Pope Francis continued his catechesis on prayer on Wednesday, focusing on the quality of perseverance in prayer. Jesus Himself, the Pope said, “has given an example of continual prayer, practiced perseveringly.”
Parables on persevering prayer
The Pope notes that the Catechism of the Catholic Church sees three parables that especially highlight this characteristic of prayer. In the parable of the unexpected guest who arrives in the middle of the night, we learn that prayer must be tenacious. “Our Father knows well what we need,” the Pope says. “Insistence is necessary not to inform Him or to convince Him, but is necessary to nurture the desire and expectation in us.”
The parable of the unjust judge helps us understand “that faith is not a momentary choice, but a courageous decision to call on God, even to ‘argue with Him,’ without resigning oneself to evil and injustice.”
And in the parable of the pharisee and the publican, Jesus shows that “God does not listen to the prayer of those who are proud,” but “He does grant the prayer of the humble.” Pope Francis adds, “There is no true prayer without a spirit of humility.”
We must pray always
“The teaching of the Gospel is clear,” says Pope Francis: “We need to pray always, even when everything seems vain.” Even when it is difficult to pray, and even when it seems God is not listening, it is necessary to persevere in prayer.
“During those nights, the one who prays is never alone,” the Pope says. Jesus is always present with those who pray, welcoming us “in His prayer, so that we might pray in Him and through Him. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.” Pope Francis says this connection to the prayer of Jesus “gives the wings that the human person’s prayer has always desired to possess.”
The Christian who prays fears nothing
The Holy Father recalls the words of Psalm 91, a psalm of confidence and trust. “It is in Christ that this stupendous prayer is fulfilled, in Him that it finds its complete truth.” The Pope warns that, apart from Christ, “our prayer risks being reduced to human effort. But [Jesus] has taken upon Himself… every human prayer.”
Jesus Christ, says Pope Francis, “is everything for us, even in our prayer life.” The Pope quotes St Augustine, in a citation from the Catechism: Jesus “prays for us as our priest, prays in us as our Head, and is prayed to by us as our God. Therefore, let us acknowledge our voice in Him and His in us”. This, the Pope says, “is why the Christian who prays fears nothing.”
Boeing’s share price climbed to its highest level in months Tuesday on hopes that federal regulators could allow the troubled 737 Max to fly again in the coming weeks and because of hopeful coronavirus vaccine news.
The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to finish reviewing proposed changes to the Max “in the coming days,” Steve Dickson, the agency’s administrator said in a statement late Monday. That would clear a path for the plane to return to the skies after being grounded in March 2019 following two fatal crashes in which 346 people were killed.
But Mr. Dickson cautioned that the agency was not in a hurry to lift its order grounding the plane.
“As I have said many times before, the agency will take the time that it needs to thoroughly review the remaining work,” Mr. Dickson said. “Even though we are near the finish line, I will lift the grounding order only after our safety experts are satisfied that the aircraft meets certification standards.”
Nevertheless, Boeing’s stock was up about 4 percent on Tuesday after a larger surge on Monday following an announcement that a coronavirus vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was more than 90 percent effective in trials, according to early data. The arrival of a vaccine is widely expected to usher in a much-needed travel recovery for the travel and aviation business. Boeing’s stock price is up about 18 percent this week and at its highest level since June.
The stock surge comes after a grueling year for the company. After sweeping layoffs, Boeing expects to start 2021 with 130,000 employees, nearly 19 percent fewer than it had at the start of this year. And, on Tuesday, the company announced that it booked no new orders for commercial airplanes in October and customers canceled 12 orders for the 737 Max. So far this year, Boeing has lost more than 1,000 orders after accounting for cancellations and the diminished likelihood that existing orders will be delivered.
Taxi drivers in Rome last week protested new lockdown rules that will cause them to lose business. The pandemic has caused a severe recession in European Union member states. Credit…Andreas Solaro/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The European Union and its 27 member states are moving closer to deploying its landmark stimulus package worth 750 billion euros, or $890 billion, to help them out of the deep recession the pandemic is inflicting on the bloc.
On Tuesday, negotiators from the European Council, which represents the members’ national governments, and the European Parliament reached a political agreement on a number of sticking points that had put the brakes on the swift deployment of the money.
Among the issues: how the money should be spent, whether there would be extra funding for some of the Parliament’s dearest programs and whether stimulus funding should flow to members like Hungary and Poland that are ignoring bloc’s rule-of-law standards.
The stimulus package is part of the E.U.’s multiyear budget, which is always the subject of haggling and horse-trading among the various institutions that govern the bloc.
It will see member states, through the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, introduce large-scale joint borrowing for the first time, a significant step toward becoming a closer, more federal-type organization with pooled resources and joint debt.
But the stimulus program isn’t finalized yet: It needs to get the approval of each individual European Union government, in many cases by being ratified in national parliaments. Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, who is at loggerheads with the European Union over criticism of his handling of democratic institutions, has threatened to block the program, although experts and observers say he is bluffing.
The bloc’s leaders hope the funds will come online early next year to start plugging holes in desperately needed areas of European economies, in particular smaller or weaker ones that cannot raise their own major stimulus packages, as Germany and France have.
The economy of the European Union, the richest group of nations in the world and home to 410 million people, is expected to shrink on average by 7.4 percent this year, before staging a recovery next year. That recovery, experts and policymakers warn, is highly dependent on continued government spending and could be upended by another wave of coronavirus cases, as most of the bloc languishes in a new lockdown after a surge in infections over the fall.
An AMC movie theater in Times Square. The theater chain said guests could rent any of its approximately 600 theaters nationwide, with fees starting at $99.Credit…Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
AMC Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it would offer Private Theater Rentals at AMC, which would allow people to reserve theaters for private film showings, an effort to attract customers during a pandemic that has decimated movie theaters across the country.
The offering comes after a four-week trial for the service, which drew 110,000 inquiries around the country — more than four times the number of bookings in all of 2019, without any significant marketing, the company said.
“It’s unprecedented for AMC to receive 110,000 contacts in four weeks about a private theater rental, based only on word of mouth and organic publicity, and we are excited about and appreciative of the interest this has sparked among AMC guests,” said Elizabeth Frank, executive vice president of worldwide programming and chief content officer for AMC.
AMC, the largest theater chain the United States, said guests could rent any of its approximately 600 theaters nationwide through its website and mobile app for a movie screening, with fees starting at $99. New releases are more expensive — “Tenet,” “The War With Grandpa” and “Freaky” could cost as much as $349. The rental fee includes up to 20 tickets.
Independent theater owners have also tested private rentals as a way to bring in revenue as they fight for survival.
The announcement comes as AMC teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, with many people still wary of returning to theaters in large numbers and Hollywood pushing off most major releases until next year. In October, AMC said that existing cash resources would be largely depleted by the end of 2020 or early 2021, and that the company would require additional sources of liquidity or increases in attendance levels to meet its financial obligations.
The company said that AMC would require guests to wear masks and practice social distancing in the auditorium.
The deal for Megaphone is meant to allow Spotify to more accurately match ads to the interests of specific listeners.Credit…Ritchie B Tongo/EPA, via Shutterstock
For Spotify, the future is in online audio as a whole, not just music.
That commitment came through loud and clear on Tuesday, when the company announced that it had bought Megaphone, a podcast advertising and publishing platform, for $235 million. The deal is meant to allow Spotify to more accurately match ads to the interests of specific listeners.
Spotify, based in Stockholm, has invested heavily in podcasts, signing the host Joe Rogan to a multiyear deal in May, acquiring Bill Simmons’s The Ringer in February and scooping up Gimlet Media, the studio behind “Crimetown,” last year.
The moves came after the company’s chief executive, Daniel Ek, noted in a 2019 blog post that “audio — not just music — would be the future of Spotify.”
Earlier this year, the company unveiled a technology called Streaming Ad Insertion, which allowed it to get more details on the ages, genders, device types and reactions of people listening to podcast ads. On Tuesday, the company said the same technology would not just be available to podcasts on Spotify but also to third-party podcast publishers on Megaphone, which is owned by the Graham Holdings Company in Virginia.
Spotify said that its podcast advertising revenue surged nearly 100 percent in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier. A report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PWC this summer projected that podcast advertising revenue in the United States was nearly $1 billion and would grow 14.7 percent this year.
The podcasting industry as a whole is going through a shakeup. Last month, SiriusXM completed a $325 million acquisition of the podcasting company Stitcher, which is known for podcasts such as “Freakonomics Radio” and “My Favorite Murder.” Also in October, iHeartMedia said it would buy Voxnest, a podcast services company that offers advertising and analytics tools. Wondery, the company behind “Dirty John” and “Dr. Death,” is exploring a possible sale, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Shoppers filled their carts with Beyond Meat products when the pandemic began, but sales fell in the third quarter.Credit…Steve Helber/Associated Press
Shares of Beyond Meat plunged on Tuesday after the company’s quarterly earnings report fell short of expectations and news of Mcdonald’s new plant-based products raised concerns about the companies’ relationship.
The high-flying plant-based meat company surprised investors late Monday when it reported that its third-quarter revenue had only climbed 2.7 percent from the previous year but that higher pandemic-related expenses resulted in a net loss of $19.3 million in the quarter, compared with net income of $4.1 million a year ago. The stock was down about 22 percent in early trading Tuesday.
Earlier this year, shoppers filled their carts with Beyond Meat’s faux burgers as they loaded pantries and freezers during the pandemic. But that buying slowed significantly in the third quarter, executives said. Retail revenue dropped 11.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.
On top of that, investors were also nervous about the lack of details around an announcement earlier in the day from McDonald’s about McPlant, a line of new plant-based products that it plans to introduce to certain markets next year.
Earlier this year, McDonald’s ran a pilot in Canada with Beyond Meat’s products and Beyond Meat said it developed a patty for the McPlant line, but analysts noted that McDonald’s executives were a bit more vague about its suppliers for its new faux-meat products.
“We haven’t made a decision yet about how we’re going to be and which suppliers are supporting our global rollout,” Chris Kempczinski, the chief executive of McDonald’s, said In an interview Monday with CNBC.
The S&P 500 was fell slightly in early trading. It had closed on Monday within 1 percent of a record it set in early September.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose about half a percent on Tuesday, with gains for energy and financial companies. Asian markets were mixed.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 index rose 1 percent and the pound climbed 0.7 percent against the U.S. dollar and 0.9 percent against the euro. Many believe the likelihood of a Brexit agreement has increased, in part because of the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the United States. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland remains a critical sticking point in the final Brexit negotiations, and the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, is not expected to want to pick a fight with a president-elect who often refers to his Irish heritage and has warned against a return of a hard border.
Talks with the European Union on a trade deal continued ahead of a deadline for an agreement this weekend. The gains came despite an increase in Britain’s unemployment rate to 4.8 percent, a four-year high.
Oil prices continued to climb. Futures contracts on West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose 1.1 percent to $40.75 a barrel. The price jumped more than 8 percent on Monday. An index of the dollar against other major currencies rose 0.2 percent. The price of gold rose 0.8 percent.
The S&P 500 is up more than 8 percent in November, a rally fueled in part by relief over the resolution of the 2020 election and expectations that a split government with Republicans in control of the Senate would curb any substantial policy changes by the incoming Biden administration. News of Pfizer’s vaccine trial added a layer of exuberance to those gains on Monday.
But the rally is still susceptible to changes in sentiment, and trading on Monday highlighted this. The S&P 500 gave up one percentage point of gains in the final half-hour of trading after the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said President Trump was “100 percent within his rights” to challenge the outcome of the election — a reminder to investors that political uncertainty could linger.
Plus, the United States is still setting records for new coronavirus cases and it could be months before a vaccine is widely available. The economy is still struggling, with no new prospects for economic aid from Washington expected anytime soon, in particular as Mr. Trump is preoccupied with overturning the election outcome.
A wind turbine installation in the North Sea off England. Consumption of electricity generated by wind, solar and hydroelectric sources is expected grow nearly 7 percent this year.Credit…Suzie Howell for The New York Times
The energy industry has experienced its worst year in decades because of the pandemic, but clean sources for generating electricity have still managed to grow, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.
Consumption of electricity generated by wind, solar and hydroelectric sources will grow nearly 7 percent in 2020, despite the fact that overall energy demand will slump by 5 percent, the steepest drop since World War II, the Paris-based forecasting group said in a report published on Tuesday.
This performance shows that these renewable sources of energy are “immune to Covid,” Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director said at a news conference.
Renewable electricity is growing because of government policies encouraging such investments and strong interest among investors who want to put money into clean energy projects, according to the report.
The world will add nearly 4 percent to its capacity in 2020 to generate electricity from renewables like wind and solar, despite travel restrictions, factory closures and other obstacles caused by the pandemic. Growth next year is expected to accelerate to around 10 percent, as projects disrupted by the pandemic are brought online and efforts by governments in Europe and Asia to kick-start their economies while also tackling climate change ramp up.
Mr. Birol said that a return to the Paris accord on climate change by the United States, as President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has pledged, could give “very strong momentum” to this drive, leading to a doubling of renewables capacity in the United States over five years.
An Amazon warehouse in France. The company is accused of abusing its dual role as a store for other merchants and a seller of its own products.Credit…Elliott Verdier for The New York Times
European Union regulators brought antitrust charges against Amazon on Tuesday, saying the online retail giant broke competition laws by unfairly using its size and access to data to harm smaller merchants who rely on the company to reach customers, writes Adam Satariano of The New York Times.
Here’s what you need to know about the suit:
The European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-nation bloc, said Amazon had abused its dual role as both a retail store used by millions of vendors and a merchant that sells its own competing goods on the platform.
The authorities accused Amazon of harvesting data from the millions of merchants who use its marketplace to spot popular products, then copy them and sell at a lower price.
The case, which has been expected for months, is the latest front in a trans-Atlantic regulatory push against Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google as the authorities in the United States and Europe take a more skeptical view of their business practices and dominance of the digital economy.
Many in Europe will be watching to see how the Amazon announcement is received by the incoming administration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who is expected to pursue policies that limit the industry’s power.
The announcement on Tuesday was just one part of the regulatory process. It can take many months, or even years, before a fine and other penalties are announced. The commission also could reach a settlement with Amazon.
BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) formally accused US giant Amazon on Tuesday of abusing its control over an online marketplace to distort competition, a breach of anti-trust rules.
Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Brussels had informed the company of its view and would push on with an investigation, while opening a second formal probe.
This second investigation will probe whether Amazon’s Prime service and the “buy box” that appears on the screen “artificially” push buyers into sellers using Amazon’s logistics service.
“We reached the preliminary conclusion that Amazon illegally has abused its dominant position as a marketplace service provider in Germany and France,” she tweeted, ahead of a news conference.
“Amazon may have used sensitive data big scale to compete against smaller retailers. Now for Amazon to respond.”
Shortly afterwards, she told journalists in Brussels: “We must ensure that dual role platforms with market power, such as Amazon, do not distort competition.”
Amazon sells its own products to retail customers through its web platforms, but also allows third-party sellers to use its marketplace for their wares.
Europe accuses the online giant, which made its founder Jeff Bezos the world’s richest man, of using the customer data it gathers to compete with third-party clients.
“Its rules should not artificially favour Amazon’s own retail offers or advantage the offers of retailers using Amazon’s logistics and delivery services,” Vestager said.
“With e-commerce booming, and Amazon being the leading e-commerce platform, a fair and undistorted access to consumers online is important for all sellers.”
Vestager said that Amazon would have an opportunity to respond “in the coming weeks” but that they appear to be using their clients’ data to favour sales of its own products.
There is no time limit on the formal inquiry, nor on the second probe launched on Tuesday. But the European Commission has now sent Amazon “a formal statement of objection”.
This could lead to legal action.
“We disagree with the preliminary assertions of the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” Amazon responded in a statement.
“Amazon represents less than one percent of the global retail market, and there are larger retailers in every country in which we operate,” it said.
“There are more than 150,000 European businesses selling through our stores that generate tens of billions of euros in revenues annually and have created hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
In another development, India’s anti-trust watchdog has ordered a probe into Google’s payments app over allegations the tech giant is abusing its market dominance.
The Competition Commission of India said it was investigating allegations the California-based company “rigged” featured app lists to include Google Pay, “demonstrating clear bias”.
The ombudsman is also looking into a Google plan – to start from March 2022 – that requires some developers to pay a 30% commission on in-app purchases.
The move has sparked an outcry in India.
The case was filed by an anonymous complainant, the commission said, adding that its investigations unit would submit a report within 60 days.
Google has denied the allegations, and in a statement said its payments app was successful because it offers consumers a “simple and secure” experience.
Google Pay uses India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which manages payment apps with over 140 Indian banks that are part of the network.
UPI is also used by Walmart’s PhonePe and the Alibaba-backed Paytm. The three dominate India’s digital payments market.
UPI processed nearly 11 billion transactions in 2019, with a monthly rate of US$31 billion in February leading to an annualised payment value of US$373 billion this year, according to S&P Global.
Google’s Android mobile operating system is by far the dominant player in India, supporting 99 percent of all smartphones, according to the research agency Counterpoint.
Analysts have said having such a widely used operating system could make it easier for Google to control the market, a claim the Silicon Valley firm denies. – AFP
European Union regulators filed antitrust charges against Amazon Tuesday for allegedly using its internal, non-public data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants who sell products on the company’s marketplace.
The European Union’s (EU) Executive Commission filed the charges Tuesday, which represent the culmination of an investigation into Amazon opened in July 2019, according to a press release. In addition to the antitrust charges, the commission announced it will begin a second investigation into Amazon’s implementation of rules that may artificially favor its own products.
“Both investigations into Amazon’s business practices focus on competition concerns that are crucial in today’s platform economy where more and more businesses depend on dominant platforms, and where more and more consumers use these platforms’ services,” EU Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
European Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager gives a press conference on an anti-trust case concerning Amazon on Tuesday. (Olivier Hoslet/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
The commission alleged that Amazon, which has both a role to provide an e-commerce marketplace and a role to sell its own products, uses information it obtains about third-party sellers to bolster its own products, according to Tuesday’s press release. Such information includes third-party sellers’ number of ordered and shipped units of products, revenues and number of visits to sellers’ offers.
Amazon uses its non-public data to avoid the “normal risks of retail competition,” the press release said. The American e-commerce giant specifically leverages this practice in France and Germany, Amazon’s two largest markets in the EU, the commission alleged.
“Data on the activity of third party sellers should not be used to the benefit of Amazon when it acts as a competitor to these sellers,” Vestager said. “The conditions of competition on the Amazon platform must also be fair. Its rules should not artificially favor Amazon’s own retail offers.”
The second investigation is into Amazon’s “buy box” feature, according to the press release. This investigation will also look into, which retailers receive the “Amazon Prime” label.
The “buy box” feature enables Amazon users to either buy a product immediately or add it to their shopping cart, according to RepricerExpress. However, Amazon chooses which retailer gets to sell the product, since the user doesn’t have a choice when using the feature.
“We will look into the potential effects of the rules set by Amazon for the Buy Box and for the Prime program,” Vestager said. “We want to make sure that the sellers that do not use Amazon’s logistics and delivery services also have a chance to compete on the merits on Amazon’s platform.”
Vestager has led the EU’s charge against Google, which it has hit with about $10 billion in fines, according to The Associated Press. The EU is also investigating Apple for antitrust violations.
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LONDON — European Union regulators filed antitrust charges Tuesday against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using its access to data from companies that sell products on its platform to gain an unfair advantage over them.
The charges, filed two years after the bloc’s antitrust enforcer began looking into the company, are the latest effort by European regulators to curb the power of big technology companies. Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition issues, has slapped Google with antitrust fines totaling nearly $10 billion and opened twin antitrust investigations this summer into Apple. The EU’s executive Commission also opened a second investigation Tuesday into whether Amazon favors product offers and merchants that use its own logistics and delivery system.
While the U.S. initially criticized the EU for targeting American companies, it has more recently started taking a tougher line on big tech as well, suing Google this year for abusing its dominance in online search and advertising.
The EU investigation found that Amazon is accessing and analyzing real-time data from other vendors that sell goods on its platform to help it decide which new products of its own to launch and how to price and market them. That “appears to distort genuine competition,” Vestager said.
Investigators focused on that practice in France and Germany, the company’s two biggest markets in the EU, but Vestager didn’t give specific examples of merchants affected by Amazon’s behavior.
The stakes have risen for retailers as many European countries have shut nonessential shops temporarily to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic, pushing more shopping online, where Amazon is a major presence.
Amazon faces a possible fine of up to 10% of its annual worldwide revenue. That could amount to as much as $28 billion, based on its 2019 earnings. The Seattle-based company rejected the accusations.
“We disagree with the preliminary assertions of the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” the company said in a statement, adding that it represents less than 1% of the global retail market and that there are bigger retailers in every country where it operates. Under EU rules, it can reply to the charges in writing and present its case in an oral hearing.
It could still be a while before a final decision as there are no deadlines for bringing an EU antitrust case to an end.
Vestager said that an analysis of millions of transactions and products listed on Amazon’s site found that “very granular, real-time business data” on third-party product listings and transactions was fed into algorithms for Amazon’s retail business that decide which new products to launch, their price and supplier.
Ordinary retailers take risks when they invest heavily to find new products, bring them to market and decide how much to sell them for, Vestager said.
“Our concern is that Amazon can avoid some of those risks by using the data it has access to,” she told reporters at a briefing in Brussels.
The preliminary conclusion, she said, is that by using the data Amazon can focus on the best-selling products, “and this marginalizes third-party sellers and caps their ability to grow.”
The EU’s second investigation will look at the criteria Amazon uses to decide which seller’s product gets chosen for the “buy box” and for its Prime membership service, and whether that means they get preferential treatment by the company’s logistics and delivery services.
The “buy box” lets shoppers add items directly to their shopping baskets. It features a single seller’s product even though multiple merchants might offer the item.
The second investigation excludes Italy because the country’s competition watchdog has already launched a similar probe last year.
WHO/Europe has just launched its Public Health and Social Measures (PHSM) Severity Index to provide standardized data on the ways in which countries in the WHO European Region have sought to slow or stop community spread of COVID-19. This latest tool systematically captures and analyses individual governmental PHSM responses to COVID-19 in the 53 countries of the Region.
“Public health and social measures often work together and should be considered in view of the larger COVID-19 response,” explains Ihor Perehinets, Programme Area Manager, Country Health Emergency Preparedness and IHR. “This tool is a first in WHO. By presenting epidemiological data and governments’ PHSM interventions, we trust that it will strongly inform countries’ efforts in further strengthening their response to the pandemic.”
The PHSM Severity Index is integrated into WHO/Europe’s COVID-19 Dashboard, which allows quick visualization of the most up-to-date COVID-19 statistics and information pertinent to each country in the Region. It captures 6 types of public health measures: the wearing of masks; closure of schools; closure of offices, businesses, institutions and operations; restrictions on gatherings; restrictions on domestic movement; and limitations to international travel.
These indicators represent common, restrictive large-scale interventions taken by a significant number of countries throughout the Region. The scope, severity and timing of their implementation is also aggregated to produce a composite PHSM Severity Index score, which is an average of these 6 indicators.
This level of analysis enables a comparison of individual public health measures within a country as well as overall responses across countries. It also allows for the nuances of each individual government’s actions to be analysed and understood. Common PHSM strategies, outliers and emergent patterns can be seen through a regional-level analysis and these insights, supported by country-specific examples, provide a comprehensive overview to inform policy-making.
Countries are implementing packages of measures calibrated to the local context and epidemiology of the disease. These measures help to stop chains of transmission and prevent outbreaks and are therefore critical in limiting the further spread of COVID-19 at the community level.
Armed separatists in Cameroon’s restive northwestern region abducted Christian Wiyghan Cardinal Tumi as he made his way from Bamenda to Kumbo on 5 November. He was eventually released the following day.
A short 05.47 minutes video, seen by Vatican News, is currently circulating on social media. The video shows the ninety-year-old Cardinal Tumi, who is the Archbishop Emeritus of Douala, being interrogated by his captors while in captivity. Below are excerpts from the video.
Voice of Ambazonian (VA) speaks to Cardinal:
We have an allegation about you that you are the one that is creating problems in our territory first, the fighters who are on the ground, the Ambozonia Restoration Forces, you have the routine (habit) of telling them to lay down their arms …
Cardinal Tumi: All of us are fighting for peace. Even you!
VA: You are now free to go and let the Republic (Government of Cameroon) know that we will never lay down our arms until our freedom comes … because we are fighting for our rights. We are not Rebels; we are not barbaric as the Republic says, we are fighting for our rights as a people …
Cardinal Tumi: I am a Cameroonian citizen like you. I am not part of the government. I am totally independent of what I say. I am not the mouthpiece of the government because I am not employed by the government. When I speak, I speak like a pastor and that I can never stop. If I stop doing that, I will not be faithful to God the almighty. If you have done wrong, I will tell you that you have done wrong; if the government has done wrong, I will say they have done wrong!
VA: Another allegation against you is about federation. That is the allegation that we have heard that you are fighting for federation … We are not fighting for federation … we believe that we are a country (Ambazonia) from 1961…according to the allegation, you have made our boys lay down their arms and many of them have been killed.
Cardinal Tumi: Point of correction. I will preach what is true and (based on) pastoral conviction, biblical conviction. Nobody has the right to tell me to preach the contrary, because I was called by God.
No ransom paid for the release of Cardinal Tumi
The separatists, who obviously filmed the video, are keen to emphasise that Cardinal Tumi confirm, on record, that they had not mistreated him. The Cardinal affirms that he had not been mistreated but tongue-in-cheek, reminds his captor that he had not eaten anything from the time they seized him, the previous day. His interlocutor forges ahead. He wants the Cardinal to confirm, on video, that no money had been paid for his release nor had they robbed him of any personal belongings.
Traditional ruler finally released as well
Cardinal Tumi was abducted together with the paramount traditional ruler of the Nso people, Fon Sehm Mbinglo II, of Bui Division in the North West region of Cameroon. Their convoy of cars was, on the 5 November, intercepted between Bamenda and Kumbo. While Cardinal Tumi was released a day after the abduction, the separatist fighters held on to the traditional ruler. The separatists only released the traditional ruler on Tuesday, 10 November..
Pope Francis’ closeness to Cameroon
Pope Francis has expressed his closeness to Cameroon. At the weekly General Audience on 28 October, he prayed that “the tormented regions of the North West and South West of the country would find peace.”
Human Rights Watch has condemned the violence in Cameroon
According to Human Rights Watch, Cameroon’s military and the armed separatists are both guilty of atrocities and human rights violations in the four-year conflict. Over 3 000 civilians and hundreds of security personnel have been killed. The unrest in the regions has also forced more than 700 000 people from their homes. Many are now living as Internally Displaced Persons while thousands have fled across the border into Nigeria, as refugees.
What Moana was doing was against our religion – estranged father speaks – Nehanda Radio
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The European Commission has informed Amazon of its preliminary view that it has breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in online retail markets. The Commission takes issue with Amazon systematically relying on non-public business data of independent sellers who sell on its marketplace, to the benefit of Amazon’s own retail business, which directly competes with those third party sellers.
The Commission also opened a second formal antitrust investigation into the possible preferential treatment of Amazon’s own retail offers and those of marketplace sellers that use Amazon’s logistics and delivery services.
Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “We must ensure that dual role platforms with market power, such as Amazon, do not distort competition. Data on the activity of third party sellers should not be used to the benefit of Amazon when it acts as a competitor to these sellers. The conditions of competition on the Amazon platform must also be fair. Its rules should not artificially favour Amazon’s own retail offers or advantage the offers of retailers using Amazon’s logistics and delivery services. With e-commerce booming, and Amazon being the leading e-commerce platform, a fair and undistorted access to consumers online is important for all sellers.”
Statement of Objections on Amazon’s use of marketplace seller data
Amazon has a dual role as a platform: (i) it provides a marketplace where independent sellers can sell products directly to consumers; and (ii) it sells products as a retailer on the same marketplace, in competition with those sellers.
As a marketplace service provider, Amazon has access to non-public business data of third party sellers such as the number of ordered and shipped units of products, the sellers’ revenues on the marketplace, the number of visits to sellers’ offers, data relating to shipping, to sellers’ past performance, and other consumer claims on products, including the activated guarantees.
The Commission’s preliminary findings show that very large quantities of non-public seller data are available to employees of Amazon’s retail business and flow directly into the automated systems of that business, which aggregate these data and use them to calibrate Amazon’s retail offers and strategic business decisions to the detriment of the other marketplace sellers. For example, it allows Amazon to focus its offers in the best-selling products across product categories and to adjust its offers in view of non-public data of competing sellers.
The Commission’s preliminary view, outlined in its Statement of Objections, is that the use of non-public marketplace seller data allows Amazon to avoid the normal risks of retail competition and to leverage its dominance in the market for the provision of marketplace services in France and Germany- the biggest markets for Amazon in the EU. If confirmed, this would infringe Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) that prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position.
The sending of a Statement of Objections does not prejudge the outcome of an investigation.
Investigation into Amazon practices regarding its “Buy Box” and Prime label
In addition, the Commission opened a second antitrust investigation into Amazon’s business practices that might artificially favour its own retail offers and offers of marketplace sellers that use Amazon’s logistics and delivery services (the so-called “fulfilment by Amazon or FBA sellers”).
In particular, the Commission will investigate whether the criteria that Amazon sets to select the winner of the “Buy Box” and to enable sellers to offer products to Prime users, under Amazon’s Prime loyalty programme, lead to preferential treatment of Amazon’s retail business or of the sellers that use Amazon’s logistics and delivery services.
The “Buy Box” is displayed prominently on Amazon’s websites and allows customers to add items from a specific retailer directly into their shopping carts. Winning the “Buy Box” (i.e. being chosen as the offer that features in this box) is crucial to marketplace sellers as the Buy Box prominently shows the offer of one single seller for a chosen product on Amazon’s marketplaces, and generates the vast majority of all sales. The other aspect of the investigation focusses on the possibility for marketplace sellers to effectively reach Prime users. Reaching these consumers is important to sellers because the number of Prime users is continuously growing and because they tend to generate more sales on Amazon’s marketplaces than non-Prime users.
If proven, the practice under investigation may breach Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) that prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position.
The Commission will now carry out its in-depth investigation as a matter of priority. The opening of a formal investigation does not prejudge its outcome.
Background and procedure
Article 102 of the TFEU prohibits the abuse of a dominant position. The implementation of these provisions is defined in the Antitrust Regulation (Council Regulation No 1/2003), which can also be applied by the national competition authorities.
A Statement of Objections is a formal step in Commission investigations into suspected violations of EU antitrust rules. The Commission informs the parties concerned in writing of the objections raised against them. The addressees can examine the documents in the Commission’s investigation file, reply in writing and request an oral hearing to present their comments on the case before representatives of the Commission and national competition authorities. Sending a Statement of Objections and opening of a formal antitrust investigation does not prejudge the outcome of the investigations.
More information on the investigation is available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under case number AT.40462.
The Commission has informed Amazon and the competition authorities of the Member States that it has opened a second in-depth investigation into Amazon’s business practices.
This investigation will cover the European Economic Area, with the exception of Italy. The Italian Competition Authority started to investigate partially similar concerns last year, with a particular focus on the Italian market. The Commission will continue the close cooperation with the Italian Competition Authority throughout the investigation.
More information on the investigation will be available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under case number AT.40703.
There is no legal deadlines for bringing an antitrust investigation to an end. The duration of an antitrust investigation depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of the case, the extent to which the undertakings concerned cooperate with the Commission and the exercise of the rights of defence.
Most Reverend José H. Gomez Archbishop of Los Angeles President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
November 10, 2020
I welcome the report of the Holy See’s investigation into its knowledge and decision-making regarding Theodore McCarrick during his long career as a priest, bishop, and cardinal. We are studying these findings, and we are grateful to our Holy Father Pope Francis for his pastoral concern for the family of God in the United States and his leadership in calling the Church to greater accountability and transparency in addressing issues of abuse and the mishandling of abuse claims at every level.
This is another tragic chapter in the Church’s long struggle to confront the crimes of sexual abuse by clergy. To McCarrick’s victims and their families, and to every victim-survivor of sexual abuse by the clergy, I express my profound sorrow and deepest apologies. Please know that my brother bishops and I are committed to doing whatever is in our power to help you move forward and to ensure that no one suffers what you have been forced to suffer.
To all those who have suffered abuse by a priest, bishop, or someone in the Church, I urge you to report this abuse to law enforcement and to Church authorities. You can find detailed information on how and where to report abuse at www.usccb.org/committees/protection-children-young-people/how-report-abuse.
This report underscores the need for us to repent and grow in our commitment to serve the people of God. Let us all continue to pray and strive for the conversion of our hearts, and that we might follow Jesus Christ with integrity and humility.
European Union regulators filed antitrust charges Tuesday against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using its access to data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants using its platform.
The EU’s executive Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, issued the charges after it started looking into the company two years ago. Adding to Amazon’s regulatory headaches, EU officials also opened a second investigation into whether the company favors product offers and merchants that use its own logistics and delivery system.
It’s the latest effort by Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition issues, to curb the power of big technology companies. She has slapped Google with antitrust fines totaling nearly $10 billion and opened twin antitrust investigations this summer into Apple. The U.S. has started taking a tougher line as well, suing Google this year for abusing its dominance in online search and advertising.
It’s not a problem that Amazon is big and successful, said Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition. But “our concern is very specific business conduct which appears to distort genuine competition.”
EU officials focused on the company’s dual role as a marketplace and retailer. In addition to selling its own products, the U.S. company allows third-party retailers to sell their own goods through its site.
The commission took issue with Amazon’s systematic use of business data that it has exclusive access to to avoid the normal risks of competition and leverage its dominance for e-commerce services in France and Germany, the company’s two biggest markets in the EU.
Amazon faces a possible fine of up to 10% of its annual worldwide revenue, which could amount to as much as $28 billion based on its 2019 earnings. The company rejected the accusations.
“We disagree with the preliminary assertions of the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” the company said in a statement. Under EU rules, it can reply to the charges in writing and present its case in an oral hearing.
Investigators analyzed data covering 80 million transactions and 100 million products listed on Amazon’s site. Vestager said they found that “very granular, real time business data” on third party product listings and transactions was fed into algorithms for Amazon’s retail business that decide which new products to launch, their price and supplier.
“In other words, this is a case about big data,” Vestager told a press briefing.
Ordinary retailers take risks when they invest heavily to find new products, bring them to market and decide how much to sell them for, Vestager said. “Our concern is that Amazon can avoid some of those risks by using the data it has access to.”
The stakes have risen for retailers as many European countries have shut nonessential shops temporarily to try to contain the coronavirus pandemic, pushing more shopping online, where Amazon is a major presence.
The EU’s second investigation will look at the criteria Amazon uses to decide which seller’s product gets chosen for the “buy box” and for its Prime membership service, and whether that means they get preferential treatment by the company’s logistics and delivery services.
The buy box, found on the right side of Amazon’s site, lets shoppers add items directly to their shopping baskets. The box features a single seller’s product even though multiple merchants might offer it.
A MAN who shot a Greek Orthodox priest last month in the French city of Lyon has been charged with attempted murder after admitting he acted out of jealousy because his wife was having an affair with the cleric, prosecutors said.
The 40-year-old Georgian national was arrested on Friday together with his wife, a Russian about 10 years his junior, and charged on Sunday.
His wife was released without charges at the weekend, according to the Lyon prosecutor Nicolas Jacquet.
The shooting had initially raised fears of a new act of terror in France against a Christian target after coming on the heels of a spate of deadly attacks in the last weeks blamed on radical Islamists.
But the investigation has shown that the motives of the attacker in Lyon were quite different.
Prosecutors said the suspect “turns out to be the husband of a woman who was having an affair with the victim.”
The man admitted shooting the priest and told police that he had wanted revenge. However he claimed that he had only wanted to injure his rival, not kill him, the prosecutor said.
The 52-year-old priest, Nikolaos Kakavelakis, a married Greek national, had been holding services in the Lyon Orthodox church for the past decade.
He was shot on October 31 as he was locking the doors of the church, with two blasts from a sawn-off shotgun seriously wounding him.
Parts of the weapon have been recovered with the help of the suspect, the prosecutor said.
The world community would be shocked to hear of the murder of another innocent Ahmadi, Mahboob Khan, brutally murdered in Peshawar, Pakistan, because of his faith and belief. Ahmadis are continuously being targeted in various cities of Pakistan and more recently in Peshawar while the Government of Pakistan has repeatedly failed to protect and stop the violence against the members of the Ahmadiyya community.
Mehboob Khan, 82 years old and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community was killed in Peshawar on 8th November 2020. He was a retired official from the Public health services. He was on his way back home after visiting his daughter when unknown assailants shot at him while he was waiting for a bus at the stop. He was shot at a very close range, close to his head, killing him instantly. As a member of he Ahmadiyya Muslim community Mehboob Khan was facing persecution and threats to his life because of his faith.
This is the fourth murder of an Ahmadi in Peshawar during the past few months. Several governments and NGOs have condemned such murders and have demanded that the Government of Pakistan must take decisive action against such heinous acts of violence that are the direct result of the ongoing religious hatred spread by the Clerics against the Ahmadis in Pakistan. As a result of such hatred and targeted attacks, Ahmadis in Pakistan live under a threatening sense of insecurity and fear. Such killings are clearly an evidence that the government and law enforcing agencies are less bothered and intentionally ignoring to protect and safeguard the lives and properties of Ahmadis.
Hate campaigns against Ahmadis in recent months are on the increase. The Government of Pakistan has turned a blind eye towards the plight of members of the Ahmadiyya Community and has failed to act against those behind such hate campaigns.
Despite the repeated rhetoric of the Pakistan Government that Ahmadis are free and not persecuted, nothing is further from the truth. Pakistan is unable to safeguard and protect Ahmadis who are citizens of Pakistan. The evidence is compelling, overwhelming and beyond dispute. The Government of Pakistan needs to get its act together to ensure the safety and protection of all its citizens.
Web: www.hrcommittee.org – Address: International Human Rights Committee – 22 Deer Park Rd, London, SW19 3TL
The reviewed rules, agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators, govern the export of so-called dual use goods, software and technology – for example, high-performance computers, drones and certain chemicals – with civilian applications that might be repurposed to be used in ways which violate human rights.
The current update, made necessary by technological developments and growing security risks, includes new criteria to grant or reject export licenses for certain items.
Human rights and cyber-surveillance
Parliament negotiators, mandated by a 2018 report, have succeeded in substantially strengthening human rights considerations among those new criteria to avoid that certain surveillance and intrusion technologies exported from the EU contribute to human rights abuses.
Parliament negotiators
got agreement on setting up an EU-wide regime to control cyber-surveillance items that are not listed as dual-use items in international regimes, in the interest of protecting human rights and political freedoms;
strengthened member states’ public reporting obligations on export controls, so far patchy, to make the cyber-surveillance sector in particular more transparent;
increased the importance of human rights as licensing criterion; and
agreed on rules to swiftly include emerging technologies in the regulation.
Bernd Lange (S&D, DE), the head of the negotiating delegation
“Parliament’s perseverance and assertiveness against a blockade by some member states has paid off: respect for human rights will become an export standard. The revised regulation updates European export controls and adapts to technological progress, new security risks and information on human rights violations. It is an EU milestone, as export rules for surveillance technologies have been agreed for the first time. Economic interests must not take precedence over human rights.
“This new regulation, in addition to the one on conflict minerals and a future supply chain law, shows that we can shape globalisation according to a clear set of values and binding rules to protect human and labour rights and the environment. This must be the blueprint for future rule-based trade policy”, the leader of the Parliamentary delegation said.
Markéta Gregorová (Greens/EFA, CZ), rapporteur
“Today is a win for global human rights. We have set an important example for other democracies to follow. We will now have EU-wide transparency on the export of cyber surveillance and will control the export of biometric surveillance. Authoritarian regimes will no longer be able to secretly get their hands on European cyber-surveillance. We still do not have a level-playing field among EU countries but several new provisions allow for autonomous controls, better enforcement and coordination. I expect that member states’ obligation to uphold human rights and their own security will be the foundation of further work ahead”, said the rapporteur, who has led the negotiating team since July 2020.
Next steps
The informal political agreement now needs to be formally endorsed by the International Trade Committee and Parliament as a whole, as well as the Council, before it can enter into effect.
Background
The Commission tabled the original proposal to review the export controls regime in 2016, with the goal of updating the rules under which member states license companies to sell dual use goods, software and technology to third countries. The Commission also included cyber-surveillance technologies among dual use products. Parliament adopted its negotiating mandate in January 2018, and was waiting for the Council’s position to start talks until October 2019.
Father Pierluigi Maccalli appeared visibly moved after Monday’s meeting with Pope Francis, who had prayed for him along with the Church. “Thank you” were the only words that the 59-year-old missionary from the periphery managed to utter, overwhelmed by the Pope’s gesture.
A member of the Society of African Missions, originally from the northern Italian town of Madignano, Father Maccalli relived his ordeal as he recounted it to Pope Francis, and offered it for his beloved African community in Niger where he worked.
“I was moved, I told the Pope what I went through and entrusted to his prayers especially the communities I visited and that have been without a priest or a missionary for over 2 years,” he told Vatican News. “I asked the Pope to remember the Church of Niger in his prayers,” he said during the interview that took place soon after the papal audience.
The Pope, he said, listened keenly.
A missionary from the periphery
Father Maccalli recalled the applause the Holy Father asked for from those in St. Peter’s Square, when he announced the good news of the missionary’s release at the end of his midday “Angelus” prayer on Mission Sunday, 18 October.
The priest thanked the Pope who replied: “We supported you but you supported the Church.” “At this,” Father Maccalli said, “I had no words: I, a little missionary, and he who said this to me … I really have no words.”
Father Maccalli described the Pope’s embrace like that of a father, whom he carries in his prayers every day. “To find myself in front of him was truly an emotion and a feeling of great gratitude,” he told Vatican News. “I never thought that a missionary who goes to the peripheries of the world could one day find himself before the Pope himself, the leader of the universal Church.”
More than the Pope’s words, it is his gesture that the missionary said he will treasure in his heart forever. “When we said goodbye, I shook his hand and he kissed my hands. I didn’t expect it…!” Father Maccalli said.
Prayers of tears
Thinking back to his captivity, he said, “Tears were my bread for many days and were my prayer when I didn’t know what to say.” One day, he recalled a rabbi’s words who said that God counts the number of women’s tears. Father Maccalli said he then prayed: “Lord, who knows whether you also count men’s tears… I offer them to you in prayer to water that arid mission land but also the arid of hearts of those who hate and cause war and violence.”
Speaking about the basic needs to survive in the desert, the Missionary of Africa said it is essential to have water to drink, to have something to eat, even if it is the same food every day, such as onions, lentils and sardines. It is not the sought-after dishes that matter, he added: “It is the same in spiritual life.”
“What matters is shalom [peace], forgiveness and brotherhood, and as a missionary,” Father Maccalli concluded, “I now feel an even greater urge to be a witness of peace, brotherhood and forgiveness, today and always.”
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