China-Netherlands relations:Dutch Foreign Ministry accuses China of setting up illegal police stations in the Netherlands

The Dutch foreign ministry said it was investigating reports that China had set up two "illegal police stations" in the Netherlands to monitor dissidents.

According to Dutch media reports, two Chinese "posts" have been operating in Amsterdam and Rotterdam since 2018.

The "police stations" allegedly claim to offer diplomatic assistance to Chinese nationals but have not been registered with the Dutch government.

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

BRITAIN: Scottish court rules Johnsons parliament, suspension, Illegal

Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/scottish-court-parliament-suspension-unlawful-1.5278822

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Spain: Catalonia prepares for rule by Skype- by Andrew Rettman

The two biggest parties in Catalonia have vowed to put Carles Puigdemont back in office despite Madrid's threat to maintain direct rule if they go ahead.

The Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) and ERC parties told El Nacional, a Spanish newspaper, on Tuesday (16 January), that Puigdemont was preparing to be invested as president of the region on 31 January and to carry out his future duties via videolink on online platforms such as Skype from his self-imposed exile in Brussels.

They said he would do it "due to legal imperative".

"I promise to act with complete fidelity to the will of the people of Catalonia," Puigdemont, whose JxCat party came second in regional elections in December, added.

The statement of intent came after the Catalan parliament's own lawyers said on Tuesday that a videolink investiture would have no legal basis.

Note EU-Digest: When is Mr. Piedemont going to "grow-up" and return to Spain to face the Judge in Madrid? It is also high time Belgium stops sitting on their hands and extradites Mr. Piedemont back to Spain. The Catalan voters should also start questioning the Catalan local government at which point they are ending this charade and stop financing Mr. Piedemont's non-productive activities in Belgium with tax payers money.  

Read more: Catalonia prepares for rule by Skype

Spain: Catalonia braces for Spain takeover as two sides remain deadlocked - by M. Fiske and L.King

In a crowd outside Catalonia's ornate regional headquarters in Barcelona, two men argued fervently. One was for independence from Spain, the other against.

Like others elsewhere in Catalonia, Xaui Nicolau, 41, and Juan Antonio Martinez, 67, argued over whether the northeastern region's president, Carles Puigdemont, had miscalculated by refusing to renounce secessionist aims.

Puigdemont, in a speech Thursday, ruled out early parliamentary elections — some observers thought holding the elections might help stave off Madrid's takeover — but not independence.

Now, with the Spanish government poised to strip Catalonia of its regional autonomy and remove Puigdemont as soon as Saturday, Nicolau said a unilateral declaration of independence was "the only option" remaining.

But Martinez, like officials in Madrid, staunchly insisted that Catalonia's independence drive was illegal. "It's the way you did it," he said. "It's not constitutional." Spain's Senate is to vote Friday on implementing direct rule in Catalonia to quell its independence bid — a step never before taken in Spain's democratic era by the central government.

After Puigdemont spoke, the regional parliament convened to try to plot a course in the face of Spain's looming deadline. The talk continued into the night before recessing until Friday morning.

Read more: - Catalonia braces for Spain takeover as two sides remain deadlocked – LA Times

Spain - Catalonia: Ex-leader Mas says Catalonia is not ready for 'real independence'

Divisions are emerging over whether now is the right time to declare independence from Spain

Former Catalonian government leader Artur Mas has said the region is not yet ready for ‘real independence’

Mas, currently barred from public office for staging an informal independence referendum in 2014, told the Financial Times on Friday that Catalonia had yet to lay the groundwork.

He said there was a debate among Catalan leaders about whether now was the right time to unilaterally declare independence.

Artur Mas: 'This is not just about proclaiming independence but about actually becoming an independent country' 

Read more: Ex-leader Mas says Catalonia is not ready for 'real independence' | Euronews

Insurance Industry: Autonomous cars could drive auto insurance to extinction - by Scott Mclaren

Autonomous cars on future roads could end the need for insurance

In a 2015 interview, Elon Musk pointed out that recent advances in auto technology could lead to human-operated vehicles becoming illegal someday.

While this may seem ludicrous to some, it could play out sooner than you think. By 2025 — just a few short years away — the auto industry’s autonomous segment is projected to reach a worth of $26 billion, according to insights from Bain & Company. Some estimates even project as many as 10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020.

Musk’s prediction that human-controlled vehicles could be outlawed comes from not only an increase in autonomous options, but also for one simple reason: safety. It’s hard to imagine tech operation being safer than human operation, but vehicle safety statistics point to driver error as one of the top causes of auto accidents. In fact, more than 3,000 people were killed and 431,000 injured from distracted driving in 2014 alone, with contributing factors including cell phone usage, fatigue, aggressive driving, and running red lights. Although it’s far too early for statistical comparison, it’s fair to say that autonomous vehicles will face far fewer variables and will have greater predictability in certain driving situations.

Without driver error, will we need insurance at all?

In theory, removing human error from the roads means fewer accidents — which would also remove the need for private insurance that covers damage caused by drivers. In tandem, these two changes would lower accident liabilities and, theoretically, cause a huge drop in personal auto insurance premiums.

As it stands, auto insurers offer rates based on individual driving histories, and can even optimize each policy’s pricing via driver-approved telematics. As the insurance industry adapts to new technology saturating the market — turning drivers into mere passengers — the liability for accidents caused by autonomous vehicles could be handed off to the manufacturer, software designer, or even the government through the Department of Transportation. “

At least the current thinking is that the manufacturers will be ultimately responsible for a lot of these future accidents when an automated vehicle is involved,” said Rick Gorvett of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

But the Insurance Information Institute’s Michael Barry doesn’t think these changes will wipe out owner responsibility in total. Barry pointed out that driver error isn’t the only danger to vehicles, and owners and insurance companies will still have to factor in off-road damages that may occur. “Cars can still get flooded, damaged, or stolen,” he said, “but this technology will have a dramatic impact on underwriting. A lot of traditional underwriting criteria will beupended.

Read more: Autonomous cars could drive auto insurance to extinction | VentureBeat

Spain: Catalan Government announces results of illegal referendum: figures nebulous and not substantiated

The Catalan government said around 2.26million people voted in the banned independence referendum to leave Spain on Sunday, representing a turnout of around 42.3 percent of Catalonia's 5.34million voters.

Throughout history plebiscites have often been tools for dictators to force voters to give up their freedoms while keeping up an appearance of having the nation’s support

This one in Catalonia was not any different, but adding to the controversy was also the fact that like in previous Catalan referendums less than 50 % of the Catalan voters turned out.

As to claims of police brutality, all fingers should be pointing to the Catalan government, which despite the fact that the Supreme court of Spain and the Spanish government ruled the referendum was illegal, the local Catalan government still went ahead with the referendum.

EU-Digest   

Germany: US Ramstein Air Base anti-drone protests: The Germans taking on the US military

At first it's difficult to reconcile the week's itinerary at the "peace camp" — yoga, reggae, poetry slam - with the gray-haired audience gathered in this dusky room.

Taking up every seat and windowsill, the crowd of at least 150 listens intently as each speaker outlines how the US government is leading an 'illegal war" in their backyard. The city is Kaiserslautern, the Air Force base in question is Ramstein and the war is that waged by US's drone operations, which they say violate German law.

"Our government must review and prohibit the drone war," Otto Jaeckel tells the crowd to loud applause. He called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen to take action: "Ms. Merkel and Ms. von der Leyen bear personal responsibility here!"

Under the banner of "Stop Ramstein Air Base," a nationwide campaign has drawn peace activists from across Germany and other countries to Kaiserslautern, calling for the base to be shut down.

Note EU-Digest: Given the international scope of these illegal US military operations conducted from sovereign German soil this should become an issue which must be dealt by the EU.  Also read http://www.dw.com/en/berlin-powerless-to-challenge-us-drone-operations-at-ramstein-air-base/a-17545327. 

Read more: Ramstein Air Base anti-drone protests: The Germans taking on the US military | News | DW | 09.09.2017

Spain’s government prepares to stop Catalan breakaway vote - by Sarah Morris

Less than two months ahead of a planned independence referendum in Catalonia, Spanish government ministers are braced for having their holidays interrupted by separatist moves.

Prime minister Mariano Rajoy has said he would call them back for an extraordinary cabinet meeting if the Catalan government presents a law this month for the vote on 1 October.

“With calmness and moderation, we have to say that there won’t be a referendum on 1 October,” Rajoy told reporters, speaking while on holiday at his home region of north-west Galicia.

The Spanish government says that the vote is illegal since the 1978 Constitution gives sovereignty to all Spaniards, meaning they all have a say over the whole of the country’s territory.

The government has repeatedly taken legal action against moves to hold independence votes, and has made it clear that it will consider prosecuting civil servants who defy court rulings to help in the October vote.

Madrid has, however, resisted outlining what further action it would take if the Catalan government, the Generalitat, ignores court orders, which it says it no longer considers legitimate.

The Spanish Constitution includes an article that allows for the suspension of the powers of an autonomous region. The police could be sent to confiscate ballot boxes and make arrests on 1 October.

Read more: Spain’s government prepares to stop Catalan breakaway vote

NSA Spying Program: Federal Judge Rules Against N.S.A. Phone Data Program - b y Charlie Savage

In a 68-page ruling, Judge Richard J. Leon of the District of Columbia called the program’s technology “almost Orwellian” and suggested that James Madison, the author of the Constitution, would be “aghast” to learn that the government was encroaching on liberty in such a way. 

“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary’ invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval,” Judge Leon wrote. “Surely, such a program infringes on ‘that degree of privacy’ that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment.” 

Judge Leon stayed his injunction “in light of the significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues,” allowing the government time to appeal it, a matter that he said could take some six months. 

Vanee Vines, a spokeswoman for the N.S.A., had no immediate comment on the ruling by Judge Leon, a 2002 appointee of President George W. Bush. 

The ruling is the first successful legal challenge brought against the program since it was revealed in June after leaks by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden. It was brought by several plaintiffs led by Larry Klayman, a conservative public-interest lawyer. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a similar lawsuit in the Southern District of New York.

Read more: NSA Spying Program: Federal Judge Rules Against N.S.A. Phone Data Program - b y Charlie Savage