UK ready to walk away from EU without major change

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17 October 2020

UK ready to walk away from EU without major change

LONDON: Britain said on Friday there was no point in holding any more Brexit talks without a dramatic softening of the EU’s position, bringing a potentially nasty divorce at the end of the year a step closer.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded after a European Union summit on Thursday proposed a fresh round of talks next week in London, while demanding Britain give ground on key stumbling blocks.

“As far as we’re concerned the trade talks are over,” Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters.

“The EU have effectively ended them, and only if the EU fundamentally changes its position will it be worth talking.”

Johnson, accusing the 27-nation bloc of failing “to negotiate seriously” in recent months, said the summit outcome had ruled out a comprehensive, Canada-style free trade agreement between the EU and Britain.

The trade talks are largely over, says Johnson’s aide

“They want the continued ability to control our legislative freedom, our fisheries, in a way that is obviously unacceptable to an independent country,” he said.

“And so with high hearts and complete confidence we will prepare to embrace the alternative,” Johnson added.

He said Britain should “get ready” to operate on stripped-down World Trade Organisation rules from January akin to Australia’s relationship with the EU, pointing to sector-by-sector arrangements in areas such as social security, aviation and nuclear cooperation.

“And we will prosper mightily as an independent free-trading nation, controlling our own borders, our fisheries, and setting our own laws.”

The comments depressed the British pound on currency markets.

After nearly five decades of British integration with Europe, a “no deal” outcome will mean tariffs and potential chaos for companies trading across the Channel, especially for goods transportation.

It could also arrive in the middle of a winter surge of the coronavirus pandemic, which has already been worsening since last month across Britain and the rest of Europe.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said every hour spent preparing for a no deal Brexit was an hour lost to the fight against Covid-19.

“So I feel deeply depressed about the Brexit situation,” she said.

Johnson had set the EU summit as a deadline for a deal but he is under pressure after fresh warnings that British companies are far from ready for the consequences of a cliff-edge divorce, when a post-Brexit transition period ends on December 31.

The prime minister has repeatedly refused to extend the transition period, but London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged a change of mind.

“The last thing London needs is the chaos and uncertainty of a no-deal Brexit. With businesses already facing huge challenges due to coronavirus restrictions, now is the worst time to put more jobs and livelihoods at risk,” he said.

Britain wants to reassert sovereignty over its waters and refuses EU legal oversight over any deal, insisting it wants an overarching trade deal of the kind the EU adopted with Canada in 2017.

Brussels in turn stresses that Britain’s economy is far more integrated with the EU’s than Canada’s, and that its single market must be protected from backsliding on regulation or state aid in Britain.

At their Brussels summit, EU leaders demanded Britain compromise on fair trade rules to unblock the stalled post-Brexit talks.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2020

Maine’s poets tackle the times in new book, ‘ENOUGH!’

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17 October 2020

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Maine's poets tackle the times in new book, 'ENOUGH!'

Bob Dylan wrote in the turmoil of the 1960s, “Come writers and critics, Who prophesize with your pen, And keep your eyes wide, The chance won’t come again…”

Times of struggle and protest have come again, and here in Maine, 27 poets and a documentary photographer have answered the call to capture the moment in a new book, “ENOUGH!” published by Littoral Books in Portland. The volume takes on the issue of racism in America, the Black Lives Matter protests and the feeling of life in the pandemic of 2020. It includes photographs of Portland protests by documentary photographer Nicholas Gervin.

Among the poets featured in this book are some of our own Midcoast neighbors.

Laura Bonazzoli, of Rockport, contributed “At the George Floyd Memorial Protest, June 19, 2020, Rockland, Maine.”

In the poem she describes the sensation of lying down in the street, something she had never done before this protest, and the emotions it stirs.

“It feels like fear, feels like humiliation, like being a child when your father takes off his belt…”

During this event, the participants spent eight minutes and 46 seconds face-down in the street, remembering the amount of time a police officer knelt on George Floyd’s neck, killing him, in Minneapolis. The murder sparked protests across the country and even in other parts of the world.

“I had such an unexpected response to it that I felt compelled to try to capture the experience,” Bonazzoli said. “…The transformation that seemed to occur to us, as a group, the way the experience of lying in the street transcended our individuality and, I believe, enabled us to experience for 8 minutes and 46 seconds our shared humanity – including our shared grief, love, and resolve.”

In August, she read the poem in a virtual event sponsored by the Poet’s Corner, and Claire Millikin, one of the editors of the book, sent her an email, inviting her to submit.

“I was one of those naive Americans who believed that the election of Barack Obama meant we were entering a post-racial era,” she said. “But the disparities in health, income, housing, education, etc. continued, and so did the killings: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice… just a few of so many we must never allow ourselves to forget.”

Ellen Goldsmith of Cushing contributed multiple poems. In one, she talks about a time when she did not speak out when ordered as a teacher not to present a “rabble-rousing” essay to her students. In another, “Changing the Metaphors,” she addresses the reasons for toppling confederate statues.

“It is shocking that it hasn’t been shocking, the treatment of black people in America,” she said. “Let’s hope this wake-up call spurs poetry and action.”

Former Rockland Poet Laureate Carol Bachofner also submitted poems to the book including, “We’ve been too long asleep in the graveyards of our history.”

“The world is at the window,” she wrote, “watching, ear cupped to the sound drowning out the lies at last.”

The poem continues, “What I sought on the bridge in Selma, chained to the fence at Seabrook Nuclear Plant, what I sought from my small town in Maine and what I seek still is the absence of absence.”

“What I hope people will take away from this collection – an understanding of why protests for racial justice and economic equality are necessary,” said ENOUGH! editor Agnes Bushell, “what it feels like to participate in such a protest, what it feels like to be a Black or Brown or Indigenous person living in Maine, what it feels like to live through a pandemic, what living here has been feeling like for these 27 poets since the pandemic and protests began in the spring.”

“I actually hope that the world will change so much for the better soon that another book of protest poems inspired by the murder of a Black man by the police and a pandemic won’t actually be necessary,” Bushell said. “…Our other important book focusing on social and economic justice is ‘A Dangerous New World: Maine Voices on the Climate Crisis,’ which we published last December.”

Learn more about “ENOUGH!” and the work of Maine’s poets at littoralbooks.com.

Religion is not the problem: Brooklyn bishop blasts New York COVID measures

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17 October 2020

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Religion is not the problem: Brooklyn bishop blasts New York COVID measures

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2020 / 04:00 pm MT (CNA).- Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn warned on Friday that New York’s most recent coronavirus measures were “not reasonable.” Speaking one day after his diocese argued in court against new state restrictions on religious assembly, the bishop said religion was being treated as a second class part of society.

“We are relegated to the sidelines, religion,” DiMarzio of Brooklyn told CNA on Oct. 16. “‘Religion is the problem of society,’ the way people think today.”

“In the past, you would think the non-profit sector, religion, was a pillar of the society along with the business community and with the government. This was what held society together. Now, that kind of a thesis of how society works is long since gone, unfortunately,” he said.

Bishop DiMarzio spoke with CNA after the diocese had a hearing in federal court on Thursday in its case against New York’s new public health restrictions.

The state order, announced last week, targeted geographic “hot spots” around the state where the number of cases of the new coronavirus is reportedly surging and put, among other limits, caps on attendance at indoor religious services to slow the spread of the virus.

Under the state order, some churches in Brooklyn and Queens are limited to either 25% capacity or 10 people at indoor Masses, baptism, weddings, and funerals—whichever amount is less—or to 33% capacity or 25 people in other areas, whichever amount is less.

As churches in the diocese are “very large,” the bishop said, liturgies would be effectively limited to either 10 people or 25 people.

DiMarzio said that the diocese worked with public health officials over the summer to implement safety measures in reopening churches, and has been successful in doing so.

“Everything that we know possible to avoid this virus is being done,” he said, noting that churches are requiring Mass attendees to wear masks, limiting attendance to 25% capacity, and requiring families to sit six feet apart inside.

“We’re not asking for full capacity,” he said, noting that churches in the diocese “are very large” and can safely accommodate far more than the 10-or-25-person limit the state is effectively ordering.

But, the bishop told CNA, the diocese’s legal challenge to the state is not about logistics, it is about “religious freedom,” and the unacceptability of classing churches as “non-essential” businesses.

“We have a different place in society than businesses,” the bishop said, noting that some “essential” stores in the area are open and do not count the number of people going inside.

“This is all part of the problem. There are two standards, where everybody’s being lumped together, no matter how they deal with the issue,” he said, calling the restrictions “not reasonable.”

The diocesan parishes are not reporting outbreaks of the virus traced to Masses, he said.

“Today, people are very wont to complain to the Church if they don’t like what’s happening,” DiMarzio observed. “If there was a problem, we would know about it.”

“Other religions,” he said, are “packing 400 people into small places” without a mask requirement “and expecting it to be fine.”

“That’s the difference,” he said. “We just have acted differently, and I think we should be treated differently.”

But, the bishop said that he was not arguing for houses of worship to be allowed to flaut basic health rules or or ignore safety requirements.

“Houses of worship should follow the guidelines that are put in by the state for the safety of everyone. We are following them. That’s our point,” he said, calling the new restrictions “a little bit of an overreach.”

In March and April, the diocese lost two priests to the virus. Bishop DiMarzio acknowledged that it has been a “challenge” leading the diocese through the pandemic, and has focused on maintaining communication with everyone. “We don’t want them to be isolated,” he said.

The priests’ deaths highlighted the seriousness of the pandemic for the diocese, and the need to take all reasonable measures, he said.

“We have to be careful. I’m not trying to be cavalier,” DiMarzio said.

Hong Kong Catholic millionaire won’t surrender fight for democracy

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16 October 2020

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Hong Kong Catholic millionaire won't surrender fight for democracy

(Image by Studio Incendo via Wikimedia Commons)Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest, August 18, 2019.

Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai said police raided his private offices on Oct. 15, months after he was arrested on suspicion of violating the city’s national security law and this will not deter him from his faith.

Lai is a British-Hong Kong citizen and is accused of “colluding” with foreign forces under the sweeping national security law for supporting the pro-democracy movement, ucanews reported on Oct 10.

But he said he would not leave Hong Kong for the United Kingdom.

The 71 year-old Lai has been a supporter of Cardinal Joseph Zen, who baptized him in 1997.

The cardinal who retired in 2009 has been outspoken for human rights, political freedom and religious liberty.

“If I go away, I not only give up my destiny, I give up God, I give up my religion, I give up what I believe in,” he said in a video conversation with the U.S.-based Napa Institute on Oct. 5.

“I am what I am. I am what I believe. I cannot change it. And if I can’t change it, I have to accept my fate with praise.

“When you lift yourself above your own self-interest, you find the meaning of life. You find you’re doing the right thing, which is so wonderful. It changed my life into a different thing.”

Lai told the Catholic institute that the Chinese Communist Party is eager to supplant religion with government control and guidelines.

He said he had supported the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong for the past 30 years because of “the Lord’s teaching that your life is not about yourself.”

Lai told the Catholic institute that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is eager to supplant religion with government control and guidelines.

He said he had supported the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong for the past 30 years because of “the Lord’s teaching that your life is not about yourself.”

“The way I look at it, if I suffer for the right cause, it only defines the person I am becoming. It can only be good for me to become a better person. If you believe in the Lord, if you believe that all suffering has a reason, and the Lord is suffering with me … I’m at peace with it.”

When police conducted an Aug. 10 raid on the office of Apple Daily, the newspaper Lai started in 1995, he was arrested along with at least nine others for their role in the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony.

Though Lai is out on bail, he is charged under the draconian national security law, which China imposed on July 1, bypassing the Hong Kong legislature.

The drama comes as Cardinal Zen returned to Hong Kong after a visit to the Vatican during which he tried in vain to meet Pope Francis, Hong Kong Free Press reported Oct. 5.

Zen, 88, said he had journeyed to Rome in the hopes of persuading the Pope to appoint a new bishop for Hong Kong, who “can be trusted by the people” and not be mired in political considerations related to a desire to appease Beijing.

Lai came to Hong Kong when he was 12 years old from mainland China. He launched a chain of clothing stores under the brand name Giordano’s, which fetched rich dividends and allowed him to launch pro-democracy magazines and newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

He financially supported Cardinal Zen’s programs, which included sponsoring mainland Catholic priests in studies and training.

European Parliamentarian suggests international community to hold Pak responsible for Kashmir turmoil & its genesis

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Juan Sanchez Gil

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16 October 2020

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European Parliamentarian suggests international community to hold Pak responsible for Kashmir turmoil & its genesis

New Delhi: A Member of European Parliament (MEP) Fulvio Martusciello has urged the international community to hold Pakistan accountable for the ongoing turmoil in the Kashmir valley and its genesis.
In an opinion piece for EU-Chronicle on Wednesday, Martusciello called out Pakistan’s attempt to distort history by observing October 26 as a “Black Day” to commemorate the war fought in Kashmir in 1947-48.

“Under directions of the political leadership, Pakistan’s military invaded and illegally occupied Kashmir and dethroned ruler Hari Singh in order to annex Kashmir. The move was part of its grand design to enhance its power, territory, and influence in the region – Pakistan’s political leadership and Pakistan’s military failed.”He urged the international community to recognise that the Jammu and Kashmir issue has been concocted by Pakistan for its own gains. “Islamabad must be held accountable for the ongoing turmoil inflicted in Kashmir,” the MEP wrote.

He even questioned the citizens of Pakistan who “do not deplore the rape of Kashmiri women and girls, nor the horrors and atrocities inflicted by the Pakistani military and its tribesman on innocent Kashmiri citizens”. “And Pakistanis do not regret the illegal activities of their government or military…, nor the nihilism they imposed in (Pakistan-occupied) Kashmir,” Martusciello went on to write.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been mired in campaigns of disinformation and deception by Pakistan for decades, and now the youth need to know the truth to be empowered to follow their own destinies…”

Martusciello also talked about a former Pakistani Army General who made some revelation in a book regarding the Kashmir strategy. “Akbar Khan confirms how intimidation and threats of the Pakistan regime forced the ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, to be left with no option but to ask for protection and support from the Indian government – this request then led to the accession of Kashmir to become a part of India under the internationally recognised agreement, The Instrument of Accession, which was accepted under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, 1947,” the MEP claimed.

European Parliamentarian suggests international community to hold Pak responsible for Kashmir turmoil & its genesis

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Guest Author

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16 October 2020

0

New Delhi: A Member of European Parliament (MEP) Fulvio Martusciello has urged the international community to hold Pakistan accountable for the ongoing turmoil in the Kashmir valley and its genesis.
In an opinion piece for EU-Chronicle on Wednesday, Martusciello called out Pakistan’s attempt to distort history by observing October 26 as a “Black Day” to commemorate the war fought in Kashmir in 1947-48.

“Under directions of the political leadership, Pakistan’s military invaded and illegally occupied Kashmir and dethroned ruler Hari Singh in order to annex Kashmir. The move was part of its grand design to enhance its power, territory, and influence in the region – Pakistan’s political leadership and Pakistan’s military failed.”He urged the international community to recognise that the Jammu and Kashmir issue has been concocted by Pakistan for its own gains. “Islamabad must be held accountable for the ongoing turmoil inflicted in Kashmir,” the MEP wrote.

He even questioned the citizens of Pakistan who “do not deplore the rape of Kashmiri women and girls, nor the horrors and atrocities inflicted by the Pakistani military and its tribesman on innocent Kashmiri citizens”. “And Pakistanis do not regret the illegal activities of their government or military…, nor the nihilism they imposed in (Pakistan-occupied) Kashmir,” Martusciello went on to write.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been mired in campaigns of disinformation and deception by Pakistan for decades, and now the youth need to know the truth to be empowered to follow their own destinies…”

Martusciello also talked about a former Pakistani Army General who made some revelation in a book regarding the Kashmir strategy. “Akbar Khan confirms how intimidation and threats of the Pakistan regime forced the ruler of Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, to be left with no option but to ask for protection and support from the Indian government – this request then led to the accession of Kashmir to become a part of India under the internationally recognised agreement, The Instrument of Accession, which was accepted under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, 1947,” the MEP claimed.

Prisoner swap takes place in Yemen – Vatican News

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officialinstitutions

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16 October 2020

0

By Nathan Morley

On Thursday, the two opposing sides in Yemen’s ongoing civil war exchanged prisoners in the largest swap of its kind during the conflict

“This operation that means so much to so many families is under way,” Fabrizio Carboni, International Committee of the Red Cross said regional director for the Middle East told the media.

Over 1,000 prisoners departed three airports in the operation which was designed to build trust to enable new talks to end a devastating war which is now in its fifth year.

The swap was included as part of a UN peace deal brokered in Sweden several years ago.

Yemen’s government, supported militarily by a Saudi Arabian-led coalition, and Houthi rebels have conducted sporadic prisoner exchanges in the past.

Mohammed Abdulsalam, a Houthi spokesman said the swap “brings hope for peace-building”.

In a related development, two American hostages held by Houthi rebels were released earlier this week. The remains of a third American captive were repatriated at the same time.

The conflict in Yemen has been raging since 2014, when, working with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Houtis seized much of the nation including the capital Sanaa.

Yemen today is the home of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. It is estimated that more than 22.2 million people – or 75 percent of the population – is in need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict has left 2 million people displaced from their homes.

Listen to the report by Nathan Morley

European Council President calls Turkish gas exploration a “provocation”

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Newsdesk

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16 October 2020

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European Council President calls Turkish gas exploration a “provocation”

European Council President Charles Michel today criticised Turkey’s latest gas exploration acts in the eastern Mediterranean, calling it a “provocation”.

“We deplore Turkey’s unilateral actions and provocations,” Michel said, noting that the EU planned to assess the situation in December with a view to possible sanctions.

Referring to Boris Johnson’s comments on the impending Brexit with or without an agreement, Michel said the European Union is “fully united and fully determined to work to make an agreement possible. However, he will not do it at any cost … We are ready to negotiate, we are ready to continue the negotiations and I hope that we will make progress in the future “.

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UK ready to walk away without ‘fundamental change’ from European Union

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Newsdesk

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16 October 2020

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UK ready to walk away without 'fundamental change' from European Union

Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded after a European Union summit Thursday proposed a fresh round of talks next week in London, while demanding Britain give ground on key stumbling blocks.

“As far as we’re concerned the trade talks are over,” Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters.

“The EU have effectively ended them, and only if the EU fundamentally changes its position will it be worth talking.”

Johnson, accusing the 27-nation bloc of failing “to negotiate seriously” in recent months, said the summit outcome had ruled out a comprehensive, Canada-style free trade agreement between the EU and Britain.

“They want the continued ability to control our legislative freedom, our fisheries, in a way that is obviously unacceptable to an independent country,” he said in a broadcast interview.

“And so with high hearts and complete confidence we will prepare to embrace the alternative,” Johnson said.

He said Britain should “get ready” to operate on stripped-down World Trade Organization rules from January akin to Australia’s relationship with the EU, pointing to sector-by-sector arrangements in areas such as social security, aviation and nuclear cooperation.

“And we will prosper mightily as an independent free-trading nation, controlling our own borders, our fisheries, and setting our own laws.”

More talks?