, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20201207IPR93237/
EU supports Ukraine on way to transform coal regions – EU representative
09:01
09.12.2020
The European Union is ready to help Ukraine in the transformation of coal regions, Minister Counselor of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Torsten Wöllert said.
“The EU is ready to help at this start together with the EU member states Germany, Poland. We will accompany Ukraine in this,” he said during the First German-Ukrainian Energy Day on Tuesday.
“We will try to ensure that the structural changes in coal regions are included in the European green deal. Since such a transformation is an important subject not only for the Ukrainian-German partnership, but also an important component of the ‘green’ course,” Wöllert said.
According to him, within the assistance to Ukraine, the European Commission in the near future, in particular, plans to come up with an initiative to support the coal regions of Ukraine and the Western Balkans, which consisted in the examination of transformation projects.
“The purpose of this is for the region to receive certain expertise and, on its basis, to carry out certain pilot projects,” said the EU representative, adding: “This is a joint initiative of the European Commission, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Polish partners.”
Wöllert believes to see the start of the first transformation projects soon.
As reported with reference to First Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine Olha Buslavets, according to the draft concept for the transformation of the coal industry, all unprofitable mines in the country will be closed within ten years. In addition, in the coming years, subsidies to coal enterprises from the budget will be minimized.
I changed my name, religion to get job – Robbery suspect
Enyioha Opara, Minna
The Niger State Police Command said on Tuesday it arrested a suspected armed robber, Abubakar Mohammed, along Suleja-Minna Road, in the Suleja Local Government Area of the state.
The police operatives attached to ‘A’ Division, Suleja, were said to have been on the trail of the 25-year-old suspect from Eminence area, Suleja, before he was apprehended.
One locally-made pistol with two live cartridges and a jackknife were recovered from the suspect.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the suspect bought the pistol from one Chukwuka of Ogbaro village in Anambra State for N10,000, to facilitate his security job in Suleja.
Mohammed denied using the gun to rob.
He said, “I was a bricklayer, but due to economic hardship, people stopped building and I had to find security work to sustain myself and take care of my siblings.
“Originally, my name is Martins Osadebe and I hail from Ogbaro in Anambra State. I have lived in Suleja for years, but my people did not know that I converted to lslam just because I was desperate to get a job.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, said the suspect would be arraigned at the end of investigations.
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European Union Heads of Mission visit Gaza
GAZA/ PNN/
The EU Heads of Mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah visited Gaza today and met with representatives of Palestinian civil society and the private sector as well as with international organizations. The group of more than twenty European diplomats visited also the European Hospital in Rafah and the EU-funded small-scale desalination plant near Deir Al Balah.
This is the first joint visit of EU Heads of Mission to Gaza since 2016. The visit was organized in full respect of the heightened health restrictions of Covid-19 and demonstrates the EU’s support to the people of Gaza who are suffering from Gaza’s closure, intra-Palestinian division, and the severe implications of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the European hospital in Rafah, representatives of the World Health Organization and Palestinian doctors briefed the EU diplomats about the unprecedented challenges the health sector faces as a result of the high Covid-19 infection rate in Gaza.
The diplomats then visited the EU-funded small-scale desalination plant near Deir Al Balah. Representatives of UNICEF and the Palestinian Water Authority informed about the project which will benefit around 250,000 people upon its completion. The diplomats were also briefed about the plans for the Gaza Central Desalination Plant that will provide clean water for the whole population of Gaza, once completed.
The group concluded the visit by meeting representatives of the Palestinian civil society and priva
LARB Books Releases “Animal Quintet: A Southern Memoir” by Colin Dayan
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Making religion a positive force
SIR: Recently in a very perspective analysis in his column on the back page of Nigerian Tribune, the noted columnist Obadiah Mailafa pointed out that, “Our own Yoruba people, Muslims and Christians live together in the same households. We are not enemies; we our brothers”.
This in the present firmament should not be dismissed as a statement of the obvious. Mailafa obviously felt he had a compelling reason to emphasise this point in this our season of discontent. And sensibly so, for in a republic enfeebled with crisis on numerous fronts, there is every reason to be fearful about adding Lebanon-type religious fault lines into the mix. Such a reality will be combustible.
In spite of the commercialization of religion on all fronts, religion still matters. It is an essential ingredient in the human composition. It always will. From this perspective let us recall a really outstanding dissection of 20th political economy which has become a classic, R.H. Tawney’s “Religion And The Rise Of Capitalism “. Tawney was both unusually a Marxist as well as a practicing Christian. He seminally addressed the question of how religion has affected social and economic practices largely for the good. The conflict entrepreneurs’ hand-in-glove with the peddlers of Snakeoil solutions as ‘religion’ should therefore not put us off from looking at the positive effect.
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The interior minister, Rauf Aregbesola bears a reflection to Tawney. He is a social democrat who also practices and has a deeply rooted and abiding faith in Islam. Like Tawney, he has demonstrated in practice that the teachings of a faith can and indeed should be a trigger for progressive change. Last week the former governor widely credited with putting social intervention thrusts into the heart of the discourse on political economy was in his element straddling two events in Osun State put together by the Christian and Islamic communities.
At both events he used the opportunity to explain the interwoven relationship linking faith and a progressive thrust for inclusiveness leading to a better society. Conferred with the “Episcopal Ecumenical Award” by the Diocese of Ijesha North Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, the minister conveyed a clear understanding of the social disconnect and the issues of inequities underpinning the recent #EndSARS protests. He portrayed empathy in pointing out that, “The youths must be commended for organising a protest that awakened the nation from its lethargy and arouse our consciousness to the state where we found ourselves. We must commend the government for its prompt action in addressing the demands of the youths. These are a blessing to any society…Today’s youths are a peculiar breed, a generation of the social media and hub of ideas and internet; they appear more intelligent and far more enterprising than the previous generation”.
A Christian Social Democrat would have used the same adaptation of the key underpinning of the Bible to understand and explain the social disconnect which triggered off the crisis and find solutions.
Presented with an award of excellence from Ta’Awunu Islamic Group two days later in Iwo, the minister, while commissioning a symbolic mosque built by the group, again used the bully pulpit to link the testament of faith as derived in the holy book to burning contemporary issues. The former governor urged Nigerians to adhere to the Holy Prophet’s teachings that states that when there is an outbreak of epidemic in a particular place, nobody should go there and the people in the affected place should not also go out until the epidemic subsides. This is a helpful way in which the position should have been presented from the start in a society in which people wear their religion on their sleeves.
There is everything to be said for a Bully Pulpit used as a trajectory to promote positive change.
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Kanmi Ademiluyi, Osogbo, Osun State.
Scientologists give food and gifts to Needy Families and Kids
Nine months of coping with the coronavirus has taken a toll on marginalized communities. Scientology Volunteer Ministers respond with needed help.
Budapest, December 8, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Budapest continue to respond to those in need. This time they did so with 1.5 tons of canned goods and other staples, cleaning supplies and fruit for more than 300 children and their families. And with Christmas fast approaching, they also included a selection of special toys.
“The list of people in need is growing,” said one of the Volunteer Ministers as the team set out with their supplies. But despite the recent spike in COVID-19 cases and casualties, she is confident that by understanding and applying prevention protocols, the country will make it through these difficult times.
In addition to providing food and supplies, Volunteer Ministers ensure communities know how to protect themselves from the virus. As soon as the pandemic began, the most effective measures were researched for ensuring the safety of Scientology staff and parishioners, and these were implemented internationally as protocols.
To make this prevention information broadly available, the Church of Scientology created more than a dozen videos and three educational booklets: How to Keep Yourself & Others Well, How to Protect Yourself & Others with a Mask & Gloves and How to Prevent the Spread of Illness with Isolation. These are all available in Hungarian and 20 additional languages on the How to Stay Well Prevention Resource Center on the Scientology website. And Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Hungary distributed thousands of copies of these booklets in their communities to make sure they know how to make it through the pandemic safe and well.
The new home of the Church of Scientology Budapest, which is headquarters for the country’s Volunteer Ministers outreach, was dedicated in 2016 by Mr. David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion. The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard.
A Volunteer Minister’s mandate is to be “a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.” Their creed: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”
Agreement reached on the 2021-2027 EU regional and cohesion funding | News | European Parliament
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20201207IPR93206/
Deal on an enhanced information system for visas in the EU | News | European Parliament
, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20201208IPR93304/
Hefajat-e Islam: Politicking in the garb of religion
Hefajat-e Islam is now more than a political party with a strategic disclaimer of having no political agenda.
The recent leadership and their activities only proved that they are working just like a political party, observed political analysts about Hefajat, which made the headlines for the last few days by inciting hate against sculptures, including the ones of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“Basically, they are a political party but in a very strategic way they are working in disguise of a non-political organisation,” said Dr Tareque Shamsur Rahman.
“They are using religion in a very strategic way to gain their political goal,” he told The Daily Star.
At least one-third of Hefajat leaders, who last month seized control of the new committee of the Qawmi madrasa-based organisation, have direct links with Islamist political parties that took part in elections alone or under the platform of the BNP-Jamaat alliance.
The inclusion of leaders of Jamiyat-a-Ulamaye Islam, a component of the 20-party alliance led by the BNP, is the prime example. Thirty-four of its leaders made it to the 151-member new committee of Hefajat. Jamiyat is registered with the Election Commission as a political party.
In fact, this is for the first time Hefajat made the general secretary of Jamiyat its secretary general, although there was an understanding that any active political leader would not be able to get top posts in Hefajat, said its leaders.
Six top leaders of Khelafat Majlish, another component of the BNP-led alliance, were also included in the new committee.
At least 16 leaders of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, four of Islami Oikya Jote and six of Khelafat Andolon were accommodated in the Hefajat’s new committee.
Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish and Islami Oikya Jote earlier were in the BNP-led alliance and both are registered with the Election Commission as political parties.
On November 15, Junayed Babunagari was declared Hefajat ameer at the end of its council held at Darul Ulum Moinul Islam Hathazari Madrasa in Chattogram. Before this committee was announced, Junayed served Hefajat as its secretary general.
The council was held around two months after the death of Hefajat amir Ahmed Shafi, who passed away in September.
The formation of the new committee sparked an outcry within the organisation with Moulana Mainuddin Ruhi, joint secretary general of the previous committee, terming the new committee completely illegal.
He said Hefajat had never had any top leader who had affiliations with any political party.
Soon after the formation of the new committee, Hefajat hogged the headlines as it strongly opposed the construction of Bangabandhu’s sculpture in the capital.
During a meeting on November 19 in the capital’s Mohammadpur, Junayed Babunagari vowed that they were ready to sacrifice their lives to establish rule of Allah in the land of Allah.
He even warned the government of facing consequences if it did not meet their demands.
The political analysts said the presence of political leaders in its new committee and its recent activities and demands signalled that it has turned into a political party.
Different religion-based political parties are using the platform to gain popularity and achieve their political goals as Hefajat has thousands of its dedicated followers across the country, they said.
“Hefajat is indeed a political party and they are working targeting to achieve a certain political aim,” said Serajul Islam Choudhury, professor emeritus of Dhaka University.
Hefajat’s demand to change the existing structure of the state is nothing but a political demand which manifests that they want to go to power.
He said they don’t bother to talk on different public interest issues.
“They are using religion to do politics and they are depending on madrasa students to do it.”
Prof Serajul said the present government’s “compromising and soft stance” was also responsible for Hefajat’s gaining strength and acting against the state.
Prof Dilara Chowdhury, another political analyst, said the present government is to be blamed if Hefajat enters politics.
She said Hefajat’s activities were centred around Hathazari Madrasa in Chattogram. But through accepting all demands of Hefajat, the government has shown them that they can act as a pressure group.
“There is nothing to be surprised about Hefajat coming to politics as it was the present government that has invited them to politics,” said Dilara, a former professor of political science at Jahangirnagar University.
Hefajat first appeared on the scene in 2009 by protesting a draft national women development policy that provided equal inheritance rights to women.
On April 6, 2013, Hefajat leaders and activists marched towards Dhaka and held a rally at Shapla Chattar with a 13-point demand, including enactment of anti-blasphemy act and stringent punishment of “atheist bloggers”.
Then came the May 5 mayhem.
As Hefajat activists turned increasingly violent and kept Motijheel occupied for nearly 12 hours after their rally there on May 5, 2013, law enforcers swung into action after midnight and drove them away.
