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(Vatican Radio) Dazed migrants and refugees gradually returned to their holding camp on the island of Samos on Friday after a night of mayhem in which migrant youths battled one another with knives and set fire to compound buildings. At least two dozen were reported injured and hospitalized.Listen to John Carr's report: The riot occurred 24 hours after a night of similar unrest in a camp on the island of Lesbos, which also suffered serious damage from fire. Greek officials blame mainly Pakistani, Afghan and Moroccan men whose asylum applications have been denied and feel they’re in a no-hope dead end.There were fears here in Athens on Friday that the violence could spread to other holding camps around Greece, where 54,000 migrants are being kept, with little prospect of ever going anywhere, as Greece’s northern borders remain closed to them.Meanwhile, Greek boats and helicopters have been searching the sea area south of Crete for several hundred migrants miss...
The Pancasila “is the nation's iconic platform that encourages the unity of Indonesians - despite the various differences of ethnicity, language, culture, religion - and the value of Indonesia as a country. Thanks to the Pancasila, everyone can live in peace.” With these words Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo welcomed the government's decision to make June 1, the anniversary of the drafting of the “five principles” of the secular Constitution, a national holiday. Already in the weeks before President Joko Widodo’s announcement, the Church had launched a special prayer campaign among all Indonesian faithful, to strengthen national unity. The program, called "How to apply the Pancasila", will last for five years. A "white and red rosary" was distributed and prayed in all parishes, in homage to the colors of the flag.On June 1st thousands of faithful attended the Mass in the Jakarta Cathedral, during which Arch. Su...
(Vatican Radio) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) welcomed as “a positive sign” the approval given by Syria’s government for the delivery of humanitarian aid to at least 11 besieged areas in the nation. The Damascus government has asked the United Nations and the Red Cross to send in the aid convoys. Krista Armstrong is an ICRC spokesperson for the Middle East and she spoke to Susy Hodges about the Red Cross’ reaction to this approval.Listen to the interview with Krista Armstrong, a spokesperson for the Middle East for the International Committee of the Red Cross: Asked for her reaction to the news, Armstrong said for a humanitarian agency like the ICRC such approval is always “a positive sign” and will allow it to meet, assess and “respond to the needs of people (on the ground) impartially.” “Increased humanitarian access”She also noted that this year the UN’s access to besieged areas ...
An Indian court on Thursday convicted 24 Hindu men for their role in one of the many deadly religious riots that swept across the western state of Gujarat for three months in 2002, leaving more than 1,000 dead. The Gujarat riots, which erupted after a train car full of Hindu nationalists was engulfed in a fire that killed 60 people inside, pitted mobs of Hindus against Muslims, who were widely blamed for setting the fire, though arson was never confirmed. The riots have long hounded Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was Gujarat's chief minister then, amid allegations that authorities allowed and even encouraged the bloodshed. Modi has repeatedly denied having any role, and India's Supreme Court has said it found no evidence to prosecute him.In the verdict, 11 of the defendants were found guilty of murder, while another 36 were acquitted of all charges in connection with the riot in a Muslim neighborhood called the Gulbarg Society in the city of Ahmadabad. Among...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Ghulamullah Habibi, EPABy Carol GlatzVATICANCITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has requested a special study session at the Vaticanto look at how to solve the growing problem of drug abuse, especially narcotics.Leadingexperts from around the world are being invited "to examine and discusspossible innovative socio-political solutions" to drug use, abuse andprevention, a papal academy said."Followinga special wish of Pope Francis, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is organizinga two-day workshop" Nov. 23-24 on the global problem of and solutions tothe abuse of narcotics, according to the academy's website, www.casinapioiv.va.Narcotics or opiates include heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine andmorphine.Theprogram will look at the history of drug use; how drugs are being produced,distributed and consumed; and preventing substance abuse, especially inchildren and young people, the website said."Drugsare one of the scourges of our globalized world, despite the enormous resou...
Muhammad Ali is hospitalized in the Phoenix area with what two people familiar with his condition say may be more serious problems than his previous hospital stays....
TOKYO (AP) -- The remarkable survival of a 7-year-old Japanese boy, abandoned in a forest by his parents who wanted to teach him a lesson, prompted nationwide joy and relief Friday. But Japanese also wondered whether the father and mother themselves need a stern lesson in parenting....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The path to the campus shooting death of a UCLA professor began nearly 2,000 miles away in Minnesota....
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- Fort Hood commanders were in the process of closing roads on the sprawling Army post in Central Texas when a truck carrying 12 soldiers overturned in a fast-flowing flooded creek during a training exercise, killing five and leaving four missing, officials said Friday....
PARIS (AP) -- The swollen Seine River kept rising Friday, spilling into Paris streets and forcing one landmark after another to shut on Friday. Across the city, parks and cemeteries were being closed as the city braced for flooding that could take weeks to fully clear....
