USA: At Mount Rushmore rally, Trump says anti-racism protesters working to 'wipe out our history'

 Speaking to a largely maskless crowd at Mount Rushmore, U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that protesters have waged "a b merciless campaign to wipe out our history" amid demonstrations against  racial injustice and police brutality.

Read more at:
At Mount Rushmore rally, Trump says anti-racism protesters working to 'wipe out our history' | CBC News

USA - Wholesale - Costco: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

When Costco president W. Craig Jelinek once complained to Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal that their monolithic warehouse business was losing money on their famously cheap $1.50 hot dog and soda package, Sinegal listened, nodded, and then did his best to make his take on the situation perfectly clear. 

"If you raise [the price of] the effing hot dog, I will kill you," Sinegal said. "Figure it out."

Read more at: The Enduring Enigma of Costco's $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

USA: Hundreds of Thousands Sign Petitions Urging the U.S. Government to Declare KKK a Terrorist Group

Hundreds and thousand people are declaring that the Ku Klux Klan be listed as a terrorist organization, with several online petitions rapidly gaining support.

A number of change.org petitions have gone viral this week demanding the white supremacist hate group be classified as terrorists, prompting them to be included among the top trends on Twitter.

One such petition calling for the KKK to be declared a terrorist organization reached 100,000 signatures before it closed.

The white supremacist hate group are currently only listed as a domestic extremists, who are prosecuted differently to terrorists.

Read more at: 
Hundreds of Thousands Sign Petitions Urging the U.S. Government to Declare KKK a Terrorist Group:

International Travel - President Trump: Europeans Can Soon Travel to US

Europeans from countries with low rates of Coronavirus infections maysoon be eligible to travel to the United States, President Donald Trump hinted at a press conference.

While presenting the fifth proclamation barring entry into the US for foreign
nationals who were physically present in Brazil within 14 dayspreceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States, Trumptold journalists that entry to the country would soon be possible for some travellers from Europe.

Read more at:
President Trump: Europeans Can Soon Travel to US - SchengenVisaInfo.com

USA - a thoroughly corrupt political process: Billionaires got $565 billion richer during the coronavirus pandemic

American billionaires are now nearly 20% richer — by $565 billion,to be exact — than they were at the start of the coronavirus pandemic,according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies

Six billionaires, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Tesla's Elon Musk, and Zoom's Eric Yuan, have seen their net worths grow by more than $2billion each since March, according to the think tank's analysis of Forbes' Billionaires List.

The coronavirus crisis has been an economic disaster for the rest of America, as an end unprecedented 42.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the past 11 weeks.

Note EU-Digest: This is another major problem facing America, and has resulted in the overwhelming influence Corporate America has on the political environment of the US and beyound. What's been happening with White House and Congressional politics could only be described as a thoroughly corrupt process, with the blessings of a Supreme Court dominated by justices hand-picked to protect the same process.

Read more at:
Billionaires got $565 billion richer during the coronavirus pandemic - Business Insider

NATO's Jens Stoltenberg has a wet dream : "NATO must become more political and global", says alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg

NATO needs to become politically stronger in order to face the challenges of the next decade, the head of the alliance said on Monday, highlighting that the rise of China is "fundamentally shifting the global balance of power".

Note EU-Digest: Yes indeed this is a wet dream, specially given the derogatory comments  President Trump of the US has made about European members of the NATO

Read more at:
NATO must become more political and global, says alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg | Euronews

Suriname: Washington, the Hague Should Not Sidestep Events in Suriname - by Even Ellis

On May 25, voters in Suriname decisively rejected the National Democratic Party (NDP) of incumbent President Desi Bouterse. Bouterse’s NDP declined from 26 seats in the 51 seat National Assembly to 16, behind the 20 won by Chandrikapersad Santokhi’s United Reform Party (VHP). Despite Bouterse’s occupation of the office since August 2010, Santokhi is now poised to replace him.

The VHP has formed an alliance with three other parties, the National Party of Suriname (NPS), the Brotherhood and Unity in Politics (ABOP) party, and Pertjajah Luhur, leaving it one seat short of the 34 to choose the president.

In a system characterized by shady deals, shifting alliances, and political intrigue, Bouterse has ample resources, and strong motivation to avoid ceding power.

A generation of business and military elites have their fates tied to him through past patronage. Leaving the presidency implies losing the immunity which has protected Bouterse 1999 narcotrafficking charges in the Netherlands, and his conviction in Suriname for the 1982 murder of 15 opponents.

Read more at:
Washington, the Hague Should Not Sidestep Events in Suriname | Newsmax.com

Europeans don’t trust the US or Trump, poll says - by Annabelle Timsit

Donald Trump has damaged America’s standing in the world in his three years as president, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Europe.

A new report (pdf), published by the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR),  found that Europeans “no longer believe that the US can serve as the guarantor of their security.” They also overwhelmingly favor neutrality rather than siding with the US on global issues. The survey covered more than  60,000 people across 14 European Union member states, including France, Slovakia, Poland, and Spain.

Read more at: Europeans don’t trust the US or Trump, poll says — Quartz

US Economy: New wave of U.S. layoffs feared as coronavirus pain deepens

 Job cuts by U.S. state and local governments whose budgets have been
crushed fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and more second-wave layoffs in
the private sector likely contributed last week to a 10th straight week
of more than 2 million Americans seeking unemployment benefits.

Read more at:
New wave of U.S. layoffs feared as coronavirus pain deepens - Reuters

Trump will lose in a landslide because of the economy, new election model predicts

The economy has gone from President Donald Trump's greatest political asset to perhaps his biggest weakness.

Unemployment is spiking at an unprecedented rate. Consumer spending is vanishing. And GDP is collapsing. History shows that dreadful economic trends like these spell doom for sitting presidents seeking reelection.

The coronavirus recession will cause Trump to suffer a "historic defeat" in
November, a national election model released Wednesday by Oxford
Economics predicted.

Read more at:
Trump will lose in a landslide because of the economy, new election model predicts - CNN

Netherlands lands in crossfire in US-China trade war

A Dutch semiconductor company has become the focus of international attention after the United States put pressure on The Hague to halt exports of machines to China. Like many European countries, the…

Read more at:
http://www.rfi.fr/en/science-and-technology/20200504-the-netherlands-lands-in-crossfire-in-us-china-trade-war-coronavirus-asml-superconductor

USA: Trump's Nazification of the GOP is why there's serious discussion of killing off the 'unfit'

Under Donald Trump, the Republican Party is racing toward a  transformation that mimics the greatest evil of the 20th century. Long  before the Nazis fully engaged with genocidal murder against the Jews, there were persecutions of people deemed "unfit."

These were people whom Adolf Hitler’s extremists arbitrarily deemed  insufficiently able to contribute to the greater German society. They included the infirm, people with learning disabilities, the mentally  ill, those suffering from epilepsy, the physically disabled, and those sruggling with alcohol issues.

According to the Nazis' white supremacist ideology, those  people were not only impediments to their quest in perfecting their  master race, but were also economic burdens to society. The Nazis  started a campaign of propaganda to mock them. They were called  "unworthy of life” and labeled as "useless eaters." The propaganda even  expanded to math textbooks, which were revised to include arithmetic problems on how much it costs to care for these undesirables. This was the first stage.

Read more at: Trump's Nazification of the GOP is why there's serious discussion of killing off the 'unfit'

USA Immigration: Trump to sign order to suspend immigration into U.S. - Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-usa-immigration/trump-to-sign-order-to-suspend-immigration-into-u-s-idUKKBN223087

EU - Germany confirms that Trump tried to buy firm working on coronavirus vaccine

Read more at
Germany confirms that Trump tried to buy firm working on coronavirus vaccine – POLITICO

The Netherlands - US Relations: Florida governor: sick passengers on cruise ship cannot be 'dumped' here "as a result Fort Lauderdale could be branded world-wide as an inhumane tourist destination"

The Florida Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has said passengers on a coronavirus-stricken cruise trip cannot be “dumped” in his state, casting further doubt over where two vessels carrying hundreds of people will be a two vessels carrying hundreds of people will be allowed to dock.

Two people have tested positive for the disease and dozens are ill with flu-like symptoms on the Zaandam luxury cruise liner, which has not been able to dock after several Latin American countries closed their ports in response to the global pandemic.

Hundreds of North American, Australia, Dutch and British citizens are in isolation in their rooms and a boat-to-boat operation is underway to move some healthy travellers to a sister ship, the Rotterdam, over the weekend.

But there are fears that sick, elderly passengers and crew members will be left stranded at sea during a global pandemic, with some on board isolating in small, humid cabins with no natural light or fresh air.
Holland America Line, which owns the cruise ship, confirmed on Friday that four elderly passengers had died onboard. It is not clear whether they died after catching Covid-19.

“Unfortunately, four of our fellow guests have passed away – one last night, two yesterday and one a few days ago,” the ship’s captain Captain Jan Smit said in an announcement, which was obtained by The Guardian. “We are still seeing both guests and crew with symptoms reporting to the medical center. The situation continues to grow more challenging each day.”

Both ships are presently on their way to Fort Lauderdale.

Note EU-Digest: Both Ships - the Zaandam and the Rotterdam use Fort Lauderdale as their cruise base and all passengers on the ships boarded in Fort Lauderdale before any US travel restriction were issued. 

Florida  Governor Ron DeSantis better realize that if he does not allow all passengers of these cruise ships to disembark in Fort Lauderdale, so they can be properly taken care of and treated, that Florida will be branded around the world as an inhumane tourist destination.  

EU-Digest

Coronavirus: 'Viruses don't carry passports:' Why travel bans won't work to stop spread of COVID-19

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to restrict travel from most European countries to try to contain what he called a "foreign virus" isn't grounded in science and breaks international law, experts say. 

 Read more at 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid19-travel-bans-1.5495919

The Netherlands: Foreign Minister Blok to review travel advice to US in wake of Trump's ban

The Dutch government is to review its travel advice to the US after president Donald Trump imposed a 30-day travel ban on all 26 countries in the Schengen zone, including the Netherlands.

The ban will take effect from 5am on Saturday and apply to all non-US citizens. Some tour operators, including TUI, cancelled trips immediately because of concerns that their customers would not be able to return home. Foreign affairs minister Stef Blok, who is in Indonesia with the king and queen on a state visit, said the ban on travel from Europe was ‘potentially very disruptive’. 

‘We have a lot of traffic in terms of people and trade,’ he said. ‘We are now assessing whether we need to adjust our travel advice to the United States’.

Read more: Foreign Minister Blok to review travel advice to US in wake of Trump's ban - DutchNews.nl

EU-US Relations: U.S. to Ban Travel From EU for 30 Days with the exception of Britain due to coronavirus -

In a televised address 0n Wednesday 11th of March  Trump said travel from 26 European countries would be suspended for the next 30 days.Britain would be excluded/

But he said the "strong but necessary" restrictions would not apply to the UK, where 460 cases of the virus have now been confirmed.

here are 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus across the US, with 38 deaths.

"To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe," Mr Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.

"The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight," he added. The travel order does not apply to US citizens.

Note Almere - Digest : Unbelievable, what a confusing message. No details of the fundamentals in his speech. No empathy, no common sense advice, just blaming other countries, and band-aid solutions.It sounded more like a man who was unhappy that it was raining on his parade. What is next? Marshall law, so Trump can become the first official US dictator?

Almere-Digest

US Economy Meltdown: Dow plunges over 2,000 points, oil collapses amid price war and coronavirus - by Jonathan Garber

U.S. equity markets tumbled Monday after an oil price war broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia and amid new cases of coronavirus, especially in America.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	23851.02	-2,013.76	-7.79%
SP500	S&P 500	2758.65	-213.72	-7.19%
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	7985.59538	-590.02	-6.88%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 2,000 points lower, coming back from a point drop of more than 2,150 points, or 8.2 percent, at session lows while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were lower by 7.9 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

Monday's sharp selloff, which caused the major averages to be temporarily halted due to volatility, caused the New York Federal Reserve to increase its daily cash injections into the banking system to $150 billion from $100 billion.

The stock-market's steep slide comes after a production dispute between OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia, and Russia sent West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, plunging by as much as 33.8 percent, the most since the outbreak of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, to a low of $27.34 a barrel in overnight trading. The energy component finished the day down 24.59 percent at $31.13 a barrel.

Note EU-Digest: This is what happens when the US elects a President who is a complete "ignoramas", lies like there is no tomorrow, says he knows more about the Corona Virus than the medical profession, brags he is the best deal maker in the world, wants only "yes men" in his cabinet, and unfortunately, that is "only the top of the Trump iceberg drama".

Read more at: Dow plunges over 2,000 points, oil collapses amid price war and coronavirus | Fox Business

Climate Control: Europe Looks To Pass 2050 Net Zero Carbon Goal Into Law

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The European Commission proposed on Wednesday enshrining the European Green Deal’s commitment for carbon neutrality by 2050 into legislation, as part of the European Union’s heightened focus on climate action and policy.

Under a European Climate Law, the 2050 carbon neutrality target would become legally binding, and all EU institutions and member states will be collectively bound to take the necessary measures at EU and national level to meet that target.

The Climate Law would enshrine into law the EU’s political pledge to become climate neutral by 2050, the Commission said, noting that the proposed law is a crucial part of the European Green Deal, which the EU’s executive arm proposed at the end of last year.

“We are acting today to make the EU the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050,” the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Climate Law is the legal translation of our political commitment, and sets us irreversibly on the path to a more sustainable future. It is the heart of the European Green Deal. It offers predictability and transparency for European industry and investors. And it gives direction to our green growth strategy and guarantees that the transition will be gradual and fair,” von der Leyen noted.

Note EU-Digest: In the meantime yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to expand the scope of its already dangerous plan to limit the science the agency can consider when developing critical public health and environmental safeguards.

EPA’s original “Censored Science” proposal, released in April 2018 by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, would effectively bar the agency from considering critical research when making decisions around protecting human health and the environment. The newly-released supplemental proposal would apply these restrictions to an even wider array of scientific studies, further imperiling EPA’s ability to protect our health and ecosystems from environmental harms including climate change, air pollution, water pollution and other toxic chemical exposures.

Read more at: Europe Looks To Pass 2050 Net Zero Carbon Goal Into Law | OilPrice.com