Despite comprehensive regulations, around 60 percent of Europe's surface water and a quarter of its groundwater do not meet "good" standards. Agriculture bears most of the responsibility. First part of an in-depth investigation on our most precious resource. From the beaches in Brittany, France, to the groundwater of Aragon, Spain;...
Deforestation has killed half a million people in past 20 years
A new international study has found that deforestation has caused the premature deaths of around 500,000 people over the past two decades. Researchers in Brazil, Ghana and the UK compared non-accidental mortality rates with temperature rises in regions where tropical forests have been cleared. While earlier studies highlighted the role...
Chinese bankers are at the center of global crime
China’s underground financiers have specialized in international money laundering. Three separate police investigations in Italy recently uncovered around 1 billion euros in proceeds from drug trafficking of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Colombian drug cartels, and Albanian organized criminal groups. The more important finding may have been who it was determined had laundered...
Moscow’s recognition of the Taliban will backfire
Recognizing Afghanistan’s extremist leaders will fuel radicalism. Nearly four years after the Taliban’s reconquest of Afghanistan, Moscow has formally recognized the Taliban regime as the legitimate government of Afghanistan—a move that has been welcomed by China. Moscow’s decision is an invitation for other states in the region, from China to...
Green funds: how a jungle of indices turned fossil fuels into a sustainable investment
To set up their investment funds, asset-management companies such as Eurizon (a subsidiary of Intesa SanPaolo), are using indexes that regularly include fossil-fuel companies. Exploiting loopholes in European regulations, they can thus sell "green" funds that in reality are anything but. The solution? Tougher rules. When creating their funds, asset-management...
The Baltic Sea Choked by Algal Blooms Fueled by EU Agriculture
The coastal waters of Öland, an island located off the Swedish coast, are periodically covered by algal bloom. The problem is not only aesthetic: they can be poisonous. This is a problem that affects the entire Baltic Sea and calls into question European agricultural policies and what it prioritises. land...
Army Europe chief unveils NATO eastern flank defense plan
The U.S. Army and its NATO allies are embarking on the execution of a new “Eastern Flank Deterrence Line” plan that aims to enhance ground-based capabilities and drive military-industrial interoperability across the alliance, the U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander said Wednesday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s inaugural...
European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Announces Takedown of Hacker Group NoName057(16) Responsible for Widespread DDoS Attacks Across Europe
Eurojust has announced the neutralization of the hacker group NoName057(16), which was behind numerous DDoS attacks on critical infrastructure throughout Europe. Additionally, EU authorities have issued seven arrest warrants and publicly released information on five suspects. According to The Agency, all of them are Russian citizens, and two are heads...
Belarusian Prisoner Releases: The Dictator’s Gambit
The regime is probing to see if the West will make concessions. There are good grounds for skepticism. The release from jail of the opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski and five other Belarusian political prisoners in June offered a rare moment of hope in a country that has had few reasons...
Will Europe Bother to Fight for an Imploding ICC?
As the US wages a sustained campaign against the court, Europe seems ambivalent about its response. Two tweets, sent five months apart, provide a stark illustration of falling support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the face of US sanctions against it. The first was sent by Slovenia, after...