Beggars can't be choosers, Germany:
Poland will only help supply oil to Germany's PCK Schwedt refinery if Russia's Rosneft is completely removed as a shareholder, Poland's climate ministry said, raising pressure on Germany to completely nationalise the refiner.
Germany took control of the Schwedt refinery, which was majority owned by Rosneft Deutschland, last Friday as Berlin strives to shore up energy supplies. It put Rosneft Deutschland under a trusteeship of the German industry regulator but Rosneft still holds 54% of the company's shares.
The German economy ministry is in talks with potential buyers, including a Polish company, two government sources in Berlin said. Reuters reported last week that Poland's top refiner PKN Orlen is interested in buying a controlling stake in Schwedt, which supplies 90% of Berlin's fuel.
Berlin is aiming to meet its European Union commitment to eliminate Russian oil imports by the end of the year, a move triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Schwedt refinery previously received most of its crude from Russia and Berlin is now looking to other countries to supply Schwedt.
"In Polish-German technical talks on additional oil supplies for Germany that are underway, the Polish side is declaring that potential help is possible under condition that Rosneft Deutschland is removed from the list of shareholders of PCK Schwedt," Polish climate ministry said in response to Reuters questions.
Russia launched referendums on Friday aimed at annexing four occupied regions of Ukraine, drawing condemnation from Kyiv and Western nations who dismissed the votes as a sham and pledged not to recognize their results.
Ukrainian officials said people were banned from leaving some occupied areas until the four-day vote was over, armed groups were going into homes, and employees were threatened with the sack if they did not participate.
It was never about a virus:
As Canada ordered huge quantities of a new anti-COVID drug last December and struck a deal to have it made in Ontario, plenty of evidence was out there on a key point — whether molnupiravir actually worked.
Along with a highly publicized study by manufacturer Merck, companies in India had more quietly carried out 12 separate trials of the pill on a much larger group of patients — almost 14,000 people who received either the drug or a placebo.
But a year after most of those Indian studies were completed, just a tiny portion of the results have been divulged publicly and none published in a peer-reviewed journal, says a new British paper on the Indian research.
The limited information released on four trials paints at best a mixed picture of the anti-viral, suggests the report by British academics. The rest is just unknown.
**
Israeli researchers found some side effects that occurred after COVID-19 vaccination were caused by Pfizer’s vaccine, according to a leaked video.
The Christian community is well integrated into Israeli society and is spread throughout the country. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2020, 70 per cent of Christian men and 64 per cent of women were in the labour force, and 71 per cent of Christian Arabs had successfully completed a matriculation certificate, which is necessary to enter higher education and certain professions, compared to 45 per cent of Muslims.
There’s no doubt that Jerusalem’s Old City has been a source of friction between the world’s three major religions. Yet King Abdullah’s comments suggest that Israel (and therefore the Jewish nation) is assaulting the Christian community. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our relationship and friendship with our Christian brothers and sisters is stronger than ever, particularly following the Nostra aetate declaration of the Second Vatican Council, which was designed to improve relations between Christians and Jews.
The hypocritical duplicity of King Abdullah’s remarks at the UN also contradict the facts on the ground in all the Arab nations that surround Israel. Including Jordan itself, where the International Fellowship of Christian and Jews reports that Christians face oppression and lack employment opportunities due to laws that prevent many refugees from working.
In Egypt, Christians are said to face unprecedented levels of persecution. According to a report produced by Open Doors, which supports persecuted Christians around the world, in 2017, 128 Christians were killed in Egypt because of their faith.
In 2015, ISIL executed 21 Christian men on a beach in Libya. In Syria during the civil war, ISIL reportedly turned a bakery into a death chamber, killing 250 Christians by kneading children to death in a bread machine and baking men in an oven.
A report commissioned by then-British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt in 2019 found that, while Christians comprised 20 per cent of the population of the Middle East and north Africa a century ago, their numbers have fallen to less than four per cent. “In countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia the situation of Christians and other minorities has reached an alarming stage,” according to the report.
And we know that the Palestinian Authority’s behaviour has motivated many Christians to leave.
Fernandes says she believes that the public school system has stepped too far out of line with sex and gender education, and that changing the situation requires that trustees and school administration members be more transparent with their constituents and work to democratically carry out their constituents’ wishes.
In the end, a trustee’s role is to truly advocate for their constituents and, most importantly, for the students, she said.
“Because really, it starts with the kids, when we look at our society.”
God gave us dogs and the people who train them:
Students at Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, are visited twice a week by Gia, an 8-month-old Bernedoodle, and a group of Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
Gia is a therapy dog who visits classrooms and interacts with the children. Although she is still in training, her warmheartedness and gentle spirit has become the perfect match for the children who attend this Catholic school.
Sister Mary Rosario Vega, who recently celebrated her 50th anniversary of entering the convent, is one of the nuns who trains Gia and takes her to the school each week. In an interview with CNA, she said, “She [Gia] adores children, she’s very loyal, very intelligent, very easy to train.”
Gia spends the majority of her days in the convent with the sisters. Sister Vega explained that the dog sits outside as the sisters attend Mass in the chapel and will even attend adoration with each of the sisters. They are now working on training her to be able to attend Mass with the children.
“In general, she’s very good, very quiet. She comes to adoration — each of us have an hour of adoration with the Blessed Sacrament — that’s her best hour,” she said.
However, it’s her time with the children that makes Gia the happiest, Sister Vega said. And the response from the students, teachers, and parents has made it even more worthwhile.
“It’s just so beautiful to see the children, how they change when they see the dog just wagging her tail,” Sister Vega expressed. “She’s so good with the children. When [the teachers] see them crying or having a bad day or anything, they either bring her to the classroom or take the child to her and they calm down.”
No comments:
Post a Comment