COMMENT: By Joy Asasira When religion and morality dictate reproductive health policy in Uganda, who suffers? Over the past few months, much as been said by politicians and the media about reproductive rights issues, from comprehensive sexuality education, legalisation or decriminalisation of abortion and even access to essential HIV prevention …
Read More »Israel receives first group of Ethiopian migrants
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israel has welcomed a group of 64 Ethiopian migrants, the first group of a new wave of 9,000 to arrive over the next five years, an official said Monday. Their arrival follows the resolution of a political crisis that threatened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, …
Read More »Pope’s new C.Africa cardinal brings fresh hope of peace
Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP | Pope Francis has brought fresh hopes of peace to the war-ravaged Central African Republic, with Christians and Muslims praising his decision to name Bangui’s archbishop a cardinal as a step to ending sectarian violence. Aged only 49, Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga will be the …
Read More »At 85, Tutu says wants choice of assisted death
Le Cap, South Africa | AFP | South African retired Anglican archbishop and anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu celebrated his 85th birthday on Friday saying he would like to be allowed the option of dignified assisted death. “Today, I myself am even closer to the departures hall than arrivals, so to …
Read More »Pope visits Azerbaijan on Caucasus peace tour
Baku, Azerbaijan | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday arrived in mainly Muslim Azerbaijan on the last leg of his peace tour of the volatile ex-Soviet Caucasus region, just months after visiting arch-foe Armenia. The pontiff held a mass for the country’s tiny Catholic community in the capital Baku ahead …
Read More »Mother Teresa elevated to sainthood
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Mother Teresa, the celebrated nun whose work with the poor of Kolkata made her an instantly recognisable global figure, will be proclaimed a saint on Sunday. Pope Francis will preside over a solemn canonisation mass in the presence of 100,000 pilgrims and with …
Read More »Church of England welcomes first openly gay bishop
London, United Kingdom | AFP | A British bishop has become the first in the Church of England — the mother church of the worldwide Anglican faith — to announce he is homosexual, in an interview published Saturday. Nicholas Chamberlain, the Bishop of Grantham in central England, told the Guardian …
Read More »Pope in surprise visit to ex-prostitutes
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis surprised 20 former prostitutes on Friday by knocking on their door in Rome and popping in for a chat. The Argentine, who has repeatedly described the human trafficking behind much prostitution as “a crime against humanity”, sat down with the …
Read More »Nigeria halts film village plans after Muslim clerics’ protest
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria has shelved a plan to build a $10 million film village outside the mainly Muslim northern city of Kano, bowing to virulent opposition from radical Muslim clerics. The decision deals a blow to a booming industry, developers said, as the centre was to generate …
Read More »Pope names US reporter as spokesman plus first female deputy
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Monday named a former Fox News correspondent to head up the Vatican press office and appointed the tiny state’s first-ever female deputy spokesperson. American Greg Burke, 56, brought in by the Vatican in 2013 to overhaul its public-relations operation, will …
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