The pontiff visited Acerra this morning, a part of Italy where illegal toxic landfills resulting from criminal trafficking have caused the deaths of at least 150 children and young people from cancer and respiratory diseases. For the pontiff, “crime, corruption, and indifference still kill,” but “no injustice can erase beauty.” And “families struck by death, [can] generate new life”.
The charge by the Attorney General’s Department follows questioning of a new witness in France. The position of the former head of military intelligence has worsened. Starting in 2017, he allegedly financed Islamic and Tamil extremist groups to be used for suicide attacks and actions against Rajapaksa's adversaries, including the murder of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge and the disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda.
Archbishop Petrus Canisius Mandagi weighs in on the criticisms of the Catholic Church contained in the documentary denouncing national strategic projects launched by the Indonesian government in South Papua. “The accusations against me and the archdiocese are entirely baseless,” the prelate says. For years, the Church has struggled “to uphold the dignity of Papuans” with “schools, healthcare, agricultural programmes, livestock farms, credit unions” in some of the remotest areas.
Today's news: Marco Rubio is in India to mend relations with Modi, with a first stop in Kolkata to visit the Missionaries of Charity. Saudi authorities increase health checks among Hajj pilgrims due to concerns over the Ebola virus. Some 274 people reached the summit of Mount Everest in one day, a new record in Himalayan overtourism. South Korea has become the world's second-largest cosmetics exporter.
For many years, Moscow has been engaged in a two-pronged process regarding the definition of citizenship. The first involves reducing the number of people who can be considered true Russian citizens, while the second involves narrowing the very meaning of the concept of "citizen", the actions that define it and those that citizens are allowed to undertake.
The unexpected success of "Dear You”, a film produced on a small budget and in a local dialect, is reviving interest in China about the important role played by letter writing, which for over a century migrants used to send money and news to their families back home. These letters played a decisive role in China's current economic development, but were often accompanied by expressions of nostalgia and pain, written by local scribes. Beijing, however, is giving them a patriotic twist.
