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Religion briefs: Drop-off sites open Monday for Operation Christmas Child
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Islam is religion of politeness and care: Sirohey
Observer Report
While talking to the monthly ijlas of Shura Hamdard former Naval Chief Admiral Iftikhar Ahmed Sirohey and other scholars of Shura Hamdard said that according to Quaid-e-Azam Pakistan would be al laboratory of Islam in modern world. Allah Almighty sent his messengers in different eras of past for guidance of mankind to the right.
Non-Muslims know that we love our Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) beyond limits but they take advantage of our social, religious division and sectarianism, they avail the chance to disgrace and disrespect Holy Prophet (SAWW). They know that Islam has the ability to dominate through its unique characteristics. According to the teachings of Islam all Messengers, Prophets and religious scholars are respectable.
Islam is a religion of politeness and care. As a Muslim it is part of our belief not to tolerate or forgive anyone who disgraces our Prophet (SAWW). Not only religious but social and political organizations have strictly condemned and protested against France for its current shameful activity.
It is also being suggested that we should ban imports and boycott all the products of France. Our Prime Minister raised his voice against the matter and has written to the Muslim leaders about it. Our country is stepping towards Riasat-e-Madinah. What we need the most is unity and forget sectarianism.
The topic of Ijlas was “BAIN-UL-MAZAHIB HUM.AAHANGI KAY TAQAZAY”. National President of Shura Hamdard Sadia Rashid said that Muslims should collectively raise voice and demand United Nations to constitute a law against blasphemy of our Prophet (SAWW) and all other spiritual and religious leaders.
EU staff reject Chinese Hikvision’s equipment over Uyghur repression
Brussels [Belgium], November 13 (ANI): Thousands of staff employed at the European Unions institutions have rejected the use of Chinese video surveillance provider Hikvision technologies in light of the company’s association with China’s human rights abuses and specifically the oppression of millions of Uyghurs.
President Cristiano Sebastiani of the leading European Institution Trade Union, RenouveauDemocratie, representing thousands of staff employed in the European offices, wrote a letter to Johannes Hahn, Commissioner in charge of Budget and Human Resources for the EU Institutions on Wednesday regarding the thermal imaging systems used by the European Commission and the European Parliament, produced by the Chinese technology giant Hikvision, according to a press statement.
The Hikvision cameras have been placed at entrances throughout the European Parliament and installed in the European Commission’s main offices, the Berlaymont and Charlemagne buildings, the statement noted.
The Chinese company Hikvision has been accused of being linked to the oppression of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in East Turkistan, China’s Xinjiang province, including providing surveillance equipment used in the brutal “re-education camps”.
The Chinese government holds a 40 per cent controlling stake in Hikvision via the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.
A leaked German Foreign Ministry report estimates that 1 million Uyghur in China are being detained without trial. Ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups are also being imprisoned, the report said.
Sebastiani’ letter comes after German Member of European Parliament (MEP) Reinhard Butikofer, head of the European Parliament delegation to China, denounced that the use of Hikvision technology by the European institutions as “extremely worrying” since “Hikvision is a technology company which is deeply complicit in the terrible oppression of the Uighur people in Xinjiang which borders on genocide” and that the European institutions should “immediately create transparency and draw the adequate consequences: i.e. sever any direct or indirect business relationship with Hikvision.”Also, Charlie Weimers, Swedish MEP from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, said that: “The EU should have no dealings whatsoever with a Chinese firm that is alleged to be involved in some of the most abhorrent human rights abuses in the world” and that “Nobel Prize winners should adhere to a higher standard.”Svenja Hahn, German MEP from the Renew Europe group, addressed a letter to President European Parliament David Sassoli, saying that she found “it outrageous that European taxpayers’ money has been used to purchase monitoring equipment from a company that with their products enables mass surveillance, oppression of minorities and massive breaches of human rights”.
The use of Hikvision technology by the European institutions has provoked strong reactions from EU institutions staff as well and they have expressed their discontent at having to come face to face with a company accused of contributing to human rights violations in China.
Concerning the management of personal data, the spokesperson of the European Parliament confirmed that “the equipment is neither connected to the Parliament’s computer network nor records any data”. (ANI)
Brexit: Trade fears mount as breakthrough in EU-UK talks proves elusive
With just seven weeks to go until an abrupt change to trade terms with Britain, there is mounting concern at continued uncertainty over the final details of what procedures will govern the movement of vital supplies in and out of Ireland on January 1st.
<p class="no_name">Talks between Britain and the <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_organisation=European+Union" rel="nofollow">European Union</a> broke off after a week of intense negotiations in London that were overshadowed by turmoil in Downing Street, in which senior aides to British prime minister <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=Boris+Johnson" rel="nofollow">Boris Johnson</a> resigned and there was speculation about the position of chief negotiator <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=David+Frost" rel="nofollow">David Frost</a>. </p>
<p class="no_name">At one point chief EU negotiator <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=Michel+Barnier" rel="nofollow">Michel Barnier</a> took a break from negotiations and posted an image of himself “looking for level playing fields” in a London park.</p>
<p class="no_name">Pressure is now mounting for a breakthrough as the EU’s national leaders prepare to gather for a video conference on Thursday, with disagreements over fish and how to ensure fair competition between British and EU companies persisting as a stumbling block.</p>
<h4 class="crosshead">Dissolve</h4><p class="no_name">Hundreds of billions of euro in trade ride on whether the EU can strike a deal with its former member. Without one, the legal underpinnings of relations built up over decades would dissolve overnight and tariffs would automatically come into force, an economically damaging outcome that the EU side is concerned is becoming harder to avoid.</p>
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<p class="no_name">In briefings to businesses on the complex customs declarations requirements that will be required irrespective of whether a deal is reached or not, the British government has been unable to explain the special arrangements that will be in place for goods moving into <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_location=Northern+Ireland" rel="nofollow">Northern Ireland</a> from January, saying that it would “become clearer in the next week or so”. A significant amount of work remains to be done on the issue, The Irish Times understands.</p>
<p class="no_name">Britain has asked the EU to allow a grace period for export declarations for goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland to avoid potential disruption to food supplies, a proposal backed by rival parties in the North as well as industry figures increasingly desperate for certainty.</p>
<h4 class="crosshead">Rigorous checks</h4><p class="no_name">It comes after supermarkets have warned the range of products they stock could be greatly reduced because of the need for rigorous checks on agri-food products from Britain, and the North’s Department of Agriculture admitted infrastructure needed for checks will not be ready on time.</p>
<p class="no_name">Yet even if a grace period for declarations is granted, Britain still accepts that consignments would nevertheless be subject to the checks and controls required, The Irish Times understands.</p>
<p class="no_name"><a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_person=Seamus+Leheny" rel="nofollow">Seamus Leheny</a> from the <a class="search" href="/topics/topics-7.1213540?article=true&tag_organisation=Freight+Transport+Association" rel="nofollow">Freight Transport Association</a> in Northern Ireland said a grace period would be “not just welcome, it’s required, it’s needed because, especially for food, we just aren’t ready.”</p>
<p class="no_name">Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that the proposal was a “workable solution”, after the North’s cross-party leadership wrote to the European Commission emphasising supermarkets’ concerns that there was a “real threat to the continuity of the supply” of food and other products.</p>
<p class="no_name">Responding to the letter, a European Commission spokesman said it was taking the warnings “very seriously”, and discussions were continuing with the UK.</p>
French MEP asks EU to stop ‘showering’ Turkey, Pak with subsidies
Brussels [Belgium], November 13 (ANI): Terming Turkey and Pakistan as countries of concern amid rising terrorists attack in Europe, French Member of European Parliament (MEP) Nicolas Bay has asked European Union (EU) to stop “showering” Ankara and Islamabad with subsidies and customs facilities, rather put sanctions against them.
“During the European Parliamentary plenary of November, 11 French MEP Nicolas Bay from the Identity and Democracy Group had strong words against European aid to Pakistan and Turkey in light of threats coming from both countries. MEP Bay’s comments were made in the context of a debate on the ‘fight against terrorism, freedom of expression and education’,” a press statement read.
Speaking to the European Commissioner Ylva Johansson responsible for Home Affairs, Nicolas Bay was critical of the support being given by the European Commission to the countries of concern. “You are showering countries like Pakistan and Turkey with subsidies and customs facilities. We want to sanction them!”Linking terrorism threats to migration, MEP Bay gave the stark warning that the latest terrorist attacks in Paris had all been committed by migrants arriving in Europe.
Highlighting that over the last year’s terrorist attacks had taken place across Europe in Vienna Madrid, London, Paris, Nice, Milan, Berlin, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Stockholm and St Petersburg, the parliamentarian recognised that “No victim should be forgotten!””The last three attacks in France were perpetrated by people of immigrant backgrounds: It was a Pakistani who attacked journalists in Paris; it was a Chechen who slit the throat of a teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine; it was a Tunisian, freshly arrived via Lampedusa, who murdered three people in a church in Nice.”Bay pointed out that since the Madrid attacks in 2004, 450 people had been killed by Islamist terrorists in Europe and that Europe was losing its identity.
“They attack us for who we are, not what we do. We cannot fight this battle if we refuse to name the enemy,” he said.
Bay singled out both Turkey and Pakistan as countries of concern during his intervention: “Erdogan is also moving forward because the European Union does not dare to act, he is waging war on Armenia, and in Libya by deploying jihadists from the ranks of Da’esh, he is threatening our continent with migratory subversion, he is converting the Basilica of Saint Sophie into a mosque.”Bay further critiqued the Commission for its financing of Islamist organisations stating that EUR5.6 million had been given towards Muslim Brotherhood networks. “In total, over the last 5 years, the European Union has paid 36.5 million euros directly to Islamist organisations or projects in which they were involved.”The debate comes in the aftermath of the recent terrorist attacks that took place in France and Austria. President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, prior to the debate had opened the European Parliament stating that it was “a shared responsibility to fight all types of extremism”. (ANI)
EU Moves Forward with Increased Tariffs on American Goods
The European Union (EU) has announced that it will be moving forward with increased tariffs on U.S. goods. Tariffs will be imposed on nearly $4 billion worth of American imports. The tariffs will be implemented on a variety of agricultural and industrial goods. A decision issued by the World Trade Organization back in October allows the EU to move forward with retaliatory tariffs. The underlying issue originated from an EU grievance with U.S. subsidies for aircraft production.
“We have made clear all along that we want to settle this long-running issue. Regrettably, due to lack of progress with the U.S., we had no other choice but to impose these countermeasures,” Executive Vice President for the European Commission and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis said in a news release. “The EU is consequently exercising its legal rights under the WTO’s recent decision.”
The increased tariffs will affect a number of different agricultural products. A list of American goods that will be impacted includes a tier system for the tariffs. The 15 percent tier affects some civilian aircraft. A 25 percent tariff tier will apply to a multitude of food and agriculture products. In a press release, National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Jim Mulhern expressed frustration with how the EU is handling the trade dispute.
“Europe has long wielded restrictive and unjustified trade tactics to limit fair competition from U.S. agriculture, including dairy exports,” Mulhern noted. “The EU’s restrictive trade policies that have resulted in a one-way flow of agriculture trade, and in particular dairy trade, to Europe is something that both the current and future Administrations need to keep in mind. In fact, the trade deficit between the EU and U.S. continues to widen as the EU uses unjustified trade tactics to erode U.S. market access and limit fair competition.”
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Thinking Anew – Religion can be a source of error as well as truth
Anybody following the recent US presidential campaign will know that religious views played a significant role, with lots of attention focused on the white evangelical Christians who supported the non-church going Donald Trump and rejected the devout Joe Biden, who made clear what his faith meant to him.
The evangelicals were not alone in their support for Trump. In a Rite & Reason column in this newspaper (October 27th), Fr Patrick Hannon, emeritus professor of moral theology in Maynooth, wrote about the challenges facing a Catholic politician like Biden in America, trying to balance competing views of church and civil society on moral issues. He noted that in the recent election campaign, Cardinal Dolan of New York had signalled his support for Donald Trump because of his pro-life agenda.
It is clear that Trump’s support among the religious extends beyond evangelical fundamentalists. Indeed, after the 2016 election, the National Catholic Reporter, an American journal, reported that the 81 per cent of white, “born again” evangelical Christians who voted for Trump were joined by 58 per cent of mainline Protestants and 52 per cent of Roman Catholics. They backed Trump because he was willing to meet their demands on moral issues.
That religious/political alliance brought to mind the writings of the Rev Reinhold Niebuhr (1892 -1971), considered in his time to be one of America’s leading intellectuals. The historian Arthur Schlesinger jnr described him as “the most influential American theologian of the 20th century”.
The son of a clergyman, Niebuhr was a pastor in the American branch of the German Evangelical Church, now known as the United Church of Christ, as well as being a leading academic.
He took particular interest in the relationship between religion and politics, believing that religion could be a source of error as well as truth and therefore its role should be to cultivate a sense of humility rather than a sense of infallibility. He said that “religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values”.
In his book The Irony of American History, Niebuhr wrote: “We . . . as all ‘God-fearing’ men of all ages, are never safe against the temptation of claiming God too simply as the sanctifier of whatever we most fervently desire. Even the most ‘Christian’ civilisation and even the most pious church must be reminded that the true God can be known only where there is some awareness of a contradiction between divine and human purposes, even on the highest level of human aspirations.”
That temptation to see “God . . . as the sanctifier of whatever we most fervently desire” may be attractive to those who long for certainty and seek to dominate others but it is not consistent with the teaching of Jesus who stood up to the absolutists of his day (The Pharisees) and told his followers to prepare for change: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”
The Christian life requires change, as new truths consistent with the mind of Christ are revealed.
Reinhold Niebuhr may not be widely remembered but his words are, for he is the author of the Serenity Prayer which first appeared in a sermon of his which was included in A Book of Prayers and Services for the US armed forces during the second World War. It speaks well to our fears in these troubling and challenging times.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He (Jesus) did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.”
Seeing the Book Biz from Both Sides Now
Elisabeth Sifton, who edited three of my books and died a year ago, used to put a big X in the margin whenever I mentioned a book that a writer had published. “Writers don’t publish books!” she’d say. “Publishers publish books.” I would dutifully change the wording, but I have to confess that I didn’t understand exactly what she meant—as, indeed, most authors don’t understand what publishers do, other than give them material to complain about.
Well, now I know. Five years ago, with a small group of colleagues, I started a publishing enterprise called Columbia Global Reports. We bring out novella-length works of serious nonfiction—26 thus far—on a wide variety of topics. We began with a charge, and financial support, from Columbia University’s president, Lee Bollinger, who was concerned about the severe contraction of the American press at a time when the immediacy of large international challenges was increasing. Our books are paperbacks, attractively designed and produced in a uniform format, usually based on original on-site reporting that we pay for rather than asking our authors to cover expenses out of their advances.
Doing this work has given me a view of publishing from the other side—the publishers’ side—even as I have continued to write books of my own for other publishers. What is it that publishers know, and do, that writers don’t fully grasp? I can answer that, at least to some extent.
A quick word, though, from where authors are coming from. Authors are like actors, perpetually aware that many more people want to do what we do than the world has room for. Editors and publishers have jobs. We don’t. We feel our status to be eternally provisional.
Being a publisher has changed my attitude about the writer’s place in the world, and it may be useful and encouraging to know what it is that gives a writer real value to publishers. At Columbia Global Reports, we are looking for writers who can do firsthand reporting in faraway places, make original arguments about major issues, and write prose that is a pleasure to read. That combination of skills is very, very difficult to find; anybody who has all three, or even two out of three, is a rare talent, for whose time and energy we always find ourselves competing against others who also want them.
Journalists who write books—that’s most of our authors at Columbia Global Reports—often complain that book publishers edit and fact-check their work far less than a traditional news organization would. As a publisher, it’s easy for me to see where this evidently odd feature of book publishing comes from. Though book publishing is famously dominated by five big companies, the actual work of getting a book out is strikingly decentralized. Small publishers like us have access to an amazing array of service providers who aren’t publishers themselves—such as, in our case, Publishers Group West, which functions as our sales force, and Strick & Williams, which designs our books. As a nonprofit publisher, we can afford to invest in editing and fact-checking, but the one essential function that can’t be outsourced is establishing the identity of the house and drawing attention to its work. Seeing that firsthand has cleared up the mystery (for an author like me) of why acquiring and marketing are the primary tasks for publishers.
Authors are crucial to that part of publishing. We are all hyperaware of authors, usually of fiction, who are reclusive or mysterious—think of Elena Ferrante or Cormac McCarthy. As an author, it’s appealing to think of oneself as somebody whose writing can command the attention of the world all by itself, to the point that no more is needed than producing the work.
To a publisher, writers who think that way are very frustrating. Are you active on social media? Great. Can you produce an op-ed-length version of the core argument of your book? Even better. Are you adept at being interviewed? Will you turn in a very complete version of your author questionnaire?
It is striking to us how much respect books command. Books have the power to launch sustained conversations in a way that other forms of publications do not. Generating that type of debate only works if the author continues to participate enthusiastically through the entire publication process.
So I would amend Elisabeth Sifton’s maxim. Publishers publish. Writers write. And publishers need writers to be their partners in publishing, too.
Nicholas Lemann is founder and director of Columbia Global Reports. His most recent book is Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream (Picador).
A version of this article appeared in the 11/16/2020 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: From Both Sides Now
Brexit Negotiations ‘Held Hostage’ by No.10 Infighting and Dominic Cummings, EU Officials
The leader of the largest party in the European parliament has blamed internal conflict within the British government for stalled Brexit negotiations on Friday, following confirmation that Downing Street advisor Dominic Cummings would be departing his role by Christmas.
On Radio 4’s Today programme, German politician Manfred Weber, who heads the People’s Party and an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, cited the “chaotic situation” within the highest echelons of the British government as the cause of the Brexit deadlock.
Weber, who serves as an MEP for the German Christian Social Union, which is linked to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), claimed that the infighting is causing the UK’s position to become unclear.
While speaking to the BBC, Weber outlined that Brexit talks have stalled due for two primary reasons: access to UK fishing waters and the “level playing field” rules which prevent state aid favouring British companies.
“There are fair questions we are asking … If you want to change in the future, with your background of sovereignty, your subsidies, regulations, then we must have an option an opportunity to react to stop to limit your access to our market”, he said. “I see what is happening now in Downing Street. We can also see this as a quite chaotic situation where we don’t have an idea what is really the line in Great Britain. So don’t tell us we should be ready for compromise”.
He said the EU requires a “clear idea from Boris Johnson” and urged the Prime Minister to show “leadership”, pointing to “recent developments in America” where “it will be not so easy with Joe Biden [as US president-elect] to achieve an easy trade deal now”.
“It’s time to take over responsibility and come to a common understanding. Britain has red lines, we have red lines, let’s now come to a compromise”, he added.
The German lawmaker’s comments were rejected by UK government sources. The unnamed official told The Guardian that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has “been clear that he wants a deal if there is a deal to be done. We’ve been negotiating constructively and with creativity”.
“I guess the reason the EU feel the need to say these sorts of things is that they are starting to realise that we meant it when we said there were fundamental principles from which we couldn’t move. We need to see some realism and creativity from their side if we are to bridge the significant gaps that remain”, he added.
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REUTERS / JOHN SIBLEYDominic Cummings, special advisor for Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, arrives at Downing Street, in London, Britain, November 12, 2020
This follows confirmation that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s top aide and former director of the Vote Leave campaign that spearheaded the UKs movement to leave the EU in 2016, would leave Downing Street by 25 December 2020.
However, this contradicted a previous comment by Cummings, who told the BBC on Thursday that the “rumours of me threatening to resign are invented”. He later clarified that his position remained unchanged from a blog post in January, where wrote that would make himself “largely redundant” by the end of the year.
An unnamed EU source told the Guardian that Cummings’ had been holding the negotiation process “hostage” and his departure could lead to an easing of resistance to compromise.
“His flawed concept of state aid has held the negotiation hostage,” the diplomat said.
Cummings has long advocated for Brexit as an opportunity for the UK’s to subsidise the tech industry beyond the common competition restrictions of the European Union.
Despite the logjam, a deal must be agreed to this month in order to provide sufficient time for parliamentary ratification. If a compromise is not reached, then the UK will leave the bloc without a deal and trade on World Trade Organisation rules.
The EU’s negotiators, heading by Michel Barnier, have been in London this week for discussion over the future relationship. The team will leave on Friday before meeting with their UK counterparts next Monday in Brussels.
???? After 7 days of intensive negotiations in London, talks continue with @DavidGHFrost and his team in Brussels in full respect of the national health measures #COVID19
Working hard for an agreement. Much remains to be done. pic.twitter.com/gxXarghpfK
— Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) October 30, 2020
