READ

Browse past isues

DONATE

Help the mission

SHOP

Support the mission

CONTACT

Get in touch

Menu
Login

Category: World Touch

About 10% is Affected by Disability

Since 1998, every year, on 3 December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated worldwide, officially promoted by the UN. Last year’s data showed: about 10% of the world population (650 million people) has a disability; 80% of disabled people (more than 400 million) live in poor countries; 90% of children with disabilities in developing countries are excluded from school; about 20 million women are disabled due to pregnancy or childbirth complications.

www.zenit.org
Asia

Key Facts About Rice

Rice-producing countries, farmers and scientists from around the globe have gathered in Vietnam for the third International Rice Congress. Held every four years, the congress is the world’s largest meeting of the rice industry, which feeds more than half the world.

-
China

Free Liu Xiaobo, Now!

Former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech President Vaclav Havel have appealed to Chinese authorities to set the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo free “without conditions” before the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Peace 2010. The appeal was published by Britain’s The Observer. Tutu and Havel are honorary co-chairmen of the association, Freedom Now, that represents Liu in international bodies.

www.asianews.it / Agencies
Sudan

A Possible Conflict Would Cost Over $100 Billion

A possible new war between North and South Sudan could cause damages around 100 billion dollars, revealed a report recently released by Frontier Economics (a consulting firm in economics) together with the ISS (Institute for Security Studies, a South African think tank that deals with security issues relating to Africa), by SID (Society for International Development) and by Aegis Trust campaigns for a sustainable peace in Sudan.

www.fides.org
Biodiversity

The Nagoya Protocol

Within minutes of the Japanese Environment Minister, Ryu Matsumoto, ending the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP 10) at the UN Conference on Biodiversity (CBD), commentators were highlighting its successes and failures. What is at stake is the future of life on Earth. Numerous studies from scientists paint a grim and challenging picture. One such study is entitled The Evolution Lost report. It was prepared by a group of 100 leading zoologists and botanists and published on the eve of the Nagoya conference. It found that populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish have declined worldwide by an average of 30% in the past forty years.

Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC
Iraq

After the Massacre, the “Dilemma”

“Iraqi Christians are now terrified and in shock. They are faced with a terrible dilemma: emigrate and save the lives of their loved ones, or stay in the country and witness to the faith, risking death,” said Fr. Vincent Van Vossel, CSSR, Superior of the Redemptorists in Baghdad, after the massacre that took place October 31 in the Syrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation (pictured). A commando of terrorists stormed the church, crowded with the faithful during the Mass, taking those present hostage. Iraqi security forces made a raid to free them, but the militants reacted with a massacre that left 58 dead, including two priests, and about 70 wounded. The killers, nine armed men, claimed to belong to the Islamic state of Iraq, a Sunni-militant group that is allied with Al-Qaeda, Later on, the group announced that Christians and Shiites are their targets because both are “infidels.”

www.fides.org
Cuba

Catholic Seminary Opens After 50 Years

Cuban President Raul Castro (pictured) attended the opening of the “Seminario de San Carlos y San Ambrosio,” the first building of the Catholic Church in more than half a century. The official ceremony, presided by the Cardinal Archbishop of Havana, Jaime Ortega y Alamino; and the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC), Archbishop Dionisio Garcia, was attended by some 300 guests, including many bishops of the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Italy, and the Bahamas. Among them was also the Apostolic Nuncio in Havana, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu.

www.fides.org
Holysee

To Eradicate Poverty is an Obligation

We have the means to end worldwide poverty, says the Holy See delegate to the United Nations, but the question is whether we have the will to accomplish it. Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, permanent observer to the United Nations, underlined: “Whatever the form it takes, poverty is an insult to our common humanity – so many people around the world continue to suffer from it.”

www.zenit.org
Africa

Reversing the Resources Curse

“God forbid they find oil in our country.” This is the sentence written by an African journalist during the “Workshop: Media and Africa,” summing up the perception of the African people on the bad use of the material resources of the continent, which has transformed from blessing into curse, especially due to the serious environmental damage caused by mining activities.

www.fides.org
Nonviolence

Priest Gets Peace Award for Activism

The Rev. Fr. John Dear stood silent as he received the 2010 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award at St. Ambrose University, Davenport, USA, for his worldwide peace-activist efforts. The award, presented by Bishop Martin Amos of the Diocese of Davenport, admits Dear, a Jesuit priest, into a prestigious fellowship that ranges from Mother Teresa of Calcutta to President John F. Kennedy. Dear, who has contributed several times to World Mission, just said: “I certainly don’t fit into this community. I feel like a novice peacemaker.” The award was inspired by Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical, Pacem in Terris, or Peace on Earth.

Mary Louise Speer
Load More

Cart/₱0.00
Shopping Cart