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[martinuzz]

The Belgian broadcasting agency RTBF reports that the negotiations between the EU and Canada about the CETA have definitively failed, as the Wallonian half of Belgium insists on vetoeing it in Belgian parliament.
Which is good, not because a trade agreement is bad per definition, but because it tried to sneak in the ISDS along with the agreement.

[Sheb]

Actually no, they dropped ISDS due to German opposition and got a separate mechanism (ICS I think it's called?) with judges appointed by both parties.

[martinuzz]

ICS is just a synonym for ISDS. It's still a threat to democratic processes.
Basically, the same shit they pulled as when the European Constitution referendum failed, they said 'okay there will be no constitution' and renamed it to the Treaty of Maastricht.

[Sheb]

Well, it's different in that you aren't judged in front of a panel of arbitrator chosen jointly by the state and the company doing the suing.

[smjjames]

Something going on at one of the London area airports (there's like, 10 that service London), very little details atm.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/21/europe/london-city-airport-evacuated/index.html?adkey=bn

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-37734096

According to the CNN one, it seems to have been a false alarm? May have been a bad smell from some kitchen or dust from construction, dunno....

[Loud Whispers]

Eh, security is just jumpy because we had a bomb on our trains recently, so naturally they get suspicious when suspicious chemical leakages occur

Just a regular chemical leakage, which is alarming, but an isolated case. Don't know who fucked up or that we even kept tear gas stocked in our airports, but that's britain for you

[Loud Whispers]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mosul-offensive-isis-eu-warning-iraq-syria-terrorism-a7367721.html
“The retaking of Isis’s northern Iraq stronghold, Mosul, may lead to the return to Europe of violent ISIS-fighters,” Commissioner Julian King told German newspaper Die Welt on Tuesday. Even a handful would pose “a serious threat we must prepare for,” he added.

Around one fifth of Isis’s total fighters – 3,700 people – are residents or nationals of Western Europe, a King’s College London study estimated last year, including 1,200 fighters from France alone. Experts believe 4,000 to 8,000 militants are currently embedded inside Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, and Isis’s last major stronghold in the country. 

The wages are death

[da_nang]

Damn it, Wallonia! How could you!? You were the chosen one!

[martinuzz]

Yeah seems it was a bit too soon to call victory on that one . Mais pourqoui? Ils sont fous, les Romains.

[smjjames]

We could start seeing an unified Cyprus sometime next year. Although the bit about marking a line between the two communities makes it sound rather divided.

Something like this might be a path for the Israel-Palestine problem, if the Israelis and Palestinians would even talk to each other.

[martinuzz]

EDIT Moved to tech thread seemed more appropriate

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I believe them, because it's the DUP. They're automatically against everything, even in spite of themselves.

[Sheb]

I must say, I'm not really anti-CETA, but seeing Magnette turn 180° and says that he's satisfied now when not a single period was changed in the treaty is really cringe-worthy.

[Loud Whispers]

As Belgium's leaders emerged Thursday to announce their compromise on the Canada-Europe trade deal, copies of two declarations found their way onto European websites.

One was Belgium-specific and didn't really alter anything in the agreement — the Flemish premier admitted as much on his way out of the talks — but obviously helped change some minds in Wallonia.

Ayyy lmao I love european democracy

[martinuzz]

The Dutch government proposed a change in the laws protecting children, and those who are deemed unfit to decide for themselves (psychiatric and geriatric patients) from participating as a subject in medical studies.

As it is now, protection is so strict, that 40% of medicine perscribed by doctors for children and psychiatric patients have not been tested on their target group.
So the government proposes that "instead of protecting them from becoming a subject in medical studies, we should protect them by allowing them to become subject in medical studies".