First German Catholic diocese allows women to perform baptisms
Berlin, GermanyAP The Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen has become the first in Germany to allow women to perform baptisms, citing a lack of priests. The diocese said in a statement Monday that Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck tasked 18 lay ministers – 17 of them women – with conferring the sacrament of admission into the Church […]
Sight-Seeing: Lent – for a time such as this
NILS VON KALM says Lent this year is “a time to lament, maybe even to mourn, as we remember during this Lenten period that the Son of God Himself wasn’t even spared death”…
Final talks on UN biodiversity pact open in shadow of Ukraine
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Hundreds of negotiators arrived in the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday for final UN talks on an ambitious pact that aims to halt and reverse the loss of habitats for endangered species ahead of a summit in China later this year. The in-person talks are the first time negotiators from some 164 […]
Australia, Netherlands start UN action against Russia over MH17
Sydney, Australia/Amsterdam, The Netherlands Reuters Australia and the Netherlands said on Monday they had begun joint legal action against Russia at the United Nations’ aviation agency over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 eight years ago. The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on 17th July, 2014, when it was hit […]
UN chief: prospect of nuclear conflict back “within realm of possibility” over Ukraine
Reuters United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday sounded the alarm over Russia raising the alert level for its nuclear forces after invading Ukraine, describing it as a “bone-chilling development”. “The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility,” Guterres told reporters, and repeated his call for an immediate […]
US warns China not to help Russia on Ukraine as first convoy flees Mariupol
Lviv, UkraineReuters The United States on Monday warned China not to help Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as Moscow allowed the first convoy to escape besieged Mariupol, home to the worst humanitarian crisis of the conflict. Since the first week of the invasion, the biggest attack on a European state since World War II, the south-eastern […]
Tentative hopes for Ukraine peace talks after fierce Russian attacks
Lviv, UkraineReuters Ukraine said it would seek to discuss a ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops and security guarantees with Russia on Monday after both sides reported rare progress at the weekend, despite fierce Russian bombardments. Previous rounds of talks have had similar aims but have ended up focused mainly on humanitarian issues and agreed ceasefires […]
China records more local COVID cases this year than in whole of 2021
Beijing, ChinaReuters China has reported more local symptomatic COVID-19 cases so far this year than it recorded in all of 2021, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant triggers outbreaks from Shanghai to Shenzhen. Mainland China reported 1,337 new domestically transmitted COVID cases with confirmed symptoms on 13th March, the National Health Commission said on Monday. […]
Explainer – Is it legal for foreigners to fight for Ukraine?
Reuters As thousands of would-be fighters from outside the country volunteer to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion, some may also face legal consequences in their home countries. Citizens of Canada, Georgia, India, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are among the volunteers, Reuters and other media organizations have reported. Below is […]
Supplies and a smile: Kharkiv resident delivers aid to besieged city
Gdansk, PolandReuters Somehow Teimur Aliev manages to smile. A lot. The 23-year-old musician is in Kharkiv, a city in north-eastern Ukraine that has suffered some of the heaviest bombardment from Russian forces and where dozens of civilians have been killed. Rather than fleeing, he has decided to remain in his home town and try to […]