Christmas - the reason for the season: Muslim, Jew And Christian On What Jesus Means To Them - by Antonia Blumberg

Jesus plays a distinct role in each of the Abrahamic faiths. This time of year, when Christians celebrate Christ's nativity, his significance in faith traditions across the world is particularly potent.

Rabbi Jason Miller, Imam Shamsi Ali and Fr. James Martin joined HuffPost Live host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani to discuss what Jesus means to them.

"As a Muslim I do believe that Jesus Christ is one of the mighty prophets of God," Ali said. "In the Quran, he reminded the Muslims that 'Worship God and obey me' means that if you want to worship God then follow me in worshiping the almighty one, the almighty God."

Ali noted that the one place where Christians and Muslims disagree is over the divinity of Jesus, as Muslims believe Jesus to be among five mighty prophets from God.

In Judaism, Miller noted, devotees typically do not "believe in" Jesus as the messiah but rather see him as historical figure who offered certain wise teachings that resonate for Jews. Miller added that Jews do feel utmost respect for "our Christian brothers and sisters" to whom Jesus' divinity is a central teaching.

Read more: A Muslim, Jew And Christian On What Jesus Means To Them

Transportation - Amsterdam Berlin in 40 minutes: the Hyperloop system will transport you at 1287.5 km per hour

Hyperloop, the ultra-fast tube transport dreamed up by SpaceX founder and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, could be ready for passengers in as few as 10 years.

In a 76-page report released on Dropbox on Thursday, a new startup called Hyperloop Transportation Technologies laid out plans for building Musk's futuristic transportation system, which could cut travel time between Los Angeles and San Francisco down to 35 minutes. The trip takes up to 12 hours by Amtrak train, and more than six hours by car.

The system would carry passengers in pods moving as fast as 1287.5 km (800 miles) per hour, according to the white paper. The plan laid out by Musk -- who has no involvement in the project, and did not help with the paper -- has broadened beyond the two California metropoles. Hyperloop Transportation has drawn up maps with lines connecting every major U.S. city.

Read more: Image for The Real Reason Tesla Is Tanking

Turkey cutting lose from the EU ? by FEHİM TAŞTEKİN

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, once a staunch supporter of the EU criteria, is now telling the EU to mind its own business.

He once carried the ambition to raise Turkey’s standards economically and politically, but lately he has become more of a Putin – although I know this is not fair to the Russian president. In the first speech he delivered as president earlier this year, Erdoğan said the “New Turkey” would concentrate on EU talks. However, Erdoğan then boasted of an “Ankara criteria” that he would put in place of the “Copenhagen criteria,” and we can now see that what he meant by this by looking at recent legislation.

While Erdoğan is defending these steps against European institutions that say there is a decline in democracy and liberties in Turkey, he tirades like the head of a self-confident sovereign state. As if the U.K., France or the Netherlands are not sovereign states. As if Europe’s driving force, Germany, is a loser that hands over some it its powers to the European Commission.

The EU has “curb” and “encouragement” mechanisms; one protects the standards, while the other encourages raising the standards. If you are setting up a partnership with the EU, both of these mechanisms step in to do their business. These mechanisms try to keep you within the corridor of the criteria and standards that you have already accepted in advance.

What makes the EU a success story is not its dictation, but rather its negotiating and reconciling culture. There is no point in embracing the “national pride” and “independent foreign policy” rhetoric against the warnings of those who hate these features.

While Erdoğan is pounding the EU, he is also asking what it has done in Syria, Egypt and Palestine.

The hand Erdoğan is shaking while scolds the EU belongs to Putin, who has aborted Turkey’s revolution project in Syria and is also the person who rolled out the red carpet in front of the architect of the coup in Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Also, I do not know what it means to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) - which thinks of itself as the spokesperson of the Palestinian cause - for some EU members to recognize Palestinian statehood, as well as the European Parliament recently. Certain EU members succeed in making Israel much angrier without shouting like Erdoğan. 

The main issue is that there is no power present in the Middle East to question Erdoğan in terms of the law and human rights. The fact that the EU is stepping in as a curbing mechanism gets on his nerves.

Erdoğan is pursuing methods to eliminate all domestic break mechanisms, from the media to the judiciary, from the Parliament to inspection institutions. All this is to make his government untouchable and absolute. He is currently in the business of defaming mechanisms the he cannot get rid of, such as the Constitutional Court. While he is doing this, inevitably he hits out at the EU process that is binding him to the agreements and protocols Turkey has signed.

Erdoğan tells the EU to mind its own business, but the job of the European Commission - with the jurisdiction granted to it by Ankara - is exactly this: To monitor Turkey’s state of affairs. It was only possible to end the military tutelage, an achievement that Erdoğan is so proud of, with the EU stick.

The EU process, which Erdoğan has used as a shield since 2004 against the civilian and military bureaucracy, is now seen by him as an obstacle in front of his plans. The EU, meanwhile, which was not able to obtain any results with its regular break mechanisms, is at the brink of staging a more dramatic reaction. 

 Read more: Turkey cutting lose from the EU - FEHİM TAŞTEKİN

Dutch Government Crises: "SMOKESCREEN IS KEEPING RUTTE GOVERNMENT ON LIFE SUPPORT "

The pieces might have been stuck together, but the "adhesive" attempts of the Center-Right Rutte II  Government are taking more and more desperate forms.

To limit further loss of face lhe Government coalition is trying to find a way to sneak past the Upper Chamber (Senate) blockage of their revised health-care legislation. 

Opposition parties which have been collaborating with the government on major issues have indicated they will not support changes in the legislation.

Read more: Rookgordijn houdt kabinet-Rutte II overeind - AD.nl

For a translation of this Dutch language report click here, copy and paste in the link of the above webpage and fill in your language requirements 

Sanctions: EU may consider lift of anti-Russia sanctions if Ukraine’s territorial integrity preserved

The European Union may consider the possibility of lifting its sanctions against Russia if Ukraine’s territorial integrity is preserved, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.

“We’ll see whether there is any progress in this direction. Then we can move towards lifting the sanctions,” she told a news conference after a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

Merkel stressed that the EU imposed its sanctions on Russia in response to developments in Ukraine and the sanctions could be removed if the cause for imposing them was eliminated. She also said she hoped that EU countries would have a consolidated position if it was necessary to extend the sanctions.

A diplomatic source in Brussels said on Friday heads of state and government from the 28-nation European Union will consider the fulfilment of the Minsk peace agreements and the possibility of lifting the bloc’s sanctions against Russia at a summit in March 2015. “Certain sanctions against Russia may be lifted at an EU summit in Brussels in March,” the source told TASS.

French President Francois Hollande also said there was no need at present to tighten European Union sanctions against Russia. “We expect there is no reason to take new sanctions and we also are going to look how we could engage in a de-escalation,” Hollande told journalists after the meeting in Brussels.

Read more: TASS: World - EU may consider lift of anti-Russia sanctions if Ukraine’s territorial integrity preserved

US-Cuba Relations: Obama hails 'new chapter' in US-Cuba ties

US President Barack Obama has hailed a "new chapter" in US relations with Cuba, announcing moves to normalise diplomatic and economic ties.

Mr Obama said the plans represented the "most significant changes in US policy towards Cuba in 50 years".

The US is looking to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months, he said. The moves are part of a deal that saw the release of American Alan Gross by Cuba and includes the release of three Cubans jailed in
Florida for spying.

Mr Gross arrived at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington  from Cuba on Wednesday. Footage showed him disembarking from a US government plane onto the tarmac where he was met by a crowd.

The US president announced measures that he said would end an "outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests".

The plans set out in a White House statement also includes:

Reviewing the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism

• Easing a travel ban for US citizens
• Easing financial restrictions
• Increasing telecommunications links
• Efforts to lift the 54-year-old trade embargo

Note EU-Digest:  Bravo President Obama - this was long overdue and will be fantastic for business and eventually lead to democratization in Cuba. This normalization is not any different from the relationship the US has with China, Russia or any other communist or dictatorial regime .

Read more: BBC News - Obama hails 'new chapter' in US-Cuba ties

Posted by EU-Digest at 1:07 PM

Belgium: Wage Cuts And Austerity Have Come To Belgium

Today, trade unions in Belgium are organising a general national strike. This will come on top of 3 days of regional strikes as well as a national manifestation, all of which have been massively followed up by workers over the past month. Moreover, the trade union leadership is considering to continue with such actions in the new year. For Belgium, with its tradition of social dialogue, this is rather unheard of and to see similar intense trade union action one has to go 20 years back.

Belgian workers have however every reason to be upset. The conservative government, having taken up power recently, is applying an austerity program of such depth that it reminds one of the brutal austerity policies that have been pursued in in many other European member states. Policies that have triggered the long European recession of 2011-2012. The total austerity package proposed amounts to some 11 billion euro or close to 3% of GDP.

Looking at the measures that are in the pipeline, both workers and unemployed people will face austerity from the cradle to the grave. There are cuts in childcare benefits, substantially increased childcare costs and (higher) education fees as well as swinging cuts in the educational budget and public services in general. Next year, workers will be forced to undergo a real wage cut of 2% while collective bargaining on wage increases is outlawed for the coming two years. Unemployment benefit systems are being hollowed out in many different ways and at the end of their active life, workers will have to work longer (to the age of 67) before being entitled to (reduced) pensions.

In all of these measures, the pressure is on wages while income from capital is not touched at all. On the contrary! On top of the 2% imposed cut in real wages comes a huge reduction in employer social security contributions. Business will enjoy a transfer of 4 billion euro or more than 1% of GDP.

Read more: Wage Cuts And Austerity Have Come To Belgium