Nicaragua proposes suspending Vatican ties after comments
Nicaragua ’s government says it has proposed suspending relations with the Vatican days after Pope Francis compared President Daniel Ortega’s administration to a communist or Nazi dictatorship amid a crackdown on the Catholic Church in the country.
Pope: Vatican seeks talks on Nicaragua's Catholic crackdown
Pope Francis says the Vatican is in contact with the Nicaraguan government about its crackdown on the Catholic Church and hoped that “at the very least” nuns from Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity religious order would be allowed to return to the country.
Nicaragua goes after newspaper for reporting nuns' explusion
After ordering the expulsion of the Missionaries of Charity established by Mother Teresa, the Nicaraguan government has now gone after one of the few local newspapers that dared to report on the nuns being removed. Two drivers for the independent newspaper La Prensa have been jailed and police raided the homes of two reporters, according to an employee of the newspaper. The reporters had covered the expulsion on Thursday of 18 nuns of the Missionaries of Charity after the government of President Daniel Ortega had ordered the organization closed in late June.
news.yahoo.comIndia restores foreign fund permit for Mother Teresa charity
India’s government has allowed Mother Teresa’s charity to receive foreign funds, weeks after blocking it saying the Catholic organization did not meet conditions under local laws, a lawmaker said Saturday. Derek O’Brien, a lawmaker from the opposition Trinamool Congress party, tweeted that Missionaries of Charity was back on the list of approved associations after its license to receive funds from foreign contributions was restored. The move was widely condemned by opposition politicians and rights groups and came in the wake of a string of attacks on Christians in some parts of India by Hindu nationalist groups, which often accuse pastors and churches of forced conversions.
news.yahoo.comIndia blocks foreign funds for Mother Teresa's charity
India's government has blocked Mother Teresa's charity from receiving foreign funds, saying the Catholic organization did not meet conditions under local laws, dealing a blow to one of the most prominent groups running shelters for the poor. The Home Ministry said a statement Monday that the Missionaries of Charity's application for renewing a license that allows it to get funds from abroad was rejected on Christmas. The ministry said it came across “adverse inputs” while considering the charity's renewal application.
news.yahoo.comFirst steps made in Congress to honor pop superstar Prince
Minnesota’s Congressional delegation on Monday is introducing a resolution to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to pop superstar Prince, citing his “indelible mark on Minnesota and American culture,” The Associated Press has learned.
Deposed Myanmar leader warned of possible army obstruction
The military detained Suu Kyi and other senior politicians on Monday and said it would rule under a one-year state of emergency. Her homeland, meanwhile, was under the control of a military leader, Ne Win, a former comrade of her father who had seized power in 1962. Protests against the military government had been growing before Suu Kyi returned to Myanmar in 1988 to nurse her dying mother. Placed under house arrest in 1989, Suu Kyi was detained for 15 of the next 22 years, mostly at her dilapidated lakeside home in Yangon. Asked once in a BBC interview about her once-saintly reputation, Suu Kyi replied: “I am just a politician.
Warnock and Loeffler work to consolidate voters for runoff
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger for U.S. Senate Raphael Warnock appear during a debate on Dec. 6 in Atlanta. ATLANTA – When Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock advanced to the Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoff, they faced the immediate challenge of winning over the 2 million voters who chose one of the 18 other candidates in November's election. In Georgia's second runoff election, Republican U.S. Sen David Perdue started with an even wider lead, having won 88,000 more votes in November than Democrat Jon Ossoff. Miles Coleman of the University of Virginia Center for Politics said the joint effort has helped Warnock wrap up Democratic voters. Henderson also frets that Loeffler has never been to his county, so far from Atlanta that many watch out-of-state television.
Kosovo’s Thaci strongly denies committing any war crimes
Kosovo president Hashim Thaci speaks during a televised address to the nation, in Pristina, Kosovo, Monday, June 29, 2020. Kosovos president on Monday denied committing war crimes during and after a 1998-1999 armed conflict between ethnic Albanian separatists and Serbia and said he would resign if the indictment is confirmed by an international war crimes court. (AP Photo/Astrit Ibrahimi)
Albania Holocaust memorial honors locals who protected Jews
Israeli Ambassador in Albania Noah Gal Gendler speaks during the inauguration of a memorial in Tirana , on Thursday, July 9, 2020. A memorial to the six million Jews murdered during the World War II and for the Albanians who protected them from the Nazis was inaugurated Thursday in the capital. (Xhulio Hajdari /Tirana City Hall via AP)
Albania Holocaust memorial honors locals who protected Jews
Israeli Ambassador in Albania Noah Gal Gendler speaks during the inauguration of a memorial in Tirana , on Thursday, July 9, 2020. A memorial to the six million Jews murdered during the World War II and for the Albanians who protected them from the Nazis was inaugurated Thursday in the capital. (Xhulio Hajdari /Tirana City Hall via AP)TIRANA Albania unveiled a Holocaust memorial in the capital on Thursday to honor the dead and the Albanians who protected Jews from the Nazis. Albanians protected their few hundred Jewish friends, and helped other Jews who fled from Germany and Austria by either smuggling them abroad or hiding them at home. A small Jewish community living in Albania left the ex-communist country for Israel just after the fall of the regime in 1991.
Asia Today: Virus forces cancellation of Asian peace prize
Barbershops and beauty salons are now allowed to operate under strict health measures as the lockdown continues to ease in the capital. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)BANGKOK A Philippine peace award has been canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, marking only the third disruption in six decades for the annual prize regarded as an Asian Nobel. The Philippines is a coronavirus hotspot in Southeast Asia, with about 22,400 infections, including more than 1,000 deaths. In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region: WHO FINDS PANDEMIC WORSENING: The head of the World Health Organization warned that the coronavirus pandemic is worsening. But Tijjani Muhammad-Bande hopes to announce an alternative for leaders to deliver their usual speeches during the assemblys so-called General Debate.
Despite reopening, some jobs lost to virus are gone for good
The government ordered all restaurants closed in March to combat the spread of the coronavirus, and Wannapa hasn't worked since. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)BANGKOK BANGKOK (AP) Factories and stores are reopening, economies are reawakening but many jobs just arent coming back. She said if she cant find work, shell have to return to her familys rubber plantation to start life all over again. Awino has no choice but to take the risk, and shes not alone: Hundreds of thousands of Kenyans have also lost their jobs because of the pandemic. Countries like the United Arab Emirates are home to millions of foreigners who far outnumber the local population many of whom have lost their jobs.