Australia halts defence ties with Myanmar, redirects aid
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia has suspended its defence cooperation program with Myanmar, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said, amid an intensified crackdown by the country’s military on massive protests against last month’s coup. Australia will also redirect immediate humanitarian needs to Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities, Payne said in a statement late on Sunday. Australia’s Foreign […]
Postcards: Japan’s tsunami survivors call lost loves on the ‘phone of the wind’
MARI SAITO reports for Reuters from Otsuchi in Japan…
Swiss narrowly back proposal to ban face coverings in public
Berlin, GermanyAP Swiss voters narrowly approved on Sunday a proposal to ban face coverings, both the niqabs and burqas worn by a few Muslim women in the country and the ski masks and bandannas used by protesters. The measure will outlaw covering one’s face in public places like restaurants, sports stadiums, public transport or simply […]
First oak trees selected to replace Notre Dame’s spire
Paris, FranceAP The first eight oak trees destined to replace the destroyed spire of Paris’ scorched Notre Dame cathedral have been selected from the Bercé forest in the French Loire region, church officials have said. The iconic, 96 metre high spire was completely destroyed in the fire that ravaged the Paris monument in 2019. It […]
Sri Lanka Catholics mark ‘Black Sunday’ for Easter victims
Colombo, Sri LankaAP Sri Lankan Roman Catholics attended Mass dressed in black on Sunday, with prayers and protests calling for justice for those killed in coordinated suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday two years ago. Church bells tolled and prayers were chanted at 8:45am, the time when bombs were detonated almost simultaneously at two Roman […]
Updated: Where IS ruled, Pope calls on Christians to forgive, rebuild
Updated: 8am (AEDT), 8th March, 2021Qaraqosh, IraqAP Pope Francis urged Iraq’s Christians on Sunday to forgive the injustices against them by Muslim extremists and to rebuild as he visited the wrecked shells of churches and met ecstatic crowds in the community’s historic heartland, which was nearly erased by the Islamic State group’s horrific reign. “Fraternity […]
Afghanistan pledges to double female police numbers as attacks surge
Kabul, AfghanistanThomson Reuters Foundation Afghanistan has said it will more than double the number of female officers in its police force by 2024, even as the country grapples with a violent backlash against working women. Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi said Afghanistan needed more female police to address the needs of women and girls, as he […]
A timeline of disaster and displacement for Iraqi Christians
Baghdad, IraqAP In Iraq, two decades of back-to-back conflicts have left ancient Christian communities that were once a vibrant and integral part of the landscape scattered and in ruins. Iraq was estimated to have nearly 1.5 million Christians before the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. They date back to the first centuries […]
As genocide designation becomes a political football, Uighur activists push for action
RNS On his final day in office, then President Donald Trump and his administration declared China’s treatment of its Uighur population a genocide. So far, President Joe Biden has taken the United States in a different direction from his predecessor on almost every issue at hand, but on this question Biden’s foreign policy team has […]
Protesters say out with Cyprus’ “Satanic” Eurovision entry
Nicosia, CyrpsuAP Dozens of Orthodox Christian faithful held up wooden crosses and sang Church hymns outside of Cyprus’ state broadcaster on Saturday to demand the withdrawal of the country’s controversial entry for the Eurovision song contest – titled El Diablo – that they say promotes satanic worship. Some of the protesters, including families, held up […]