Lebanon patriarch calls for end to meddling in judiciary after blast probe stalls
Amman, JordanReuters Lebanon’s top Christian cleric said on Sunday the government should put an end to any meddling in the judiciary after the probe into last year’s vast Beirut port blast was halted by the latest of a series of complaints against the lead investigator. The investigation was frozen on Monday when a former minister […]
French Catholic Church had an estimated 3,000 paedophiles since 1950s – commission head
Paris, FranceReuters The French Catholic Church has had an estimated 3,000 paedophiles in its ranks over the past 70 years, the head of an independent commission investigating the sex abuse scandal said in an interview published on Sunday. The scandal in the French Church is the latest to hit the Roman Catholic Church, which has […]
Israeli state watchdog to investigate religious festival stampede
Jerusalem, IsraelReuters Israel’s government watchdog said on Monday it would open an investigation into the deaths of 45 people crushed in a stampede at a Jewish religious festival last week. State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said his office, which audits the government, would look into the circumstances surrounding the event at Mount Meron in the Galilee […]
Updated: New Zealand’s Ardern apologises as report into mosque attack faults focus on Islamist terror risks
Updated 6pm (AEDT)Wellington, New ZealandReuters New Zealand security agencies were “almost exclusively” focused on the perceived threat of Islamist terrorism before a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers last year, a report into the country’s worst massacre found. The Royal Commission of Inquiry also criticised police for failing to enforce proper checks when granting […]
US savages WHO as it promises pandemic review, but China pledges $US2 billion
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The World Health Organization said on Monday an independent review of the global coronavirus response would begin as soon as possible and it received backing and a hefty pledge of funds from China, in the spotlight as the origin of the pandemic. But the WHO’s chief critic, the US administration of President Donald […]
In the US, Southern Baptist executive group urges caution before investigating church abuse
RNS A Southern Baptist working group urged a cautious approach in investigating churches linked to allegations of sex abuse but has agreed that three of 10 churches named by Southern Baptist Convention President JD Greear in a report about sex abuse last week should be investigated. In the seven other cases, the group said no […]