Solar Power Future Bright: New Estimates Show Rapid Growth in Off Grid Renewables - by Irena

The supply of electricity from mini-grids and small solar devices, such as solar home systems and solar lights is growing especially fast.

This part of the energy sector, including power generation from these sources, is often missing from official energy statistics. But evidence of their growing importance can be seen in solar panel import statistics and development project databases.

During 2017, IRENA collected detailed data about off-grid power developments to determine current estimates of off-grid capacity. Data sources included biannual market surveys from the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association, the OECD-DAC development project database, national and regional power plant databases, off-grid data gathered via IRENA questionnaires, and information obtained from organisations such as REN21 and the Alliance for Rural Electrification.

New data from IRENA shows that about 115 million people worldwide currently rely on the basic energy services provided by solar lights, while another 25 million obtain a higher level of renewable energy services through solar home systems or connection to a solar mini-grid. In addition to solar power, over 6 million people are currently connected to hydropower mini-grids, while another 300,000 people use biogas power.

The supply of electricity from mini-grids and small solar devices, such as solar home systems and solar lights is growing especially fast. This part of the energy sector, including power generation from these sources, is often missing from official energy statistics. But evidence of their growing importance can be seen in solar panel import statistics and development project databases.

During 2017, IRENA collected detailed data about off-grid power developments to determine current estimates of off-grid capacity. Data sources included biannual market surveys from the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association, the OECD-DAC development project database, national and regional power plant databases, off-grid data gathered via IRENA questionnaires, and information obtained from organisations such as REN21 and the Alliance for Rural Electrification.

Read morL New Estimates Show Rapid Growth in Off-Grid Renewables - Modern Diplomacy

USA: Gun Control: The Stricter a State's Gun Laws, the Fewer Children DIE- by Ed Cara

State laws that mandate universal background checks for buying guns and ammunition may save young lives, suggests new research presented this week at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies. The study found that states with stricter gun laws had lower rates of gun-related deaths among children compared to states without such laws.

Researchers, primarily at the Children’s National Health System in Washington DC, first examined gun injury data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They specifically looked at reported firearm deaths of people under the age of 21 that took place in 2015. Then they matched each state’s child mortality rate to a rating of their gun control laws and policies, based on a scorecard established by the Brady Campaign, a non-profit organization that advocates for gun violence prevention.

There were a total of 4,528 reported child deaths from gun in 2015. The state-by-state firearm mortality rate ranged from 0 deaths per 100,000 children to 18 deaths per 100,000 children.

The researchers found that the median mortality rate for the 12 states with universal background laws for all gun sales—including Washington, Colorado, and Connecticut—was 3.8 deaths per 100,000 children. But for states that didn’t require background checks, the median mortality rate was 5.7 per 100,000 children. The same relationship was true when looking at background checks for ammo: The median mortality of the five states with these laws was 2.3 deaths per 100,000 children, while it was 5.6 deaths per 100,000 children in states with no background checks.

Read more: The Stricter a State's Gun Laws, the Fewer Children Die From Guns, Study Finds

EU Economy: Spring 2018 Economic Forecast: Expansion to continue amid new risks

Growth rates for the EU and the euro area beat expectations in 2017 to reach a 10-year high at 2.4%. Growth is set to remain strong in 2018 and ease only slightly in 2019, with growth of 2.3% and 2.0% respectively in both the EU and the euro area.

Private consumption remains strong, while exports and investment have increased. Unemployment continues to fall and is now around pre-crisis levels. However, the economy is more exposed to external risk factors, which have strengthened and become more negative.

Robust growth is facilitating a further reduction in government deficit and debt levels and an improvement in labour market conditions. The aggregate deficit for the euro area is now less than 1% of GDP and is forecast to fall under 3% in all euro area Member States this year.

Read more: European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Spring 2018 Economic Forecast: Expansion to continue amid new risks

USA: Pentagon, Citing Russian Patrols, Bolsters US, NATO Presence In North Atlantic – by RFE RL

The Pentagon has launched a new naval command to bolster the U.S. and NATO presence in the northern Atlantic Ocean, citing an increased Russian presence in those waters.

“The return to great power competition and a resurgent Russia demands that NATO refocus on the Atlantic to ensure dedicated reinforcement of the continent and demonstrate a capable and credible deterrence effect,” Johnny Michael, a Pentagon spokesman, said on May 4.

The new NATO command “will be the linchpin of trans-Atlantic security,” he said. Outlines of the plan were approved at a February meeting of NATO defense ministers as part of a broader effort to ensure the security of the sea lanes and lines of communication between Europe and North America.

The Pentagon’s decision reflects growing worries across Europe and within NATO about Russia’s increased military presence and patrols in the Atlantic region.

Russia has increased its patrols in the Baltic Sea, the North Atlantic, and the Arctic, NATO officials say, although the size of its navy is smaller now than during the Cold War era.

Despite evidence that Russia’s weak economy forced Moscow to slash military spending by 20 percent last year, Czech Army General Petr Pavel, the chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, told RFE/RL in an interview that NATO still must build up its defenses.

Read more: Pentagon, Citing Russian Patrols, Bolsters US, NATO Presence In North Atlantic – Eurasia Review

Iran's president warns Donald Trump he'll regret it if he ends nuclear deal

President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday Iran had plans to respond to any move by U.S. President Donald Trump on the 2015 nuclear agreement and the United States would regret a decision to exit the accord.

Trump has said unless European allies rectify "flaws" in Tehran's nuclear agreement with world powers by May 12 he will refuse to extend U.S. sanctions relief for Iran.

"We have plans to resist any decision by Trump on the nuclear accord," Rouhani said in a speech carried live by state television.

"Orders have been issued to our atomic energy organisation ... and to the economic sector to confront America's plots against our country," Rouhani told a rally in northeast Iran.

"America is making a mistake if it leaves the nuclear accord," Rouhani said.

Read more:Iran's president warns Donald Trump he'll regret it if he ends nuclear deal | Euronews

Cyber Security: How to wrestle your data from data brokers, Silicon Valley — and Cambridge Analytica - Jeremy B. Merrill

Cambridge Analytica thinks that I’m a “Very Unlikely Republican.” Another political data firm, ALC Digital, has concluded I’m a “Socially Conservative,” Republican, “Boomer Voter.” In fact, I’m a 27- year old millennial with no set Party alliance.

One thing is certain: My personal data, and likely yours, is in more hands than ever. Tech firms, data brokers and political consultants build profiles of what they know — or think they can reasonably guess — about your purchasing habits, personality, hobbies and even what political issues you care about.

Making statistically informed guesses about Americans’ political beliefs and pet issues is a common business these days, with dozens of firms selling data to candidates and issue groups about the purported leanings of individual American voters., Cambridge Analytica

Read more: How to wrestle your data from data brokers, Silicon Valley — and Cambridge Analytica | Salon.com

USA: Trump on US border control: 'We may have to close up our country'- by Josh Delk

President Trump lambasted U.S. immigration policies Saturday, stating that the U.S. may have to "close up" its borders.

Speaking at a business roundtable in Cleveland, Trump acknowledged that officials are working to repair certain areas of the nation's border controls, but said the U.S. needs "much more money."

"We may have to close up our country to get this straight," he said, but did not offer more details on the logistics.

"You can't allow people to pour into our country like they're doing," Trump went on. "If we don't have borders, you don't have a country," he said, chiding Democrats for "open border" policies.

Trump's long-standing promises for a new wall stretching across the U.S.-Mexico border suffered a blow earlier this year when Congress allocated only $1.6 billion toward border security measures in a trillion-dollar spending bill - billions less than the White House demanded.

Read more: Trump on US border control: 'We may have to close up our country'

EU Budget: Commission tables €1.279 trillion EU budget plan for 2021-2027: By Irene Kostaki

The European Commission on Apri 2 proposed an EU budget of €1.279 trillion for 2021 to 2027, the long-anticipated Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled the MFF draft plan during the European Parliament plenary in Brussels. It is the first such plan for the EU-27, in the wake of the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European Union. According to Juncker, this plan is “an opportunity to shape our future as a new, ambitious union of 27.”

With the cost of Britain’s departure factored in, the remaining EU member states will be required to fill the hole by raising their contributions to around 1.1% of gross national income (GNI) per member state, a 1% rise from the current level. According to Juncker, “the ball is now in the court of the Council and the Parliament”.

The EU’s Budget Commissioner, Günther H. Oettinger, has said that more than one sector will see their costs cut as, “The gap being left by the UK’s departure and the new tasks ahead call for changes”.  The possible cuts could see cohesion funds could be slashed by 7% and agriculture by 5%, while direct payments could be cut by about 4%, according to the Commissioner.

Read more: Commission tables €1.279 trillion EU budget plan for 2021-2027

EU Economy: Strong 2018 economy forecast spurs Commission optimism- by Eric Maurice

EU finance commissioner Pierre Moscovici on Thursday (3 May) brushed aside concerns about a slowing down in the EU economic recovery.

"The lights are flashing green," he told reporters while presenting the European Commission's latest forecasts.

Read more: Strong 2018 economy forecast spurs Commission optimis

NATO Prepares for War With Russia With Simulated Naval and Cyberattacks - by Cristina Maza

Around 1,000 participants from 30 member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gathered in the tiny Baltic nation of Estonia late last month to prepare for war with an enemy that looks a lot like Russia, according to reports.

The exercises were dystopian and catastrophic, and included simulated cyberattacks, poisoned water supplies, a hacked drone employed to kill NATO soldiers and a faulty power grid. As tensions ratchet up between Moscow and the West, NATO countries, especially those like Estonia that border Russia, are increasingly preparing for the worst. The Locked Shields live-fire cyber exercise is a key part of that preparation.

“The exercise required participants to counter high-intensity attacks on a fictitious country’s IT systems and critical infrastructure networks. Teams had to maintain the IT systems while reporting incidents, managing crises, making strategic decisions, solving digital forensics tasks and dealing with other challenges,” according to a report on homeland preparedness. “The exercise involved a total of 4,000 virtualized systems and more than 2,500 attacks.”

Note EU-Digest: Contemplating war between Nuclear Powers is utter madness and even the idea of preparing for one is tltal madness, because their will be no victors. The only solution is complete disarmement by all nuclear Nations. Unfortunately with all these ego maniacs political leaders around the world this this is impossible.

Read more: NATO Prepares for War With Russia With Simulated Naval and Cyberattacks

The Netherlands - Retirement Provisions: The Dutch Patient - by Bernard M. S. van Praag

All over the world the Dutch retirement system is considered one of the best but at home it has come under fire. Serious questions are being raised about the stability and sustainability of the pension scheme. Are the concerns justified?

The Dutch pension system consists of three pillars: a basic state old–age pension on a pay-as-you-go basis for all citizens, a mandatory funded occupational pension for employed workers and voluntary pension insurance, mainly used by self-employed.

The main components are the first two mandatory systems, each providing about 45 percent of the pensions, with private insurance covering about 10 percent. Together the state pension and the occupational pension provide about 70 percent of average lifetime earnings (subject to differences in earnings and duration of employment over life).

Read more: The Dutch Patient

Turkey opposition names rival to Erdogan for June election

Muharrem Ince: A fresh new face in Turkish Politics

Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), has announced its candidate to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in next month's snap presidential election. 

Muharrem Ince is staunchly secular and a fiery critic of Mr Erdogan. He has been an MP since 2002.

The CHP plans to ally for the first time with right-wing parties, in the hope of beating Mr Erdogan.

Mr Erdogan's conservative AK Party has a majority in parliament.

He called the snap election to cement his position with enhanced powers. Parliamentary elections will be held on the same day, 24 June.

Secularists are fundamentally opposed to the AK Party's agenda, seeing it as creeping Islamisation of the state.

Read More: Turkey opposition names rival to Erdogan for June election - BBC News

Heads of State Pay scale: Who are some of the best paid country leaders in Europe?

The leaders of Germany, Switzerland and Belgium are among the best paid in Europe, a new study has revealed.

Swiss President Alain Berset earns nearly €400,000 a year, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel take home an annual basic salary of around €300,000.

Their wages were revealed in a study of countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which was conducted by UK-based financial services company IG Group.

Fead more: Who are some of the best paid country leaders in Europe? | Euronews

Facebook seeks to block US spying lawsuit from top EU court

Facebook is trying to keep the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from reviewing an Irish privacy case, fearing potential limitations on its ability to move customer data from the EU to the US.

Facebook’s headquarters for most of its non-US markets is in Dublin. The Irish High Court ruled that US surveillance programs permit the “mass indiscriminate” processing of the private data of European citizens and noted the lack of effective legal remedies against that kind of surveillance, given that the US government does not typically notify people who are being subjected to spying.

The Irish court has ordered the referral of the case to the ECJ in order to determine whether methods used for data transfers are legal. If the ECJ agrees with the decision of the Irish court, that could mean trouble ahead for thousands of tech firms, which transfer huge amounts of data from the EU to the US every day.

Read more: Facebook seeks to block US spying lawsuit from top EU court — RT World News

Liberalism: Strange Bedfellows Undermining Liberalism: Trump And Academia - by Bo Rothstein

For people like myself, working as a social science researcher, these are very strange times. Almost any colleague, in whatever discipline you talk with, will quickly turn the conversation onto one and only one question – the election and politics of Donald Trump. Since his election as US President, the academic community appears to have been experiencing something of a mental shellshock, or maybe it would be more accurate to label this an “election shock”. How could this happen in the country with the very best universities and, if we consider for example the number of Nobel laureates, the absolute top research units in the world? The country that, when it comes to size and professionalism, outperforms all other countries (even if you would count the whole of the European Union) in almost all research areas.

Trump and his administration stand for everything that is the opposite of constructing public policy based on research, or if you want to be more solemn, public policy based on the idea of enlightenment. Ideological warfare instead of argument based on reason and facts. Politics and statements about events based on so-called “alternative facts” instead of truthfulness. A steadfast refusal to take into account and, in some respects, pure hostility to well-established research results in key areas such as climate change and population health. Narrow-minded nationalism instead of universalism and openness to the outside world. Xenophobia and racism instead of respect for individual rights. In the field of foreign policy, the Trump administration seems to have done away with most competence residing in the State Department. The anti-intellectualism and irrationality of this administration is simply overwhelming for many academics. Many very established members of respectable academic organizations in the US have criticized this administration at an unprecedented level.

Read more: Strange Bedfellows Undermining Liberalism: Trump And Academia

Global Warming: Collapse of Antarctic glacier the size of Britain threatens to flood coastal towns

An Antarctic glacier the size of Britain is threatening to submerge UK coastal towns by collapsing into the ocean and raising sea levels, scientists fear.

British and American experts are launching the largest joint mission for more than 70 years to investigate how long the 113,000 square-mile Thwaites Glacier can last in its current form.

A fleet of research ships, submarines and aircraft and more than 80 scientists will be dispatched to the remote west Antarctic region later this year following warnings the ice structure could collapse within decades.

Read more: Collapse of Antarctic glacier the size of Britain threatens to flood coastal towns

EU Economy: Project funding could be cut as EU battles to balance books - by Elena Cavallone

Discovering the Belgian capital by river cruise - many tourists do it each year. A new terminal has been inaugurated at the port of Brussels, designed to handle 35,000 passengers by 2030 and generate an annual turnover of five million euros.

Half of the cash to make it happen came from European Regional Development Funds.

"Europe is helping us to better integrate the port in the city, while also improving the economic impact for the city. In fact, thanks to these investments we will definitely put Brussels on the map of river tourism in Belgium," said Philippe Matthis, General Director, Port of Brussels, told Euronews.

But development projects may not get funding in the future EU budget.

With Brexit leaving a 13 billion euro hole per year, many fear cuts in cohesion spending which help to even out progress across countrie

Right now, the cohesion programme represents about a third of the EU budget. Most funding goes to eastern, former Soviet bloc countries. But southern countries like Spain and Italy are demanding cash to tackle chronic unemployment.

"Regional disparities have not stopped, on the contrary, in some areas of Europe they are growing, especially in southern Europe and in parts of Western Europe," said Francesco Molica, Founder of the Cohesion Policy Observatory.

Another hotly-debated issue is whether EU cohesion funds should be linked to countries respecting the rule of law - in the wake of concerns expressed about conditions in Hungary and Poland.

"Actually EU funds benefit not only the government but they benefit also the citizens all together and they are also proof that Europe is acting for these countries. So it is also a tool to counter Eurosceptisism," said Raphael Hanoteaux, Policy Officer at BankWatch.

Reporting from Brussels, Euronews' Elena Cavallone said: "Tough negotiations are also expected between member states about the idea of increasing their own contribution to the next EU budget. With defence and migration at the top of the priority list, the 27 might need to dip into their pockets if they want to keep the same level of cohesion spending."

Read more: Project funding could be cut as EU battles to balance books | Euronews

May Day rallies celebrate workers arlound the world and in Germany

Traditional rallies for May 1, also known as International Workers' Day, have taken place in Germany. Revelers, laborers and dissidents took to the streets around the world.

May 1 Labour Day . Celebrated around the world except for a few countries. I

n the US it is celebrated on the first Monday in September.

Unfortunately, today in our Capitalist society, as a result of corporate dominance over the political system, only one in five workers now belong to a labour Union. The result has been stagnant minimum wages and declining social benefits for the poor.

Bottom line, the disparity between rich and pooronly getting larger by the day.

Read more: May Day rallies celebrate workers in Germany and abroad | News | DW | 01.05.2018

US Trump Tariffs: Germany expects permanent US tariffs exemption

Germany expects “a permanent exemption” rather than a temporary respite from US steel and aluminum tariffs for the EU. “Neither the European Union nor the United States can have an interest in an escalation (in tensions) in trade relations,” a spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said. I

In March US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. However, the decision was taken to delay the imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs on EU and others, including Canada and Mexico until June 1, as confirmed by the White House on Monday.

Trump had also reached agreements for permanent exemptions for Argentina, Australia and Brazil.

Read more: Germany expects permanent US tariffs exemption — RT Newsline

The Israel, Iran, US Triangle: 'Smoking gun' or 'warmed-over noodles'? Either way, Netanyahu's Iran show seems aimed at Trump alone

Now that the binders and computer discs filled with stolen documents have been safely locked away in the vaults of Israel's intelligence agency, the conclusion many nuclear experts and diplomats have come to is there was no "smoking gun" in Benjamin Netanyahu's showy presentation on Monday about Iran.

But perhaps the Israeli prime minister didn't need to offer conclusive proof that Iran misled the world about its nuclear intentions; while many dismiss his conclusions, Netanyahu's presentation seems aimed at an audience of one — Donald Trump.

Days before the U.S. president is expected to decide whether to pull out of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, Netanyahu showed off what he called the country's secret "atomic archive." He concluded that the trove proves "Iran is brazenly lying when it said it never had a nuclear weapons program."

In Israel, the country's espionage agency, Mossad, is being celebrated for its role in an episode of tradecraft seemingly ripped from the best spy novels: It's believed Israeli operatives broke into a warehouse in Tehran early this year and smuggled the documents back to Israel.

Read more: 'Smoking gun' or 'warmed-over noodles'? Either way, Netanyahu's Iran show seems aimed at Trump alone | CBC News