizens from Eastern Europe will have lower incomes than their colleagues from, say, France or Belgium, and therefore the latter risk losing their jobs. The principle of "predominant national interest" also remains, which implies that some sectors of the market will be closed to foreign companies if they concern national security.
The draft law on the liberalization of the labor market again caused heated debate in European society, which has been ongoing since last year. Great Britain supported this directive and agreed with the proposal to remove administrative barriers for small business companies of EU countries. France disagreed, believing that workers from the new EU member states would cause social dumping in the labor market, leading to increased tension and unemployment. But, according to representatives of the European Parliament, the potential of the services market of European countries is 600 thousand jobs, and the economic effect for consumers and producers could reach €30 billion.
Georgia wants to attract foreign tourists
Georgia, with the assistance of the World Tourism Organization, is developing a tourism development plan. One of the priority areas is ski tourism at the resorts of Bakuriani and Gudauri; in addition, special attention is paid to the problem of protecting the sanitary zone of the Tskaltubo resort. The WTO plans to hold a regional conference in Georgia in June, with participation by representatives of more than 30 countries - heads of national tourism administrations, business representatives and mass media.
Adjara should become a world-class resort by 2007, where several new hotels are planned to be built, including a five-star hotel in the center of Batumi, a golf club, and the reconstruction of tourism facilities is also planned. It is worth noting that according to statistics, in 2005 Georgia was visited by about 543 thousand foreign tourists, which is 49% more than in 2004.
South Dakota first in the US to ban abortions
South Dakota will soon become the first American state to ban abortions - a corresponding law has been approved by local legislators. The state's governor, Republican Mike Rounds, told reporters that he is "ready to sign the law if it contains no technical errors". If signed, the law will take effect on July 1 of this year.
Violating it will threaten doctors with five years in prison. Nevertheless, artificial termination of pregnancy in South Dakota will be possible if doctors believe that the woman's life and health are truly in danger. The governor stated that he "is opposed to abortions" and believes that "such a law will be aimed at saving lives".
The organization "Planned Parenthood" operating in South Dakota said it intends to challenge the new law in court if it takes effect. "Planned Parenthood" - the only network of clinics in the state providing abortion services - performs about 800 abortions a year.
Abortions in the US were legalized by a Supreme Court decision adopted in January 1973. Since then, activists of religious and public organizations annually hold a "March for Life", demanding that abortions be legally banned in the country. In 34 states, artificial termination of pregnancy from underage patients requires written permission from one of the parents.
The Supreme Court intends to review the 1973 law in the fall and make some changes, in particular, to ban abortions in the second and third trimesters, which American doctors call "partial birth".
According to statistics, approximately four thousand abortions are performed annually in the US.
Based on materials from news agencies.