HISTORIC MEETING BETWEEN POPE AND INFLUENTIAL MUSLIM LEADERS
By Mike Burnard The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, and Pope Francis signed on Monday [4 February] a document on human fraternity at the end of the Global Conference of Human Fraternity, which was held in Abu Dhabi, in the UAE. The Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together seeks to…
IRANIANS MARK 40 YEARS SINCE THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION
By Alex Pollock Since the revolution, which unified the country [Iran] against the Shah, the country appears today to be more divided between the hardliners, who believe in the strict implementation of laws from 40 years ago, and the reformists who are pushing for more economic transparency and more freedoms among its population. (Aljazeera) Commemorating…
EGYPT’S SISI TO CHAIR AFRICAN UNION
By Hannes Bosman and Donnelly McCleland Rwandan President Paul Kagame Sunday [on 10 February] handed over the African Union chairmanship to his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The ceremony was the climax of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) heads of state and government summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia….
VENEZUELA’S POLITICAL CRISIS CONTINUES TO ESCALATE
By Andrew Richards Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has said he cannot rule out the possibility of civil war as pressure mounts on him to stand down. In a TV interview, he warned that US President Donald Trump would leave the White House “stained with blood” if he intervened in the crisis. He also defiantly rejected…
YELLOW VEST PROTESTS CONTINUE IN FRANCE
By Donnelly McCleland France’s yellow vest protesters were back on the streets on Saturday [2 February] to keep up the pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron’s government and to decry the number of people being injured by police during the anti-government demonstrations. Multiple protests in Paris and other cities denounced Mr Macron’s economic policies, which…
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
By Cherolyn Amery [United Nations] Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday [28 January] that hatred of Jews is getting worse, saying that “we must rise up against rising anti-Semitism.” He told the UN’s annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day that anti-Semitic incidents in the United States increased 57 percent in 2017, according to the…
VIOLENT CRACKDOWN ON ZIMBABWEAN PROTESTORS
By Donnelly McCleland The Zimbabwean government said the security forces’ response to recent protests in which a number of people have reportedly died is just “a foretaste of things to come”. News of a violent crackdown has emerged despite the government blocking social media sites. Local rights groups said at least 12 people had been…
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER SEEKS TO BREAK BREXIT DEADLOCK
By Donnelly McCleland British Prime Minister Theresa May sought to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit on Monday [21 January] by proposing to seek further concessions from the European Union on a plan to prevent customs checks on the Irish border. With little time left until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European…
MILLIONS EXPECTED TO THRONG INDIAN CITY FOR WORLD’S LARGEST RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL
By Cherolyn Amery India’s Hindu nationalist-led government is splashing out on the religious megafest [Kumbh Mela], spending unprecedented sums as part of a strategy to focus on the country’s majority Hindu population ahead of a general election due this year. Both the central government in New Delhi and the government of Uttar Pradesh – the north…
THREE COUNTRIES MOVING TOWARDS PEACE IN 2018
By Cherolyn Amery, Alex Pollock and Donnelly McCleland News outlets around the world bombard their audience with stories of war, disaster and famine. Seldom do stories of peace and hope make the headlines, and if they do, they usually disappear quickly, or commentators and analysts quickly provide an alternative outlook, focusing on what could…