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October 21, 2019

Britain - the Brexit drama: UK PM Johnson sends conflicting messages to EU on Brexit delay request

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent an unsigned letter to the European Union on Saturday requesting a delay to Brexit but he also sent another message in which he stated he did not want the extension, a government source said.

Johnson was compelled by a law, passed by opponents last month, to ask the bloc for an extension to the current Brexit deadline of Oct. 31 until Jan. 31 after lawmakers thwarted his attempt to pass his EU divorce deal earlier on Saturday.

The government source said Johnson sent a total of three letters to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council: a photocopy of the text that the law, known as the Benn Act, forced him to write; a cover note from Britain's EU envoy; and a third letter in which he said he did not want an extension.

As Parliament met in London Saturday morning and voted to force a Brexit delay, hundreds of thousands of anti-Brexit protesters marched in the city’s streets demanding citizens be given a second chance at deciding whether to leave the European Union. The massive crowds moved through the city towards Parliament in a festive and defiant demonstration of frustration with the country’s impending break with the EU, the New York Times reported.

Organizers of the effort told the Times they expected more than a million demonstrators, which would make it one of the largest protests Britain has ever had. The demonstrators were joined by a host of current and former politicians, as well as celebrities, who addressed the crowd. In his speech, former Conservative deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine said Brexit represents “a creeping paralysis, where yesterday’s nostalgia distorts tomorrow’s opportunities”.

Note EU-Digest: Boris Johnson by politically manuevering in a very devious and undemocratic way, without letting the people have a final say on the agreement he reached with the EU, is taking Britain on a disastrous destructive path, from which they probably will never recover .

Read more at: UK PM Johnson sends conflicting messages to EU on Brexit delay request

October 15, 2019

Unicef: One third of children on the globe do not receive proper nutrition

One in three children don't receive proper nutrition

Read more at:
https://p.dw.com/p/3RI4f

The Netherlands: Europe's number one biking country, becoming unsafe for bikers as higher speed mopeds and scooters are also allowed on bike paths

Scooters and Mopeds,
danger on Dutch bike-paths
There are more bicycles than residents in The Netherlands, and in all the big Dutch cities up to 70% of all journeys are made by bike.

To make cycling safer and even more inviting the Dutch have also built a vast network of cycle paths.

These are clearly marked, have smooth surfaces, separate signs and lights for those on two wheels, and wide enough to allow side-by-side cycling and overtaking.

In many cities the paths are completely segregated from motorised traffic. Sometimes, where space is scant and both must share, you can see signs showing an image of a cyclist with a car behind accompanied by the words 'Bike Street: Cars are guests'.

But there is a major danger now lurking on these beautiful bike paths, Molpeds and scooters,the Dutch call them "snor fietsers",  and these also include, what one biker called the "silent killers", electric scooters, who are also racing silently over these serene bike-paths, at high speeds.

Very often Scooters and Mopeds go at speeds of 50 km per hour or even more, specially when the engine is "souped up".

Also Pizza delivering persons on scooters have a reputation of always going too fast.  To make matters worse, because these scooters are on the bike-path, they also don't have to wear a helmet.

In December 2017 a majority of the Dutch parliament approved  a city of Amsterdam request to move mopeds and scooters from their municipality bike-paths to the open roads and highways. 

Unfortunately not many, if not any, of the cities in the Netherlands, have taken any similar action as Amsterdam so far.  It is also well known in the Netherlands, that local police is not very agressive, when it comes to writing out "tickets" against moped and scooter riders, who are going too fast on the bike-paths.

As one bike-rider in the city of Almere noted: how many more bikers will need to get serious accidents, before our Municipality takes any action?

EU-Digest