Âu

[Triển]

Cuộc ly dị đến hồi không êm thắm. Hệ lụy sẽ kéo dài.

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No deal on Brexit trade 'very very likely', Johnson says

By Guy Faulconbridge, Gabriela Baczynska

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain is likely to complete its journey out of the European Union in three weeks without a trade deal, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

Britain quit the EU in January but remains an informal member until Dec. 31 - the end of a transition period during which it has remained in the EU single market and customs union.

Both sides say they want to agree arrangements to cover nearly $1 trillion in annual trade but negotiations are at an impasse, with Britain standing to lose zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the huge European single market.

“It’s looking very, very likely we’ll have to go for a solution that I think will be wonderful for the UK. We’ll be able to do exactly what we want from Jan. 1. It will obviously be different from what we set out to achieve,” Johnson told reporters.

“If there’s a big offer, a big change in what they’re saying then I must say that I’m yet to see it,” said Johnson, the face of the “leave” campaign in Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum.

He later held a meeting with senior minister Michael Gove and officials to assess the country’s preparedness for a no-deal departure, a government official said.

Von Der Leyen was quoted by an EU official as telling leaders of the bloc’s 27 member states attending a summit in Brussels on Friday that prospects for a deal had worsened.

“The probability of a no deal is higher than of a deal,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Johnson and von der Leyen have given negotiators until Sunday evening to break the deadlock over fishing rights and EU demands for Britain to face consequences if in the future it diverges from the bloc’s rules.

Johnson must decide whether the deal on offer is worth taking or the future freedom and domestic political benefits afforded by leaving without one outweigh the economic costs.

A Brexit without a trade deal would damage the economies of Europe, send shockwaves through financial markets, snarl borders and sow chaos through the delicate supply chains which stretch across Europe and beyond.

NO DEAL?

As EU leaders lined up to warn of the failure of talks, investors started to price in the risk of a chaotic finale to the five-year Brexit crisis.

British stocks fell, euro zone government bond yields fell and sterling fell about 1% against the dollar and euro.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said there were still fundamental issues unresolved in the trade talks.

“Time is running out and we need to prepare for a hard Brexit,” he said, referring to an abrupt rupture in trade arrangements.

EU leaders rejected a proposal from Johnson for a Brexit call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, EU officials said.

Johnson is under pressure from Brexit supporters in Britain not to cave to any EU demands that they say could undermine his promises to regain Britain’s sovereignty.

Macron also faces domestic pressure, with French fishermen urging him to ensure the EU defends their fishing rights.

Asked by a reporter about an EU proposal for a one-year contingency plan, under which EU fishermen would keep access to Britain’s fishing waters, he said: “I’m not asking to have my cake and eat it, no. All I want is a cake that’s worth its weight. Because I won’t give up my share of it either.”

The Bank of England said it had taken steps to keep banks lending through 2021 as Britain prepares for any market disruption from a big change in the trading relationship with the EU, while also dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional reporting by Michael Holden, David Milliken, Andy Bruce, Elizabeth Piper, Sujata Rao and Paul Sandle; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Philippa Fletcher and Daniel Wallis

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[Triển]

....rock the German Catholic Church

Ma "cô", ma dì: Tin chấn động, tin này chấn động thiệt mà không ngại bị social media dán nhãn.

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German nuns accused of enabling child sex abuse by priests

Nuns in the city of Speyer "dragged" children to be sexually abused by priests and politicians, a survivor told a German court. His explosive testimony is the latest abuse scandal to rock the German Catholic Church.


The scandal comes as the Archbishop of Cologne faces accusations of covering up allegations of child sexual abuse involving a now-deceased priest.

Catholic nuns who ran a former children's home in the German city of Speyer allegedly aided in the sexual abuse of the children who were under their care, according to a newly-surfaced court decision.

The latest scandal came to light after a victim filed a case to claim compensation from the Catholic church, prompting the Darmstadt Social Welfare Court to investigate.

Although the court ruled on the case in May this year, it was not made public until now.

Protestant news agency EPD and Catholic news agency KNA acquired copies of the court's decision, which detailed claims of horrific abuse that children suffered at the hands of clergy members in the 1960s and 1970s.

Nuns were key in aiding the abuse, regularly bringing boys and girls to predatory priests and even receiving money to do so, the man testified in court.

On Thursday, the Bishop of Speyer, Karl-Heinz Wiesemann, went public with the allegations of abuse for the first time in an interview with Catholic magazine Der Pilger. He said that "several" abuse allegations had been filed.

Years of abuse at children's home

The court testimony in the court case stems from a 63-year-old man who lived at the nun-run children's home in Speyer for several years.

Much of the alleged abuse centered on one priest in particular — identified by the Bishop of Speyer as a now-deceased vicar named Rudolf Motzenbäcker.


The victim in the case was an alter boy at the Speyer Cathedral

During the 10 years that he lived in the children's home, nuns would allegedly take him to the priest's apartment once or twice a month and that they "downright dragged" him there.

The man estimated he'd been assaulted around 1,000 times.

Motzenbäcker was also alleged to have organized so-called "sex parties" that took place every three or four months that included several male clergy members and politicians.

Nuns would allegedly bring boys and girls — serving drinks and food to the men in one corner of the room while children were assaulted nearby.

"The nuns earned money from it. The men who were present would have donated generously," the victims testimony reads, according to KNA.

The man suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the ordeal. He said that many of the children who were involved at the time are dead now, many of whom died by suicide.

Church encourages other victims to come forward

The abuse commissioner for the religious order that ran the children's home, which closed down in 2000, said there were no longer any documents on the children in the Speyer home.

The court and the experts who interviewed the man said they had no doubt about the victim's credibility.

Other victims have separately come forward with their own allegations of abuse, the diocese of Speyer said, providing similar stories of abuse — particularly involving Motzenbäcker.

The diocese paid the man €15,000 ($18,100) in recognition of his suffering.

Speyer Bishop Wiesemann said that the archdiocese agrees with the court that the man suffered sexual abuse during his time in the church-run home. He said the church has been passing information to prosecutors and encouraged other victims to come forward.

The latest scandal to hit Germany's Catholic Church comes as the Archbishop of Cologne is facing accusations of covering up allegations of child sexual abuse involving a now-deceased priest.

rs/aw (epd, KNA)

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[ốc]

Cướp đêm là giặc cướp ngày là cha

[Triển]

Cướp đêm là giặc cướp ngày là cha

Ai khai đạo chúa ở Đức là đóng thuế nhà thờ khẩm địa lắm đó. Tuỳ tiểu bang mà oánh "thêm" từ 8 đến 9% lên tiền lương đã đóng thuế lương bổng. Nhà thờ Đức rất giàu. Nhà nước không lấy cắc nào trên tiền thuế nhà thờ. Dành riêng cho hội thánh. Đóng thuế nhà thờ ở đây gọi là "công nhiên". Tiền cướp công khai. Giới trẻ mất đi niềm tin khi tạo dựng sự nghiệp, khi bước đầu đời ra cố vấn thuế vụ nhận ngay bài học: "Muốn đỡ mất tiền thì cái đầu tiên là phải bỏ đạo".

Tuy nhiên nói đi thì cũng phải nói lại. 2 lượt làn sóng nhận người xin tị nạn vô Đức thập niên 90 (Kosovo) và thập niên 2K (Syria) hàng triệu người đó, thì các hội nhà thờ khắp nơi trên nước Đức dùng tiền bảo bọc người tị nạn trong giai đoạn đầu chuyển tiếp cũng nhiều. Họ rất giàu nên có thể chi vài trăm triệu như chơi.

[Triển]

Một người mới nhắn tin nhắc tuồng:
-Cướp kiểu này là có "đạo" nghĩa mà. Giống Robinhood cơ!

Xin trả lời cho "nhắc tuồng viên":
- dạ thưa, Robinhood ở chong gừng, rồi cướp người giàu chia cho người nghèo. Còn các hội thánh nước Phổ thì giám mục ở nhà mấy chục triệu, và lấy thuế không chừa con chốt nào bất kể tình trạng lương hướng. Nghĩa là dân trung lưu, hay "hạ lưu" cũng bị hốt thuế luôn. Miễn là khai "có đạo", thì sẽ đóng 8, 9% tiền thuế vì đạo. Bingo! Đó "đạo nghĩa" mà.

[Triển]

German lockdown: Merkel announces tough new COVID curbs

The German chancellor has announced the closure of stores, schools, and daycare centers in the run-up to Christmas. The new rules, agreed with Germany's 16 state leaders, will come into effect from Wednesday.


Germany is to impose new coronavirus curbs from Wednesday until January 10

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday ordered most stores to shut from Wednesday, along with schools and daycare centers.

The new restrictions will be in effect until at least January 10 to help tackle the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic which threatens to overwhelm the country's health system.

In a news conference after a meeting of federal and state leaders, she said the country urgently needed to address the exponential rise in COVID-19 infections.

The decision is set to cause a major disruption for retailers, the education system and the public in the lead up to the Christmas holidays.

What do the new restrictions consist of?

• All non-essential shops and services will close until January 10, including hairdressers which remained open under the current lockdown "lite."
• Schools are urged to send students home and continue lessons online as well as extending the Christmas holidays until January 10.
• Daycare centers will also close, but parents will be able to take paid holidays in order to look after their children.
• Employers are encouraged to allow employees to work from home.
• People will not be allowed to drink alcohol in public.
• Religious events in churches, synagogues, and mosques may take place if they follow hygiene rules, but communal singing is not allowed.
• States still plan to ease stricter contact restrictions for December 24 to 26 so that close family members can spend Christmas together — a household may, during this time, invite up to four adults from other households but only from the immediate family, plus any number of children under 14.
• People may not purchase fireworks for New Year's Eve.

The chancellor also recommended that families who are planning to meet up should isolate for a week beforehand to be safe.

What do the new rules aim to achieve?

"The measures which we began on November 2 have not been enough," Merkel said in a statement after the meeting.

"The health system is under heavy strain and our aim has always been to avoid an overloading of the health care system."

The goal of the new measures is to bring down the infection rate so that authorities can carry out contact tracing once again — the high number of infections made contact tracing impossible.

An acceptable infection rate for this would be 50 cases per 100,000 residents. Although the government has agreed on the new measures until January 10, they may be further extended if the case numbers fail to come down.

On Sunday, Germany's Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases reported 20,200 new infections and 321 fatalities. The number is less than Friday's record of 29.875 cases.

The country's intensive care unit capacity is also at a critical level, and doctors have warned that only five to 10% of intensive care beds are available in some parts of the country.

Drastic measures — but a harsher lockdown is possible

DW Correspondent in Berlin, Hans Brandt, explained the relevance of the speedy decision that the government and heads of Germany's 16 states made.

"It was somewhat surprising that they agreed so quickly. The whole meeting took just over an hour. We have been used to these discussions between the central government and the regional leaders dragging on for hours and hours, often with acrimonious discussions."

Brandt described the shutting down of retails shops during the peak of Christmas shopping as "a very drastic measure."

He went on to point out that the new rules do not equate to the harshest possible lockdown and that people still have some leeway.

"A stricter lockdown is still conceivable since there is no rule that people have to stay at home, it's still only an appeal."

Brandt also said that Angela Merkel had been pushing for a stricter lockdown for a while and will be satisfied with the decision.

Germany's finance minister, Olaf Scholz, who was also present at the meeting, promised financial support for those businesses and individuals affected by the stricter measures.

Hans Brandt explained that while it's still unknown how exactly the government will support businesses, "but we know that the volume will be somewhere between €10 and €12 billion ($12.11 to 14.53 billion) every month" for businesses and self-employed people that cannot work due to the restrictions.

The German finance ministry explained in a tweet that it was planning further support for those affected by the lockdown, saying: "Companies, the self-employed and freelancers who are affected by closures from December 16, will receive financial support. That means improved bridging aid — subsidies for fixed costs, better conditions and higher monthly grants up to a maximum of €500,000."

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[Triển]

Ly dị không xong thì mạnh ai nấy giữ ... của.

"Lão ngư", à không, ngư phủ Phú Lang Sa coi bộ hơi chật vật.

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UK prepares navy ships in case of no-deal Brexit

The UK has announced that four 80-meter vessels have been put on standby to defend its waters. The ships will have the power to stop and seize any EU fishing boats found within Britain's exclusive economic zone.


The 80-meter (260-feet) Royal Navy ships have been put on standby and will be ready for January 1

The UK readied armed Royal Navy ships on Saturday to patrol its fishing waters in case the Brexit transition period ends without a free-trade deal on future relations with the European Union.

Four, 80-meter (260-foot) naval ships have been placed on standby to safeguard British waters from foreign vessels in the event that both UK and the EU decide to abandon efforts to secure an agreement on Sunday.

The ships will be allowed to stop, check and seize all EU fishing boats caught within the UK's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which can extend 320 kilometers (200 miles) from shore.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced that the vessels will be ready on January 1, to prevent possible clashes between EU and British fishing boats.

"The MOD has conducted extensive planning and preparation to ensure that defense is ready for a range of scenarios at the end of the transition period," a ministry spokesman said.

Existing transitional Brexit rules stipulate that EU vessels will have access to British waters until the end of the year.

'Illegal French fishing'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was "very, very likely" that the talks on a trade deal would fail and that the UK would return to World Trade Organization (WTO) terms with its largest single trading partner.

On Friday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said chances were now slim that a trade agreement would be reached.

Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs have consulted Johnson on deploying the British navy. Lawmaker Daniel Kawczynski said it would help "prevent illegal French fishing."

On Thursday, France's government announced that officials would seek to avoid any conflict at sea and that the country would compensate fishermen and find other solutions to assist them if talks collapse.

The UK exited the EU in January 2020, but remains an informal member until the end of the year. December 31, however, will mark the end of the transition period during which the UK has remained in the EU single market and customs union.

mvb/shs (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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[Triển]

Germany: Court jails man behind far-right email threats

A man who sent threatening emails with far-right overtones to politicians and authorities has been sentenced to four years in jail. A Berlin court also ordered him to be committed to a psychiatric clinic for treatment


A Berlin court handed down a four-year jail sentence to a man convicted of sending a series of email threats

The Berlin regional court on Monday handed a four-year jail sentence to a 32-year-old man convicted of sending threatening emails to a range of public institutions and politicians under a seemingly neo-Nazi pseudonym. He was found guilty on 26 counts of disturbing the peace.

The court also ordered that the man receive inpatient treatment in a psychiatric clinic, saying that he was likely to commit other serious offenses if he did not receive therapy. It said his personality disorder meant his responsibility for his actions was diminished. The presiding judge described the man as "extremely dangerous."

According to the court, the man sent emails nationwide threatening to carry out lethal attacks, including bomb attacks, to various courts, public authorities, shopping centers, press outlets, police and parliamentarians between December 2018 and April 2019.

Some of the emails appeared to come from a group called the "NationalSozialisticheOffensive" ("National Socialist Offensive"), suggesting a far-right source.


The railway station in Lübeck was evacuated in March 2019 after one of the threats was received

Irrational demands

The court said some of the emails made irrational demands, such as calling on the popular singer Helene Fischer to upload a video on the internet in which she talked about her thoughts on Germany.

In January 2019, court buildings were evacuated after an email threat was received but no explosives were found.

The accused, who had a prior conviction and comes from the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, was arrested in April of that year. Threatening emails continued to be sent even after his arrest, but authorities believed they could be copycat offenses.

The verdict of the court is subject to appeal.

tj/rt (epd, dpa)

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[Triển]

Trưng cầu dân ý đưa bảo vệ khí hậu vào hiến pháp.
Hiến pháp của Pháp tương lai không những bảo vệ nhân quyền còn bảo vệ thiên nhiên quyền?

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Emmanuel Macron wants climate goals in French constitution

A referendum could force a change in the French constitution to add pledges to combat climate change. President Macron has come under fire for a perceived lack of effort to protect the environment.


France is missing its national targets that had been set under the 2015 Paris Agreement

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday vowed to hold a referendum to add France’s commitment to fighting climate change to the country’s constitution.

While speaking to the Citizens' Climate Council, a citizen’s group in charge of proposing changes on climate-related issues, Macron acknowledged that France has not done enough to fulfill its commitments to fight global warming.

"Should we do more? Yes,'' he said, in talks with dozens of French citizens, which lasted nearly four hours.

Macron added that he was in favor of adding biodiversity, the environment and addressing climate change to Article 1 of the French Constitution. This requires a parliamentary vote as well as a referendum.

"We need to keep moving forward, and that work is even more urgent," Macron said.

Pressure to act on the climate

The French president has been under increased pressure from left-leaning factions within his centrist party for failing to do enough to curb climate change.

This comes as the Green Party gains momentum, potentially eroding Macron’s support base ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

Last week, European Union leaders agreed to ramp up the bloc's 2030 targets to reduce greenhouse gases from 40% to at least 55% in comparison with 1990 levels.

see/rt (Reuters, AP)

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[ốc]

Hiến pháp của Pháp tương lai không những bảo vệ nhân quyền còn bảo vệ thiên nhiên quyền?

Ai cũng yêu thiên nhiên mà.

Rõ ràng trong ngọc trắng ngà
Dày dày sẵn đúc một tòa thiên nhiên
(Nguyễn Du)