Middle East Christian Communities: Why Did Christian Leaders in the Middle East Shun Vice President Pence's Visit?

The Middle East At Easter: "the US 
want Jesus to be a political Jesus"

According to Israeli news outlet Haaretz, Christian leaders in the Middle East shunned Vice President Mike Pence in his recent trip to their countries.

Christian leaders in Egypt and Jerusalem reportedly decided to boycott his visit, in an attempt to protest President Trump’s December 7th recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Pence was unable to visit Bethlehem, the city where Jesus was born, because it is located in the occupied region of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority who declared that Pence was ” unwelcome in Palestine.”

Pence declared that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the “only true foundation for a just and lasting peace.” Arab Christians apparently disagree, wanting East Jerusalem to be the capital of a non-Israeli Arab state. Protestors held signs that read, “Pence you are desecrating our land. Pence go home.”

Pence reportedly completed his visit to the Middle East without meeting with any prominent Christian leaders from Egypt, Jordan and Israel. In his meeting with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Pence raised the issue of protecting Egypt’s Christians from persecution.

After meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan, Pence’s remarks made clear their disagreement over a two state solution: “Friends occasionally have disagreements, and we agreed to disagree on recognizing Jerusalem. We agreed all parties need to come to the table. I hope I impressed on him our earnest desire to restart the peace process.”

In his speech to the Knesset today Pence used religious symbolism, quoted from the bible, and explained his support for Israel as a moral and religious obligation, not solely a political one. His speech was interrupted by numerous standing ovations by Israeli  Knesset members.

According to The Associated Press, Palestinian Christians reject Pence’s “brand” of Christianity:

They argue that such streams of evangelical Christianity have used religion to whitewash Israel’s harsh policies during its half-century-old rule over millions of Palestinians.

“For me, it’s a sick ideology,” said Munib Younan, the recently retired bishop of the small Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and former president of the Lutheran World Federation, an umbrella for churches with millions of believers.

“When I say Jesus is love, they want my Jesus to be a political Jesus,” Younan, 67, a Jerusalem-born Palestinian, said in a recent interview at his West Bank church.

The AP adds that while Christian Arabs are a minority living in the West Bank, they lived peacefully next to their Muslim Arab neighbors, describing their neighborhoods as places “where the pealing of church bells often blends with the Muslim call to prayer.”

Note EU-Digest - Jesus Christ represents love not hatred or violence, and if politics and fanaticism was not injected as a result of  foreign interventions in the Middle East,  historical peaceful coexistence would still prevail there  today.   

Read more: Why Did Christian Leaders in the Middle East Shun Vice President Pence's Visit?

The Environment: China Has Met Its 2020 Carbon Target Three Years Early

China met its 2020 carbon intensity target — the amount of carbon dioxide it produces per unit of economic growth — three years ahead of schedule, according to the country’s top climate official, Xie Zhenhua. In 2017, China cut its carbon intensity by 46 percent from 2005 levels, a drop of 5.1 percent from the previous year, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xie announced the milestone at the country’s Green Carbon Summit on Monday.

As part of the Paris Agreement in 2015, China, the world’s largest emitter of CO2, had pledged to reduce its 2005 carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. It has a goal of reducing carbon emissions by unit of GDP by 60 to 65 percent by 2030, and to halt increasing its emissions after that point.

China has struggled to meet another Paris pledge, however, to establish a national cap and trade system by 2017 for greenhouse gas emissions. Last December, the country launched emissions trading for the power sector, covering 1,700 companies and 3 billion tons of CO2 emissions, but a broader, multi-sector system has been delayed by technical problems and unreliable data, Reuters reported.

Read more:China Has Met Its 2020 Carbon Target Three Years Early - Yale E360

'EU Turkish Relations: Turkey needs Europe, Europe needs Turkey'

Turkey's not exactly the flavour of the month in the EU right now, but - as the two sides meet at a summit in Bulgaria - President Erdogan says it's time for the bloc to "keep to its promises."

Ankara kicked off formal membership negotiations in 2005 and, all these years on, they have effectively collapsed.

But there's a reluctance to walk away from each other.

"Europe should take its share of the refugees, so that we don't have to depend on people like Erdogan to manage the issue," said Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian Green MEP.

"That obviously requires a little bit of political courage, but at the end of the day, it's our strategic independence from Turkey."

Erdogan's alarmed the West with a massive purge following a failed coup attempt.

But Turkey remains the destination for many Syrians fleeing war - and an important ally in the NATO alliance. So is it really curtains for the membership bid?

"If Turkey cannot relaunch the reform process and is not anymore in a position to meet EU accession criteria, relations will evolve into a kind of partnership and will be shaped more and more around common interests and strategic priorities," commented political analyst Seda Gurkan.

"And Turkey is considered in Brussels actually as an important strategic neighbour or a key partner rather a candidate."

Three billion euros of fresh cash is expected to be pledged to Turkey to lengthen a deal on it taking in Syrian refugees. And for Ankara, the EU is its biggest foreign investor and trading partner.

"Turkey is not doing very well economically, it needs outlets" said Lamberts, "and it is very clear that bad relations with Europe are harmful to Turkey, so somewhere on the economic level Erdogan needs Europe and Europe in fairness needs Turkey."

With Syria, France has been one of the biggest critics of the Turkish military operation in Afrin - saying border security concerns did not justify it.

Read more: 'Turkey needs Europe, Europe needs Turkey' | Euronews

European Space Agency warns: China's Tiangong-1 space station 'will crash into Earth over Easter' possibly hitting populated areas- by Harry Pettit

China's out of control space station Tiangong-1 to crash on earth

China's out-of-control space station will crash into Earth this coming Easter weekend, according to the European Space Agency.

The agency's Space Debris Office has said Tiangong-1 will hit somewhere across our planet's northern hemisphere between March 30 and April 2.

Previous estimates suggested the rogue station, China's out of Cwhich is carrying highly toxic chemicals, would enter Earth's orbit on April 3.

According to experts tracking the station, it has the highest chance of crashing along a narrow strip around latitudes of 43 degrees north and south.

The ESA said crash date estimates were 'highly variable' and that its experts would be offering revised forecasts every couple of days.

'At no time will a precise time/location prediction from ESA be possible,' the agency's Space Debris Office, based in Darmstadt, Germany, said in a statement.

The doomed 8.5-tonne craft has been hurtling towards Earth since Chinese scientists lost control of it in 2016.

Experts believe most of Tiangong-1 will burn up upon reentry, but shards as large as 100kg (220lbs) could strike Earth.

Scientist believe that even in 'high risk' areas, the chance of being struck by Tiangong-1 debris is about one million times smaller than the odds of winning the Powerball jack. 

However, there is a chance parts of the station containing hazardous hydrazine could plummet into a highly-populated area.

Following Cities are listed as potential crash sites:

Barcelona	Spain	Milwaukee	USA
Beijing	China	Monaco	Monaco
Bilbao	Spain	Naples	Italy
Boise	USA	New York	USA
Boston	USA	Nice	France
Boulder	USA	Philadelphia	USA
Buffalo	USA	Pittsburgh	USA
Cannes	France	Punta Arenas	Chile
Chicago	USA	Rochester	USA
Christchurch	New Zealand	Rome	Italy
Cleveland	USA	Salt Lake City	Spain
Concord	USA	San Sebastian	Spain
Des Moines	USA	Sapporo	Japan
Detroit	USA	Sioux Falls	USA
Florence	Italy	Sochi	Russia
Istanbul	Turkey	Stanley	Falkland Islands
Kushiro	Japan	Toronto	Canada
Madrid	Spain	Trelew	Argentina
Marseilles	France	Valladolid	Spain

Read more: China's Tiangong-1 space station 'will crash into Earth over Easter' | Daily Mail On

EU: Overview - What is the Europe 2020 strategy about?

The Europe 2020 strategy is the EU's agenda for growth and jobs for the current decade. It emphasises smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in order to improve Europe's competitiveness and productivity and underpin a sustainable social market economy.

To reach this objective, the EU has adopted targets to be reached by 2020 in five areas:

• Employment
• Research & Development
• Climate change & energy
• Education
• Poverty and social exclusion

 What are the key targets to be reached by 2020?

The headline targets related to the strategy's key objectives at the EU level cover:

• Employment:
  > 75% of the population aged 20 to 64 years to be employed;

• Research & Development:
  > 3% of GDP to be invested in the R&D sector;

• Climate change & energy: 
  > Greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 20% compared to 1990
  > Share of renewable energy sources in final energy consumption to be increased to 20%
  > Energy efficiency to be improved by 20%

• Education: 
  > Share of early school leavers to be reduced under 10%
  > At least 40% of 30 to 34 years old to have completed tertiary or equivalent education

• Poverty and social exclusion: 
  > At least 20 million people fewer at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

The EU-level targets have been translated into  national targets in each EU country, reflecting different situations and circumstances.

USA Trump Tariffs - EU threats against Trump tariffs work - Trump backs down, temporarily excludes EU, 6 other allies from aluminum/steel tarifs - by Lesley Wroughtons

Mommy Merkel will spank you Donald if you keep misbehaving

U.S. President Donald Trump has temporarily excluded six countries, including Canada and Mexico, and European Union states from higher U.S. import duties on steel and aluminum meant to come into effect on Friday.

In a presidential proclamation published late on Thursday, Trump said he would suspend tariffs for Argentina, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and the European Union, the U.S.’s biggest trading partner, until May 1, 2018 as discussions continue.

After May 1, Trump would decide whether to permanently exempt the countries based on the status of talks, the White House said in a statement.

Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the EU would respond firmly if the United States did not exempt European steel and aluminum.

The EU also has published a list of US products, services and corporations  which would immediately be targeted if Trump did not back down from his tariff threats..

Note EU-Digest: the response by the EU and Mrs. Merkel in reference to the Trump proposed tariffs was excellent, and an example of how the EU should continue to deal with Donald Trump's tantrums,wild threats, and fantasy, about making America great again.  

EU-Digest - from Reuters report

The Netherlands: "Big Brother" Wire Tapping: Government Wire Tapping Powers 'rejected' by Dutch in Referendum

The Netherlands Rejects "Big Brother" wanting to watch them

The Netherlands put to a referendum new legislation, officially the Intelligence and Security Law.

The bill gave new powers to the Netherlands' intelligence services.

They would be able to install wire taps on whole areas, rather than just individuals, store information for up to three years and share this data with other spy agencies.

An independent panel would have to approve these wire taps before they could go ahead.

Both the lower and upper chambers of the Netherlands parliament passed the law last year,

Voters, however, in the Netherlands appear to have narrowly rejected the new online data collection powers for intelligence agencies in the referendum which was held in on March 21.

With about 90% of votes counted, 48.8% have rejected the powers, with 47.3% in favour.

An exit poll by the national broadcaster had earlier suggested a victory for "yes".

Supporters of the law say the powers could help fight terrorism, while opponents say the law could be invasion of privacy.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte has promised to take the Referendum vote seriously --And he better do so, even though the result is non-binding, this no-vote will  require a re-debate in parliament. 

This is a controversial issue, which would have allowed "Big Brother" to put their nose even deeper into Dutch citizens personal privacy, under the nebulous pretext of national security. As if there are not enough government agencies already infringing on citizens privacy say the no-voters.

EU-Digest