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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Europe, the US or China? - by Steven Hill

The United States has many strengths and admirable qualities, but the nation’s politics is plagued by paralysis and deep partisan polarization, even though the country has a well-established federal union.

The U.S. economy has benefited in recent years from low energy costs, but it has become bitterly divided into unequal camps of winners and losers. All these tensions have boiled over and resulted in the phenomenon of Donald Trump, whose erratic presidency is stalling badly needed reforms and furthering national division.

Meanwhile, China’s hybrid brand of “communist capitalism” remains an authoritarian puzzle of immense contradictions. While it has moved forward vigorously with renewable energies, a growing middle class is still proportionally small compared to the vast numbers of poor, even as inequality, corruption and cronyism thrive.

Impressive levels of industrial production have resulted in astounding levels of environmental ruin.

It turns out that a domineering executive leadership as in China and the United States is only great when it leads in the right direction. In comparison, the EU doesn’t always look so bad.

Europe’s social capitalism is clearly the global leader in several crucial dimensions, more so than either China’s state capitalism or America’s Wall Street-Silicon Valley capitalism.

Read more: Europe, the US or China? - The Globalist

Monday, October 30, 2017

USA: - Russia-gate - Trump adviser George Papadopoulos lied about Russian links

An election campaign adviser to Donald Trump has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia. 

George Papadopoulos admitted the talks happened while he worked for Mr Trump, not before, court papers show.

He said he had been told the Russians possessed "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

Separately, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering unrelated to the 2016 election.

The charges against Mr Papadopoulos are the first to be brought by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating alleged links between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Read more: Trump adviser George Papadopoulos lied about Russian links - BBC News

Sunday, October 29, 2017

EU-Russia trade bouncing back - "Russia is not the EU's enemy, despite US rhetoric to the contrary"

Russia is not an enemy of the EU, to the contrary
The EU-Observer reports that after three years in decline due to sanctions, EU-Russia trade relations have picked up 20 percent so far in 2017;

In September, the EU Parliament published a report confirming that this decline continued in 2016 and this news was also reported by EUobserver.

However, the trend has changed in 2017.

Eurostat data from the first seven months of the year shows that this decline has stopped and, in fact, the trend was reversed with an expected increase of 20 percent by the end of the year compared to 2016.

EU-Russia trade was up to €285 billion in 2014. In 2016, this number dropped to €181 billion. In only three years, EU members imported €64 billion less from Russia and exported to it €31 billion less.

This decline affected Germany, Italy, Austria and Lithuania above all, which constitute €14.5 billion less in export towards Russia.

However, Austria, Ireland and Lithuania are the three members that suffered the most in relative terms with declines in export of 51, 50 and 40 percent respectively in two years only. Interestingly,

Luxembourg is the only country that increased its exports to Russia from 2014 to 2016.

The average decline for EU members was 34 percent in import and 29 percent in export with Russia.

The trend was reversed starting in January 2016 when trade with most of EU member states started to recover.

This is evident if we look at data for the half-year period. When we compare the first six months of 2016 with the same period of 2017, we notice that the volume of EU-Russia trade increased by €27 billion. The lion's share is for Germany with an expansion by €6 billion and the Netherlands with €4 billion. The only country that reduced its trade is Malta with a decrease of €400,000.

If we look at the exports only in the first six months of 2017 compared to last year, then the leading countries are Germany (plus €2.6 billion), Italy (plus €739 million) and the Netherlands (plus €707 million). The only countries decreasing their exports are Malta, Cyprus and the United Kingdom.

The behaviour of trading partners may be an indication that the Crimea crisis has been discounted already and that politics will, slowly, adjust.

One of the signals was the critical stand of some EU members to the recent round of secondary sanctions imposed by US Congress on Russia, which could create problems for companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream II.

While it is hard to predict the direction of trade flows in the future, we can state that the positive trend seems to lead towards a normalisation of EU-Russia trade in the coming future despite the unresolved crises in Crimea, Ukraine and US meddling in the EU-Russia relations..

EU-Digest

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Spain: Catalonia: Not one country in the world has so-far recognized Catalonia's declaration of independence

Carles Puigdemont: "to be or not to be?"
Spain’s Senate on Friday voted to grant Madrid powers to impose direct rule on Catalonia, shortly after the semi-autonomous region’s parliament approved a motion declaring independence
.
Herewith are five questions about what it means to make a unilateral declaration of independence:

Known by its acronym UDI, the term was first coined in 1965 when the former Rhodesia’s minority white government declared unilateral independence from British colonial rule.

The process itself is when a new state is established within an existing country, declaring itself sovereign and independent without the consent of the entity, country or state from which it is seceding.

“Any entity has the right to declare its independence. But to become a state that of course requires a territory, a population and authorities,” said Jean-Claude Piris, a Brussels-based international law consultant and former EU legal services director for 23 years.

“But what matters most is recognition by the international community,” he said. “Everyone has the right to issue a declaration of independence, but that in itself has no international consequence.”

Piris said very few countries will recognize Catalonia and “I guarantee you no one will recognize them” in the EU.

“Therefore it will remain an empty declaration: Catalonia will not be represented in international organizations, they will not sit in the EU, they will not be able to do anything and legally they will remain part of Spain,” he said.

Is Catalonia’s UDI legal and what will happen next: -

“What matters now is what will happen nationally and in the streets,” said Piris.

“Are there going to be demonstrations, barricades? Will people accept and submit” if Spain triggers Catalan guardianship . . . “or will there be violence?”

Spain “experienced a civil war not so long ago and just before World War II,” Piris pointed out.

If Catalonia becomes an independent state the implications “cannot be underestimated” said Narin Idriz, a researcher at the Hague-based Asser Institute
.
“All European Union member states cherish their territorial integrity, they will not want the same thing to happen to them, therefore it will be very difficult to find any support,” she said.

Bottom-line: at this point deposed Catalan leader Mr. Carles Puigdemont declaration of independence is not recognized by any country, and he personally risks arrest if he continues to defy the Spanish Constitution.

EU-Digest

Friday, October 27, 2017

Asian Economy: New billionaire born in Asia every other day

The total wealth of billionaires surged to six trillion dollars last year, more than 17 percent than a year ago. Asian billionaires are outpacing their US counterparts for the first time, says research released by UBS on Thursday.

The surge is caused by an increase in Asia’s emerging billionaire class and growth in the materials, industrials, financial and technology sectors.

“On average, a new billionaire was created in Asia every two days, with the total number of Asian billionaires rising by almost a quarter to 637, compared to 563 in the US,” the report says.

Read more: New billionaire born in Asia every other day — RT Business News

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Spain: Catalonia braces for Spain takeover as two sides remain deadlocked - by M. Fiske and L.King

In a crowd outside Catalonia's ornate regional headquarters in Barcelona, two men argued fervently. One was for independence from Spain, the other against.

Like others elsewhere in Catalonia, Xaui Nicolau, 41, and Juan Antonio Martinez, 67, argued over whether the northeastern region's president, Carles Puigdemont, had miscalculated by refusing to renounce secessionist aims.

Puigdemont, in a speech Thursday, ruled out early parliamentary elections — some observers thought holding the elections might help stave off Madrid's takeover — but not independence.

Now, with the Spanish government poised to strip Catalonia of its regional autonomy and remove Puigdemont as soon as Saturday, Nicolau said a unilateral declaration of independence was "the only option" remaining.

But Martinez, like officials in Madrid, staunchly insisted that Catalonia's independence drive was illegal. "It's the way you did it," he said. "It's not constitutional." Spain's Senate is to vote Friday on implementing direct rule in Catalonia to quell its independence bid — a step never before taken in Spain's democratic era by the central government.

After Puigdemont spoke, the regional parliament convened to try to plot a course in the face of Spain's looming deadline. The talk continued into the night before recessing until Friday morning.

Read more: - Catalonia braces for Spain takeover as two sides remain deadlocked – L

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

War Profiteering: George Clooney Donates $1 Million To Investigate War Profiteering In Africa - by Greg Evansby

George Clooney has donated $1 million through his Clooney Foundation for Justice to The Sentry, a team of policy analysts and financial forensic investigators tracking down war profiteering networks in Africa.

The gift kicks off the Sentry’s “Making War Criminals Pay” fundraising campaign, and will, the organization says, “dramatically increase its production of dossiers focused on war criminals and their financial networks.”

The Sentry also announced leadership gifts from Don Cheadle, Carl Allen, Ruben Vardanyan, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, and three major anonymous donors. In all, including the Clooney Foundation grant, the gifts total $3.45 million, with a campaign goal of $6 million.

Clooney is the co-founder of The Sentry, and said: ”Our focus is to make sure that war crimes don’t pay. We want to make it more difficult for those willing to kill en masse to secure their political and economic objectivesWhen we’re able to go after the warlords’ wallets and bankrupt those who choose the bullet over the ballot, suddenly the incentives are for peace, not war; transparency, not corruption.”

Read more: George Clooney Donates $1 Million To Investigate War Profiteering In Africa

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Spain: Catalonia independence - Carles Puigdemont faces PRISON if he declares independence - by Jon Rogers

José Manuel Maza, 66, gave a blunt message to the President of the north east region and said he would call on the Catalan police - Mossos d’Esquadra - to detain Mr Puigdemont, who has been the focal figures in the region’s push to break away from the rest of Spain.

Mr Maza, speaking at an event on cybersecurity in Madrid, said: “I am surprised that this is surprising. This is normal and natural in a state of law and, therefore, it is logical to pursue.

The rebellion crime is punishable by 30 years in prison if it is a crime of considerable gravity, of course."

He added that if the Catalan police did not comply with the order, Spain would take over control of the force.

Read more: Catalonia independence - Carles Puigdemont faces PRISON if he declares independence | World | News | Express.co.uk

Monday, October 23, 2017

NAFTA: Trump’s zero-sum game has likely doomed NAFTA - by Lawrence Herman

Round 4 of the NAFTA negotiations ended in exceptional bitterness on Tuesday, with the United States presenting a series of deeply disturbing and unacceptable proposals. While the negotiating deadline was extended into early 2018, the talks are heading downhill and will likely hit the wall before then.

ti's interesting that commentators are now talking about the need for a Plan B (or C or D) for Canada, when it should have been clear that these talks were on a perilous slope from the outset.

While policy wonks were once full of naive optimism about modernizing the North American free-trade agreement, a cold shower of realism would have doused that rosy glow. The problem is these negotiations were never born of common objectives among like-minded governments. We're in these talks because of a diktat from one source – U.S. President Donald Trump.
After repeatedly condemning NAFTA as a "disaster" and the "worst trade agreement ever," Mr. Trump wasn't going to go gentle into that good night. He was obviously going to follow through with aggressively one-sided demands to Canada and Mexico – and that's what they are – or else.
U.S. presidents set the tone for their administrations in inaugural addresses to the country and the world at large. Remember Franklin Roosevelt and "We've nothing to fear but fear itself," or John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you …"
In the case of Mr. Trump, it was a bombastic and inward-looking declaration that it would be "America first and only America first" during his term of office.
The U.S. approach to these negotiations is unprecedented, the opposite of countries sitting at the table to reach a balanced and mutually agreeable outcome. Mr. Trump will have none of that; to the contrary, it's all about a zero-sum, take-no-hostages game used by him in putting together real estate deals.
Faced with this reality, comments about the need for alternative plans for Canada are part of a deeper concern over an uncertain trade and political relationship with the United States.

Read more: Trump’s zero-sum game has likely doomed NAFTA - The Globe and Mail

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Go by Rail to Asia: New rail routes between China and Europe will change trade & tourism patterns



Route map - The Silk Route & Central Asia by trainASTANA in Kazakhstan is one of the world’s most remote capitals, surrounded by thousands of kilometres of empty steppe. This summer Astana attempted to launch itself onto the global stage by hosting the World Expo, which closed on September 10th and underwhelmed many attendees. But there are other ways to have an impact. On the city’s north side, away from the Expo’s exhibits, a series of diesel trains, each pulling dozens of containers, roll through the old railway station. Most are heading from China to Europe. Last year over 500,000 tonnes of freight went by train between the two, up from next to nothing before 2013. Airlines and shipping firms are watching things closely.

The trains rumbling through Astana result from a Chinese initiative, in tandem with countries like Kazakhstan, to build a “New Silk Road” through Central Asia. The earlier overland routes were once the conduits for most trade between Europe and China and India; they faded into irrelevance when European ships started circumnavigating the Cape of Good Hope.

China has long wanted to develop its inland regions and push industry to “go west”, in order to spread economic growth more evenly. Manufacturers have been loth to shift, in part because of the higher cost of moving goods to ports for export. Developing a rail-freight network to Europe—an important part of China’s “One Belt One Road” policy—opens up a new route to market for its poorest areas. The land route through Central Asia is relatively short. A container ship too large for the Suez canal must make a 24,000km journey to reach Europe. Trains travel no more than 11,000km to reach the same destination.

Kazakhstan has spent over 1.1trn tenge ($3.2bn) on upgrading its railway lines and rolling stock since 2011. That includes $250m on the Khorgos Gateway, a dry port at the border with China that lifts containers from Chinese trains onto Kazakh ones to overcome a change in track width (a problem that has stymied previous efforts to build railway routes between Europe and China).

Volumes of freight travelling between China and Europe by rail are rising quickly. Between 2013 and 2016 cargo traffic quintupled in weight. In the first half of this year the value of goods travelling by train rose by 144% compared with the same period in 2016. Western firms have been keen to embrace rail freight because it helps them to lower costs, says Ronald Kleijwegt, an expert on the industry. In the case of high-tech electronics, for example, which consumers like to receive quickly, making them on China’s coast and air-freighting them to Europe is extremely pricey.

How worried should shipping firms and airlines be? Kazakhstan’s national rail company, KTZ, says it will have capacity for 1.7m containers to pass through the country between Europe and China each year by 2020; that is a tenth of the volume currently carried by sea and air between the two. In the longer term, a full modernisation of the existing main three rail routes from China to Europe could produce 3m containers a year in capacity.

But there are also reasons to doubt that will happen. For one thing, China plans to stop handing out government subsidies for additional rail-freight capacity from 2020, which will slow the network’s expansion. Sea freight has little to fear in the near term, says Soren Skou, chief executive of Maersk, the world’s biggest container-shipping line. Trains may take away some future growth from ships, he concedes, but not their existing business.

Air cargo is more vulnerable. Last year, 180,000 tonnes of cargo travelled on trains to western Europe from China (the remainder was destined for Russia and eastern Europe). That is a small fraction of the 52m tonnes that came by sea, but a big chunk of the 700,000 tonnes that came by air. Much of that air cargo could switch to rail in future, says Mr Kleijwegt, with one important proviso—that Russia would need to lift the retaliatory sanctions it placed in 2014 on imports of Western food, which stop most foodstuffs from traveling by land between Europe and China. That is unlikely for the time being. But it was only a decade ago that people thought the idea of freight trains between Europe and China was a joke, says Mr Kleijwegt—and no one laughs at that any more.

Read more: New rail routes between China and Europe will change trade patterns

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Spain: Rajoy says he will sack Catalan government, call regional elections

Many Polls in Spain show
Carles Puigdemont should be locked up
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday (October 21) said he would curb the powers of Catalonia’s parliament, sack its government and call a regional election within six months in a bid to stop efforts by the autonomous region to break away from Spain.

Rajoy said his government had taken the unprecedented decision to restore the law, make sure regional institutions were neutral, and to guarantee public services and economic activity as well as preserve the civil rights of all citizens.

The measures must now be approved by Spain’s upper house, the Senate, where a vote is scheduled for October 27.

Rajoy’s speech came after Spain’s central government met to discuss establishing control of the wealthy northeastern region following the referendum on secession three weeks ago.

Madrid says suspending some of Catalonia’s autonomy – a move that could be applied under Article 155 of the Spanish constitution – would guarantee “freedom, security and plurality” in the face of “rebellious disobedience.”

Rajoy said the goal of such measures, “is to go back to legality because it cannot be a portion of a country where law is not applied, where law doesn’t exist. And at the same time we need to go back to institutional normality.”

The country’s head of state King Felipe said he supports the central government’s stance, and affirmed the unity of Spain. He says “Catalonia is and will remain an essential part.”

“Spain needs to face up to an unacceptable secession attempt on its national territory, which it will resolve using legitimate democratic institutions, respecting our constitution, adhering to the values and principles of the parliamentary democracy in which we have lived for 39 years,” he added.

Note EU-Digest: The latest Spanish polls show that in the opinion of the majority of the Spanish  population PM Mariano Rajoy is considered being far to lenient to Carles Puigdemont. They find by a large majority that Puigdemont, like the two other party leaders of this illegal rebellious movement against the state of Spain, should also be locked up

Read more: Rajoy says he will sack Catalan government, call regional elections | Euronews

Friday, October 20, 2017

Britain: Survey shows: Over half of Britons (55%) see EU membership as a benefit - what now?

The 2017 'Parlemeter' survey, which looks at public perceptions of EU membership as well as attitudes towards Parliament, its priorities, actions and mission, finds that the share of all EU citizens who believe that their country has benefited from EU membership is 64%, an increase of four percentage points compared to 2016.

In Britain 55% consider membership to have been of benefit to the country. Conversely the number of Britons who believe the UK has not benefited from EU membership has dropped by 7 percentage points to 27%.

47% of EU citizens and 40% of Brits feel that their voice counts in the EU, the best result since the European elections 2009.

The Parlemeter survey confirms the citizens' increasingly favourable view of the EU, continuing a trend visible in surveys since 2016.

EP President Antonio Tajani welcomed the results, which showed that, "in general, people increasingly see the EU as a key player in tackling the big challenges and protecting them against common threats such as terrorism, unemployment or poverty and exclusion."

On Parliament's image, the share of citizens who have a neutral image of the European Parliament is 42%, while 33% have a positive image, up eight points within one year. In the UK, 27% of respondents have a positive image of the European Parliament - a growth of 4 percentage point in the last 12 months.

European citizens also clearly expect the EU to help protect them against certain threats. When asked which threats EU should focus on, both Britons and EU citizens cited terrorism (65% and 58% respectively) as a top priority. This was followed by poverty and exclusion (34% and 42%) and unemployment (29% and 43%). Interestingly less than a quarter of Britons listed uncontrolled migration as a top threat compared to 35% of all EU citizens.

When it comes to EU's objectives, Britons feel that the EU should protect the freedom to travel, work and study across the EU as a matter of priority (46%). This was closely followed by fundamental right and freedoms (43%), safety in terms of health standards (31%) and environment (28%). EU citizens expect the Union to safeguard fundamental rights (44%), freedom to travel, work and study across the EU (36%), labour rights (34%), adequate pensions (34%) and economic well-being (33%).

The 2017 Parlemeter survey is based on face-to-face interviews with 27,881 Europeans, aged 15 or more, in all EU 28 member states, between 23 September and 2 October 2017.

Brexit:"Stupidity on steroids":Theresa May urged to prepare for no-deal Brexit by former ministers-by Ashley Cowburn

The British newspaper Independent reports that PM Theresa May is being urged to prepare to walk away from the EU without a deal by former Conservative ministers, insisting the UK should not be “terrified” of ending the negotiations with Brussels.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, four ex-Cabinet ministers, including Lord Lawson, Owen Paterson, John Redwood and Peter Lilley, call on Ms May to “concentrate our resources on resolving administrative issues” ahead of leaving with no deal in March 2019.

Operating on World Trade Organisation rules, they claim, would help Britain “crystallise the economic opportunities” of Brexit, give businesses “absolute certainty” about the future and sever ties with Brussels regulations which “take opportunities off the table”.

The letter, organized by the Leave Means Leave campaign, comes as the Prime Minister went to Brussels in an attempt to appeal directly to the EU heads of government and bypass the stalled negotiating process.

Ms May will hope to engage them “in a discussion” to end the impasse, a senior UK Government official said, ahead of the EU leaders’ own Brexit talks in Britain’s absence.

In the letter to The Daily Telegraph, the senior Eurosceptics add: “No deal on trade is better than a deal which locks the UK into the European regulatory system and takes opportunities off the table.

Speaking about the plea to Ms May, Mr Paterson, the former Environment Secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that it appeared unlikely a trade deal would be struck with the EU “because they are flatly refusing to talk about it” and that there was a “complete obsession with money” - the so-called divorce bill.

He said that a trade deal with the EU is “the best destination, but what we should not be terrified of is the WTO”.

As European leaders gathered in Brussels, he said: ”We have to face the fact that this summit is not going to discuss any future trade deal. We are ineluctably moving down the road to a WTO arrangement so we had better start preparing for it.

“If they come back - and we very much hope they would - to talk about a free trade deal, that would be a bonus.”

But pro-EU Tory former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said: “It is absolutely not 'inevitable' that the UK ends up on WTO terms with no Brexit deal - it is what the hard Brexiteers want.”

"A lot of people, corporations, financial institutions and industries, will start packing their bags, if they are not doing so already." 

Insure-Digest

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Denmark: Copenhagen unions call for 30-hour week for municipal workers



The Copenhagen Waterfront
Eight of the unions representing Copenhagen Municipality employees want a pilot project set up to try out a 30-hour working week.

The unions claim this would prevent many employees developing stress, cut absences due to sickness, and help people balance their work and family lives better, reports DR Nyheder.

“We know from a trial in Sweden that a 30-hour week helped both employees and the institutions to cope better with the pressure of work,” said Henriette Brockdorff, the head of BUPL, the union representing pedagogues in Copenhagen.

As well as the pedagogues, the eight unions represent health and social assistants, social workers, teachers, office personnel, kitchen employees and cleaners.

Brockdorff agrees that the present 37-hour week is already rather short by international standards, but contends that the pressure on workers these days is extreme due to overly-high productivity demands.

As well as a shorter working week, the unions also want workers to be compensated salary-wise. That would mean an increase in costs of around 20 percent, so the unions would like to see Copenhagen Municipality setting aside 12 million kroner for the project.

However, the group chair for Socialdemokratiet at Copenhagen Municipality, Lars Weiss, rejects this idea.

“We have a ‘Danish model’ through which agreements are made on salaries and employment conditions every second year, and I’m not going to start negotiating on these matters in the run-up to a local election.”

Weiss also said that calculations made by the municipality’s finance department suggest that a 30-hour working week would cost 3.6 billion kroner per annum.

“This would severely impact our service levels. We would see higher numbers in school classes and kindergartens, and that would put even more pressure on the employees.”

Note EU-Digest: Is this for real? Municipal workers having too much stress in Denmark and now want to work 30 hrs per week?   As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark".

Read more: Copenhagen unions call for 30-hour week for municipal workers – The Post

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Austria's election: Europe reacts to Sebastian Kurz victory

Sebastian Kurz Austria's new political leader 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Sebastian Kurz on his victory and the "energetic" modernization of his party, which is aligned with her Christian Democrats.

She declined to comment on which coalition arrangement she wanted to see, but said the Freedom Party's strength would be a "major challenge" for its Austrian rivals.

Merkel said the challenge posed by the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany was "manageable" compared with the FPÖ's strength. She hoped for close cooperation with Kurz at the European level.

Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto was full of praise for his Austrian counterpart and "friend" Kurz, who at 31 is expected to become Europe's youngest national leader following an election victory on Sunday.

"He's hijacked neither by hypocrisy nor by political correctness. He's always honest, he's always very direct and I think it's very necessary currently, that European leaders speak directly," Szijjarto told reporters in Brussels.

Szijjarto welcomed Kurz's stance on migration as close to that of Budapest and expected Austria to work more closely with anti-immigration eastern and central European states including Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. East-West divides over migration policy have strained unity in the bloc.

Note EU-Digest: 
It is sad to see that some of the Governments of the EU's Eastern and Central European States, occupied by the Nazi's in the second world war, " indirectly" seem to have copied some of the policies and laws of their former Nazi occupiers, particularly in relation to some of their present immigration policies.  

These laws were implemented in Nazi Germany and their occupied territories (1933–45) based on a specific racist and religious doctrine, asserting the superiority of the Aryan race, which claimed scientific legitimacy.  

The Nazi laws qualified Muslims, Africans and other minorities as "Untermenschen (sub-humans)" . It is important for the EU Parliament and EU Commission to make clear, that laws by EU member states, which ban immigrants from entering into the EU, based on their ethnicity or religion, in any way or form, should not be allowed to see the light of day.. 

Read more: Austria election: Europe reacts to Sebastian Kurz victory | News | DW | 16.10.2017

Monday, October 16, 2017

Economic, Golden Rules, Individual, Marketing, Millionaires, Publicity, Rich, Success, Wealthy

Thomas C. Corley of Business Insider has spent years studying the habits of wealthy people.

He completed a "Rich Habits Study" in which he interviewed 233 people each worth more than $3.2 million, 75 percent of whom were self-made millionaires.

He compiled the 10 qualities that stood out to him as most common among—and most important to—those ultra-successful individuals. Firstly, innovation, because your million-dollar idea must be just that.

It needs to have some valuable quality that sets it apart from ideas that have come before. Here's how one designer used her innovation skills to create an invention that helps fight Parkinson's.

1)  Have an Edge: It's not just your idea that needs to stand out—it's you. Whatever your strong suit is, it needs to be strong enough to help you rise above the rest of the pack.

2) Be an Expert: You need to make sure you are constantly up-to-date on everything there is to know about the field you want to succeed in.

3) Skill Set: Learning on the job is great and all, but you need to make sure you have valuable skills that you accumulate over many years.

4) Work Ethic:This one's a no-brainer. If you want to be successful, you've got to be willing to work incredibly hard and devote lots of time and energy to your goal.

5) Focus UP: Once you're set on an idea, you need to be able to focus on making it a reality. If you're working on a million-dollar project, it requires your full attention, no matter how long the project takes.

6) Connections, Connections and more connections: You can never have too many connections. Seek out the people who can help you and don't be shy.

7) Don't work alone: It'll be hard to get anywhere without people supporting you.Get people to work with you who believe in you and support your ideas and are not scared to be critical of some of your proposals.

8) Never get discouraged and give up: Persistence, of course, is extremely important. Failure happens and can only help you to start over again with new fresh ideas.

9) Have faith in your ability to succeed:  Luck is not what makes things really happen. Vision, a good plan and focused hard work is the only path  to success.

10) Blow your own horn: make sure that after you have produced your product or service, people hear about it via a variety of publicity vehicles readily available to you. 

EU-Digest

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Austria: Sebastian Kurz: Austrian conservative set to become world's youngest leader

Austria's conservative People's Party, led by 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz, is set to win the country's general election, projections suggest.

The victory would make Mr Kurz the world's youngest national leader.

The People's Party was set to win more than 31%. It is so far unclear whether the Social Democrats or the far-right Freedom Party will finish second.

Short of a majority, Mr Kurz's party could seek an alliance with the anti-immigration Freedom Party.

Read more: Sebastian Kurz: Austrian conservative set to become world's youngest leader - BBC News

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Iran Nuclear Deal: Europe backs original Iran deal while Saudis hail Trump's move

The European Union's Federica Mogherini said the current deal is "working and delivering", adding that the rest of the world would work to preserve the agreement.

The foreign affairs policy-maker also criticised Mr Trump's unilateral action, contending the deal is not a domestic issue and is not in the hands of any one president to terminate.

British Prime Minister Theresa May released a joint statement with France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel, saying they are "concerned by the possible implications".

"We stand committed to the [deal] and its full implementation by all sides", they wrote, adding that it "is in our shared national security interest".

"We look to Iran to engage in constructive dialogue to stop de-stabilising actions and work towards negotiated solutions," the statement said.

Mr Macron also said the latest developments "will not put an end to the Iranian nuclear accord, and that together all the parties in France and its European partners will continue to meet their commitments".

He added that he was considering visiting Tehran after speaking by phone with President Rouhani.

In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry stressed on the "inadmissibility of using aggressive and threatening rhetoric in international relations", saying Moscow "remains committed" to the deal.

The statement added that "there can be no question of any resumption of sanctions by the UN Security Council".

Read more: Europe backs Iran deal, Saudis hail Trump's move - BBC News

Friday, October 13, 2017

Brexit: Europe will be big Brexit winner, says German economics minister-by Guy Chazan and Claire Jones

Europe will be the big winner of Brexit, Germany’s economics minister said, as UK-headquartered companies move to the continent and Emmanuel Macron’s reform push leads to a new “spirit of revival” that will benefit the whole of the EU.

Brigitte Zypries made the prediction on Wednesday as she revealed the German economy was growing at a faster rate than previously estimated. The government now expects gross domestic product growth of 2 per cent this year, up from a forecast of 1.5 per cent, as Europe’s economic powerhouse continues to charge ahead.

The economy will also grow by 1.9 per cent in 2018, she said. Ms Zypries said Germany’s economic boom had “gained momentum and become more broad-based”.

The economy would “also remain on a growth trajectory in the years to come”. “Germany is doing well and the next government must ensure that it continues to do so,” she said at a press conference in Berlin.

The global economic recovery had stimulated German exports and led to an increase in private sector investment: incomes were rising and unemployment falling. The number of people in work had grown by 2.5m during the past four years. 

Read more: Europe will be big Brexit winner, says German economics minister

Thursday, October 12, 2017

The Netherlands: New Dutch coalition to cut 30% ruling for Expats from eight to five years - by Robin Pascoe

The new Dutch government plans to reduce the tax break for expats known as the 30% ruling, according to the coalition agreement published on Tuesday.

In the section on ‘a competitive place to do business’, the four-party alliance say they will ‘limit the tax advantages for expats’, before going on to explain that international workers will only be able to benefit from the ruling for five years, rather than eight as at present.

A report for the finance ministry published this June said that the ruling is too generous and its provisions could be reduced, while recognising its importance to attract top talents.

Some 60,000 people currently claim the tax break, which effectively means they do not pay tax on the first 30% of their salary. This, the report concludes, cost the treasury some €755m in 2015 and is set to cost €902 in 2017.

To claim the ruling, expats have to earn nearly €53,000 a year (or €37,000 after the 30% has been deducted) and must have lived at least 150 kilometres from a border with the Netherlands, effectively ruling out Germans and Belgians.

Read more:New Dutch coalition to cut 30% ruling from eight to five years - DutchNews.nl

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Europe: How Markets View European Unity Vs. Disintegration - by Erik Norland

EU-US: It is high time for a divorce
Opposing forces championing integration versus disintegration are assailing Europe. In the past two years, both sides have scored important victories. Britain's Brexit, Spain's Catalonian independence referendum and the entry of the nationalist Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party to the German parliament, or Bundestag, were victories for proponents of lesser European unity. The electoral defeat of far-right forces in the Netherlands and the victory of Emmanuel Macron in France were celebrated by those favoring the guiding principle of an "ever closer union."

Whatever one thinks of Brexit, the prospects for deeper European integration and the legitimacy of the various national independence movements, the currency markets' view is unambiguous: they strongly favor deeper political integration:
  • When exit polls mistakenly called the Brexit referendum for the "Remain" voters, the British pound (GBP) rallied from 1.45 to 1.50 versus the U.S. dollar (USD) before crashing, first to 1.32 and later to as low as 1.18 versus the USD when the "Leave" victory became apparent. The euro fell 3% versus the USD on the day of the Brexit referendum and fell nearly 10% versus the USD within six months.
  • Euro rallied 2% versus the USD in the week after Dutch voters dashed the hopes of Geert Wilder's eurosceptic Party for Freedom.
  • Euro soared more than 10% to a two-and-a-half-year high in the weeks after Macron won the French presidential election on a platform advocating domestic economic reform and deeper European integration.
  • September's German election results halted this advance after it became apparent that not only did AfD enter the Bundestag, as expected, but that Angela Merkel underperformed the polls by about 5-6% and would have to create an unwieldy coalition with the enthusiastically pro-European Greens and the Free Democrats, who oppose deeper economic integration.
  • Catalonia's independence referendum led to a 1% one-day decline in the euro, further offsetting gains from the Macron victory. Ninety percent of Catalans voted to leave Spain in the referendum on October 1 that the Spanish state considers illegal and attempted to repress with force, leading to nearly 900 injuries.
Note EU-Digest: The obvious question therefore is: "if deeper unification of Europe is good for business in general , why has the Trump Administration been supporting Brexit and other nationalist movements in Europe, directly undermining European Unity?"

When will the European Union, in particular the EU Commission, EU-Parliament and member states wake up to the fact that a strong united Europe, with an independent foreign policy is not in the interest of the US, whatever they might say to the contrary.

You also do not have to be an Einstein to recognize that the US Foreign Policy has usually been based on a"divide and conquer" doctrine, with the Trump Administration now openly championing this doctrine. 

Obviously a fractured EU. would give the US a wide open playing field in Europe, with very little resistance from individual countries, to oppose major US policy decisions in a variety of areas, which could have a negative effect on the well-being of European citizens.

Yes indeed EU citizens, the motto: "United we Stand, Divided we Fall" is more important today than ever before. 

Read more: Europe: How Markets View Unity Vs. Disintegration | Seeking Alpha

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Spain:Unity Survives, as Catalan local government suspends declaration of independence

Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont 
suspends declaration of independence
The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, has pulled the region back from the brink of an unprecedented showdown with the Spanish government by announcing that he will suspend a declaration of independence to pursue negotiations in the hope of resolving Spain’s worst political crisis for 40 years.

Addressing the Catalan parliament on Tuesday evening, Puigdemont said that while the recent referendum had given his government a mandate to create an independent republic, he would not immediately declare unilateral independence from Spain.

“We propose the suspension of the effects of the declaration of independence for a few weeks, to open a period of dialogue,” he said.

“If everyone acts responsibly the conflict can be resolved in a calm and agreed manner.”

Hours before the announcement, Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, had appealed to Puigdemont to step back from a unilateral declaration of independence and begin dialogue with the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy.

Rajoy has shown himself willing to take the drastic step of invoking article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which allows the central government to take control of an autonomous region if it “does not fulfill the obligations imposed upon it by the constitution or other laws, or acts in a way that is seriously prejudicial to the general interest of Spain”.

The Spanish prime minister has repeatedly pointed out that the referendum and the laws underpinning it are a violation of the Spanish constitution, which is based “on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation, the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards”.

His government insists the Catalan question is an internal Spanish matter, and has promised to use all the legal and constitutional means at its disposal to try to stop the regional government’s manoeuvres. It has also deployed thousands of Guardia Civil and national police officers to Catalonia.

Note EU-Digest: Some background on Catalonia and their quest for independence: 


Catalonia has a total population of 7.5 million people. 

On the October 1, polling results, reported by the Catalan government, from the illegally declared referendum by the Spanish government -  it showed the "Yes" side had "won", with 2,044,038 (92.01%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.99%) voting against, on a turnout of only 43.03% of the eligible voters.

Even though the referendum was held, it must be noted that based on Catalan law, the referendum should not have been held  re: Catalan Statutes of Autonomy - which states that a two third majority is required in the Catalan parliament, before any changes to the Catalonia's Political status can be made.

There was no 2/3 majority, when the vote was held in the Catalan parliament, to approve the holding of a referendum.  It was, however, decided by the ruling parties in the Catalan parliament that a simple majority vote in the Catalan parliament would be sufficient to hold the referendum  

In addition, the holding of the referendum itself, was also declared illegal, based on the Statutes of the Spanish Constitution.  Consequently the holding of a Catalan referendum was also suspended by the "Constitutional Court of Spain" on 7 September 2017. 

Nevertheless, Mr. Carlos Puigdemont still went ahead with the referendum.

Bottom-line the Catalan government, and its President Carles Puigdemont broke every Spanish law there was to break. 

Mr. Puigdemont and several of his cohorts can consider themselves very lucky not to have already been arrested and prosecuted. It could, however, still happen, if they continue to pursue this absurd nationalistic goal. 

EU-Digest

Spain Readies Forces Able to Seize Catalan Leader Today if He Declares Catalan Independence - S.R Smyth and E.Duarte

Viva España un miembro de la Unión Europea
Spanish police are ready to arrest Catalan President Carles Puigdemont immediately if he declares independence in the regional parliament, according to two people familiar with the government’s plans.

While a final decision on whether to act has not yet been taken, Spain’s National Police force has elite officers deployed in Catalonia who are prepared to join a raid if Catalan police try to shield Puigdemont, said one of the people. If Puigdemont makes a statement that falls short of immediate independence, the government in Madrid may stay its hand.

The president is likely to use the words “declaration of independence,” but they will probably be qualified or hedged in some way, according to another person familiar with his plans. The Catalan government spokesman declined to comment on Puigdemont’s speech at a press briefing in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Puigdemont is due to address the regional legislature at 6 p.m with many of his supporters looking for him to announce a new republic to follow through on the illegal referendum held on Oct. 1. With his core supporters demanding he make good on the illegal vote for independence and officials in Madrid urging Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to finally crack down on the separatist campaign, Puigdemont’s rebellion may be running out of road.

Rajoy has insisted all along that he’ll use only proportionate force in relation to the separatist government in Barcelona. Even so, prosecutors have been exploring charges of sedition against other separatist leaders including Jordi Sanchez, head of the biggest pro-independence campaign group. Sedition carries a jail term of up to 15 years.

The National Police and the Civil Guard have sufficient officers in place to overcome any resistance they might meet, according to one of the people familiar with the government’s preparations. Both people asked not to be named discussing confidential plans.

Read more: Spain Readies Forces Able to Seize Catalan Leader Today - Bloomberg

Monday, October 9, 2017

Boom Before The Bust?: The Economy Is Humming. Bankers Are Cheering. What Could Go Wrong? - by Landon Thomas jr

For decades, the global economy has been defined by dissonan

There has been the Japanese recession. The financial crises in the United States and Europe. And drama in emerging markets throughout.

But as central bankers, finance ministers and money managers descend on Washington this week for the fall meetings of the International Monetary Fund, they will confront an unusual reality: global markets and economies rising in unison.

Never mind political turmoil, populist uprisings and threats of nuclear war. From Wall Street to Washington, economists have been upgrading their forecasts for the global economy this year, with the consensus now pointing to an expansion of more than 3 percent — up noticeably from 2.6 percent in 2016.

Economists from the I.M.F. are likely to follow suit when the fund releases its biannual report on the global economy on Tuesday.

The rosy numbers are noteworthy. But what’s more startling is that virtually every major developed and emerging economy is growing simultaneously, the first time this has happened in 10 years.

“In terms of positive cycles, it is difficult to find very many precedents here,” said Brian Coulton, the chief economist at Fitch, the debt ratings agency. “It is the strongest growth we have seen since 2010.”

In Japan, a reform-minded government and aggressive action by the central bank have pushed growth to 1.5 percent — up from 0.3 percent three years ago.

In Europe, strong domestic demand in Germany and robust recoveries in countries like Spain, Portugal and Italy are expected to spur 2.2 percent growth in the eurozone. That would be more than double its average annual growth in the previous five years.

"Aggressive infrastructure spending by China; bold economic reforms by countries including Brazil, Indonesia and India; and rising commodities prices (helping countries such as Russia) have spurred growth in emerging markets.

And in the United States, despite doubts about President Trump’s ability to pass a major tax bill, the economy and financial markets chug along.

In fact, one of the few large economies not following an upward path is Britain, whose pending exit from the European Union is taking a toll. Having grown at an average annual pace of just over 2 percent from 2012 to 2016, the British economy is expanding just 1.5 percent this year.

Still, the good news may result in some backslapping this week for policy makers and regulators more accustomed in recent years to putting out financial fires than basking in improved economic well-bein.“

The meetings will celebrate this period of synchronized economic growth and calm financial markets,” said Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief economic adviser to the fund giant Allianz.

There are plenty of reasons to hold off on uncorking the Champagne. Wage gains have been slow in coming. And most experts think the current sweet spot of positive growth, low inflation and accommodating central bank policies could be fleeting. Mr. El-Erian, for example, said he was nervous about several possibilities: that global growth could taper off; that prices of stocks, bonds and other financial assets are unsustainably high; and, most important, that markets might not be prepared when central banks reverse their efforts to stimulate economies by keeping interest rates low and buying huge sums of assets.


But for the time being, investors, economists and policy officials point to a growing quantity of data that highlight the power of this recent burst of economic growth.

Business sentiment in Japan and Europe is at 10-year highs. And last month, manufacturing activity in the United States hit its highest level in 13 years.

A big driver for growth in emerging markets, said Mr. Coulton, the economist at Fitch, has been Chinese imports, which are up more than 10 percent this year. China is the world’s largest consumer of raw materials such as oil, steel and copper, and it is increasingly buying them from emerging economies.

Global portfolio managers like Rajiv Jain of GQG Partners, who oversees $9 billion, have been quick to capitalize, snapping up shares of Russian banks and French construction companies.

“The global economy looks pretty darn good,” Mr. Jain said.

But with interest rates still historically low, investors have been pushing into even riskier assets, including the bonds of emerging-market economies, to eke out returns.

Some countries are taking advantage of the frenzy by issuing more debt. Argentina recently sold so-called century bonds, which don’t come due for 100 years. Jordan and Ukraine issued government bonds that mature in 30 years and 15 years, respectively.

Susan Lund, an expert on global financial trends at the McKinsey Global Institute, said these types of investments from global asset managers tended to be longer term — and thus less destabilizing — than the so-called hot money from commercial banks that contributed to recent debt crises in the United States and Europe.

Are things getting too hot? “We are in a boom today, but we should not forget that the financial system is still relatively unstable,” said Jim Reid, a credit strategist at Deutsche Bank.

Mr. Reid, who spices up his market analyses by regaling clients with pop songs on the piano, recently published a detailed study on what he expects will be the causes of the next global financial crisis.

Pick your poison: an abrupt slowdown in China, the rise of populism, debt problems in Japan or an ugly outcome to Britain’s move to leave the European Union.

His overriding worry, though, is that investors and policy makers aren’t prepared for what will happen when global central banks put a halt to their easy-money policies

Since the 2008 crisis, Mr. Reid noted, central banks have accumulated more than $14 trillion in assets — an amount that exceeds the annual output of China by $3 trillion.

What happens when the central banks all start to sell? “This is unprecedented,” Mr. Reid said. “And no one knows what the outcome will be.

Note EU-Digest: Could this be the calm before the storm, as political and social unrest starts peaking? It seems very familiar based on previous recessions.

Sunday, October 8, 2017

EU Unity: Merkel, Macron pledge to lead EU forward post-Brexit

French President Emmanuel Macron won backing from Angela Merkel for plans to reform the European Union after Brexit, founded on what the German chancellor called “intense” cooperation between Paris and Berlin.

But many leaders remained wary of ambitious new projects, doubting the appetite of voters for giving up national control and fearing the continued strength of anti-EU sentiment that is taking Britain out of the bloc and saw the far-right win dozens of seats in the German parliament in Sunday’s election.

“Our discussions showed there’s a common realization of a need for a leap forward in Europe,” Macron told reporters on Friday after an EU summit dinner that stretched beyond midnight in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

“Today we’re all convinced Europe must move ahead faster and stronger, for more sovereignty, more unity and more democracy.”

Macron voiced satisfaction with summit chair Donald Tusk’s commitment to report back to EU leaders when they meet again in three weeks with proposals for concrete steps to be taken. 

Note EU-Digest: A very positive series of proposals came out of thisTallinn Summit . Hopefully the statements by Merkel and Macron will not just fall on deaf ears.. 

Europe must redirect its foreign policies towards a more independent European focused position and not continue to follow blindly in the footsteps of the US., which has totally different objectives than those of Europe. 

This will require a lot of soul searching within the EU, including, looking more closely at the EU's participation in NATO'S military adventures, and even its long-term relationship with Russia. 

What is good for America might not always fit the real needs of Europe.

Read more: Merkel, Macron pledge to lead EU forward post-Brexit

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Brexit: Britain dips to bottom of G7 economic growth table

Brexit: Too Little, Too Late
Britain has fallen from the top to the bottom of the league of G7 leading economies in the year since the Brexit vote, with official data recently showing slower growth than previously thought.

The pound dropped as much as 0.7 per cent against the euro on the back of weaker-than-expected GDP figures, a report that London’s house prices fell for the first time in nine years, and higher levels of consumer debt.

But despite the poor economic data, Mark Carney hinted that interest rates were still likely to rise in November. “If the economy continues on the track that it’s been on, and all indications are that it is, in the relatively near term we can expect that interest rates would increase somewhat,” the Bank of England governor said recently..

Some economists who think the BoE will raise interest rates from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent at its Monetary Policy Committee meeting in November were more cautious following  Recent data release. Alan Clarke, of Scotiabank, said: “I’m sticking to my call for a hike in November, but I’m much more nervous now than I was before this data release.”

Having been the fastest-growing economy in the G7 on the eve of the EU referendum, new figures from the Office for National Statistics in Britain showed UK growth below the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. 

EU-Digest

Friday, October 6, 2017

Insurance Industry: Autonomous cars could drive auto insurance to extinction - by Scott Mclaren

Autonomous cars on future roads 
could end the need for insurance
In a 2015 interview, Elon Musk pointed out that recent advances in auto technology could lead to human-operated vehicles becoming illegal someday.

While this may seem ludicrous to some, it could play out sooner than you think. By 2025 — just a few short years away — the auto industry’s autonomous segment is projected to reach a worth of $26 billion, according to insights from Bain & Company. Some estimates even project as many as 10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020.

Musk’s prediction that human-controlled vehicles could be outlawed comes from not only an increase in autonomous options, but also for one simple reason: safety. It’s hard to imagine tech operation being safer than human operation, but vehicle safety statistics point to driver error as one of the top causes of auto accidents. In fact, more than 3,000 people were killed and 431,000 injured from distracted driving in 2014 alone, with contributing factors including cell phone usage, fatigue, aggressive driving, and running red lights. Although it’s far too early for statistical comparison, it’s fair to say that autonomous vehicles will face far fewer variables and will have greater predictability in certain driving situations.

Without driver error, will we need insurance at all?

In theory, removing human error from the roads means fewer accidents — which would also remove the need for private insurance that covers damage caused by drivers. In tandem, these two changes would lower accident liabilities and, theoretically, cause a huge drop in personal auto insurance premiums.

As it stands, auto insurers offer rates based on individual driving histories, and can even optimize each policy’s pricing via driver-approved telematics. As the insurance industry adapts to new technology saturating the market — turning drivers into mere passengers — the liability for accidents caused by autonomous vehicles could be handed off to the manufacturer, software designer, or even the government through the Department of Transportation. “

At least the current thinking is that the manufacturers will be ultimately responsible for a lot of these future accidents when an automated vehicle is involved,” said Rick Gorvett of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

But the Insurance Information Institute’s Michael Barry doesn’t think these changes will wipe out owner responsibility in total. Barry pointed out that driver error isn’t the only danger to vehicles, and owners and insurance companies will still have to factor in off-road damages that may occur. “Cars can still get flooded, damaged, or stolen,” he said, “but this technology will have a dramatic impact on underwriting. A lot of traditional underwriting criteria will beupended.

Read more: Autonomous cars could drive auto insurance to extinction | VentureBeat

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to anti-nuclear campaign group

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, an organization seeking to eliminate atomic weapons through an international treaty-based prohibition.

The Geneva-based ICAN won the $1.1 million prize because it "has been a driving force in prevailing upon the world's nations to pledge to cooperate ... in efforts to stigmatize, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons," Norwegian Nobel Committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said in the announcement.

The prize "sends a message to all nuclear-armed states and all states that continue to rely on nuclear weapons for security that it is unacceptable behavior. We will not support it, we will not make excuses for it, we can't threaten to indiscriminately slaughter hundreds of thousands of civilians in the name of security. That's not how you build security," ICAN executive director Beatrice Fihn told reporters in Geneva.

Read More: Nobel Peace Prize awarded to anti-nuclear campaign group | WJLA

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Chemical Industry: -Pesticides: 'Monsanto accused of influencing research on safety of glyphosate'

French daily Le Monde looks at the communications strategy of agrochemical giant Monsanto, and reveals that the firm tried to influence research on the safety of glyphosate, the main component of its herbicide

Read more: 'Monsanto accused of influencing research on safety of glyphosate' - France 24

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

EU-Iran Relations: Europe’s governments look to bypass Trump to save Iranian nuclear deal - by Julian Borger

European governments fear a concerted effort to persuade Donald Trump to continue to certify the Iran nuclear deal may have failed and are now looking for other ways to try to salvage the two year-old agreement.

European lobbying efforts are now focused on Congress which will have two months to decide – in the absence of Trump’s endorsement of the 2015 deal – whether to reimpose nuclear-related sanctions.

Fresh sanctions could in turn trigger Iranian withdrawal and a ramping up of its now mostly latent nuclear programme, taking the Middle East back to the brink of another major conflict.

When Trump threatened to withhold certification by a congressional deadline of 15 October, the UN general assembly in mid-September was seen by the European signatories of the agreement – the UK, France and Germany – as the last best chance to convince Trump of the dangers of destroying it.

But according to the accounts of several diplomats involved, the effort got nowhere.

Angela Merkel, in the final stages of an election campaign, could not attend, so it was left to Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron to use their meetings with the US president in New York to make a personal plea to keep the deal alive.

The French president made no headway. To his consternation, Trump kept repeating that under the deal, the Iranians would have a nuclear bomb in five years, and nothing Macron could say would persuade him otherwise

Note EU-Digest: Isn't it high time for all the signatories, minus the USA,  who signed the Iran nuclear deal; and Paris Climate agreement, specially those nations within  the EU, to bypass Trump, and continue to honor both agreements and tell Trump that in case he steps out of the Paris Climate Agreement, they will start sanctioning and  taxing US products produced by ecology unfriendly  US companies. 

Read more: Europe’s governments look to bypass Trump to save Iranian nuclear deal | World news | The Guardian

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Social Media -Hate Speech: The EU gave an ultimatum to Facebook and Google about hate speech - by Jacob Kastrenakes

The European Union is once again asking Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other web companies to crack down on hate speech and speech inciting violence and terrorism — but this time, it’s taking things a step further. The European Commission has issued guidelines for web companies to follow, and it’s warning the companies that, if they don’t comply, the Commission may pass legislation. And that legislation, of course, could lead to some huge fines.

There are a handful of guidelines so far. The Commission recommends that web companies appoint a dedicated point of contact, who law enforcement can contact when illegal content is discovered. It wants web companies to allow third-party “trusted flaggers” with “specific expertise in identifying illegal content” to come in and monitor potentially illegal posts. And it asks web companies to invest in technologies that can automatically detect potentially illegal posts and speech.

The Commission would also like companies to do more to prevent illegal content from being reposted after it’s been taken down. And the Commission says time frames may need to be established for how quickly illegal content is taken down once it’s discovered. Web companies should issue public guidelines, the Commission says, so that users know how takedown requests are treated and what kind of content gets removed.

It sounds like a lot, but it mostly boils down to this: web companies should remove illegal content faster and invest in tools and employees to make it happen.

Web companies still take over a week to remove illegal content in more than a quarter of cases, says Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for the digital economy and society. “The situation is not sustainable,” Gabriel says in a statement. “Today we provide a clear signal to platforms to act more responsibly.”

And there’s a good chance web companies will take steps toward following what the European Commission suggests. 

For one, the European Union is known for levying enormous fines on tech companies — like the €2.4 billion fine on Google — and those companies would certainly like to avoid any new legislation coming down that they could one day be in violation of. But also, these companies have already been working with the EU toward reducing hate speech. 

And several European countries have already passed or considered passing their own laws on hate speech that web companies have to comply with.

A year ago, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft all agreed to hate speech rules, which required the companies to review “the majority of” hateful content within 24 hours of becoming aware of it. 

As a result of the partnership, the companies later teamed up on a new database of images and videos identified as promoting terrorism, helping the platforms quickly pull down content that had already been identified as illegal by another company.

In today’s announcement, Vera Jourová, commissioner for justice and consumers, refers back to that agreement saying it’s proof that asking web companies to more strictly regulate hate speech on their own can work. 

“The code of conduct I agreed with Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Microsoft shows that a self-regulatory approach can serve as a good example and can lead to results,” Jourová said. But she also warned that “if the tech companies don't deliver, we will do it."

The Commission says it plans to “carefully” monitor web companies’ progress in implementing these recommendations and assess whether further action needs to be taken. That’s supposed to be completed by next May. 

“Follow-up initiatives will depend on the online platforms' actions to proactively implement the guidelines,” the Commission writes. Further actions, the announcement says, include “possible legislative measures to complement the existing regulatory framework."

Read more: The EU gave an ultimatum to Facebook and Google about hate speech - The Verge