Chileans reject conservative constitution to replace dictatorship-era text – early results
Santiago/Valparaiso, Chile Reuters Chileans on Sunday rejected a new conservative constitution to replace its current text that dates back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. With 27.81 per cent of ballot boxes tallied, a total of 54.61 per cent Chileans rejected the new text while 45.39 per cent voted in favour of it. A Chilean Navy […]
Postcards: In south Lebanon, conflict casts long shadow over Christmas
Reuters correspondents report from Tyre…
Time behind bars for Cardinal Becciu? Not any time soon, experts say
Vatican CityReuters None of the six people who received jail sentences at the end of the Vatican’s big corruption trial on Saturday will likely be spending time behind bars anytime soon and some perhaps not ever, according to legal and security experts. Several, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the most senior Catholic Church official ever to […]
Serbia’s ruling SNS leads in parliamentary vote, preliminary results show
Belgrade, SerbiaReuters The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of President Aleksandar Vucic is in the lead in a snap election on Sunday with 46.6 per cent of votes, according to a projection by pollsters Ipsos and CeSID. The opposition Serbia Against Violence (SPN) alliance is set to come second with 23 per cent, while the […]
Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital a “bloodbath” says WHO
Cairo, EgyptReuters Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital is providing only basic trauma stabilization, has no blood for transfusions and hardly any staff to care for a constant flow of patients, the World Health Organization said on Sunday. After a UN visit to deliver medicines and surgical supplies, the team described the emergency department in the enclave’s […]
Pope Francis deplores Israeli killings of civilians at Gaza church
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis on Sunday again suggested Israel was using “terrorism” tactics in Gaza, deploring the reported killing by the Israeli military of two Christian women who had taken refuge in a church complex. At his weekly blessing, Francis referred to a statement about an incident on Saturday by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, […]
Israel opens aid crossing to Gaza while stepping up bombardment
Cairo, Egypt/Gaza/JerusalemReuters Israel opened a direct crossing for aid into Gaza for the first time in its more than two-month-old war on Hamas on Sunday while also stepping up attacks on the Palestinian enclave, saying military pressure was the only way its hostages would be freed. The Israeli attacks took place amid fierce fighting the […]
Thousands urged to higher ground as Australia battles floods
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australian authorities on Sunday urged thousands of people in north Queensland state to move to higher ground because of the danger of flooding from torrential rains. Queensland authorities said major flooding was underway in some suburbs of Cairns, a tourist hub of around 170,000 people located around 1,700 kilometres north of state capital […]
Church of England: Same-sex blessing to be introduced as church faces ‘disestablishment’ bill in Parliament
CATHERINE PEPINSTER, of Religion News Service, reports…
Notre Dame rooster back on Paris cathedral’s spire as renovation enters final stage
Paris, FranceReuters A large crane hoisted a new copper rooster back to the top of the spire of Notre Dame on Saturday, a meaningful milestone as workers race to finish renovating the fire-damaged Paris cathedral in the next twelve months. In the 15th April, 2019 fire that ravaged the cathedral, the old rooster had crashed […]