The Netherlands: Local elections 2018: what the parties say about integration

Democracy In Action. Not only Dutch Armenians, but also Dutch Turks, Dutch Moroccans, Dutch Kurds, Dutch from Suriname and Antillean decent and many other nationalities, who immigrated to the Netherlands, will be running in the upcoming Dutch municipal elections on March 21.

In Amsterdam alone there are 28 parties participating in the municipal elections. The Dutch municipal elections of 2018 will be held in 335 municipalities in the Netherlands. This election will determine the composition of the municipal councils for the following four years.

Ahead of the March 21 local elections, Dutch News asked the main parties in the 10 Dutch cities with the biggest international populations to set out their position on three key issues: housing, integration and jobs.

Here are their answers to the question: ‘Local authorities have a key role to play in integrating new arrivals and ensuring they learn Dutch. How is your party planning to encourage the international community to integrate fully into local life?

Click here to read the complete report: Local elections 2018: what the parties say about integration DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands is once again in the top 10 happiest countries in the world

Each year, the UN investigates the reported level of happiness in countries around the world. This year, in the sixth World Happiness Report, more than 150 countries were included in the study.

The UN report evaluates the happiness levels in a country by assessing the population by means of a survey in which individuals report their own life evaluations. The following variables are used to judge a country’s level of happiness:

• GDP per capita
• Social support
• Healthy life expectancy at birth
• Freedom to make life choices
• Generosity
• Absence of corruption

Social support refers to whether a person feels that they have relatives or friends who they can count on, should they find themselves in a troublesome situation. Freedom to make life choices is based on the binary response to the question “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?” The generosity factor refers to whether individuals donate to charity.

The following countries make it into the top ten happiest in the world.

1. Finland
2. Norway
3. Denmark
4. Iceland
5. Switzerland
6. Netherlands
7. Canada
8. New Zealand
9. Sweden
10. Australia

When it comes to the happiness of foreign-born nationals compared to that of locals, Finland tops the list again. Denmark, Norway, Iceland and New Zealand make up the rest of the top five.

In this particular ranking, the Netherlands doesn’t hold onto its sixth place. Instead, it falls out of the top 10 to 11th place. Coming in just above the Netherlands is Mexico. The top 10 happiest countries for immigrants are as follows.

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Norway
4. Iceland
5. New Zealand
6. Australia
7. Canada
8. Sweden
9. Switzerland
10. Mexico

see also the World Happiness Report 2018 

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Read more: The Netherlands is once again in the top 10 happiest countries in the world

Europe is freezing again, as the ‘Beast from the East 2.0’ hits northern and eastern Europe

A second winter wave dubbed ‘Beast from the East 2.0’ has hit Poland and the UK, with other parts of northern Europe set to be affected this weekend.

Poles endured heavy snowfall in Warsaw on Friday, as low temperature warnings were issued across 10 southeast voivodeships (provinces) in the country. As of Saturday, up to 25cm of snow and 40kph winds have been forecast in the south of Poland.

The cold snap there is expected to continue until March 22.

In the UK, residents across swathes of eastern England and Scotland have been braving the subzero temperatures to take some dramatic pictures of the snow.

Read more: Beast from the East 2.0’ hits northern and eastern Europe | Euronews

Trump - Tariffs: European Union releases 10-page list of potential targets for retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products - by David J. Lynch and Michael Birnbaum

The list offered the most detailed glimpse to date of the likely targets for E.U. action, including products selected for maximum political impact in the United States. Among them: bourbon, a specialty of Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home state; cranberries, which are grown in House Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s native Wisconsin; orange juice from Florida; and tobacco from North Carolina.

 “It’s pretty clear they’re trying to wake up American legislators, who are the only ones in government who can influence the president on this issue,” said Chad Bown, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Still, the European Union said its response to Trump’s tariffs is designed to conform with World Trade Organization

Note EU-Digest: it is high time the EU stops playing footsie with the US and takes their gloves off. There are much tougher ways to deal with the US when it comes to convincing their ego-maniac President

Trump better take note that the adjusted GDP of the 28 EU member nations  is bigger than both China and the US, based on the traditional list of world's economic super powers.

The EU can do a lot of harm to the US economy if Donald Trump continues on this destructive route
  
Read : moreEuropean Union releases 10-page list of potential targets for retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products - The Washington Post

South America: Corporations, Environment and pollution: Coca-Cola And Nestlé To Privatize The Largest Reserve Of Water In South America

Private companies such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé are allegedly in the process of privatizing the largest reserve of water, known as the Guarani Aquifer, in South America. The aquifer is located beneath the surface of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and is the second largest-known aquifer system in the world. 

Reported by Correiodo Brasil the major transnational conglomerates are “striding forward” with their negotiations to privatize the aquifer system. Meetings have already been reserved with authorities of the current government, such as Michel Temer, to outline procedures required for private companies to exploit the water sources. The concession contracts will last more than 100 years. 

The first public conversation about this dilemma was scheduled on the same day the process of voting for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff was opened. As Central Politico reports, “This coincidence was fatal for the adjournment of the meeting.”

“There must be another list of projects to be granted or privatized in the medium term, with auctions that may occur in up to one year, such as Eletrobras energy distributors and freshwater sources,” adds the news site, translated via Google from Portuguese. 

This issue extends beyond South America, as all humans will be affected by the decision to privatize the second-largest aquifer system in the world. Essentially, the corporations are profiting off a natural resource that should be freely available to all. 

Under the Guarani Aquifer Project’s Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Project, known as ANA’s Guarani Aquifer Project (SAG), the aquifer would be managed and preserved for present and future generations. Following the conservatives’ victory in Argentina and the coup d’état, pressed for by the ultra right in Paraguay and Brazil, only Uruguay was left to vote on the privatization of the aquifer. 

Approximately two-thirds (1.2 million km²) of the reserve is located in Brazilian territory, specifically in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. Future generations will ultimately suffer if this deal goes through, which is why human rights organizations around the world are getting involved.

 Read more: Coca-Cola And Nestlé To Privatize The Largest Reserve Of Water In South America

Britain to expel 23 Russian diplomats over ex-spy poisoning - by William Booth and Matthew Bodner

 British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday ordered the immediate expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats believed to be involved in espionage, in the first reprisals against Moscow for a chemical attack on a former double agent.

May, speaking to Parliament, said the response would include a halt to high-level meetings between British and Russian officials and the cancellation of a planned visit to Britain by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

She also said the royal family and government ministers would boycott this summer’s World Cup soccer tournament in Russia. More countermeasures — some clandestine — are under consideration.

May said Russia’s dismissive response to her demand for an explanation has “demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events.”

Read more: Britain to expel 23 Russian diplomats over ex-spy poisoning - The Washington Post

Britain - Russian Spy Case - Putin is 'tearing up the international rulebook' - EU must show solidarity against Putin's Mafia practises regardless of BREXIT

Britain had hoped for a different scenario but it's now heading into a major showdown with Russia, a senior official at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank told Euronews TV.

As tensions mount between the UK and Russia over the poisoning of a former double agent on British soil, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears ready to "tear up completely the rulebook of international behaviour," a senior official at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank has told Euronews.

Prime Minister Theresa May gave Russia until midnight on Tuesday to explain how former spy Serguei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the southern English city of Salisbury with a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union.

Moscow has fiercely denied any connection to the poisoning and says the UK is whipping up anti-Russian hysteria. RUSI International Director Jonathan Eyal said in a Skype interview that May's move had not intended – at least initially – to be an ultimatum.

"As the British prime minister sees it, she was basically trying to give the Russians at least a possibility of getting out of a difficult situation. She hinted at the possibility that they may suggest that these are chemical compounds that have escaped from government control," Eyal said.

"But it is already clear that there is nobody in Moscow in any mood whatsoever at the moment to take that elegant way out and to prevent a much bigger showdown."

Eyal says the UK could cripple the Russian embassy in London by expelling a raft of diplomats, including the Russian ambassador. But any diplomatic retaliation would be more effective if the UK could show it has the support of its European allies.

"I think what will be watched very carefully in Moscow is if Britain is out on a limb on this one, or if the British government manages to carry its allies with it," Eyal said

 May, who said on Monday (March 12) it was "highly likely" that Russia was behind the Skripal poisoning, has already won support from the European Union, which denounced the attack as "shocking."

"As things currently stand, it appears that President Putin in Moscow believes that there is no hope for any good relations with the West, and therefore it’s his turn to tear up completely the rulebook of international behaviour."

Note EU-Digest: Now is the time for the EU to stand firm together with Britain and provide complete support against these Mafia practices of President Vladimir Putin's Government. This is also the time for the EU to put Brexit on the back burner and take up the fight against these totally unacceptable crimes committed on the territory of Britain (EU) by a foreign power.

As to the lip service provided by the US President Trump to Theresa May, one should consider these assurances of support "dubious", given that the US Trump Administrations relationship with the Russian government is still under investigation by the FBI.

EU-Digest