EU-US Relations: Trump 'weakened' West, hurt EU interests says German FM

Germany unleashed a volley of criticism against US President Donald Trump, slamming his "short-sighted" policies that have "weakened the West" and hurt European interests.

The sharp words from Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Monday came after Trump concluded his first official tour abroad, which took him to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Brussels and then Italy for a G7 summit.

They followed Chancellor Angela Merkel's warning on Sunday that the United States and Britain may no longer be completely reliable partners.

Germany's exasperation was laid bare after the G7 summit that wrapped up on Saturday with the US refusing so far to sign up to upholding the 2015 Paris climate accord.

Note EU-Digest: With an unpredictable nationalist in the White House, it is better too late than never for the EU to focus on its own interests rather than those of the US, which are totally opposite to those of the EU. Specially in the area of Global Warming, Trade, and Middle East policies.Compliments to Germany for clearly pointing this out to the other members of the EU.    

Read more: Trump 'weakened' West, hurt EU interests: German FM | USA News | Al Jazeera

Internet Communications: EU set to launch thousands of free WiFi hotspots

The EU's top bodies have agreed to provide free internet access in thousands of cities and towns across Europe. The "WiFi4EU" bid would see public places, like parks and libraries, install EU-funded hotspots by 2020.

The free internet scheme would apply to all member states, officials said on Monday, after the EU parliament, the EU Council, and the EU Commission reached an informal agreement on the plan.

The plan would focus on places where connectivity is limited and for people who have trouble accessing the Internet otherwise. The so-called WiFi4EU initiative is part of a larger EU overhaul on communication.

"WiFi4EU is a welcome first step, but much more needs to be done to achieve high-speed connectivity across the whole EU territory," said Andrus Ansip, the EU Commission's vice president on Digital Single Market, according to the German DPA news agency.

According to the deal, the EU is set to fund the project with some 120 million euros ($133.6 million) over the next two years. This money would be used to support installation of "state-of-the-art" WiFi equipment for at least 6,000 to 8,000 local communities, the EU Commission said on its website.

Read  more: EU set to launch thousands of free WiFi hotspots | News | DW | 30.05.2017

The Netherlands: Edith Schippers fails and hands over cabinet talks to new chief negotiator

Efforts to form a new Dutch cabinet took a new turn on Monday when Edith Schippers, who has led the talks so far, said she wanted to hand the job over to a new negotiator.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: Edith Schippers hands over cabinet talks to new chief negotiator http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2017/05/edith-schippers-hands-over-cabinet-talks-to-new-chief-negotiator/

Tjeenk Willink

Efforts to form a new Dutch cabinet took a new turn today, Monday, May 29, when Edith Schippers, who has led the talks so far, said she wanted to hand the job over to a new negotiator.

Tjeenk Willink (75) helped negotiate previous cabinets in 1994, 1999 and 2010. 

He is also a friend of the former queen Beatrix and one of her closest advisors. 

In her final report, handed over to parliament today Monday, May29,  Schippers said there were objections to every potential coalition and that this meant she had completed her task. Tjeenk Willink, who has said he is willing to take on the job, must start by asking different combinations of parties to the negotiating table immediately, the former health minister said.

The results of the election have created a complicated situation, Schippers said. ‘The result demands a formation process which will take time. Parties have to take a step towards the others because there are wide differences in policy.’

However, Schippers refused to talk of deadlock. ‘Standpoints have been taken but they could change in the next phase,’ she said. The Netherlands has been without a government since March 15 when the general election was held. Two attempts to form a new government have failed so far.

The VVD emerged as the biggest party with 33 seats, followed by the anti-immigration PVV on 20, and CDA and D66 on 19. The big parties have all ruled out working together with Geert Wilders’ PVV unless he takes back discriminatory comments about Moroccans.

Read more: Edith Schippers hands over cabinet talks to new chief negotiator - DutchNews.nl

Monaco Grand Prix: Sebastian Vettel wins his first Monte Carlo race since 2001

Lewis Hamilton had a mountain to climb if he wanted to taste victory in Monte Carlo and close his gap on Sebastian Vettel, who is at the top of the championship standings.

It did not work out for the Brit and once again Vittel was the big winner.  

2017   Monaco Grand Prix    -  Formula One World Championship

May 28  -  Circuit de Monaco  -  78 laps  -  162 miles

Leaderboard - Final		Points	Time/Lag	Avg. mph
1	Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari	25	1:44:44.340	149.105
2	Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari	18	+3.145 Sec	149.03
3	Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull	15	+3.745 Sec	149.016
4	Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes	12	+5.517 Sec	148.974
5	Max Verstappen - Red Bull	10	+6.199 Sec	148.958

 EU-Digest

US Political System: A week that reveals how rotten today’s Republican Party (US Political System) is - by Jennifer Rubin

Disaster: level explosive

President Trump has had more-scandalous weeks. He has had weeks with more bombshell bad-news stories. But no week has matched this one in revealing the moral and intellectual rot at the center of the GOP. Pandemic intellectual dishonesty and celebration of uncivilized conduct now permeate the party and its support in the conservative ecosystem. Consider what we saw and learned this week:

• Trump in Saudi Arabia disclaims any concern for human rights.
• Trump bullies NATO allies in public (and physically shoves one leader).
• Trump’s budget is built on a rickety scaffold of math errors, economic nonsense and fantasyland predictions.
• Trump’s advisers defend massive cuts to the safety net, coupled with huge giveaways to the rich.
• The Congressional Budget Office score, which the House did not require before voting on a mammoth health-care bill, confirms that GOP leaders falsely claimed they protected people with preexisting conditions.
• Trump’s lawyers contemptuously swat away a request for information relating to his receipt of foreign monies, finding that it is too impractical to abide by his own promise and the Constitution.
• Trump has nothing but praise for thuggish autocrats, including Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
• Trump continues to pursue a Muslim ban, repeatedly struck down by the courts as bigotry disguised under the cloak of national security.
• A GOP congressional candidate, conclusive evidence suggests, attacks a reporter and apparently lies about it (he later apologizes for actions he denied less than 24 hours earlier), but party leaders do not repudiate him or demand that he withdraw.
• Jared Kushner, the beneficiary of egregious nepotism, now is a focus of the FBI’s Russia investigation, bringing a once-in-a-lifetime scandal one step closer to the presidency.
• Sean Hannity is forced to stop propagating a detestable hoax about a young man’s murder; Fox News after a week withdraws the original false report without much explanation or an apology.

This is the state of the GOP (and the US political system) — a refuge for intellectual frauds and bullies, for mean-spirited hypocrites who preach personal responsibility yet excuse the inexcusable.

Note EU-Digest: One can not only blame the Republicans for this political mess, but must also include Democrats and voters in general for creating it.   This is not business as usual, it is the recipe for disaster and the collapse of Western Democracy as we know it.

Read more: A week that reveals how rotten today’s Republican Party is - The Washington Post

Middle East: Egypt strikes Libya after deadly bus attack against Coptic Christians

Egypt's president says his air force struck bases in Libya where militants who waged a deadly attack against Christians have been trained, but gave no details.

Senior officials said that the bases are in eastern Libya. They said the warplanes on Friday targeted the headquarters of the Shura Council in the city of Darna, where local militias are known to be linked to al-Qaeda.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi says Egypt will strike at any bases that train militants who wage attacks in Egypt, wherever they may be. He also directly appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump to take the lead in the fight against global terror.

In a televised address just hours after at least 28 Coptic Christians, including two children, were killed by militants south of Cairo, el-Sissi said "I direct my appeal to President Trump: I trust you, your word and your ability to make fighting global terror your primary task."

He also repeated calls that countries that finance, train or arm extremists be punished.

Read more: Egypt strikes Libya after deadly bus attack against Christians - World - CBC News

Saudi Arabia: Solar phenomena above Islam’s Kaaba expected on first day of Ramadan

The National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics in Egypt has announced that the first day of this year’s Ramadan, which is set to take place on Saturday, will witness something unique: the sun will rise perpendicularly over the Kaaba at 12:18 local Mecca time, during the noon prayer.

The institute added on that at 12:18 on Saturday, the shadow of the Kaaba will disappear, and the direction of the sun at any point in the world will be the exact direction of the Qiblah, the direction where Muslims must pray toward the Kaaba.

The department in charge of researching the Sun’s activities at institute said in a statement on its official Twitter account that the elevation angle of the sun at the time of the Zuhr prayer will be 89.93 degrees above the Kaaba, that is only 0.07 degrees away from being 100% vertical at 90 degrees.

This phenomenon occurs twice a year: the first will be on May 27 and the second on July 15. However, what is special this year is that it coincides with the first noon prayer of Ramadan. 

EU-Digest