A new era has begun for the United Kingdom after it completed its formal separation from the European Union.
From a report: The UK stopped following EU rules at 23:00 GMT, as replacement arrangements for travel, trade, immigration and security co-operation came into force.
Boris Johnson said the UK had “freedom in our hands” and the ability to do things “differently and better” now the long Brexit process was over. But opponents of leaving the EU maintain the country will be worse off.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose ambition it is to take an independent Scotland back into the EU, tweeted: “Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on.”
BBC Europe editor Katya Adler said there was a sense of relief in Brussels that the Brexit process was over, “but there is regret still at Brexit itself”. The first lorries arriving at the borders entered the UK and EU without delay.
On Friday evening, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted that border traffic had been “low due to [the] bank holiday” but there had been no disruption in Kent as “hundreds” of lorries crossed the Channel with a “small” number turned back.
“The children born today enter a world far different than even a year ago, and a New Year brings a new opportunity to reimagine it”, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said.
As always, the Pacific island nation of Fiji will welcome the first baby of the new year and the United States the last one.
Over half of these global births are estimated to take place in the 10 countries of India – 59,995; China – 35,615; Nigeria – 21,439; Pakistan – 14,161; Indonesia –12,336; Ethiopia – 12,006 – US (10,312), Egypt – 9,455; Bangladesh – 9,236; and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – 8,640.
In total, UNICEF estimates an 84-year average life expectancy for the 140 million children it projects will be born throughout 2021.
More to celebrate
The year will also mark the 75th anniversary of UNICEF.
Over the course of 2021, UNICEF and its partners will be commemorating the milestone anniversary with events and announcements celebrating three-quarters of a century of protecting children from conflict, disease and exclusion, and championing their right to survival, health and education.
“Children born today will inherit the world we begin to build for them today”, reminded the UNICEF chief.
“Let us make 2021 the year we start to build a fairer, safer, healthier world for children”, she added.
COVID challenges
Meanwhile, as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to soar, so do the needs of children and their families, the UN agency said.
From delivering life-saving health supplies, to building water and hygiene facilities, to keeping girls and boys connected to education and protection, UNICEF is working to slow the spread of the pandemic and minimize its impact on children worldwide.
Three of them grabbed headlines often in the latter part of the year — Amy Coney Barrett, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Anthony Fauci – and they were among the top Catholic newsmakers in 2020 named by a prominent Catholic review.
America, the Jesuit Review, said that the year that has just passed by was “12 months of a lot of bad news.”
During an endless barrage of reports of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic and social devastation, life in the United States still went on despite surpassing 20 million virus cases and 346,000 death on Jan. 1.
“As always at America, we keep an eye out for the papists in the lot, and so we present our top five U.S. Catholic newsmakers of 2020.
They were not necessarily American magazine’s five favorite U.S. Catholic newsmakers of 2020, yet they were the one ones who garnered “the most heat and light” and they are likely to catch the public eye again this year.
The five are William Barr, Amy Coney Barrett, Joseph Biden, Kobe Bryan and Anthony Fauci.
ANTHONY FAUCI
The top infectious disease expert in the United States, Fauci was also on global television screens during the year.
“Who couldn’t fall at least a bit in love with America’s favorite doctor this past year? (Well, not the sitting president, but his enemies list makes Richard Nixon look like a Quaker…wait, Richard Nixon actually was a Quaker?),” wrote the magazine.
Dr. Fauci is a 1958 graduate of Regis High School in New York City and a 1962 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. (a classics major!).
He is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
“He became the public face of Covid-19 prevention efforts this year, offering sage advice and caution during the early days of the pandemic, and never backed down when other figures in and out of government tried to water down his wisdom or contradict the medical realities of Covid-19,” wrote America.
That meant voicing unpopular opinions sometimes, including advising U.S. Catholics to forgo receiving the Eucharist for a time.
Fauci also offered encouragement to graduating students at Jesuit high schools around the country in a virtual address to the students at Regis High School in May.
“Currently our lives have been upended by a truly historic global pandemic. I am profoundly aware that graduating during this time—and virtually, without your friends, classmates and teachers close by—is extremely difficult,” he said.
“However, please hang in there. We need you to be smart, strong and resilient. With discipline and empathy, we will all get through this together.”
WILLIAM BARR
William Barr was appointed by President Donald Trump to his second stint as attorney general of the United States in 2019.
He was also attorney general under President George H. W. Bush, but his tenure didn’t last long:
In December Trump announced that Barr would depart from the administration in its final days, having fallen out of favor with the president for saying publicly he found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
“But Mr. Barr gained a fair amount of notoriety among his fellow Catholics on a different issue: his enthusiasm for the death penalty,” said America.
Despite frequent Vatican clarifications that executions can have no justification for executions, Barr instructed the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in July 2019 to restart executing prisoners sentenced to death in federal court.
“Recent months have seen a flurry of legal activity seemingly designed to facilitate executions before the incoming Biden administration presumably suspends the practice again. It hasn’t won Mr. Barr many friends among Catholic bishops.”
KOBE BRYANT
“Among the tattoos Kobe Bryant sported on his right bicep was one featuring the name of his wife Vanessa, a crown, a pair of angel wings and the words ‘Psalm XXVII,'” writes America.
The opening lines of Psalm 27 are “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? /The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Psalm 27 was used in response on Jan. 26, 2020, the day Bryant died in a helicopter crash just hours after attending Mass.
His death stunned the basketball world and saddened millions of fans, including the Los Angeles Laker fans who saw him play all 20 of his seasons with the team, winning five N.B.A. championships and finishing an all-time fourth in points scored.
Bryant was not often forthcoming about his Catholic faith,
Still, he was described by Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles as “a very good Catholic, a faithful Catholic,” and one with whom Gomez discussed issues of faith on numerous occasions.
“Mr. Bryant became a notorious figure in 2003 when he was accused of rape; though criminal charges were dropped, he reached an out-of-court settlement with the alleged victim. He credited a priest with helping him through the process,” said America.
“The one thing that really helped me during that process — I’m Catholic, I grew up Catholic, my kids are Catholic — was talking to a priest,” Bryant told GQ magazine GQ in 2015.
“It was actually kind of funny: He looks at me and says, ‘Did you do it?’ And I say, ‘Of course not.’ Then he asks, ‘Do you have a good lawyer?’ And I’m like ”Uh, yeah, he’s phenomenal.’ So then he just said, ‘Let it go. Move on. God’s not going to give you anything you can’t handle, and it’s in his hands now. This is something you can’t control. So let it go.’ And that was the turning point.”
AMY CONEY BARRETT
A U.S. Supreme Court already dominated by Catholics got another one in 2020, as President Trump pushed through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as the sixth Catholic justice.
It came just days before the November presidential election. Justice Barrett earned her own meme during the hearings for her nomination to a lower court in 2017, when U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, referred to Justice Barrett’s religious beliefs by saying, “the dogma lives loudly within you.”
Barrett won praise from many Catholics for her strong views against legal abortion, but she also garnered some negative publicity because of her background in a charismatic Christian community, People of Praise.
(Photo: University of Notre Dame)Amy Coney Barrett
America Magazine said that several news outlets “incorrectly equated with the oppressive and sexist community depicted in Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale.”
“Because she took the seat vacated by the death of liberal scion Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Barrett’s politically conservative bona fides were cast in an even starker light during her October confirmation hearings.”
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
Americans in 2020 opted for the second Catholic president of the United States, six decades after John F. Kennedy became its first.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. will take the oath of office and become the 46th U.S. president on Jan. 21.
In his acceptance speech he quoted the devotional hymn “On Eagles’ Wings” with words based on Psalm 91, the Book of Exodus 19, and the Gospel of Matthew 13. in a very public display of his faith.
“He faced intense criticism for his pro-choice position on abortion, including from Catholic bishops, and was even denied Communion by one zealous pastor with a creative take on canon law.”
“Ultimately, however, a majority of American voters saw “Uncle Joe” as a better option than four more years of Mr. Trump, though American Catholics were almost evenly split in their support for the two candidates.
“So now the important question arises: Which parish will President Biden choose to attend Sunday Mass?”
(Photo: Joe Biden official campaign website)Joe Biden
This tablet depicts the Virgin presenting the Child Jesus on her chest within a circle that recalls the sun, while her arms are raised in the ancient pose of the person in prayer. The tradition behind this representation is extremely ancient, and very common in the East. It is called “of the Sign” because it recalls the prophecy of Isaiah (7:14): “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel.”
“The first duty of all those who recognize in the Mother of Christ the model of the Church, is to unite themselves to her in giving thanks to the Most High for working great things in Mary for the benefit of all mankind.”
(Pope St. Paul VI – Apostolic Exhortation “Signum Magnum” – 1967)
Under the direction of Paolo Ondarza #BeautyThatUnites Instagram: @vaticanmuseums @VaticanNews Facebook: @vaticannews
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has urged Nigerians not to allow their differences in religion, politics and even social stratification to create artificial and needless boundaries in other to achieve a greater state.
This was contained in the Governor’s New Year Message made available to newsmen on Friday in Akure by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo.
Akeredolu expressed optimism that the best of all is embedded in every individual as long as the resolve to surmount challenges was placed above “self-abnegation”.
He said: “Humanity has never been insulated from challenges and clearly too human challenges have never remained invincible and endlessly insolvent. Undoubtedly, Year 2020 was fraught with a web of challenges.
“All the same, our individual and collective approach to Year 2021 remains a potent force that can open our minds to the hidden and exploitable opportunities required for fresh paths of growth and development.”
He said losing faith in ourselves and the nation was not an option but a clear route to self-abnegation.
“We only require a new approach, fresh ideas for results of uncommon nature to face the unusual times,” Akeredolu said.
Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has urged Nigerians not to allow their differences in religion, politics and even social stratification to create artificial and needless boundaries in other to achieve a greater state.This was contained in the governor’s New Year Message made available to newsmen on Friday in Akure by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Donald Ojogo.
Akeredolu expressed optimism that the best of all is embedded in every individual as long as the resolve to surmount challenges was placed above “self-abnegation“.
“Humanity has never been insulated from challenges and clearly too human challenges have never remained invincible and endlessly insolvent. Undoubtedly, Year 2020 was fraught with a web of challenges.
“All the same, our individual and collective approach to Year 2021 remains a potent force that can open our minds to the hidden and exploitable opportunities required for fresh paths of growth and development,’’ the governor said.
He said losing faith in ourselves and the nation was not an option but a clear route to self-abnegation.“We only require a new approach, fresh ideas for results of uncommon nature to face the unusual times, “ Akeredolu said. (NAN)
INTERVIEW | The emphasis on our humanity needs to comprehensively be incorporated into our education system and into our day to day life, said Indian classical dancer Ramli Ibrahim.
An accomplished dancer and trainer, the Kajang-born Ramli established his Sutra Dance Theatre in 1983.
In a recent interview, he spoke about the obstacles he faced as a Malay Muslim, problems in getting federal or state funds for Indian dance productions and the influence of national politics on arts and culture.
In fixing arts and culture in 2020, you wrote: “Taking away the extremist and sometimes confusing Islamic factors out of our arts and culture policies and doing away with some Islamic religious requirements.” How did these factors influence your journey as a young artist, and how do they influence young artists today?
As a Malay Muslim who has made Indian classical dance not only his vocation but also his lifetime pursuit, I have encountered my share of flak and obstacles from various Islamic agencies and some of the more religious members of the Muslim community.
Personally, I have never thought my involvement in Indian classical dance was a problem with being a Muslim. In actual fact…
Britain’s long and sometimes acrimonious divorce from the European Union ended Thursday with an economic split that leaves the EU smaller and the UK freer but more isolated in a turbulent world.
Britain left the European bloc’s vast single market for people, goods and services at 11pm London time, midnight in Brussels, completing the biggest single economic change the country has experienced since World War II. A different UK-EU trade deal will bring new restrictions and red tape, but for British Brexit supporters, it means reclaiming national independence from the EU and its web of rules.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose support for Brexit helped push the country out of the EU, called it “an amazing moment for this country.”
“We have our freedom in our hands, and it is up to us to make the most of it,” he said in a New Year’s video message.
People raise a glass and celebrate in Parliament Square as the bell known as Big Ben strikes 2300, and Britain ends its transition period and formally leaves the European Union in London.
The break comes 11 months after a political Brexit that left the two sides in the limbo of a “transition period” – like a separated couple still living together, wrangling and wondering whether they can remain friends. Now the UK has finally moved out.
It was a day some had longed for and others dreaded since Britain voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU, but it turned out to be something of an anticlimax. UK lockdown measures to curb the coronavirus curtailed mass gatherings to celebrate or mourn the moment, though a handful of Brexit supporters defied the restrictions to raise a toast outside Parliament as the Big Ben bell sounded 11 times on the hour.
Francisco Seco/AP
British citizens, who live in Belgium, hold candles and Union flags during an anti Brexit vigil in front of the UK mission building at the European quarter in Brussels.
A free trade agreement sealed on Christmas Eve after months of tense negotiations ensures that Britain and the 27-nation EU can continue to buy and sell goods without tariffs or quotas. That should help protect the 660 billion pounds in annual trade between the two sides, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it.
But companies face sheaves of new costs and paperwork, including customs declarations and border checks. Traders are struggling to digest the new rules imposed by the 1,200-page trade deal.
Leon Neal/AP
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson signs the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement at 10 Downing Street, London on December 30, 2020.
The English Channel port of Dover and the Eurotunnel passenger and freight route braced for delays as the new measures were introduced, though the pandemic and a holiday weekend meant cross-Channel traffic was light, with only a trickle of trucks arriving at French border posts in Calais as 2020 ended.
The vital supply route was snarled for days after France closed its border to UK truckers for 48 hours last week in response to a fast-spreading variant of the virus identified in England.
The British government insisted that “the border systems and infrastructure we need are in place, and we are ready for the UK’s new start.”
But freight companies were holding their breath. Youngs Transportation in the UK suspended services to the EU until January 11 “to let things settle.”
Gareth Fuller/AP
The last ferries cross the border into northern Europe before the Brexit transition period concludes, and Britain begins its new relationship with the trading bloc from January 1.
“We figure it gives the country a week or so to get used to all of these new systems in and out, and we can have a look and hopefully resolve any issues in advance of actually sending our trucks,” said the company’s director, Rob Hollyman.
The services sector, which makes up 80 per cent of Britain’s economy, does not even know what the rules will be for business with the EU in 2021.
Many of the details have yet to be hammered out. Months and years of further discussion and argument over everything from fair competition to fish quotas lie ahead as Britain and the EU settle into their new relationship as friends, neighbors and rivals.
Matt Dunham/AP
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions on gatherings people were moved on by police if they met in any number.
Hundreds of millions of individuals in Britain and the bloc also face changes to their daily lives. Britons and EU citizens have lost the automatic right to live and work in the other’s territory. From now on, they will have to follow immigration rules and obtain work visas. Tourists face new headaches including from travel insurance and pet paperwork.
For some in Britain, including the prime minister, it’s a moment of pride and a chance for the UK to set new diplomatic and economic priorities. Johnson said the UK was now “free to do trade deals around the world, and free to turbocharge our ambition to be a science superpower.”
Conservative lawmaker Bill Cash, who has campaigned for Brexit for decades, said it was a “victory for democracy and sovereignty.”
That’s not a view widely shared across the Channel. In the French president’s traditional New Year’s address, Emmanuel Macron expressed regret.
Johanna Geron/AP
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signs the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement at the European Council headquarters in Brussels.
<
p class=”sics-component__html-injector sics-component__story__paragraph”> “The United Kingdom remains our neighbour but also our friend and ally,” he said. “This choice of leaving Europe, this Brexit, was the child of European malaise and lots of lies and false promises.”
The divorce could also have major constitutional repercussions for the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland, which shares a border with EU member Ireland, remains more closely tied to the bloc’s economy under the divorce terms, a status that could pull it away from the rest of the UK.
In Scotland, which voted strongly in 2016 to remain, Brexit has bolstered support for separation from the UK. The country’s pro-independence First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on.”
Many in Britain felt apprehension about a leap into the unknown that is taking place during a pandemic that has upended life around the world.
“I feel very sad that we’re leaving,” said Jen Pearcy-Edwards, a filmmaker in London. “I think that Covid-19 has overshadowed everything that is going on. But I think the other thing that has happened is that people feel a bigger sense of community, and I think that makes it even sadder that we’re breaking up our community a bit, by leaving our neighbours in Europe.
<
p class=”sics-component__html-injector sics-component__story__paragraph”> “I’m hopeful that we find other ways to rebuild ties,” she said.
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