Nobel laureate Yunus convicted in Bangladesh labour law case
Dhaka, BangladeshReuters A court in Bangladesh on Monday sentenced Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to six months in prison for labour law violations, prosecutors said, for what he said was a crime he did not commit. Yunus, 83, and his Grameen Bank won the 2006 peace prize for their work to lift millions out of poverty […]
The Leader: Melissa Lipsett, CEO of Baptist World Aid Australia
JO KADLECEK speaks with Melissa Lipsett about her work with the aid agency, her time working in Navy intelligence and as a pastor, and the challenge of ending global poverty…
Painful surgeries and passing notes, how Israeli siblings survived Hamas captivity
JerusalemReuters Israeli Maya Regev lay badly wounded in a non-descript house in Gaza, her leg mangled from a gunshot, under orders not to make a sound. The 21-year-old begged her captors to let her younger brother Itay, who was being held in a room nearby, join her while the bandages on her leg were replaced. […]
Pope denounces continuing crackdown on Catholic Church in Nicaragua; calls for an end to violence against women in World Day of Peace message
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis on Monday denounced a growing crackdown on the Catholic Church in Nicaragua by the government of President Daniel Ortega. Twelve priests and a bishop have been detained in recent days in the Central American country, where Ortega began repressing the Catholic Church after national demonstrations in 2018. Pope Francis leads the […]
Israel’s Supreme Court strikes down disputed law that limited court oversight
JerusalemReuters Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday struck down a highly disputed law passed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government that rolled back some of the high court’s power and sparked months of nationwide protests. The law was part of a broader judicial overhaul proposed by Netanyahu and his coalition of religious and nationalist partners […]
Israel signals tactics shift, troop pullback as US carrier heads home
Jerusalem/Cairo, Egypt/Gaza Reuters Israel pulled tanks out of some Gaza City districts on Monday, residents said, as it announced plans to shift tactics and cut back on troop numbers, but fighting raged elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave along with intense bombardment. Israel says the war in Gaza, which has reduced much of the territory to […]
At least five dead after huge earthquake rocks Japan on New Year’s Day
Updated: 10:20am (AEDT)Tokyo, JapanReuters The powerful earthquake that hit central Japan on New Year’s Day killed at least five people, as police and local authorities early on Tuesday reported cases of bodies being pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings. The quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck in the middle of the afternoon […]
Benedict would have banned same-sex blessings, aide says on anniversary
Vatican CityReuters The Vatican marked the first anniversary on Sunday of the death of Pope Benedict XVI, with one of his closest aides saying he never would have approved a recent declaration allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, who was the church’s doctrinal chief under Benedict, and Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who […]
Zelenskiy says Ukraine stronger as it moves toward year two of war
Reuters President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in his New Year address early on Monday said Ukraine had become stronger in overcoming serious difficulties as the war against Russia moves toward its second year. But Zelenskiy’s slick 20 minute video message, delivered from his Kyiv office, made almost no direct reference to the situation on the 1,000 kilometre […]
Congo President Tshisekedi re-elected after contested poll
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of CongoReuters Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has been re-elected for a second term after getting more than 73 per cent of the vote in a 20th December poll, the country’s election commission CENI said on Sunday. The declaration of the result follows days of opposition complaints about the way […]