EU calls for ‘immediate release’ of Hong Kong activists
… the semi-autonomous territory.
EU spokesman Peter Stano told … against China, saying that EU authorities and member nations are … only days after the European Union sealed a business investment … situation in the country. EU Commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer …
Season’s greetings from the European Parliament | News | European Parliament
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/eu-affairs/20201208STO93326/
Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021 – 2030
The United Nations has proclaimed 2021–2030 the Decade of Healthy Ageing, with WHO leading international action to improve the lives of older people, their families and communities.
The Decade brings together a variety of stakeholders galvanizing concerted action to:
- change how we think, feel and act towards age and ageing;
- develop communities in ways that foster the abilities of older people;
- deliver person-centred, integrated care and primary health services that are responsive to older people; and
- provide older people access to long-term care when they need it.
Initiatives undertaken as part of the Decade will seek the participation of older people, who will be central to and fully engaged in this multistakeholder collaboration.
COVID-19 and older people
Although all age groups are at risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus, older people face a significant risk of developing severe illness due to physiological changes that come with ageing and existing underlying health conditions.
People in the second half of their lives are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is exposing the flaws and shortcomings of various systems, including health, long-term care and support, social protection, finance, and information-sharing.
The Decade of Healthy Ageing is an opportunity for concerted, sustained focus, investment and action to foster healthy ageing and to tackle factors that impact older people’s health status and contribute to their increased susceptibility to serious illnesses.
European Programme of Work and Ageing
The Decade acts as a reminder to consider the specific needs of older people, as well as the opportunities that ageing brings, when developing activities in line with the European Programme of Work:
-moving towards Universal Health Coverage requires considerations about age and older persons’ specific needs;
-to better protect people against health emergencies, we must ensure that older people and other potentially vulnerable groups are not left behind;
-lastly, many of the public health measures that ensure healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages are highly effective up to the oldest age groups.
Multistakeholder and multisectoral action led by WHO
WHO will act as the lead in close collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and its regional commissions, the United Nations Population Fund, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme, UN-Habitat, UN Women, the World Bank, and other relevant national, international and regional organizations.
Thousands of EU domains registered to UK users ‘suspended’ after Brexit
Over 80,000 internet domain names assigned to UK registrants have been suspended by the EU registry, EURid, following the end of the Brexit transition period at the close of 2020.
The registry has informed EURACTIV that “a few minutes” into the new year, thousands of .eu domains belonging to UK users had been downgraded to a so-called “suspended” status.
This means such domains “do not have any functional features” such as email or basic website services. In addition, no UK-based registrant is now able to obtain a .eu domain.
Ahead of the new year changes, one case has raised particular attention among observers – that of the Leave.EU domain, with speculation mounting as to whether the website would remain online.
Leave.EU is the campaign website for the pro-Brexit lobby bankrolled by UKIP funder Arron Banks and supported by former MEP Nigel Farage. Leading up to the close of 2020, it had remained uncertain whether Leave.EU would seek to drop their EU domain name, and opt instead for a UK or international one. Such a move would not only have impacted the brand image of the ‘Leave.EU’ moniker but would have also hit the website standing in search rankings.
However, EURACTIV can exclusively reveal that ahead of the end of the Brexit transition date, the organisation migrated its registrant address to a site in Waterford, in the Republic of Ireland, in a move that is likely to provoke accusations of hypocrisy from commentators.
More generally, EURid has disclosed that all UK registrants with .eu domains have been notified of the necessary suspension of key functionalities of their online services.
The registry has also recorded an influx of notifications from UK-based registrants using .eu domains, filing a change of legal establishment to a non-UK, EU site, in order to reinstate the ‘registered’ status, allowing for the continuing functionality of online services.
The status of suspension remains valid until 31 March 2021. During this period, updates can be made to registrant addresses for those who wish to migrate from a UK establishment to an EU one. Or, the individual registrant will be able to provide evidence of their citizenship of a EU nations, irrespective of their residence, if they would like to maintain the place of establishment of their service as the UK.
The recent development has been long in the offing. EURACTIV reported in early 2019 that the European Commission had plans to revoke all UK-based .eu domains quickly after the end of the Brexit transition period, with the objective of taking all such websites offline within 48 hours after this date.
(Edited by Frédéric Simon)
ESMA promotes transparency for TLTRO III transactions
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, issues today a public statement promoting transparency in the IFRS financial statements of banks regarding accounting for the third series of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO III).
ESMA observes that, in practice, there is diversity regarding the accounting treatment of the ECB’s TLTRO III refinancing transactions by banks. ESMA believes that, given the overall volume of the TLTRO III operations, this matter may have a material effect on the financial statements of banks and may be widespread across the EU. Therefore, ESMA emphasises the importance of providing an adequate level of transparency regarding the accounting treatment of these transactions in the financial statements of banks.
The main recommendations for affected banks are:
- to provide entity-specific disclosures of the significant accounting policies and of the significant judgements and assumptions related to the TLTRO III transactions;
- to ensure transparency about risks arising from financial instruments, addressing banks’ assessment of the possible achievement of conditions or covenants attached to the TLTRO III loans; and
- to disclose the carrying amount of TLTRO III liabilities at the end of the reporting period and the related interest expense.
Next steps
ESMA intends to submit questions related to this matter to the IFRS Interpretations Committee for consideration.
tibetans’ lives and religion are being ripped from them. tell the…
Just as the U.S. Congress was getting ready to vote on its much-needed economic stimulus package that provides financial relief to struggling Americans, an unexpected addendum was added. It’s not unusual for members of Congress to sneak horrendous or unattractive items into larger laws, quietly passing them under the cover of more widely-discussed legislative topics. But this time, the quiet additions were miraculous, life-saving provisions for the tortured and massacred Tibetan people as well as their peaceful religious and political leader, the Dalai Lama.Sign the petition to demand that the European Union follow Congress’s example! The European Parliament must pass similar legislation protecting the Dalai Lama and his followers.
Traditionally, U.S. law has been relatively silent on the topic of the Dalai Lama even as the Chinese government drove the Tibetan spiritual leader into exile in India. Even after they kidnapped many of his associates, including the 6 year old Panchen Lama, who has been missing along with his family for 25 years. Even as soldiers continue to imprison, torture, and murder Tibetan Buddhists en masse — monks and civilians alike. These are all violent, direct attacks on the right to freedom of religion, which both China and the U.S. claim to uphold.
But the U.S. government has finally taken a big, bold, long-overdue step. The Chinese government has said for decades that once the current Dalai Lama passes away, it will refuse to allow his followers to find and identify his successor. Instead, they’re determined to find a new Dalai Lama of their own to ensure full control over Tibetans. Previously, there was little to dissuade them from this religious and political overthrow. Except now, since the international pressure is on.
According to this newly-passed law, the U.S. will protect Tibetan Buddhists from outside interference when it comes to naming the Dalai Lama’s next successor. If Beijing attempts to swoop in, D.C. will actually implement economic sanctions on top Chinese Communist Party leaders. On top of that, the law states that the government will refuse to let China establish any new consulates on U.S. soil until the U.S. is allowed to establish its own consulate in the capital of Tibet, Lhasa.
We should all be celebrating these breathtaking steps. But it shouldn’t end here. Every single day, the Tibetan people continue to be oppressed and brutalized simply for belonging to an ethnic minority that doubts China’s control over their region. In the past five years, Chinese officials have moved bulldozers into two sacred, highly-populated monastic communities and torn down monks’ and nuns’ residences, forcing them to sign agreements that they will never return, and herding them onto buses even as the Buddhists weep in anguish.
Some experts estimate that approximately 1.2 million Tibetan people have been murdered in a state-sponsored mass genocide.
The new U.S. law is an important step in asserting Tibetan people’s rights to their religion, their dignity, and their lives. Now the European Union must follow suit in order to make this pressure even stronger.
Tell the European Parliament to pass a law stating that they will sanction the Chinese government if it interferes in the naming of the Dalai Lama’s successor!
Economic impact of Brexit lessened by EU-UK deal: study
BERLIN, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) — The free trade deal agreed by the UK and the European Union (EU) on Christmas Eve would significantly lessen the negative economic impact of Brexit, according to a study published by Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) on Tuesday.
“The agreement on a comprehensive agreement between the EU and the UK without tariffs and without quotas is a good signal for the economy in Germany, the EU and the UK,” said Minister for Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier in a statement.
However, Germany’s trade with the UK had already declined before the withdrawal of Britain from the EU, according to the study by the ifo Institute in cooperation with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel) on behalf of the BMWi.
Although the best theoretical economic scenario was for the UK to remain in the EU’s single market, Altmaier stressed that “German companies have already prepared for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU single market.”
Goods traded between Germany and the UK continuously declined since the Brexit referendum in 2016, the study found. German car manufacturers and the country’s chemical industry were particularly affected by dropping exports to the UK.
Part of the reduced trade with the UK would be compensated by increased trade between Germany and other EU countries as well as third countries. China and the United States would become “even more important sales markets for Germany, as a result of the Brexit,” the study noted.
After months of negotiations, the EU and UK agreed on a comprehensive agreement shortly before the end of the Brexit transition period. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement provisionally entered into force on Jan. 1.
Even with a comprehensive agreement in place, the study estimated that Germany’s real GDP would fall by around 0.14 percent, equivalent to around 4.9 billion euros (6.01 billion U.S. dollars), and by up to 0.96 percent in the UK as a result of Brexit.
“The immediate effects of Brexit on future trade link with the UK are likely to be smaller than many feared,” said Altmaier.
EU will strengthen attempts to revive Iran nuclear deal
The European Union said on Tuesday it would redouble its efforts to save the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement despite Iran’s “important breach” of commitments made in the deal, The Associated Press reported.
Iran officially announced on Monday that it had resumed enrichment of uranium at its underground site in Fordow, in the latest violation of the 2015 deal.
Major book deal, TV and film rights ‘surreal’ for first-time Canadian author of ‘The Push’
TORONTO —
Ashley Audrain used to be on the other side of book publishing when she worked as publicity director with Penguin Canada, but the first-time author hit the jackpot when her buzzy psychological suspense novel, ‘The Push’, reportedly garnered her a $3 million two-book deal across more than 20 countries and attention from Hollywood. ‘The Push’, which came out Tuesday, is an unsettling tale of a mother who begins to wonder if her young daughter Violet has a dark side.
The book has generated positive reviews in the U.K.’s Guardian, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/02/the-push-by-ashley-audrain-review-the-dark-side-of-motherhood" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">which described it</a> as “well thought out, carefully crafted, vividly realized and gripping,” and the New York Times, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/books/review/the-push-ashley-audrain.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">which said</a> “Audrain has a gift for capturing the seemingly small moments that speak volumes about relationships.”
“It’s as surreal as you might expect it to be, to be honest,” Audrain told CTV’s Your Morning of her journey as an author. “It’s an absolute dream come true.”
Audrain said she has always been fascinated by motherhood -- the question of why women do it, how it changes them, and what the experience is really like.
“You know -- how we’re told it would be, how we’re taught we should feel, even sort of the language we’re supposed to use around the experience of motherhood - I really wanted to explore that in fiction,” she said.
She experienced it first hand several years ago when she had her first child, who was born with health issues and spent a month at Toronto’s Sick Kids hospital after birth. That “really had me looking at motherhood quite differently and sort of examining those expectations.”
While the novel, which focuses on a mother who believes there is something wrong with her daughter but is doubted by those around her, is not autobiographical in any way, ‘The Push’ does explore what happens when a character’s expectations of motherhood do not match the reality. She spent three years writing it.
After she sent her manuscript out, Audrain was prepared to wait months before hearing back. Instead, one agent whom she had sent the manuscript to -- Madeleine Milburn -- emailed her later that same day, saying she was hosting a dinner party that evening but just wanted her guests to go home so she could finish reading.
“Which I took as a pretty good sign,” said Audrain, who is the mother of two young children, aged three and five. “I just signed with Madeleine. She’s incredible and she really just lit the match that kind of turned into what it is. It was an incredible moment I’ll never forget.”
Shortly after the book sold to publishers last summer, Hollywood producers for film and TV came knocking as well with multiple offers. Rights were ultimately sold to David Heyman, who did the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts franchise, as well as Marriage Story and the Paddington films.
“It was just such a strange, wild and wonderful summer,” Audrain said.
