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About the European Union: The European Union is an international organization made up of 28 European countries.

It governs common economic, social and security policies of its member states.

According the EU website, the objectives of the EU are to establish European citizenship, ensure freedom, justice and security, promote economic and social progress, and assert Europe's role in the world.

Membership is open to any country with a democratic government, a good human rights record, and sound economic policies.

The member states delegate sovereignty to the EU institutions to represent the interests of the European Union as a whole.

Decisions and procedures stem from treaties ratified by the member states.

The capital of the European Union is Brussels, Belgium.

The EU is run by five main bodies: European Parliament, Council of the Union, European Commission, Court of Justice, and the Court of Auditors.

An estimated 507 million people lived within the European Union in 2014.

The United States is the EU's main trading partner.

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European Union Fast Facts

As President for the Americas and European Union Region, Odilon Almeida is responsible for Western Union Western Unions business across 98 countries, encompassing all the companies products and services in three macro regions: North America, Latin America and Caribbean and the European Union. Like many who have found success in leadership positions, he embodies the six characteristics that define what it means to be a 21st century leader.

We all can learn to realize these six characteristics by embracing the immigrant mentality that accounts for 40% of Fortune 500 companies, which were founded by immigrants or their children. Influenced by their cultural values, they had a distinct advantage in business and in life by being able to see opportunities everywhere opportunities previously unseen and that others didnt see at all.

In a recent interview, Odilon Almeida shared his perspective on the six characteristics that define this immigrant mentality and how they influence his leadership role to this day.

1. Keep your Immigrant Perspective (See Opportunity in Everything)

Glenn Llopis: A 21st century leader sees opportunities everywhere, every day, and makes the most of them. Many are opportunities others dont see.

Odilon Almeida:I hail from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and live in the US. For some, my home country may be considered a remote part of the globe. Immaterial of where you are from, immersing in diverse cultural and personal norms may sometimes make it feel that accomplishing a task is impossible. However in my view, impossible is not an absolute, and situations often require more time and a lot of resilience.

I have seen people struggle with reality and spend much time and effort to deny it. Denying reality is a loss of time and energy. From my life experience to date in several countries with distinct and unique cultures I have found that once you can develop a shared sense of the reality you are approaching, bringing people together to share a journey and a vision can lead to infinite possibilities.

Originally posted here:
Six Characteristics Define 21st Century Leadership

The European Union's antitrust authority is preparing the groundwork to file formal charges against Google Inc. (GOOGL: Quote,GOOG: Quote) in the next few weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Google is in the midst of a five-year-old antitrust probe by the European Commission, the European Union's antitrust authority, into alleged abuse of its dominant position in the Internet search and advertising business, triggered by complaints from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Expedia Inc. (EXPE) and others.

Google has also been criticized by some European politicians for misusing its dominant position in the search engine industry. The U.S. Internet giant commands around 90 percent market share for Web search in Europe. However, Google has denied anticompetitive behavior.

According to the WSJ report citing people familiar with the matter, the European Commission, is now asking companies that filed complaints against Google for permission to publish some of the information that was earlier submitted confidentially by these companies.

The WSJ reported that Margrethe Vestager, the new antitrust chief of the EU, has suggested that she prefers the legal certainty of formal charges over negotiated settlements. Vestager's predecessor Joaquin Almunia had tried and failed three times to reach a settlement with Google.

The decision to file charges against Google would be the highest-profile antitrust suit by the EU, following its long-running campaign against Microsoft Corp., which paid 1.7 billion euros in fines through 2012.

In the event the European Commission filed charges, Google will have a period of three months to make a case that its actions do not violate EU law or propose another settlement that would address the charges, the WSJ reported.

In November 2014, the European parliament approved a resolution that called for the unbundling of search engines from other commercial services that Internet companies offer, implying the possible break-up of big Internet companies like Google.

GOOG closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $542.56, down $5.44 or 0.99 percent on a volume of 1.96 million shares. In after-hours, the stock gained $0.19 or 0.04 percent to $524.75.

by RTT Staff Writer

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WSJ: EU Preparing To File Antitrust Charges Against Google

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari | credits: File copy

The European Union and France have congratulated the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and challenged him to focus on the challenges and opportunities ahead.

The High Representative and EU Vice-President, Federica Mogherini in a statement on Wednesday on the presidential elections in Nigeria, thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for his great contribution to building the country and to consolidating its democracy over the past five years.

The VP said the EU looks forward to working with Buhari and his government in the future.

She acknowledged the candidates that have conceded defeat gracefully and urged those who wish to contest the results to do so through the appropriate procedures.

Mogherini said the EU Election Monitoring Mission would remain to monitor the governorship elections on April, 11 which it is hoped will be conducted in the same peaceful and democratic spirit.

She said, Nigerians can now look forward to focusing on the many challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of the country. The European Union has been a close partner for Nigeria over the past 50 years, and will continue to support its development and to share its values in promoting peace, prosperity and democracy on the continent and in the world.

President of the Republic of France, Francois Hollande, who also congratulated Muhammadu Buhari on his election as President of Nigeria, welcomed the commitment of Nigerians and the quality of work of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

A statement from the French Embassy in Abuja on Wednesday , said that Hollande would speak with Buhari on Thursday, adding that the French government intends to establish with him the trustful relations it had with President Jonathan.

Meanwhile, the Head of ECOWAS Election Observation Mission, former Ghanaian President John Kufuor and his colleagues from the African Union and the Commonwealth have congratulated Nigerias National Peace Committee for its work.

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Focus on challenges ahead, EU, tells Buhari

Inserting counter-terrorism into European Union foreign policy could undermine the EU's stance against the death penalty, warns Iverna McGowan.

Iverna McGowan is acting director of Amnesty International European Institutions Office.

Today, Amnesty International released its annual review of the death penalty worldwide, with much of it making for grim reading. A dark trend was starkly evident last year across the world: governments using the death penalty in a seemingly misguided and politically-motivated attempt to tackle internal dissent, crime, or security threats - real or perceived.

A sharp spike in the handing down of death sentences was recorded in 2014, up more than 500 on the previous year to at least 2,466. This rise can be attributed to governments using the death penalty as a political tool. In Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan, the death penalty was used by those trying to silence dissent, or based on so-called security-related or terrorism charges.

Saudi Arabia, comfortably ranking amongst the worlds top five executioners with at least 90 executions recorded, detained people supporting or taking part in protests against the state. Incidents have been recorded of people being threatened or charged with the death penalty based on vaguely worded security charges relating to their activism. In Egypt, in the face of internal political instability, courts imposed hundreds of death sentences.Pakistan put more than 50 people to death, threatening to send thousands more to the gallows, after lifting a six-year moratorium on the execution of civilians following the Taliban terror attack on a school in Peshawar last December.

The use of the death penalty is a human rights abuse, violating the right to life. It is the ultimate cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment, in any and all circumstances. We now also know that it is no more a deterrent to crime than a prison sentence, demonstrated in multiple studies including by the United Nations - a factor that states continuing to use the death penalty in the attempt to address (or appear to address) crime rates seem to have ignored. Jordan for example ended an eight-year moratorium in December, putting 11 murder convicts to death, in an alleged move to end a surge in violent crime.

European Union

At Amnesty International, weve campaigned for a global end to the death penalty since the 1970s. And its not all bad news, as thankfully most of the world appears to agree with us that it should be abolished, including the European Union (EU) and its member states.

Today, 140 states are abolitionist in law or practice, including all EU countries. The absolute ban on the death penalty is enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. And the current holder of the EU Presidency, Latvia, was the last member state to abolish capital punishment in war time in 2012.

As such, sitting in Brussels, the EU reader, it would seem, has good reason to be proud that the Union and institutions have made ending executions worldwide central to its foreign policy. But, dig a little deeper and it seems that elements of EU foreign policy could be undermining this principled approach.

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Principles in the firing line? The EU and the death penalty