Both leaders welcomed the fair and balanced agreement reached on the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union with a view to the upcoming signature, which is scheduled for 30 December. The agreement is essential as it creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies.
In the fight against climate change, both leaders agreed to intensify the future cooperation between the UK and the EU. They agreed to take work forward with a view to the COP 26 in Glasgow. The recent EU decision to adapt its 2030 target was welcomed.
Both leaders agreed to intensify work on the global response to pandemics. In this regard, the idea of a possible treaty on pandemics, which could help to strengthen global preparedness and response was discussed, notably in the framework of the UK presidency of the G7.
On foreign affairs, President Michel and Prime Minister Johnson stated their common interest to continue exchanging views and seek cooperation on specific issues based on shared values and interests.
The state-run news agency cited the state governor as confirming the troop deployment. South Darfur in western Sudan, suffered a bitter conflict that broke out in 2003.
The area has witnessed several clashes between tribes over the last few years.
Also in Africa, it is now almost seven weeks since the conflict started in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. It has fast escalated into a humanitarian crisis, drawing the concerns of the United Nations.
Since Early November, the Ethiopian government has been undertaking military operations against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which controlled Ethiopia’s Tigray state in the north.
Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) deployed humanitarian assessment teams to Tigray.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced or have fled across the border to Sudan. At the same time, the World Health Organization sent emergency health supplies enough to treat more than 10,000 patients for three months.
Chi-Med Initiates Rolling Submission of NDA to U.S. FDA for Surufatinib for the Treatment of Advanced Neuroendocrine Tumors – Book Publishing Industry Today – EIN Presswire
BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) gave the green light on Monday to its post-Brexit trade deal with the UK, clearing the way for it to come into effect in the New Year.
The British parliament will have to ratify later this week the deal to cushion the economic shock of the divorce. Brussels will apply it on a provisional basis until European lawmakers consider the agreement in the coming months.
Customs and regulatory controls on cross-Channel commerce will still come into effect on Jan 1 after Britain leaves the EU single market. But there will be no immediate return to a regime of tariffs and quotas that could have disrupted trade after Britain’s decision to quit the club.
Sebastian Fischer, spokesman for the German presidency of the EU, said: “EU ambassadors have unanimously approved the provisional application of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.”
Under EU procedure, the decision by ambassadors from the 27 member states to endorse the plan will take effect at 3pm (1400 GMT) on Tuesday. But there is no expectation that any EU members will now slow the adoption of the trade deal, the fruit of a tortuous 10-month negotiation.
Germany holds the rotating EU presidency and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said the coalition government has no objection to the text.
“Germany can accept the negotiated accord,” she said. In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron‘s office announced that his government had also backed the deal.
“The accord will come into force on January 1. From the first day, France will be vigilant that it is put in place correctly,” the French government statement said.
Separately, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke by telephone with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel.
“I welcomed the importance of the UK-EU Agreement as a new starting point for our relationship, between sovereign equals,” Johnson tweeted.
The European Parliament will want to study the deal even after its provisional application and was expected to convene a session in the first quarter of next year to ratify it.
But on Monday, MEPs were discussing the possibility of pushing that date back further to give themselves more time to study the text and to watch how relations develop.
The member states’ provisional approval will last until the end of February, but EU parliamentary leaders asked on Monday for a few more weeks to arrange a vote in March or April. But if London refuses this delay, they have agreed to hold a special plenary session on or around Feb 23.
Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier met the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli and the MEPs coordinating EU-UK ties on Monday.
He described the exchanges as “fruitful” and thanked the MEPs “for their trust and support throughout this extraordinary negotiation.”
British parliamentarians are to meet on Wednesday to debate the accord.
Although the 2016 Brexit referendum that set the divorce in motion proved to be extremely divisive, the vote is expected to go smoothly.
The MPs have not had long to study the 1,200-page text, but Johnson has a comfortable majority of Conservative MPs in the Commons and has hailed the accord as a victory.
The minority Scottish National Party will oppose the deal – as it opposed Brexit – but bulk of MPs from the main Labour opposition will back it to avoid further disruption.
The deal offers the British duty-free and quota-free access to its market of 450 million consumers, and gives European fishermen access to UK waters for at least another five-and-a-half years.
But it provides for Europe to impose compensatory measures on British business if London backslides on standards for state aid, the environment, labour law and taxation. – AFP
Ten Adivasi organisations met here on Monday and submitted a memorandum to the state government demanding that it ask the Centre to recognise “Sarna” as an Adivasi religion and include a separate religious code for it in the 2021 census. The demand was unanimously backed by the Santhal, Munda, Oraon, Ho, Bhumu, Bedia, Savar, Kharia, and Mahali communities.
Last month, the Jharkhand government convened a special Assembly session and passed a resolution to send the Centre a letter recommending it to recognise the Sarna religion and include a separate code for it in the next census.
International Santhal council president Naresh Kumar Murmu said, “We met minister Purnendu Basu and submitted a memorandum to him and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. We want the government of West Bengal to take a similar step like the one taken by the Jharkhand government.”
Murmu said a “Sarna Dharma Mahasammelan” would be held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here on January 3 on the birth anniversary of Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda, an Adivasi leader who was a member of the Constituent Assembly.
Murmu added, “The population of the followers of Sarna is more than the Jain religion and ‘Hital’ is our religious text, which was written by our spiritual guru and inventor of Ol Chiki script Guru Gomke Pandit Raghunath Murmu. Adivasis have no caste system, do not believe in idol worship. Adivasis believe in nature worship.”
A book club that is associated with the membership of Alpha Delta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) of Washington Court House simply named “The Book Club” is composed of 10 DKG members, including Marie Fetters, Cassandra Furlong, Nancy Mowery, Sandy Sowash, Susan Stuckey, Kim Bonnell, Dianne Junk, Debra Wing, Christy Eckstein, and Cathy White.
The Book Club was formally established in October of 2013. The club currently meets on the fourth Monday of the month and due to the pandemic has been meeting by Zoom in recent months. The club has found that there are advantages to meeting by Zoom.
The two members, Marie Fetters and Cassandra Furlong, who now live out of state can meet with us in person on a regular basis. Another advantage is the connection and friendship with Suzanne Lucey, the owner of the “Page 158 Books,” a book store in North Carolina. The club was introduced to Suzanne by DKG member Marie Fetters, who now lives in North Carolina.
Suzanne visited the book club by Zoom this past October when they decided to read “One Good Mama Bone,” by Bren McClain for the next meeting in November. Suzanne Lucey arranged for the author to visit with the club in person during the Zoom meeting on Nov. 23. It was a delightful meeting with wonderful insightful discussion with Bren about her book. It was interesting to hear her tell how her life experiences and interactions with others reflect in her writing.
Bren McClain grew up on 72-acre cattle farm near Anderson, South Carolina which was a great influence throughout her book One Good Mama Bone. She earned a BA in English from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. She wrote for her local newspaper in Anderson, worked in radio and television, taught high school English for one year, and had a career in media relations before becoming a full-time writer.
Bren has won several writing awards, including the 2017 Will Morris Award for Southern Fiction, the 2019 Patricia Win Award for Southern Fiction, and the Great Book Reads by Women’s National Book Association. She is now working on her next book, “Took,” that also includes farm animals, which should be published within a year to a year and a half and has already won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Prize for a Novel in Progress. Bren said she hopes to visit the club in person by the time Took is available. The Book Club can’t wait!
The Book Club is also looking forward to its continued friendship with Suzanne Lucey and her promise to bring new book titles and introduce us to other authors to visit in the future to discuss their books. In dark and difficult times opportunities often present themselves. In dark clouds there can be silver linings.
Delta Kappa Gamma is a sorority of professional women educators.
AMRITSAR: Sikhs of Austria will now be able to use Singh and Kaur after their forename, mention Sikhism as their religion, and register themselves as Sikhs after the Sikh religion was officially registered by the Austrian government. While talking to TOI over the phone from Vienna on Monday, Jatinder Singh Bajwa, secretary Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji Parkash, 22nd District, Vienna, said now the Sikhs and their children would be able to use Singh and Kaur after their forenames which they earlier used to write in the ‘extra name’ column. About the process of registration of Sikhism in Austria, he informed that there were seven gurdwara’s in Austria out of which three were in Vienna with one gurdwara each in Klagenfurt, Linz, Graz and Salzburg. The gurdwara management committees of Austria then constituted a nine-member-committee of Sikh youth on November 1, 2019 who was entrusted with the task of pursing the registration process of the Sikh religion with the Austrian government. Jatinder, the only professional Sikh chef in Vienna, informed that the committee prepared a ‘constitution’ on Sikh religion and their practices incorporating the values of Sikhism, Sikh guru’s, Akal Takht’s rehat maryada (religious code of Sikh living), significance of Sikh religious symbols, the value of 5 K’s in the life of a Sikh, their distinct identity, Sikh’s turban, etc. which was submitted with the Austrian government. “On December 17 we received a letter informing about the registration of Sikhism in Austria and on December 23rd we held a thanksgiving prayer in the gurdwara” he said. Reacting to the development, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Bibi Jagir Kaur said that “this is an important achievement attained with the efforts of sangat in Austria.” “Now that Sikhism is registered in Austria, it will help in dispelling the myths of Sikh identity abroad,” said Kaur
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(Photo: The Press Service of the President of the Republic of Belarus)Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz visit the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1 April 2013 in times of better relations. When they met Lukashenko said the Roman Catholic Church is very important in Belarus and its influence in the society is large.
Belarusian authorities allowed the Catholic archbishop of Minsk to return home for Christmas after lifting a four-month ban on him entering the country during the ongoing protesting against government actions.
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk-Mohilev was denied entry to Belarus on Aug. 31 while returning from a trip to neighboring Poland.
He shed tears on his return, calling for unity, reconciliation, and forgiveness during his country’s continuing political upheaval, Cruxnow reported.
“The Apostolic Nunciature express its gratitude to the State Authorities of Belarus for responding positively to Pope Francis’ request to return Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz to celebrate the Nativity of the Lord with the faithful of which he is pastor,” the Vatican’s diplomatic representative in Belarus said Dec. 22.
The Belarus authorities had invalided the 74-year-old Kondrusiewicz’s passport, and border guards had blocked him from returning to Belarus from Poland.
DEFENDED PROTESTS
The archbishop had spoken in defense of protests following a disputed presidential election, and protestors have called for new elections.
Since then, the country’s opposition leaders have been forced into exile. Thousands have taken to the streets in persistent demonstrations in which protestors, including Catholic clergy and laypeople, have been beaten and jailed.
At one point, police barricaded the doors of the church of Saints Simon and Helena in Minsk and, hours later, arrested demonstrators who took refuge inside as they left the structure, Crux reported.
Widespread protests have beset Belarus following the disputed Aug. 9 presidential poll in which the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was declared to have won with 80% of the vote.
Electoral officials said that the opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, earned 10% of the vote. The opposition claims that she gained at least 60% of votes, Catholic News Agency reported.
Lukashenko has been president of Belarus since the position was created in 1994.
He has suggested Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, who also is also believed to have Polish ancestry, might be a citizen of more than one country.
An envoy from the Vatican had met Lukashenka earlier in December in the capital Minsk before the entry ban was lifted.
Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the apostolic nuncio to the United Kingdom, acted as a special envoy of Pope Francis to Lukashenko, delivering a letter on Dec. 17.
It had a request regarding Archbishop Kondrusiewicz.
Archbishop Gugerotti was an apostolic nuncio to Belarus from 2011 to 2015
Kondrusiewicz noted that while he has spent the bulk of his time as an archbishop abroad, he always held Belarus close to heart, “because this is my Motherland,” Crux reported..
“When I crossed the border, I knelt down and prayed, I kissed this land,” Kondrusiewicz said Dec, 24, noting that “the motherland cannot be thrown out of the heart,” said Radio Free Europe.
“This is my land. I grew up here; I want to be here. I want to serve here. And I have never opposed Belarus, I have always defended the interests of Belarus, and I will continue to do so,” the Catholic leader said.
Catholicism is the second-largest religious tradition in Belarus, after Eastern Orthodoxy.
Provisional implementation is to remain a unique exception, said EP leaders. Parliamentary oversight will start soon to adopt the EP position before the end of the provisional application.
On Monday 28 December, the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament and President David Sassoli exchanged views with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier on the deal reached on 24 December on the future relationship between the EU and the UK.
The Conference of Presidents reiterated Parliament’s thanks and congratulations to the EU negotiators for their intense efforts to reach this historic agreement that can now form the basis of a new partnership.
In the spirit of unity that prevailed throughout the negotiation process, and given the particular, unique and specific circumstances, the Conference of Presidents accepts a provisional application to mitigate the disruption for citizens and businesses and prevent the chaos of a no-deal scenario. This decision on this specific provisional application neither constitutes a precedent nor reopens established commitments made among EU institutions. It should not serve as a blueprint for future consent procedures, underlined the political groups’ leaders.
The Conference of Presidents also decided to examine with the Council presidency and the Commission a proposal to slightly extend the period of provisional application, allowing for a parliamentary ratification during the March plenary session.
The Committees on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, together with all associated committees, will now carefully examine the agreement and prepare Parliament’s consent decision to be discussed and adopted in plenary in due time and before the end of the provisional application. In parallel, the political groups will prepare a draft resolution accompanying the consent vote.
The political groups’ leaders stressed Parliament’s will to monitor closely the implementation of the EU-UK agreement in all its details. They underlined that parliamentary cooperation is a key part of the future treaty between the EU and the UK. When the right time comes, Parliament will seek to establish contact with the UK Parliament to cooperate.
On a specific note, leaders regret the UK’s choice not to include Erasmus programme in the agreement.
