“The Secretary-General is very encouraged by Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide’s announcement of Japan’s commitment to get to net zero emissions by 2050, which is a very significant positive development, and hereby expresses his appreciation for Prime Minister Suga’s leadership,” said the statement released by UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
The statement said Mr. Guterres now looked forward to Japan, the world’s third largest economy, announcing concrete policy measures, along with an ambitiously revised NDC, in time for the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), due to be held in Glasgow in November 2021.
“The Secretary-General has no doubt that Japan has all the necessary technological, financial and engineering tools to get to net zero emissions by 2050. He is confident that Japan will also assist developing countries to reach that same objective, including through technological assistance and its public and private financing for renewable energy”, the statement said.
President Xi promised to revise China’s NDCs accordingly and called on all countries to meet their commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement, which sought to keep a global temperature rise this century well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The European Union has also pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050.
The United States has not made a similar commitment, and after signalling in 2017 that it would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, it could formally leave the pact as soon as the day after next week’s presidential election.
New clashes were reported between Azerbaijan and Armenia just hours after the US President had proudly announced on social networking site Twitter that his team managed to negotiate a ceasefire between the warring Caucasus nations.
The US-brokered truce was a third attempt to establish a lasting ceasefire in the flare-up of a decades-old conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Two previous Russia-brokered agreements, including one last weekend, collapsed immediately after taking force, with both sides blaming each other for violations.
The new ceasefire was also challenged quickly by accusations from both sides. Azerbaijani Defense Ministry alleged that Armenian forces fired at Azerbaijani settlements and the positions of the Azerbaijani army.
It said attacks happened “along the entire front, as well as on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border” and involved various small arms, mortars, and howitzers.
Armenian denial
Armenian military officials rejected the accusations and accused Azerbaijani forces of shelling the northeastern area of Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions.
Local authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh also charged that Azerbaijan targeted the town of Martuni with military aviation. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry denied it violated the ceasefire agreement.
Amongst the population in Nagorno-Karabakh, there are Christian and Catholic communities including one that worships in the 19th-century Armenian Apostolic cathedral in the town of Shusha.
The Holy Saviour Cathedral, also known as Ghazanchetsots, was heavily damaged in recent shelling, allegedly by Azerbaijan’s forces. But priests there can still be seen ringing the bells and praying for the victims and for peace inside the damaged church.
‘Prayers reaching God’
“It doesn’t matter if these prayers come from basements, houses, or churches – all prayers reach God,” said Armenian priest Andreas Tavadyan. “To be honest, there are far more dangerous places in Artsakh [the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh]. There is a front line which is really dangerous. But this is our front line; we have to fight the evil, we pray. It’s our [spiritual] battlefield.”
He added: “I believe this danger is not that important for us. No matter if we see that the cathedral is damaged, we know God is in all of our prayers. God will save us.”
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan, a mainly Muslim nation, but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia, which is primarily Christian, since a war there ended in 1994.
The latest fighting that began on September 27 has involved heavy artillery, rockets, and drones. The violence has officially killed more than 1,000 people in the largest escalation of hostilities over the separatist region in more than a quarter-century.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Moscow’s information suggests the death toll from the fighting was nearing 5,000, significantly higher than what both sides report.
Monday’s general strike, called by the opposition, went ahead after President Lukdashenko defied a midnight ultimatum to surrender power.
Three months have gone by since the disputed election in which Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, declared a landslide victory in the former Soviet republic despite the claim by the opposition and by Western countries that the vote was rigged.
Mass demonstrations have been taking place since then and around 15,000 people have been arrested during a crackdown on the protests and nearly all opposition leaders have fled or been jailed.
In Monday’s national strike factory workers chanted slogans and students took to the streets. After having detai .ned over 520 protesters on Sunday, tv footage showed riot police throwing stun grenades and more people men and women, old and young – being arrested and taken away in police vans.
The past was the 11th straight weekend of huge demonstrations in the capital Minsk and in other major cities.
The strike has been called by exiled opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya who has urged Belarusians to block roads, shut down workplaces, stop using government shops and services and withdraw all money from their bank accounts.
If sustained, analysts say, it could open a new phase in the crisis, testing whether the opposition has the mass support it needs to bring enterprises across the country of 9.5 million people to a halt.
Just last week Tsikhanouskaya received the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Award for Human Rights for “the courage, resilience and determination of the Belarusian opposition”.
Pope Francis has said he is following the situation in Belarus and he has appealed for dialogue, for the rejection of violence and for the respect for justice and rights in the country. (Source: reuters and other news agencies)
Hungaryʼs government on Monday filed an action with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) seeking the annulment of certain provisions in the Mobility Package on the grounds they are discriminatory and run counter to EU climate objectives, state news wire MTI reports, citing a joint statement by the Innovation and Technology Ministry and the Justice Ministry.
Image by frantic00 / Shutterstock.com
The contested provisions impose a disproportionate financial and administrative burden on European haulers and are also impossible to enforce, the ministries said.
The ministries noted that the European Parliament and the European Council had approved the Mobility Package in July in the face of vocal opposition by Hungary and other member states.
The ministries said the Hungarian government had taken a stand against the provisions in all available forums since the drafting of the package started three years earlier.
The declared goals of the new regulations are to protect the interests of truck drivers, while improving their social and work conditions, but the Hungarian government is of the view that the new provisions address existing problems poorly and further worsen the situation of those affected rather than resolving issues, the ministries said.
The provisions run contrary to the principle of free movement of labor, goods, and services; and they restrict the operation of the unified market and national markets with protectionist measures, they added.
The ministries said the provisions give haulers from outside of the EU an advantage, which hurts member states economically and can cause a deterioration in traffic safety conditions for EU citizens.
The governmentʼs CJEU action seeks to exempt haulers from the EU directive on posted workers, to exempt accompanied combined transport from new rules on combined transport, to scrap the prohibition on sleeping in cabs because of the insufficient number of safe rest stops, to roll back the deadline for installing smart tachographs to the originally planned 2034, and to eliminate a rule requiring lorry drivers to return to their base of operations every eight weeks.
In a post on Facebook, Justice Minister Judit Varga said the new rules “undermine the EUʼs internal market and deliberately strengthen the undue competitive advantage of Western European Member States”.
She said that Hungary had been joined by Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Romania, in consistently opposing the regulations.
“As we did in the case of the Posting of Workers Directive in 2018, we are taking strong action against EU legislation and we call on the Court of Justice of the European Union to annul legislation that is contrary to the principles enshrined in the EU Treaties and contrary to the freedom to provide services,” she said.
GENEVA: World Trade Organization (WTO) members gave the green light on Monday (Oct 26) for Brussels to slap tariffs on US$4 billion in US imports annually in retaliation for illegal American aid to plane maker Boeing.
A WTO arbitrator had ruled on Oct 13 that the retaliatory sanctions were warranted, but the move needed to be approved by the organisation’s 164 member states before the European Union could go ahead.
During a meeting in Geneva on Monday, “WTO members approved the European Union’s request for authorisation to impose retaliatory measures against the United States for its failure to comply with the WTO ruling regarding US government subsidies for Boeing”, a WTO official said.
According to a list of targets seen by AFP, Brussels is expected to impose tariffs on a long line of imports, including aircraft made in the United States, along with tractors, sweet potatoes, peanuts, frozen orange juice, tobacco, ketchup and Pacific salmon.
Monday’s decision was the latest development in a 16-year saga between Washington and Brussels over support for their leading aircraft manufacturers.
It mirrors the WTO’s move a year ago to authorise a record US$7.5 billion in US sanctions against European goods.
Cardinal-elect Kambanda, in an interview with Vatican News, said the news came as a great surprise to him.
How did you receive the news, and what was your reaction?
It was a big surprise for me, which I did not expect. I was living my usual everyday activities when someone called me with the news. I did not believe it at first. It is a surprise for me. I thank the Lord, for He is the author of history: History in general or personal history. I never ever dreamt of being a Cardinal. It was the Lord who wanted it. I love the Lord, and I consecrated my life to work for Him. Being a Cardinal gives me the opportunity to do even much more for the Lord. I am incredibly grateful to the Holy Father for entrusting me with this responsibility. I love the Church; I enjoy working for the Church, and this will also give me the opportunity to do much more for it.
Your country, Rwanda, went through a difficult period of the Genocide. Today, this country continues to reflect on the wounds of the past and continues to live reconciliation. What challenges do you foresee. as a future Cardinal, chosen at a time when the Pope has just published his encyclical, “Fratelli tutti.” How do you see yourself living this reality in this your new responsibility?
We have been on a 26-year journey after the Genocide. And we have worked hard for reconciliation. It was terrible to see a Catholic and Christian community divided and killing each other during the Genocide. We thank the Lord for the journey we have taken so far. At this time, however, we have reached a level of reconciliation and unity and Pope’s encyclical “Fratelli tutti” has been warmly welcomed in Rwanda. We will continue to meditate and deepen our reflection. The encyclical will reinforce and facilitate our pastoral work of reconciliation. And now yes, I have been given a new challenge in the role of evangelization within the universal Church. I will try to witness to the best of my abilities and make my contribution and share solidarity with others who are also suffering violent conflicts and divisions in the communities.
On 7 May 2013, you were appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Kibungo and then on 19 November 2018, Pope Francis appointed you as the Archbishop of Kigali. Today you have been appointed Cardinal in the universal Church. How do you feel about this sign of great confidence that the Church has bestowed in you?
I thank the Lord for his grace which is at works in his Church all the time –a Church which today faces several challenges. Therefore, we must work hard to share and make the message of Salvation better understood. It is both joy, a great burden, and a challenge.
Are you the first to be appointed Cardinal in your country?
Yes. In the history of Rwanda, I am the first to be appointed Cardinal. In the region of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of the Region of Central Africa (Conférence Episcopal Centrafricaine) which comprises Rwanda, DRC, and Burundi, we have two Cardinals in the DRC. Now it is a great joy for the Great Lakes Region to have one more.
What message do you have for your compatriots in Rwanda, on this joyous occasion of your appointment as the country’s first-ever Cardinal. Also, for the Great Lakes Region, still in need of reconciliation?
I am very grateful to my fellow Bishops in Rwanda and in the region for their collaboration, solidarity, and the work we do. If the Pope made me a Cardinal, it is also thanks to the faith, work, and pastoral care of the entire community. I assure (my compatriots and those in the region) of my collaboration and solidarity, especially for peace and reconciliation, in this region. We live in times of tension, now mixed with the Covid-19 pandemic. As pastors, we need to guide people towards peace, brotherhood, and sisterhood. In this context, the encyclical “Fratelli tutti” will enlighten us and will help us a lot in our pastoral work for reconciliation and fraternity.
A treaty aimed at destroying all nuclear weapons and forever prohibiting their use has crossed a crucial milestone, signalling its entry into force in 90 days. When Honduras ratified the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on Saturday, it became the 50th nation to do so – the minimum needed for it to enter into force as international law.
A worldwide movement
The ratification threshold was reached a little more than three years after the treaty was completed in negotiations at the UN’s New York headquarters. UN Secretary General António Guterres greeted the 50th ratification as “the culmination of a worldwide movement to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons.”
The UN’s announcement was hailed by anti-nuclear activists but has been strongly opposed by the United States and 8 other nuclear-armed countries.
Guterres commended all the countries whose ratification of the accord, approved by 122 nations at the General Assembly on July 7, 2017, has helped bring the ban on weapons this far, singling out the work of civil society groups.
Outstanding among these is the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Its Executive Director Beatrice Fihn hailed the coming into force as “a new chapter for nuclear disarmament”. “Decades of activism have achieved what many said was impossible: nuclear weapons are banned,” she said.
Saturday’s achievement was reached a day after the island nations of Jamaica and Nauru submitted their ratifications. The treaty will become active in January. The 50th ratification came on the UN’s 75th anniversary, Saturday.
Nuclear weapons immoral and illegal
Fihn said the ban on nuclear weapons comes just over 75 years after “the horrific attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the founding of the UN which made nuclear disarmament a cornerstone”. “The 50 countries that ratify this treaty,” she stressed, “are showing true leadership in setting a new international norm that nuclear weapons are not just immoral but illegal.”
“Entry into force,” Guterres said, “is a tribute to the survivors of nuclear explosions and tests, many of whom advocated for this Treaty.”
Not binding, but peer pressure
However, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is not binding on those nations that refuse to sign it. The United States and the world’s eight other nuclear-armed countries — Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — boycotted the negotiations that created the treaty and have shown no inclination to accept it.
“They know that even if it doesn’t bind them legally, it has an impact,” Fihn said. “Nobody’s immune to peer pressure from other governments.”
So far, the governments of 84 countries have signed the treaty, and the legislatures of 50 of those have ratified it. Advocates expected the remainder of the signatories to ratify it in coming weeks and months, giving it more relevance.
Holy See, Popes against nuclear weapons
The Holy See and the Popes have vigorously supported the effort of the UN and the world against nuclear weapons. In a video message on September 25 on the occasion of the UN’s 75th anniversary this year, Pope Francis reiterated his call for increased support for the principal international and legal instruments on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and prohibition.
Earlier, during his visit to Japan in 2019, while laying flowers at the Peace Memorial in Nagasaki on November 24, Pope Francis expressed the pain and horror of the effects of the atomic bomb attack on the city on 9 August 1945. He said, “We must never grow weary of working to support the principal international legal instruments of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, including the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.”
Visiting Hiroshima that day he said, “The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral.”
On 17 October, a teacher at a middle school in a town northwest of Paris was beheaded on the street outside of his school. He was assassinated for facilitating a discussion with his students about caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad during his civic education class, which is in conformity with the National Education curriculum. Police shot his killer to death sometime later that same day. French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the killing an “Islamist terrorist attack”, as it appears that the killer was carrying out a sort of fatwa launched against this teacher on social media.
On Saturday 24 October, a suicide bomber attacked the Kawsar-e Danish centre in Kabul. The death toll was estimated at 24 and the number of wounded at 54, According to officials, many of the victims were teenage students between 15 and 26 years old.
In 2019, UNICEF declared that “attacks on schools in Afghanistan tripled between 2017 and 2018, surging from 68 to 192”. The UN agency added that “an estimated 3.7 million children between the ages of 7 and 17 – nearly half of all school-aged children in the country – are out of school in Afghanistan”, with 60% of them being girls. Schools and girls’ education are clearly priority targets on the agenda of Islamist terrorists.
Teachers are increasingly vulnerable to death, injuries and abduction, not only in Afghanistan but also in other Muslim majority countries torn by conflicts with Islamist extremist groups.
Afghanistan, France and others: different countries, same battle
School education is targeted, including in democratic countries, by extremist Islamist ideology regardless of whether it is done in non-violent or violent ways.
Their objective in democracies is to intimidate teachers so that they self-censure and keep silent about numerous points of their political ideology and governance, including: extra-judicial killing, homophobia, gender-based segregation and discrimination, an inferior status of women and non-Muslim people, discrimination, and so on.
Their objective concerning educational programmes is to obstruct their implementation on a number of issues such as: teaching about the holocaust and anti-Semitism, the theory of evolution, the study of the human body, swimming lessons, and the like.
Their objective is to reach Muslim school children with their extremist Islamist teachings through various channels and mould them into active opponents to points of the curriculum that they disagree with.
Finally, the ‘ideologisation’ and takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood of associations addressing anti-Muslim sentiments and hate speech in democratic countries is an essential component of this strategy.
Islamism is a political ideology, not a new Muslim movement
Islamism is a political ideology and must be treated as such. Radical Islamists are not teaching an alternative theology, like the Tabligh Jamaat followers or the Sufis. They aspire to take power in Muslim-majority countries where populations are peacefully practicing and teaching Sunni, Shia and other forms of Islam. In other countries, they try to undermine and manipulate their political, educational and cultural institutions, their societal weaknesses, vulnerable groups within their societies and their generous freedoms. Their objective is to divide and fracture societies with the intent of inciting community-based violence. Chaos is the fertile ground on which they can prosper.
The battle against Islamism in France and other democratic countries must not be against Islam as a religion or against Muslims as their co-religionists in Muslim majority countries are the main victims of this ideology. An increasing number of Muslim leaders and institutions oppose Islamism in France individually and collectively, such as the Conference of the Imams in France and the Union of the Mosques in France. The French state must provide them with full assistance and must combat Islamism as a political movement on every battlefield with the appropriate weapons and partners.
The United States on Monday told the WTO that it regretted the European Union’s seeking retaliatory tariffs for Boeing subsidies, and that it favoured a “negotiated resolution” with the bloc over its subsidies to rival planemaker Airbus .
FILE PHOTO: U.S. and European Union flags are pictured during the visit of Vice President Mike Pence to the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
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GENEVA: The United States on Monday told the WTO that it regretted the European Union’s seeking retaliatory tariffs for Boeing subsidies, and that it favoured a “negotiated resolution” with the bloc over its subsidies to rival planemaker Airbus .
The U.S. speech, seen by Reuters, came at a meeting of the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) which gave its formal clearance on Monday for the EU to impose tariffs on US$4 billion of U.S. goods.
“In conclusion, the United States strongly favors a negotiated resolution of its dispute with the EU over the massive launch aid subsidies it provided to Airbus. The United States has recently provided proposals for a reasonable settlement that would provide a level playing field,” the U.S. delegation said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Michael Shields)
European Council chief Charles Michel has criticized Turkey’s actions after Erdogan says Emmanuel Macron needs ‘mental check’.
“Instead of a positive agenda, Turkey chooses provocations and unilateral actions in the Mediterranean and now the insults. This is intolerable. There should be respect to Europe and its member states,” the top EU official tweeted.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier launched an attack on Emmanuel Macron. Erdogan questioned French President’s mental condition while criticizing Macron’s attitude toward Islam and Muslims.
Տեքստում սխալ կամ վրիպակ նկատելու դեպքում, ուղարկեք խմբագրին հաղորդագրություն` նշելով տվյալ սխալը, այնուհետև սեղմելով Ctrl-Enter:
Women and children from Artsakh, who have forced to flee their homes due to the Azerbaijani aggression launched on September 27 against Artsakh, organized another rally on Monday outside the EU Delegation to Armenia.
The participants of the rally are hold posters, reading՝ “Stop Azerbaijan aggression”, “Stop Turkey”, “Recognize Artsakh”. They have also prepared a letter and plan to hand over to the Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Victorin.
“Today, Artsakh mothers, sisters, women and children, who occurred in Yerevan due to the war unleashed by Azerbaijan and Turkey, have gathered outside the EU Delegation to Armenia with a demand not to stay silent. We urge the European Union not to turn a blind eye to our sufferings. We do not ask for protection but to give a legal assessment of the current developments in Artsakh,” one of the participants said. They also call to stop putting false equivalence between the conflict parties and impose sanctions against Turkey and Azerbaijan.
To remind, number of rallies have been organised in Yerevan in the recent days, including in front of the buildings of EU Embassies and the UN Office.
MAKKAH: The Muslim World League (MWL) has condemned attempts to insult and abuse followers of religion. The MWL stated that the principle of freedom of expression must be framed by values based on respect for the feelings of others and that freedom of opinion, when it deviated from those values, offended the moral meaning of freedoms. Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the MWL, said the body was aware that the motive for stirring religious sentiment was “on the face of it” nothing more than a provocation for material gain.
European Commission Speech Brussels, 26 Oct 2020 Thank you President Sanchez.
Presidents of autonomous communities and cities,
Ministers,
President of the Federation of Municipalities and Provinces,
thank you …
The Gita wasn’t the first book that connected me to Krishna, yet it remains the most impactful reading experience of my life. I remember that first reading clearly – I stayed up late, drawn into the story of Arjuna and wondering what decisions he yet might make. The ending didn’t disappoint.
I’ve returned to that good book recently, for an hour a day, soaking in its words as if reading it again for the first time. I am now older and wiser in the practice of Krishna Bhakti and yet it still moves me, still delights, still informs.
Besides reminding me that I am a spirit soul, individual and with an eternal form, what else about the Gita do I love?
First, the generosity of the invitation to a relationship with Krishna. Again and again Krishna says, anyone, no matter from what level or sphere of life one is in, can directly interact with Him. Race, country, status, or what we have done or not done, cannot exclude us from our individual choice to reconnect with Krishna. His door is wide open, always.
Secondly, the reminder that it’s all about love – not peace, not liberation, not becoming one with. Not winning, not losing, being right, or being the best. It’s about pure, exuberant, unconditional love for the source of all life, Sri Krishna. The experience of it, the exchange of it, the absorption in it. How nice is that? We are meant to love and be loved. Why we run from that is our great misfortune.
Thirdly, the absolute simplicity of the process. Just hear about Krishna. Of course, this simplicity is complicated by the messy and miserable material world that we are part of. Our body is a mass of emotions and fears which successfully distract us throughout the day from thoughts of Krsna. The Gita is a loving reminder – Krishna is everywhere. Call on Him, think of Him, feel His presence. When we put our mind, our attention to that, amazing things happen. That’s the power of love, and the secret of love, to be found at the heart of the Bhagavad-gita.
I have many favorite verses and here is one from today’s reading:
“I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.” 9.29
And a sweet jewel from the Purport: “When a diamond is set in a golden ring, it looks very nice. The gold is glorified, and at the same time the diamond is glorified. The Lord and the living entity eternally glitter, and when a living entity becomes inclined to the service of the Supreme Lord he looks like gold. The Lord is a diamond, and so this combination is very nice.”
“Muslim women are supposed to be at home cooking, cleaning, and having kids. That’s what we do to some extent but we can do so much more. I am determined to smash those stereotypes”
By Gail Davis
Last Updated: 26/10/20 10:30pm
Zainab Alema shares her experiences as a black, Muslim, female rugby player
In the not too distant future, Zainab Alema hopes to be sitting on the sofa, cup of Earl Grey in hand, cheering on a Muslim woman playing for England.
If it happens, expect tears – lots of them – because this woman known to her team-mates as ‘Bulldozer’ has spent her playing days smashing plenty of physical, emotional and cultural obstacles to get out there.
1:42 Zainab Alema on ‘Bulldozer’ nickname
Zainab Alema on ‘Bulldozer’ nickname
Growing up, Zainab never thought about playing rugby – she didn’t even know women could. But from the moment she first got “stuck in” during a PE lesson at 17, she relished every second of “feeling free and just running”. The game became intertwined in her life “like an old friend”. But like old friends, there were times she’d question the relationship, feeling sometimes like an outsider, someone who didn’t belong.
From the moment she was born prematurely at only 26 weeks, she was a fighter and says she had an innate drive: “If I want to do something, I try my hardest to get it done”. She liked sport at school but until that PE class, she never loved any sport. That same PE teacher who encouraged her to give it a go got her into a training session at Ealing Trailfinders, but even then, Zainab’s rugby journey almost didn’t get started.
“I was so excited to go to my first session and I got lost and the coach came to find me and by then, the session was over. I was so mortified. I have lived in London all my life but I got totally lost.”
Accessibility, is she believes, one of the hurdles she had to overcome. “Often clubs are in secluded areas where you have to walk so far along the road before you actually get to the club. For me when I started at 17, I was going by myself by public transport. It was tough especially in winter, down dark streets. My team-mates had their parents dropping them off in cars but I had such a passion for the game, I just carried on.”
3:02 Zainab Alema on early challenges
Zainab Alema on early challenges
By far the biggest obstacle for Zainab has been her culture. She says she often gets stared at and commented on when she is in the park kitted up, complete with her hijab and rugby ball in her hand. Her dad couldn’t understand why an African Muslim woman would want to play rugby, “a male, elitist sport”. There are stereotypes she says of Muslim households: “Women are supposed to be at home cooking, cleaning and having kids. That’s what we do to some extent but we can do so much more. I am determined to smash those stereotypes.”
It’s not been straightforward. While studying to be a neonatal nurse at university, she joined the rugby team but sometimes struggled to fit in, not just because of the way she looked.
“I felt a bit out of place because a lot of the time, socialising was so alcohol-based. Not that the team would do it on purpose. We would have a pint for the Woman of the Match and I would win it quite a lot, and then have to nominate someone to have it, and it was so uncomfortable I wanted the ground to swallow me up. It may seem like something little to someone else, but it was those little experiences that were so difficult for me.
“I was the only black person on my team wearing a hijab and leggings under my shorts. I look different and all of that stuff played on my mind. I would end up just playing and then go, and when I look back, it makes me feel a bit sad. I didn’t get that time to connect with my team off the pitch, just because of that awkwardness.
“People say, you could just sit down and have a coke, which I do now, but I think in uni it is a bit different. I guess you go to the bar a lot more too.”
When she left university and began nursing, she found something was missing in her life. She needed a way to release the stress so she began looking for a new rugby club.
“What I did was have a little nosy at them on social media. What’s the vibe of the club? Is there a black person? Is there an Asian person? Is there someone that I can relate to?”
She settled on Millwall and earned herself her ‘Bulldozer’ nickname. Her job as No 8 was to pick the ball up at the back of the scrum and smash straight into the opposition fly-half.
“The name is sort of a metaphor for what I’m doing and who I am. It smashes and demolishes things, it’s like what I am doing with stereotypes. I kind of like it and it has stuck.”
2:15 Zainab Alema on barriers
Zainab Alema on barriers
Zainab currently plays at Barnes Rugby Club. “They’re amazing and it’s weird even though Barnes is a very middle-class area and there are barely any black people at the club, I feel so at home.
“I guess because I’m an adult, I know how to take control of my emotions and I can say no if I don’t want to be in an environment. We had another black woman join us recently because of me, and that’s brilliant.”
Given that, perhaps things are beginning to change – “there is a slow progression,” she says. Her hero was World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi and now she loves watching England’s Shaunagh Brown.
“There is more visibility and I like to be active on my social media, because I want people to know that yes, if you’re black and a woman, you can play rugby. I know how difficult it is so I want to be open with my journey so that other people like me coming through, or thinking maybe I want to try rugby, can look at me and say you know what, I can do it.”
Zainab runs ‘Studs in the Mud‘, where she uses rugby to try and change people’s lives for the better, shipping out kit around the world to give people, particularly women and children, the chance to play. She also has a project which aims to encourage more Muslim women to give rugby a go.
“It’s about making a safe space. We are so underrepresented – I thought I was the only one at one point so I’m trying to amplify our voices and create somewhere for them to play. We’re here for you to come and give you advice. I’m hoping that we can go and watch each other’s games, have little social things together, and have a sense of belonging within the rugby community.”
Zainab goes on to talk about the one time she very nearly did turn her back on rugby. “I was ready to say you know what, I’m done, I can’t see myself in this space. It was quite emotional.
“I went on to the World Rugby guidelines and I wanted to see for myself if someone like me could play in a headscarf, a hijab. I was ready to leave but seeing that it was OK to play in one cemented it for me. There in black and white, it said I can practise my faith and play the game. I can be a Muslim rugby player.”
2:37 Zainab Alema on belonging in Rugby
Zainab Alema on belonging in Rugby
What does your dad think of rugby now?
“Oh, he’s so proud. I was in The Telegraph a while back and he was straight off to the newsagents to buy a copy and get it framed to put it up on the wall and I thought, ‘hey, are you the same person who was asking me why do I want to play rugby?’ He’s so super proud of me right now.”
“You have to see it to be it,” she concludes.
Zainab will carry on ‘bulldozing’ her way through the game – being different and standing out is no longer a negative for her. She’s using it to make rugby truly diverse. She’ll deserve that celebratory cup of tea if and when her rugby ambition is realised, and there’s a Muslim woman wearing the red rose of England.
The statement outlines that the trading of shares with a European Economic Area (EEA) ISIN on a UK trading venue in UK pound sterling (GBP) by EU investment firms will not be subject to the EU STO. This currency approach supplements the EEA-ISIN approach outlined in a previous ESMA statement of May 2019.
This revised guidance aims at addressing the specific situation of the small number of EU issuers whose shares are mainly traded on UK trading venues in GPB. ESMA, based on EU-wide data, regards that such trading by EU investments firms occurs on a non-systematic, ad-hoc, irregular and infrequest basis. Therefore, those trades will not be subject to the EU STO, under Artcile 23 of MiFIR.
ESMA has done the maximum possible in close cooperation with the European Commission to minimise disruption and to avoid overlapping STO obligations and their potentially adverse effects for market participants. The approach put forward by ESMA will effectively avoid such overlaps if the UK adopts an approach that does not include EEA ISINs under the UK STO. ESMA however notes that the scope of the UK STO after the end of the transition period remains unclear at this stage.
In the absence of an equivalence decision in respect of the UK, the potential adverse effects of the application of the STO after the end of the transition period are expected to be the same as in the no-deal Brexit scenario considered in the previous ESMA statement.
The application of the STO to shares with a different ISIN should continue to be determined taking into account the previous ESMA guidance published on 13 November 2017.
NATO was created in 1949, with the dual aim of keeping the peace among the Allies and providing a security alliance against the Soviet Union, there has been a tension between whether or not NATO should drive the security agenda in Europe.
Since 1949, a number of European-wide organisations have tried to coordinate European defence policy – from the failed attempt at a French proposal for an integrated European Defence Community in 1954, to its alternative, Western European Union (WEU), former association (1955–2011) of 10 countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom) that operated as a forum for the coordination of matters of European security and defense.
The precursor to the EU, the European Community, didn’t really put security matters on its agenda. So it was in the mid-1990s following the Maastrict Treaty that the newly-formed EU began to develop its own common foreign and security policy and the relationship with NATO began to shift.
NATO had already developed a good working relationship with the WEU, but this really became relevant in 1996 with attempts to use the WEU as an institutional bridge between the EU and NATO. As long as the EU remained an organisation without a defence component to support its common security policy, and NATO an organisation focused strictly on collective defence of its members, the EU had little need to develop military ties with NATO. However, as some EU member states started to consider an autonomous EU defence and security instrument towards the end of the 1990s, this relationship became unavoidable.
After a 1998 joint summit between the UK and France at Saint Malo, the formal process began towards creating the EU’s Security and Defence Policy (ESDP – now termed CSDP). Attention started to focus on an alternative arrangement to the WEU as the bridge between the two institutions.
Once the EU formally adopted the WEU’s “Petersberg Tasks”, which set out the conditions under which militaries could be deployed, the relationship between the EU and NATO changed from one of informal meetings to something more institutionalised. Formal committees and structures began to be mapped out by 1999.
However, cultural and institutional differences between the EU and NATO still had to be reduced before any official arrangements could be finalised. NATO retained a very strict security regime dating back to its Cold War years, while in contrast, the EU was designed as an open and transparent organisation. In order to adapt to a stricter security policy, the EU modelled its security framework on NATO. This was also helped by the fact that most EU states have also been NATO member states – currently 22 are members of both.
A new Era of EU-NATO Cooperation
EU-NATO relations facing new challenges and these are confronting both the European Union NATO today are severe and complex, including terrorism, refugee and migration crises, hybrid threats, disinformation. The importance of EU-NATO cooperation, based on shared values and interests, has become more critical than ever.
Both organizations need to pay growing attention to hybrid threats. A shared understanding is gradually emerging about the need for active countermeasures and improved resillence to malicious influence by external actors seeking to undermine Western democracies and current international order. The EU in particular has an important role to play in strengthening Europe’s resillence, but has yet to buil a coherent response including shared analysis drawing on relevant EU policies and improved crisis-response mechanisms. The second major challenge, capability development, has been at the focus of EU-NATO cooperation ever since the creation of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, but with few results. New EU initatives are being developed which can potentially make an important positive contribution also to NATO.
EU and NATO Member States are slowly waking up tp the new reality that there will be no bussiness as usual. It is hard to dispute the extensive progress the EU and NATO have made in deeping their cooperaiton. However, the direction in which the relationship should head is far from being decided. Some argues that there is a need for NATO to Europeanise as a result of the EU’s increasing strategic autonomy. The argument goes that if the EU were progressibely phase put its defence related dependence on the US, NATO could become primarily European. In contrasts, others see the feasibility of division of labour between the two, one that could eventually be conducive to an EU-US alliance in lieu of NATO as such. Others meanwhile argue for a US withdrawal form NATO and for leaving European security to the Europeans.
As Members of the European Parliament we will have to take important decisions that will make one or the other of these options a reality.
Twitter : @r_czarnecki
Ryszard Czarnecki: Politician from Poland, Former Vice-President of European Parliament, Minister of European Affairs and Minister in Prime Minister Office
The European Union achieved spectacular market success this month when it launched its new “Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency” bond programme (SURE).
The €100bn programme will be used by the EU to support member nations addressing pandemic job security and social welfare weakness over the next year.
The first €17bn bond issue off the SURE programme achieved perhaps the largest order book for a financial asset in history: €233bn in demand from investors.
That could mean a number of things — that investors just love the EU, or most obviously that the deal was mispriced too cheaply. And the 10-year bond tranche was sold at a negative yield.
But credit where credit is due, the deal’s success is truly remarkable. No doubt it will win every Debt Capital Award there is (yes, there are such things). It represents a real turnaround for the EU, which actually managed to agree an initiative to finance jobs and growth, and got the plan underway.
The staggering demand for the bond also highlights just how easily nations are financing the emergency costs of the pandemic in today’s ultra-low interest rate environment via increased borrowing — something the US and UK should be watching carefully.
The truth is investors value the European Central Bank Put: the ECB can buy up to 50 per cent of the deal via its quantitative easing programmes, therefore guaranteeing liquidity in the bond.
However, like all things involving Brussels, it’s really not just a simple success story.
For a start, the ECB is now tied into guaranteeing liquidity in perpetuity. The merest hint that the QE programme is not perpetual will cause the price of all its bonds to crash. Should the ECB ever try to raise European rates, the price of all bonds will demonstrate the effects of financial gravity — and destroy the reputation of the EU as an issuer.
The real story that the EU doesn’t want to talk about is how the SURE Bond Issue represents a massive step forward in the creation of the European Superstate — bypassing any meaningful discussion of what that entails for European democracy. What the EU bond achieves is the transfer of fiscal sovereignty from member nations to Brussels. And no one got to vote on it.
Back in Frankfurt (the not-quite-the-centre of European finance the Germans imagine it to be), that solo EU critic, Bundesbanker Jens Weidemann, has been desperately warning against EU joint-borrowing initiatives. If it happens, he argues, it should be strictly one-off, and should not become a common budgetary tool.
Sadly, no one is listening to Weidemann. He is a lone voice in the Frankfurt financial wilderness..
Pre-euro, the Germans had the curious notion that countries joining the Eurozone would meet the strict membership rules of the single currency by exercising sound fiscal responsibility, reforming their economies, and ensuring solid accountable finances. Silly Germans.
There are no doubts as to the credit quality of the EU bond. Moody’s, the credit rating agency, rates the EU as Aaa (the same level it rated a lot of stuff before 2008). Although Brussels is out raising new EU debt, the EU has still not agreed on banking union, common fiscal policy, or closer political tie-up. All that is agreed are the rules of the monetary union restricting how much states can borrow and the size of deficits — rules that are completely unenforceable in the current pandemic economy.
The new SURE Bond was sold as near-equivalent to the German Bund, but yielding 40 basis points more. Its equivalency to German state debt is “implicitly” true. Note the subtle difference: it’s true, but not “explicitly” true. (That’s what being a debt capital markets banker teaches you.) Although there is no joint and several liability requiring EU members to repay the bond, it’s hardly imaginable that the Germans would ever walk away if Brussels found itself unable to repay… or is it?
What all this essentially shows is that the implicit guarantee promises of the bond are yet another Brussels fudge, hoping the wobbly construct never gets tested. Every single investor who bought the bond understands this was a cheap Bund — just don’t tell the German political classes they are on the hook for it.
Funding Europe directly from Brussels very much suits the agenda of the autocracy of EU bureaucrats whose objective is oversight over member states’ budgets (and everything else), and also of the ECB (for the same reason). ECB president Christine Lagarde is not a banker or economist, but a very smooth French political operative. She sees common issuance of “Eurobonds” to finance Europe as a convenient policy tool to quell dissent between members over the impossibly troublesome monetary rules, and to centralise control of European debt.
After next year’s Recovery EU bond binge, the next stage will be an initiative to coordinate and align the joint issuance of European debt. It already looks inevitable. It will be argued that a larger, more liquid single European sovereign bond market will improve funding and the economic relevance of the EU. The fact it further diminishes national sovereignty will be a small price to pay.
Lagarde wants joint issuance to be part of her armoury. That plaintive wail you heard in the wind was Weidemann’s warning that “closer political integration would be needed and for the EU to develop into a democratic state” before common bond issuance is even contemplated — but the reality is it has already happened. The fantastically successful SURE bond was the first step in Brussel’s state-capture of European states financial sovereignty.
European states will no longer need to go to the market to raise euros to bulwark unemployment or stem job losses — now they apply to Brussel for handouts. No longer will they need to finance much-needed projects via markets in their own name.The new EU funding programmes fit perfectly with the rules of single currency membership: independent nations can’t run up large state deficits under the terms of the euro, but client states beholden to Brussels just need to ask nicely.
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