While acknowledging that the Catholic community has been hurt by the sex scandals that have rocked the Church globally, Archbishop of Kingston Most Rev Kenneth Richards says the Jamaican priest fingered by one alleged victim has said their relationship was consensual.

In fact, the archbishop, in a letter to the Jamaica Observer, said that the priest, whom he identified as Father Paul Collier, has since submitted a letter of resignation from the priesthood and asked pardon for all the hurt or scandal caused by him.Jamaican Denise Buchanan, now 57 years old and an academic who is a leading member of the international organisation, Ending Clerical Abuse — which is trying to pressure Pope Francis to take a tougher line on child abuse by clerics — told Agence France Presse ( AFP) recently that she was 17 when she was raped by the then novitiate, who continued to abuse her when he became a priest.(Jamaica Observer)…[+]

Italy’s intelligence agency has warned in a briefing to the country’s parliament that attacks on migrants and minorities could rise in the run-up to May’s European elections. The number of racially motivated attacks have risen sharply in Italy, tripling between 2017 and 2018, when the far-right League entered government in coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement.

The report from the security intelligence department, which coordinates and submits information collected by the Italian secret services to the prime minister, said racism and xenophobia were among the threats the country could face in 2019. It said there was “a real risk of an increase in episodes of intolerance towards foreigners”.

It warned that assaults by neo-fascist and Nazi groups against migrants“could intensify with the approach of the European elections” and said a probable increase in clashes between anti-fascist and far-right groups could cause serious public order problems. The intelligence agency report said the Italian far right was characterised in 2018 “by a pronounced vitality” and an increase in xenophobic propaganda “focused on the opposition to migration.” Separate figures from the anti-racist organisation Lunaria, which publishes quarterly reports on the number of racially motivated attacks in Italy, counted 126 physical attacks, especially against migrants, in 2018. It had recorded 27 racially motivated attacks in 2016 and 46 in 2017.(theguardian)…[+]

An 11-year old girl who became pregnant after being raped was forced to give birth after Argentine authorities refused to allow her the abortion to which she was entitled. The authorities ignored repeated requests for an abortion from the child, called “Lucía” to protect her identity, as well as her mother and a number of Argentine women’s right activists. After 23 weeks of pregnancy, she had to undergo a caesarean section on Tuesday. The baby is unlikely to survive.

The move has been described as the “worst kind of cruelty for this child” and has been blamed on an anti-choice strategy in the country to force girls to carry their pregnancies to term. Lucía told the psychologist at the hospital to which she was admitted after two suicide attempts: “I want you to remove what the old man put inside me.”Lucía, the youngest of three sisters, became pregnant after she was abused by her grandmother’s 65-year-old partner. She was placed under her grandmother’s care in 2015, after her two older sisters were reportedly abused by her mother’s partner. Lucía discovered she was pregnant on 23 January at a first-aid centre in her hometown in the northern province of Tucumán. A week later, the child was admitted to the Eva Perón hospital outside the provincial capital city of Tucumán. Suffering from self-inflicted lesions resulting from apparent suicide attempts, she was placed in state care.(theguardian)…[+]

Former prime minister, Basdeo Panday, has issued a pre-action protocol letter to the All Trinidad General Workers’ Trade Union claiming that he is being illegally and wrongfully evicted from his office at the Rienzi Complex in Couva. The trade union, owner of the property, served the“notice of eviction letter” on Panday at his office last week. The office was then padlocked, preventing Panday from entering the building.

Panday’s pre-action protocol letter, dated February 27, requested that as a matter of urgency the trade union immediately remove the locks and refrain from blocking access and occupation of the premises, as Panday had not removed his furniture , documents and valuable personal property. Panday is the Honorary President of the All Trinidad General Workers’ Trade Union and founder of the United National Congress (UNC), which was previously housed at Rienzi Complex. The letter stated that Panday had held an office at the Rienzi Complex for the last 39 years, until his illegal eviction on February 21.(Trinidad Express)…[+]

The Dutch government has snapped up a near-13% stake in Air France-KLM, prompting the French government to accuse The Hague of acting like an “unfriendly” corporate raider. A minor diplomatic row appeared to be building after the Dutch finance minister said the Netherlands had spent €680m (£581m) on a 12.7% stake in the company, formed in 2004 via the merger of the two flag-carrier airlines.

The Netherlands said it was prepared to increase its stake to 14% to ensure it can bring Dutch influence to bear on the company, putting it on an even keel with France, which also holds about 14%. “Buying this stake ensures we have a seat at the table,” said the Dutch finance minister, Wopke Hoekstra, indicating a desire to have more influence over Dutch economic interests and jobs. French officials said they were upset that they had not been informed in advance of the Dutch stake-building plans.

“The way that the stake was built up was more like that done by a corporate raider, rather than a state shareholder,” a French finance ministry official told Reuters. The official added that the purchase was an “unfriendly, surprising move that is extremely detrimental to Air France-KLM financially”. The source declined to say whether the French state would raise its stake in reaction to the Dutch move but said Paris was going to ask France’s financial markets watchdog to prove heavy trading in the airline’s shares prior to the Dutch government’s announcement.

Shares in Air France-KLM fell by nearly 10% on Wednesday after the disclosure of the investment by the Netherlands, prompting the French official to point out that Dutch taxpayers have already seen their investment plummet by about €70m.(theguardian)…[+]

Nigeria’s opposition leader has rejected a claim by the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari, that he won the presidential election, denouncing the poll as a “sham” and vowing to mount a legal challenge. Hours after the president was announced the winner of Saturday’s delayedelection, Atiku Abubakar said that the reason he had not called Buhari to congratulate him was because he had “never seen our democracy so debased”.

Atiku – the former vice-president and wealthy businessman is known countrywide by his first name – said there had been “manifest and premeditated malpractices in many states”. He compared the election unfavourably with that of 2007, widely considered the worst in Nigeria’s history, in which Buhari was runner-up and Abubakar came a distant third.  According to the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the People’s Democratic party (PDP) candidate scored 11,262,978 votes to finish second after Buhari of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), whose 15,191,847 votes secured his reelection for a second term in office. The elections, Nigeria’s sixth since its return to democracy in 1999, were seen as a referendum on the presidency of Buhari, the tough-talking former general who was also a military head of state in the 1980s. Despite seeming unpopular with large sections of the population, Buhari managed to retain most of his base and do well in opposition strongholds.(theguardian)…[+]

Marcia McClean has been committed to stand trial before the High Court for the murder of her four year-old step-daughter Jenice Figaro. McClean intends calling two police officers as defence witnesses when the matter goes to trial. McClean, 30, was charged that on November 24 2016 she murdered the child at the Williamsville home she shared with Figaro, the child’s father and her daughters.

Initial reports were that the child ate a meal of fries, garlic sauce and ketchup before she was pronounced dead at the San Fernando General Hospital. An autopsy however found that the child was beaten to death. The matter started last year September before San Fernando senior magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine. State attorney Daneia Mayers presented 27 witnesses. Six people gave evidence from the witness stand, including the investigator constable Leiselle Serioux, two other police officers, the child’s father, Robert Figaro, and her relatives. Evidence was also presented by way of paper committal.(Trinidad Express)…[+]

The Vatican has said it will wait for the conclusion of the appeal process before taking action against Cardinal George Pell, who has been found guilty of child sexual abuse by a jury in Melbourne. The outcome of the trial was “painful news that has shocked many”, Alessandro Gisotti, the Vatican press spokesman, told reporters in VaticanCity.

“We reiterate the utmost respect for the Australian judicial authorities,” he said. “In this respect, we now await the outcome of the appeal process, recalling that Cardinal Pell has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself to the last degree.” Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, was on leave from his role in Rome as Vatican treasurer throughout the trial, but his term in the role expired on Sunday. He was found guilty of sexually penetrating a child under the age of 16 as well as four charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16. The offences occurred in December 1996 and early 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, months after Pell was inaugurated as archbishop of Melbourne.

He is due to be sentenced next week but may be taken into custody at a plea hearing on Wednesday, having been out on bail since the verdict and recovering from knee surgery. “While waiting for the final judgment, we join the Australian bishops in praying for all victims of abuse, reaffirming our commitment to do everything possible so that the church is a safe house for everyone, especially for children and the most vulnerable,” Gisotti said.(theguardian)…[+]

THE HAGUE– The World Court yesterday told Britain to give up control over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, and said it had wrongfully forced the population to leave in the 1970s to make way for a U.S. air base. Britain split the archipelago off from its colonial island territory of Mauritius in 1965, three years before granting independence to Mauritius – minus the islands.

In the early 1970s, it evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for the base on the largest island, Diego Garcia, which it had leased to the United States. In a non-binding advisory opinion, the top United Nations court for inter-state disputes said Britain had acted unlawfully in the decolonisation process and should relinquish control over the islands, which it calls the British Indian Ocean Territory. Although the court was not asked to issue an opinion on sovereignty, Monday’s decision in effect urged Britain to hand the islands, which it has controlled since 1814, over to Mauritius.(reuters)…[+]

Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is ex­treme­ly con­cerned about the in­volve­ment of the Elec­tions and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion (EBC) in the reg­is­tra­tion of Venezue­lans, es­pe­cial­ly with two up­com­ing elec­tions and the coun­try’s his­to­ry of vote rig­ging. She com­ment­ed yes­ter­day against re­ports that a pol­i­cy is cur­rent­ly be­ing pre­pared for re­view by Cab­i­net to al­low Venezue­lans, whether here legal­ly or il­le­gal­ly, to be reg­is­tered to work in T&T for up to one year.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who at­tend­ed the Siparia Women’s As­so­ci­a­tion’s an­nu­al Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val in Pe­nal, said: “In refugee pol­i­cy and with Unit­ed Na­tions there are cer­tain pro­to­cols to be fol­lowed but I be­came ex­treme­ly dis­turbed when I heard Min­is­ter Moses, in an­swer­ing a ques­tion in the Par­lia­ment, say­ing that the EBC would be in­volved in help­ing to pre­pare some kind of reg­is­tra­tion card.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]