Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos II expressed the view that Islam and its citizens, was not a religion, but a political ideology and its adherents were people of war, during an interview on Open TV.
According to the prelate of the Greek Orthodox Church, who was interviewed on the occasion of the bicentenary celebrations of the Greek uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1821, “they [Muslims] are the people of expansion, this is a characteristic of Islam.” Referring to Mohammed the Conqueror, he said that he had Greek advisers, while he had to unite the whole Christian community and entrust it to the Patriarch, and so Gennadius Scholarius was chosen as the Patriarch of Constantinople when it fell in 1453.
Archbishop Ieronymos also referred to the key role played by the Church in the national struggle for freedom during the Revolution of 1821. “There was no sign of revolution that did not start with a clergyman,” said Archbishop Ieronymos. He went on to describe the documented incidents involving archdeacon Athanasios Diakos and spoke about the clergy who participated in the War of Independence while explaining why there were crosses on all the flags of the Revolution.
Following his statement, two Islamic Muftis from Xanthi voiced their dissatisfaction calling the comments “offensive” to their religious sensibilities and not corresponding to reality.
Following the Islamic Mufti’s responses, the press office of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens released a statement saying: “The Archbishop and our Church respect in practice all the known religions.”
American megachurches are more racially and ethnically diverse than ever with more than half of them now having multiracial congregations, a new study from the Hartford Institute for Religious Research has found.
Sociologists Warren Bird and Scott Thumma found that the majority of the country’s roughly 1,750 megachurches are now multiracial (defined as 20 percent or more of a congregation belonging to a minority group).
In the pulpit, 94 percent of senior pastors are white.
But in the pews, the percentages of white people, black people, Asians, and Native Americans more closely match their percentages in the American population.
Megachurches are commonly defined as Protestant churches with regular attendances pre-COVID-19 pandemic of 2,000 or more adults and children.
Two decades ago, only 21 percent of megachurches were multiracial, but that it not true any longer.
More than half of them (58 percent) report being multiracial today, defined as having 20 percent or more minority presence in their congregation.
“In many ways, megachurches are leading the way toward what we hope is a future where multiracial churches are the norm,” say the authors.
In virtually every city and region, across denominations and less formal church networks, megachurch leaders continue to set the pace for other church leaders, both directly and indirectly.
1,750 MEGACHURCHES IN US
The study find that the roughly 1,750 megachurches in the United States continue to evolve and respond to changes in society and culture.
The Hartford research is the sixth national study of these largest Protestant Christian churches continues to show developing trends and adaptations to their overall ministry efforts.
Back in 2005, only percent of all congregations were multiracial.
By 2019, that number had doubled to 16 percent f all congregations across all faith groups could be described as having at least 20 percent racial or ethnic diversity in their attending membership.
“Though we have often heard, ‘Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week,’ with each passing year it’s less true of large churches, as a large percentage of megachurches are less likely to be homogeneous collections of the same kind of person,” the authors write.
Along with that, racial diversity also comes with a considerable mix of economic groups and educational levels, with roughly 50 percent being college graduates, significant representation from all age groups.
“Much is still unknown about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on churches, but one pattern is already clear: larger churches are providing much of the thought leadership for how to spiritually navigate the crisis—similar to how larger churches have been significant influencers in the years before the pandemic.
“In short, despite frequent negative press treatment toward megachurches (a portion welldeserved, such as from financial scandal or, more recently, defying social gathering and mask bans) the vast majority of America’s largest churches are continuing to set positive precedents in many important areas of faith development,” say the authors.
Justin Brierley wrote in the UK-based Premier Christianity in May 2018, “Our kids still remember the day we visited Saddleback in California.
“There was dancing, drama and singing. There were video games, themed play parks and an indoor aquarium and reptile display. They even came away with branded water bottles. But Saddleback isn’t a theme park, it’s a church.
“Saddleback is one of the USA’s 1,600 megachurches – defined as a church with more than 2,000 people in weekly attendance.
“While these large churches are still outnumbered by smaller churches in the country, their influence is undeniable. Over half of all the people who go to church in the USA attend a megachurch.”
Covid-19 vaccine-related documents accessed and copied from the EMA last month suggest that the agency appeared to have been pressured into approving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as quickly as possible despite a range of concerns, Le Monde reports, after investigating files found on the dark web.
The files reportedly include 19 letters sent between 10 and 25 November by agency employees, including among them emails sent to multiple recipients (whose potential for manipulation is therefore deemed more difficult).
These include a letter dated 12 November between EMA staff and EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides, who reportedly told the regulator that European countries should “receive the vaccine at the same time,” and advised against “forcing” countries to apply national regulatory procedures to avoid further delays in drugs’ approval.
A second letter, dated, 19 November, features a senior EMA official describing a “rather tense,” “sometimes even unpleasant” conference call with European Commission officials which gave “an idea of what the EMA may face if expectations, realistic or not, are not met” on the timeframe for approval.
In correspondence dated 20 November, the same official was said to have told members of the Danish Medicines Agency that they were “surprised” by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s move to say publicly that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines would receive approval before the end of 2020, despite lingering concerns by EMA regulators “with both drugs.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers her speech at the European parliament Tuesday, Jan.14, 2020 in Strasbourg, eastern France.
For the Pfizer-BioNTech preparation, the documents said these “problems” included a lack of inspections at manufacturing facilities, lack of data on commercial lots, “and most importantly, the fact that there are differences in quality between commercial batches and those used in clinical trials,” and in particular – a decrease in the integrity of its main active ingredient – RNA.
The latter issue, Le Monde says, was said to have “caused the greatest concern among researchers tasked with evaluating the vaccine’s quality,” with fears reportedly related not only to effectiveness, but to safety.
US, Canadian, UK Regulators Reportedly More Lax
The Documents also found that the issues brought up by the Europeans were not considered serious by the US Food and Drug Administration, as well as by Canadian and British regulators, as the emergency approval for a vaccine’s temporary use in the three countries are less restrictive than those of the European Union. For this reason, health authorities were urged to “align the general requirements” more closely with the FDA and the Canadian agency “to avoid” a hypothetical situation in which one region “receives all the sub-optimal material.”
Pfizer and BioNTech reportedly responded to the EMA’s concerns in a report dated 26 November, with the review saying that inspections at production sites had begun, and proposing the creation of a 60-percent RNA minimum integrity rate, with one manufacturer saying differences in the amount of RNA “should not affect” the preparation’s effectiveness or safety.
Simon Stevens (R), Chief Executive of the NHS, watches as a nurse (C) administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to Frank Naderer (L), 82, at Guy’s Hospital in London on 8 December 2020 as the UK starts its biggest ever vaccination programme.
However, a document dated 30 November showing correspondence between the EMA and manufacturers suggested that the EMA was not entirely satisfied, saying “critical issues” needed to be addressed through a “stricter control strategy,” particularly “given the innovative nature of this type of product and limited experience” in handling it.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved by European regulators on 21 December, 2020, having already been permitted for use in the US and the UK earlier that month.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, sold to the EU for 15.50 euros per dose for 300 million doses, faced flak this week after Norway linked 13 deaths to side effects, and Dutch media reporting that about 100 people in the Netherlands had developed side effects of various severity after taking the preparation. Similar problems were reported in Belgium, Finland and Israel, with the latter country reporting partial facial paralysis among 13 Israelis jabbed by the shot.
On Friday, China’s state-run Global Times, under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, cited medical experts urging health authorities to suspend Covid-19 vaccination campaigns which use mRNA technology. China’s vaccines, created by Sinopharm and Sinovac, use inactivated technology, theoretically making them less potent, but safer.
The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.
Jan 17, 2021 (Market Insight Reports) --
This detailed market study covers Industrial Furnaces Market growth potentials which can assist the stake holders to understand key trends and prospects in Industrial Furnaces market identifying the growth opportunities and competitive scenarios. The report also focuses on data from different primary and secondary sources, and is analyzed using various tools. It helps to gain insights into the market’s growth potential, which can help investors identify scope and opportunities. The analysis also provides details of each segment in the global Industrial Furnaces market
Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: Abbott Furnace, Epcon Industrial Systems, LP, International Thermal Systems, Industrial Furnace Company, L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc., Thermcraft, Inc., and Honeywell…
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Objectives of this report:
? To estimate market size for Industrial Furnaces market on regional and global basis. ? To identify major segments in Industrial Furnaces market and evaluate their market shares and demand. ? To provide a competitive scenario for the Industrial Furnaces market with major developments observed by key companies in the historic years. ? To evaluate key factors governing the dynamics of Industrial Furnaces market with their potential gravity during the forecast period.
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Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has denied betraying the UK’s fishermen, insisting that the Brexit trade agreement signed by Boris Johnson was “a great deal” for the industry.
Mr Raab was speaking amid howls of outrage from fishing companies, who say that the additional red tape and delay caused by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement has led to them losing huge sums from consignments unable to reach European export markets.
And the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) has described the deal as “desperately poor”, leaving many businesses fearing for their survival amid reports of an 80 per cent collapse in the prices they can charge for their catch.
But confronted with fishermen’s angry comments during an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Mr Raab said: “I think this is a great deal for the fishing industry, both short term and long term.
“We get control over our fisheries back – full control as an independent coastal state – there is an immediate 15 per cent uplift in our access to fisheries for the UK sector in the first year. That rises to two-thirds in the five-year transition period, then we have annual negotiations.”
Marr read out comments from Jamie McMillan, managing director of Loch Fyne Langoustines, who said: “We have no sales to the EU, our biggest market for live shellfish, in the last two weeks. If we go another week without that, we are finished.”
And Marr confronted Mr Raab with the comment of Donna Fordyce, chief executive of Seafood Scotland, who said: “Some businesses, which may have been run by families for generations, are now days away from collapse as a result of the agreement.”
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Mr Raab dismissed the difficulties faced by fishing businesses as “teething problems” and said he was “not convinced” that the thickets of Brexit paperwork and delays were the result of the agreement.
“The agreement we have struck, both short term and medium term and long term, will create huge sustainable opportunities,” he claimed.
“Of course, we’ve always said as we leave the transition period with a deal – but even more if we hadn’t had a deal – there will be some teething problems.
“We’re very focused on working with all of the different sectors, including the fishing industry, to resolve any of these teething problems.”
Mr Raab said that the government was investing £100m into the fishing industry to enable it to grasp the additional opportunities which ministers believe will be available as a result of Brexit.
Despite warnings from industry figures of companies being on the brink of closure, Mr Raab said: “The fishing industry is going to want to increase its capacity to take advantage of those increased stocks.
“That’s why we’re putting in £100 million to shore up, to strengthen, the fishing industry right across the whole of the UK, to make sure that this really important opportunity of leaving the EU and leaving the transition period can be properly grasped.”
Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, responded: “Brexit might be a game to the likes of Dominic Raab and Boris Johnson but for thousands of people in Scotland this is their business and their livelihood on the line.
“Fishermen are telling the PM that his deal did not do any of the things he claimed for it, let alone what he had promised. The harder the Tories spin, the angrier fishing communities get.
“The government needs to start listening to the people who know what they are talking about and start to clean up the mess that the prime minister has created.”
In a letter to Mr Johnson last week, SFF chief executive Elspeth Macdonald accused the prime minister of misleading the public about the agreement and giving the industry “the worst of both worlds”.
“You and your government have spun a line about a 25 per cent uplift in quota for the UK, but you know this is not true, and your deal does not deliver that,” Ms Macdonald wrote.
The prime minister’s stated approach, known as “zonal attachment”, would have secured British boats up to 90 per cent of the catch in UK waters for important stocks such as herring. Instead, the deal actually means the UK share of the herring catch is just 32.2 per cent, she said.
“This can hardly be claimed as a resounding success,” Ms Macdonald wrote.
“This industry now finds itself in the worst of both worlds. Your deal leaves us with shares that not only fall very far short of zonal attachment, but in many cases fail to ‘bridge the gap’ compared to historic catches, and with no ability to leverage more fish from the EU, as they have full access to our waters.”
German Foreign Minister <a title="Heiko Maas" href="/search/Heiko Maas" rel="nofollow">Heiko Maas</a> will pay a one-day visit on Jan. 18 to hold talks on <a title="Turkey" href="/search/Turkey">Turkey</a>-<a title="EU" href="/search/EU">EU</a> relations days before Ankara and Brussels are set to engage in an intense dialogue to re-energize ties and discuss the renewal of a 2016 migrant deal.
Maas will hold talks with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as the two colleagues will discuss “bilateral, regional issues as well as Turkey-EU relations,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement late Jan. 16.
Germany served as the EU term president in the second half of 2020 and exerted efforts to de-escalate tension in the eastern Mediterranean where Turkey and Greece have overlapping continental shelf claims. As a result of Germany’s influence, the European Council proposed a positive agenda in ties with Turkey in return for avoiding unilateral actions in the disputed waters of the eastern Mediterranean.
Maas’ visit comes three days before Çavuşoğlu’s trip to Brussels where he will hold talks with top EU officials, including European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well as the EU’s high representative for foreign and security policy, Josep Borrell.
Following Çavuşoğlu’s Brussels visit, Michel and Leyen will travel to Turkey late January to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a Turkey-EU summit. The two main titles to be discussed between Ankara and Brussels are the renewal of the migrant deal and preparations for an international conference on the eastern Mediterranean.
Talks between Çavuşoğlu and Maas are expected to focus on these topics as Germany is very keen in holding the migrant deal with Turkey. Turkey says the deal must be renewed in light of new realities in the field as the number of refugees Turkey is hosting has doubled since 2016 and reached five million.
Libya on the agenda as well
The two foreign ministers will also review the regional developments, including Libya and Syria. Germany and Turkey had worked together for the Berlin Conference that took place a year ago for the cessation of hostilities and start of a political process for a solution.
Turkey’s support to the Government of National Accord (GNA) paved the way for balancing the situation in the field and nixing General Khaliha Haftar’s ambitions to capture Tripoli. That allowed a new understanding in the war-torn country and a new inter-Libyan peace process which proceeds in line with the expectations of the international community.
Çavuşoğlu is expected to raise Ankara’s concerns and complaints about EU’s Irini Operation that aims to monitor and implement a U.N. arms embargo in Libya. The two ministers will also discuss the latest in Syria as well as in the Nagorno-Karabakh.
There has been alarm over leftwing New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden breaking ranks with the Five Eyes security partnership in refusing to join the UK, US, Australia and Canada in condemning the ending of democracy and arrest of Communist opponents in Hong Kong. Privately, there are also concerns about the European Union signing a deal with China this month.
In the US Joe Biden last week returned campaign donations from a former Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer who registered as an agent of the Chinese companyHikivision which was blacklisted in 2019 for its alleged involvement in China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province.
A source close to the ISC pointed out that concerns had already been high following an investigation by the Sunday Express into the way Chinese state media was buying up academics from British universities to help with propaganda.
This previously includedProfessor Thom Brooks, the Dean of Durham University,an advisor to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, although he quit his role withChina Global Television Network (CGTN) when he learnt about the links to the Chinese government.
“The committee has an investigation ongoing into the threat posed by China and part of that is the problem of useful fools,” the source noted.
“These are individuals, countries and international bodies who are attracted to Chinese money more than ideology but there is definitely an issue with mainstream parties of the left being open to working with China.”
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for a “pause” in a trade dispute between the US and the European Union as a new wave of American tariffs on French and German products entered into force this week.
“The issue that poisons everyone is that of the price increases and taxes on steel, digital technology, Airbus and particularly our wine sector,” the minister told Journal du Dimanche, according to AFP.
“If we could quickly find a method to settle this dispute with Europe and France, that would be a step forward. It may take time but, in the meantime, we can always order a pause,” Le Drian added.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs
The products that were particularly hard hit by the higher tariffs that took effect on 12 January are French cognac, wine and German aeronautic components. The measure was announced by the US Trade Department at the end of last year as a retaliatory response to levies on four billion dollars worth of goods the EU had earlier imposed on American products.
After the higher tariffs entered into force, Brussels expressed its “regret” over Washington’s choice “to add further EU products to its retaliation list”.
The EU also signalled that it would be “looking forward to engaging constructively” with the upcoming Biden administration in a bid “to resolve this long-lasting dispute as part of a renewed transatlantic agenda”.
According to the estimates of the Federation of Exporters of French Wines and Spirits, the tariffs on spirits could results in more than a $1.2 billion loss in revenues for the industry this year.
Ongoing Trade Spat
Since 2004, the US has accused the European Union of providing the European aerospace giant Airbus with unfair subsidies through government loans, while Brussels maintained that Washington has itself been breaking the World Trade Organisation’s rules by providing unauthorised government financial support to its aircraft maker Boeing.
In 2005, the WTO launched an investigation into the EU’s public support for Airbus and a twin probe into Boeing’s US subsidies.
Cheese imported from Spain is displayed at Cheese Plus on August 26, 2019 in San Francisco, California
The EU-US disagreement culminated in 2019, when the WTO ruled that the EU subsidies paid to Airbus were illegal and gave the go-ahead to the US to impose countervailing duties on its trade partner. In October 2019, the US introduced custom tariffs against $7.5 bn in EU goods, with Italian and Dutch cheese, as well as wines coming from France, Spain and Germany the primary victims of the 25-percent tariff.
However, a year later, the WTO effectively allowed the EU to raise tariffs on up to $4 billion worth of imports from the US after ruling out that the United States was providing illegal subsidies to Boeing. In November 2020, the EU followed the call by slapping its transatlantic partner with billions-in new tariffs, something the US trade authorities called “unfair”.
The office of the US Trade Representative vowed to respond to the measure by adding a number of new products and certain brands of French and German wine and cognac to its list of goods subject to 25-percent duties.
Meanwhile, in early January, the trade authorities decided to postpone imposing another wave of levies, which were announced last summer, on $1.3 billion in French products, including on cosmetic brands and designer bags. The decision came as the US Trade Representative’s office was elaborating a response to France’s adoption of a digital service tax, which the US found threatening to its own companies.
Shoppers are being hit by delays and extra fees of up to £5 on fashion items shipped from the EU.
Top retailers including & Other Stories, Asics, Sezane and Goodhood have blamed Brexit for the delivery chaos, with hold-ups lasting days or even weeks.
In some cases, parcels with the wrong documentation are being returned to sender when they reach the border. The main cause of the delays is understood to be new paperwork and extra customs and border security arrangements.
Shoppers are being hit by delays and extra fees of up to £5 on fashion items shipped from the EU. Lorries are pictured above at a clearance centre
Under new rules, anyone sending parcels from the EU to the UK needs to fill in forms including proof of origin and the reason for sending the package.
Retailers selling to Britain now have to pay customs duties and fill out declaration forms, as well as registering for VAT in the UK. VAT relief on imported goods under £15 has also been abolished.
The import headaches come as shops see a spike in online orders while Britain is in lockdown.
Problems are being compounded by high levels of sickness among postal workers due to Covid.
Meanwhile, some retailers and delivery firms are charging fees to cover the cost of the extra red tape. Parisian fashion brand Sezane told customers that ‘due to Brexit’ all UK orders will be charged a £5 admin fee.
Courier firm TNT is slapping £4.31 on all shipments to and from the EU, rival UPS is charging £4.50 per package and DHL is insisting on €5 per shipment. DPD, which said one in five parcels had been returned because of paperwork issues, is charging £3.50 on packages to cover ‘clearance, handling, and processing costs’. It is unclear whether such costs will be passed on to shoppers.
& Other Stories, which is owned by Swedish fashion giant H&M, admitted it had suffered delays ‘for a limited period’ because of Brexit. Asics and Goodhood also warned online customers about Brexit hold-ups.
A senior retail source said: ‘Some European retailers have clearly said it’s too much hassle to deliver to the UK and slapped big delivery charges on posting to us.’
James Hookham, of the Global Shippers Forum, said: ‘These delays will diminish in time as familiarity breeds content with the process, or contempt at the new prices.
‘But everyone is in novice mode at the moment so delays are inevitable for a while as the new arrangements bed down.’ Catherine Shuttleworth, of retail specialists Savvy Marketing, said delays could mean opportunities for UK-based brands to ‘steal shopper share.’
…And UK’s mail faces more red tape
Anyone sending packages to the EU from Britain also faces new checks that could result in extra costs and delays.
Individuals and retailers mailing parcels need to fill out customs declaration forms – although letters, postcards and documents are usually exempt. The recipient may then have to pay customs or VAT charges and a handling fee.
The charges will depend on the country, whether the package is a gift or commercial goods and its value. Goods under €35 – which were previously exempt from VAT – are now taxable.
Complex product origin rules mean some items are subject to tariffs depending on where their contents were sourced from.
