Among the ways to understand any religion is through its art and cultural heritage. RELIGION, ART & CULTURAL HERITAGE, a CBS Interfaith Special, looks at its importance in understanding faith, identity and history. This special broadcast will air Sunday, Dec. 4 (check local listings) on the CBS Television Network.
<div class="content-data">
<span>Wednesday, <a title="Browse all articles for February 2021" href="/2021/02">February</a> <a title="Browse all articles for February 24th 2021" href="/2021/02/24">24th</a> <a href="/2021" title="Browse all articles for 2021">2021</a> - 08:20 UTC</span>
<div class="tabs">
<span class="article-button">Full article</span>
</div>
</div>
<figure class="small">
<a href="/data/cache/noticias/80296/0x0/warsaw.jpg" class="gallery" title="The 310 meters high skyscraper, expected to open in early 2022, is supposed to have a special viewing deck and two high-speed glass elevators "><img src="/data/cache/noticias/80296/300x190/warsaw.jpg" alt="The 310 meters high skyscraper, expected to open in early 2022, is supposed to have a special viewing deck and two high-speed glass elevators "/></a>
<span>The 310 meters high skyscraper, expected to open in early 2022, is supposed to have a special viewing deck and two high-speed glass elevators </span> </figure>
Warsaw claims to have the tallest skyscraper in the European Union after workers mounted an 80-meter needle bringing the total height of the building to over 310 meters, developer HB Reavis said.
But, despite its unique architecture and the fact that it is now taller than London's Shard and Frankfurt's Commerzbank Tower, some of the building's ambitions have been hampered due to the coronavirus pandemic, the developer added.
The skyscraper, expected to open in early 2022, is supposed to have a special viewing deck and two high-speed glass elevators that will transport guests at the speed of 8 meters per second, according to press material.
There will also be space for restaurants and bars overlooking Warsaw’s city centre, on top of rental office space. But construction and rentals have both slowed down or been put on hold amidst the spread of COVID-19.
As with the whole economy, the office rental space industry had a tough time last year. Many potential decisions by renters were suspended or postponed until later, Maciej Olczyk, the construction project manager, said.
He added that the pandemic hit hardest during the first wave, when many services were put on hold, but that adjustments have since been made to facilitate a safe work environment.
Adjustments to office spaces include additional ventilation and more regular cleanings of ventilation systems, protective screens at reception desks, contactless solutions like motion sensor lights and doors and frequent cleanings of common areas, the company said.
Olczyk said that he was optimistic companies would still rent out spaces in the architecturally unique Varso Tower, especially once the pandemic passes.
Companies are still treating this as a temporary situation, Olczyk said. I think everyone is looking to return to normalcy, like it was before the pandemic.
To the editor, Donald Trump could have joined the Capital rioters (as he promised) and stabbed Sens. Cruz and Hawley in the back with a Trump flagpole, and those senators would have still voted to acquit Trump. I find it amazing that Christian Republicans haven’t seen what Trump does to people after he uses them. Mike Pence was nearly hanged for doing his constitutional duty.
Some Republican evangelical Christians made a deal with the orange devil. Your appointed Christian judges will likely rule in favor of Christians, but what will be the cost? Christians win and non-Christians lose. What is the recourse for the losing side when the lawmakers and judges take their liberty?
MAGA has become a political religion. Trump is worshiped beyond Jesus. The belief is that America was great when White people owned Black people, women couldn’t vote, or own property. Workers were treated worse than livestock by their employers. Jews and other non-Protestant believers were subjected to violent discrimination.
Some Christians got what they wished or prayed for. In mixing politics with religious fanaticism, our society has been torn open and is bleeding. Roads, sewers, schools, hospitals, and public health are not religion. They are services provided by a secular government authorized and paid for by its citizens. Trumpism isn’t a religion to be forced on citizens through mob violence and biased political courts. Capital rioters used Trumpism to violently promote white nationalism with a religious twist.
You don’t wear a mask because you think Jesus will protect you, so why do you need body armor and guns? They’re not racist, so why did they burn Black churches? Why did White Christians vote for Trump and Black Christians vote for Biden? Trumpism is racist and is treasonous after Jan. 6. Trump is the anti-Christ of national politics.
Find out how MEPs want to shape the EU’s rules for non-personal data sharing to boost innovation and the economy while protecting privacy.
Data is at the heart of the EU’s digital transformation that is influencing all aspects of society and the economy. It is necessary for the development of artificial intelligence, which is one of the EU’s priorities, and presents significant opportunities for innovation, recovery after the Covid-19 crisis and growth, for example in health and green technologies.
Responding to the European Commission’s European Strategy for Data, the Parliament called for legislation focussed on people based on European values of privacy and transparency that will enable Europeans and EU-based companies to benefit from the potential of industrial and public data in a report adopted on 25 March 2021.
MEPs said that the crisis has shown the need for efficient data legislation that will support research and innovation. Large quantities of quality data, notably non-personal – industrial, public, and commercial – already exist in the EU and their full potential is yet to be explored. In the coming years, much more data will be generated. MEPs expect data legislation to help tap into this potential and make data available to European companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises, and researchers.
Enabling data flow between sectors and countries will help European businesses of all sizes to innovate and thrive in Europe and beyond and help establish the EU as a leader in the data economy.
The Commission projects that the data economy in the EU could grow from €301 billion in 2018 to €829 billion in 2025, with the number of data professionals rising from 5.7 to 10.9 million.
Europe’s global competitors, such as the US and China, are innovating quickly and applying their ways of data access and use. To become a leader in the data economy, the EU should find a European way to unleash potential and set standards.
Rules to protect privacy, transparency and fundamental rights
MEPs said rules should be based on privacy, transparency and respect for fundamental rights. The free sharing of data must be limited to non-personal data or irreversibly anonymised data. Individuals must be in full control of their data and be protected by EU data protection rules, notably the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The Parliament called on the Commission and EU countries to work with other countries on global standards to promote EU values and principles and ensure the Union’s market remains competitive.
Rules to protect privacy, transparency and fundamental rights
MEPs said rules should be based on privacy, transparency and respect for fundamental rights. The free sharing of data must be limited to non-personal data or irreversibly anonymised data. Individuals must be in full control of their data and be protected by EU data protection rules, notably the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The Parliament called on the Commission and EU countries to work with other countries on global standards to promote EU values and principles and ensure the Union’s market remains competitive.
Rules to protect privacy, transparency and fundamental rights
MEPs said rules should be based on privacy, transparency and respect for fundamental rights. The free sharing of data must be limited to non-personal data or irreversibly anonymised data. Individuals must be in full control of their data and be protected by EU data protection rules, notably the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The Parliament called on the Commission and EU countries to work with other countries on global standards to promote EU values and principles and ensure the Union’s market remains competitive.
European data spaces and big data infrastructure
Calling for the free flow of data to be the guiding principle, MEPs urged the Commission and EU countries to create sectoral data spaces that will enable the sharing of data while following common guidelines, legal requirements and protocols. In light of the pandemic, MEPs said that special attention should be given to the Common European Health Data Space.
As the success of the data strategy depends largely on information and communication technology infrastructure, MEPs called for accelerating technological developments in the EU, such as cybersecurity technology, optical fibres, 5G and 6G, and welcomed proposals to advance Europe’s role in supercomputing and quantum computing. They warned that the digital divide between regions should be tackled to ensure equal possibilities, especially in light of the post-Covid recovery.
Environmental footprint of big data
While data has the potential to support green technologies and the EU’s goal to become climate neutral by 2050, the digital sector is responsible for more than 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As it grows, it must focus on lowering its carbon footprint and reducing E-waste, MEPs said.
EU data sharing legislation
The Commission presented a European strategy for data in February 2020. The strategy and the White paper on artificial intelligence are the first pillars of the Commission’s digital strategy.
<div class="content-data">
<span>Tuesday, <a title="Browse all articles for February 2021" href="/2021/02">February</a> <a title="Browse all articles for February 23rd 2021" href="/2021/02/23">23rd</a> <a href="/2021" title="Browse all articles for 2021">2021</a> - 08:37 UTC</span>
<div class="tabs">
<span class="article-button">Full article</span>
</div>
</div>
<figure class="">
<a href="/data/cache/noticias/80271/0x0/jorge-arreaza-ue.jpg" class="gallery" title="Venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arreaza said in a statement posted on Twitter that the sanctions were based on false arguments about honorable citizens" rel="nofollow"> </a>
<span>Venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arreaza said in a statement posted on Twitter that the sanctions were based on false arguments about honorable citizens</span> </figure>
The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on 19 senior Venezuelan officials, lawmakers and members of the security forces in response to December's legislative election that the bloc said was rigged in favor of President Nicolas Maduro.
Allies of Maduro won almost all of the legislature's seats in a vote that was also disavowed by the United States and seen in the West as a way for the president to take control of the only lever of power not already in his grasp.
EU foreign ministers approved the sanctions on Monday, taking the number of Venezuelans blacklisted by the bloc to 55.
Like the United States, the EU has escalated sanctions on Maduro over the past two years, arguing that his 2018 re-election was a sham, though the measures have yet to achieve their stated aim of bringing about new presidential elections.
The individuals added to the list are responsible … for undermining the opposition’s electoral rights and the democratic functioning of the National Assembly, and for serious violations of human rights and restrictions of fundamental freedoms, the EU said in a statement.
Venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arreaza said in a statement posted on Twitter that the sanctions were based on false arguments about honorable citizens. He said it was a sign the EU was frustrated by the ineffectiveness of its actions to force a change of government in Venezuela.
Those sanctioned included two lawmakers of what the EU called the non-democratically elected National Assembly: Bernabe Gutierrez and Jose Brito, who are recognized by Venezuela’s government as leaders of two opposition parties.
The parties have disavowed Gutierrez and Brito, saying they are collaborating with the government.
The EU also sanctioned Omar Prieto, governor of the state of Zulia, Remigio Ceballos Ichaso, the armed forces operational commander, and three officials of the Electoral Council, including its president, Indira Maira Alfonzo Izaguirre.
The new travel bans and asset freezes also targeted supreme court justices and marked a toughening of the EU’s approach by targeting political leaders who describe themselves as opposition members but are seen as being allied to Maduro.
Following his address to heads of state or government during the EU summit, President Sassoli will hold a press conference on Thursday at 15.30.
Thursday 25 February at 15.30
President David Sassoli is set to convey Parliament’s position and answer journalists’ questions regarding the EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on the production and rollout of vaccines as well as on lessons learnt from the pandemic. He will also comment on the
Specialists from all over the country can drop into virtual clinics
“There was a crisis of information flow between the system and the patients at home,” says Dr Davit Mrelashvili, a neurologist from Georgia, referring to the pressure on his country’s health-care system when COVID-19 took hold. “As the country’s hospitals filled up, it was hard for stay-at-home patients to get timely, expert advice, and the 911 emergency system clogged up for those who truly needed it.”
Based in the United States of America, Dr Mrelashvili decided to return to his home country to try to address the problem and replicate some of the teleworking solutions that he had seen successfully employed in the United States.
He created virtual clinics that could accommodate as many patients as necessary without absorbing hours of doctors’ time. The initiative, named Project Atlas, links up 1 senior doctor, voluntary medical specialists, 2 junior doctors, medical students and patients in a series of virtual, cloud-based chat rooms.
“Individual patients can contact a doctor via their smartphone for tailored medical feedback, while general, protocol-based advice can be uploaded by medical students operating the system,” explains Dr Mrelashvili. “Before, doctors had to make phone calls, write notes and repeat the same basic messages to each patient individually. Now, the doctor’s time is freed up to respond to the most urgent requests.”
This is an example of the European Programme of Work 2020–2025 in action through one of its flagship initiatives, Empowerment through Digital Health. It shows how digital health can accelerate and improve the quality of and access to health services, making them more responsive to people’s needs.
Project Atlas began with just 10–14 medical personnel, including medical students who were enlisted via a callout on social media. Working together, each clinic could carry around 1500 patients, reports Dr Mrelashvili, and by the end of December 2020, over 5000 COVID-19 patients had been “seen” by doctors.
With the support of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the project received a list of new COVID-19 patients every morning, who were then contacted by medical students and invited to join a virtual room. The small minority of patients without smartphones were contacted with traditional calls and still placed in one of the virtual rooms with a doctor.
“We have created a task-force hierarchy, where it is medical students and junior doctors who obtain case histories and complete initial patient screenings, and senior doctors, while screening and monitoring all of them, respond in depth to the most critical cases that need urgent interventions,” explains Dr Mrelashvili.
If a doctor posts a voice message on the forum to say that a patient needs further monitoring, or to be transported to a hospital, the system operators arrange for a pulse oximeter to be delivered to the patient’s door or for an ambulance to collect them.
At the same time, all the messages to patients and protocol-based communication by junior personnel are monitored and quality-controlled by the licensed senior doctor who oversees all the rooms. That, however, takes exponentially less time than the same tasks being done by the senior doctor him or herself, who represents the scarcest resource in the pandemic.
Teleporting into the emergency room
Dr Mrelashvili explains that one of the benefits of Project Atlas is that it can be scaled up very rapidly, even at the unprecedented level needed to respond to COVID-19. It can also provide a platform to train the next generation of doctors, who learn from observing the recommendations and decisions made by leading physicians.
Project Atlas began with a virtual clinic in Georgia’s Kakheti region, and hopes to expand to other regions of the country with support from local governments and the NCDC. Voluntary specialists from all over the country in areas such as cardiology, pulmonology and paediatrics have been dropping into the clinics whenever needed to give their professional opinions.
“As doctors, we can teleport into different emergency rooms and make a decision in 30 seconds using this system,” reports Dr Mrelashvili, “so, why go and visit a doctor in person?” He hopes that the initiative will carry on in the future to optimize and improve health care and medical education in Georgia and elsewhere in the world.
According to WFP’s report, State of School Feeding Worldwide, 370 million children in 199 countries and territories were suddenly deprived of school meals, when schools closed due to the pandemic. That meal was for many their only nutritious food of the day.
#DYK In some countries school meals are the only food a child receives in a day?
During the pandemic WFP has supported over 57 governments to provide take-home rations or cash-based transfers so that #remotelearning doesn’t stop nutritional growth. ??? pic.twitter.com/hgmABLsCoH
David Beasley, WFP Executive Director, highlighted the importance of school meal programmes.
“That one meal a day is often the reason hungry children go to school in the first place. It’s also a powerful incentive to make sure they’ll come back after lockdown ends”, he said.
“We need to get these programmes running again – even better than before – to stop COVID destroying the futures of millions of the world’s most vulnerable children.”
Towards that end, WFP will build a coalition to support governments scale up their school meals programmes, working with development agencies, donors, the private sector and civil society organizations, according to the agency.
It has also launched a ten-year School Feeding Strategy to strengthen its global strategic role in school health and nutrition. In addition, the agency will promote research on school health and nutrition as a global public good, helping countries to access better evidence for more cost-efficient programmes.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, national school feeding programmes delivered school meals to one in two schoolchildren globally – or 388 million children – more than at any time in human history, making them the most extensive social safety net in the world, according to the WFP report.
Studies have shown that school meals have a major impact on the lives of children, particularly those from poor families, the agency said, explaining that they stave off hunger, support long-term health and help a child learn and thrive. For girls, these meals are even more important, as they help keep them in school longer, reduce child marriages, and decrease teen pregnancies.
When school meal programmes use locally produced food, they also boost a community’s economy, creating stable demand and market, supporting local agriculture and strengthening local food systems.
The report highlighted that in the post-COVID-19 world, school feeding programmes will be even more of a priority investment, as they help countries to build a healthy and educated population, while supporting national growth and promoting economic development.
UNICEF/Mark Naftalin
Students at a school in Honiara, Solomon Islands, eat lunch at school. (file photo)
Up to $9 return for $1 investment
Efficient school meals programmes yield returns of up to $9 for every $1 invested, and create jobs, WFP said, pointing to its calculations that about 1,668 new jobs are created for every 100,000 children fed.
“After the turmoil of recent months, we must seize the opportunity to start building the better world we all want to see”, Executive Director Beasley urged, stressing that “WFP is fully committed to working with our partners to ensure that no child, regardless of where they live, goes to school hungry – or worse, doesn’t go to school at all.”
