Religion News Australia 2014 - 17 (May 18 - 25)
(24 May 14)by Greg Spearritt
Religion News Australia
May 18 - 25, 2014
Religion news stories from Australia
(Research: Greg Spearritt)
abuse / education / international stories / islam / judaism / religion & society
ABUSE
UN
Committee against Torture critical of Vatican's refusal to assist
investigations into child sex abuse (ABC
News)
May 23 - The UN's torture watchdog has criticised the Vatican for its reported
refusal to provide information to authorities, including a NSW inquiry into
child sex abuse.
EDUCATION
Principal of Redlands College transfers
Muslim student teachers after they wear hijab to school (The Courier-Mail, Brisbane)
May 24 - THE principal of a Christian College has come under fire for
transferring two student teachers after they turned up for work dressed in
traditional Muslim headwear.
INTERNATIONAL STORIES
Catholic Church
South Korean cardinal in first visit to
North (The West Australian)
May 21 - Seoul (AFP) - A South Korean cardinal visited the North on Wednesday
in the first trip of its kind, an official said, ahead of a visit by Pope
Francis to Seoul that Catholic authorities hope will promote peace between the
neighbours.
Holy Land prepares for papal visit (The
West Australian)
May 23 - Jerusalem (AFP) - Two days before
Pope Francis arrives in the Holy Land, Israelis and Palestinians were putting
the finishing touches Thursday on a flurry of festive preparations for the
visit.
Also: Pope
set to begin Middle East pilgrimage (The Australian)
May 24 - POPE Francis has headed for Jordan at the start of a Middle East tour
aimed at boosting ties with Muslims and Jews as well as easing an age-old rift
within Christianity.
Also:
Pope Francis arrives in Jordan, for tour of
the Holy Land (news.com.au)
May 24 - POPE Francis has arrived in Jordan, kicking off a three-day trip to
the Middle East that will see him get a first-hand look at the plight of Syrian
refugees and witness the toll the civil war next door is taking on Jordan.
Also:
Pope Francis launches Middle East visit
with Syria peace appeal (ABC News)
May 24 - Pope Francis has made an urgent appeal for an end to Syria's
devastating civil war and an unscripted condemnation of the arms industry at
the start of his first trip to the Holy Land as pontiff.
Islam
Iranian actress Leila Hatami's kiss at
Cannes Film Festival angers authorities back home (ABC
News)
May 19 - Iranian actress Leila Hatami has angered authorities in Tehran by
kissing the Cannes Film Festival's president on the cheek, an act seen as an
affront to the "chastity" of the Islamic republic's women.
Also:
Calls for Iranian actor, Leila Hatami, to
face lashings and jail for Cannes kiss (news.com.au)
May 24 - IRANIAN actor Leila Hatami Friday apologised for kissing the Cannes
film festival's president on the cheek, an act which angered authorities in the
Islamic republic, state news agency IRNA reported.
Iranians arrested after posting their own
video of Pharrell Williams's song Happy on YouTube (ABC
News)
May 22 - Six Iranians have been arrested for creating a tribute video clip to
the hit Pharrell Williams song Happy.
Also:
Iranians arrested over Pharrell Williams
Happy video released on bail (ABC
News)
May 22 - A group of young Iranians arrested for dancing on rooftops to US
singer Pharrell Williams' hit Happy in a video that went viral on the internet
have reportedly been released on bail.
Indonesia religion minister suspect in
pilgrimage graft case (The West
Australian)
May 23 - Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia's anti-corruption agency on Thursday named
the religious affairs minister a suspect in a graft case involving a fund to
help Muslim pilgrims go to the holy city of Mecca.
Judaism
Israel
on alert as Jewish extremists await Pope (The Australian)
May 24 - ISRAEL’s security services are on
alert against right-wing Jewish extremists ahead of this weekend’s historic
visit to the Holy Land by the Pope.
US indicts four rabbis for allegedly
plotting to kidnap men to force them to divorce their wives (Sydney Morning Herald)
May 24 - NEW YORK: A US grand jury has indicted four Orthodox Jewish rabbis and
one of their sons for allegedly plotting to kidnap men to force them to divorce
their wives.
Religious Violence
Nigerian
attack leaves dozens of villagers dead, locals blame Boko Haram (ABC News)
May 22 - Terrorists have killed dozens of people in northern Nigeria, one day
after more than 100 people died in a double bombing in the central city of Jos.
US deploys military to help find Nigerian
girls (Sydney Morning
Herald)
May 22 - Washington: The United States has deployed about 80 military personnel
to Chad as part of its effort to help find and return more than 200 Nigerian
schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, President Barack
Obama said in a letter to Congress on Wednesday.
Chinese state media says five suicide bombers
carried out Xinjiang attack (The
West Australian)
May 23 - BEIJING (Reuters) - Five suicide bombers carried out the attack which
killed 31 people in the capital of China's troubled Xinjiang region, state
media reported a day after the deadliest terrorist attack to date in the
region.
Also:
Arrest over deadly Chinese market bombings
in Urumqi (The Australian)
May 24 - CHINESE police have arrested one suspect in the Xinjiang bombing and
believe four accomplices were killed in the Urumqi blasts that tore through a
busy inner city market on Thursday.
Belgium in shock after three shot dead at
Jewish Museum in Brussels (ABC
News)
May 24 - Security has been stepped up at Jewish sites across Belgium after a
gunman shot dead two men and a woman at a Jewish museum in the capital
Brussels.
Other
Church raided in S. Korean ferry disaster
probe (The West Australian)
May 21 - Seoul (AFP) - South Korean investigators on Wednesday raided a
sprawling religious compound believed to be the hideout of a fugitive
billionaire as part of a widening probe into a ferry disaster that killed
hundreds.
Also:
South Korean sect submits to search for
founder linked to doomed ferry (The
West Australian)
May 21 - ANSEONG/INCHEON South Korea (Reuters) - Hundreds of followers of a
religious sect submitted on Wednesday to a search of their rural commune by
South Korean authorities seeking the arrest of the head of the family that
operated a ferry which capsized last month killing more than 300 people.
100-year-old beggar celebrated as living
saint in Bulgaria (The West
Australian)
May 24 - Sofia (AFP) - A 100-year-old beggar in a threadbare coat,
"Grandpa" Dobri, is already celebrated as a saint in Bulgaria -- a
symbol of goodness in a country ravaged by poverty and corruption.
ISLAM
Muslim man refuses to stand in court due to
religion (Daily Telegraph,
Sydney)
May 24 - A MUSLIM man who threatened to “slit the throat” of an intelligence
officer has refused to stand for a judge in court.
JUDAISM
Strathfield Synagogue in Sydney to be
heritage listed (ABC News)
May 21 - A western Sydney council has voted to heritage list one of the area's
last remaining synagogues that had been earmarked for sale.
RELIGION & SOCIETY
No
forced removal of burkas for G20 identity checks in Queensland (ABC News)
May 22 - The Queensland Parliament has rejected legislation that would have
compelled people to remove burkas and face veils for identity checks.
Calamvale woman has a painting in the
Vatican (The Courier-Mail,
Brisbane)
May 24 - A CALAMVALE woman is one of only a few artists alive in Australia, if
not the world, who has a painting hanging in the Vatican.
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