EU: French President Macron plagued by social unrest, considering temporary ban on Social Media

French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the possibility of banning access to certain social media features, in a meeting with local mayors in the cities that have seen violent protests.

Macron told about 300 local leaders that "we need to reflect on social media use among the youngest [and] on the prohibitions we must put in place," in a video seen by some French and international media.

"When things get out of hand, perhaps you have to put yourself in a position to regulate or cut them," Macron added.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

Russians Scramble for Visas as EU Mulls Travel Restrictions

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“I don’t believe the EU will stop issuing all visas to Russians. However, I will feel more comfortable with a Schengen visa, even if I'm not going anywhere right now,” said one Moscow resident who applied for an EU visa after the start of the ban discussions.  

The idea of a European ban on Russian tourists has caused heated debate since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky backed it earlier this month, with supporters saying Russians must be held accountable for their government’s actions and opponents questioning the validity of policy making based on the idea of collective responsibility. 

Finland said Tuesday it will reduce the number of visas issued to Russians by 90% starting next month and Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have recently also announced restrictions on tourist visas for Russians. 

The three Baltic states and Finland, which share land borders with Russia, have reported an increase in the numbers of Russians using their airports to transit further into the EU as a workaround to the bloc’s ban on Russian travelers. 

Read more at: Russians Scramble for Visas as EU Mulls Travel Restrictions - The Moscow Times

The Netherlands: Amsterdam to become first city in the world to ban advertising by fossil fuels companies

Amsterdam is set to be the first city in the world to ban ads from fossil fuel and aviation companies in a bid to reduce the ‘excesses’ of fossil fuel advertising.

This means that fossil-fuelled vehicles, such as petrol cars and flights, will no longer be advertised in Amsterdam subway stations or the city centre.

The new law follows mass movements in and around the capital which were headed up by the Reclame Fossielvrij (Fossil Free Advertising) initiative. The group co-ordinated a letter from over 50 local organisations demanding Amsterdam to go fossil free.

“The decision to ban fossil fuel advertising from subway stations comes at a crucial moment in the fight against climate change. Adverts that portray fossil fuels as normal worsen climate disruption and have no place in a city − or a country − that has complied with Paris,” says Amsterdam Mayor Femke Sleegers, coordinator of Reclame Fossielvrij.

Read more at: Amsterdam to become first city in the world to ban this type of advert | Euronews

Social Media: Facebook and Instagram extend Trump ban to remainder of his presidency

Facebook Inc. and Instagram will extend a ban on U.S. President Donald Trump's accounts for at least the next two weeks until the presidential transition is completed, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

Twitter Inc., Facebook, and Snap Inc. temporarily locked Trump's accounts on Wednesday, as tech giants scrambled to crack down on his baseless claims about the U.S. presidential election and hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Read more at: Facebook and Instagram extend Trump ban to remainder of his presidency | CBC News

The Netherlands: Burqa ban, face mask laws frustrate Dutch Muslims

On August 1 it will be one year since the Dutch government approved a controversial law prohibiting clothing that "completely covers the face." It followed similar, albeit stricter, bans in France and Belgium.

The Dutch ban prohibited such clothing from being worn in public transport or in public buildings such as schools, hospitals and government buildings. Unlike in France and Belgium, the burqa is still permitted to be worn in the streets.

Read more at:
Burqa ban, face mask laws frustrate Dutch Muslims | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 01.08.2020

Ocean Pollution - The Netherlands to ban many single-use plastics by next summer - by Victoria Séveno

Good news for the environment! The Netherlands will ban a number of single-use plastic products from July 2021, in an effort to protect our beaches and oceans.

Read more:
The Netherlands to ban many single-use plastics by next summer

France - rhe environment: Will cars be banned in Paris after lockdown?

Parisian Mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced that returning to a city dominated by cars post- pandemic is “out of the question”. A special session was organised by the Paris City Council to look at ways to guide citizens out of lockdown, where Hidalgo emphasised her stance on reducing pollution in the capital.

“I say in all firmness that it is out of the question that we allow ourselves to be invaded by cars, and by pollution,” she said. “Pollution is already in itself a health crisis and a danger — and pollution joined up with coronavirus is a particularly dangerous cocktail.” Early studies carried out by Harvard University in the US have found that a rise in exposure to particulate pollution of just one microgram per metre-cubed of air could increase our chances of dying from the disease by around 10 per cent.

Read more at:
Will cars be banned in Paris after lockdown? | Living

Russia: Protestors defy ban on opposition rally in Moscow

Russia: Protesters defy ban on opposition rally in Moscow

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https://p.dw.com/p/3Mp5O

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Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/whales-1.5169138

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Facebook and Instagram ban Alex Jones, and Louis Farrakhan

Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones banned from Facebook, Instagram

Read more at: 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/facebook-bans-louis-farrakhan-alex-jones-hate-speech-1.5120557

Britain-Brexit: British Government looking at charging the EU students in Britain more if Brexit materializes

Read more at: 

https://inews.co.uk/news/education/government-looking-to-charge-eu-students-more-to-attend-english-universities-after-brexit/

Venezuela: Maduro Government bars opposition leader for15 years from Public office

Venezuelan government bars opposition leader from public office

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-guiado-ban-office-1.5075488

White Supremacy banned: Facebook bans white nationalism from their platform after pressure from civil rights groups - by David Ingram and Ben Collins

Facebook is banning white nationalism and white supremacy from its social network following criticism that it had not done enough to eliminate hate speech on its platform

The social media giant said in a blog post Wednesday that conversations with academics and civil rights groups convinced the company to expand its policies around hate groups.

 “Today we’re announcing a ban on praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism on Facebook and Instagram, which we’ll start enforcing next week,” the company wrote in the post. “It’s clear that these concepts are deeply linked to organized hate groups and have no place on our services.” Scrutiny of Facebook reached new heights in the past two weeks after a gunman in Christchurch, New Zealand, used Facebook to livestream his attacks on two mosques that killed 50 people.

Note EU-Digest: Bravo, let's hope Twitter does the same, which would ban Donald Trump and his Populist buddies in Europe and other areas of the world from using both Facebook and Twitter, to spread their white supremacy nationalist ideology.

Read more at: Facebook bans white nationalism from platform after pressure from civil rights groups

USA - Transgenders: Donald Trump’s transgenders ban announcement is met with swift backlash - Michael Glassman -

Immediately after President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that he was barring transgender Americans from serving in the military, the head of the U.S. armed forces was met with stunned disbelief over the slap in the face to thousands of service members.

Read more: Donald Trump’s transgender ban announcement is met with swift backlash - Salon.com

Air Travel: US electronics ban for Middle East flights draws doubts

Aviation experts are divided on the effectiveness of a US ban on large electronic items in hand luggage on flights inbound from a number of Middle Eastern states.

The US Department of Homeland Security announced the measure on Tuesday, citing the downing of an airliner in Egypt in 2015 and an attempt on a Somali passenger jet in 2016 using explosives smuggled on board.

A list of banned devices includes tablets, laptops, e-book readers and cameras, but not medical equipment and mobile phones.

The indefinite ban targets 10 airports in the Middle East and nine airlines, including Turkish Airlines and the major Gulf carriers: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

"We have reason to be concerned about attempts by terrorist groups to circumvent aviation security and terrorist groups continue to target aviation interests," US officials said in a statement.

However, aviation experts have cast doubt on that explanation and warned of the new dangers the measure could pose.

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at the aviation consultancy StrategicAero Research, told Al Jazeera the announcement "flies in the face" of US Federal Aviation Authority rules on the carrying of lithium batteries in a plane's cargo hold.

"[The rule] was put in place after the 2010 crash of a UPS 747 freighter in Dubai that caught fire while carrying such cargo," he said, before describing the immediate inconvenience the ban would cause for passengers.

"Airlines will of course comply, but delays will be seen at airports for customers not aware of the rule changes.

"Compliance will cause delays and add costs - it might even force passengers to drop plans to fly to the US or instead look for an alternative transit point through Europe so that their devices can be taken in the cabin as normal."

Read more: US electronics ban for Middle East flights draws doubts | News | Al Jazee

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Islam; Banning the Burqa in Europe

List of countries which have banned the Burqa in Europe.

For complete report click here

Climate change - alternative energy: Netherlands on brink of banning sale of petrol-fuelled cars - by J. Staufenberg

Europe appears poised to continue its move towards cutting fossil fuel use as the Netherlands joins a host of nations looking to pass innovative green energy laws.

The Dutch government has set a date for parliament to host a roundtable discussion that could see the sale of petrol- and diesel-fuelled cars banned by 2025.

If the measures proposed by the Labour Party in March are finally passed, it would join Norway and Denmark in making a concerted move to develop its electric car industry.

It comes after Germany saw all of its power supplied by renewable energies such as solar and wind power on one day in May as the economic powerhouse continues to phase out nuclear energy and fossil fuels.

And outside Europe, both India and China have demanded that citizens use their cars on alternate days only to reduce the exhaust fume production which is causing serious health problems for the populations of both nations.

The consensus-oriented parties of the Netherlands are set to consider a total ban on petrol and diesel cars in a debate on 13 October.

Richard Smokers, principle adviser in sustainable transport at the Dutch renewable technology company TNO, said the Dutch government was committed to meeting the Paris climate change agreement to reduce greenhouse emissions to 80 per cent less than the 1990 level. The plan requires the majority of passenger cars to be run on CO2-free energy by 2050.

"Dutch cities still have some problems to meet existing EU air quality standards and have formulated ambitions to improve air quality beyond these standards," he told The Independent, adding that the government had at the same time been reluctant to implement strict policies on the environment.

"The current government embraces long term targets and strives at meeting EU requirements, but is hesistant about proposing 'strong' policy measures.

"Instead it prefers to facilitate and stimulate initiatives from stakeholders in society."

If the law to ban the sale of new fossil-fuel cars by 2025 passes, a significant move will have been made towards phasing out all petrol and diesel cars by 2035, added Dr Smokers.

Read more: Climate change: Netherlands on brink of banning sale of petrol-fuelled cars | Climate Change | Environment | The Independent

EU Parliament - Chemical Industry - Monsanto: Glyphosate -- Crushed it!! and Avaaz made it happen

Europe just took an extraordinary vote, refusing to grant Monsanto a license for its main product and cornerstone of its empire - the cancer-linked weed killer glyphosate.

Monsanto thought renewal of glyphosate was a done deal. But now, after over 2 million of us joined the biggest global petition against glyphosate ever and massive targeted public pressure, the future of the Monsanto model is more in question than ever before.

Together we forced this from a formality for a new 15-year license into a heated political debate that ended up as a vote on an 18-month emergency extension. This week, European nations rejected even that.

Leading EU parliamentarian Pavel Poc just said: “Avaaz is indisputably the driving force of the fight for glyphosate discontinuance." Here’s what we have done together to make what seemed impossible, possible:

When it came down to the final vote, all our work paid off - leaders representing half the EU population refused to authorise glyphosate, even for the trimmed down 18-month proposal we had helped reduce the license to!

All of this effort was funded by over 86,000 Avaazers worldwide who donated generously to make this campaign mega.

Throughout this fight, Avaaz was joined by great allies and partners who played invaluable roles. Our view is only partial, but here’s our top list to express gratitude to:

• The Socialists and Democrats, and Green parties in the EU Parliament were crucial in this fight. Particularly Bart Staes and Pavel Poc who were instrumental.
• French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal, who was a central leader in this fight.
• Pesticide Action Network, a great coalition of national action networks that has long campaigned on glyphosate and provided great advice and insight to Avaaz.
• Greenpeace, always a wonderful force on these issues, which did a lot of lobbying and media work on glyphosate.
• Campact ran a brilliant campaign in Germany, and matched massive open letters, polling and bird-dogging to play a key role in flipping the German government on glyphosate.
• And many others! Like HEAL, WeMove.eu, Global 2000, and a great coalition of Italian NGOs on this.

Note EU-DigestL Once again the above result shows that people, once they can get out of their comfort zone and join together in a common cause, can still make a difference and overcome just about any hurdle that is politically, economically ,industrially, environmentally dangerous to their health or lifestyle. 

EU-Digest supports Avaaz  and recommends AVAAZ  - a global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere
 
Read more: Avaaz - Glyphosate -- Crushed it!!

GM Foods: EU Commission proposes GM opt-out for member states "why not total ban?"

The European Commission has proposed a new law which would allow individual EU countries to restrict or prohibit imported genetically modified (GM) crops – even if they have been approved by the bloc as a whole. The US says the move is "not constructive."

According to EU Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, the plan would "grant member states a greater say as regards the use of EU-authorized GMOs in food and feed on their respective territories."

It will now go to the European Parliament and member states for further consideration. There is concern that giving nations the opportunity to opt out from EU laws goes counter to many EU initiatives which traditionally seek a common stance on EU policies.

The proposal – which covers human food and animal feed – comes as a knock to the US, which wants Europe to fully accept its GM crops as part of an EU-US free trade deal.

Note EU-Digest: This EU Commission proposal is not a solution - the EU must ban the use of genetically modified foods throughout the EU period.

Read more: EU Commission proposes GM opt-out for member states — RT News

Russia: Agriculture watchdog bans seafood imports from Denmark, Canada, and New Zealand

Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has banned seafood imports from companies in Denmark, Canada and New Zealand.

In Denmark the ban concerns Akamalik (Royal Greenland A/S). Lab tests on prawns from this company revealed repeated cases of E.coli.

Prawns from Canada's Clearwater Ocean Prawns Venture were also banned due to E.coli.

Restrictions were also imposed on products from New Zealand's PH1 (Talley's Group Limited). E.coli was found in mussels from this company.

Read more: Agriculture watchdog bans seafood imports from Denmark, Canada, New Zealand | Russia Beyond The Headlines