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Le président français Emmanuel Macron se rend aujourd’hui à Porto dans le cadre d’une réunion avec ses homologues européens sur l’Europe sociale où il y défendra des « salaires minimums adéquats » au sein des pays du bloc.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt by European train companies, with 2021 figures released by the rail sector showing losses across the board, despite EU attempts to promote rail transport.

The European Commission has unveiled its strategy on COVID-19 therapies, described as another milestone in fighting the virus as it aims to speed up recovery, reduce hospitalisation and help those suffering from long COVID.

Les États membres de l'UE ont approuvé la mise en œuvre de la nouvelle méthodologie révisée dans les négociations de pré adhésion avec la Serbie et le Monténégro, a annoncé jeudi (6 mai) le commissaire européen à l'élargissement, Oliver Varhelyi.

Jan Hamáček, the Czech interior minister, who was also interim foreign minister in April, hatched a plan to bury evidence that Russia blew up a Czech arms warehouse in 2014, in return for 1m doses of Russia's coronavirus vaccine and letting Prague host a Russia-US summit, according to government sources speaking to news outlet Seznam Zprávy. Hamáček called the report "complete nonsense" and said was suing for €390,000 in damages.

The Future of Europe conference looks a mess at first glance, Belgian farmer moves the border with France, and Biden changes US vaccine stance. Sunday is Europe Day and if you thought not visiting obscure EU institutions on #EuropeDay was...

The German Greens' candidate for chancellor Annalena Baerbock on Thursday (6 May) said her country must be more active on foreign policy and "take more responsibility for its own security", in a sign the party is shifting from its pacifist stance towards the centre.

Jogerősen másfél év – két év próbaidőre felfüggesztett – szabadságvesztésre ítélték azt a rendőrt, aki 2018 februárjában halálos közúti balesetet okozott Újpesten. Két, megkülönböztető jelzést használó rendőrautó ütközött össze, a balesetben a vádlott utasa meghalt.

A halálos közúti baleset okozásának vétsége miatt zajló büntetőügyben a Fővárosi Ítélőtábla Katonai Tanácsa szerdán kihirdetett, másodfokú, jogerős határozatával annyiban változtatta meg az elsőfokú ítéletet, hogy a vádlottat – három évre – csak a “B” kategóriájú járművek vezetésétől tiltotta el – tájékoztatta a táblabíróság az MTI-t.

A Fővárosi Törvényszék Katonai Tanácsa első fokon halálos közúti baleset okozásának vétsége miatt 1 év 6 hónap – két év próbaidőre felfüggesztett – szabadságvesztés büntetésre és három év közúti járművezetéstől eltiltásra ítélte a vádlottat, és kötelezte 640 ezer forint bűnügyi költség megfizetésére. A büntetett előélethez fűződő hátrányok alól ugyanakkor előzetesen mentesítette.

Az ügyről azt közölték, hogy a rendőr törzsőrmesterként szolgáló vádlott 2018. február 15-én éjjel szolgálati autójával megkülönböztető fény- és hangjelzést használva egy rendőrségi helyszínre tartott. Sem ő, sem pedig utasa nem használt biztonsági övet. Egy újpesti kereszteződésben a gépjármű összeütközött egy másik, az adott helyzetben elsőbbséggel bíró, kizárólag megkülönböztető fényjelzést használó rendőrautóval.

A vádlott utasa a helyszínen elhunyt, életét a szabályszerűen használt, bekapcsolt biztonsági öv sem mentette volna meg. A vádlott és a másik rendőrautó utasa nyolc napon túl, a másik sofőr nyolc napon belül gyógyuló sérüléseket szenvedett.

A baleset azért következett be, mert a vádlott megkülönböztető jelzéseket használva ugyan, de úgy haladt be 68-72 kilométeres óránkénti sebességgel a tilos jelzés ellenére a kereszteződésbe, hogy nem győződött meg arról, más közlekedő járművet veszélyeztet-e, illetve, hogy a másik, ugyancsak elsőbbségi helyzetben közlekedő jármű vezetője lehetővé teszi-e számára az akadálytalan továbbhaladást – írták.

A másodfokú bíróság szerint az elsőfokú katonai tanács helyesen ismerte fel, hogy a büntetési célok eléréséhez a vádlottal szemben elegendő a próbaidőre felfüggesztett fogházbüntetés és járművezetéstől eltiltás is szükséges. Hozzátették, tévedett azonban az első fok, amikor a vádlottat nem csupán a “B” kategóriájú járművek vezetésétől tiltotta el, hanem ezt kiterjesztette a közúti járművek valamennyi kategóriájára. Ha a bíróság a bűnösséget beismerő nyilatkozatot az előkészítő ülésen fogadja el, nem szabhat ki súlyosabb büntetést, illetve nem alkalmazhat súlyosabb intézkedést, mint amilyet a vádiratban előterjesztett ügyészi indítvány tartalmaz. Az ügyészség pedig csak a “B” kategóriájú járművek vezetésétől eltiltást indítványozott – jelezték.

Egyetértett a másodfokú bíróság azzal, hogy a jelenleg is szolgálatot teljesítő, kiváló parancsnoki jellemzéssel rendelkező vádlott a szolgálatban megtartható, ezért kimondta: az első fok törvényesen részesítette őt előzetes bírósági mentesítésben – áll a közleményben.

The post Jogerős ítélet született az újpesti rendőrautó-baleset ügyében appeared first on .

Credit: Twitter @Dr_Aqsa_Shaikh

By Mariya Salim
NEW DELHI, India, May 7 2021 (IPS)

When Dr Aqsa Sheikh Tweeted and asked if she was the only transgender person to head a vaccination centre, it seemed extraordinary that in a country with 1.3 billion people, that this could be true.

“Can I lay claim to be the only #Transgender person to head a #Covid #Vaccination Centre in India? Will be very happy to have company of other Trans Folks in this spot,” she wrote on March 3, 2021.

India had turned countless hospitals into COVID-19 vaccination centres – and Sheikh was, and still is, the only transwoman heading one.

Born and raised in Mumbai, Dr Aqsa Sheikh is a proud Muslim transwoman. She is presently living in Delhi and working as the Associate Professor of Community Medicine at Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research. She is the nodal officer of a COVID-19 Vaccination Center, involved in COVID-19 surveillance, and engaged in vaccine and transmission research. Despite her qualifications even in a pandemic, the idea of a trans-Muslim woman as a doctor defies stereotypes.

“I haven’t faced any active face-to-face discrimination. However, a lot of name-calling on social media is common. In my videos, I get comments of people asking whether I am a man or a woman or why is my voice so masculine,” Sheikh told Inter Press Service (IPS) in an exclusive interview.

“People call us ‘Madarsa chhaap’ (derogatorily referring to being from an Islamic School), ‘Hijras’ (a term sometimes used to refer to trans people in a derogatory manner) and so on.”

When asked how her gender identity affects her daily professional interactions, especially during the pandemic, Sheikh says that often “our stories and our identity travel to people before us”, so people look at her through many lenses.

The intersections of her identity are many, Muslim, transgender, woman, leader, health activist.

She credits two aspects of her life for saving her from stigmatisation often experienced in the trans community. Firstly, a lot of time has passed since she transitioned, and secondly, she is in a position of privilege where she is a provider rather than someone who is seeking the service. Both these make her less of a target for discrimination.

Coming out as a trans woman, however, has not been an easy task for Dr Sheikh.

When she broke the news to her family that she was a transwoman, there was anger, denial, and rebuttal.

She says she understands that for a family which has never had exposure to a transgender person, to accept that someone they have raised as a boy for 20 years now says and affirms that they are a woman was difficult to accept. The transition, which involved surgical and legal transitions, met with increased resistance because she came from a conservative Muslim background.

“While my mother stays with me, the rest of the family is not very comfortable affirming these familial bonds, but then you can’t get everything in life,” Sheikh says. “I am happy that I have been able to do what I wanted to do despite all the opposition from society, and that’s what matters at the end of the day.”

Sheikh also emphasises there is a lot of homophobia within the Muslim community, like most communities. Still, she believes that acceptance of trans and intersex people is a little better, especially for those who transition.

The most important thing, according to Sheikh, is to be comfortable with oneself and be secure in the knowledge that she is not doing anything wrong.

“When I was confident that I was right, what I am doing is not wrong or anti-religion, then I was able to talk more about it, I was able to convince more people about it, I was able to break down more walls,” she says.

According to Sheikh, the intersectionality of identities at play and understanding them is also imperative.

“You are not just a Muslim person, or just a queer person, just a doctor. You are not just a woman or just an Indian. You are all of them together,” she says. “So, I, for example, do not only speak on the transgender issues, but I also speak on the different issues of the Muslim community. I speak on the issues faced by the Kashmiri Muslims, those faced by the patients while receiving healthcare irrespective of whether they are cis (assigned and identify with a gender given at birth) or trans.”

She feels once people see you as someone who understands intersectionality (the interconnectedness of aspects of race, class, gender, and religion), acceptance increases.

The transgender community is highly vulnerable, says Sheikh and accessing general, COVID-19, or transition-specific healthcare is challenging.

“With COVID-19 and then the subsequent national lockdowns, the number of service providers available for providing services to the trans persons saw a decrease,” Sheikh says. “During such times, the stigmatisation also always increases because one is looking for scapegoats.”

She says the blame for transmission is often placed on minority groups, like the Tablighi Jamaat or trans persons.

Mental health services, which are a privilege for any person in India to afford, became difficult to access during the pandemic.

“Especially (difficult) when it came to queer-affirmative mental healthcare and counselling. The pandemic has been a tough and challenging time for the trans community with so many losing their traditional livelihood measures,” Sheikh says.

With all the challenges that the present pandemic brings with it, she continues with her activism.

Apart from her professional medical engagements, she runs an NGO called Human Solidarity Foundation.

“We started a charitable clinic in Zakir Nagar this year. With the second wave of COVID-19, apart from distributing food kits and other work, we are doing a teleconsultation and also helping out people with COVID-19 resources,” she says.

Sheikh’s education was funded by Zakaat Funds (money to be compulsorily given by Muslims for charitable causes), and it’s her dream that the potential of children is not lost because of lack of resources. Eradication of hunger, health and education for all, sensitisation and awareness are her goals.

“I am not sure whether we can achieve these in my lifetime, but that’s what I really look forward to.”

Mariya Salim is a fellow at IPS UN Bureau

 

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The post Dr Aqsa Sheikh: Transgender Doctor Injecting Hope During COVID Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

La Commission européenne a présenté une version révisée de sa stratégie industrielle proposée l’an dernier. Elle dit vouloir diversifier les chaînes d'approvisionnement et forger de nouvelles alliances industrielles.

Das deutsche Bundesministerium des Inneren stellte den Deutschland-Index der Digitalisierung 2021 vor. Zwar zeigt der Index einen positiven Trend in Richtung steigender Digitalisierung, jedoch besteht insbesondere im Bereich digitale Infrastruktur und Bürgerservices Nachholbedarf.

A Szlovák Hidrometeorológiai Intézet (SHMÚ) előrejelzése szerint pénteken túlnyomóan borús lesz felettünk az ég, a délutáni órákban a felhőzet helyenként felszakadozhat.

Die Cousine (†50) sowie die Tante (†76) von Volksmusiker Stefan Mross wurden getötet. Der Täter ist laut Polizei der Ex-Freund der 50-Jährigen.

Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was as "reliable as a Kalashnikov assault rifle", Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, in a video-conference with deputy prime minister Tatyana Golikova. The European Medicines Agency is still studying Sputnik V safety prior to EU-wide approval. Hungary has started to use it. But Germany and the Czech Republic have rowed back on previous enthusiasm to give the jab to their nationals.

Clusters of the Indian variants of Covid-19 have been found across England, including in care homes, the Guardian has learned, amid growing fears about the speed with which they are spreading in communities. The latest update of case numbers of these variants was due to be published on Thursday. But leaked emails seen by the Guardian show the announcement was delayed until at least Friday because of local elections.

Current technology enables the world to cut methane emissions by 40 percent by 2030, shaving 0.3 degrees Celsius off rising temperatures, the UN said in a report out Thursday, amid EU deliberations on its first-ever methane-cut targets for energy firms, due this year. "If we want to reduce the rate of warming in the near term, methane is the way," Johan Kuylenstierna, one of the UN report co-authors, told Reuters.

The EU's top court has thrown out an appeal by German chemicals firm Bayer against a partial ban on three pesticides said to harm bees. "The verdict seems to allow the [European] Commission almost carte blanche to review existing approvals upon the slightest evidence," a Bayer spokesman told Reuters. "Protecting nature and people's health takes precedence over the narrow economic interests of powerful multinationals," a Greenpeace spokeswoman also said.

The EU has recommended to member states that Israeli nationals should be allowed to visit the bloc as tourists once again, due to the success of Israel's coronavirus vaccination campaign. The move "paves the way for a gradual return to routine and economic growth after the coronavirus crisis," Israel's foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi said. People from Australia and New Zealand are also exempt from Europe's blanket ban on foreign tourism.

Israel's foreign ministry has urged EU states to "immediately cease funding for Palestinian organisations that work on behalf of the PFLP terrorist group", amid its indictment of a Spanish national living in the West Bank, accused of duping EU donors to divert "eight-figure" sums to PFLP, which is on an EU terrorism blacklist. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, the same day urged Israel to stop building 540 new settlements.

Die EU-Mitgliedsstaaten haben der Anwendung der neuen, überarbeiteten Methodik in den Vorbeitrittsgesprächen mit Serbien und Montenegro zugestimmt.