Middle East: Sales of US arms fuels the wars of Arab states - by Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper

To wage war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is using F-15 fighter jets bought from Boeing. Pilots from the United Arab Emirates are flying Lockheed Martin's F-16 to bomb both Yemen and Syria. Soon, the Emirates are expected to complete a deal with General Atomics for a fleet of Predator drones to run spying missions in their neighborhood.

As the Middle East descends into proxy wars, sectarian conflicts and battles against terrorist networks, countries in the region that have stockpiled American military hardware are now actually using it and wanting more.

The result is a boom for American defense contractors looking for foreign business in an era of shrinking Pentagon budgets — but also the prospect of a dangerous new arms race in a region where the map of alliances has been sharply redrawn.

Read more: Sales of US arms fuels the wars of Arab states

Pollution - US, China contribute most 'mountains' of electronic waste

The United States and China contributed most to record mountains of electronic waste such as cellphones, hair dryers and fridges in 2014 and less than a sixth ended up recycled worldwide, a U.N. study said on Sunday. Overall, 41.8 million tonnes of “e-waste”—defined as any device with an electric cord or battery—were dumped around the globe in 2014 and only an estimated 6.5 million tonnes were taken for recycling, the United Nations University (UNU) said.

“Worldwide, e-waste constitutes a valuable ‘urban mine’, a large potential reservoir of recyclable materials,” said David Malone, the U.N. under-secretary-general and rector of UNU.
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The report estimated that the discarded materials, including gold, silver, iron and copper, was worth some $52 billion.

The United States led e-waste dumping with 7.1 million tonnes in 2014, ahead of China on 6.0 million and followed by Japan, Germany and India, it said.

Read more: Americas - US, China contribute most 'mountains' of electronic waste - France 24

Germany: ‘Game of Drones’: heart of US strike operations ‘in Ramstein, Germany’ - by Alasdair Sandford

Top-secret intelligence is said to indicate that the hi-tech heart of America’s drone programme is in Germany.

An anonymous high-level source is quoted in a joint investigation by The Intercept website and Der Spiegel magazine as saying that the US military base at Ramstein performs an essential function in the lethal strikes carried out in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa.

“Without Ramstein, drones could not function, at least not as they do now,” the source is quoted as saying.

Two years ago, allegations that the huge U.S. base in Germany was being used to facilitate drone strikes caused massive controversy. In response, Berlin claimed it had no hard evidence of Ramstein’s role.

Use of the military base is on condition that the Americans do nothing there that violates German law.
The new evidence in a series of slides is said to give details of how Ramstein relays crucial information, enabling drone operators in the American Southwest to communicate with their remote aircraft in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.


The new claims may embarrass the German government, already accused of failing to challenge Washington over Ramstein’s role.

Note EU-Digest: Once again another sign how weak and fearful Europe (the EU) is when it comes to dealing more firmly with  the US. When the US says "jump", the EU always answers "how high"?  

To make matters worse, terrorism confronting the EU and other European nations on our home territory has never been at higher levels than today as a result of these totally failed US Middle East policies and  the US "success" in dragging the EU into their Middle East "escapade"s. Why doesn't the US base their drones on US territory instead of Germany and  also take up the millions of refugees fleeing into Europe as a result of this debacle of theirs in the Middle East ? Maybe instead of burdening Europe with this problem, these refugees could at least help to populate  some of the US's sparsely populated  states like Wyoming, Maine, Alaska and Montana.

Read more: ‘Game of Drones’: heart of US strike operations ‘in Ramstein, Germany’ | euronews, world news

Mediterranean Disaster: Fears that 30,000 migrants could die crossing Mediterranean in 2015

A dire warning has been issued as survivors of Sunday’s shipwreck arrived in Sicily, after a disaster that left up to 900 people dead.

It is feared that if Mediterranean migrant deaths continue at the same rate, more than 30,000 people could drown before the year is through.

The warning comes from the International Organisation for Migration.

From the United Nations Refugee Agency too, the statistics are grim.

“April 2015 has truly been the cruellest month, the highest numbers that we have seen for deaths in any month on the Mediterranean,” UNHCR Spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Geneva.

“We have had so far this year 1,776 reported dead on the Mediterranean.”
Europe is soul-searching after this worst such tragedy in living memory.

 Read more: Fears that 30,000 migrants could die crossing Mediterranean in 2015 | euronews, world news

Greece - Poll: 42.86 % in Eu-Digest Poll say that Greece should not remain in Eurozone

In a recent (March 22 - April 22 ) EU-Digest poll,  42.86 % of the poll respondents said Greece should not remain in the Eurozone, while 28.57 % said they should be given more time to pay off their debt and an equal percentage said they should stay in the Eurozone regardless.

Our new April 22 - May 22 poll reflects the deteriorating refugee - migrant problems facing the EU and asks the following questions

1) EU should block migrants from leaving African and Mediterranean coasts

2)The EU should process migrants and refugees who reached EU shores as legal immigrants

3) The EU done an effective job in coping with this problem so farand should not do anything else

EU-Digest

Italy: Christian migrants thrown overboard into Mediterranean en route to Italy

Italian police arrested 15 Muslim migrants on Thursday suspected of throwing about a dozen Christians from a boat in the Mediterranean as it headed to Italy. Police in the Sicilian capital Palermo said they had arrested the men, from Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal after survivors reported they had thrown 12 people from Nigeria and Ghana to their deaths and threatened other Christians.

The 15 were arrested on charges of multiple homicide motivated by religious hatred.

“The motive for the resentment was traced to their faiths,” police said. “Twelve people are said to have drowned in the waters of the Mediterranean, all of them Nigerian and Ghanaian.”

The survivors’ account underscores the rising chaos in the Mediterranean, which thousands of migrants, many fleeing war and deprivation in Africa, try to cross in rickety boats in the hope of a better life in Europe.

In a separate incident the same day, another 41 migrants were feared drowned after their boat sank en route to Italy, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

Around 20,000 migrants have reached the Italian coast this year, according to the IOM, fewer than arrived in the first four months of last year, but the number of deaths has risen almost nine-fold.

Read more: Europe - Christian migrants thrown overboard into Mediterranean en route to Italy - France

Say No To TTIP (US-EU): The world’s largest free trade zone is coming – what will it mean?

The US, on the other hand, is the largest commercial grower of GM crops in the world. It wants the EU’s regulatory process to be harmonized.
 
The EC says the trade deal will not see laws changing on GMOs: “Basic laws, like those relating to GMOs or which are there to protect human life and health, animal health and welfare, or environment and consumer interests will not be part of the negotiations.”

Friends of the Earth in Europe said: “US negotiators at the talks have been clear that one of their main aims is to increase market access for US agri-business and hormone and anti-biotic treated meat and poultry  products.

Note EU-Digest: This agreement known as TTIP would be a disaster for the EU similar to what NAFTA turned out to be for Mexico and Canada, and give US multi-nationals an even greater influence over our lives than they already have. The prosperity TTIP claims it will be creating is total nonsense. We can only hope the EU parliament does not fall for it.

Read More: The world’s largest free trade zone is coming – what will it mean? | euronews, world news