Britain: Ukip to team up in 'unholy alliance' with Steve Bannon's new far right European movement -

Ukip has pledged to work with Steve Bannon’s new European alt-right movement, forging what critics have branded an “unholy alliance” to bring down the EU and fuel populism across the continent.

Mr Bannon, a former investment banker who founded the website Breitbart, has pledged to bolster the continent’s far right with a new foundation called The Movement that would dole out resources to eurosceptics and anti-EU populists.

The former chief strategist of Donald Trump has rattled Brussels after stating his intention to create a “supergroup” in the European parliament after next’s year’s EU elections, with extreme right-wingers taking as many as a third of the legislature’s seats.

Though Ukip MEPs will not be able to participate directly in the parliament because of Brexit, a spokesperson pledged that the party would share experience with Mr Bannon’s project to give it a leg up, stating they expected the group to have a “large impact” on European politics and hoped for “a new army of eurosceptic MEPs”.

Mr Bannon’s move into Europe also appears set to have an impact on the dynamics of Brexit talks, with one source close to Brexit negotiations telling The Independent that Brussels has been spooked by the alt-right project.

As a result, EU officials are increasingly resistant to calls for the Article 50 negotiating period to be extended, so as to avoid eurosceptic Britain participating in the European parliament elections scheduled for next May.

The EU is said to fear that such an outcome would see Ukip, which won the 2014 European elections in the UK, return to the parliament and bolster the numbers of Mr Bannon’s new anti-EU group.

Note EU-Digest: Democratic EU member states and the EU Commission better wake-up to this threat, which certainly is no laughing matter and must be taken very seriously. 

Read more: Ukip to team up in 'unholy alliance' with Steve Bannon's new far right European movement | The Independent

Quality of Life: Top Ten Most Dangerous Cities in the USA for Pedestrians - by Sean Holton

A new national study released in December 2014 about what it calls an “epidemic” of preventable pedestrian deaths.

The report—titled “Dangerous by Design”—is a joint effort of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and Transportation for America, two groups advocating for more federal transportation dollars to be dedicated to making roads safer for pedestrians. The project was guided by a steering committee that included representatives from AARP and several other organizations, including the American Public Health Association, America Bikes and Safe Routes to Schools National Partnership.

According to the study, older Americans are two-thirds more likely than those under age 65 to be killed while walking. In 2007 and 2008, persons over 65 represented 18 percent of all pedestrian fatalities, while making up just 13 percent of the population as a whole.

The 10 most dangerous metro areas for walkers include:

1. Orlando

2. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.

3. Miami-Fort Lauderdale

4. Jacksonville, Fla.

5. Memphis, Tenn.

6. Raleigh, N.C.

7. Louisville, Ky.

8. Houston

9. Birmingham, Ala.

10. Atlanta

These Southern cities—many of them retirement meccas—don’t necessarily have the highest absolute numbers of pedestrian deaths. But they all score high in what the study calls the “pedestrian danger index” because they tend to have fewer pedestrians overall, meaning the risk is relatively higher for those who do choose to walk.

Read more: Ten Most Dangerous Cities for Pedestrians, Walking - AARP Bulletin