Although this thread does not function under the same strict guidelines as the USPMT, it is still a general practice on TL to provide a source with an explanation on why it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion. Failure to do so will result in a mod action.
Portugal kept its lights on with renewable energy alone for four consecutive days last week in a clean energy milestone revealed by data analysis of national energy network figures.
Electricity consumption in the Iberian country was fully covered by solar, wind and hydro power in an extraordinary 107-hour run that lasted from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm the following Wednesday, the analysis says.
News of the zero emissions landmark comes just days after Germany announced that clean energy had powered almost all its electricity needs on Sunday 15 May, with power prices turning negative at several times in the day – effectively paying consumers to use it.
Oliver Joy, a spokesman for the Wind Europe trade association said: “We are seeing trends like this spread across Europe - last year with Denmark and now in Portugal. The Iberian peninsula is a great resource for renewables and wind energy, not just for the region but for the whole of Europe.”
James Watson, the CEO of SolarPower Europe said: “This is a significant achievement for a European country, but what seems extraordinary today will be commonplace in Europe in just a few years. The energy transition process is gathering momentum and records such as this will continue to be set and broken across Europe.”
As recently as 2013, Portugal generated half its electricity from combustible fuels, with 27% coming from nuclear, 13% from hydro, 7.5% from wind and 3% from solar, according to Eurostat figures.
They should make energy policy Europe wide. Create one huge grid and invest in green energy where it's most efficient. Wind energy in windy places and solar in sunny places. Now we subsidize a lot of solar energy in NL for example while we don't get a lot of sun.
On May 19 2016 02:22 RvB wrote: They should make energy policy Europe wide. Create one huge grid and invest in green energy where it's most efficient. Wind energy in windy places and solar in sunny places. Now we subsidize a lot of solar energy in NL for example while we don't get a lot of sun.
Even if all of EU is one grid it doesn't really matter. You lose a lot of energy when transporting energy. A small region such as Sweden is split into three regions with very different costs due to the simple fact of people mostly not living where energy is generated from water power. Expanding that to the entire EU doesn't really help anything, most of it is already in a shared grid as far as I know. Though you will not see water power from northern Sweden power Spanish industries, the losses from transports and costs of having a strong grid to handle it is simply not worthwhile.
Sweden and Finland have taken part in their first-ever Nato foreign ministers’ meeting.
The Swedish foreign minister, Margot Wallstroem, and Finnish foreign minister, Timo Soini, were in Brussels on Friday (20 May) at the same table as their 28 Nato counterparts for a three-hour long meeting on developing closer Nato-EU ties.
Their participation was hailed as a sign that the two non-aligned countries are moving closer to Nato and US security structures.
"This illustrates both, the importance of Nato and EU cooperation and the vital role of Sweden and Finland on issues of common concern, such as hybrid threats and the security situation in the Baltic Sea," said Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.
"We need more EU involvement in Nato exercises, and more Nato involvement in EU exercises," he added.
A Nato official told EUobserver that the two Nordic nations had taken part in “different formats” of Nato meetings before.
“Our close partnership for over two decades has benefited Nato, Finland, and Sweden. We are partners in security. We share common values and security concerns”, the official said.
Full membership of Nato is not on the cards for Sweden and Finland.
Eagles of Death Metal Dropped From French Music Festivals After Anti-Muslim Comments
The band was dropped after comments from lead singer Justin Huges about the Paris attacks
The Eagles of Death Metal have been dropped from two French music festivals this summer after anti-Muslim commentary on last year’s Paris terrorist attacks by the band’s lead singer.
The Rock en Seine concert in Paris and the Cabaret Vert festival in northern France released a statement Friday, cited by the Associated Press, in which the groups said they are “in total disagreement” with recent statements made by the band’s frontman Jessie Hughes. Hughes gave an interview last week with the online Taki’s Magazine, saying he saw “terrorists” in the venue before the fateful concert at the Bataclan on Nov. 13 and that he witnessed “Muslims celebrating in the street during the attack.”
Eagles of Death Metal Dropped From French Music Festivals After Anti-Muslim Comments
The band was dropped after comments from lead singer Justin Huges about the Paris attacks
The Eagles of Death Metal have been dropped from two French music festivals this summer after anti-Muslim commentary on last year’s Paris terrorist attacks by the band’s lead singer.
The Rock en Seine concert in Paris and the Cabaret Vert festival in northern France released a statement Friday, cited by the Associated Press, in which the groups said they are “in total disagreement” with recent statements made by the band’s frontman Jessie Hughes. Hughes gave an interview last week with the online Taki’s Magazine, saying he saw “terrorists” in the venue before the fateful concert at the Bataclan on Nov. 13 and that he witnessed “Muslims celebrating in the street during the attack.”
I keep wondering at which point in the future American English will have successfully replaced the word "Muslim" with the word "Terrorist". I'm quite sure he saw some North African security guards at the venue and in a fit of intellectual deficiency typical of conspiracy theorists, immediately assumed that they were part of the plot because "Person of North African descent = Muslim = terrorist".
Thing is, in Paris, and in France in general, there are plenty of people of North African descent, many among them Muslims. The vast majority, however, just wants the same as other people in the world: peaceful lives and the ability to provide for their families.
As a side note, I always find it striking how street gangs in the US are never described as terrorists, even though they control whole neighbourhoods through fear.
Sweden and Finland have taken part in their first-ever Nato foreign ministers’ meeting.
The Swedish foreign minister, Margot Wallstroem, and Finnish foreign minister, Timo Soini, were in Brussels on Friday (20 May) at the same table as their 28 Nato counterparts for a three-hour long meeting on developing closer Nato-EU ties.
Their participation was hailed as a sign that the two non-aligned countries are moving closer to Nato and US security structures.
"This illustrates both, the importance of Nato and EU cooperation and the vital role of Sweden and Finland on issues of common concern, such as hybrid threats and the security situation in the Baltic Sea," said Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.
"We need more EU involvement in Nato exercises, and more Nato involvement in EU exercises," he added.
A Nato official told EUobserver that the two Nordic nations had taken part in “different formats” of Nato meetings before.
“Our close partnership for over two decades has benefited Nato, Finland, and Sweden. We are partners in security. We share common values and security concerns”, the official said.
Full membership of Nato is not on the cards for Sweden and Finland.
On May 21 2016 18:56 Ghostcom wrote: The street gangs don't do it for political purposes - which is a defining characteristic of terrorist-groups.
Wanting to control a neighbourhood (i.e. having more power over what its inhabitants do than the state has) is a strictly political thing. Not as large-scale as contemporary Islamic terrorism or as the IRA a few decades ago, but it is terrorism nonetheless.
Terrorism is nothing more than using the fear of violence to make people do what you want.
A judge has overturned a decision by the Spanish government to ban Barcelona football fans from carrying pro-Catalan independence flags at this Sunday’s Copa del Rey cup final in Madrid.
Jesús Torres ruled that the ban was unconstitutional because it was not proved that the flag “incites violence, racism, xenophobia or any other form of discrimination that goes against human dignity”.
The ban, announced earlier this week by Mariano Rajoy’s caretaker government, provoked strong reaction in Catalonia and even divisions within his own party.
The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, said he would boycott the match, which will be played in the presence of the king. He was joined by the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, and then by the Madrid mayor, Manuela Carmena, who said: “If Ada Colau isn’t going, then neither am I.”
Meanwhile, in case the judge ruled in the government’s favour, the pro-independence Assamblea Nacional Catalana handed out 10,000 Scottish saltires to supporters to wave in protest.
The decision to ban the estelada, which has all but supplanted the traditional Catalan flag, at the match between Barcelona and Sevilla originated with the Spanish Football Federation but was eagerly taken up by the government.
As the king is always present at the final, the Copa del Rey is often used as a platform by secessionists. During last year’s final, played between Barcelona and the Basque team Athletic Bilbao, many of the 98,000 fans in the stadium booed and whistled the national anthem.
Good for the judge, sadly the attempt to pander to the far right spanish nationalists with such silly arguments is not the top end of our politician's stupidity.
Eagles of Death Metal Dropped From French Music Festivals After Anti-Muslim Comments
The band was dropped after comments from lead singer Justin Huges about the Paris attacks
The Eagles of Death Metal have been dropped from two French music festivals this summer after anti-Muslim commentary on last year’s Paris terrorist attacks by the band’s lead singer.
The Rock en Seine concert in Paris and the Cabaret Vert festival in northern France released a statement Friday, cited by the Associated Press, in which the groups said they are “in total disagreement” with recent statements made by the band’s frontman Jessie Hughes. Hughes gave an interview last week with the online Taki’s Magazine, saying he saw “terrorists” in the venue before the fateful concert at the Bataclan on Nov. 13 and that he witnessed “Muslims celebrating in the street during the attack.”
This crack me up. The guy goes through an horrible terrorist attack made by islamic radicals, make one clear cut and maybe not so bright comment, and get cancelled by the PR forces. How awesome, do stupid people from the left actually think banning thoughts is useful ?
Sweden and Finland have taken part in their first-ever Nato foreign ministers’ meeting.
The Swedish foreign minister, Margot Wallstroem, and Finnish foreign minister, Timo Soini, were in Brussels on Friday (20 May) at the same table as their 28 Nato counterparts for a three-hour long meeting on developing closer Nato-EU ties.
Their participation was hailed as a sign that the two non-aligned countries are moving closer to Nato and US security structures.
"This illustrates both, the importance of Nato and EU cooperation and the vital role of Sweden and Finland on issues of common concern, such as hybrid threats and the security situation in the Baltic Sea," said Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.
"We need more EU involvement in Nato exercises, and more Nato involvement in EU exercises," he added.
A Nato official told EUobserver that the two Nordic nations had taken part in “different formats” of Nato meetings before.
“Our close partnership for over two decades has benefited Nato, Finland, and Sweden. We are partners in security. We share common values and security concerns”, the official said.
Full membership of Nato is not on the cards for Sweden and Finland.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — It is the last remaining relic of an ancient forest that stretched for millennia across the lowlands of Europe and Russia, a shadowy, mossy woodland where bison and lynx roam beneath towering oak trees up to 600 years old.
Conservationists believe the fate of the Bialowieza Forest, which straddles Poland and Belarus, is more threatened that at any time since the communist era due to a new Polish government plan for extensive logging in parts of the forest. The plan has pitted the government against environmentalists and many scientists, who are fighting to save the UNESCO world heritage site.
Seven environmental groups, including Greenpeace and WWF, have lodged a complaint with the European Commission hoping to prevent the largescale felling of trees, which is due to begin within days. Bialowieza has been declared a Natura 2000 site, meaning it is a protected area under European law. EU officials say they are working with the Polish authorities to ensure that any new interventions in the forest are in line with their regulations, but it’s not yet clear what the result will be.
The preservation of Bialowieza is such a sensitive matter that IKEA, which relies on Polish timber for 25 percent of its global furniture production, vowed years ago not to buy any wood from Bialowieza.
“This forest is a Polish treasure but it is also the world’s treasure, and we could lose it,” said Katarzyna Kosciesza from ClientEarth, one of the groups that filed the complaint. “The logging would really threaten it.”
The forest plan is one of many controversial changes that have come with the election last year of a conservative populist party, Law and Justice. The new authorities have been accused by the European Union and human rights groups of eroding democracy and the rule of law.
The party’s powerful leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, says he’s on a mission to remake the country from top to bottom in line with the party’s conservative Catholic and patriotic ideology. Since taking power in November, Poland’s government has moved quickly to push broad changes in everything from cultural institutions to horse breeding farms and forestry management.
The government argues they are fixing the country by removing the corrupt influences of former communists and pro-Europeans who have held power in recent years.
EPT
