(Vatican Radio) The second round presidential election in Haiti was postponed again Sunday, although the outgoing president has less than three weeks of his term left. Haiti's political probems are making an economically challenging situation even more politically fraught.Listen to James Blears' report: Haiti's Electoral Council says the second round runoff is going to delayed due tensions and security concerns. This raises the question of just what is going to happen about the leadership issue, as President Michel Martelly is supposed to hand over the reins of power in just over two weeks.Banana cultivator and businessman Jovenal Moise won round one of the presidential election in November, with 33 percent of the vote, which was not enough for outright victory. Runner-up Jude Celestin, who is the former head of the national construction company and polled 25 percent, is seen smiling in his electoral posters.That's definitely not the case now, as h...
(Vatican Radio) The second round presidential election in Haiti was postponed again Sunday, although the outgoing president has less than three weeks of his term left. Haiti's political probems are making an economically challenging situation even more politically fraught.
Listen to James Blears' report:
Haiti's Electoral Council says the second round runoff is going to delayed due tensions and security concerns. This raises the question of just what is going to happen about the leadership issue, as President Michel Martelly is supposed to hand over the reins of power in just over two weeks.
Banana cultivator and businessman Jovenal Moise won round one of the presidential election in November, with 33 percent of the vote, which was not enough for outright victory.
Runner-up Jude Celestin, who is the former head of the national construction company and polled 25 percent, is seen smiling in his electoral posters.
That's definitely not the case now, as he's threatening to boycott the next round, although he's yet to formally resign his candidacy.
Haiti can ill afford this instability. The poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, it's still struggling to overcome the effects of the 2010 earthquake which killed more than 200,000 of its population and devastated infrastructure.
(Vatican Radio) Officials say the first of a total of more 153 Iraqi Christians who have been offered asylum in the Czech Republic have arrived in the capital Prague, after neighboring Slovakia also agreed to host Christians. It comes amid by European Union concerns however that it is being is overwhelmed by migrants fleeing war and poverty, most of them Muslims.Listen to Stefan Bos' report: The Czech government says it approved the Iraqi Christians request for help because they were threatened by the aggression of Islamic State group militants.Ten of the 153 Christians granted asylum already landed at Prague's international airport Sunday and were to be taken to a hotel near the central city of Jihlava, where they will spend several months. They originally used to live near Mosul in Iraq.In December last year neighboring Slovakia agreed to grant asylum to a group of 149 Christians who live in the same troubled region and face extremism there.American transportT...
(Vatican Radio) Officials say the first of a total of more 153 Iraqi Christians who have been offered asylum in the Czech Republic have arrived in the capital Prague, after neighboring Slovakia also agreed to host Christians. It comes amid by European Union concerns however that it is being is overwhelmed by migrants fleeing war and poverty, most of them Muslims.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report:
The Czech government says it approved the Iraqi Christians request for help because they were threatened by the aggression of Islamic State group militants.
Ten of the 153 Christians granted asylum already landed at Prague's international airport Sunday and were to be taken to a hotel near the central city of Jihlava, where they will spend several months.
They originally used to live near Mosul in Iraq.
In December last year neighboring Slovakia agreed to grant asylum to a group of 149 Christians who live in the same troubled region and face extremism there.
American transport
They have been transported by a fund linked to American television and radio personality Glenn Beck who spoke about the operation to safe Christians who he said had been targeted by the so-called Islamic State group.
"We are taking to bring Iraqi Christians out of the Middle East with something called the Nazarene Fund," he said.
"We have raised about 12 million dollars to do it. Our vetting is by far superior to that of the United States, the United Nations or the European Union. And we are thrilled that they are safe and they are actually going to a Mass to celebrate the blessings that Christ has given them."
Yet the arrival of Christians in Slovakia and the Czech Republic comes amid mounting tensions between the European Union and several Eastern European countries over a plan to divide as many as 160,000 refugees among member states.
Slovakia and Hungary, both predominantly Roman Catholic countries have even launched legal challenges against the plan.
Catholic support
However a Hungarian Catholic diocese said recently it had offered to take in 1,000 Christian refugees from Syria, but also added that the targeted group had never managed to reach the EU's passport free Schengen border.
Amid these difficulties, the European Commission says it wants the European Union's Frontex border control organization to help Macedonia screen refugees trying to reach the EU.
German weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag said the Commission, the EU's executive, supports a proposal of the Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar for strengthening surveillance and that it would be the first time that Frontex goes to work in a country that is not an EU member.
Yet there isn't much time left: Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner warned Sunday that the country's newly introduced cap on the number of refugees allowed into the country will likely be reached within a few months.
Key nation
Austria is a key country for refugees as it borders the notorious Balkans route.
Mikl-Leitner told Germany's Welt am Sonntag that the maximum number of 37,500 refugees would probably be reached before the summer.
The Austrian minister warned that once the cap had been reached the country would either refuse to accept further asylum application or reject refugees on the border.
More than 1 million people from countries like Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan entered Europe last year in what has been called the biggest migration to the continent since World War II.
(Vatican Radio) Tensions remain high in Moldova's capital Chisinau where thousands of people have demonstrated against the government and demanded early elections amid growing public outrage over reported high level corruption. The protests have added to pressure on new Prime Minister Pavel Filip to resign. Listen to Stefan Bos' report: Residents in favor of closer ties with Russia and those preferring closer relations with the European Union briefly overcame their differences and united in protest against the government. More than 15,000 people demanded an early poll in Moldova, Europe's poorest nation.Protesters in the capital Chisinau shouted "We want the country back!" and "Unity, citizens!" in Romanian and Russian. They alsoblocked a main road out of the city of one million people, as temperatures fell to minus 10 Celsius, some 14 Fahrenheit.They are furious over the disappearance of up to $1.5 billion from three banks in Moldova pri...
(Vatican Radio) Tensions remain high in Moldova's capital Chisinau where thousands of people have demonstrated against the government and demanded early elections amid growing public outrage over reported high level corruption. The protests have added to pressure on new Prime Minister Pavel Filip to resign.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report:
Residents in favor of closer ties with Russia and those preferring closer relations with the European Union briefly overcame their differences and united in protest against the government. More than 15,000 people demanded an early poll in Moldova, Europe's poorest nation.
Protesters in the capital Chisinau shouted "We want the country back!" and "Unity, citizens!" in Romanian and Russian. They also
blocked a main road out of the city of one million people, as temperatures fell to minus 10 Celsius, some 14 Fahrenheit.
They are furious over the disappearance of up to $1.5 billion from three banks in Moldova prior to the country's parliamentary election in 2014. That's an eighth of Moldova's Gross Domestic Product.
Several parties
The rally was organized by two pro-Russian parties and the civic group Dignity and Truth. Protesters earlier marched toward the Constitutional Court. Dignity and Truth leader Andrei Nastase called on the government to announce by January 28 that it will hold an early election, or face in his words acts of civil disobedience.
Sunday's rally was the latest in a series of protests.
Last week demonstrators stormed Parliament last lawmakers approved a new pro-European government. Thousands also held anti-government demonstrations for three straight days. The anger is also fueled by falling living standards that have left the average monthly salary at roughly $240.
Protesters say the government and parliament should be dissolved as they are ruled by millionaires and billionaires, often referred to as oligarchs.
They claim pro-European parties, which have been in power since 2009, have failed to carry out reforms. New Prime Minister Pavel Filip has shown no sign of resigning yer. On Tuesday is is to visit Romania, Moldova's closest ally.
Peyton Manning is the only five-time MVP in NFL history, one of the faces of the league and, at 39, the oldest starting quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl....
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- It was a daring and elaborate escape: cutting through metal, crawling through plumbing tunnels, climbing a roof, rappelling four stories to freedom using ropes made from bedsheets....
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As tens of thousands of children fleeing violence in Central America crossed the border in search of safe harbor, overwhelmed U.S. officials weakened child protection policies, placing some young migrants in homes where they were sexually assaulted, starved or forced to work for little or no pay, an Associated Press investigation has found....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As tens of thousands of children fleeing violence in Central America crossed the border in search of safe harbor, overwhelmed U.S. officials weakened child protection policies, placing some young migrants in homes where they were sexually assaulted, starved or forced to work for little or no pay, an Associated Press investigation has found....
