The Netherlands: Trump's Muslim ban casts shadow over Dutch PM's visit to U.S. - by Janene Pieters

Prime Minister Mark Rutte is visiting the United States and meeting with Donald Trump on Monday. Rutte plans to announce that the Netherlands will again negotiate establishing American customs personnel at Schiphol. But the D66 fears that Trump's so-called Muslim ban will mean that American customs officers will deny Muslims access to the U.S. on Dutch soil, AD reports.

Coalition party D66 is therefore calling on Rutte to under no circumstances take steps that could make the Netherlands complicit in this entry ban. D66 parliamentarian Sjoerd Sjoerdsma calls the entry ban discriminatory and against the core values of the Netherlands and the Dutch constitution. "Enforcing the Muslim ban on Dutch soil is too crazy for words", Sjoerdsma said, according to the newspaper. "I now expect the government to reflect again and to not take any irreversible steps in this area."

For BBC report on actual visit click here. 

Read more: Trump's Muslim ban casts shadow over Dutch PM's visit to U.S. | NL Times

Turkey - LGBTI Community : Istanbul police disperse gay pride march

Riot police have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people at a gay pride march in Istanbul. The city's LGBTI community and their friends had said they were determined to march.

Read more:: Istanbul police disperse gay pride march | News and current affairs from Germany and around the world | DW | 01.07.2018

EU-Turkey Relations: The EU should brace for a more authoritarian Erdogan, who can now be considered a dictator in his own right

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan won his fifth consecutive election victory on Sunday and finally will be able to rule Turkey with an omnipotent/almighty one-man system non-existent in any democratic country.

Most pundits agree he is now in the club of 'strong rulers' like Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China.

He can be potentially in power until 2032 – with the new system, a president can run twice and also for a third time if he calls for early elections - and calling early elections is within the president's authority.
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Read more: EU should brace for a more authoritarian Erdogan

EU Summit: Migrant Processing, Cooperation: as EU Members reach a deal on migrants early Saturday 29/6 morning

'Italy is not alone anymore': EU leaders reach agreement on migrant processing

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CBC News Report EU Migrant deal

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EU Immigration Deal: EU leaders seek migration deal in Brussels

European Union leaders are huddling together in Brussels on Thursday, where over the next two days they will discuss security, trade and, most importantly, migration.

Stakes are high after German Chancellor Angela Merkel described irregular migration as an issue that could "make or break" the EU. At home, she is under pressure to secure a bloc-wide deal or face the possible collapse of her government.

Some of the measures Merkel is hoping to clinch during the summit include bolstering Frontex, the EU's border management agency, establishing a "solidarity-based agreement" to share the burden of hosting asylum-seekers and shoring up support for returning migrants under the Dublin system.

"Defense of our external borders is something which unites Europe. (We will talk about ) the issues of Frontex, border protection, secondary migration. The countries that are receiving a lot of refugees need support. But the refugees and migrants can't choose in which country they request asylum," Merkel said at the summit.

Several nations, including France, Hungary, have told reporters at the summit that they are open to bilateral agreements with Germany.

But by Thursday evening, Italy had vowed to block progress on any issue to pressure fellow members into action on migration. Leaders had hoped to pass joint statements on a range of issues and then come to an agreement on migration.

A French diplomatic source said on Thursday evening that France, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain had agreed on the wording of a draft summit text on immigration.

Read  more: EU leaders seek migration deal in Brussels | News | DW | 28.06.2018

EU-US Relations: EU President Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to ″prepare for the worst″ in EU-US relations

European Council President Donald Tusk warned European Union leaders that they should "prepare for the worst" in EU-US relations in a letter to EU leaders who will be gathering in Brussels for a summit on Thursday and Friday.

He laid out the agenda for discussions at the important meeting, with migration topping the list.

Transatlantic relations

Writing on the issue of transatlantic relations, Tusk said the EU must be prepared for "worst-case scenarios" as US President Donald Trump's policies have been increasingly at loggerheads with the bloc's values.

"It is my belief that, while hoping for the best, we must be ready to prepare our union for worst-case scenarios," Tusk wrote. "Despite our tireless efforts to keep the unity of the West, transatlantic relations are under immense pressure due to the policies of President Trump."

Trump has decided to withdraw his country from the Paris climate deal and the Iran nuclear deal, despite repeated pleas by the EU to stick with them.

One EU official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told DPA news agency that such "negative" decisions were starting to "look like a pattern" where the US has "no friends, no enemies" and where preserving the international rules-based structure was not a focus.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will share his views on EU-NATO cooperation at the meeting.

Read more: Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to ″prepare for the worst″ in EU-US relations | News | DW | 27.06.2018

USA - Chemical Industry: Monsanto's Glyphosate "Roundup weed-killer" goes on trial in US with billions at stake - by Aimee Picchi

After it was introduced in the 1970s, Roundup was promoted as an "herbicide that gets to the root of the problem."

Now, four decades later, manufacturer Monsanto will face a lawsuit that seeks to get to the root of another problem: whether the active ingredient in the weed-killer is to blame for a California man's terminal cancer. If Monsanto fails to persuade the court that its product isn't to blame, the agricultural company's flagship product could take a hefty hit.

Billions in revenue could be at stake for Monsanto and its new corporate parent, German chemical giant Bayer, which closed its $60 billion acquisition earlier this month. While Monsanto doesn't break out sales of glyphosate -- the active ingredient in Roundup -- the product delivered $4.8 billion in revenue in 2015. In its latest fiscal year, Monsanto cited higher global sales of glyphosate for helping lift total revenue by 8 percent.

Monsanto declined to comment on the potential sales impact, citing the trial proceedings. In a statement earlier this month, it told CBS News it denied the allegations.

"We have empathy for anyone suffering from cancer, but the scientific evidence clearly shows that glyphosate was not the cause. We look forward to presenting this evidence to the court," it said.

Note EU-Digest: Unfortunately the EU recently cleared the use of  this weed killer for the next five years, after a heated debate over whether it causes cancer or not. 

Regardless of this decision, given the legal battle Monsanto is now facing in the US, the EU Parliament, despite the obvious intense lobby by the chemical industry, should immediately halt the use of  the weed-killer glyphosate in Europe, and take another close look at the dangers this weed killer poses for European consumers. Better late than sorry.

Read more: Monsanto's Roundup weed-killer goes on trial with billions at stake - CBS News