INTL Europe: Politics, Economics, and Military- July 2020

[Plain Jane]

June's thread:

INTL - Europe: Politics, Economics, Military- June 2020

May's thread: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/europe-politics-economics-and-military-may-2020.573298/ Main Coronavirus thread from page 1230: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/main-coronavirus-thread.566780/page-1230#post-7790276 Mediterranean Regional...

www.timebomb2000.com

Regional Conflict in Mediterranean beginning page 27:

WAR - Regional conflict brewing in the Mediterranean

Evan Kohlmann @IntelTweet 11m Armed Iraqi Shiite faction Ashab al-Kahf is threatening to launch shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles targeting U.S. military aircraft in Iraq "in the coming days." So back to the early 2000s...I'm guessing they've got Iranian copies of Russian and Chinese...

www.timebomb2000.com

Main Coronavirus Thread beginning page 1264:

CORONA - Main Coronavirus thread

My prayers are with you TP for safety and health. Thank you, Marsh.

www.timebomb2000.com

Airbus shedding 15,000 jobs, mostly in Europe

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus says it plans to eliminate 15,000 jobs over the next year. The jobs will mostly be lost in Europe.

apnews.com

Click to copy
Airbus shedding 15,000 jobs, mostly in Europe
By JOHN LEICESTERyesterday

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020 file photo, visitors are seen at the booth of Airbus during the opening trade day of the Singapore Airshow 2020 in Singapore. European aircraft manufacturer Airbus says it plans to shed 15,000 jobs over the next year, with jobs mostly being lost in Europe. Airbus is struggling with the financial hit of the coronavirus pandemic. It said Tuesday, June 30 that it doesn't expect air traffic to recover to pre-COVID levels before 2023 and potentially as late as 2025. (AP Photo/Danial Hakim, file)

PARIS (AP) — Battered by the coronavirus pandemic, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said Tuesday that it must eliminate 15,000 jobs, mostly in Europe, to safeguard its future and warned of more thin years ahead.

“With air traffic not expected to recover to pre-COVID levels before 2023 and potentially as late as 2025, Airbus now needs to take additional measures,” the company said in a statement.

No later than the summer of 2021, Airbus wants to shed 5,000 workers in France, 5,100 in Germany, 1,700 in Britain, 900 in Spain and 1,300 others at facilities elsewhere. The total of 15,000 is more than 10% of its global workforce of 135,000 people.

Airbus said it wants to start making the cuts within months, from this autumn. It will aim for voluntary departures and early retirements, but also said that compulsory job losses can’t be ruled out. It said is already consulting with unions.

“The path to recovery will prove slow and fragile and a large amount of uncertainty still lies ahead,” the company’s CEO, Guillaume Faury, said in a videotaped statement. “We must act now to safeguard Airbus and protect its future.”

Airbus said its commercial aircraft business activity has plummeted by close to 40% as the pandemic has shut borders, brought mass tourism to a screeching halt and put airlines on their knees, thumping the European manufacturer and its rival Boeing.

Airlines around the world are forecast to lose $84 billion this year, with revenue halved. Some have filed for bankruptcy or sought bailouts to survive the near-shutdown in their activity, and officials predict the industry will take years to recover.

Slashing the production of commercial aircraft and putting thousands of employees on furlough bought Airbus time in the early stages of the crisis. But those measures weren’t enough to keep Airbus viable long-term, Faury explained. Airbus reported 481 million euros ($515 million) in losses in the first quarter.
“We need to act now, by adapting our workforce,” Faury said.

“Airbus is facing the gravest crisis this industry has ever experienced,” he said. “The measures we have taken so far have enabled us to absorb the initial shock of this global pandemic. Now, we must ensure that we can sustain our enterprise and emerge from the crisis as a healthy, global aerospace leader.”
The job eliminations come despite a 15-billion euro ($16.9 billion) rescue package announced by the government earlier this month for France’s aerospace industry, in hopes of saving jobs and keeping Airbus and national airline Air France competitive.

The aid includes 7 billion euros in loans and loan guarantees that the government had already promised to Air France, whose planes were almost entirely grounded by the virus.
___
Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at Virus Outbreak and Understanding the Outbreak

 

[Melodi]

BBC News (UK)

@BBCNews
·
12m

There are no restrictions on European travellers except those from Sweden and the UK, who cannot fly to Greece until 15 July https://bbc.in/2Zuw6ZH
Quote Tweet

BBC News (World)

@BBCWorld
· 13m
Greece reopens its borders to some foreign travellers, as European nations further ease their lockdowns Greece restarts tourist flights as Europe reopens

 

[Plain Jane]

EU extends travel ban for US tourists – DW – 06/30/2020

The US, Brazil and Russia did not make the cut of "safe countries" whose nationals can travel to the bloc. European officials said the ban "is an exercise of self-responsibility" amid global surges.

www.dw.com

EU agrees to reopen borders to 14 countries, extends travel ban for US tourists
The US, Brazil and Russia did not make the cut of "safe countries" whose nationals can travel to the bloc. European officials said the ban "is an exercise of self-responsibility" amid global surges.





The European Union on Tuesday extended a ban on travelers from the United States and most other countries beyond July 1, citing epidemiological factors for the decision.

Over the past month, the US has seen its number of cases steadily rise after most states eased lockdown measures. A lack of interstate coordination and an uneven response from the federal government has contributed to several new outbreaks across the country.

Other countries whose travel restrictions were extended include Brazil, Russia and India, which have seen their number of positive cases surge in recent weeks. The US, Brazil, Russia and India are the countries with the highest number of confirmed cases in the world.
European Council President Charles Michel said that the EU will continue to "monitor the situation regularly" as the bloc relaxes travel restrictions for 14 countries.

"We have to remain vigilant and keep our most vulnerable safe," Michel wrote on Twitter.

Read more: Germany maps out coronavirus regulations on domestic travel

14 countries approved for travel
Meanwhile, the EU has approved visitors from Australia, Canada and Japan. Chinese travelers will be allowed to visit pending reciprocal access to China for EU visitors.

Other countries approved for EU travel include Algeria, Georgia, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

The countries were chosen based on certain criteria, including that the number of new cases over a 14-day period had to be "close to order below the EU average." The countries also needed to have a "stable or decreasing trend of new cases over this period."

The UK will be treated as part of the EU, according to the Council, until the end of the year. The UK currently has a mandatory quarantine period of 14 days for those traveling to the country. Other EU countries have already withdrawn similar mandatory periods.
Read more: Holiday in Germany during COVID-19: What travelers need to know

In due time
The list of permitted countries is technically a recommendation. According to the European Council, member states will have the final say in how the restrictions are eased for countries on the list.

"The authorities of the member states remain responsible for implementing the content of the recommendation," said the Council. "They may, in full transparency, lift only progressively travel restrictions towards countries listed."

The EU has kept a travel ban in place at its external borders since mid-March. The ban was extended to non-EU Schengen area member states, including Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

The list of banned and permitted countries will be updated every 14 days to take into account progress or lack thereof, according to the Council.
Read more: What will be the future of tourism in Venice?

• 
  
  
  CORONAVIRUS: THE CONSEQUENCES FOR TOURISM
  Development Minister Müller: Reviewing travel restrictions for Africa
  Development Minister Gerd Müller has called on the German Foreign Ministry to reassess the coronavirus travel restrictions for Africa. As long as the countries have low infection rates and hygiene standards, there would be no reason to cut them off from tourism. Around 25 million people in Africa live from tourism, for example in Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia or Namibia, Müller said.

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'It gets worse'
Europe's tourism industry is still reeling from restrictions that have all but upended the sector. An extended travel ban on American tourists means a major source of income won't be coming any time soon.

"Americans were 50% of my clientele," said Paola Pellizzari, who runs a jewelry and mask shop in the heart of Paris. "We can't substitute that clientele with another."

More than 15 million Americans travel to Europe each year, many in the summer, long considered the continent's peak tourism season. The European Commission has described the EU's tourism industry as "one of the ecosystems most affected by the coronavirus."
"As days go by, and I listen to the business owners, it gets worse," said Pellizzari. "When I returned after lockdown, five businesses had closed."

For Europeans, traveling to the US also remains an elusive dream.

US President Donald Trump has maintained a ban on EU nationals from entering the country since mid-March. The White House has yet to signal its intention to ease that ban in the near future as US health authorities struggle to contain a new wave of the deadly pathogen.
Read more: Vacation rentals in huge demand among 'safety-first' holidaymakers
ls/rs (dpa, AP, AFP)

 

[Melodi]

Taken from a very very long (much repeated from previous days and full of photos) UK Daily Mail article - I tried to put in as much as possible (it may be best to read at the link)- Melodi

UK unveils escape route for 3m Hong Kongers to flee Chinese oppression

The Prime Minister hit out after the introduction of a landmark new security law giving the communist state sweeping powers to punish dissent in the former British territory.

www.dailymail.co.uk

UK unveils 'special bespoke' escape route for three million Hong Kong residents as Boris Johnson blasts China over draconian new dissent law branding it a 'clear and serious breach' of its autonomy

• Prime Minister hit out after the introduction of a a landmark new security law
• Gives communist state draconian powers to punish dissent in ex-UK territory
• Confirmed UK would open its doors to those living there to escape to Britain

By DAVID WILCOCK, WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT and TIM STICKINGS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:00, 1 July 2020 | UPDATED: 14:36, 1 July 2020

Boris Johnson unveiled firm plans for the UK to take in up to three million Hong Kong residents today as he blasted China over a draconian new clampdown on opposition.
The Prime Minister hit out after the introduction of a landmark new security law giving the communist state sweeping powers to punish dissent in the former British territory.
He said that the legislation - which sparked a new wave of protests today - was a a 'clear and serious violation' of the joint declaration between the UK and China over Hong Kong's future.
And he said that the UK would open its doors to those living there to come to Britain to escape the clampdown by the totalitarian regime.
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions today Mr Johnson said: 'The enactment an imposition of this national security law constitutes a clear and serious breach of the Sino-British joint declaration.
'It violates Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and is in direct conflicts with Hong Kong's basic laws. The law also threatens freedoms and rights protected by the joint declaration.
'We made clear that if China continued down this path we would introduce a new route for those with ''British National Overseas'' status to enter the UK, granting them limited leave to remain with the ability to live and work in the UK and thereafter to apply for citizenship, and that is precisely what we will do now.'
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab later told MPs that BNOs would receive five-years' leave to remain under a 'bespoke' immigration plan.
A man with a 'Hong Kong Independence' flag was the first to be arrested hours after the law came into force, 23 years to the day since Britain returned the former colony to Chinese rule.
Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy raised concerns over police brutality in Hong Kong and called for an inquiry.
She told the Commons: 'Overnight pepper spray and water cannons were used against the pro-democracy protesters. It is now time for Britain to lead on an inquiry into police brutality.'

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The Prime Minister hit out after the introduction of a a landmark new security law giving the communist state draconian powers to punish dissent in the former British territory

+23

There were protests in Hong Kong after the law came into force, 23 years to the day since Britain returned the former colony to Chinese rule
Boris Johnson confirms UK citizenship for some Hong Kong residents




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Huawei 5G role 'under review' as MPs urge UK to hit China in the wallet
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the Chinese telecom firm Huawei's involvement in the UK's future 5G network is 'under further review'.
Tory MP Jonathan Gullis (Stoke on Trent North) called for Huawei to have no part in the UK's 5G network.
Mr Raab said: 'The issue we have got in 5G is frankly a longer-term issue where we failed to provide the diversion of supply which allows us to rely on high-trust vendors rather than high-risk vendors.
'That matter is now, as he knows, in light of US sanctions currently under further review by the National Centre for Cyber Security and we will come to the House when that has thoroughly been looked at.'
Former Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told MPs 'it is time to hit them in the one place that China cares about, which is its economy'.
Sir Iain said: 'We run to China to buy goods and to invest, it is time for us now to review every single programme here in the UK and around the free world. We learnt a lesson 80 years ago about appeasement of dictators, maybe that should be applied today.'
Dominic Raab replied 'it is right to say that what is at threat here is not just individual obligations in relation to the people of Hong Kong, but a wider question of China trying to recraft the rules of the international system'.
Fellow Tory Bob Seely (Isle of Wight) said: 'We were slow to prepare for the new authoritarianism in Russia and now China. Will he take the feelings and the sentiment that he's heard today from the House on Huawei, on other issues, on board?'
Mr Raab told MPs that although the UK does not want a bad relationship with China, 'we will not do anything that imperils our vital interests and we will not lie down and sacrifice our values for the purposes of trade, commerce or anything like that'.



Mr Johnson is under pressure from across the political spectrum to take a firmer stance against Beijing, including over the role of Chinese firm Huawei in the UK's 5G network.
He was also facing calls to act over the breach of the 1985 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the legally binding agreement to give Hong Kong a level of autonomy for at least 50 years under the 'one party, two systems' plan.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told MPs this afternoon: 'For our part, the PM and the Government are crystal clear, the UK will keep its word.
'We will live up to our responsibilities to the people of Hong Kong and I can tell the House that after further detailed discussions with the Home Secretary, I can now confirm we will proceed to honour our commitment to change the arrangements for those holding BNO status.
'And I can update honourable members that we have worked with ministers right across Whitehall and we have now developed proposals for a bespoke immigration route for BNOs and their dependants. We will grant BNOs five years' limited leave to remain, with a right to work or study.
'After these five years they'll be able to apply for settled status and after a further 12 months with settled status, they will be able to apply for citizenship.
'This is a special bespoke set of arrangements, developed for the unique circumstances we face and in light of our historic commitment to the people of Hong Kong. All of those with BNO status will be eligible as will their dependants who are usually resident in Hong Kong and the Home Office will put in place a simple streamlined application process and I can reassure (honourable members) there will be no quotas on numbers.'
The legislation - which would allow authorities to crack down on subversive and secessionist activity in the former British colony - has strained relations with Britain and the US.
China rammed the law through its rubber-stamp parliament and kept the wording shrouded in secrecy, but finally revealed details last night - unveiling strict new measures which could see Hong Kong protesters repressed on the mainland.
Vandalism against government buildings or public transport can now be treated as subversion or terrorism with life sentences for those who break the rules.
China's feared security agencies will openly set up shop in Hong Kong for the first time, and human rights groups say the law has 'frightening loopholes' which could allow Beijing to round up protesters and extradite them to the mainland.
Beijing has faced a chorus of anger over the law but insists it is only aimed at a 'handful of criminals' and told foreign critics it was 'none of your business'.
RELATED ARTICLES

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Raab: National Security law 'serious violation' of joint declaration




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Police display a public announcement banner showing a warning to protesters in Causeway Bay before the annual handover march in Hong Kong thoday

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Police detain a protester after spraying pepper spray during a protest marking the 23rd anniversary of UK pulling out of Hong Kong in 1997

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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told MPs this afternoon that the legislation contains measures that 'directly threaten the freedoms and rights' of the people of Hong Kong
Hong Kongers 'could face £10,000 bill to gain full UK citizenship'
Hong Kong residents wishing to become full British citizens could face paying up to £10,000 in Home Office fees, a lawyer warned today.
Dominic Raab said that holders of British National (Overseas) status and their dependents would be able to apply for five years' limited leave to remain, with a right to work or study.
After this they can apply for settled status for a year, after which they can apply for full citizenship.
But Kathryn Bradbury, a partner and head of citizenship and Immigration at City law firm Payne Hicks Beach, said: 'Although it is called a''route to citizenship'' it would, under the current rules only confer periods of immigration status of 12 months, renewable and would take probably five years (possibly longer) to obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain (permanent residence) and a further one year for citizenship.
'All of which would be subject to meeting future immigration criteria which change regularly.
'This lacks certainty and would be extremely costly in Home Office application fees of over £10,000.
'It would be much more equitable to simply confer full British citizenship to these persons given their BNO status, as has been suggested by the UK's leading barrister on UK nationality law.'

The UK has offered to allow almost three million of Hong Kong's inhabitants the opportunity to come to Britain if Beijing imposes the national security law.
Boris Johnson has said he would effectively upgrade the status of British National (Overseas) passports, which 350,000 people in Hong Kong hold and 2.5 million are eligible to apply for, to grant immigration rights beyond the current six-month limit.
Mr told MPs this afternoon that the legislation contains measures that 'directly threaten the freedoms and rights' of the people of Hong Kong.
He said: 'First, the legislation violates the high degree of autonomy, executive and legitimate powers and independent judicial authority provided for in paragraph 3 of the joint declaration.'
Mr Raab told MPs that the legislation also contains measures 'that directly threaten the freedoms and rights protected by the joint declaration'.
He said the measures 'represent a flagrant assault on freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful protest for the people of Hong Kong'.
Mr Raab said: 'Third, the legislation provides that Hong Kong's chief executive rather than the chief justice will appoint judges to hear national security cases, a move that clearly risks undermining the independence of Hong Kong's judiciary.'
Tom Tugendhat, the Tory chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, raised concerns about Chinese influence in the UK's universities.
Mr Tugendhat said he welcomes the Government's commitment to those holding BNO passports.
He added: 'Can I also, however, state that the nature of extraterritoriality that he speaks about has direct implications on our own university sector and on freedom of speech within our own academic institutions as Chinese students have already been influenced to silence debate and change outcomes here in the UK.'
On British judges sitting in Hong Kong, Mr Tugendhat said: 'How can they do that, how can they defend civil rights and commercial rights if they are being violated by the very law they are sent to uphold?'
He added: 'And as one final point, would he join with me and the chairs of the select committees of Australia, Canada and New Zealand and call not just to make a statement at the UN Human Rights Council, but to ask that same council to send a special rapporteur to Hong Kong, because what happens in Hong Kong matters to the whole world?'

+23

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab addressed reporters outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office this morning


The Hong Kong crackdown begins: Police fire water cannon at protesters and man holding independence flag becomes the first to be arrested under China's new security law
Hong Kong police today made their first arrests under a landmark new security law giving Beijing draconian powers to punish dissent in the city.
A man with a 'Hong Kong Independence' flag was the first to be arrested hours after the law came into force, and 23 years to the day since Britain returned the former colony to China - with the city's cherished freedoms now in doubt.
Police later made six more arrests under the new law - including a 15-year-old girl with another independence flag - while 180 people were detained on other charges after a new round of protests which led to authorities firing water cannon.
China rammed the law through its rubber-stamp parliament and kept the wording shrouded in secrecy, but finally revealed details last night - unveiling strict new measures which could see Hong Kong protesters repressed on the mainland.
Vandalism against government buildings or public transport can now be treated as subversion or terrorism with life sentences for those who break the rules.

China's feared security agencies will openly set up shop in Hong Kong for the first time, and human rights groups say the law has 'frightening loopholes' which could allow Beijing to round up protesters and extradite them to the mainland.
Beijing has faced a chorus of anger over the law, including from Britain which today called it a 'clear and serious violation' of the treaty which led to the 1997 handover.
However, China insists the law is only aimed at a 'handful of criminals' and told foreign critics it was 'none of your business'.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

President For Life? Russian Voters Grant Putin Ability To Rule Until 2036

by Tyler Durden
Wed, 07/01/2020 - 13:56
TwitterFacebookRedditEmailPrint

Update: As expected, Russian voters have approved drastic constitutional changes which could keep Putin in power all the way through 2036.
The AP reports late Wednesday (local time):

A majority of voters approved changes to Russia’s constitution that would allow President Vladimir Putin to hold power until 2036, but the weeklong plebiscite that ended Wednesday was tarnished by widespread reports of pressure on voters and other irregularities.
With most of the nation’s polls closed and 20% of precincts counted, 72% voted for the constitutional amendments, according to election officials.

Vladimir Putin at a polling station in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Image source: AP

* * *
67-year old Russian President Vladimir Putin will have already been in power for over two decades when his current term runs out in 2024, but now as Russia is in the midst of a crucial vote on a significantly revised constitution, his rule theoretically could extend further all the way up to 2036, or a whopping 12 more years.
Bloomberg reports after voting began last week, despite raging coronavirus fears, that the latest exit poll by state-run Vtsiom puts support for the amendments, which includes the term limit exemption, at 76%.
Russian constitution, file image.
Under the old or rather current constitution, Putin is barred from running for president again when his term expires in 2024, given consecutive term limits, but the new law would reset this. A single presidential term is six years. Among other constitutional changes authorized by Putin are a permanent constitutional outlawing of same-sex marriage, as well as inclusion in “a belief in God” named as one of Russia’s traditional values.
Putin emphasized this appeal to "traditional values" in a Tuesday television address, saying “We’re voting for the country that we’re working for and that we want to hand down to our children and grandchildren.”

He urged Russians to support what he described as a constitution ensuring—

"stability, security and prosperity."

Bloomberg summarizes further of the exit poll: "The Central Election Commission said Wednesday initial results showed the vote was 74% for the proposals, 25% against, with 1% of ballots counted, RIA Novosti reported."


In power for life? Critics say the latest constitutional 'reforms' are meant to do just that. Putin file image.
And despite Russia now having over 654,405 cases of coronavirus and 9,536 deaths — making it the country with the third highest number of infections after the US and Brazil — turnout was reported at over 60% hours before polls closed.

However, Putin's approval ratings have lately slumped along with the economy due to the devastating impact of both the COVID-19 epidemic and collapsed oil prices.

 

[Plain Jane]

No official U.S. approach to quiz Prince Andrew over Epstein, UK PM says

U.S. authorities have not made an official approach to the British government for permission to speak to Prince Andrew about his contacts with the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JULY 3, 2020 / 4:31 AM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
No official U.S. approach to quiz Prince Andrew over Epstein, UK PM says

Michael Holden
3 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have not made an official approach to the British government for permission to speak to Prince Andrew about his contacts with the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday.

U.S. prosecutors want to question the British prince over his contacts with Epstein, who was awaiting trial on charges of trafficking minors when he died last August in a New York City federal prison.

However, they have said Andrew, Queen Elizabeth’s second son, had repeatedly evaded their requests for an interview and reiterated their desire to speak to him on Thursday after they arrested British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and longtime associate of Epstein.

Lawyers for Andrew, who met Epstein through his friendship with Maxwell, say he has offered his help three times this year.

Asked what the response would be if U.S. officials sought formal access to the prince, whose official title is the Duke of York, Johnson said: “No such approach has been made. It’s a matter for the royal family.”

He added: “Everybody’s sympathies are very much with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein but you wouldn’t expect me to comment on matters affecting the royal family.”

“The law must carried out and the law must be observed,” he told LBC radio.

In June, then-U.S. Attorney for Manhattan Geoffrey Berman said Andrew had “sought to falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate” with their inquiry.

At the same time, a U.S. law enforcement official confirmed to Reuters that U.S. authorities investigating Epstein had sent the British government a formal request, known as a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) submission, asking for access to the prince.

After Maxwell was arrested and charged on Thursday with luring underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse, acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us.”


Andrew’s legal team have accused the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of seeking publicity rather than his help, rejecting accusations he had offered “zero cooperation.”

“The Duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the DOJ in the last month, and to-date, we have had no response,” a source close to Andrew’s team said in response to Strauss’s remarks.

Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by William James and Giles Elgood
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Related story:

CRIME - Epstein’s Partner Ghislaine Maxwell has been arrested

View: https://twitter.com/nbcnewyork/status/1278677952419553280?s=21

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Germany is first major economy to phase out coal and nuclear

BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers have finalized the country's long-awaited phase-out of coal as an energy source, backing a plan that environmental groups say isn't ambitious enough and free marketeers criticize as a waste of taxpayers' money.

apnews.com

German lawmakers approve plan to phase out use of coal
By FRANK JORDANSan hour ago



1 of 7
FILE-In this Jan. 16, 2020 file photo an uniper coal-fired power plant and BP refinery steam beside a wind generator in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The state governors Dietmar Woidke of Brandenburg, Michael Kretschmer of Saxony, Reiner Haseloff of Saxony-Anhalt and Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia meet in Berlin for the adoption by the Bundestag and Bundesrat of the laws on coal phase-out and structural strengthening in the affected federal states. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s lower house of parliament voted Friday to finalize the country’s long-awaited phase-out of coal as an energy source, backing a plan that environmental groups say isn’t ambitious enough and free marketeers criticize as a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Two bills, which are expected to get approval from the upper house later Friday, envision shutting down the last coal-fired power plant by 2038 and spending some 40 billion euros ($45 billion) to help affected regions cope with the transition.

The plan is part of Germany’s ‘energy transition’ - an effort to wean Europe’s biggest economy off planet-warming fossil fuels and generate all of the country’s considerable energy from renewable sources. Achieving that goal is made harder than in comparable countries such as France and Britain because of Germany’s existing commitment to also phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022.
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Greenpeace and other environmental groups have staged vocal protests against the government’s plan, arguing that it won’t reduce Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet the targets set out in the Paris climate accord.

“Germany, the country that burns the greatest amount of lignite coal worldwide, will burden the next generation with 18 more years of carbon dioxide,” Greenpeace Germany’s executive director Martin Kaiser told The Associated Press.

Kaiser, who was part of a government-appointed expert commission, accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of making a “historic mistake,” saying an end date for coal of 2030 would have sent a strong signal for European and global climate policy.

Environmentalists have also criticized the large sums being offered to coal companies to shut down their plants, a complaint shared by libertarians such as Germany’s opposition Free Democratic Party.

Katja Suding, a leading FDP lawmaker, said the government should have opted to expand existing emissions trading systems that put a price on carbon, thereby encouraging operators to shut down unprofitable coal plants.

“You just have to make it so expensive that it’s not profitable anymore to turn coal into electricity,” she said.

But the head of Germany’s main miners’ union, Michael Vassiliadis, welcomed the decision, calling it a “historic milestone.” He urged the government to focus next on an expansion of renewable energy generation and the use of hydrogen as a clean alternative for storing and transporting energy in the future.
___
David Rising contributed to this report.


https://apnews.com/2fba01388f86bbfdf29117a63adba774

 

[Plain Jane]

Ahead of run-off vote, Polish president proposes constitutional ban on LGBT adoption

Poland's President Andrzej Duda on Monday proposed changing the constitution to ban LGBT couples from adopting children ahead of Sunday's presidential run-off in which the candidates are polling neck-and-neck.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JULY 6, 2020 / 8:00 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Ahead of run-off vote, Polish president proposes constitutional ban on LGBT adoption


2 MIN READ

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on Monday proposed changing the constitution to ban LGBT couples from adopting children ahead of Sunday’s presidential run-off in which the candidates are polling neck-and-neck.

The opposition centrist Civic Platform (PO) candidate, Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, said this weekend that he is also against the adoption of children by LGBT couples.

Duda is an ally of the ruling nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS), which dismisses LGBT rights as an invasive foreign influence undermining Poland’s traditional values.

A majority amounting to two-thirds of the lower house of parliament is needed to change the constitution. After an election in October, PiS rules with a slim majority and does not hold enough seats to carry out such changes.

Duda said he hoped he could garner broader support for his proposal from some members of PO, the agrarian PSL grouping and from the far-right Confederation party.

“I am convinced that, thanks to this, children’s safety and concern for the good of children will be ensured to a much greater extent,” Duda said at an event in Warsaw.

The constitutional change would specify that only married heterosexual couples would be able to adopt children, he said. Courts would have the right to check on couples to ensure they fit into the definition.

A spokesman for PO said the party was against the constitutional change proposed by Duda.

Trzaskowski has previously said he is in favour of civil partnerships for gay people and proposed a sexual education programme in Warsaw that would teach children about LGBT issues.

Duda’s comments come after he said LGBT ideology was worse than communism in a campaign stop last month and vowed to ban teaching about LGBT issues in schools in an effort to protect what he sees as the traditional family.

Poland was this year ranked the worst country in the European Union for LGBT rights in a poll by Brussels-based NGO ILGA-Europe.

Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Alison Williams
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Croatia's ruling conservatives win big in parliamentary vote

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — The ruling conservatives overwhelmingly won Croatia's parliamentary elections held Sunday amid a spike in new coronavirus cases as the latest European Union member state leaned further to the right.

apnews.com

Croatia’s ruling conservatives win big in parliamentary vote
By SASHA KAVICyesterday



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Andrej Plenkovic, Croatia's Prime Minister incumbent casts his ballot at a polling station in Zagreb, Croatia, Sunday, July 5, 2020. Amid a spike of new coronavirus cases, voters in Croatia cast ballots on Sunday in what is expected be a close parliamentary race that could push the latest European Union member state further to the right. (AP Photo)

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — The ruling conservatives overwhelmingly won Croatia’s parliamentary elections held Sunday amid a spike in new coronavirus cases as the latest European Union member state leaned further to the right.

With over 90 percent of the vote counted, the governing Croatian Democratic Union, or HDZ, won 66 seats in Croatia’s 151-seat parliament and is likely to form a new coalition government with smaller right-wing groups.

Andrej Plenkovic, the acting prime minister and HDZ leader, praised what he described as a “great result and a great victory.”

“Such a result for the HDZ, which is our victory, is not only great, but an obligation,” Plenkovic said. “It is an obligation because we had a tough mandate full of challenges behind us, and challenges ahead of us are even bigger.”

An alliance led by the liberal Social Democratic Party, or SDP, the main opposition party, won 41 seats while in third place is the right-wing Homeland Movement led by folk singer Miroslav Skoro with 16 seats.

SDP leader Davor Bernardic conceded the defeat and suggested he would resign the leadership position.

“Of course, this is a bad result and I’m ready to go,” he said.

The Homeland Movement was recently formed and swiftly gained popularity despite public outrage over some of its staunchly hard-line and nationalist views. The party is believed to have chipped away some of the votes from HDZ, which has dominated the political scene in Croatia since gaining independence from the Serb-led Yugoslavia in 1991.

Croatia has faced a surge in coronavirus cases that followed reopening of the country’s borders and easing of lockdown rules, struggling to salvage its main source of revenue — tourism along the Adriatic Sea coast.

The election turnout was 46 percent, the lowest in the country’s 10th parliamentary election since gaining independence from the Serb-led Yugoslavia in the 1990′s.

There was no social distancing or wearing masks during the victory celebrations by the ruling party officials and its supporters.

A country of 4.2 million people, Croatia has kept the outbreak largely under control, reporting 113 deaths and around 3,100 confirmed infections. But Plenkovic was criticized over an outbreak at a tennis tournament organized by top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the coastal town of Zadar.

About 3.8 million people were eligible to vote. Voters were advised to take their own temperature and stay away from polling stations if they had a fever.


https://apnews.com/9e1ac61d0918b930c42da69d349df6ec

 

[Zagdid]

Germany is first major economy to phase out coal and nuclear

BERLIN (AP) — German lawmakers have finalized the country's long-awaited phase-out of coal as an energy source, backing a plan that environmental groups say isn't ambitious enough and free marketeers criticize as a waste of taxpayers' money.

apnews.com

German lawmakers approve plan to phase out use of coal
By FRANK JORDANSan hour ago



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FILE-In this Jan. 16, 2020 file photo an uniper coal-fired power plant and BP refinery steam beside a wind generator in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The state governors Dietmar Woidke of Brandenburg, Michael Kretschmer of Saxony, Reiner Haseloff of Saxony-Anhalt and Armin Laschet of North Rhine-Westphalia meet in Berlin for the adoption by the Bundestag and Bundesrat of the laws on coal phase-out and structural strengthening in the affected federal states. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s lower house of parliament voted Friday to finalize the country’s long-awaited phase-out of coal as an energy source, backing a plan that environmental groups say isn’t ambitious enough and free marketeers criticize as a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Two bills, which are expected to get approval from the upper house later Friday, envision shutting down the last coal-fired power plant by 2038 and spending some 40 billion euros ($45 billion) to help affected regions cope with the transition.

The plan is part of Germany’s ‘energy transition’ - an effort to wean Europe’s biggest economy off planet-warming fossil fuels and generate all of the country’s considerable energy from renewable sources. Achieving that goal is made harder than in comparable countries such as France and Britain because of Germany’s existing commitment to also phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022.
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Greenpeace and other environmental groups have staged vocal protests against the government’s plan, arguing that it won’t reduce Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet the targets set out in the Paris climate accord.

“Germany, the country that burns the greatest amount of lignite coal worldwide, will burden the next generation with 18 more years of carbon dioxide,” Greenpeace Germany’s executive director Martin Kaiser told The Associated Press.

Kaiser, who was part of a government-appointed expert commission, accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of making a “historic mistake,” saying an end date for coal of 2030 would have sent a strong signal for European and global climate policy.

Environmentalists have also criticized the large sums being offered to coal companies to shut down their plants, a complaint shared by libertarians such as Germany’s opposition Free Democratic Party.

Katja Suding, a leading FDP lawmaker, said the government should have opted to expand existing emissions trading systems that put a price on carbon, thereby encouraging operators to shut down unprofitable coal plants.

“You just have to make it so expensive that it’s not profitable anymore to turn coal into electricity,” she said.

But the head of Germany’s main miners’ union, Michael Vassiliadis, welcomed the decision, calling it a “historic milestone.” He urged the government to focus next on an expansion of renewable energy generation and the use of hydrogen as a clean alternative for storing and transporting energy in the future.
___
David Rising contributed to this report.


Germany's Merkel underlines aim to complete Baltic pipeline

Reuters | Breaking International News & Views

Find latest news from every corner of the globe at Reuters.com, your online source for breaking international news coverage.

af.reuters.com

UPDATE 1-Denmark gives Nord Stream 2 nod to restart pipeline work
JULY 6, 2020 / 6:34 AM / UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

COPENHAGEN, July 6 (Reuters) - Denmark on Monday gave Nord Stream 2 permission to use pipe-laying vessels with anchors to complete the final stretch of the gas pipeline in Danish waters, removing a key obstacle for the much-delayed project designed to bring more Russian natural gas to Europe.

Nord Stream 2 has faced political opposition from Washington, as well as from Ukraine and Poland - so-called transit countries for the pipeline on its route to consumers in western Europe.

The Trump administration opposes the project on the grounds it would strengthen Russia’s economic grip over Europe.

Construction of the 1,230-kilometer pipeline is nearly finished but it needs to complete a final stretch of roughly 120-kilometres in Danish waters.

The project was halted in December as pipe-laying company Swiss-Dutch Allseas suspended operations due to U.S. sanctions targeting companies providing vessels laying Nord Stream 2 pipes.

The Danish Energy Agency said on Monday it would allow the Gazprom-led project to use pipe-laying vessels with anchors instead of the more advanced vessels using self-positioning technology, which are affected by the U.S. sanctions.

Nord Stream 2 had send a request to Denmark in early June.

A Nord Stream 2 spokeswoman told Reuters the consortium welcomed the decision but said it had yet to announce which vessel it will use or when it expects to project to be finalised.

The pipe-laying ship Academic Cherskiy, which Moscow could use, is moored near Germany’s Mukran port in the Baltic, the staging area for the pipeline’s construction, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

 

[Plain Jane]

Germany has made several arrests in recent months in relation to pedophilia and now the Dutch have uncovered this.

Dutch police arrest 6 men, uncover makeshift torture chamber

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch police arrested six men after discovering sea containers that had been converted into a makeshift prison and sound-proofed “torture chamber” complete with a dentist's chair, tools including pliers and scalpels and handcuffs, a high ranking officer announced Tuesda

apnews.com

Dutch police arrest 6 men, uncover makeshift torture chamber
By MIKE CORDERtoday


THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch police arrested six men after discovering sea containers that had been converted into a makeshift prison and sound-proofed “torture chamber” complete with a dentist’s chair, tools including pliers and scalpels and handcuffs, a high ranking officer announced Tuesday.

Authorities said police conducted the raid before the torture chamber could be used and alerted potential victims, who went into hiding.

The grisly discovery was made last month by officers investigating leads generated by data from encrypted phones used by criminals that were cracked recently by French police. Detectives in Britain and the Netherlands have already arrested hundreds of suspects based on the encrypted messages.

Tuesday’s announcement gave a chilling insight into the increasingly violent Dutch criminal underworld, which is involved in the large scale production and trafficking of drugs.

Dutch police said last week that their investigations, code-named 26Lemont, based on millions of messages from the EncroChat phones, had led to the arrest of more than 100 suspects and seizure of more than 8,000 kilograms (17,600 pounds) of cocaine and 1,200 kilograms (2,600 pounds) of crystal meth as well as the dismantling of 19 synthetic drugs labs and seizure of dozens of firearms.

On June 22, Dutch national police force officers arrested six men on suspicion of crimes including preparing kidnappings and serious assault. Detectives also discovered the seven converted sea containers in a warehouse in Wouwse Plantage, a small village in the southwestern Netherlands, close to the border with Belgium, according to a statement released Tuesday.

They were tipped off by messages from an EncroChat phone including photos of the container and dentist’s chair with belts attached to the arm and foot supports. The messages called the warehouse the “treatment room” and the “ebi,” a reference to a top security Dutch prison. The messages also reaveled identities of potential victims, who were warned and went into hiding, police said.

Video released by the police showed a heavily armed arrest team blasting open a door at the warehouse and discovering the improvised prison. Another armed team detained a suspect in Rotterdam.

“Six of the containers were intended as cells in which people could be tied up and one container was intended as a torture chamber,” Andy Kraag, head of the police’s National Investigation Service, said in a video released by police, adding that the police operation “prevented a number of violent crimes.”

A search of the containers uncovered bags containing tools including hedge cutters, scalpels and pliers. The tools “were likely intended to torture victims or at least put them under pressure,” the police statement said.

In searches of other properties, including what police described as a base for the criminals near the port city of Rotterdam, officers found police uniforms and body armor, stolen vehicles, 25 firearms and drugs.

A court in Amsterdam ordered the six suspects held for 90 days as investigations continue.
“This is a great result of the 26Lemont investigation,” Kraag said. “And, take it from me, many more results will follow.”

 

[northern watch]

 

[Plain Jane]

Serbs storm parliament after virus lockdown announced

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Thousands of protesters fought running battles with police and tried to storm the parliament building in Belgrade on Tuesday after the Serbian president announced that a coronavirus lockdown will be reintroduced in the Balkan country.

apnews.com

Click to copy
Serbs storm parliament after virus lockdown announced
By DUSAN STOJANOVICyesterday



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Police officers use pepper spray on demonstrators in front of the Serbian parliament in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, July 7, 2020. Thousands of people protested the Serbian president's announcement that a lockdown will be reintroduced after the Balkan country reported its highest single-day death toll from the coronavirus Tuesday. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Thousands of protesters fought running battles with police and tried to storm the parliament building in Belgrade on Tuesday after the Serbian president announced that a coronavirus lockdown will be reintroduced in the Balkan country.

Police fired several rounds of tear gas at the protesters, some chanting “Resignation! Resignation!” as they gathered in front of the downtown parliament building in the Serbian capital. Some of the protesters briefly managed to enter the parliament by force, but were pushed back by riot police.

The protesters responded by hurling flares, stones, bottles and eggs at the police. Several clashes erupted between some of the most extremist rioters apparently belonging to far-right groups and the baton-wielding police.


Protesters also clashed with police in front of the state TV building. The broadcaster is accused by the opposition of having a pro-government bias.
A number of police vehicles were set on fire.

Serbian police director Vladimir Rebic told the state television that a number of demonstrators have been detained and police officers injured, but did not specify how many. He said smaller protests were also held in other Serbian cities.

“I appeal to the citizens ... to help ease the tensions,” Rebic said. “I’m certain police will respond adequately and prevent any form of hooligan behavior.”

Earlier, President Aleksandar Vucic called the virus situation in Belgrade “alarming” and “critical” as the city’s hospitals neared their capacity limits after health officials reported highest single-day death toll from the coronavirus on Tuesday.

Vucic said the government would reimpose a curfew as of Friday. He said it will “probably” last from 6 p.m. on Friday till 5 a.m. on Monday. He also said the groups of no more than five people will be allowed together.

Many blame the autocratic Serbian president for lifting the previous lockdown measures just so he would cement his grip on power after parliamentary elections. He has denied those claims.

Soccer and tennis matches were played in packed stands and the election was held on June 21 despite warnings from experts that the mass gatherings without social distancing could lead to a new coronavirus wave.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic denounced the protest, saying the state will protect law and order and accused opposition politicians of being behind the storming of parliament.
“I strongly condemn the vandalism of politicians who are behind the violent break into the Serbian Parliament at the moment when the state and the health system face the toughest blow from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic,” Brnabic said.

The country’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that 13 people had died in 24 hours in Serbia and 299 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed.

That brought the total to 16,719 confirmed cases and 330 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in Serbia, which went from having one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns to a near-complete reopening at the beginning of May.
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____
AP Writer Jovana Gec contributed.

 

[Plain Jane]

Greece: Thousands march against protest law – DW – 07/10/2020

Lawmakers in Greece have approved a law to curb public protests, prompting a mass demonstration that turned violent. Police responded to gasoline bombs with tear gas and flash grenades.

www.dw.com

Greece: Violence as thousands march against protest law
Lawmakers in Greece have approved a law to curb public protests, prompting a mass demonstration that turned violent. Police responded to gasoline bombs with tear gas and flash grenades.





Violence erupted in Athens late Thursday amid a mass demonstration against a law passed by parliament to curb public protests. The clashes between protesters and authorities left at least six police officers injured.

Some 10,000 protesters had gathered in the center of Athens to oppose legislation put forward by the center-right government.

A group of demonstrators who broke off from the main group threw petrol bombs at police, who responded with teargas. Police said they had arrested nine people and taken in 15 others for questioning.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the new law was necessary to deal with "dozens of small protests" that have sparked in city centers across the country.

"There are frequent cases where these events... descend into vandalism," Mitsotakis told lawmakers on Thursday prior to the vote. "There must be rules so that (protests) do not impede citizens' movement and work, and the life of an entire city," he added.

Read more: Refugee crisis in Greece: Anger and foreboding grow on Lesbos
"One's freedom to protest is as valuable as another person's freedom to reach the hospital, his work, his home," Mitsotakis said.

The legislation, which was approved by 187 of the 300 members of parliament, places restrictions on demonstrations or complete bans if protests are deemed to threaten public safety

It also holds organizers accountable for damage and injury caused by protesters.
The new law has been widely condemned by several groups in Greek society, including opposition parties, the NGO Amnesty International, the Athens Bar Association, unionists and the Greek parliament's own legislative review committee.

Read more: Greece elects Katerina Sakellaropoulou as first woman president
The leftist Syriza party, the main opposition party in parliament, attacked the bill as "paternalistic" and "fascist-like." Syriza and other smaller parties have accused the government of seeking to muzzle criticism ahead of a forecasted deep recession, which was exacerbated by a long coronavirus lockdown.

"Today is a dark day for the Greek republic," said Syriza leader and former PM Alexis Tsipras.
Amnesty International joined the chorus of criticism, expressing "serious concern" about the new law, saying that it runs counter to international human rights provisions.
jg/rc (Reuters, AP)

 

[Melodi]

We have friends in Greece, the husband is from the UK and the wife inherited her family farmstead in the Greek hills which they made into a B and B just as the 2008 crises hit.

They were OK because in the countryside people still had gardens and everyone exchanged food, they managed to survive pretty well until COVID, I haven't gotten word from them recently but I know this.

The Greeks NEVER really recovered from 2008-9 when "austerity" saw middle-class people sleeping under bridges and putting their children in orphanages because they couldn't feed them, doctors began buying chemo drugs for their patients on their own dime (until they stopped getting paid) on the black market.

Flash forward to today and a lot of things haven't improved much (except that an anyone who could manage to leave has) and Greece now has several million "refugees" it looks like they may simply have to accept are going to live there for the rest of their lives or until they have EU passports and can "move on."

People are still cold, hungry, frightened and angry plus now there's a killer disease on the loose in a country with a bare-bones 3rd World Heath Care system where nearly all the doctors that could have left, and at one point there wasn't even aspirin to treat pain (things have improved somewhat but are still BAD).

This is in what was a Second-World (countryside) First World (cities) country in the European Union, where we get real information, I can only imagine how horrible things are in some of the places that have even less reporting and some outside funding (parts of Africa, the Middle East, Asia etc).

 

[northern watch]

 

[northern watch]

 

[Plain Jane]

Greece condemns Turkey's decision to convert Hagia Sophia into mosque

Greece condemned a decision by Turkey on Friday to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque, saying it would have repercussions not only on relations between the two countries, but on Turkey's ties with the European Union.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JULY 10, 2020 / 3:40 PM / UPDATED 14 HOURS AGO
Greece condemns Turkey's decision to convert Hagia Sophia into mosque

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece condemned a decision by Turkey on Friday to convert Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque, saying it would have repercussions not only on relations between the two countries, but on Turkey’s ties with the European Union.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that the first prayers would be held in Hagia Sophia on July 24, after declaring the ancient monument was once again a mosque following a court ruling revoking its status as a museum.


Erdogan said the nearly 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia would remain open to Muslims, Christians and foreigners, but added that Turkey had exercised its sovereign right in converting it to a mosque and would interpret criticism of the move as an attack on its independence.

“Greece condemns in the most intense manner the decision of Turkey to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. This is a choice which offends all those who also recognise the monument as a World Heritage Site. And of course it does not only affect relations between Turkey and Greece, but its relations with the European Union,” Mitsotakis’s office said in a written statement.

Former Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis and Mitsotakis’s sister tweeted that Erdogan had “crossed the Rubicon” with its decision, effectively moving itself way from the Western world.

UNESCO said on Friday its World Heritage Committee would review Hagia Sophia’s status and that Turkey’s decision raised questions about the impact on its universal value as a site of importance transcending borders and generations.

Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Renee Maltezou; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Nick Macfie
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Melodi]

I am VERY worried about the Icons at Hagia Sophia, some of them had only recently been uncovered (thankfully they were just painted over and not utterly destroyed in 1453).

For many decades, this amazing building from antiquity has been a museum, open to all and belonging to neither religion - not the one that built it or the one that took it over.

I am not sure, but I think there were ways organizations could get permission to use the building.

By declaring it a mosque, they have just dumped a tradition that goes back before WWII and as I said, puts a great deal of early Christian art in jeopardy (Islam forbids the showing of the human form, though some places like Persia kind of ignore that).

Given the Creepo in charge of Turkey right now, I have a nasty feeling this time they won't just pain the art over, they will simply "allow" people to destroy it and then say "oh, how terrible, guess we will put up Islamic decorations now."

I like a lost of Islamic art, but this is a totally backward step when it comes to a major world heritage site, a building built with Earthquake resistant technology only rediscovered in the 20th century - for that reason ALONE the building should belong to the entire Turkish nation, not just the Muslims.

 

[Plain Jane]

Widow condemns "barbaric" death of driver beaten over masks

BAYONNE, France (AP) — The wife of a French bus driver who was beaten to death after he asked four passengers to wear face masks aboard his vehicle called Saturday for “exemplary punishment” for his killers.

apnews.com

Click to copy
Widow condemns “barbaric” death of driver beaten over masks
July 11, 2020



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This July 8, 2020 file photo shows Veronique Monguillot, wife of Philippe Monguillot, a bus driver who was attacked in Bayonne on Sunday night, holding a photo of her with her husband, during a protest march in Bayonne, southwestern France. The wife of a French bus driver savagely beaten after he asked four of his passengers to wear face masks aboard his vehicle called Saturday for "exemplary punishment" after he died of his injuries. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

BAYONNE, France (AP) — The wife of a French bus driver who was beaten to death after he asked four passengers to wear face masks aboard his vehicle called Saturday for “exemplary punishment” for his killers.

The assault on Philippe Monguillot has scandalized France. President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday dispatched the interior minister to meet the driver’s widow after his death was announced Friday. He had been hospitalized in critical condition after the July 5 attack.

Veronique Monguillot said she told the minister, Gerald Darmanin, that she and their three daughters were “destroyed” by the attack on her husband at a bus stop in Bayonne, southwest France.

“We must bang a fist on the table, so this never happens again,” she said. “It’s barbaric, not normal. We must stop this massacre.”

The Bayonne prosecutor said Monguillot was assaulted after he asked four passengers on his No. 810 bus to wear face masks, which are required aboard French public transport because of the coronavirus pandemic. The driver was insulted, pushed off the bus and violently beaten and kicked in the head, the prosecutor said.
Four people are in custody.

“This bus driver was only doing his job,” Darmanin said. “He left his home in the morning and did not come back, leaving a widow and three orphan girls. It is an absolutely odious act.”

France has battled hard to tame its coronavirus outbreak, which saw over 208,000 confirmed infections and over 30,000 virus-related deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the true toll is higher, due to testing limitations and missed mild cases.
___
Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and Understanding the Outbreak

 

[Plain Jane]

Polish president wins 2nd term after bitter campaign

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish President Andrzej Duda declared victory Monday in a runoff election in which he narrowly won a second five-year term, acknowledging the campaign he ran was often too harsh as he appealed for unity and forgiveness.

apnews.com

Click to copy
Conservative Polish president wins 2nd term after tight race
By VANESSA GERA26 minutes ago



1 of 4
Incumbent President Andrzej Duda flashes a victory sign in Pultusk, Poland, Sunday, July 12, 2020. An exit poll in Poland's presidential runoff election shows a tight race that is too close to call between the conservative incumbent, Andrzej Duda, and the liberal Warsaw mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s conservative President Andrzej Duda, who ran a campaign with homophobic and anti-Semitic overtones, narrowly won a second five-year term in a bitterly fought weekend election, defeating the liberal Warsaw mayor, according to a near-complete count of votes.

Duda’s supporters celebrated what they saw as a clear mandate from voters for him and the right-wing ruling party that backs him, Law and Justice, to continue on a path that has reduced poverty but raised concerns that democracy is under threat.

Critics and human rights groups expressed concerns that Duda’s victory would boost illiberal tendencies not only at home but also within the EU, which has struggled to halt an erosion of rule of law in Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Orban on Monday posted a picture of himself on Facebook shaking hands with Duda in the Hungarian parliament with “Bravo!” and graphics of a hand showing a “V” for victory and a Polish flag.

Zselyke Csaky, an expert on central Europe with the human rights group Freedom House, said Duda’s victory gives the party “essentially free rein” until the next parliamentary elections scheduled in 2023 “to do away with limits on its power and work towards destroying Poland’s independent institutions, such as the judiciary or the media.”

The state electoral commission said Duda had 51.21% of the vote based on a count of votes from 99.97% districts. His opponent, Rafal Trzaskowski, trailed with 48.79% of the vote.
Final results, expected later Monday, could vary slightly, but Duda’s lead appeared unassailable.

The very close race reflected the deep cultural divisions in this European Union nation.
It followed a bitter campaign dominated by issues of culture in which the government, state media and the influential Catholic church all mobilized in support of Duda, a social conservative, and sought to stoke fears of Jews, LGBT people and Germans.

Duda also got an apparent endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump with a last-minute White House invitation in late June. Trump praised Duda, saying: “He’s doing a terrific job. The people of Poland think the world of him.”

Duda’s campaign focused on defending traditional family values in the mostly Catholic nation of 38 million people, and on preserving social spending policies.

The party’s policies include hugely popular monthly cash bonuses of 500 zlotys ($125) per child to all families irrespective of income. They have helped alleviate poverty in rural regions, and given all families more money to spend.

Duda and the party, both in power since 2015, also solidified support among older Poles by lowering the retirement age and introducing a yearly cash bonus called a “13th pension.”

Many credit Law and Justice for making good on promises to reduce the economic inequality that came with the country’s transition from communism to a market economy three decades ago. There is a strong sense among them that the economic help is restoring a sense of dignity to their lives after many decades of hardship caused by war, communism and the economic dislocations of capitalism.

The party has also stoked conflict with the EU with laws that have given it vast new powers over the top courts and judicial bodies. Officials in Brussels have repeatedly expressed concerns over the rule of law in both Poland and Hungary, which were for many years hailed as the most successful new democracies to emerge from behind the Iron Curtain.

Poland’s populist politicians have in the past two years frequently used rhetoric discriminating against LGBT people and other minorities, and the party has turned public television into a propaganda tool used during the campaign to praise Duda and cast Trzaskowski in a bad light.

Sunday’s vote was originally planned for May but was delayed amid bitter political wrangling.
Trzaskowski, a former European Parliament lawmaker who jumped into the race late, said he wanted to protect the country’s democratic values and unite the divided society, while preserving the popular welfare policies. He represented the centrist opposition Civic Platform party, which was in power in from 2007 to 2015. It oversaw strong economic growth but is now blamed by many for allowing the gap to grow between the rich and poor.

As the race became tighter in recent weeks, Duda turned further to the right in search of votes. He seized on gay rights as a key theme, denouncing the LGBT rights movement as an “ideology” worse than communism.

Trzaskowski, as mayor, had signed a tolerance declaration for LGBT people in his city that triggered a nationwide backlash last year. The ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, denounced LGBT rights as a foreign import that threatens Polish identity.

The EU has denounced the anti-gay rhetoric and some EU officials have called for funding to be denied to communities that declared themselves to be “LGBT free” — mostly a symbolic gesture with no legal meaning but which has triggered fear among gays and lesbians.

Duda’s campaign also cast Trzaskowski as someone who would sell out Polish interests to Jewish interests, tapping into old anti-Semitic tropes in a country that was home to Europe’s largest Jewish community before it was decimated by Germany in the Holocaust.

Kaczynski seized on Trzaskowski having said in the past that Poland should still be open to Jewish demands to be compensated for pre-World War II property that was seized from them by the Germans and later the communists.

He said last week it made one question if Trzaskowski really had a “Polish soul” and a “Polish heart.”

Duda also lashed out at a German correspondent and a partly German-owned tabloid for their campaign coverage, alleging there had been “a German attack in these elections.”
The Foreign Ministry last week summoned Germany’s top diplomat to complain about the coverage, while Germany’s government insisted that it was not seeking to influence the elections or the work of a free press.

 

[Plain Jane]

Political clashes fueling Bulgarian protests – DW – 07/14/2020

Bulgaria's president and prime minister are locked in a confrontation after the government refused to resign following a police raid on the president's building. The political tensions are spilling out onto the streets.

www.dw.com

Political clashes in Bulgaria spark protests and outrage
Bulgaria's president and prime minister are locked in a confrontation after the government refused to resign following a police raid on the president's building. The political tensions are spilling out onto the streets.





The protests that have erupted across Bulgaria over the past several days began on a small beach on the Black Sea coast. Hristo Ivanov, one of the leaders of the small centrist political party Democratic Bulgaria, attempted to access the public beach on July 7.

He was prevented from doing so by National Protection Service (NSO) officers. The officers were guarding the nearby mansion of Ahmed Dogan, a former leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party.

Ivanov claims that the government of conservative Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has allowed Dogan to take possession of the public beach, which according to the Bulgarian constitution belongs to the state. He also accused Borisov of allowing Dogan to use the services of the NSO at the Bulgarian taxpayers' expense. Dogan currently holds no public post.

Opposition politician Hristo Ivanov attempted to land on the beach but was prevented by security officers

President versus prime minister
Two days later, in response to Ivanov's accusations, Bulgaria's president, Rumen Radev — who was voted in on the back of support from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the largest opposition bloc as of 2016 — levelled his own criticism at Borisov's cabinet, stating that the NSO should stop guarding individuals like Dogan.

The same day, heavily armed prosecutors entered the presidency building and arrested two members of the presidential administration. According to President Radev and Ivanov, the actions of Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev in ordering the raids showed bias and were motivated by political gain.

Political analysts, such as Professor Evgenii Dainov of the New Bulgarian University in Sofia, have described Geshev as a figure close to Dogan and the MRF. It is believed that Geshev also benefits from the tacit support of Borisov's party, GERB. There are indications that GERB and the MRF — ostensibly an opposition party — actually work together on a number of issues.

Previous GERB governments under Borisov have been entangled in numerous corruption scandals, and Borisov himself is currently being investigated by Spanish prosecutors over alleged participation in a money laundering scheme. The opposition believes that the action taken by the state prosecution against the Bulgarian president is merely a smokescreen to divert public attention and scrutiny from the government's problems.

Meanwhile President Radev and Ivanov have demanded the resignation of both the prosecutor general and the government. However, Prime Minister Borisov has emphatically refused, stating that he remains "unyielding" and that "the opposition will break the country".

President Rumen Radev demanded the resignation of Bulgaria's government

Public anger
Although Borisov's government received a boost of popularity over its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, this recent scandal has managed to unify an otherwise fragmented opposition. Tens of thousands of supporters of Democratic Bulgaria, President Radev, the BSP and fledgling political formations around showman Slavi Trifonov and former ombudswoman Maya Manolova have been marching through the streets of the capital, Sofia, since last week in protest against the government.

Bulgaria is often quoted as an example of state capture. Politicians such as Ahmed Dogan have a disputed, even shady reputation. In a leaked video from 2009, Dogan famously stated that he, and not parliament, held the balance of power in Bulgaria. "I am the instrument of power that portions up state finance," he claimed.

On Saturday Boyko Borisov announced that the NSO would stop providing a security detail for Dogan and Delyan Peevski, a parliamentary representative from the MRF. But the protests continued: by Sunday they had to spread to Varna, Plovdiv and other Bulgarian cities.

The protests have so far remained peaceful. However, there have been occasional reports of excessive use of force by the police, which could further exacerbate societal tensions. It is unlikely that the protests will cool down by themselves: They are a manifestation of widespread anger among the general public and its frustration over political corruption as a whole.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has proved adept at political survival

Borisov is a survivor
Over the years, Borisov, a former fire-fighter and karate champion, has proven adept at survival. If he can use his influence to bring about the resignation of Prosecutor General Geshev, this might inject a degree of calm into the political situation, at least temporarily.
The next round of parliamentary elections is due in spring 2021. According to a survey conducted before the protests, Borisov's GERB leads in the polls and would obtain 21.3% of the vote, BSP 12%, MRF 5%, and Democratic Bulgaria 2.4%.

However, the European Commission has estimated that Bulgaria's GDP will shrink by at least 7% in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, a second wave of the epidemic might be on its way. The negative economic outlook could well destabilise the government still further, taking an even greater toll on Borisov's support base.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Russia-led Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline Could Be Completed Soon

by Tyler Durden
Tue, 07/14/2020 - 05:00
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Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,
A Russian vessel capable of completing the pipelaying for the Gazprom-led Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project left a German port on Wednesday and entered Danish waters where the last section of the controversial pipeline has yet to be completed.

According to vessel-tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon cited by Reuters, Russian ship Fortuna, sailing under a Russian flag, departed from the Mukran port in Germany on the Baltic Sea and moved into Danish territorial waters.

The move comes several days after the Danish Energy Agency allowed Nord Stream 2 AG to use pipelaying vessels with anchors for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipelines. The Danish agency previously allowed self-positioning pipelaying vessels (DP pipe-laying vessels) in the construction permit for the Nord Stream 2 pipelines.
With an anchored Russian vessel, Gazprom could complete the construction of the pipeline in Danish waters. Because of the U.S. sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project from December, Western vessel and technology providers pulled out of the project.
Following the announcement of the sanctions, Switzerland-based offshore pipelay and subsea construction company Allseas immediately suspended Nord Stream 2 pipelay activities.

Russian officials have claimed that Russian firms can complete the project without the help of foreign partners.

U.S. lawmakers, for their part, have been seeking more sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project, which the United States sees as further undermining Europe’s energy security by giving Russian gas giant Gazprom another pipeline to ship its natural gas to European markets.


The U.S. sanctions on the project have divided Europe, with Germany criticizing the U.S. interference in Europe’s energy policies and projects. Germany, the endpoint of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, looks at the economic benefits of the project, while the U.S., including President Donald Trump, have been threatening sanctions on the project and even on Germany over its support for the project.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Skynet Does Brexit: U.K Truckers Delivering To EU Must Now Use The Border's New (Untested) Computer System

by Tyler Durden
Wed, 07/15/2020 - 04:15
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Truck drivers that are looking to take their haul into the EU from the UK now must comply with a new, untested computer system that the EU has set up "to avert chaos" at the border - but will likely wind up causing it.
The system is called the Smart Freight System and it requires drivers to file information electronically and receive approval from tax authorities before being allowed to travel to the border, according to Bloomberg.
The information was detailed in a recent 200 page report called “The Border with the European Union”. The document, reviewed by Zero Hedge, lays out in painstaking detail how products of all sorts should be moved across the border according to whether or not the point of entry has various computer/inventory systems in place.


The systems are being put in place to stop trucks with incorrect paperwork and to prevent traffic jams. The system relies on a system called the Goods Vehicle Movement System - which so far has not been tested - in place in time. The government is aiming for July of next year for the system to be put in place and, in the interim, haulers still need permission from the government before moving goods over the UK/EU border.
The systems and the 200 page manual is likely just the start of the bureaucratic changes that need to take place in order to help the UK continue unfettered trade with its largest trading partner.
The UK's tax authority predicts that in a post-Brexit world, firms will need to file about 400 million extra customs declarations at a price of $41 each. Last week the government rolled out an ad campaign to help prepare businesses for the new changes. The changes couldn't come at a worse time, either: 45% of businesses were found to be unable to prepare for the changes due to the coronavirus.
Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy and public affairs at the Road Haulage Association, said: “Of course clarity is welcome, but this clarity isn’t clear. They unveil an immensely complex customs plan with five months to go. The truth is we needed 18 months to prepare, not five.”



Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the country will spend 705 million new border infrastructure to help facilitate the changes. The government is looking to acquire about a dozen sites along the border to help hold delayed goods and implement customs procedures.

And it's not just truckers that are feeling the new administrative consequences of Brexit. Citizens are being told that if they want to visit the EU, they will now need travel insurance that covers pre-existing conditions. They also won't be able to use pet passports and may now face roaming charges on their cell phones.

 

[Plain Jane]

Armenia-Azerbaijan border fighting escalates; 16 killed

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan forces fought Tuesday with heavy artillery and drones, leaving at least 16 people killed on both sides, including an Azerbaijani general, in the worst outbreak of hostilities in years.

apnews.com

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Armenia-Azerbaijan border fighting escalates; 16 killed
By AVET DEMOURIANyesterday



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Armenian soldiers take their position on the front line in Tavush region, Armenia, Tuesday, July 14, 2020. Skirmishes on the volatile Armenia-Azerbaijan border escalated Tuesday, marking the most serious outbreak of hostilities between the neighbors since the fighting in 2016. (Armenian Defense Ministry Press Service/PanPhoto via AP)

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia and Azerbaijan forces fought Tuesday with heavy artillery and drones, leaving at least 16 people killed on both sides, including an Azerbaijani general, in the worst outbreak of hostilities in years.

Skirmishes on the volatile border between the two South Caucasus nations began Sunday. Azerbaijan said it has lost 11 servicemen and one civilian in three days of fighting, and Armenia said four of its troops were killed Tuesday.

The two neighbors in the South Caucasus have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. International efforts to settle the conflict have stalled.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have frequently engaged in clashes. The current skirmishes appear to mark the most serious spike in hostilities since 2016 when scores were killed in four days of fighting.

The latest incident began Sunday when Armenian and Azerbaijani troops exchanged fire in the northern section of their border. Officials in both countries blamed each other for starting the fighting and said that sporadic shelling has continued.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said two senior officers, Maj. Gen. Polad Hashimov and Col. Ilgar Mirzayev, were killed in fighting Tuesday along with five other servicemen.

Armenian officials claimed that Azerbaijani drones launched an attack on the Tuvush province town of Berd, targeting civilian infrastructure. Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said that one of Azerbaijani drones was downed.

Stepanyan also charged that the Azerbaijani military used civilians as shields, placing artillery close to the village of Dondar Gushchu in the Tovuz district about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the border.

“The Azerbaijani side has surrounded its own population with artillery batteries, making them a target, and then complained that the Armenian forces fired in that direction,” she said on Facebook where she posted images of the Azerbaijani artillery around the village.

The Azerbaijani military denied losing a drone and in turn claimed that its forces shot down an Armenian drone and destroyed an Armenian artillery system along with its crew.

As hostilities continued, Armenia also accused Azerbaijan of launching cyberattacks on Armenian government websites.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday accused Azerbaijan of provoking the clashes and warned that it would “bear responsibility for the unpredictable consequences.” Azerbaijani President Ilhan Aliyev denounced what he described as “another provocation of Armenia” and vowed to protect Azerbaijan’s national territory.

Turkey, which has close ethnic and cultural ties with Azerbaijan, has voiced strong support to Baku in the conflict.

The United States and Russia, which co-chair the Minsk group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that has tried to negotiate a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have condemned the violence and called for restraint.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had separate calls with his counterparts in Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday to call for an immediate ceasefire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Tuesday that Moscow was “deeply worried” about the fighting and stands ready to play mediator.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed worry. His spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said in a statement that the U.N. chief “urges an immediate end to the fighting and calls on all involved to take immediate steps to deescalate the situation and refrain from provocative rhetoric.”
___
Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, contributed to this report.

 

[northern watch]

 

[northern watch]

 

[Plain Jane]

EU leaders extend summit as they haggle over budget, virus

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders on Saturday extended their summit by an extra day in the hope they were finally closing in on a deal for an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund.

apnews.com

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EU leaders resume ‘grumpy’ summit on budget, virus fund
By MIKE CORDER and RAF CASERT39 minutes ago



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From left, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron speak during a meeting on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels, Saturday, July 18, 2020. Leaders from 27 European Union nations meet face-to-face for a second day of an EU summit to assess an overall budget and recovery package spread over seven years estimated at some 1.75 trillion to 1.85 trillion euros. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, Pool)

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders hunted for compromises Saturday on the second day of a summit to reach a deal on an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund, with tensions running high among leaders weary after months of battling the pandemic in their countries.

A full day and night of discussions by the 27 leaders on Friday only added to the irritations over how the huge sums should be spent and what strings should be attached.

The atmosphere “was grumpier” as the talks went on, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte said after Friday’s marathon talks. “This is going to take a while, I think.”
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The EU executive has proposed a 750-billion euro fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the most needy countries. That comes on top of the seven-year 1-trillion-euro EU budget that leaders were fighting over when COVID-19 slammed their continent.

The summit broke up around lunchtime Saturday so that each delegation could discuss the new proposals from host Charles Michel, according to a European diplomat.

The new proposals reduce the proportion of straight-out grants in the rescue package and raise the proportion of loans that will need to be paid back, in an apparent nod to a grouping of “frugal” nations led by the Netherlands, the diplomat said.

But the issue of how to track the rescue money remains the key sticking point, the diplomat said. Michel proposed a measure that would stop short of allowing any country a veto on how governments spend the money.

Another diplomat described Michel’s new proposals as just the first step in what could be a long journey to agreement. Both diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the closed-door negotiations.

Rutte is seen as a leader of four “frugal” nations that want conditions such as economic reforms attached to EU handouts to help countries recover from the hammer blow of the coronavirus.

He met Saturday ahead of the summit for crisis talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giuseppe Conte as well as the leader of the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, and Michel.

One of Rutte’s allies, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, said the talks were not totally stalled. “There is more and more movement in our direction,” he told ORF television.

The pandemic sent the EU into a tailspin with 27-nation bloc’s economy contracting by 8.3% this year, according to the latest predictions. Around 135,000 of its citizens have died from COVID-19.

As leaders met in person for the first time since February, they wore face masks, bumped elbows and sat in a cavernous meeting hall so they could maintain social distancing. Many of their negotiating positions were further apart than their chairs.

After two fruitless sessions Friday, summit host and European Council President Charles Michel met key players - Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron and Hungary’s Viktor Orban - in an attempt to narrow the gaps between them. Orban does not want strings attached to EU funds, Rutte does and Macron is arguing that Europe must show solidarity to claw its way out of the crisis.

Michel is expected to present leaders with possible compromises when the summit resumes, though it remains to be seen if they can reach agreement or will have to schedule another meeting.
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Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis was pessimistic after the first day.
“I don’t have the impression that we are getting close to an agreement,” he said.

Rutte, however, said that despite the mounting acrimony, the talks were creeping forward.
“You make a bit of progress during the day,” he said. “For a start, it helps if you better understand each other’s positions, then you can search for possible compromises.”
____
Associated Press writer Angela Charlton contributed from Paris.

 

[Plain Jane]

Fire at French cathedral in Nantes destroys famed organ

NANTES, France (AP) — French officials launched an arson inquiry Saturday after a fire broke out in the famed Gothic Cathedral of St. Peter and St.

apnews.com

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Fire at French cathedral in Nantes destroys famed organ
By LAETITIA NOTARIANNI and THOMAS ADAMSON17 minutes ago



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Fire fighters brigade work to extinguish the blaze at the Gothic St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral, in Nantes, western France, Saturday, July 18, 2020. The fire broke, shattering stained glass windows and sending black smoke spewing from between its two towers of the 15th century, which also suffered a serious fire in 1972. The fire is bringing back memories of the devastating blaze in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last year that destroyed its roof and collapsed its spire and threatened to topple the medieval monument. (AP Photo/Laetitia Notarianni)

NANTES, France (AP) — French officials launched an arson inquiry Saturday after a fire broke out in the famed Gothic Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul of the western French city of Nantes. The blaze destroyed the organ, shattered stained glass windows and sent black smoke spewing from between the cathedral towers.

Residents and tourists watched aghast, and emergency workers cordoned off the area around the monument, in the historical center of this city on the Loire River.

A City Hall official said the fire broke out Saturday morning inside the cathedral, and the cause is unclear. The official is not authorized to be publicly named. No injuries have been reported.

The local firefighter service said the roof is not affected by the fire and was“under control.”
They brushed aside comparisons with Notre Dame cathedral in Paris whose lead roof and spire burned down in April 2019. For many, the Nantes fire will have brought back memories of that devastating blaze that threatened to topple the medieval monument in the capital.
“After Notre-Dame, the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral, in the heart of Nantes, is in flames. Support for our firefighters who take all risks to save this Gothic jewel of the city,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter.

Saturday’s fire broke the main stained glass windows between the two towers of the 15th-century cathedral, and destroyed the organ, which dated from the 17th century and was called the “soul of the cathedral” by faithful.

“The damage is concentrated on the great organ which appears to be be completely destroyed. The platform on which it is located is very unstable and risks collapsing,“ said Gen. Laurent Ferlay, head of the firefighters in the Loire Atlantique area, during a press briefing in front of the cathedral.

The cathedral had been built over five centuries and completed in 1891. The main organ had previously survived a serious fire in 1972, which annihilated much of its wooden structures.
“It is a part of our history, a part of our heritage” Nantes Mayor Johanna Rolland told reporters. “We all have these images in mind, this story in our hearts, but at this stage the situation does not seem to be comparable to that of 1972.”

That devastation had one upside — the burnt-out wood was replaced by concrete that helped limit the scope of Saturday’s catastrophe, Ferlay said.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex and French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin were among officials planning to visit Nantes Saturday afternoon in reaction to the blaze.
____
Adamson reported from Paris

See this thread:

BRKG - Nantes: Fire breaks out at Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral in the French city of Nantes

And no, I don't think for a moment this is a natural fire - and it started near the Great Orgon - Melodi https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53455142 Nantes: Fire breaks out at Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral 1 hour ago Share this with Facebook Share this with Messenger Share this with...

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Jumbos retired: British Airways bids farewell to Boeing 747s

LONDON (AP) — The “queen of the skies” will no longer don the red, white and blue of the Union Jack after British Airways retired its fleet of Boeing 747s on Friday as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Jumbos retired: British Airways bids farewell to Boeing 747s
By PAN PYLASyesterday

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 18, 2020 file photo, British Airways planes parked at Terminal 5 Heathrow airport in London. British Airways on Friday July 17, 2020, retired its fleet of Boeing 747s with immediate effect as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

LONDON (AP) — The “queen of the skies” will no longer don the red, white and blue of the Union Jack after British Airways retired its fleet of Boeing 747s on Friday as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline, which was the world’s biggest operator of the 747-400 model, had already planned to ground its fleet of 31 of the iconic wide-bodied jets in 2024.

But the pandemic, which has seen most of the world’s planes grounded for the best part of three months, has hastened its journey into retirement, especially as forecasters predict that passenger numbers will remain lower than normal, potentially for years to come.


BA’s predecessor, BOAC, first used the 747 in 1971 and as with many airlines, the plane — affectionately referred to as either the “jumbo jet” or the “queen of the skies” — became a symbol of the new age of mass travel to all corners of the planet. Its days have been numbered, though, in light of new, modern, fuel-efficient aircraft such as Airbus’ A350 and Boeing’s 787.

“It is with great sadness that we can confirm we are proposing to retire our entire 747 fleet with immediate effect,” BA said in a statement.

“It is unlikely our magnificent ‘queen of the skies’ will ever operate commercial services for British Airways again due to the downturn in travel caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic.”

More than 1,500 jumbos were produced by Boeing, and it has historically been a commercial success for the manufacturer and the airlines. But its heyday is long in the past and any sight of the jet, with its distinctive hump at the top, is now a rarity.

Just 30 of the planes were in service as of Tuesday, with a further 132 in storage, according to aviation data firm Cirium.

British Airways’ 747-400s have a capacity of 345 passengers and can reach a top speed of 614 mph (988 kph).

“While the aircraft will always have a special place in our heart, as we head into the future we will be operating more flights on modern, fuel-efficient aircraft,” BA said.

Airlines around the world have struggled to cope with the collapse in demand caused by the pandemic. In the U.K., British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic have all announced job cuts and reduced operations.

Unite, a union that represents many workers in the aviation industry, urged the government to use the retirement of the 747 to bring forward an aircraft scrappage scheme to boost investments in greener aircraft as well as aerospace manufacturing.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would examine the idea of a scrappage scheme for old and highly polluting aircraft.

“British Airways’ retirement of the 747 should be the impetus he needs to put such a scheme into action,” Unite national officer Rhys McCarthy said.
___
Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and Understanding the Outbreak

 

[Plain Jane]

Scientists confirm remains belong to the last tsar of Russia – DW – 07/18/2020

After decades of mystery, the Russian Investigative Committee has concluded that they have found the bones and remains of Nicholas II and his family. The imperial family was executed during the Russian revolution.

www.dw.com

Russia: Forest bones confirmed to be last tsar of Russia and the Romanov family
After decades of mystery, the Russian Investigative Committee has concluded that they have found the bones and remains of Nicholas II and his family. The imperial family was executed during the Russian revolution.





Human remains discovered in a forest near the Russian city of Yekaterinburg belonged to the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and members of his family, the Russian Investigative Committee announced on Friday in a statement.

Since renewing investigations, the Committee has carried out about 37 different forensic examinations.

"Based on numerous expert findings, the investigation has reached the conclusion that the remains belong to Nicholas II, his family and persons from their environment," the Committee said.

Senior investigator Marina Molodtsova told Russian newspaper Izvestia that, "Based on the expert molecular-genetic findings, the remains of the two people, discovered in the summer of 2007 near the burial site of nine other victims, belong to the daughter and son of Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov. Biological kinship with both parents has been established for both Alexei and Maria."

Research is still ongoing, including investigations into how the Russian imperial family was killed.
Read more:Putin's Russia 'is not an empire' despite Crimea annexation

Romanov family shrouded in mystery
Nicholas II, his German-born wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children, Anastasia, Maria, Tatiana, Olga and Alexei, were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918 in the midst of the Russian Revolution.

The Russian Orthodox Church had recognized the ex-tsar as a martyred saint in 1981.
The bodies of the last members of the Romanov dynasty were originally said to have been thrown into a mineshaft, before being burned and hurriedly buried by the killers.

Alexandra Romanova, a spokeswoman for the investigation, told Izvestia that "Our experiments denied the version that the bodies of the victims were destroyed with sulphuric acid and burned."

The remains were first tracked down by amateur historians in 1979, although the discovery was only revealed in 1991 when investigators announced the discovery of the remains of nine people in a burial site in a forest near Yekaterinburg.

They were said to have belonged to the imperial family including Nicholas II, his wife and daughters Anastasia, Tatiana and Olga, as well as their doctor and servants.

In 2007, researchers conducting an archeological dig south of the original burial, found the remains of what they believed were the two remaining children — Alexei and Maria.

The finding led to the reopening of the investigation into the case and the exhumation of the remains of the family.



Watch video04:01
Exhibition on the Romanovs of Russia

 

[Plain Jane]

Warsaw's mean strawberry streets – DW – 07/17/2020

The wholesale price of strawberries is down in Warsaw, but producers say they still have a problem getting rid of their fruit as some buyers have worked out how to extract big profits.

www.dw.com

Poland: The dark side of Warsaw's strawberry market
The wholesale price of strawberries is down in Warsaw, but producers say they still have a problem getting rid of their fruit as some buyers have worked out how to extract big profits.





Like any good market, there is a buzz about Bronisze fruit and vegetable trading exchange near Warsaw. It is 8 a.m. and strawberry sellers are already well into discount sales at the huge open-air site, 15 minutes by car west of central Warsaw. "Turn up toward the end and you can get some real bargains," one of the buyers says. "They just want to clear up and go home."

The 24-hour wholesale market is full of muscular short-haired men in a uniform of white socks, black sneakers, little black leather pouches packed with wads of cash tied around black shorts. Legia Warszawa tattoos abound. Phones buzz incessantly, eyes darting here and there and cash shifting fast between hands, those involved in these micro calculations working out in real time how each of the multiple variables affecting prices may evolve over the course of their day.

As I take a photo, an older man approaches. "Do you know what RODO is," he starts, referring to the legal requirement to ask the person whose picture is being taken if the photographer has their permission. He does not give his permission, when asked. The small crowd of middle aged farmers watching our exchange seems to grow in size and get closer. But, luckily for me, their eyes are more on the weather than me.

"It might pick up," says one seller, a farmer from 30 kilometers (22 miles) west of Warsaw. "But it might not," his toothless partner — standing in a puddle from an overnight rainstorm — half snorts. They may not look like Gordon Gekko, but there are arbitrage and hedging strategies going on here that would make Wall Street traders blush.

Warsaw's Bronisze fruit and vegetable market

Retail prices on the increase
Wholesale prices of strawberries in Poland are down this summer to 5 zlotys (€1.1, $1.3) a kilogram from 6.5 zlotys last year. But retail prices are rising. How so? Some suggest the price volatility is mainly due to COVID-19, which has played havoc with staff recruitment, and the up and down weather this summer. When the weather can change within minutes from tropical rain to dry summer heat, demand is impossible to predict.

"One day they sell quickly, the next they take a few hours," a trader says. "Sometimes traders will buy a larger container of strawberries and on the way to the sales outlets in the city, the weather will change and the price will tumble. What do you do then?" he asks.

On the supply side, strawberries do not like a lot of water, and when the heat comes it makes them rot quickly, he adds. The quality of this year's strawberry harvest is down, says Bozena Nosecka from the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics. "Strawberry volumes may be the same as last year, but their quality is worse," she said. Recent heavy rainfall and storms have destroyed many fruit plantations. For consumers, prices are also higher in part because buyers include the cost of risk like spoilage in the price.

Fruits and vegetables waiting to be bought at the Bronisze exchange

Big business
Meanwhile, since the Polish government introduced some of Europe's toughest lockdown measures in mid-March, an estimated 150,000 of the million or so Ukrainians living in Poland — its largest migrant group — left the country and Poland has a shortage of strawberry pickers.

In 2019, 175,000 tons of strawberries were picked — down from 195,600 tons a year earlier. According to the Polish Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, this year's strawberry harvest will not be lower than in 2019. There are about 50,000 hectares of strawberry crops in Poland. Depending on the weather, 180-200 million kilos are picked annually, making Poland the second largest producer in Europe.

Most strawberries are exported in frozen form, the majority to the EU market, led by Germany with 38%. Only about 6% go for immediate consumption, mostly sold on the domestic market. The agriculture ministry said this year that more strawberries were entering the local market without releasing exact figures.

Illegal sales
The Mokotow District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, which is a part of the ministry of justice, says trade at the retail stands that dot the city generates millions of zlotys of losses for the state budget. Everything is done without cash registers, so traders do not pay taxes and most likely employ people on the side — they usually recruit the unemployed, minors or foreigners, including increasingly Ukrainians.

The Bronisze fruit and vegetable trading exchange is on the outskirts of Warsaw
Senior inspector Slawomir Smyk, a spokesperson for the city inspectors, says that fellow inspectors usually know who is responsible for illegal trade. The traders drive luxury cars, which they register with family members, others say off the record. "Just look at the car park," one tells me.

"Yes, in Warsaw the problem of illegal trade exists. People engaged in illegal trade are usually employed by larger, organized groups," says Smyk, adding that their bosses employ the elderly or the unemployed. "But as a result of many years of municipal inspectors activities, illegal trade has been significantly reduced in Warsaw," he says.

The city inspectors cannot do much, though, imposing fines that few pay. Officially usually cannot intervene "at source" as the offense is committed by the person who is doing the physical selling. According to the inspectors in the most popular places, goods worth tens of thousands of zlotys often disappear in a few hours and they pay the sellers 20 to 40 zlotys per day. So, if someone gets a ticket of up to 500 zlotys, they usually don't pay. "A fine is usually an ineffective form of punishment because traders do not have a stable income," Smyk adds.

The city inspectors controls whether there are weights on the spot, whether prices are displayed next to the goods being sold, can identify the seller, impose a fine or make a request for punishment in court. "Those who commit this practice often violate tax, sanitary and order or epidemiological regulations," the city inspectors says.

Cases often involve the inspectors seizing the goods. When they manage to take the goods, they are transported to cold room storage until the court decides what to do with them, Smyk says.

"Then brawls can begin, like the one that occurred at the beginning of June," says Smyk. On this occasion acid was thrown at the inspectors. Their official vehicles have also been vandalized. Smyk says there is no dedicated group of officers to combat illegal trade in the city and traders adapt fast, recently putting grills on their vans, so the guards cannot extract the goods.

 

[Plain Jane]

Interesting...

Concertgoers wanted for coronavirus experiment – DW – 07/17/2020

German researchers have called for 4,000 volunteers to attend a pop music concert and help them assess the risks of coronavirus transmission. All participants would need to test negative for the virus before taking part.

www.dw.com

Healthy concertgoers wanted for German coronavirus experiment
German researchers have called for 4,000 volunteers to attend a pop music concert and help them assess the risks of coronavirus transmission. All participants would need to test negative for the virus before taking part.




Pop singer Tim Bendzko (center) would be performing at the event

As Germany mulls return of sports fans to the stands, a team of medical researchers is organizing an experiment that would see thousands of volunteers attend a pop music concert.

On their website, the team warned of the dangers brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

"Difficult decisions must be made to avert these dangers," the scientists from the Halle teaching hospital wrote.

At the same time, they warned that the ongoing ban on large crowds poses "an existential threat for many athletes and artists, who depend on their audience for income."


Tracked every five seconds
The scientists hope to recruit 4,000 participants who would gather in the Leipzig arena on August 22. The volunteers, aged 18 to 50, would have to have previously been tested for the coronavirus and only those who test negative would be allowed to take part. The entertainment would be provided by pop singer Tim Bendzko to bring "the behavior of the audience as close as possible to reality," the organizers said.

The researchers would provide FFP2 filter masks to reduce infection risks. They would also be giving out a fluorescent disinfectant which — in addition to providing another layer of protection — would let the scientists track surfaces most often touched by audience members. Most importantly, the volunteers would be given a device which would track their movements and their distance to the other attendees.

"The biggest challenge, I think, would be the evaluation of data," project leader Stefan Moritz was quoted as saying by the German DPA news agency.

"Because we would need to measure contacts to all other participants within a 30-meter radius every five seconds throughout an entire day," he added.

Apart but together
The organizers plan to run the audience through three possible scenarios, starting with the one where nobody is distancing, then moving on to one with stricter hygiene measures and slower entry to the participants, and finishing with the volunteers sitting in the stands at a recommended social distance of 1.5 meters (6 feet). The final scenario would require only 2,000 volunteers to take part at the Leipzig venue, which has a capacity of some 12,000.

Researchers hope the experiment will help them come up with a mathematical model that could be used to avert outbreaks stemming from large venues.

The project should help "identify possible frameworks under which artists and athletes could once again play and perform after September 30," the researchers said on their website.

 

[Plain Jane]

This didn't go well!

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Europe Is Being Blackmailed": Scandal Erupts As EU Remains Deadlocked Over Critical Recovery Fund

by Tyler Durden
Sun, 07/19/2020 - 17:36
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It was supposed to be a "simple" European affair, where a bounce of finance minister sat down and agreed to spend all the debt that the ECB would buy up, and boost their economies. Alas, there is no such thing as "simple" in Europe, and after a third day of "marathon summit talks" - as the FT put it and for good reason as it is already the longest EU meeting since December 2000 in Nice - over Europe’s proposed €750BN response to the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday, the European Union once again failed to overcome gulfs that have split north and south, and east and west, and may send the Euro - which has soared in recent weeks - tumbling lower as without a finalized recovery fund Europe's economy is set to disintegrate (even more).
The protracted summit in Brussels, which began on Friday morning, has laid bare deep differences over the size, design and conditions attached to a planned multibillion-euro package of loans and grants designed to revive Europe’s economy after months of hibernation.

Yet even the biggest skeptics expected that it would be concluded by Sunday night, alas as Bloomberg reports European Union efforts to agree on the stimulus package faltered late Sunday "as leaders were unable to reconcile differences over how much of the recovery fund should be distributed through grants versus low-interest loans."

Sunday's chaos was to be expected after the summit in Brussels was "suspended in acrimony" in the early hours of Saturday morning, after it became obvious just how stern resistance to handing out billions in grants would be.
One direct consequence of the impasse is that the total €750BN facility has already been cut to at most €650BN as European Council President Charles Michel floated a new proposal that would reduce the size of handouts to 400 billion euros, down from an original 500 billion euros, according to a Bloomberg source. meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, joined by his Austrian, Danish and Swedish counterparts - known as the Frugal Four - rejected the new offer, and stood by a pledge to limit grants to 350 billion euros.
"Frugal Four": Sebastian Kurz, chancellor of Austria, Mette Frederiksen, prime minister of Denmark, Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands and Stefan Lofven, prime minister of Sweden
The impasse is hardly a surprise, as the Covid pandemic has pitted a group of richer “frugal” member states — Austria, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands — against the likely biggest recipients of EU pandemic emergency funds. But leaders also clashed over how to police countries’ respect for the rule of law, with Hungary’s Viktor Orban facing off against western leaders over proposals to hardwire respect for fundamental rights into the recovery plan.
Meanwhile, the recently anti-frugal Germany, together with France, who have the backing of most of the bloc, are insistent that at least €400 billion of the package must be handouts in order to shield the fragile economies of southern Europe from the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
And just as Germany was bashed by Europe's Mediterranean states, now it is the Netherlands' turn to become the most hated nation in Europe. As the FT reported on Saturday quoting diplomats, "much of the ire at the summit table was directed at Mark Rutte. The Dutch prime minister’s insistence on a national veto over the spending of recovery money led to tensions with other capitals that boiled over during an ill-tempered late-evening dinner."

The mood was summed up by a heated exchange over dinner when Boyko Borisov, the Bulgarian leader, accused Rutte of wanting to be “the police of Europe” by handing himself the right to decide if countries’ national reform plans were ambitious enough to justify EU financial support.
Rutte told journalists after the dinner that his demands left fellow leaders “more irritated” but insisted that all countries were “fighting for their view”.
Needless to say, the mood wasn't any better by Sunday, when Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that "Europe is being blackmailed," as frustration with the Dutch-led group boiled over.
Still, despite the inability to find a consensus over the size of the stimulus package, there is still hope and talks continued into the evening.

Europe has long had a habit of getting "deals" done just milliseconds before the final deadline and this time is expected to follow along, especially since investors have already priced in a deal after a series of bold announcements in recent weeks, leaving leaders under intense pressure to bridge their differences before financial markets open on Monday. Yet as Bloomberg notes, "they’ve largely been going around in circles since talks began on Friday morning as they struggle to bridge the familiar fault lines between the richer North and the southern countries worst affected by the pandemic."
“Ideally the agreement should be ambitious in terms of size and composition of the package, broadly along the lines of what has been proposed by the commission,” European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in response to a question from Reuters. “It is better to agree on an ambitious facility even if it takes a bit more time.”
That said, one can't really blame Rutte for refusing to drown future generations of Europeans in massive debt. In fact, one can argue that the "Frugal four" is the last bastion of fiscal conservatism anywhere in the world.
Rutte and his allies have been trying to water down the handouts that the highly indebted South sees as critical for shoring up its finances. While Saturday proved less bad-tempered and more constructive than Friday’s gathering, it was still difficult to discern much progress.
“Until now what we have seen is the commission, the president of the council and the majority of member states making an effort to come closer to four countries,” Portugal’s Antonio Costa said. “They also have to make some effort.”

The 27 leaders are meeting in person for the first time since February, when initial talks over the EU’s seven-year, 1 trillion-euro budget also ran into the buffers. Now, facing a devastated economy, "investors are looking to the group to muster a display of unity to maintain the rally in stocks" as Bloomberg puts it because just imagine an insane world where stocks ... gasp... drop!
“The will to find a compromise should not make us renounce the legitimate ambitions which we must have,” Macron said Sunday. “In the coming hours we will see if the two are compatible.”


“Things are moving in a fairer direction,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said. “I personally would find it a real shame if it was abandoned.”

Meanwhile, in keeping with the European tradition of herding cats, the deliberations have proven to be a baptism of fire for Michel, the former Belgian Prime Minister, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who drew up the original plan. They only took up their jobs in December and have faced stinging criticism from governments over their handling of the pandemic response.

Merkel and Macron have been pressing for an agreement before the summer but haven’t yet been able to bring their weight to bear to force a result. The bloc’s two largest economies are seen as crucial power brokers and they were photographed sitting on a sunny terrace as they searched for a breakthrough.

“We’re entering the third day of talks and it certainly is the decisive one,” Merkel said on Sunday morning. “It’s possible there will be no agreement today.” And with just a few minutes left until Sunday becomes Monday, Merkel will likely be right.
* * *
Finally, here are some less then upbeat thoughts from Saxo's Head of Macro Analysis, Christopher Dembik, who is right in concluding that this will represent another "missed opportunity for the EU to create a powerful solidarity instrument based on debt mutualisation that would be macro-significant and constitutes a strategic move towards completing the monetary union. It also shows how deep is the EU fragmentation"

I have been following the EUCO meeting since it has started on Friday. Clearly, this is not Europe’s Hamilton moment, but this is a great telenovela !
PM X. Bettel has just announced he is leaving EUCO for Luxembourg to lead a government council on COVID-19. He is planning to come back to Brussels later tonight…
In other words, don’t expect any agreement to be reached in the coming hours.
The best case scenario is a foul compromise in the night…It is already the longest EUCO meeting since Nice in December 2000…
I see at least three main points of disagreements:

• Over the rule of law (rift between East and West)
• Over volumes of the EU recovery plan and governance (rift between North and South)
• Over EU leadership (this meeting is also about the future balance of power in post-Brexit EU)

I acknowledge it is probably too early to jump to conclusions but I think it is safe to say that if we get a deal in the night or later on in July, the original proposal is likely to be watered down – which means that this is again a missed opportunity for the EU to create a powerful solidarity instrument based on debt mutualisation that would be macro-significant and constitutes a strategic move towards completing the monetary union. It also shows how deep is the EU fragmentation…
This is not what we have been dreaming of…

 

[Plain Jane]

At least they're still meeting.

EU nations clinch $2.1T budget, virus aid deal after 4 days

BRUSSELS (AP) — Weary but relieved, European Union leaders finally clinched an unprecedented 1.82 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday, somehow finding unity after four days and as many nights of fighting and wrangling over money and power in one of their

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Insults, slammed fists: EU virus summit goes into 4th day
By RAF CASERT and SAM PETREQUIN6 minutes ago



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German Chancellor Angela Merkel wears a protective face mask as she arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, Monday, July 20, 2020. Leaders from 27 European Union nations stretch their meeting into a fourth day on Monday to assess an overall budget and recovery package spread over seven years. (Francois Lenoir, Pool Photo via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Weary and bleary, European Union leaders on Monday geared up for a fourth day of fighting over an unprecedented 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund, barely recovered from a weekend of walkouts, fists slamming into tables and insults.

With a brilliant sun warming the negotiating sundeck at the Europa summit center early Monday, there finally was a glimmer of hope that the talks to help the continent emerge from the pandemic through an unprecedented economic aid package aren’t doomed after all.

It took a heart-tugging dinner speech by European Council President Charles Michel about leaders not failing their union, French President Emmanuel Macron slamming his fist in anger into the table, and a new set of budgetary numbers to send this already epic summit onward.

“There were extremely tense moments. And there will be more that no doubt will still be difficult. But on content, things have moved forward,” said Macron, stressing his continued partnership with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Without Franco-German agreement, the EU has never taken momentous steps.

“An extraordinary situation demands extraordinary efforts,” Merkel said as the leaders were heading into one of the bloc’s longest summits ever. It was planned as a two-day summit scheduled to have ended Saturday, but deep ideological differences between the 27 leaders forced the talks into two extra days.

Overall, spirits had picked up since the talks reached rock bottom Sunday night.
“It looks more hopeful than when I thought during the night: ‘It’s over,’” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the target of much of criticism for keeping a compromise impossible.

Rutte, defending the cause of a group of five wealthy northern nations — the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Denmark — sought to limit costs and impose strict reform guarantees on any rescue plan for needy nationss. He came under criticism from Macron, Italy and Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked why the Dutchman had such “hate” toward him.

Rutte took it in stride.

“We are not here because we are going to be visitors at each other’s birthday party later. We are here because we do business for our own country. We are all pros,” he said.

On Sunday night, after three days of fruitless talks and with hope dimming, Michel implored leaders to overcome their fundamental divisions and agree on the budget and recovery fund.
“Are the 27 EU leaders capable of building European unity and trust or, because of a deep rift, will we present ourselves as a weak Europe, undermined by distrust,” he asked the leaders.
“I wish that we succeed in getting a deal and that the European media can headline tomorrow that the EU succeeded in a Mission Impossible,” Michel said.

The pandemic has sent the EU into a tailspin, killing around 135,000 of its citizens and plunging its economy into an estimated contraction of 8.3% this year.


The bloc’s executive has proposed a 750 billion-euro coronavirus fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the countries hit hardest by the pandemic. That comes on top of the seven-year 1 trillion-euro EU budget that leaders had been haggling over for months even before the pandemic hit.

Even with Macron and Merkel negotiating as the closest of partners, the traditionally powerful Franco-German alliance could not get the quarreling nations in line.

At their dinner table Sunday night, the leaders mulled a proposal from the five wealthy northern nations that suggested a coronavirus recovery fund with 350 billion euros of grants and the same amount again in loans. The five EU nations — nicknamed “the frugals” — had long opposed any grants at all, while the EU executive had proposed 500 billion euros.
The latest compromise proposal stands at 390 billion euros in grants.

All nations in principle agree they need to band together but the five richer countries in the north, led by the Netherlands, want strict controls on spending, while struggling southern nations like Spain and Italy say those conditions should be kept to a minimum. The five have been pushing for labor market and pension reforms to be linked to EU handouts and a “brake” enabling EU nations to monitor and, if necessary, halt projects that are being paid for by the recovery fund.

“He can’t ask us to do specific reforms,” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said,
Rutte and others also wants a link to be made between the handout of EU funds and the rule of law — a connection aimed at Poland and Hungary, countries with right-wing populist governments that many in the EU think are sliding away from democratic rule.
That drew Orban’s anger.
___
Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak

 

[Melodi]

A number of things in Ireland have been postponed because the "Prime Minister" is stuck at the meeting.

The participates know that if they don't "solve" this one (or at least paper it over) the end of the EU has probably begun (officially not just unofficially).

In the short term, if they can't sort something out (I think they will, at least on paper) but if they don't there may be a "Northern League" or something that is essentially the "Frugal Countries" possibly with a few outliers like Ireland, formed.

It might not be an official break up of the EU yet, but if that Northern Alliance starts to form, all bets are off.

 

[northern watch]

 

[Plain Jane]

Let's hope that this isn't lipstick on a pig.

EU agrees on $2.1 trillion deal after marathon summit

BRUSSELS (AP) — After four days and nights of wrangling, exhausted European Union leaders finally clinched a deal on an unprecedented 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday, after one of their longest summits ever.

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EU agrees on $2.1 trillion deal after marathon summit
By RAF CASERT and SAMUEL PETREQUIN2 hours ago



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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and French President Emmanuel Macron prepare to address a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Tuesday, July 21, 2020. Weary European Union leaders finally clinched an unprecedented budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday, finding unity after four days and as many nights of fighting and wrangling over money and power in one of their longest summits ever. (John Thys, Pool Photo via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — After four days and nights of wrangling, exhausted European Union leaders finally clinched a deal on an unprecedented 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund early Tuesday, after one of their longest summits ever.

The 27 leaders grudgingly committed to a costly, massive aid package for those hit hardest by COVID-19, which has already killed 135,000 people within the bloc alone.

With masks and hygienic gel everywhere at the summit, the leaders were constantly reminded of the potent medical and economic threat the virus poses.

“Extraordinary events, and this is the pandemic that has reached us all, also require extraordinary new methods,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

To confront the biggest recession in its history, the EU will establish a 750 billion-euro coronavirus fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the hardest-hit countries. That is in addition to the agreement on the seven-year, 1 trillion-euro EU budget that leaders had been haggling over for months even before the pandemic.

“The consequences will be historic,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “We have created a possibility of taking up loans together, of setting up a recovery fund in the spirit of solidarity,” a sense of sharing debt that would have been unthinkable not so long ago.

Merkel said, “We have laid the financial foundations for the EU for the next seven years and came up with a response to this arguably biggest crisis of the European Union.”

Despite Macron and Merkel negotiating as the closest of partners, the traditionally powerful Franco-German alliance struggled for days to get the quarreling nations in line. But, even walking out of a negotiating session in protest together over the weekend, the two leaders bided their time and played their cards right in the end.

“When Germany and France stand together, they can’t do everything. But if they don’t stand together, nothing is possible,” said Macron, challenging anyone in the world who criticized the days of infighting to think of a comparable joint endeavor.

“There are 27 of us around the table and we managed to come up with a joint budget. What other political area in the world is capable of that? None other,” Macron said.

At first, Merkel and Macron wanted the grants to total 500 billion euros, but the so-called “frugals” — five wealthy northern nations led by the Netherlands — wanted a cut in such spending and strict economic reform conditions imposed. The figure was brought down to 390 billion euros, while the five nations also got guarantees on reforms.

“There is no such thing as perfection, but we have managed to make progress,” Macron said.

The summit, at the urn-shaped Europa center, long laid bare how the nations’ narrow self-interests trumped the obvious common good for all to stand together and face a common adversary.

Rarely had a summit been as ill-tempered as this one, and it was the longest since a five-day summit in Nice, France, in 2000, when safeguarding national interests in institutional reforms long was a stumbling block.

“There were extremely tense moments,” Macron said.

Still, considering every EU leader had the right of veto on the whole package, the joint commitment to invest and spend such funds was hailed as a success.

The days and nights of brutal summiteering will surely have left many wounds between member states, but as history has proven, the EU has an uncanny gift to quickly produce scar tissue and move on.

“We all can take a hit,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. “After all, there are presidents among us.”

Despite bruising confrontations with Merkel, Macron and his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte, Rutte maintained that “we have very good, warm relations.”

Conte also didn’t have time to dwell on grudges. With 35,000 Italians dead from COVID-19 and facing EU estimates his economy will plunge 11.2% this year, he had to think ahead, of things big and small — from getting cash to businesses still trying to get a foothold after the lockdown to getting school desks.

In order to open in September, his country needs up to 3 million new desks, to substitute old-fashioned double and triple desks so students can keep a proper distance.

’’We will have a great responsibility. With 209 billion euros, we have the possibility to relaunch Italy with strength, to change the face of the country. Now we must hurry. We must use this money for investments, for structural reforms,” Conte said. Spain faces similar challenges.

Even if Tuesday’s agreement was a giant leap forward, the European Parliament, which has called the moves of the member states too timid considering the challenge, still has to approve the deal.

Rutte and others also wanted a link to be made between the handout of EU funds and the rule of law — a connection aimed at Poland and Hungary, countries with right-wing populist governments that many in the EU think are sliding away from democratic rule.

In its conclusion, the European Council underlined the “importance of the respect of the rule of law” and said it will create a system of conditionality aimed at preventing member states from getting subsidies from the budget and recovery fund if they don’t abide by its principles.

But Tuesday was a moment to revel in the achievement itself. What was planned as a two-day summit scheduled to end Saturday was forced into two extra days by deep ideological differences among the 27 leaders.
___
Colleen Barry contributed from Soave, Italy.
Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak

 

[Melodi]

I saw this when I woke up this morning and thought: "I was correct, Northern Europe (aka the Frugal Five) caved."

I knew they probably would, because otherwise instead of the EU being likely to fall apart gradually over the next several years, it might very well have been history by this coming weekend.

 

[Plain Jane]

This is being reported on local radio news.

Ukraine hostage-taker surrenders, bus passengers unharmed

LUTSK, Ukraine (AP) — An “unstable” armed man who seized more than a dozen hostages on a long-distance bus in Ukraine's western city of Lutsk was detained late Tuesday after a standoff that lasted for over 12 hours and all hostages were freed unharmed, officials said.

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Police: Armed man holding some 20 people hostage in Ukraine
an hour ago



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In this image take from video, the scene as streets are closed off, with an armoured security vehicle and police car, right, after an armed man seized a bus and took some 20 people hostage in the city centre of Lutsk, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Kyiv, Ukraine on Tuesday July 21, 2020. The assailant is armed and carrying explosives, according to a Facebook statement by Ukrainian police. Police officers are trying to get in touch with the man and they have sealed off the area. (AP Photo)

LUTSK, Ukraine (AP) — An armed man seized a bus and took some 20 people hostage in northwestern Ukraine on Tuesday, Ukrainian police said.

Police sealed off the center of Lutsk, a city 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Kyiv,. The assailant is armed and carrying explosives, they said in a Facebook statement.

Police officers are trying to get in touch with the man. He called the police himself at 9:25 a.m. (0725 GMT) after taking control of the bus and introduced himself as Maksim Plokhoy, Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said on Facebook.

Gerashchenko said there is a book online, signed by Maksim Plokhoy and titled “Philosophy of a criminal,” describing a man’s experience in prison.

“For 15 years they’ve been correcting me, but I haven’t been corrected, on the contrary — I’ve become even more who I am,” one extract from the book said, according to Gerashchenko.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov is flying to Lutsk.

Ukrainian media reported that gunshots could be heard at the scene. It wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone has been injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he is personally monitoring the situation. “Gunshots have been heard, the bus is damaged,” Zelenskiy said in a Facebook statement, adding that measures are being taken to resolve the situation without casualties.