Global military spending rises 2.6 per cent in 2020 despite pandemic hit
Stockholm, Sweden Reuters Global military expenditure rose by 2.6 per cent to $US1.98 trillion last year even as some defence funds were reallocated to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said in a report issued on Monday. The five biggest spenders in 2020, which together accounted for 62 per cent of […]
Erdogan urges Biden to reverse “wrong step” on Armenian declaration
Ankara, Turkey Reuters Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged US President Joe Biden to swiftly reverse his declaration that 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide, an action he said was upsetting and diminished bilateral ties. Biden’s historic declaration on Saturday infuriated its NATO ally Turkey, which has said the announcement had opened […]
Calls for women’s shelters as Kenya reports COVID-19 surge in violence
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation A sharp rise in gender-based violence in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted an urgent need for more shelters to help victims and awareness campaigns, women’s rights groups said on Friday. Cases of violence targeting women and girls – including rape, child marriage and murder – rose 36 per cent […]
Pope ordains nine priests, saying: Stay humble, compassionate
Vatican City AP Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic church nine new priests, encouraging them in an ordination ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica to be humble and compassionate and to stay close to the rank-and-file faithful, whose trust in clergy has been sorely tested by decades of sex abuse scandals. Professing obedience to the […]
Former Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda confesses to adultery, apologises
Kampala, Uganda The retired Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda, the Rt Rev Stanley Ntagali, has publicly confessed to committing adultery with a married woman and asked the Lord, the church and Ugandans to forgive him. “I gave my life to Jesus Christ as a young man on the Christmas eve of 1974. I […]
US Vice President to speak with Mexican President on tree-planting proposal
Mexico City, Mexico Reuters US Vice President Kamala Harris will speak with Mexico’s President on 7th May about his proposal to expand a tree-planting program to Central America as way to reduce poverty and migration, Mexico’s foreign minister said on Saturday. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has suggested the US Government offer temporary work […]
Myanmar activists deride ASEAN-junta consensus, vow to continue protests
Reuters Myanmar’s pro-democracy activists sharply criticised an agreement between the country’s junta chief and South-East Asian leaders to end a violent post-coup crisis and vowed on Sunday to continue protesting. Some scattered protests took place in Myanmar’s big cities on Sunday, a day after the meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) with […]
COVID crisis: Sanctions-battered Iran, weary of pandemic, faces worst wave
NASSER KARIMI and AYA BATRAWY, of Associated Press, report on how Iran is faring during the global coronavirus pandemic…
New players pose additional threats to Jerusalem tensions
Jerusalem, Israel AP The holy city of Jerusalem, a tinderbox of competing religious and political claims, has repeatedly triggered bouts of Israeli-Palestinian violence. This time around, there have been some additional sparks, including Jewish extremists who, emboldened by their political patrons’ recent election to parliament, staged a provocative march to Jerusalem’s walled Old City chanting […]
Essay: Anzac Day, a time to reflect on the cost of war for all Australians
As Australia and New Zealand marked Anzac Day on 25th April, HAL BISSET reflects on the meaning of the commemoration – in particular, what it means with regard to Indigenous Australians…