(Vatican Radio) At least 27 migrants and refugees from the Middle East are reported to have drowned Monday night while trying to cross from Turkey to the eastern Greek islands.Listen to John Carr's report: Turkish media showed images of bodies being washed ashore, including those of several children, in the coastal areas of Aivalik and Dikili. The victims were trying to make their way in a small plastic boat to the Greek island of Lesbos just a few kilometres away, when the craft is believed to have capsized in choppy seas.Meanwhile, figures from the global entertainment industry have been coming to Greece to help raise awareness of the migrants’ plight. British actress Vanessa Redgrave is scheduled to arrive in Athens this week. American actress Susan Sarandon was in Lesbos last month on what was called a mercy mission to personally help refugeesAnd as the weather in Greece is expected to improve this week, with higher-than-usual temperatures &nda...
(Vatican Radio) At least 27 migrants and refugees from the Middle East are reported to have drowned Monday night while trying to cross from Turkey to the eastern Greek islands.
Listen to John Carr's report:
Turkish media showed images of bodies being washed ashore, including those of several children, in the coastal areas of Aivalik and Dikili.
The victims were trying to make their way in a small plastic boat to the Greek island of Lesbos just a few kilometres away, when the craft is believed to have capsized in choppy seas.
Meanwhile, figures from the global entertainment industry have been coming to Greece to help raise awareness of the migrants’ plight. British actress Vanessa Redgrave is scheduled to arrive in Athens this week. American actress Susan Sarandon was in Lesbos last month on what was called a mercy mission to personally help refugees
And as the weather in Greece is expected to improve this week, with higher-than-usual temperatures – almost everyone expects a new surge in the wave of migrants.
(Vatican Radio) Winter weather in the Balkans and Eastern Europe has already killed dozens of people, most of them in Poland, which is experiencing one of the country's deadliest cold-snaps ever. Listen to Stefan Bos' report: Polish authorities are anxiously watching frozen rivers and icy roads. Officials say dozens of people have already died of hypothermia, including many homeless people sleeping in makeshift shelters, while have been fallen to their deaths in the mountains in sub-freezing temperatures.The spokeswoman of the government's center for national security, Anna Adamkiewicz said many died over the weekend. "Unfortunately since November 1, 39 people have died because of the cold in Poland. This weekend was the most tragic as temperatures dropped in some places to minus 24 degrees celsius. Saturday and Sunday, 21 people have died," she said. Later Tuesday the deathtoll had already risen to more than 40. Police have...
(Vatican Radio) Winter weather in the Balkans and Eastern Europe has already killed dozens of people, most of them in Poland, which is experiencing one of the country's deadliest cold-snaps ever.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report:
Polish authorities are anxiously watching frozen rivers and icy roads. Officials say dozens of people have already died of hypothermia, including many homeless people sleeping in makeshift shelters, while have been fallen to their deaths in the mountains in sub-freezing temperatures.
The spokeswoman of the government's center for national security, Anna Adamkiewicz said many died over the weekend. "Unfortunately since November 1, 39 people have died because of the cold in Poland. This weekend was the most tragic as temperatures dropped in some places to minus 24 degrees celsius. Saturday and Sunday, 21 people have died," she said.
Later Tuesday the deathtoll had already risen to more than 40.
Police have urged residents of the European Union country of 38 million to keep an eye out for anyone running the risk of hypothermia, especially the homeless, or the elderly.
Polish aid
Polish aidworker Jerzu Drusk of the 'alter-ego' charity is rushing to help at least some of them. "Everyday I prepare about 35 meals with two dishes each," he said. "And we have enough soup to feed about 100 people."
That's good news for Krzysztof Szuba who has been homeless for the past sixteen years. "I come here not to die of cold and am here maybe three or four times a week," he explained
Tourists are suffering as well. Rescuers say that at least six tourists have slipped and fallen to their deaths since Christmas Day while trekking on in Poland's Tatra Mouintains. And seven others reportedly died in falls in the Slovak part of the Tatras.
Besides Poland and Slovakia other East European countries are struggling. In Budapest, where many homeless people seek shelter, workers are struggling to clean the streets of snow. And massive traffic chaos and train disruptions have been reported across the country.
Yet, in the Balkans bitter cold, biting winds and rough winter have done little to stem the seemingly endless flow of desperate people fleeing war or poverty for Europe. As 2016 dawns, boatloads continue to reach Greek shores and thousands trudge across Balkan fields and country roads heading north towards Western Europe.
Latakia, Syria, Jan 5, 2016 / 12:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Franciscan priest Fr. Dhiya Aziz, who had been briefly kidnapped by unknown jihadist militants in Syria in July and was abducted a second time just before Christmas, and has again been set free by his captors.“Today we received the communication that Fr. Dhiya Azziz has been liberated and that he is doing well,” a brief Jan. 4 statement from the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land read.The statement reported that the Custody is unable to provide further details of Fr. Aziz’ abduction and release due to reasons of confidentiality, but thanked all those who helped to liberate the friar.Fr. Aziz, 41, is currently in Damascus. He is the parish priest at Yacubiyeh, a village in Syria's Idlib province, more than 56 miles northeast of Latakia. The Islamist rebel group al-Nusra Front has a strong presence in the province.According to a Dec. 28 statement from the Custody, Fr. Aziz disappeared Dec. 23. He was trave...
Latakia, Syria, Jan 5, 2016 / 12:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Franciscan priest Fr. Dhiya Aziz, who had been briefly kidnapped by unknown jihadist militants in Syria in July and was abducted a second time just before Christmas, and has again been set free by his captors.
“Today we received the communication that Fr. Dhiya Azziz has been liberated and that he is doing well,” a brief Jan. 4 statement from the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land read.
The statement reported that the Custody is unable to provide further details of Fr. Aziz’ abduction and release due to reasons of confidentiality, but thanked all those who helped to liberate the friar.
Fr. Aziz, 41, is currently in Damascus. He is the parish priest at Yacubiyeh, a village in Syria's Idlib province, more than 56 miles northeast of Latakia. The Islamist rebel group al-Nusra Front has a strong presence in the province.
According to a Dec. 28 statement from the Custody, Fr. Aziz disappeared Dec. 23. He was travelling by taxi from Latakia to Yacubiyeh. He had returned from Turkey, where he was visiting family members who took refuge there after the Islamic State seized Bakhdida, Iraq in August 2014.
The Custody said all contact with the priest had been lost after a 9 a.m. phone conversation, and that he was supposed to have arrived to his parish in the early afternoon.
In their statement, they expressed the belief that Fr. Aziz had been “kidnapped by some group,” but that the “chaotic situation” of the country made it difficult to find out who was behind the kidnapping.
His Dec. 23 abduction marks the second time Fr. Aziz has been kidnapped. On July 4 he had been taken by unknown militants, who were suspected to be from al-Nusra Front.
However, the group denied that they had any role in the abduction, and claimed to have led police in the investigation that led to the priest’s liberation a few days later.
Fr. Aziz was born in Iraq's Nineveh province in 1974. He studied medicine and then entered religious life, making a first profession of vows in 2002. The following year he was transferred to Egypt, and in 2010 to Jordan. Fr. Aziz was later moved to Latakia, and he then volunteered to come to Yacubiyeh, a predominantly Christian village.
Fr. Aziz' December kidnapping is the latest in a series of attacks on Christian religious since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
In 2013, militants kidnapped a group of Greek Orthodox nuns, Fr. Paolo Dall’Oglio, S.J., and the Greek and Syriac Orthodox bishops of Aleppo. The nuns were eventually returned to their convent unharmed, but Fr. Dall’Oglio and the bishops remain missing.
In 2014, Dutch priest Fr. Frans van der Lugt, S.J., was murdered in Homs. The priest served in Syria for more than four decades. He was involved in interreligious dialogue and had built as spirituality center that housed children with mental disabilities.
The same year, another Franciscan priest, Fr. Hanna Jallouf, was kidnapped together with as many as 20 people from his parish in Qunaya, a neighboring village of Yacubiyeh – the two are less than a mile apart.
In February 2015 the Islamic State kidnapped at least ninety Christians from villages in northeast Syria.
And in May of that year, Fr. Jacques Mourad was kidnapped at gunpoint from a monastery southeast of Homs. He has since been set free, and has spoken publicly about his time in captivity after making a pilgrimage to Lourdes, which he promised he would do if he was ever released by his captors.
The Syrian civil war began in March 2011 with demonstrations against the nation's president, Bashar al-Assad. The war has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people, and forced 4.1 million to become refugees. Another 8 million Syrians are believed to have been internally displaced by the violence.
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Powerful computers that can drive better than people, high-definition road maps and low-cost sensors are about to remove some big barriers to self-driving cars....
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Powerful computers that can drive better than people, high-definition road maps and low-cost sensors are about to remove some big barriers to self-driving cars....
HONG KONG (AP) -- Five men associated with a Hong Kong publisher known for books critical of China's leaders have vanished one by one in the last three months, alarming activists and deepening suspicions that mainland authorities are squeezing free expression in the enclave....
HONG KONG (AP) -- Five men associated with a Hong Kong publisher known for books critical of China's leaders have vanished one by one in the last three months, alarming activists and deepening suspicions that mainland authorities are squeezing free expression in the enclave....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jeb Bush's recent cancellation of advertising plans in Iowa and South Carolina was yet another cost-saving step for a down-in-the-polls presidential campaign that had already thinned its staff. If not for his flush super PAC, the Republican might be gone from the contest by now....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jeb Bush's recent cancellation of advertising plans in Iowa and South Carolina was yet another cost-saving step for a down-in-the-polls presidential campaign that had already thinned its staff. If not for his flush super PAC, the Republican might be gone from the contest by now....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- One U.S. service member was killed and two were wounded in hours-long fighting Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents have made recent inroads....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- One U.S. service member was killed and two were wounded in hours-long fighting Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents have made recent inroads....
BAGHDAD (AP) -- While many Iraqi Shiites took to the streets in outrage over Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, the country's prime minister has had to walk a more cautious line, trying to contain Iraq's own explosive sectarian tensions....
BAGHDAD (AP) -- While many Iraqi Shiites took to the streets in outrage over Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, the country's prime minister has had to walk a more cautious line, trying to contain Iraq's own explosive sectarian tensions....
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities investigating the attack that killed 14 people last month in San Bernardino, California, asked for the public's help Tuesday in filling out the timeline of the assailants' moves that day....
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities investigating the attack that killed 14 people last month in San Bernardino, California, asked for the public's help Tuesday in filling out the timeline of the assailants' moves that day....
BURNS, Ore. (AP) -- A leader of the small armed group that has been occupying a remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon said Tuesday that they will go home when a plan to turn over management of federal lands to locals is implemented....
BURNS, Ore. (AP) -- A leader of the small armed group that has been occupying a remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon said Tuesday that they will go home when a plan to turn over management of federal lands to locals is implemented....
