Record Number of Missing Child Notifications

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Police car

Photo: Páll Stefánsson.

Capital region police received 32 requests for help in finding missing children and young people in March alone.

The police have never before received so many missing young person notifications in one month and, according to Vísir, they have received 53 percent more such requests so far this year than the average of the previous two years.

The data come from the chief of police’s monthly review report.

The report also states that capital area police received 705 notifications of criminal violations in March—which was considerably higher than February’s 588 incidents. According to a police statement, the increase between months is largely explained by there having been more domestic violence cases in March.

Drug and drink driving violations also increased in March, at 122 cases in the capital region—up 46 percent on the twelve-month average, and a huge 34 percent higher than the March average in the past three years.

It’s fair to say that Reykjavík police will be hoping for a more peaceful April—though it remains a safe city by any global standard.

 

Source : Iceland Review

Norwegian birth rate decreases for seventh consecutive year

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Women that have a lot of children often find themselves defending their decision, consultant Dr. Anne Eskild told broadcaster NRK.

“When so many have no children or only one child, others have to have five children to keep numbers up,” said Eskild, who works a consultant at Akershus University Hospital and teaches at the University of Oslo.

The proportion of those having more children is also falling, however, according to the analysis.

Eskild said that working cultures in Norway are incompatible with large families, with ideals not recognising the value of having children.

“Today people have to defend themselves if they are full-time parents with many children. They face questions like ‘what is wrong with you, do you not know about family planning, why don’t you have a job’”, she told NRK.

The trend of decreasing birth rates is not unique to Norway. Similar tendencies have been reported in Russia as well as in European countries such as France and Italy, although Norway’s Scandinavian neighbour Denmark did report a slight improvement in 2015.

“It is not until after the age of 30 that there is enough economic security to have children, and then it becomes difficult to have many before biology sets its own limits,” Eskild said.

Many women in their 20s prefer to wait until they have finished studying and have stable, higher-paid jobs before starting families, the professor said.

“If you are not on the job market then you can be given 40,000-50,000 kroner ($4,700-5,800) [by the state] in social support, but others [who take maternal or paternal leave from well-paid jobs, ed.] can receive up to a million ($116,000). That is an unequal valuation of people’s children, can lead to those who do not have access to those kinds of welfare systems choosing to delay having children or having abortions,” she said.

Despite the decreasing birth rate, population is in fact increasing in Norway, due to longer life expectancies and immigration.

Former prime minister Kåre Willoch told NRK that he nevertheless saw the trend – and its association with families’ economic situations – as a cause for concern.

“Families must have a satisfactory economy, and in all cases no worse a financial situation than those who have decided not to take on the task of providing for children,” he said.

Families “should be compensated with generous allowances, but instead these have been halved,” he said.

 

Source : The Local.no

The A350-1000 makes a big splash during certification testing

Airbus’ new A350-1000 – the longest-fuselage version of its A350 XWB jetliner – marked another certification milestone by performing tests that validated the aircraft’s ability to operate from waterlogged runways and taxiways.

Performed this month at the Istres Air Force Base in southern France, the A350-1000 was purposely run along an inundated surface to demonstrate that large quantities of water or slush can be safely ingested by the twin-jet’s turbofan engines and its turbine-powered auxiliary power unit during takeoff, landing and taxi.

For these tests, crewmembers progressively accelerated the aircraft through the standing water five times at speeds from 80 to 140 knots, with the A350-1000 performing as expected.

The trials were documented with video and photo coverage, as well as the first use of a camera-equipped drone to provide airborne views of the test runs.

As the latest member of Airbus’ leading widebody family, the A350-1000 is scheduled to enter airline operation before year-end. In addition to having a longer fuselage accommodating 40 more passengers than the A350-900 version currently in service, the A350-1000 also features more powerful Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, a modified wing trailing-edge and new six-wheel main landing gears.

Source : Airbus Website

O PT quebrou Minas Gerais-MG oferece garantias a investidores para atrair interesse por novo fundo

Resultado de imagem para cidade administrativa

Na tentativa de atrair investidores para um fundo com o qual o Estado de Minas Gerais pretende arrecadar mais de R$ 3 bilhões, o governo mineiro poderá autorizar o sequestro de receitas públicas para reduzir o risco de prejuízos com um eventual calote.

“Desde que eu mostre ao mercado que o risco dele é pequeno, eles compram”, disse à Folha o secretário estadual da Fazenda, José Afonso Bicalho. “Posso fazer com que, se o Estado não pagar, o banco mandatário possa ir na conta do Estado tirar o dinheiro.”

Com as contas no vermelho e perto de ultrapassar o limite imposto pela Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal ao endividamento dos Estados, o governador Fernando Pimentel (PT) propôs à Assembleia Legislativa a criação de fundos para levantar R$ 20 bilhões e tentar retomar investimentos.

Uma das propostas transfere a propriedade de 5.000 imóveis do Estado para um fundo imobiliário que passaria a cobrar aluguéis do governo. Esses recursos serviriam para alimentar outro fundo, que venderá cotas a investidores no mercado e tem a meta de captar mais de R$ 3 bilhões.

Ao comprar cotas desse fundo, os investidores receberiam a promessa de ter os recursos de volta com juros mais tarde. Como garantia, teriam as receitas do fundo imobiliário, ou seja, os alugueis pagos pelo Estado pelos 5.000 imóveis transferidos.

“É a mesma coisa que se eu tivesse tomando um empréstimo que eu vou ter que pagar”, explica Bicalho. “A questão do aluguel é um mero instrumento para captar dinheiro. Eu ponho esse dinheiro no fundo de investimento, que vai pagar o empréstimo, vai pagar as vendas das cotas para o governo fazer investimento”, completa.

O secretário diz que a despesa maior com aluguéis será inferior ao custo para o Estado de um empréstimo tradicional. Nos últimos anos, Minas gastou em média R$ 88,2 milhões para alugar imóveis. Um estudo da Fazenda prevê que o gasto com aluguéis poderá alcançar R$ 700 milhões por ano com o fundo.

“Esse aumento no aluguel é o correspondente se eu tivesse tomado um empréstimo. E tenho condições de captar talvez um pouco mais barato, porque o fundo está lastreado melhor e posso pôr o prazo que me interessar”, afirmou o secretário Bicalho.

O gasto do Estado com dívidas alcançou R$ 6,8 bilhões em 2015. No ano passado, o valor caiu para R$ 2,9 bilhões após a renegociação das dívidas com a União, que reduziu taxas de juros, suspendeu pagamentos por seis meses e alongou o prazo até 2048.

SEM SAÍDA

Minas não tem outra saída para levantar recursos, afirma Bicalho. A situação frágil do Estado, que decretou calamidade financeira no ano passado, não permitiria obter aval do Tesouro Nacional para novos empréstimos.

O governo federal negociou um pacote de socorro financeiro com o Rio, mas ele ainda depende da aprovação do Congresso a um novo programa de recuperação criado para Estados falidos, ao qual os governadores poderão recorrer se aceitarem cumprir medidas rigorosas de ajuste.

O secretário mineiro reconhece que o nível de endividamento de Minas, de 185% da receita anual, está próximo de alcançar o limite legal de 200%, e diz que os novos fundos são uma maneira de fazer um empréstimo “sem aval e sem ir para o banco”.

Ele não vê o risco de sofrer contestação no Tribunal de Contas do Estado se os fundos forem aprovados pela Assembleia. “Não é camuflagem, é uma forma de captar dinheiro”, afirmou Bicalho.

Entre os imóveis pelos quais o Estado pagará aluguel está a Cidade Administrativa, a sede do governo estadual.

 

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