The Netherlands: Solaroad - introduced in the Netherlands
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March 10, 2019
March 9, 2019
International Women's Day - The 10 worst countries in the world for women and the ten best - by Lia Ryerson
The index measures women's well-being — based on factors such as justice, security, and inclusion — in 153 countries.
Here are the 10 worst countries in the world for women to live in:
Britain -- Brexit: May on course of another BREXIT defeat after Barnier says NO to more changes to the agreement
'A slap in the face': Barnier sets May on course for Brexit defeat
March 8, 2019
EU needs to take positives from populism not just fight it
‘Europe needs take the positives from populism, not just fight it’
Read more at:
March 7, 2019
The Netherlands: Russian money laundering machine shifted millions through the Netherlands
In total, almost €1bn of the money ended up in the Netherlands, some of which was used to buy two luxury yachts, said the research project, which includes Trouw and the Groene Amsterdammer magazine plus Dutch investigative journalism collective Investico.
The OCCRP says Troika Dialog, once Russia’s largest private investment bank, channeled billions of dollars out of Russia from 2004 via a network of 70 offshore companies with accounts in Lithuania. The two Lithuanian banks were closed down in 2011 and 2013.
The scheme was discovered in a collection of 1.3 million banking transactions and other documents obtained by OCCRP and the Lithuanian news site 15min.lt, which stem from the two Lithuanian banks.
Some of the money was channeled into the Netherlands via the Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) and Turkey’s C. ATB, part of Russia’s Alfa Bank, is already involved in corruption investigations.
Smaller amounts were moved through ING and ABN Amro, the Groene Amsterdammer said. ‘The million euro payments came from the Troika Bank and had many signs of money laundering,’ the magazine said.
In addition, €43m went to the Rabobank account of luxury yacht builder Heesen, according to Dutch investigative news collective Investico.
‘How could all this happen under the watchful eye of the central bank DNB?’ the magazine asked. ‘Banks are banned from carrying out transactions if they don’t know who profits, but, the central bank says, banks often have no idea who is really hiding behind anonymous companies.’
The central bank declined to answer specific questions about the claims, the Groene Amsterdammer said.
EU-Digest
March 6, 2019
The Netherlands: Amsterdam is the most dangerous municipality in the Netherlands- by Mina Solanki
According to the 18th edition of AD’s annual crime monitor, Misdaadmeter, Amsterdam is once again the most dangerous municipality in the Netherlands, with the highest crime rates. Dinkelland in Twente is the safest.
In order to rank municipalities according to safeness, the AD crime monitor looks at 10 different types of crimes and offsets them against the number of residents. The crimes, such as domestic burglary, assault, pickpocketing and robbery, carry different weights depending on the impact they have on the victim.
In 2018, the number of crime reports submitted to the Dutch police decreased by six percent compared with the previous year. Domestic burglaries went down by 13 percent and the number of victims of pickpocketing dropped by 28 percent. There was also an 18-percent drop in thefts from garages and sheds. Despite this decrease in certain types of crimes, robberies increased by four percent and muggings only saw a reduction of two percent.
In Amsterdam, as in the rest of the country, the number of domestic burglaries and reports of pickpocketing decreased. However, the number of robberies rose from 184 in 2017 to 226 in 2018, an increase of 23 percent.
The number of victims of muggings also went up to 1235. These crimes have a greater impact on victims than, say, pickpocketing, and this is the reason why Amsterdam is still number one on the list of the most dangerous municipalities.
Close to Amsterdam, and catching up in terms of crime, is Diemen, which rose from 26th place in 2017 to 8th last year. Diemen experienced an upsurge in the number of burglaries, mainly due to a gang of burglars who were active at the start of 2018. The number of burglaries, however, diminished once the gang was caught.
Eindhoven comes in second according to the crime monitor, with more robberies than last year. Three of the other four municipalities in Limburg that made the top 10 also experienced a rise in robberies.
The top 10 most dangerous Dutch municipalities are:
In order to rank municipalities according to safeness, the AD crime monitor looks at 10 different types of crimes and offsets them against the number of residents. The crimes, such as domestic burglary, assault, pickpocketing and robbery, carry different weights depending on the impact they have on the victim.
In 2018, the number of crime reports submitted to the Dutch police decreased by six percent compared with the previous year. Domestic burglaries went down by 13 percent and the number of victims of pickpocketing dropped by 28 percent. There was also an 18-percent drop in thefts from garages and sheds. Despite this decrease in certain types of crimes, robberies increased by four percent and muggings only saw a reduction of two percent.
In Amsterdam, as in the rest of the country, the number of domestic burglaries and reports of pickpocketing decreased. However, the number of robberies rose from 184 in 2017 to 226 in 2018, an increase of 23 percent.
The number of victims of muggings also went up to 1235. These crimes have a greater impact on victims than, say, pickpocketing, and this is the reason why Amsterdam is still number one on the list of the most dangerous municipalities.
Close to Amsterdam, and catching up in terms of crime, is Diemen, which rose from 26th place in 2017 to 8th last year. Diemen experienced an upsurge in the number of burglaries, mainly due to a gang of burglars who were active at the start of 2018. The number of burglaries, however, diminished once the gang was caught.
Eindhoven comes in second according to the crime monitor, with more robberies than last year. Three of the other four municipalities in Limburg that made the top 10 also experienced a rise in robberies.
The top 10 most dangerous Dutch municipalities are:
- Amsterdam
- Eindhoven
- Rotterdam
- Heerlen
- Maastricht
- The Hague
- Sittard-Geleen
- Diemen
- Roermond
- Schiedam
- Dinkelland
- Olst-Wijhe
- Dalfsen
- Lopik
- Staphorst
- Vijfheerenlanden
- Loppersum
- Tubbergen
- Wierden
- Borsele
March 5, 2019
ISIS: Danish political parties want to strip foreign fighters of citizenship – but US Trump threatening the EU they will release them in Syria if they don't take them back
This week it emerged that the UK had decided to revoke the British
citizenship of Shamima Begum, a so-called Islamic State (IS) bride who
wants to return to the UK after leaving London four years ago to join
ranks of the jihadist organisation in Syria.
Now, several parties in Denmark are looking to follow suit following a proposal from Dansk Folkeparti (DF) that aims to strip the Danish citizenship of people who travelled abroad to fight alongside IS.
So far, government parties Venstre and Konservative have supported DF’s proposal, although they are not in favour of doing anything that might be in breach of international conventions.
But despite this, the justice minister Søren Pape Poulsen said today that Denmark would likely have to accept the foreign fighters back.
“This is a complex problem and there is no perfect or simple solution. The fact is we can’t deny Danish citizens returning to Denmark,” said Poulsen.
The news comes after the US president Donald Trump urged European countries to bring back its foreign fighters the US are detaining in Syria. Otherwise, the US would have to simply release them.
But despite this, it looks as if some areas of the political spectrum will be doing their best to avoid such a scenario.
“We don’t want to breach conventions, but we will take it to the limit. We must send a clear signal that they are not welcome and we don’t want them back in Denmark – they also present a serious security risk,” Michael Aastrup Jensen, Venstre’s spokesperson on foreign affairs issues, told DR Nyheder.
Read more: Danish parties want to strip foreign fighters of citizenship – The Post
Now, several parties in Denmark are looking to follow suit following a proposal from Dansk Folkeparti (DF) that aims to strip the Danish citizenship of people who travelled abroad to fight alongside IS.
So far, government parties Venstre and Konservative have supported DF’s proposal, although they are not in favour of doing anything that might be in breach of international conventions.
But despite this, the justice minister Søren Pape Poulsen said today that Denmark would likely have to accept the foreign fighters back.
“This is a complex problem and there is no perfect or simple solution. The fact is we can’t deny Danish citizens returning to Denmark,” said Poulsen.
The news comes after the US president Donald Trump urged European countries to bring back its foreign fighters the US are detaining in Syria. Otherwise, the US would have to simply release them.
But despite this, it looks as if some areas of the political spectrum will be doing their best to avoid such a scenario.
“We don’t want to breach conventions, but we will take it to the limit. We must send a clear signal that they are not welcome and we don’t want them back in Denmark – they also present a serious security risk,” Michael Aastrup Jensen, Venstre’s spokesperson on foreign affairs issues, told DR Nyheder.
Note EU-Digest: It is unbelievable how subservient
the EU and its member states seem when reacting to US threats, even if
it goes against their own principles. Aren't they all aware by now that
the US Trump Administration has no respect for the EU, or cares about
anything the EU does or says. Come on EU show some backbone.
Read more: Danish parties want to strip foreign fighters of citizenship – The Post
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