France: Exit polls: Le Pen′s FN loses regional polls

A tactical call by France's socialists to their voters to block Marine Le Pen's National Front (FN) by voting for Sarkozy's Republicans and center-right allies in two regions delivered wins for the opposition conservatives on Sunday.

The leader of the anti-immigration FN, Le Pen, lost out to the right-wing opposition in the northern Nord-Pas-de-Calais Picardie region after the ruling socialist party (PS) pulled out of the race before the second round.

Early estimates showed Marine Le Pen finishing on around 42 percent compared to about 57 percent for her right-wing rival Xavier Bertrand in the economically depressed northern region.

Bertrand, a former labor minister, described the outcome as a "thunderbolt" that had stopped the "progression" of the National Front.

 Read more: Exit polls: Le Pen′s FN loses regional polls | News | DW.COM | 13.12.2015

Technology: Sex, love and robots: is this the end of intimacy? - by Eva Wiseman

The world is ending. The sports fields are empty, the science labs closed. No babies have been born for years. Cut to a split screen of human and robots kissing passionately. “They’re trapped!” says the narrator, voice like gravel.

“Trapped in a soft, vice-like grip of robot lips.” Words slam against the screen, a warning. “Don’t. Date. Robots.”

Except Futurama’s 2001 episode “I Dated a Robot”, with its post-apocalyptic world of silvers and blues, wildly overestimated how long it would take before this fear became flesh. It’s November 2015, and in Malaysia, where humidity is at 89% and it is almost certainly still raining, David Levy, a founder of the second annual Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, is free to talk on the phone – he is less busy than planned. “I never expected to end up here,” he says. I hear a shrug.

The Congress on Love and Sex with Robots was meant to begin on 16 November, but was deemed illegal days after Levy arrived from London. “There’s nothing scientific about sex and robots,” inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar told a press conference, explaining why. “It is an offence to have anal sex in Malaysia [let alone sex with robots].”

“I think they thought people would be having sex with robots or some strange thing like that,” Levy’s co-founder Adrian David Cheok said afterwards, explaining that they had planned a series of academic talks about humanoid robotics. But some strange thing like that, some strange thing like a human having sex with a robot, is what Levy, Cheok and others are predicting is almost our reality. They have seen the future of sex, they say, and it is teledildonic.

Sex, love and robots: is this the end of intimacy? | Technology | The Guardian

cop21: James Hansen, father of climate change awareness, calls Paris talks 'a fraud' - by Oliver Milman

Mere mention of the Paris climate talks is enough to make James Hansen grumpy. The former Nasa scientist, considered the father of global awareness of climate change, is a soft-spoken, almost diffident Iowan. But when he talks about the gathering of nearly 200 nations, his demeanor changes.

“It’s a fraud really, a fake,” he says, rubbing his head. “It’s just bullshit for them to say: ‘We’ll have a 2C warming target and then try to do a little better every five years.’ It’s just worthless words. There is no action, just promises. As long as fossil fuels appear to be the cheapest fuels out there, they will be continued to be burned.”

The talks, intended to reach a new global deal on cutting carbon emissions beyond 2020, have spent much time and energy on two major issues: whether the world should aim to contain the temperature rise to 1.5C or 2C above preindustrial levels, and how much funding should be doled out by wealthy countries to developing nations that risk being swamped by rising seas and bashed by escalating extreme weather events.

Read more: James Hansen, father of climate change awareness, calls Paris talks 'a fraud' | Environment | The Guardian

France: COP21 climate change summit reaches deal in Paris

A deal to attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2C has been agreed at the climate change summit in Paris after two weeks of negotiations.

The pact is the first to commit all countries to cut carbon emissions.

The agreement is partly legally binding and partly voluntary.

Earlier, key blocs, including the G77 group of developing countries, and nations such as China and India said they supported the proposals.

President of the UN climate conference of parties (COP) and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: "I now invite the COP to adopt the decision entitled Paris Agreement outlined in the document.

"Looking out to the room I see that the reaction is positive, I see no objections. The Paris agreement is adopted."

Read More: COP21 climate change summit reaches deal in Paris - BBC News

Pollution: Dirty deeds: The world's biggest polluters by country - by Sarah Wolfe

After years of decline, US carbon dioxide emissions increased slightly last year, according to a new report by the US Energy Information Administration.

That said, America is still a little better than the world's worst polluter: China.

The 2 percent jump in CO2 emissions in the United States was largely the result of higher natural gas prices last year, which prompted some utilities to switch back to a dirtier energy source — coal, according to The Washington Post.

Read more: Dirty deeds: The world's biggest polluters by country | GlobalPost

EU: Social enterprise: a new business model for Europe

This week Business Planet looks at the concept of social enterprise – sustainable, innovative entrepreneurial answers to society’s challenges.

It’s fast becoming a real new business model in Europe today.

Loïc Van Cutsem is the General Manager of Oksigen, a company that believes society’s most pressing issues need to be tackled using an entrepreneurial approach that simultaneously creates social and economic value.

To see video click here: Social enterprise: a new business model for Europe | euronews, business planet

COP21: Nearly 200 nations near historic deal to slow global warming

France crafted an unprecedented deal to slow global warming by cutting and then eliminating greenhouse gas pollution, urging climate negotiators from nearly 200 nations to adopt it Saturday.

In the "Paris agreement," countries would commit to keeping average global temperatures from rising another degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) between now and 2100, a key demand of poor countries ravaged by rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. But the pact doesn't have any mechanism to punish countries that don't or can't contribute toward that goal.

Countries would also commit to limiting the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100.

In practical terms, achieving that goal means the world would have to stop emitting greenhouse gases altogether in the next half-century, scientists said. That's because the less we pollute, the less pollution nature absorbs.

Achieving such a reduction in emissions would involve a complete transformation of how people get energy.
Negotiators had a few hours to analyze the draft before going into a plenary meeting for possible adoption. French President Francois Hollande, who joined the meeting Saturday to add weight to the negotiations, urged them to approve it.

"The decisive agreement for the planet is here and now," Hollande said. "France calls upon you to adopt the first universal agreement on climate."

The deal, meant to take effect in 2020, would be the first to ask all countries to join the fight against global warming, representing a sea change in the U.N. talks, which previously required only wealthy nations to reduce their emissions.

Read more: Nearly 200 nations near historic deal to slow global warming - KWWL - Eastern Iowa Breaking News, Weather, Closings

Turkey: Iraq demands Turkey withdraw troopsfrom its territory

Iraq appealed Friday to the UN Security Council to demand that Turkey remove its troops from northern Iraq, calling the incursion a "flagrant violation" of international law.

"We call on the Security Council to demand that Turkey withdraw its forces immediately ... and not to violate Iraqi sovereignty again," Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said in a letter to the Security Council.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, who this month holds the rotating presidency, said the letter was being taken seriously.

"There's growing alarm from the Iraqi government," Power said. "Any troop deployment must have the consent of the Iraqi government."

Read More: Iraq demands Turkey withdraw troops | News | DW.COM | 12.12.2015

Britain: 100,000 sign petition to ban Donald Trump from UK – by Vince Chadwick

"America the Beautiful ?"

More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition to ban Donald Trump from entering the U.K., after the billionaire tycoon called for a “shutdown” of Muslims coming to America.

“The U.K. has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech,” the petition explains. “The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the U.K. If the United Kingdom is to continue applying the ‘unacceptable behavior’ criteria to those who wish to enter its borders, it must be fairly applied to the rich as well as poor, and the weak as well as powerful.”

The U.S. presidential candidate drew fierce criticism this week for advocating a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” Later comments suggesting that parts of London and Paris were so “radicalized” that police refuse to go to them were met with similar anger.

“The only reason I wouldn’t go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump,” London Mayor Boris Johnson said.

Neighborhoods in Paris and London are so dangerous that police refuse to go there, Donald Trump said Tuesday as he defended his plan for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”

Despite a barrage of criticism for his comments on Muslims on Monday, Trump stuck to his guns, telling talk show hosts that he wanted to stop the U.S. having “radicalized” no-go areas like in European capitals.

“The real Paris is a different Paris than the City of Light that you read about,” he told Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos Tuesday.

“They have areas in Paris where it is so radicalized and so vicious … that the police refuse to go there. They will not go there. That’s what’s going to happen with our country.”

He was no more polite about London, telling MSNBC’s Morning Joe that “London and other places … are so radicalized that the police are afraid for their own lives.”

Read more: 100,000 sign petition to ban Donald Trump from UK – POLITICO

US Political System: Rand Paul staffer says GOP is doomed if it doesn't engage the young - by Gabby Morrongiell

A senior staffer to 2016 presidential hopeful and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says the Republican Party will self-destruct if it fails to engage the millennial generation this election cycle.

"It's a sad time to see that the party is not looking to expand," Cliff Maloney, who serves as National Youth Director for the Kentucky senator's campaign, said Wednesday at an event hosted by Politico in Washington, D.C.

"And if the party doesn't adapt, it's going to die," he added. "We've got to reach out to younger voters."
Maloney continued, "We've been to Berkeley [Calif.], we were in Waterloo, Iowa at a barbershop last week talking about criminal justice issues. These are ways to expand the party, but none of the other candidates seem to want to take the time to engage."

Note EU-Digest:  After the nonsense Donald Trump and most of the other Republicans are spreading around and the fact that a majority of. Americans are gobbling it up seems to be a reflection of the fast downward trend the US Political system as a whole is experiencing when it comes to having any credibility abroad.

 Read more: Rand Paul staffer says GOP is doomed if it doesn't engage the young | Washington Examiner

Climate Conference Paris: COP21: Hopes rise as EU forms alliance to push for deal - by Matt McGrath

The European Union has formed an alliance with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in a final push for agreement at the climate summit COP21.

The new alliance has agreed a common position on some of the most divisive aspects of the proposed deal.

They say the Paris agreement must be legally binding, inclusive and fair - and be reviewed every 5 years.

The EU will pay 475 million euros to support climate action in the partner countries up to 2020.

Read more: COP21: Hopes rise as EU forms alliance to push for deal - BBC News

French regional elections warn of an impending disaster for the EU - by Fernando Betancor

Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Front (FN – Front National) pulled off a historic electoral performance in last night’s regional elections in France. These regional elections will select the members of the regional assemblies of metropolitan France, Corsica, Guyana and Martinique as well as 18 presidencies (presidencies where a majority is not achieved in the first round will face a run-off election on the 13 December).

As was widely predicted, the far right has gained most of the benefit from the terror attacks in Paris on 16 November.

Mrs. Le Pen has claimed justification of her hardline stance against Muslims, immigrants, the EU’s open-border policy, lack of cooperation with the Russians and the weakness of the Socialists in general. In the provinces where Marine Le Pen and her niece, Marion, stood for election, Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie and Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur respectively, they did far better than the average: both charismatic ladies took 42% of the vote.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully EU citizens will use their brains before they vote for populist right-wing parties whose only claim to fame is that they believe Europe is better off the way it was before it united and a variety of other nationalistic pipe dreams. 

It will destroy the Europe as we know it today and certainly rekindle all kinds of conflicts from the past. 

This will also end the more than 50 years period of prosperity, economic advancement, social justice and political stability we have had.  

The French election results are also a warning to the main-stream European political parties to come uup with more imaginative political ideas to combat the populis-nationalistic right-wing opposition.

Read more: French regional elections warn of an impending disaster for the EU | openDemocracy

India: Why India Needs More Freedom - by Ronald Meinardus

The hot-button word of Indian politics these days is tolerance. For weeks, the controversy about the state of tolerance in the nation has dominated public debates.

There is a clash between two narratives, with few moderating voices. The dispute is highly ideological and also partisan. One camp, call them the apologists, downplays the acts of violence against members of minorities. They are typically found on the side of the government led by the Hindu Nationalist BJP.

More liberally minded groups and individuals have assembled on the opposite side. They make no secret of their dislike for Prime Minister Modi and his government.

Read more: Why India Needs More Freedom - The Globalist

France far-right set to make history in first poll since attacks

France’s far-right National Front (FN) is widely predicted to take a step towards gaining control of at least one region for the first time, as polls opened Sunday three weeks after jihadist attacks in Paris left 130 people dead.

Around 44 million people are eligible to vote, with France under tight security and in a state of emergency following the country’s worst-ever terror attacks, which have thrust the FN’s anti-immigration and often Islamophobic message to the fore.

First projections are expected at 1900 GMT with FN leader Marine Le Pen on course to top the poll in the economically-depressed Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region in the north, once a bastion of the left.

Read more: France far-right set to make history in first poll since attacks - The Express Tribune

Greece Loses Last Trace Of Sovereignty After EU Takes Control Of Greek Borders

Ever since this summer's dramatic "referendum" farce, and the subsequent hijacking of the Greek banking system by the ECB's ELA, Greece has officially been a nation without state sovereignty. Europe reminded Greece of just this a few days ago when days after its waved the carrot before Turkey promising billions in aid, and an EU acceptance fast track, it threatened Greece with expulsion from the Schengen customs union (a union which as a subsequent leak revealed will likely be "temporarily" shuttered for as long as two years unless the refugee crisis is brought under control).

Read more: Greece Loses Last Trace Of Sovereignty After EU Takes Control Of Greek Borders | Zero Hedge

Military Aircraft: Netherlands Preparing For F-35 Introduction

With plans to purchase just 37 aircraft, the Netherlands fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) is likely to be one of the world’s smallest. Yet the fighter’s introduction is seen as a catalyst for change, transforming not only the way the Netherlands thinks about airpower but also prompting cohesion, with bilateral and trilateral discussions with other European operators.

Read more: Netherlands Preparing For F-35 Introduction | Defense content from Aviation Week

UK call for ‘multicurrency’ EU triggers ECB alarm - FT.com

David Cameron’s push to rebrand the EU as a “multicurrency union” has triggered high-level concerns at the European Central Bank, which fears it could give countries such as Poland an excuse to stay out of the euro.

The UK prime minister wants to rewrite the EU treaty to clarify that some countries will never join the single currency, in an attempt to ensure they do not face discrimination by countries inside the eurozone..

Mario Draghi, president of the ECB, is worried the move could weaken the commitment of some countries to join the euro.

Beata Szydlo, the new Polish premier, has previously described the euro as a “bad idea” that would make Poland “a second Greece”.

Mr Draghi shares concerns in Brussels that the EU single market could be permanently divided across two regulatory spheres, with eurozone countries facing unfair competition if there were a lighter-touch regime on the outside.

The idea of rebranding the EU as a “multicurrency union” was raised during a recent meeting in London between George Osborne, the UK chancellor, and Mr Draghi. Mr Osborne said last month that Britain wanted the treaty to recognise “that the EU has more than one currency”.

Read more: UK call for ‘multicurrency’ EU triggers ECB alarm - FT.com

Terrorism: Paris attacks: France and Belgium police seek two new suspects - BBC News

Police are seeking two new suspects accused of aiding the fugitive suspect from the Paris attacks Salah Abdeslam, the Belgian prosecutor's office says.

The pair are "armed and dangerous" and are thought to have helped Abdeslam travel to Hungary in September.

Investigators say Abdeslam may have driven the suicide bombers at the Stade de France to their target on the night of the Paris attacks.

The assaults on 13 November left 130 people dead and more than 350 wounded.

Read more: Paris attacks: France and Belgium police seek two new suspects - BBC News

'Nothing new' from Russia-Turkey talks on downed fighter jet | Reuters

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had heard "nothing new" from his Turkish counterpart on Thursday after the first high-level bilateral contact between the two countries since the Turkish airforce shot down a Russian jet nine days ago.

Moscow and Ankara are deeply at odds over what happened when Turkey downed the Russian SU-24 fighter bomber near the Syrian border as it took part in the Kremlin's air campaign against militants in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin branded the incident a war crime on Thursday and said Turkey would face further sanctions. Moscow has already banned some Turkish food imports as part of a wider package of retaliatory sanctions.

"We met with the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry on his insistent request. We heard nothing new," Lavrov told a televised news conference.

He said Russia had reiterated its own position during the meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a conference of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the Serbian capital Belgrade.

Turkey says the Russian jet violated its airspace and that it was repeatedly warned, something Russia has denied.

Cavusoglu was quoted by Turkish state broadcaster TRT as saying it would be unrealistic to expect all problems to be solved with Russia after a single meeting, but that it was important to keep communication channels open.

Cavusoglu told the OSCE conference: "The incident on the 24th of November ... should not be confused with our fighting against our common enemy of Daesh, terrorism and should not be abused for political objectives."
Daesh is an Arabic term for the Islamic State jihadist group, which has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.

Read more:  'Nothing new' from Russia-Turkey talks on downed fighter jet | Reuters

German interior ministers approve individual assessment for Syrian refugees | News | DW.COM | 03.12.2015

 German state interior ministers have agreed to resume individual asylum assessments for refugees. Some have claimed the controls are crucial for security, while others have criticized the move as a 'gamble' with lives.

Germany's 16 state interior ministers agreed on Thursday during a meeting in Koblenz to toughen the screening process for all asylum seekers. Personal interviews will resume for all applicants, including Syrians, who have only had to provide information in writing for the past year.

"I have deemed it necessary to reintroduce individual assessments for all refugees and asylum seekers - regardless of which country they come from," Germany's federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said during a press conference. He did not mention a start date for the stricter assessments.

The stricter controls have been called for "on security grounds" and to "ascertain identities and prevent abuse." Increased support for the controls came following reports that some asylum seekers used false Syrian passports. The move comes in the wake of the Paris attacks which killed 130 people.

Read more: German interior ministers approve individual assessment for Syrian refugees | News | DW.COM | 03.12.2015