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Category: World Touch
World

Three-quarters of the Hungry are Rural Poor

Climate change, associated with a four-fold increase in natural disasters in the last decade, and the growth of world population, which is expected to reach nine billion by 2050, pose new challenges for aid initiatives like those of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). This warning comes from Gemmo Lodesani, head of the WFP office in Brussels, who is in charge of relations with the European Union and of fund-raising to fulfill the organization’s primary commitment: fighting hunger worldwide.

www.ipsnews.net
Shaolin

Kung Fu Monks Become a Money-making Brand

China Travel Service (CTS, a Chinese tourism giant) has announced it has opened negotiations with the city of Dengfeng, Henan, to transform the ancient monastery of Shaolin into a successful brand. The meeting was confirmed by municipal leaders, who have stressed, however, they “have not yet signed any contract with the company.” The Hong Kong branch of the CTS is responsible for the ongoing negotiations.

Asia News
China

Church Fails to Follow Population Growth

The largest survey ever conducted of the Catholic Church in mainland China has indicated that the Catholic population has not kept pace with overall population growth. According to the results of the study conducted by the Faith Institute for Cultural Studies (FICS), a Church-run organization based in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, there are now about 5.71 million Catholics in mainland China, served by 3,397 bishops, priests and deacons. A total of 3,268 priests are serving in more than 100 dioceses.

UCA News
Dubai

Tallest Skyscraper in the World

The world’s tallest building opened its doors in Dubai with a superb show of fireworks and colored lanterns. To the surprise of many, the skyscraper measuring 828 meters that was called “Burj Dubai” during the construction, has been called “Burj Khalifa,” after the head of the federation of the Emirates, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan, Emir of Abu Dhabi.

Asia News
Africa

A Continent Increasingly Urbanized

In 1960, the “Year of Africa,” when most African states became independent, there was only one city in sub-Saharan Africa with a population of more than 1 million inhabitants (Johannesburg, South Africa). Now, in 2010, it is estimated that at least 33 African cities have over 1 million people.

www.fides.org
United States

Stamp for Mother Teresa

The US Postal Service has recognized Mother Teresa’s humanitarian work with a stamp, as part of its 2010 program. Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, who was an honorary US citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years.

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Vatican

Treasures of Secret Archives Revealed

A 13th-century letter from Genghis Khan’s grandson demanding homage from Pope Innocent IV, and another from 20th century Japanese Emperor Hirohito are among a collection of documents from the Vatican’s secret archives that have been published for the first time. The Holy See’s archives contain scrolls, parchments and leather-bound volumes with correspondence dating back more than a thousand years.

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Church

Increase in Number of Missionaries Killed

Thirty-seven priests, nuns and missionaries were killed worldwide in 2009, nearly twice as many as in 2008 and a record high for a decade. Most deaths occurred in Latin and North America, where 23 of the Catholic workers were killed, 11 died in Africa, 2 in Asia and 1 in Europe.

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Vatican

Slavery: Hidden Crime of the 21st Century

In 2003, Ms. A paid a job broker to smuggle her from Myanmar into Thailand where she was promised work as a maid in Bangkok. She did not know that the broker had sold her to her Thai employer for five years during which she would be paid no salary, and be effectively a slave in a strange country where she did not speak the language. It would be comfortable to think that Ms. A’s was an isolated case but it is not. Every year, an estimated 2.4 million people are sold into slavery, although today we call the crime trafficking.

Augustinian Father John Murray
Oslo

Obama Receives Nobel Peace Prize

Barack Obama defended America’s involvement in Afghanistan as a just war as he received last December the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Addressing head-on the incongruity of receiving the prize days after announcing a military “surge” in Afghanistan, the US said American forces were in Afghanistan, in a conflict that he did not start.

www.guardian.co.uk
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