Spain Terrorist Attacks: King Felipe joins thousands on anti-terrorism march

Hundreds of thousands marched in Barcelona in a show of unity on Saturday evening, with chants of “I am not afraid”, after two terrorist attacks in the Spanish region of Catalonia last week left 15 dead.

The march was led by shopkeepers and residents of the city’s central boulevard, Las Ramblas, where a van ploughed into pedestrians on 17 Aug, killing 13 and injuring over 100.

The crowd applauded representatives of the police, fire services and medical professions, who were also prominent.

Spain’s King Felipe VI, prime minister Mariano Rajoy and the head of Catalonia’s regional government, Carles Puigdemont, dressed in dark suits, walked in the throng as people cheered while carrying red, yellow and white roses – the colours of Barcelona.

Read more: Spain attacks: King Felipe joins thousands on anti-terrorism march | World news | The Guardian

European Railways: Why interrailing as an adult is the best way to explore Europe - by Chris Beanland

Interrailing should be a compulsory teenage rite of passage – no wonder the EU recently floated the idea of giving out free passes to all 18-year-olds. What better way to protect this beautiful, but fragile union than by showing the next generation what they have in common with each other and how many hi-jinks they can get up to in neighbouring European countries?

It was my first taste of independent travel too – 17 summers ago, though it seems like yesterday. Back then it was a Karrimor loaded with band T shirts, Lonely Planet Europe On A Shoestring and bank robber sacks of change for telephone boxes. This time, instead of sleeping cars, hostels and that tangy scent of socks, there were nice hotels and the scent of understated luxury. Three’s Feel At Home free roaming contract and my iPhone brought the whole experience into the 21st century, and meant home was only the touch of a button away.

It was a cultural whip round the first time, but it was also a piss up – getting out of your tree being the sine qua non of teenage travelling – that resulted in lost cash cards, nearly getting into fights on night trains and passing out on deck chairs on Positano Beach. And I met so many people – this was social networking avant la lettre, coming across fellow flaneurs from Australia, Canada, Finland, and making firm friends, if not for life then at least for a night.

Interrailing as an adult was much more relaxed and even more cultured, with less boozing and earlier mornings. I sped through Rotterdam’s Docklands on a watertaxi, climbed all over Tomas Saraceno’s incredible spiderweb netting art installation five floors above the ground of Dusseldorf’s Modern Art Gallery, had a sneak preview of some of the exhibits at Kassel’s famous art festival, Documenta (documenta.com), saw Eileen Gray furniture at Munich’s Design Museum, drank at Wes Anderson’s Bar Luce in Milan’s Fondazione Prada, and explored Novi Belgrade’s mind-blowing brutalist architecture.

The food was better this time around too. Back in 2000 I had inadvertently explored the premise “how can a human function on pizza alone for three weeks?” shortly after enduring the very worst meal of my entire life (do not ever accidentally order the minced heart and lung soup at Worgl station buffet).

This time I ate mushroom arancini with a vegetable mayonnaise in an old swimming pool in Rotterdam (alohabar.nl) and fresh white asparagus at the BMW Welt’s restaurant. Even the train food was good – on Deutsche Bahn’s ICE I chowed down on lamb kofte with yoghurt and mashed carrots in the Bordrestaurant.

Read more: Why interrailing as an adult is the best way to explore Europe | The Independent

Insurance Industry: Is your insurance business an ‘omnichannel’ business?

Omnichannel: It’s a buzzword that’s thrown around a lot in business circles, but what does it really mean, and is your business an omnichannel business?

While at its essence, omnichannel simply means to offer multiple channels, in the modern business landscape a true omnichannel business is considered one that offers a seamless customer experience across various platforms – and it’s increasingly important for insurers to get right.

Earlier this month, the insurance industry was warned to do more to stop creating problems for its customers, as ratings for the sector slipped compared to last year. In a competitive market, insurance companiesmneed to differentiate themselves by more than just price, we were told by The Institute of Customer Service.

But alongside providing customers with a problem-free experience, insurance firms need to focus on becoming genuine omnichannel businesses which offer consumers a smooth journey, according to The Institute’s CEO.

“We talk a lot about omnichannel and the need to have lots of different channels, but often organizations we force people to use a particular channel,” Jo Causon told Insurance Business. Today, it’s no longer enough to simply be present on a range of platforms – consumers want to be able to carry out the service that they require on the channel of their choosing.

Recent evidence suggests the industry hasn’t quite got to grips with that idea yet: a survey ranking UK general insurers on their digital offerings found that just 4% offered full digital claims services, forcing customers to pick up the phone.

Read more: Is your insurance business an ‘omnichannel’ business? | Insurance Business

Netherlands - Terrorism: Rotterdam incident: Police stop van containing gas cylinders as rock concert cancelled over 'terror threat'

City of Rotterdam

Police in the Netherlands say they have stopped a van with Spanish number plates containing a number of gas bottles, as a terror alert in Rotterdam triggered the cancellation of a concert by an American rock band.

The band, Allah-Las, was due to play on Wednesday evening at the Maassilo venue.

Concert organizer Rotown released a statement saying they had been advised by the authorities to cancel the show.

It came after the van, parked near the venue, was discovered by police.

Rotterdam's mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, said the van's driver had been detained and was being questioned.

Mr Aboutaleb said the concert was cancelled after a tip-off from Spanish police, who are continuing to investigate a twin terror attack in Catalonia that left 15 people dead.

A counter-terrorism official said late on Wednesday the detained van was not connected to the recent vehicle attacks in Spain.

Definition of Terrorists: "A group of mentally disturbed, brain-washed people, who do not respect  "democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs."

Read more: Rotterdam incident: Police stop van containing gas cylinders as rock concert cancelled over 'terror threat' | The Independent

Spain: Suspect in Spain terrorist attacks says imam planned to blow himself up in Barcelona

A judge ordered two of the four surviving suspects in the extremist attacks in Spain held without bail, another detained for 72 more hours and one freed with restrictions Tuesday after the men appeared in court to answer questions about the events that killed 15 people.

National Court Judge Fernando Andreu issued his orders after quizzing the four about the vehicle attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, as well as about the fatal explosion at a bomb-making workshop that police said scuttled the group's plot to carry out a more deadly attack at unspecified Barcelona monuments.

The judge said there was enough evidence to hold Mohamed Houli Chemlal, 21, and Driss Oukabir, 28, on preliminary charges of causing homicides and injuries of a terrorist nature and of belonging to a terrorism organization. Houli Chemlal also has an additional charge of dealing with explosives.

Read more: Suspect in Spain attacks says imam planned to blow himself up in Barcelona - World - CBC News

Afghanistan: Trump to expand US military intervention in Afghanistan - by Julian Borger

In a televised address to troops at Fort Myer in Virginia on Monday night, Trump outlined what he claimed was a new strategy for Afghanistan and south Asia. But he did not say how many more troops he would send, how long they would stay, or what their ultimate objective was.

Before standing for the presidency and privately since entering the Oval Office, Trump had argued for a military withdrawal, but in his speech he made a rare admission that he had changed his mind. He avoided saying directly that his about-turn would lead to more soldiers being sent to Afghanistan, but his speech made clear that would be the outcome.
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“The men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan for victory,” Trump said. “They deserve the tools they need, and the trust they have earned, to fight and to win.”

In June the Trump White House gave the Pentagon authority to deploy another 4,000 more troops to bolster the 8,400 there already, but the defence secretary, James Mattis, delayed ordering the deployment until there was a clearer expression of the administration’s strategy.
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In his own statement issued after Trump’s speech Mattis said he had ordered US military chiefs to “make preparations to carry out the president’s strategy” and that he would be talking to Nato allies, “several of which have also committed to increasing their troop numbers”.

“Together, we will assist the Afghan security forces to destroy the terrorist hub,” Mattis said.

Note EU-Digest: There they go again, as if they have not learned that US military "interventions or expansions" for the sake of "democracy", as the US likes to call it, has not worked anywhere in the world, with very few exceptions. In Europe the ongoing military operations have only resulted in a massive refugee problem for the EU and Turkey. 

Unfortunately many of the EU member states still continue to support these totally destructive US military policies in the Middle East. As someone said recently: "The sentence "collateral damage" to cover-up millions of innocent civilians killed in US bombing raids was invented by the US military". 

Democracy never can come out of the barrel of a gun, it only comes by example and war is not one of those examples. 

Hopefully the EU will stop supporting these unwinnable wars.   

Read more: Trump to expand US military intervention in Afghanistan | US news | The Guardian

Spain: Police shoot fugitive city’s van attack wearing possible bomb belt

A police operation was underway Monday in an area west of Barcelona, and a Spanish newspaper reports that the fugitive in the city’s van attack has been captured.

Regional Spanish police said officers shot a man wearing a possible explosives belt in Subirats, a small town 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of Barcelona.

Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, has been the target of an international manhunt since Thursday’s van attack in Barcelona. Authorities said Monday they now have evidence he drove the van that plowed down the city’s famed Las Ramblas promenade, killing 13 pedestrians and injuring more than 120 others.

Abouyaaqoub then is suspected of carjacking a man and stabbing him to death as he made his getaway, raising the death toll between the Barcelona attack and a related attack hours later to 15.

Read more: Spain: Police shoot man wearing possible bomb belt - Campbell River Mirror