Construction starts in Netherlands on longest cycling bridge in Europe

Construction has started in the Netherlands on what will be Europe’s longest bridge for cyclists and pedestrians –stretching over a lake, canal, motorway and nature reserve – to connect a new village to its closest town.

he so-called “Blue carpet bridge”, or Blauwe Loper, will be 800 metres long, but there are plans to ultimately extend it to 1km in length. The first phase is scheduled for completion by next Christmas.

The €6.5m ($7.00 m) bridge, which rises at a comfortable 2.5% gradient at its steepest, will connect Winschoten, in Groningen province, with Blauwestad, a new village being built on reclaimed land.

The bridge will only be accessible to cyclists and pedestrians – and bats. Its LED lighting has been designed to assist the creatures in finding their way from the nearby nature reserve to the Oldambtmeer lake. The bridge will also be painted in “bat-friendly” green.

Read more Construction starts in Netherlands on longest cycling bridge in Europe | World news | The Guardian

Coronavirus panic buying in Japan, France, Netherlands, and Poland

As the coronavirus spreads, Business Insider sent some of its international editors to take photos inside local stores where items are low in stock.

Read more at:
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-panic-buying-france-japan-netherlands-poland-2020-3

Climate Control: Europe Looks To Pass 2050 Net Zero Carbon Goal Into Law

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The European Commission proposed on Wednesday enshrining the European Green Deal’s commitment for carbon neutrality by 2050 into legislation, as part of the European Union’s heightened focus on climate action and policy.

Under a European Climate Law, the 2050 carbon neutrality target would become legally binding, and all EU institutions and member states will be collectively bound to take the necessary measures at EU and national level to meet that target.

The Climate Law would enshrine into law the EU’s political pledge to become climate neutral by 2050, the Commission said, noting that the proposed law is a crucial part of the European Green Deal, which the EU’s executive arm proposed at the end of last year.

“We are acting today to make the EU the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050,” the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Climate Law is the legal translation of our political commitment, and sets us irreversibly on the path to a more sustainable future. It is the heart of the European Green Deal. It offers predictability and transparency for European industry and investors. And it gives direction to our green growth strategy and guarantees that the transition will be gradual and fair,” von der Leyen noted.

Note EU-Digest: In the meantime yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to expand the scope of its already dangerous plan to limit the science the agency can consider when developing critical public health and environmental safeguards.

EPA’s original “Censored Science” proposal, released in April 2018 by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, would effectively bar the agency from considering critical research when making decisions around protecting human health and the environment. The newly-released supplemental proposal would apply these restrictions to an even wider array of scientific studies, further imperiling EPA’s ability to protect our health and ecosystems from environmental harms including climate change, air pollution, water pollution and other toxic chemical exposures.

Read more at: Europe Looks To Pass 2050 Net Zero Carbon Goal Into Law | OilPrice.com

Netherlands: coronavirus total rises to 24 with new Covid-19 cases confirmed

 Public health institute RIVM confirmed six new coronavirus diagnoses in the Netherlands. These patients were reported to the RIVM on Monday and are all currently quarantined at home, the health service said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also updated its travel advice for Japan due to the virus.

According to the RIVM, a total of 24 people have now been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the Netherlands. "Almost all persons diagnosed with the coronavirus are travelers from northern Italy or are family contacts of a previous patient," the health service said. "The source of the infection is still unknown for a few patients. This is still under investigation."

Local departments of municipal health service GGD are currently investigating who the new patients were in contact with.

A spokesperson for the RIVM told NL Times that around 200 people have been tested for Covid-19 in the country so far. The service is working on an interactive map so that Netherlands residents can better track affected areas.

 Read more at: Netherlands coronavirus total rises to 24 with new Covid-19 cases confirmed | NL Times

The Netherlands: Nike temporarily closes European HQ in the Netherlands due to coronavirus case

U.S. sportswear giant Nike said on Monday its European headquarters in the Netherlands would be closed until Wednesday after an employee was infected with the new coronavirus.

Read more at
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-netherlands-nike/nike-temporarily-closes-european-hq-in-the-netherlands-due-to-coronavirus-case-idUSKBN20P0NK

Coronavirus latest: Germany′s COVID-19 cases almost double

The number of coronavirus cases in Germany has risen sharply; official data shows infections have reached 129, compared with 66 on Saturday. More than half are in North Rhine-Westphalia. Follow the latest from DW here.

Read more at:
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-germanys-covid-19-cases-almost-double/a-52593500

Taliban-US Deal IS A Fake Deal: "So-Called ‪'Peace Deal' Is Anything But": Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies of Endless War Paradigm

The agreement, warned Rep. Barbara Lee, "leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society."

A Fake Deal ? USA-Taliban-Afghanistan

The Taliban have agreed to sever ties with al-Qaida and other international terror groups and sit down for peace talks with other Afghans, including a government they have always denounced as a US puppet. In return, Washington will start a phased withdrawal of troops.

Troop levels will be cut to 8,600 over the next 135 days and five bases will be closed. If both sides keep to their commitments, all U.S. military forces could leave Afghanistan by spring 2021, although Washington is thought to want to keep intelligence operatives on the ground fighting Isis and al-Qaida.

According to Lee, nobody should be fooled into thinking that this is a "peace" agreement.

"It leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society," the Congresswoman said.

As peace advocates have been saying since even before the U.S. invasion took place in 2001, following the attacks of September 11, there was never a military solution to the situation in Afghanistan. That remains true today.

"Two decades of trying to bomb our way to peace have made clear: there is no U.S. military solution in Afghanistan," said Stephen Miles, executive director of Win Without War, in a statement.

While the reduction in U.S. military presence "is a welcome step," Stephens said, the agreement "utterly fails to confront the underlying logic of military occupation, lacks any strategy for long-term peace, and falls far short of accountability and justice. It is no 'peace deal.'"

Like Lee, Stephens said a deal that leaves nearly two-thirds of current U.S. forces in Afghanistan for 'counterterrorism' purposes—"bringing levels down to about where they were when Trump entered office"—cannot be considered a peace deal. While the drawdown can be considered a positive development, he said, the agreement "is far from an end to endless war—and further still from anything that would ensure stability, peace, and justice after decades of violence."

Read more at: "So-Called ‪'Peace Deal' Is Anything But": Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies of Endless War Paradigm | Common Dreams News