European Commission Press release Brussels, 19 Dec 2020 To address the urgent humanitarian crisis linked to the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the EU has today increased humanitarian funding for the area by €23.7 million.
European Parliament’s Resolution Amounts to ‘Obsequity’ to Biden: Iran
A senior Iranian official says the anti-Tehran resolution passed by the European Parliament amounts to “kissing up to” US President-elect Joe Biden.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the special aide to Iran’s Parliament speaker, said in a tweet that the resolution is tantamount to the violation of the rights of 80 million Iranians.
“Those behind the killing of hundreds of children suffering from special diseases due to sanctions, and those hosting hypocritical terrorists have no right to talk about human rights and demand the release of spies and dual-nationality murderers of the Iranian scientist,” the top official said in his tweet.
“Europe should care about its own interests,” he added.
Alumnotes: Fall 2020
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1970s
CHRISTOPHER CARLSON ’73, ’75 M.S., former roommate DALE PIERCE ’76 and scion PATRICK CARLSON ’08 indulged in all things snowy and black diamond the last two weeks of February at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. They said thanks to the Alumni House for providing stick- ers to show that Panthers can make it into the snow.
1980s
STAN CLAY ’83 has retired after 50 years in aviation. Stan was hired by Eastern Airlines in Miami after graduation, then held managerial roles at Airborne Express and PSA Airlines and headed several special projects with Airbus, American Airlines and BAE Systems. Though retired, he has many projects of his own lined up to keep him busy.
CHRISTINE BREDENKAMP ’85 has been nurturing western North Carolina agriculture since 1996. In April, she was named director of the Macon County Cooperative Extension, where she is responsi- ble for administration, community development and public educa- tion in commercial and urban horticulture.
ROBERT CHIPLOCK ’84 A.S., ’85, is doing double duty as a 767 international captain with UPS. He also owns and operates Lamai Ban Thai Kitchen restaurant with his wife in Greensboro, Georgia.
PETER KOSSIS ’88 joined U.S. Minerals as president in April 2020. Kossis has extensive experi- ence managing national and inter- national enterprises, having most recently served as plant manager for the cement slag operations in Chicago for LafargeHocim, the largest building materials supplier in the world. He earned his M.S. in chemical engineering.
1990s
2000s
2010s
This piece was featured in the fall 2020 edition of Florida Tech Magazine. Read the full issue here.
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Hudson man writes about adventures in Key West in new book
Hudson writer Mike Yurk stepped off an airplane 20 years ago in Key West and fell in love with it. Recently he published his 13th book, “Going Back To Key West,” filled with his adventures, fishing and ramblings around the southernmost city in the United States.
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<p>“Hemingway and fishing first brought me to Key West,” Yurk said. “But it was the ambiance, tropical weather and unique lifestyles found in Key West which has been bringing me back ever since.”</p> <p>“The stories were initially about fishing,” Yurk explained. “However, as time went on, the more I visited Key West and the more I wrote about it I eventually found myself writing as much about the atmosphere and characters you can only find in Key West as I did about fishing.”</p> <p>“As a Hemingway fan and a fisherman I had always wanted to visit Key West and now after 20 years Key West has become a second home to me.” Yurk said.</p> <p>There are plenty of fishing stories in “Going Back To Key West.” One of the early stories is how watching a fishing show when Yurk was a kid fueled his dream to catch a tarpon. He fulfilled that dream one morning off Key West. There are other stories about catching sharks and barracuda, as well as snappers and grouper and other fish in the ocean.</p>
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</div> <p>“Going Back To Key West” is subtitled “Eating, Fishing And Drinking In Paradise,” and there is plenty of that going on in Yurk’s book. He takes you to Hemingway’s favorite bar and tells of the inspiration he got on a difficult story he was writing as well as the bar and singer whose song encouraged him to quit his job and go into full-time writing. He writes about going to one of the local restaurants where he hands a bag of fresh fish fillets across the bar and minutes later he and his friends have a great fish fry.</p> <p>Yurk has been writing for over 50 years, starting as a newspaper reporter for three eastern central Wisconsin newspapers in the late 1960s and '70s. He has written over a thousand articles for regional and national outdoor magazines. His column The Notes From The Dockside was published in the Hudson Star-Observer for nine years.</p> <p>He is a retired Army officer, which gave him the opportunity to live in Germany for almost 10 and in Missouri, Alabama and North Carolina before eventually moving to Hudson 25 years ago.</p> <p>The book can be found — along with the rest of Yurk’s books — at Chapter Two Books in Hudson or on Amazon.</p> </div>
European Parliament calls for review in relations with Egypt
The European Parliament called on its member states to conduct a “deep and comprehensive” review of relations with Egypt in light of the deteriorating human rights situation there.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the European Parliament called for more transparency in all forms of financial support provided by the EU, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to Egypt, pointing out that prizes should not be given to leaders responsible for serious human rights violations.
The statement stressed the need to make tangible improvements to the human rights situation in Egypt, and to negotiate the priorities of the new partnership by setting clear criteria that lead to more cooperation to achieve progress in reforming democratic institutions.
The European Parliament also called for human rights concerns to be raised in all talks with the Egyptian authorities, while the Commission also urged the release of human rights defenders.
The statement demanded studying the imposition of sanctions on senior Egyptian officials, who are involved in “serious violations”.
Cooperation in the areas of fighting terrorism and illegal immigration should not come at the expense of continued pressure to comply with human rights and accountability for freedoms, it continued.
READ: Human rights take a back seat as Cairo-Paris axis strengthens
The European Parliament called on Cairo to cooperate with the Italian authorities in the file of the murder of student Giulio Regeni, and hand over the addresses of the suspects to the Italian prosecutor, in order for them to be formally charged.
Italy accuses four prominent Egyptian officers of torturing and killing researcher Regeni in February 2016, and demands Cairo extradite them for trial.
Egypt has refused to cooperate with the investigation. At the beginning of this month, it announced it was temporarily ending the investigation claiming that Egypt’s prosecution had evidence a criminal gang carried out the murder after robbing Regeni.
It said that the gang, whose identity they do not yet know, have carried out similar crimes against Egyptian and foreign nationals and used false documents linking them to the security apparatus.
Egypt’s public prosecutor says there is insufficient evidence to bring the case to trial.
EURATOM research and training programme: Council reaches political agreement
Member states’ ambassadors today reached a political agreement on the proposed regulation establishing the research and training programme of the European Atomic Energy Community for the period 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025 (hereafter “the regulation”). The aim of the regulation is to pursue nuclear research and training activities with an emphasis on the continuous improvement of nuclear safety, security and radiation protection, as well as to complement the achievement of Horizon Europe’s objectives.
The total financial envelope for the implementation of the new Euratom programme for the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2025 shall be €1.38 billion in current prices. The indicative break down of that envelope by field of activity shall be as follows:
(a) €583 million for indirect actions in fusion research and development;
(b) €266 million for indirect actions in nuclear fission, safety and radiation protection;
(c) €532 million for direct actions undertaken by the Joint Research Centre.
The new programme will pursue the current programme’s key research activities (nuclear safety, security, radioactive waste and spent fuel management, radiation protection and fusion energy), expand research into non-power applications of ionising radiation and make improvements in the areas of education, training and access to research infrastructures. Furthermore, it will support the mobility of researchers in the nuclear field in the framework of Horizon Europe‘s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA).
The new Euratom programme will complement Horizon Europe using the same instruments and rules for participation. It will be limited to 5 years, to be extended in 2025 by 2 years in order to be aligned with the MFF 2021-2027.
Next steps
On the basis of today’s political agreement, the agreed text (following legal linguistic scrutiny) will be submitted to the Council for adoption in the first months of 2021.
EU-UK Relations: European Parliament Adopts Temporary Contingency Measures
On Friday, Parliament adopted measures to ensure basic road and air connections in case no agreement is reached on EU-UK future relations.
- Basic air connectivity: the temporary rules ensuring certain air services between the UK and the EU continue for a maximum of six months were adopted with 680 votes in favour (3 against, 4 abstentions). This includes rights for UK and EU air carriers to continue to fly over and make technical stops on EU territory, as well as serve direct routes to the EU. Also a limited number of specific pandemic-related cargo flights will be allowed.
- Aviation safety: the regulation ensuring various certificates for products, parts, appliances and companies remain valid was adopted with 680 votes in favour (3 against, 4 abstentions). This will avoid UK and EU aircraft that use these products and services being grounded.
- Basic road connectivity: the temporary rules ensuring road freight and road passenger transport for a maximum of six months were adopted with 680 votes in favour (4 against, 3 abstentions). This will allow carriage of goods as well as coach and bus services coming to Europe and going to the UK to continue.
Background
EU rules will no longer apply to and in the UK after the end of the transition period. The targeted contingency measures aim to avoid serious traffic disruptions and considerable delays in case there is no agreement on EU-UK future relations in place by 1 January 2021. The contingency measures will cease to apply, if an agreement is reached.
MEPs also approved the Commission’s proposal to extend reciprocal access by EU and UK vessels to each other’s waters until 31 December 2021 by 677 votes in favour, 4 against and 6 abstentions. Read more here.
Next steps
All temporary rules have to be adopted by the Council. They will enter into force after publication in the EU Official Journal and become applicable if a similar set of measures is adopted by the UK.
Council approves the EU drugs strategy for 2021-2025
The Council today approved the EU strategy setting out the political framework and priorities for the EU’s drug policy in the period 2021-2025. The strategy aims to ensure a high level of health promotion, social stability and security and contribute to awareness raising. On the basis of this strategy, the Council will prepare an action plan which will set out concrete measures to achieve these priorities.
With this strategy, the EU and its member states reaffirm their commitment to an approach which is based on evidence, comprehensive and balanced between demand and supply reduction of drugs, with the preservation of human rights at its core. At the same time, this strategy uses the lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis in the drugs area and takes a future-oriented approach, promoting research, innovation and foresight to respond more effectively to increasing challenges and to anticipate them.
The drug phenomenon affects our communities in many different ways, from health, family and social relations, to violence and money laundering. This is a phenomenon that stretches across the globe and that no country can tackle alone. The EU strategy for 2021-2025 provides us with the tools to address it in all its dimensions, together with our international partners. It will also allow us to be more proactive in adapting our response to shifts in the way criminals operate or the development of new substances and trends.
Daniela Ludwig, German Federal Drug Commissioner
Under drug supply reduction/enhanced security the strategy targets all aspects of the illicit drug market, and includes the prevention of, dissuasion from and disruption of drug related crime, in particular organised crime, through judicial and law enforcement cooperation, intelligence, interdiction, confiscation of criminal assets, investigations and border management. This priority area has been further enhanced as compared to the 2013-2020 strategy, to respond to the challenging developments in European drug markets. These are characterised by a high availability of various types of drugs, ever larger seizures, increasing use of violence and huge profits, as well as the use of social media platforms, apps and the internet and darknet for illicit drug trafficking. Such features have not faded during the COVID-19 crisis, to the contrary.
The drug demand reduction policy area consists of a range of mutual reinforcing measures including prevention, early detection and intervention, counselling, treatment, rehabilitation, social reintegration and recovery. Such action needs to be appropriate to the local social context and the needs of the target population, be informed by scientific evidence and be safe and effective. It needs to be developed through the close collaboration of a number of health and social support services. The COVID-19 crisis has further revealed the need to ensure continuity of these actions.
A new, dedicated chapter has been added on addressing drug related harm. This section includes measures and policies to prevent or reduce the possible health and social risks and harm for users, for society and in prison settings. It covers aspects such as reducing the prevalence and incidence of drug-related infectious diseases, preventing overdoses and drug-related deaths and providing alternatives to coercive sanctions.
The strategy also identifies three cross-cutting themes in support of the policy areas:
- international cooperation: enhancing the role of the EU as a global broker for a people-centred and human rights-oriented drug policy through cooperation with third countries, regions and international organisations, while strengthening the commitment to development-orientated drug policies and alternative development measures.
- research, innovation and foresight: providing the EU and member states with the necessary comprehensive research and foresight capacities to address drug challenges in a more agile and proactive manner, increasing preparedness to respond to future challenges.
- coordination, governance and implementation: ensuring optimal implementation of the strategy, including via the key action of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and of Europol, involving civil society and providing adequate resources at EU and national level to achieve this.
Background
The EU drugs strategy 2013-2020 and the two action plans approved on that basis have provided the priorities for EU drugs policy during the past years. In July 2020, the European Commission presented an evaluation of this strategy and an EU agenda on drugs for 2021-2025. On this basis, the Council bodies have elaborated the EU drugs strategy 2021-2025.
PAHO/WHO and the European Union (EU) donate 100 pulse oximeters to the Ministry of Health and Wellness
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Plenary highlights: EU budget, Sakharov Prize, water | News | European Parliament
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