"German Cabinet passes deportation draft bill at odds with EU law
The proposed law could see unsuccessful asylum seekers detained in prison."

https://www.politico.eu/article/german-asylum-seekers-deportation-prison/

The German Cabinet on Wednesday passed draft legislation aimed at speeding up the deportation of unsuccessful asylum seekers, but critics warn it would break EU law.

The draft bill, dubbed Geordnete-Rückkehr-Gesetz ("orderly return law"), has prompted criticism from across the political spectrum.

Among its most contentious aspects is a proposal that unsuccessful asylum seekers awaiting deportation could be placed in ordinary prisons alongside convicted criminals, which would likely constitute a breach of EU law.

The European Court of Justice ruled in 2014 — in a judgment against Germany — that deportees could only be held in prisons on an exceptional basis.

The interior ministry defended the idea, saying that the country's specialized detention facilities only had 500 spots available for deportees awaiting removal. In prisons, deportees would be housed separately from criminals.

Germany deported 23,600 people last year, but nearly 31,000 who were obliged to leave managed to stay, according to government data.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has repeatedly pledged to ensure that more unsuccessful asylum seekers actually leave the country.

Even members of the governing coalition parties criticized the plans, with the Christian Democrat justice minister of North Rhine-Westphalia speaking of "considerable legal and actual concerns."The justice minister of Hesse, also a Christian Democrat, told Handelsblatt that the draft bill contravened European law, adding: "You just have to imagine, families with children would be housed together with rapists and other criminals."

If passed, the law would also make it an offense for civil servants to warn unsuccessful asylum seekers that deportation is imminent. Initial plans would also have made it illegal for volunteers working with asylum seekers to do so, but that aspect was dropped after criticism from NGOs.

The dates of planned deportations would be designated official secrets, meaning that anyone encouraging civil servants to disclose such information could also make themselves liable to prosecution.

As for social benefits, the draft law wants refugees who have already been granted international protection by another EU state not to be entitled to financial support in Germany.

Asylum seekers who do not cooperate with the authorities in providing identifying documentation could have their social benefits reduced.

The draft bill has yet to pass through parliament. Seehofer is hoping for the law to come into force by July, according to German media reports.

[Is this a desperate attempt to appear to outflank AfD ahead of the EU elections? If the law is passed, will the EU do anything about it?].

'Put your mobile away'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-47911513

Elon Musk's lawyers are currently in court-ordered talks with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as they try to prevent the regulator from removing him from Tesla.

However, on Monday the controversial technology entrepreneur posted a now-deleted tweet about Tesla production forecast, saying that the electric car firm will make over 500,000 cars in the next 12 months.

A similar tweet in February led the SEC to argue that Mr Musk was in contempt for violating a settlement aimed at limiting his social media comments.

“I think the advice would be to put his mobile away as it’s causing enough problems," Will Walker-Arnott, senior investment manager at Charles Stanley told Wake Up to Money.

"Tesla has enough problems ramping up production, without tweeting on his phone.

“He's under a lot of pressure - at one point he set up production marquees in the car park to reach production targets."

Still the lunacy continues, and obtains apparent support from the establishment and active PR form the MSM:

"Nordea boss says climate protests are 'just the beginning'"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/47967764?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment&link_location=live-reporting-story

Climate change protests will become much more commonplace, according to the head of one of Europe's biggest ethical investment funds.

The warning coincides with the arrest of nearly 300 people in London this week amid huge protests against climate change.

Nordea Bank's Sasja Beslik told the BBC the protests were "just the beginning".

People who were worried about climate change did not feel that had many other "tools" at their disposal, he said.

Mr Beslik is in charge of sustainable finance at Nordea, one of the biggest banks in Europe, and the third largest corporation in the Nordic region of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

The fund Mr Beslik manages stopped investing in VW after the emissions scandal and no longer authorises the buying of Facebook stock because of concerns over how the company has been addressing its data privacy issues.

Speaking to 5 Live's Wake up to Money, he said: "I think this [this week's wave of protests] is just the beginning. If we talk about the number of millennials in Europe and in countries all over the world, they are very concerned about the situation and I don't think they feel that they have too many other tools in their hands to approach this."

He said the key to forcing companies to change lay not just with grassroots protest, but in the boardroom, because the world's financial sector was "the biggest global tool at the table".

"I think it is fairly obvious that the actions taken by politicians and businesses around the world are not enough," he said, adding: "87% of all the capital in the world is not managed in a way that takes into account climate issues… If we want to employ the big muscles in the world when it comes to changing the industries… you need to deploy financial capital."

Earlier this week, Legal & General Investment, which manages £1tn worth of UK pension fund investments, said it was putting climate change at the top of its list of concerns when looking into how companies are run.

Sonja Laud, deputy chief investment officer at Legal & General Investment Management, said it was important that investors pushed for change.

"We've seen a lot more engagement especially when we started with this very public statement that we would actually name those where we feel there is not sufficient progress on a corporate level," she added.

"There is no individual sector where we would say straight away that we would divest because to us it is all about the engagement and making sure we get the company in line with what we would like to achieve."

All you need to know - Farage’s party surges ahead EU elections

Apr 18, 2019 at 12:05 AM | M Courtney
I agree with your sentiments, but some have jumped to conclusions about malicious intent, whilst ignoring all the circumstantial evidence that is consistent with human error.

Apr 18, 2019 at 12:24 AM | tomo
An "Alarm System" can just be a bell that works when hit with a hammer! Most Fire Detection Systems rely on detecting heat or smoke.

We now have planes crashing because pilots can't overrule automation but Notre Dame burns because someone did overrule or ignore the automatic system as they could not verify it.

Verhofstadt rant – wants incrased dictatorial powers for EU

" .... attributing something to pilot error doesn't actually tell you what caused the crash."
Apr 17, 2019 at 10:39 PM | Mailman

But it is a nice simple conclusion, requiring no expensive rectification.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Scotland_RAF_Chinook_crash