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As the impact of climate change worsens around the globe, a disaster-resilient village is poised to be a solution for urban poor battling the constant floods and typhoons that hit the Philippines.
The Southern African Bishops lament the fact that the Church’s voice is struggling to be heard in the general debate on issues such as the proper utilization of wealth. In his report at the Plenary Session of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC, which brings together the Bishops of South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland), Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg and President of the SACBC, said: “It is relatively easy to appreciate the public role of the Catholic Church in the area of social services, health care and development projects…. What is missing in the public spaces of our societies is the voice of the Catholic Church (or the religious sector) that genuinely seeks to engage the public on moral-ethical issues which impinge on the society at large.”
The landslide was greeted with dancing and flag-waving in the southern capital, Juba, where people braved blistering heat to celebrate the end of decades of marginalization. While the relatively peaceful conduct of the vote was welcomed, human rights groups expressed alarm at suggestions that Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, should be “rewarded.” Reports suggested he could receive a year’s reprieve from war crimes charges relating to Darfur, where the fights persist.
Billions of dollars are being made by investors in a speculative “food bubble” that’s created record food prices, starved millions and destabilized countries, experts now conclude. Wall Street investment firms and banks, along with their kin in London and Europe, were responsible for the technology dot-com bubble, the stock market bubble, and the recent U.S. and UK housing bubbles. They extracted enormous profits and their bonuses before the inevitable collapse of each.
“The crisis involving all Arab countries has various motives, among which economics weighs heavily, considering even just the unemployment which, above all, affects the youth,” explained Father Giuseppe Scattolin, Comboni missionary and scholar of Islamic mysticism who lives in Cairo, capital of Egypt, where people’s protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to resign. “Added to this, is the tension that has lasted for years in the Middle East between extremists and non-extremists. There is also a cultural crisis that has lasted almost two centuries, stemming from the confrontation between Islamic tradition and the modern world. Finally, the local conflicts, which contribute to inflaming people’s souls. Without going into the details of individual events and those who have encouraged them, in my view, these are the main problems.”
From hip replacements to hysterectomies, Southeast Asian countries have seen a rapid growth in medical tourism, with about two million international patients a year seeking bargains there. But according to the World Health Organization (WHO), medical tourism is leading to some highly-skilled specialists, as well as other trained medical staff, leaving public health facilities for private ones. Further down the medical hierarchy, unemployed or undertrained staff end up filling chronic shortages in remote areas.
Religious freedom is under threat in many places around the globe, according to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who presented last November the annual International Religious Freedom Report. The report’s first section details the status of religious freedom in 27 nations, many in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, but also including Cuba and Venezuela. Clinton presented the report with reference to the recent attack on the Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdad.
When she was released last November, her fellow countrymen and all the world rejoiced: Aung San Suu Kyi, 65, an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression, was finally free, after 20 years in some form of detention because of her efforts to bring democracy to military-ruled Burma.
The wars of today will not lead to the peace of tomorrow, declared Cardinal Peter Turkson. The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace was precisely addressing a congress of the German Bishops’ Conference Commission for Justice and Peace, held in Berlin and focused on the theme “Wars of Today, Peace of Tomorrow.”
A former lawmaker called for the resignation of Philippine Supreme Court justices after the High Court declared the country’s Truth Commission unconstitutional. “They should pack their things and leave their posts. What they did was not only indefensible and unforgivable, it is also an affront to the entire judiciary system and the people,” said former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros, an ally of Aquino.
