Israel: Netanyahu questioned for second time in graft probe

Police were questioning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday for a second time as part of a probe into whether he illegally accepted gifts from wealthy supporters, media reports said.

Police declined to comment on the reports.

Read more: Flash - Netanyahu questioned for second time in graft probe: reports - France 24

The Netherlands: Far-right party still leading in Dutch polls, despite leader’s criminal guilt

Volendam is a village of clogs, canals, cheese – and anger. A former fishing village-turned-tourist-haven north-east of Amsterdam on the Markermeer lake, it offered one of the country’s strongest turnouts for far-right populist Geert Wilders the last time the country went to the polls.

Wilders was found guilty of inciting discrimination at a rally where he called for “fewer Moroccans”. His supporters in this overwhelmingly white, conservative town see the trial and verdict as political persecution of a maverick anti-establishment champion.

“We don’t like what the government does so we support him,” said Wim Keizer, curator of the Volendam museum, a small building filled with tableaux of families and fishermen in traditional dress, including a dog-drawn cart and the cabin of a North Sea fishing skiff.

Wilders’ Freedom party (PVV) has risen from being a rightwing gadfly of the Dutch establishment to one of the most powerful forces in national politics, remaking the image of a nation once regarded as a beacon of liberal values. It is currently leading in polls ahead of national elections next year.

Read more: Far-right party still leading in Dutch polls, despite leader’s criminal guilt | World news | The Guardian

EU decoupling from US? Asia, Europe must not give into protectionism: Former Italian PM Letta

Even as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump practices economic patriotism, Asia and the European Union (EU) must not respond with protectionist policies of their own, former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta warned on Friday.

"I strongly believe protectionism is the wrong answer, we need to manage the social consequences of globalization but we have to continue with progress as well," he told CNBC on the sidelines of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Conference in Singapore.

As the current dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po, Letta said Europe and Asia must continue inking bilateral trade agreements, such as the EU-Vietnam and EU-Indonesia deals currently underway, to strengthen their relationship amid expectations for the U.S. to isolate itself from global trade.

"The big problem of globalization today is how to manage the subsequent social and demographic transitions, it is a welfare problem."

In regards to the future of his home country, Letta said Italy's outlook depended on the EU's unity.
"When European integration is weak, Italy suffers. Italy is a country that needs the euro and a strong commitment to completion of the EU."

With elections due in France and Germany, as well as greater detail on Brexit, 2017 will mark "a turning point" for Europe, he continued. If these events confirm Europe's ability to stick together, Italy will do well, he said.

Read more: Asia, Europe must not give into protectionism: Former Italian PM Letta

Banking Industry: still free wheeling

The book:The U.S." Government and the Major Banks:Justice for Sale at the Bazaar-By Frank Vogl "

notes:

"To date, not a single top banker has been put on trial, let alone sent to prison, for the frauds perpetrated by the institutions they lead".

Obviously the question is Who is kidding whom ?-  

Bottom-Line: Hanky - Panky Capitalism still alive and well.

EU-DIGEST

Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium begin joint air policing - by Nicholas Fiorenza

 Two Belgian Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter aircraft began the joint air policing of the airspace of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (Benelux) on 1 January.

The Belgian fighters will be on 15-minute quick reaction alert (QRA) for the first four months of 2017, after which two Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) F-16s will take over.

The arrangement was agreed by the Benelux in March 2015. Until the end of 2016, two Belgian F-16s were on QRA for Belgium and Luxembourg and two Dutch F-16s for the Netherlands.

Belgian Defence Minister Steven Vandeput described the arrangement as "ground breaking". Similarly, his Dutch counterpart, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called it a "milestone", adding, "The pilots and fighter aircraft we thereby free up can be deployed elsewhere, for example in the UN, EU or whatever other context." The agreement will also allow more flight training, Vandeput pointed out.

Vandeput said no other countries trust each other to deal with air threats within each other's' borders. The authorities of the country over which an air threat emerges can now give instructions to the fighters on QRA, whether Belgian or Dutch. The Belgian defence minister would do so through the control and reporting centre in Glons, Belgium, while the Dutch minister for security and justice would do the same through the air operations control station in Nieuw Milligen, the Netherlands. The defence minister of Luxembourg is the responsible authority of the Grand Duchy.

The technical agreement on Benelux air policing was signed on 21 December 2016 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, by the commander of the Belgian Air Component, Major General Frederik Vansina, his RNLAF counterpart, Lieutenant General Dennis Luyt, and Luxembourg's ambassador to the Netherlands, Pierre-Louis Lorenz.The two Belgian F-16s currently on QRA are bas

Read more: Netherlands and Belgium begin joint air policing | IHS Jane's 360

Weapon dealers: ISIL ramps up fight with weaponised drones-weapns dealers should be arrested not protected

Why aren't the weapon dealers who sell terrorists weapons arrested?

As fighting raged in eastern Mosul on a recent afternoon, a black Humvee arrived at an Iraqi army command post with a collection of plastics, electronics and rotor blades lashed to its back.

Soldiers leaped to unload the cargo, which comprised the remnants of the latest tool in ISIL's armoury: drones.

The haul included a number of small devices of the kind favoured by filmmakers and hobbyists, costing a few hundred dollars apiece. But there were also larger, fixed-wing craft fashioned out of corrugated plastic and duct tape, apparently made by the fighters themselves.

Since mid-2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has held Mosul, after sweeping through northern Iraq in a shock offensive.

It is now their last urban stronghold in the country, and for more than two months, the Iraqi army's operation to retake the city has met fierce resistance, including snipers, ambushes and suicide attacks using explosive-laden trucks. Drones have been used for reconnaissance and to relay instructions to suicide bombers, said General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi, a commander with the elite counterterrorism service in eastern Mosul.

"They use them to give directions to suicide car bombs coming towards us, as well as to take pictures of our forces," Saadi told Al Jazeera.

In the past, ISIL has used drones in Iraq and Syria for general intelligence-gathering, as spotters for mortar firing, and even for filming propaganda videos. Soldiers have regularly spotted these drones over army positions on the outskirts of Mosul, prompting bursts of gunfire skywards.

But there is a fresh threat, Saadi said: ISIL has begun to use the drones themselves as weapons. "They also use a new tactic, where the drone itself has a bomb attached to it," he explained.total of 37,910 organs from living and deceased persons were donated in 2015.

Note EU-Digest:The question that must be asked - who sold the drones to ISIS? Why are they not persecuted or are the weapons sold by the same people who say they are "fighting" ISIS  so they can perpetuate the wars against terrorism forever?

Read more: ISIL ramps up fight with weaponised drones | ISIS | Al Jazeera

US Economy: Re-Energized Dollar Looms Over the Rest of the World - by Ira Iosebashvili

On Wall Street, the rising dollar has been one of the most visible signals of growing optimism in the U.S. economy. For many other countries, it spells trouble.

Most analysts expect the U.S. currency to strengthen in 2017, extending a gain  that has boosted the value of US Dollarby more than one third since the US credit downgrade in 2011.

Note EU-Digest: the strength of the US economy could also be a Wall Street Fata Morgana created by Wall Street and the corporate controlled press - time will tell.

Read more: Re-Energized Dollar Looms Over the Rest of the World - WSJ