Xi clinches third term as China’s President amid host of challenges
Beijing, ChinaReuters Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third term as President of China on Friday during a parliamentary session in which he tightened his control of the world’s second-largest economy as it emerges from a COVID slump and diplomatic challenges mount. Nearly 3,000 members of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, voted unanimously in […]
Islamist militants kill at least 35 in east Congo village, army says
Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo Reuters Islamist militants killed at least 35 people in an overnight attack on a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in retaliation for a military crackdown on rebel activity, an army spokesperson said on Thursday. The assailants were members of the Allied Democratic Forces, Anthony Mualushayi said, referring […]
Pope says Ukraine war fuelled not just by “Russian empire”
Vatican CityReuters The war in Ukraine is driven by the interests of several “empires” and not just of Russia’s, Pope Francis said in an interview published on Friday. Francis said the conflict was fuelled by “imperial interests, not just of the Russian empire, but of empires from elsewhere”. Pope Francis holds the weekly general audience […]
Ukraine says Bakhmut battle is grinding down Russia’s best units
Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Ukraine has decided to fight on in the ruined city of Bakhmut because the battle is pinning down Russia’s best units and degrading them ahead of a planned Ukrainian spring counter-offensive, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. A satellite image shows smoke from recently dropped ordnance, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, […]
Toronto school board becomes first in Canada to recognise caste discrimination
Reuters Toronto’s school board has become the first in Canada to recognise that caste discrimination exists in the city’s schools and has asked a provincial human rights body to help in creating a framework to address the issue. The Toronto District School Board on Wednesday voted in favour of a motion to that effect, which […]
Snapshot: Beach at Dili, East Timor
See JACK MALIPAN’s image…
Soundbite – The TCM Update: The Women Who Worship project, Brooke Ligertwood’s ‘A Thousand Hallelujah’s’ and Amy Grant’s new release
Listen to this week’s TCM Update…
Contentious German Catholic Church reform assembly opens last meeting
Berlin, Germany AP Germany’s Catholic bishops and lay representatives gathered on Thursday for the final meeting of a potentially groundbreaking reform assembly that has been marked by tensions between liberalizers and conservatives and is drawing increasingly open opposition from the Vatican. The German process, dubbed the “Synodal Path,” was launched in 2019 in response to […]
Sheep come to the rescue of Pompeii ruins
Pompeii, ItalyReuters A flock of grazing sheep is helping archaeologists to preserve the ancient ruins of Pompeii, the Roman city that was buried under metres of pumice and ash in the calamitous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Archaeologists have uncovered only around two thirds of the 66-hectare site at Pompeii since excavations began […]
Amid crisis in ruling coalition, Nepal elects third president
Kathmandu, NepalReuters Amid a bitter crisis in its ruling coalition, Nepal on Thursday elected a social democrat as its third president since the Himalayan nation ended a centuries-old monarchy. The election of Ram Chandra Paudel, 78, comes after a split in the communist-dominated ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former Maoist […]