Officials think raid would be fraught with danger and not worth the risk the girls would be killed by their captors Nigeria's military knows where the more than 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram are but has ruled out using force to rescue them, the state news agency quoted chief of defence staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh as saying on Monday. Continue reading... ...
In Landscapes of the Metropolis of Death, Otto Dov Kulka describes how the transmission of fine music and literature in Auschwitz proved the existence of hope and sarcasm I am writing about a very short book, which could take no more than a couple of hours to read and no more than a lifetime to digest. As its author, Otto Dov Kulka , says: "I am aware that these texts, though anchored in concrete...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series Continue reading... ...
Detour, at request of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, seen as attempt to appease hosts after stop at separation wall Pope Francis has deviated from his itinerary for his tour of the Holy Land for the second time in two days this time to visit a memorial to Israeli victims of terrorism. The surprise addition on Monday was made at the request of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu,...
Cardiologist was member of minority Ahmadi community that says it's Muslim but whose religion is rejected by state An American volunteer cardiologist was shot dead in Pakistan on Monday, a member of his minority Ahmadi community said, the latest attack on a group which says it is Muslim but whose religion is rejected by the state. Mehdi Ali had taken his five-year-old son and a cousin to a graveyard...
JERUSALEM (RNS) Israelis were moved when he kissed the hands of the Holocaust survivors. But some haven't shaken the memory of centuries of anti-Semitism sparked by the Roman Catholic Church. The post Pope Francis concludes Holy Land trip with visits to Jewish holy sites appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) The journey of the ashes from Dachau to Dobson, (a small town north of Winston-Salem) to Durham, is remarkable story of a soldier’s witness to the atrocities of the Holocaust and his son’s commitment to finding them an honorable resting place. The post From Dachau to Durham, NC, Holocaust survivors’ ashes find fitting burial appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
Calls grow for release of Meriam Yahya Ibrahim and her toddler son and for her sentence, including 100 lashes, to be rescinded Sudan is facing mounting condemnation for sentencing a pregnant woman to be whipped and then hanged for adultery and apostasy, and for keeping her shackled in prison with her toddler son a month before she is due to give birth. Governments, the UN and human rights groups have...
Recent actions mean the pope may at last preach his message against the worship of markets with credibility Visiting the Holy Land , Pope Francis has much on his mind. At least, however, the Vatican bank may be on the way to the pope's "sorted" tray. For years, the bank was notorious as a way for sinners to wash their money cleaner than their souls. Yet between them, Popes Benedict and Francis...
I'm afraid I'll be sacked from a job I love if I bring up this matter with the school's management Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy's own insights. Here is the latest dilemma what are your thoughts?...
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (RNS) "The time has come for everyone to find the courage to be generous and creative in the service of the common good," Francis said at a welcoming ceremony in Bethlehem hosted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The post Pope Francis invites Israeli, Palestinian presidents to talks at the Vatican appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
Pope also chose to arrive in West Bank from Jordan rather than via Israel in a symbolic nod towards Palestinian statehood Pope Francis has called the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians unacceptable, as he landed in the West Bank town of Bethlehem in a symbolic nod to Palestinian aspirations for their own state. Jubilant, flag-waving crowds greeted the pope on the second day of his Middle...
Stop rouses controversy as pontiff invites Peres and Abbas to Rome in unprecedented papal intervention in peace process It is an image that will define the first visit of Pope Francis to the Holy Land as pontiff. Head bowed in prayer, the leader of the Catholic church pressed his palm against the graffiti-covered concrete of Israel's imposing "separation wall", a Palestinian girl holding...
Pope Francis is on a three-day visit to the Middle East, including Jordan, the West Bank and Israel. His first few steps in Bethlehem are likely to rouse controversy after saying prayers by the security wall, a highly symbolic gesture Continue reading... ...
Suicide bomb explodes prematurely near soccer stadium in Jos, killing three, while gunmen murder civilians in other villages Suspected Islamist Boko Haram gunmen have attacked three villages in northern Nigeria, killing 28 people and burning houses to the ground in a pattern of violence that has become almost a daily occurrence, police and witnesses have said. Separately, a suicide bombing that was...
Fears of a resurgence in violent antisemitism after gunman opens fire killing three and injuring one on eve of elections Fears of a resurgence in violent antisemitism were raised after an attack at a Jewish museum in the centre of Brussels on Saturday left three people dead and one badly injured. The attack, on the eve of federal, regional and European parliamentary elections, prompted Belgium to heighten...
A mayor's quest to change his village's name could help to alter attitudes in the country as a whole At 4pm on Friday, it's eerily quiet in this tiny village. The blinds on the stone houses are drawn and there's not a person to be seen wandering the few streets that make up Castrillo Matajudíos. It's a sharp contrast to the noisy, relentless chatter about the place in the outside world. Ever...
Yuen Har Tse is blind, her children are sighted. Alex Huntesmith is academically bright, his parents both have learning difficulties. We meet five singular families Christopher Evans, 14, and Jonathan, 11, are sighted, as is their father, an engineer. Their mother, Yuen Har Tse, 46, a former business analyst now looking for work, has been blind from birth. Their parents divorced six years ago; they...
I was shattered when the Birmingham Rep pulled my play after protests. But a decade later it has changed and so have I The last time I was at the Birmingham Rep, I was advised by West Midlands police to leave the building. Protests against my play Behzti (Dishonour) were becoming increasingly heated and I was told I was in danger. I arrived home in London, and hours later a police officer called to...
The schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches is still wide, but Ukraine reminds us how important the relationship is In Jerusalem on Sunday, Pope Francis will meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the honorary head of the Orthodox church. The two men, representing Christian traditions estranged for 1,000 years, will pray together in public. They will sign a hitherto undisclosed joint declaration....