Ben Pol gets candid, speaks on religion change and relationship status

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15 December 2020

ALSO READ: ‘Moyo Machine’ star Ben Pol converts to Islam

Ben Pol gets candid, speaks on religion change and relationship status

Tanzanian singer Ben Pol.

Popular Tanzanian singer Ben Pol has for the first time opened up about his new found faith months after converting to Islam. Speaking during a recent interview with E FM, the Moyo Mashine singer began by expressing his disappointment at netizens for associating his public life with his faith.

“First of all, there’s this one thing I think people mistook and that was linking Ben Pol the celebrity with my faith. I really feel that that was a big mistake.”

In his explanation, the award-winning Bongo Flava star stated that he wanted his religious life to stay private without any interference or judgment from his celebrity life.

“Someone like me who is known compared to an ordinary person, they have the privilege of making as many mistakes as they can and get away with it you know. But as a celebrity, everything you do is under scrutiny. You make one mistake and the mistake is seen by millions of people, and honestly, that’s why I think linking my faith to my celebrity life was a big mistake. A celebrity is like an entity, for instance, the President’s office or government property or since we are here like E FM, you cannot associate it with religion,” he said.

“When I go to my place of worship, whoever will see me there, that’s fine. Whatever happens behind the curtains should stay there. I don’t have to attach that to the celebrity side of my life. Personally, I’m tired of having to separate the two and with all due respect would wish to stop talking about it,” he added.

Relationship

Touching on his marriage with Keroche Heiress Anerlisa Muigai, Ben Pol assured his fans that everything was okay between him and his wife despite the breakup rumors that had been doing rounds on social media. The singer recently shot a music video with the love of his life, and many assumed they prerecorded the video months ago and are currently not together.

“That video is very current, and I think what was getting many people confused about our relationship and alleged break up was the fact that we never responded to the allegations and let them come up with their own versions of what was going on. You know some people when something happens between you they come out and start making up stories about you or for instance, the both of you are going through ups and downs, which is very normal.

ALSO READ: Anerlisa and Ben Pol respond to break-up rumours?

“It happens even at places of work; at home, it’s very normal. Someone can use that to say something very extreme about you to try and make your situation worse. Most of the time, we were at very different frequencies with the world. When they think we are fighting or not talking, we were very much okay. We had agreed never to let anything come between us no matter how big social media made it seem, and that is what worked for us,” he said.

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MEPs reject the Polish nominee to the Court of Auditors

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15 December 2020

EP recommends that Marek Opioła should not be appointed to the Court of Auditors
The post of the Polish member has been vacant for over a year

MEPs on Tuesday voted to reject a candidate nominated by the Polish government to become a member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA).

The European Parliament, by 536 votes to 156 and 3 abstentions delivered, in a secret ballot, a negative opinion on Mr Marek Opioła, who was nominated by Poland to become a member of the European Court of Auditors.

After a hearing with the Polish candidate Mr Marek Opioła on 7 December, the EP Budgetary Control Committee recommended that the Parliament should not endorse his candidacy.

Mr Opioła is currently Vice President of the Polish Supreme Audit Office – read his full CV.

Background

The ECA candidates (one per member state) are put forward by member states and approved by the Council, after consulting the European Parliament. MEPs can either back the candidate or ask for the nomination to be withdrawn.

The Council is not bound to follow the Parliament’s recommendation. In 2016, MEPs delivered a negative opinion on the previous Polish ECA nominee Janusz Wojciechowski, who was nevertheless appointed to become a member of the ECA.

The Polish post has been vacant since Mr Wojciechowski became the European Commissioner for Agriculture on 1 December 2019.

‘Books are on us’: EKU to pay for course books starting next fall

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15 December 2020

‘Books are on us’: EKU to pay for course books starting next fall

Eastern Kentucky University has taken a new step to make college more affordable, announcing that starting in the fall, course books will be made available to students for free.

EKU President David McFaddin, in a video message to the campus community, said, ”EKU BookSmart offers required class textbooks and course materials for EKU undergraduate students enrolled at all of our campuses, and online. We will have them delivered directly to you, or ready for pick-up, here at the EKU Barnes and Noble Bookstore, for free.”

McFaddin said the program is unique to Eastern, and unlike any other program anywhere else. “It is one more way we are keeping college affordable by investing in our students, so they will be able to be prepared when their classes begin. Anytime we can assist our students is an exciting day, and today’s announcement is made possible through our long-standing partnership with our friends at Barnes and Noble.”

              He summed up the program by saying, “Come to EKU and the books are on us.”

Dr. Tanlee Wasson, senior vice-president for student success, noted, “Because of the BookSmart Program, no EKU student will have to drop an undergraduate class because they realize they can’t do the work without the book they couldn’t afford to buy. “No EKU student will choose not to take an undergraduate course because the books are more than she can afford. No EKU student will have to weigh the cost of an undergraduate textbook against meeting essential needs like food, housing, or transportation.”

Barry Poynter, senior vice president for finance and administration, said eliminating financial barriers to success is their job.

“We’ve all seen the national studies showing an average annual cost of textbooks for an academic year at about $1,200. Removing a barrier to academic access and student success of this magnitude is opportunity in action. We are directly reducing the cost of attendance at EKU by providing textbooks and course materials to our students, and also providing some additional stability.”

For more information about EKU BookSmart, go to https://go.eku.edu/books.

Gender equality: Families as basis for change

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BWNS

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15 December 2020

Gender equality: Families as basis for change | BWNS

NEW DELHI — A gathering held recently by the Bahá’ís of India looked at the need to reconceptualize the institution of the family based on the principle of equality between women and men. Among the attendees of the gathering were organizations concerned with the issue of gender equality, academics, and school teachers.

“The challenges women face within the family have become a most pressing issue during the pandemic in many societies. In some cases, education has come to an end for many girls. There are a lot of child marriages taking place because families see no other path for their daughters during this crisis. At the same time there are many organizations that are trying to reach out and help out,” says Carmel Tripathi of the Indian Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs.

“We felt it was timely,” she continues, “to create a space for various segments of society to explore together the kinds of changes that the family as an institution must undergo.”

Slideshow
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Panelists at the seminar. Top: Carmel Tripathi of the Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs; Anshu Gupta, founder of the relief organization Goonj; Anuja Agrawal, a professor of sociology at the University of Delhi. Bottom: Murari Jha, educator in Delhi government schools; Stuti Narain Kacker, former chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights.

This gathering is among numerous other efforts of the Indian Bahá’í community over the past decades to contribute to the discourse in society on gender equality.

Anshu Gupta, a panelist at the gathering and founder of the relief organization Goonj, spoke about the effects of culture and tradition on the family environment, asking: “What is tradition? It is something you keep following. To stop taboos, we have to talk about them … in a common language. So we create dialogue and stop claiming that we have to do certain things because it is tradition.”

Commenting on the significance of the meeting, Ms. Tripathi explains that people often hold back from a deeper exploration of the role of family in contributing to gender equality. “There is a tendency to think of the family as something isolated from society and very private. In reality this should be discussed openly because this is where patterns of thought and behavior that are associated with being a man or women are learned and practiced.”

Slideshow
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Photograph taken before the current health crisis. The paper prepared for the discussion by the Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs highlights the need for consultation as the basis for decision-making within a family. “The capacity to consult in a loving, considerate and yet frank manner in arriving at collective decisions is an art whose value humanity is only beginning to appreciate.”

In a paper prepared for the discussion and distributed to participants at the gathering, the Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs highlighted several themes, including “Sharing the functions of nurturance and care-giving” and “Consultation as the basis for decision-making.”

The paper reads in part: “If decision making in a family is not to be an outcome of arbitrary and dictatorial authority, members of the family will need to learn to communicate with each other with respect and openness drawing on a whole range of qualities such as love, humility, tact, empathy, courtesy and moderation. The capacity to consult in a loving, considerate and yet frank manner in arriving at collective decisions is an art whose value humanity is only beginning to appreciate.”

Murari Jha, a panelist and an educator in Delhi government schools, spoke about the need for greater rigor when analyzing social progress, stating: “We need to be vigilant of misunderstandings. When you look at what was mentioned in the seminar paper about decision making within the family, the real measure of gender-equal practices is who is making the decisions, such as whether and whom to marry. If we are not allowing our daughters, our sisters… to be part of important decisions, then the act of sending them to school is not really the symbol that we are practicing equality.”

Slideshow
9 images

Nilakshi Rajkhowa of the Office of Public Affairs says that “Bahá’í community building endeavors encourage families to plan and consult together when they undertake initiatives. … Prayer also plays an important role in creating a unified spirit.”

Nilakshi Rajkhowa of the Office of Public Affairs highlights other concepts from the paper, such as the need for families to develop an outward orientation while serving the needs of society.

“Bahá’í community building endeavors encourage families to plan and consult together when they undertake initiatives. As a result, often, profound discussions can happen in homes in which other families join in as they assist with activities. Prayer also plays an important role in creating a unified spirit. Communities in which families work together in this way develop the capacity to look at the issues affecting their lives and to address them without waiting for someone from outside to give aid and support.

“What we are observing is that by consciously learning to apply the Bahá’í principles of unity, consultation and equality between women and men, structures within families begin to change where no members dominate others.”

A recording of the seminar is available online.

European Parliament Urged To End Colonization In The Caribbean

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14 December 2020

European Parliament Urged To End Colonization In The Caribbean

The UWI’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, called upon the European Parliament to end colonization in the region and honour its debt to the people.

Invited to speak to the parliament (at a virtual international panel on December 2, 2020) during a special discussion on the poverty legacies of colonization, he reminded the audience that Europe’s economic development was funded by a brutal and inhumane system of wealth extraction from the Caribbean, leaving the region impoverished and unable to meet its economic development targets.

Sir Hilary reminded the parliament that the Caribbean remains one of the few colonized regions in the world, and that Europe’s legacy is one of continuing economic exploitation, and the politics and policies of white supremacy.

The Caribbean, he said, since pushing for its independence, has taken full responsibility for its future, but he noted that the responsibility and accountability relationship is a two-way process.

Europe, he stated, walked away from its obligations after committing heinous crimes against humanity in the region, stripping it of its natural resources, and enslaving its people.

Left behind as the primary legacy is the horrendous social and economic mess that Europe has refused to clean up with a development plan, but the Caribbean has a right to economic fairness and justice.

Europe’s insistence on giving aid instead of economic development funding is reflective of an obsolete mentality that has no honourable place in the 21st century. It drives, for example, the impulse to blacklist the region’s financial sector, and to be unsupportive of economic diversification strategies.

“This is a top moral priority issue in the international order,” Professor Beckles said, noting that the world is aware of the extent to which Europe plundered the Caribbean to fund its growth and development, while the region is forced to fund its own economic development with debt. Europe, he insisted, owes the West Indies an enormous debt which can be addressed by a “Marshall Plan” similar to what it offered the East Indies with the “Colombo Plan” between 1950 and 2000.

Reparatory justice, he told the gathering, is about economic development partnership and support. He congratulated the parliament for recognizing that ‘repairing this legacy’ is an idea whose time has come.

Headline photo caption: Sir Hilary Beckles

Cellectis Announces Launch of Follow-On Offering

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14 December 2020

Cellectis Announces Launch of Follow-On Offering – Book Publishing Industry Today – EIN Presswire

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MEPs reach deal with Council on 2021-2027 EU health programme (EU4Health)

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14 December 2020

MEPs reach deal with Council on 2021-2027 EU health programme (EU4Health)

Set up a European Health Response Mechanism to prepare the EU more effectively
A European monitoring, reporting and notification system is needed to overcome shortages of medicines and medical devices
Support for digitalisation of healthcare through a European eHealth Record

To close gaps exposed by COVID-19 and ensure that health systems can face future threats to public health, an ambitious EU health programme is needed, say MEPs.

On Friday, Parliament adopted its position on the Commission proposal to step up the EU’s action in the health sector significantly, through the so-called “EU4Health Programme” with 615 votes to 34 and 39 abstentions.

COVID-19 has shown that the EU urgently needs an ambitious programme to ensure that European health systems can face future health threats, so that the EU remains the healthiest region in the world, MEPs say. According to Parliament, this would not have been possible had the budget been reduced to €1.7 billion as proposed by member states. In the recent compromise on the EU’s long-term budget, MEPs convinced them to triple the budget for the programme (€5.1 billion).

Cross-border health threats

EU4Health is intended to prepare the EU more thoroughly for major cross-border health threats and make health systems more resilient. This should enable the EU to face not only future epidemics, but also long-term challenges such as an ageing population and inequalities in health.

MEPs also want to increase cooperation at EU level to be better prepared in case of a health crisis i.e. by supporting the creation of a European Health Response Mechanism. An EU communication portal for the public should also be set up to share information that has been thoroughly checked, to send alerts to European citizens and fight against disinformation. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) should have stronger mandates.

Ensuring medicines and medical devices are available and affordable in all member states

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the many weaknesses of national health systems including their dependence on non-EU countries to supply medicines, medical devices as well as personal protective equipment. The programme should therefore support the development of a European system for monitoring, reporting and notifying shortages of medicines, medical devices, vaccines, diagnostic tools, and other healthcare products. This would prevent the single market from becoming fragmented and ensure that those products are more available and affordable. Their supply chains would also be less dependent on non-EU countries.

To reach the programme’s objectives, the report also proposes greater focus on disease prevention by addressing health risks such as the harmful use of alcohol and tobacco , more robust health systems and digitalised healthcare by creating and applying the European eHealth Record. MEPs also want to achieve universal health coverage including access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and to strengthen the EU’s fight against cancer in synergy with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

To ensure the programme is implemented effectively, MEPs propose setting up a Steering Group consisting of independent public health experts.

Quote

After the vote, Parliament’s rapporteur Cristian-Silviu Buşoi (EPP, RO) said: “The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the need for well-defined and adequately-financed health instruments. We also need to boost innovation and invest more in health in general. It was crucial to increase funding for the EU4Health Programme from €1.7 billion to €5.1 billion in order to be able to deal with future pandemics and health threats, and to make our health systems more resilient.”

Next steps

Parliament is now ready to start negotiations with member states so that the programme can be implemented from the beginning of 2021.

Background

On 28 May 2020, the Commission put forward a new stand-alone EU4Health Programme for 2021-2027 as part of the Recovery Plan. The Health Programme was previously under the initial EU long-term budget 2021-2027 as one element of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

‘Generation disrupted’ lays out plan to take on coronavirus through major youth mobilization

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14 December 2020

‘Generation disrupted’ lays out plan to take on coronavirus through major youth mobilization

It’s come about through an alliance of the world’s largest youth movements and organizations, together with the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Foundation.

The “Global Youth Mobilization for Generation Disrupted” is being led by the so-called ‘Big 6’ youth organizations (Young Men’s Christian Association, YMCA; World Young Women’s Christian Association, YWCA; World Organization of the Scout Movement; World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts; International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, IFRC; and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award), which collectively includes some 250 million young people, and aims to support young people to come up with ways of mitigating the ravages of COVID-19 worldwide.

The initiative will feature heavily at the upcoming Global Youth Summit in April 2021, powered in part by some $5 million from the WHO and UN Foundation-generated COVID Solidarity Response Fund to support local and national youth organizations, including grants for youth-led solutions and an accelerator programme to scale up existing response efforts.

Table of Contents

Back us, for the future

WHO’s leadership, the Big 6 and youth organizations around the world, are calling on governments, businesses and policy makers to back the Global Youth Mobilization effort and commit to investing in the future of young people.

These measures will directly support young people engaged at the grassroots level to tackle some of the most pressing health and societal challenges resulting from the pandemic, said the UN health agency.
“WHO is honoured to join this truly exciting and powerful global movement to mobilize and empower youth worldwide to be the driving force of the recovery to COVID-19,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Joining forces with the Big 6 and the United Nations Foundation provides WHO and the world a unique opportunity to learn from hundreds of millions of young people and be guided by their sustainable solutions to help communities build back better from the pandemic.”

Long-lasting consequences

While the direct health impacts of the pandemic on young people have been generally less severe, they are being disproportionately affected by the longer-lasting consequences of the pandemic.

This includes disruption to education, economic uncertainty, loss or lack of employment opportunities, impacts on physical and mental health, and trauma from domestic violence.

Significant mental anxiety, for example, brought on by COVID-19 has been identified in nearly 90 per cent of young people; more than a billion students in almost every country have been impacted by school closures; and one in six young people worldwide have lost their jobs.

But at the same time, young people are also driving change and implementing solutions in response to COVID-19 by taking action through community-based interventions and voluntary service, such as taking on a first responder role by delivering food and supplies to those in need.

The Global Youth Mobilization will draw attention to the urgent need for solutions to support young people, and to highlight the critical leadership role young people are playing in their communities to counter the effects of the pandemic.

Statement of support

“We are proud to team up with the WHO to provide opportunities and funding to help millions of young people across the globe to respond to local challenges related to COVID-19 in their communities”, said the leadership of the Big 6 in a joint statement.

“The mobilization will provide direct financial and programmatic support to youth organizations at the national and international level. We believe that young people have the solutions to solve their own problems, and by providing a global youth platform, combined with national activation for youth projects, we can unleash the skills, enthusiasm and desire for young people to be a force for good in their communities.”

WWI Museum gets $2.5M grant to strengthen religion, faith research

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14 December 2020

WWI Museum gets .5M grant to strengthen religion, faith research

By Ellen Cagle

– Specials Editor, Kansas City Business Journal

Dec 14, 2020, 1:08pm CST

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<p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">A $2.5 million grant to the National WWI Museum and Memorial will allow it to hire an endowed curator for faith and religion, the museum announced Monday. </p>

Lilly Endowment Inc. gave the grant through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative, according to a release. The WWI Museum is one of 18 institutions to receive a grant from the initiative, which awarded a total of more than $43 million.

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    <p class="content__segment combx meterwall__content">The grant will allow the museum to explore how World War I affected religion and faith. It will work to preserve related artifacts and make findings accessible to the public, in part through online exhibitions.  </p>

The grant will help the museum achieve three goals outlined in its strategic plan: Improve visitors’ experience; tell the stories of minorities, women and indigenous people who served in World War I; and make the collection accessible to a global audience.

“We are thrilled to have the support of Lilly Endowment for this strategic initiative that fits within our Three Big Ideas,” WWI Museum CEO Matthew Naylor said in the release. “The endowed curatorial position and accompanying support will allow us to provide global leadership to this area of WWI research and add considerably to our understanding of the Great War and its enduring impact.”

Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly and his sons through gifts of stock in the family’s pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. The philanthropic organization remains a separate entity.

The WWI Museum received a $655,000 donation earlier in December to aid in its digitization efforts. Staff members have been working on digitizing the museum’s collection since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Employees already have transcribed more than 13,000 letters and artifacts, and more than 2,000 object records have been digitized this year.

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Opening – December plenary session | News | European Parliament

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14 December 2020