(UN Photo/Loey Felipe)The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby briefs the UN Security Council in New York on August 31, 2018.
The Archbishop of Canterbury who leads the Anglican church, and charities such as Christian Aid have appealed to the UK government not to cut billions from Britain’s international development budget.
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Archbishop Justin Welby told the Observer newspaper that lives had been “genuinely” changed by Britain’s overseas aid, Christian Today reported.
At the same time Christian Aid joined a number of other Christian charities in an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson in light of the COVID-19 crisis.
The cut is an adjustment to a decimal point that has a huge impact on aid.
The UK Treasury was criticized after it became known that cuts of more than 4 billion British pounds ($5.33 billion) were being planned.
The Treasury wants to cut the aid budget from 0.7 percent of gross national income to 0.5 percent next year and plans to make the announcement as part of next Monday’s one-year spending review, The Guardian newspaper reported.
The aid budget was £15bn last year. A reduction to a 0.5 percent target in 2021 would result in billions more cut, but the precise amount would depend on overall growth.
The Conservative Party-led government had in its manifesto pledged to commit 0.7% of gross national income to aid spending each year.
Welby said it was important that Britain stood by poorer nations in “tough times as well as the good”.
“I’ve seen the good done by UK aid around the world,” Welby told the newspaper.
GLOBAL RESPONSE
“A global recovery from the economic consequences of the pandemic requires a global response. Keeping our aid commitment is a strong signal that the UK is a reliable partner for long-term economic, social, environmental and educational advancement across the globe.”
Numerous aid agencies, including Christian Aid, Tearfund and CAFOD urged the Prime Minister not to go ahead with the plans.
“When 115 million people look set to be pushed back into extreme poverty, now is the time for an international, collaborative response to Covid-19,” they said in their open letter to Johnson.
“It is a time that requires increased, not decreased, engagement from the British government in its efforts to make the world healthier, safer and more prosperous.”
They said, “Our world is in the thick of a crisis like no other; our families, our society, our economy are being challenged in previously unimaginable ways.
“Thankfully, this country has a resource which is used to stepping up, supporting and finding solutions.
“This resource is the Church: a body of people who know all about compassionately supporting people in their communities and inspiring others to do the same.”
They said that alongside the churches work a “myriad of Christian charities who exist to equip and support the Church as they look after those around them.
Right now, in the most difficult of times, we are doing what Jesus told us to do: to love our neighbor.”
“We need global solidarity and coordination”, Secretary-General António Guterres said at the event headlined, ‘Rebirthing the Global Economy to Deliver Sustainable Development for All’.
He painted a grim picture of the havoc sparked by the pandemic, including more than one million deaths, 100 million pushed into extreme poverty and growing inequalities as hunger doubles and famine looms.
“The gender equality gap is widening, and women’s labour force participation – a key driver for inclusive growth – has been set back decades”, he bemoaned. “We face an urgent need for climate action and building a sustainable and circular economy”.
And amidst these ominous challenges, developing countries have been put “on the precipice of financial ruin”.
Noting his push for a rescue package equivalent to 10 per cent of the global economy and his call last weekend at the G20 Summit of richest nations, to help developing countries, Mr. Guterres acknowledged that the first line of business should be ending the pandemic.
“Vaccines, tests and treatments must be global public goods, available and affordable for all”, he spelled out.
“But we still have a gap – a gap in the COVAX facility, a gap of $28 billion and until the end of the year, a gap of $4.2 billion in order to make, indeed, this new vaccine a global public good, a people’s vaccine able to be affordable and available to all”, he continued.
‘A quantum leap’
The UN chief stressed the importance of financing to “build forward and put economies on a sustainable path”, including by strengthening the IMF’s “firepower” to support the developing world.
Moreover, he maintained the value of enhancing debt transparency and sustainability on a global level and aligning recovery efforts with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
“It is the moment to have a quantum leap…a global coalition for net zero greenhouse gas emissions – and act now to integrate the goal of carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal policies”, he elaborated.
“We need to implement also necessary measures…for a just transition towards good, new green jobs…[and] to prove that we care for those that will be impacted by the move from the brown to the green economy”.
New Global Deal
Vaccines, tests and treatments must be global public goods, available and affordable for all — UN chief
The UN chief also advocated for a “New Global Deal” in which power, resources and opportunities are shared equally and governance mechanisms that better reflect today’s realities.
He pointed out that levels of participation in major global institutions, including the Security Council, are pegged too much to “where we were” and not enough to “today’s world”.
No ‘walk in the park’
Christine Lagarde, former Managing Director of the IMF and now European Central Bank president, noted the “good politics and good economics” of shifting focus to the millions of people at the bottom of the economic scale, while acknowledging that transformation would be anything “but a walk in the park”. She upheld the need to respond to current and future shocks, calling it a test of our basic human solidarity.
Carmen M. Reinhart, Chief Economist of the World Bank Group, observed that many of today’s economic challenges pre-date COVID and stressed the need for “realism and persistence” moving forward if low-income and emerging markets are to survive the current pandemic.
Journalist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman flagged that the virus will “win the race” if we do not seriously disrupt the transmission chain of the coronavirus, and provide further “economic compensation” for those whose livelihoods have been badly hit by restrictions.
A Guyanese woman who is originally from Plaisance, but now works in neighbouring Suriname as a vendor, was busted at the Cheddi Jagan Airport with more than 4 pounds of cocaine in book covers and various containers.
The 42-year-old mother of seven has been identified as Tommy-Ann Bunbury.
She recently traveled to Guyana from Suriname and was preparing to board a New York bound flight at the Cheddi Jagan Airport on Monday when the bust was made by CANU agents.
In its statement, CANU said the woman has been living in Suriname for the past six years but would travel over to Guyana regularly.
(CANU photo)
According to CANU, cocaine was found stashed in the fake cover of books, the containers for make-up and other personal care items and even stationery items.
All of the items were stashed in two suitcases that the woman had in her possession.
The cocaine weighed just over four pounds in total, according to CANU. Bunbury was immediately taken into custody and will face the Courts soon.
Paolo Gabriele, the former butler of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, died on Tuesday after a long illness, aged 54.
After several years of service to the Holy See as part of the Pontifical Family, Mr. Gabriele, in 2012, became the protagonist of the first “Vatileaks”, the theft of confidential documents later published in a book.
He was judged and found guilty by the Tribunal of Vatican City State in October 2012.
On 22 December of the same year, he received the forgiveness and official pardon of Pope Benedict XVI. He later served at the Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital in Rome.
Actress and now, a Trinamool Congress MP, Nusrat Jahan, while attending an event, put forth her views on ‘love-jihad’. She categorically pointed out that ‘love’ and ‘jihad’ are two separate things and that they did not go hand-in-hand. She also spoke about how it is an individual’s choice to love whomsoever they want and be with them. The actor-turned-politician further stated, ‘Don’t make religion a political tool’. Ever since her marriage to businessman Nikhil Jain, the MP has faced severe backlash from religious sects and accused of disrespecting certain religions for practising both her’s and husband’s traditions.
A WOMEN’S rights campaigner has been fined for ‘offending religion’ after parading a huge vagina through the streets during a Women’s Day march in Malaga in 2013.
The woman was convicted this week of ‘a crime against religious sentiments’ by the Criminal Court of Malaga and will have to pay €10 per day for the next nine months, reported Diario Sur.
The controversial trial first began in 2017 when the protestor was denounced by the Association of Christian Lawyers, which acted as a private prosecutor, seeking a 12-month prison sentence for the accused.
The group said the woman’s actions were designed to inspire ‘discrimination, hatred and violence’ against the church.
The judge rejected this argument and refused to consider a jail sentence.
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On March 8, eight years ago, the accused marched with the female genitalia in what was dubbed the Procession of the Holy Chumino Rebelde – mocking the processions of religious brotherhoods seen during Semana Santa (Holy Week).
‘MOCKERY’: Vagina made to look like the Virgin Mary during Holy Week has been condemned by a Malaga court
The stunt formed part of several protests throughout the Women’s Day march in the city.
In her statement to the court, the woman said it was a ‘performative act of protest’ and that she did not intend to offend religious feelings.
“I don’t see how it can be offensive,” she said, “it can be rude, but not offensive.”
In the sentence, the judge said the vagina, designed to look like the Virgin Mary, and the performance effectively mocked the Holy Week celebrations and was enough to be considered an offense.
The magistrate said political or historical criticism is protected by freedom of expression, but that ‘mockery and humiliation are punished.’
The ESCAIDE 2020 plenaries and sessions will focus on issues shaping infectious disease epidemiology & microbiology in the next decade and beyond, with a special focus on the latest research concerning COVID-19, food-and waterborne diseases, HIV and sexually transmitted infections, vaccine-preventable diseases, influenza and respiratory viruses, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and emerging diseases.
The aims of the conference include the sharing of scientific knowledge and experience in areas applied to infectious disease epidemiology and public health microbiology, as well as discussing and debating scientific advances and current public health challenges. The conference also aims at strengthening and expanding the human network of those in this field, including fellows and students.
ESCAIDE will have plenary debates looking at different aspects of COVID-19, from the shape and direction of the pandemic, to how countries have responded. Key speakers include Maria van Kerkhove (WHO), Andrea Ammon (ECDC), George Fu Gao (China CDC), Anders Tegnell (Public Health Agency, Sweden), Francesco Maraglino (Italian Ministry of Health), Devi Sridhar (University of Edinburgh) and Gabrielle Breugelmans (CEPI). The full programme of keynote sessions, plenaries, abstract presentations is available on the ESCAIDE website.
Over 1500 participants are expected to attend, including epidemiologists, microbiologists, public health professionals, clinicians, veterinarians, science journalists, statisticians, social scientists and policy makers.
The conference is held between 24-27 November 2020 and is this year organised as an online event due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Visiting Fellow, Tibet Policy Institute for The Tribune. Read the article here.
QINGHAI-TIBET TRAIN: Building the railway is a major part of China’s strategy-oriented infrastructural development spree in Tibet.
Since its occupation of Tibet in 1950, all major infrastructure development in this region has been driven by China’s strategic calculations and security needs for consolidating its control over Tibet and secure its position on the long Himalayan borders with India, Nepal and Bhutan. From the construction of highways and bridges in the early years of its entry to Tibet, to bringing railway connections to the major cities of Tibet, including capital Lhasa, in 2006, Beijing’s emphasis on building strategic infrastructure has been consistent and consequential. In addition to cementing its grip over Tibet, the long disputes over the border with India and to some extent with Bhutan add the extra strategic impetus in spurring a strategy-oriented infrastructural spree in Tibet.
It is in this context that the recent statement of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping on the Ya’an-Nyingtri section of Sichuan-Tibet Railway is made —and, in fact, is to be analysed and understood. Xi made three key points on why the new railway matters in governing Tibet as a means for “safeguarding national unity, promoting ethnic solidarity and consolidating stability in the border.” An attempt is made here to decode Xi’s statement and analyse it in the broader political and strategic context of China’s colonial project in Tibet as well as its contestation with India.
First, Xi’s euphemism of ‘safeguarding national unity’ means to further the integration of Tibet into the Chinese system and big infrastructures, like the railway lines, are often seen as powerful tools to project power to far periphery regions and govern them from the metropolis. From Beijing’s perspective, the railway lines in Tibet not only strengthen the scale and speed of force deployment and movement of military assets in the case of a major political and security contingency in Tibet, but also its ability to exploit Tibet’s vast natural resources, such as lithium and chromite, which are abundant in the region where the new railway line crosses.
Second, to strip its political coat, ‘promoting ethnic solidarity’ implies the assimilationist role of the railways in mingling and melting Tibetans into the Chinese way of life and culture, like language and values, which has increasingly been aggressive under Xi Jinping’s power. This is because unlike the inconvenient road or expensive airway, the railway has the advantage of freighting a large number of people or goods to long distances at cheaper and faster rates. In the context of China’s assimilationist policy, the new railway connection is to play a greater role in bringing more Chinese, from miners and migrant workers to businessmen, to work and settle in Tibet — preferably in the border areas like Nyingtri.
Xi’s statement also indicates that China wants the Tibetans not only to see the railway lines as a positive development that they should welcome, but also feel it as an expression of solidarity from a supposedly advanced big Chinese brother. Here, the railway being the gift of development, and therefore, the obligational need of Tibetans to feel and appreciate the ‘Chinese generosity’. What is missing is the agency of Tibetans in choosing whether they really need a railway line and where they need it. The issue is that they not only have to accept it, but they also have to be indebted for it.
Third, the idea that the railway as an instrument to ‘consolidate stability’ at the disputed border with India does not mean maintaining stability as peace with the status quo. In fact, the expression is contradicting itself in that, if one party attempts to alter the status quo at the border, then the other will challenge it which will lead to more instabilities not only at the border per se, but also within the bilateral relationships as well as at the multilateral levels. This has indeed been the case with Doklam in 2017 and even more so with Ladakh today. The term ‘stability’ has to be understood as stable due to domination at the border rather than stability as peace agreed upon by the two nations.
Therefore, from a realistic perspective, strategic infrastructure like the railway as a tool for consolidating supremacy in the disputed territories implies both an offensive posture as well as a defence mechanism. Offensive because in the event of a border war with India, the new railway will fundamentally boost the manoeuvring capability of Chinese troops and weapons to be moved within a short time on a larger scale than it was possible before. Strategic development and strategic connections to frontier areas are meant to enhance China’s strategic advantage vis-a-vis India in order to score a long-term edge over the latter as a resolution to the boundary dispute appears to be more challenging, with leaders from both sides vowing to defend every inch of what they perceived to be their respective territories.
The defensive role comes with the huge capacity of the railway in transferring more Chinese people to work and settle in towns and villages at the border. China is constructing new towns and enlarging old ones to increase the population size at the border by forcibly relocating Tibetan nomads and farmers to Lhoka and Ngari, which are respectively adjacent to Arunachal in the east and Ladakh in the west. With the development of more economic opportunities like tourism, mining and constructions in the border areas, it also encourages Chinese settlers to put their root there to defend the motherland. In the long term, the growth of Chinese settlements at the border regions can be used as a civilian bulwark to fortify Beijing’s position on what its military can annex/control territories at the border.
In a nutshell, regardless of some of the positive side-effects of the new railway for the local Tibetans, the fundamental logic of the Chinese state, as Xi Jinping pointed out, is to integrate Tibet, assimilate its people and secure a dominant position in the boundary disputes with India.
European Union chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel heralded “a new beginning” of EU-US relations on Monday during phone conversations with President-elect Joe Biden.
Von der Leyen, the Commission President, said she congratulated Biden on his victory during their phone call.
“It is a new beginning for the EU-US global partnership,” she wrote on Twitter, adding that a “strong EU and a strong US working together can shape the global agenda based on cooperation, multilateralism, solidarity and shared values.”
Charles Michel, who presides over the EU Council, said he invited the soon-to-be 46th US President “to a special meeting in Brussels next year” with the bloc’s head of states.
“Let’s rebuild a strong EU-USA alliance,” he added. “Now is the time to join forces on COVID-19, climate, security, and multilateralism.”
The phone calls took place as the US General Services Administration recognised Biden as the “apparent president-elect” — 21 days after the election — thus setting the transition in motion.
Earlier this month, Biden already spoke with several EU leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron, and Germany’s Angela Merkel. Both said they planned to work on “shared priorities” and “global challenges” with the new administration including climate change.
Tensions between Brussels and Washington increased under the administration of Donald Trump, who pulled his country out of the 2015 Paris Agreement for the Climate and the landmark Iran nuclear deal. He also said the US was being “ripped off” by the EU, and imposed tariffs on European exports.
The bloc retaliated with its own set of tariffs on around $4 billion (3.4 billion) worth of US goods. Hopes are that Biden’s election will allow for negotiations to resume and for relations to normalise once more.
An overwhelming majority of German people — 79 per cent — rated the relationship between their country and the US as either “very bad” or “rather bad” in a survey carried out in September and released on Monday.
Nearly the same proportion of the 1,058 respondents assumed that transatlantic relations will normalise under Joe Biden’s presidency.
Washington was also described as “not a partner” to Berlin by a majority of respondents when it came to issues including climate protection, promoting free trade, protecting human rights and democracy and dealing with China.
“The last four years have been an enormous test of the transatlantic relationship. The fact that the majority of Germans expect normalisation under Joe Biden shows, however, that the damage caused is not irreparable,” Nora Muller, head of International Politics at the Korber Foundation, said on the survey’s results.
Biden also exchanged with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Monday.
Stoltenberg said in a statement that he “thanked President-elect Biden for being a long-standing supporter of NATO and the transatlantic relationship.”
“They discussed the importance of our transatlantic Alliance as the cornerstone of our collective security,” he added.
Trump had previously described the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as “obsolete” and threatened to pull the US out of it.
Modern IT equipment and high-speed internet for primary and secondary schools across Serbia.
50000 teachers to improve their digital skills and 700 new jobs to be created.
Investment enables equal and inclusive access to digital education for all and uninterrupted e-teaching during crisis situations such as COVID-19.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will invest €65 million in the modernisation of primary and secondary schools in Serbia to provide new digital equipment, connectivity, and capacity building training for 50 000 school teachers. The investment from the EU bank will support Serbia’s national education strategy, upgrade digital capacities in Serbian schools and contribute to economic and productivity growth, youth employability and the advancement of the country’s innovative capacity.
Schools across Serbia will benefit from modern computer classroom equipment and wireless local area networks, and 50 000 teachers will be trained to improve their digital skills. The project is expected to create up to 700 new jobs.
This investment is part of the EIB’s Economic Resilience Initiative and will ensure equal and inclusive access to digital education for pupils in Serbia, creating equal education opportunities in rural and urban areas, and empowering young people with digital skills to prepare them for a competitive labour market.
Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova, responsible for the EIB’s activities in Serbia, said: “Modern, effective education and digital literacy creates new opportunities in life for young people, and makes them competitive on the modern job markets. A strong digital economy is vital for innovation, growth, jobs and competitiveness. Today, this is one of the key enablers of growth and prosperity in countries around the world. Finally, schools in advanced phases of digitalisation have proven more efficient in challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The EU bank is pleased to be able to contribute to a more resilient Serbia, capable of operating efficiently even in the most difficult of times. The European Investment Bank looks forward to continuing its support for Serbia and its transition into a digital, sustainable and innovative economy.”
The Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia Tatjana Maticstated: “The project that aims to digitize the education system is a priority for the Government of Serbia. Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications and the Ministry of education, science and technology development of the Republic of Serbia started the “Connected Schools” Project implementation in 2019. This EIB investment will allow major benefits of the project to reach all schools in Serbia. MoTTT will be able to benefit from it. The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications is advancing with the construction of a standardised and sustainable wireless local area network in all schools and the comprehensive improvement of national academic network communication infrastructure, while the Ministry of Education is providing digital equipment in a synchronised manner and thus creating the infrastructure base for the development of the digitalised classrooms, teaching and learning process. Providing modern IT equipment and high-speed internet, as well as the improving teachers’ digital skills will further contribute to digital education, which is necessary pillar of the cotemporary, sustainable and strong society, especially in the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This project will contribute to bridging the digital divide, raising digital literacy and competitiveness in the digital age, and expand the base for IT industry growth. All young people must be given an equal chance to gain competencies that will enable them to make the same choices as their peers in developed digital economies.”
Sem Fabrizi, EU Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, said: “COVID-19 has obliged the whole world to go digital. Mastering digital competence has become more than ever crucial for learning, work and active participation in society, as well as for acquiring other key competencies such as communication, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and languages. This comprehensive EIB investment in digital school infrastructure and digital skills of teachers across Serbia comes at a critical time in the modernisation of the Serbian education system. It is an integral part of the European Union’s overall efforts that the EU has already made in the education system in Serbia. With more than €100 million so far, the European gold standards and best practices have been integrated in the Serbian education system, many generations of students will be benefiting and thus creating active citizens of the future.”
The EIB will provide a significant level of technical support in aid of project preparation and implementation. To date, the EIB has invested €50 million in the modernisation of Serbian schools, improving the quality of learning conditions for around 28 000 primary and secondary school children in over 200 education facilities in Serbia. €200 million has been invested in reviving Serbia’s research and development sector, creating a long-term platform for scientific development in all major areas. For more information about this project, please visit the following link: https://www.eib.org/en/stories/serbia-digital-education.
Background information
About the EIB in Serbia:
The EIB has been active in Serbia since 1977. Since 2001, we have been providing finance to support key infrastructure projects, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), industry, services and local authorities. To date, 83 projects have been financed and over €6 billion invested in SMEs and in transport, education, healthcare and utility infrastructure. For more information regarding the EIB’s projects in Serbia, please refer to: https://www.eib.org/en/projects/regions/enlargement/the-western-balkans/serbia/index.htm
About the EIB in the Balkans:
The EIB is one of the leading international financiers in the Western Balkans. Since 2007, the Bank has financed projects totalling almost €8 billion in the region. Alongside its continued support for the reconstruction and upgrade of public infrastructure, since 2010 the EIB has expanded into many new areas, such as healthcare, research and development, education and SMEs.
About Team Europe and the COVID-19 response in the Western Balkans:
As part of the #TeamEurope strategy, the EU’s global response to COVID-19, the EIB Group has rapidly mobilised €5.2 billion outside the EU, accelerating financing and targeted technical assistance. For the Western Balkan countries, the EIB has prepared an immediate support package of €1.7 billion, primarily for SMEs and the healthcare sector. The total EU financial support package for the Western Balkans amounts to more than €3.3 billion. For more information: www.eib.org/en/press/all/2020-111-eib-group-to-contribute-eur1-7-billion-to-the-eu-s-covid-19-response-package-for-the-western-balkans
