East Timor turns out in force for Mass with Pope Francis
Dili, East Timor Reuters An estimated 600,000 people in East Timor, just under half its population, turned out in the baking heat on Tuesday for a Mass with Pope Francis at a coastal park synonymous with the country’s long struggle for independence from Indonesia. Filling a wide, dusty area where Indonesian forces buried slain Timorese […]
Papal journey: Pope Francis’ trip to South-East Asia will test his health and message
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, of Religion News Service, reports that the 87-year-old Pope will visit a record number of countries in the longest trip of his pontificate…
Pope says he wants to visit Turkey for Council of Nicaea anniversary
Vatican City Reuters Pope Francis said on Friday he wanted to visit Turkey next year to celebrate the anniversary of the first council of the Christian Church. “It’s a trip that I desire to go on, with all my heart,” the pontiff told a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in Istanbul, a Vatican […]
Pope Francis to travel to Luxembourg and Belgium in September
Vatican City Reuters Pope Francis will travel to Luxembourg and Belgium in late September, the Vatican said on Monday, confirming another international trip for the increasingly frail but still very active 87-year-old pontiff. Francis’ health has taken a turn for the worse recently. He has used a cane or a wheelchair since 2022 to move […]
WHO says toxic syrup risk “ongoing”, more countries hit
London, UK Reuters There is an ongoing global threat posed by toxic cough syrups, the World Health Organization told Reuters, saying it was now working with six more countries than previously revealed to track the potentially deadly children’s medicines. The UN agency has already named nine countries where tainted syrups may have been on sale, […]
WHO urges “immediate action” after cough syrup deaths
London, UK Reuters The World Health Organization has called for “immediate and concerted action” to protect children from contaminated medicines after a spate of child deaths linked to cough syrups last year. In 2022, more than 300 children – mainly aged under five – in Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan died of acute kidney injury, in […]
Essay: ‘End COVID For All’ and the five surprises on aid
TIM COSTELLO, executive director of Micah Australia and spokesperson for the ‘End COVID For All’ campaign, applauds recent Australian Government decisions to help the nation’s regional neighbours through the COVID-19 crisis…
Updated: Australian aid agencies welcome increased COVID-19 support for neighbours but urge increased long term giving
Updated: 5:30pm Australian aid agencies and anti-poverty advocates have welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to set aside one-off support of almost $A305 million for the COVID-19 response and recovery in Pacific nations and Timor Leste as part of its Federal Budget but say the amount given to aid foreign nations doesn’t go far enough. Tim […]
Australia offers East Timor aid package on anniversary
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia will refurbish a naval base and help bring high-speed internet to the tiny Pacific nation of East Timor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, the latest effort by Canberra to win influence in the region. The aid package follows similar assistance for Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands as Australia […]