Month: April 2019

The Catholic Church’s failure to address sex abuse is a "source of pain and shame", the Pope has told an audience in Ireland.

Beginning a two-day visit to the country on Saturday, Pope Francis said he "cannot fail to acknowledge" the "grave scandal" that abuse by Catholic priests had caused, describing it as a “scourge in the Church”.

He said the "failure" of religious leaders including bishops to address the "repellent crimes" had "rightly given rise to outrage".

His comments came after Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called on him to implement a "zero tolerance" approach to abusers and those who participated in cover-ups. "We must now ensure that from words flow actions," he said.

He said Irish scandals including Magdalene Laundries, industrial schools, mother and baby homes, illegal adoptions, and clerical abuse were "stains on our State, our society, and also the Catholic Church".

Failures had "created a bitter and broken heritage for so many, leaving a legacy of pain and suffering", he said, adding that survivors were “kept in dark corners, behind closed doors”.

His words echoed the calls of victims’ and survivors’ groups, who criticised a Pontifical letter issued on Monday for failing to include concrete provisions to bring abusers to justice.

Campaigners say the Vatican knows the identity of senior figures who have aided abusers by moving them to different areas and failing to report them to police, but has not taken action against them.

The Pope also met with victims and survivors of abuse on Saturday in a private event, and then addressed more than 80,000 people at Dublin’s Croke Park stadium for the Festival of Families.

The concert-type event was held to mark the end of the World Meeting of Families 2018, including performances by Andrea Bocelli, The Riverdance Troupe, Nathan Carter, Dana Masters and Daniel O’Donnell.

Pope Francis delivered an address and heard five testimonies by families from Ireland, Canada, India, Iraq, and Africa about the importance of family in the modern age.

Earlier, as he left Dublin Castle to drive through the city in a blue Skoda the Pope was greeted by a group of advocates holding a banner calling for redress for victims.

Other placards urged him not to forget abuse survivors. His visit has drawn comparisons to an earlier visit by Pope John Paul II in 1979, at which 2.7m people greeted him and more than a million attended a Mass in the city’s Phoenix Park.

The figures for this year’s event are not yet know, but the pavement behind the barriers outside the castle was not full and many of those watching were there to protest.

However, crowds later packed the streets in areas such as Dame Street, with supporters cheering and waving flags, as he processed through in the "Pope-mobile".

On Sunday he will conduct a papal mass in the same location, with half a million expected to attend. A Facebook group, Say Nope to the Pope, which has 6,300 members, has prompted some to obtain a free ticket with no intention of going, as a gesture of protest against a series of issues including the church’s involvement in Irish politics and stances on LGBT and women’s equality.

The weather could also lead some to stay away, with heavy rain predicted to fall all morning. On Saturday afternoon he attended a meeting at St Mary’s Pro Cathedral attended by 370 couples who were either newlywed or recently married.

He remained with his head bowed for several minutes in front of the candle of innocence, which has been burning in the cathedral since 2011 as an acknowledgment of the suffering caused to survivors of abuse.

In his speeches the Pope also hinted at the recent referendum in which the Irish voted overwhelmingly to repeal the Eighth Amendment, paving the way for widely legalised abortion.

Speaking at Dublin Castle, he suggested that “the growth of a materialistic ‘throwaway culture’ has in fact made us increasingly indifferent to the poor and to the most vulnerable members of our human family, including the unborn, deprived of the very right to life?”

Later, at the cathedral, he added: “The world tells us to be strong and independent, with little care for those who are alone and sad, rejected or sick, not yet born or dying”.

However, his counsel for the couples also included some levity. 

Looking at the congregation compromising hundreds of young couples he questioned those that claimed people no longer wanted to get married. "Getting married and sharing your lives is a beautiful thing," he told them.

He said older people had great wisdom, then joked: "Even the mothers-in-law, even they are wise."

Outside the service, couples expressed hope that the Pope could bring about change. 

Katie Boland, 30, and her husband Oisin, 32, from Dublin, who married in June, acknowledged that Ireland was less religious that it used to be. 

"That’s the reality. Maybe things will change going forward," said Mrs Boland, "if his messages are more modern and connect to people now". 

Belinda Maguire and Paul Friel, from Donegal, both 26, who are marrying in 2020, said they thought people in their parish were still devout. 

"We were both brought up in a Catholic family so I’ve never noticed any difference to be honest," said Ms Maguire.

"To come here today was just an honour, to see him in person and everything."

Germany’s finance minister warned that a "German Trump" may seize power as he claimed pension reform is the key to preventing the rise of populism in Europe.

“Stable pensions prevent a German Trump. That’s why politicians should not shirk this topic,” Olaf Scholz, who is also vice-chancellor, said yesterday.

Mr Scholz has been pushing for government reforms similar to the UK’s triple lock to ensure pension levels remain stable despite inflation.

The vice-chancellor has something of a reputation for dullness in Germany, but he insisted the issue has implications that go far beyond his brief as finance minister.

“The way I see it is this: globalisation and digitalisation create wealth, but they are also changing our world at a fast pace,” Mr Scholz told Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview. 

“Citizens rightly expect us to do everything we can to make sure they live securely. If we do not do that, then the hour of nationalist populism will have struck.”

Mr Scholz has brought pensions centre stage in his quest to carve out new territory for his centre-Left Social Democrat party (SPD), which is junior partner in Angela Merkel’s coalition government.

Mrs Merkel has agreed to secure pension levels until 2025, but Mr Scholz wants them guaranteed until 2040 and has threatened to make them a major issue in 2021’s election.

After recording its worst ever results in last year’s election, the SPD leadership is desperate for an issue that will allow the party to differentiate itself from Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

The SPD has continued to sink lower in the opinion polls, and at times has slipped behind the nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD). 

A new poll showed that the conservatives had lost one percentage point to poll at 30 percent, while the SPD was steady at 17 percent. That means that if Germany voted again tomorrow, the grand coalition would not have enough support to govern.

The poll, conducted by the Emnid institute, showed the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party gaining one point to 15 percent, and the pro-business Free Democrats adding one point to poll at 9 percent.

But Mr Scholz insisted the SPD leadership was not panicking. “We are in this for the long haul and have to keep cool,” he said. “If we show a clear attitude and do the right thing over the long term, the people will feel comfortable with the idea of an SPD chancellor in 2021.”

The finance minister has also pledged to push for EU reforms to reduce the amount of child benefits Germany has to pay to children living in other member states.

Under EU current rules member states have to pay child benefits to anyone who is legally resident, even if their children live in another country. Germany currently pays benefits for more than 260,000 children in other EU countries.

Mr Scholz  wants the rules changed so the level of benefits is linked to the cost of living where the children are resident.

Passengers and crew on two flights arriving in Philadelphia from Europe on Thursday were screened by medical teams after 12 people aboard became ill with flu-like symptoms, a day after a similar outbreak on a flight from Dubai to New York.

All 250 people on separate American Airlines flights from Munich and Paris were "held for a medical review" as a precaution, and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was notified, Philadelphia International Airport spokeswoman Diane Gerace said.

Flight 717 from Munich Airport and Flight 755 from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris both arrived in Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon, she said.

The CDC worked with Philadelphia health officers, emergency responders and Customs and Border Patrol agents to evaluate the sick passengers for influenza and other respiratory illnesses, CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said.

"Twelve passengers from the two flights reported sore throat and cough, none were identified with fever. None of the passengers are severely ill, and they will be released and informed of test results in 24 hours," Mr Haynes said.

The rest of the passengers from the two flights were allowed to continue on to their destination, he said, adding that the CDC would provide further information when tests results were confirmed.

No one on either plane was quarantined, American Airlines spokeswoman Leslie Scott said. She said members of the crews had not contacted medical personnel ahead of landing to alert them of sick passengers on board.

On Wednesday, at least 19 people aboard an Emirates airlines double-deck Airbus 380 flight from Dubai were confirmed ill when the aircraft landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Ten of them were treated at a local hospital. A press secretary for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday that test results had confirmed influenza.

"Some tests came back inconclusive on other viruses, which is common," de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips said on Twitter, adding that the tests were being re-administered.

"All 10 patients will be kept in the hospital as a precaution until we know those final results," Phillips said.

There was no indication the incidents, which occurred over two days at separate U.S. airports, were related. 

In an another apparently unrelated health scare, passengers on four Southwest Airlines flights in Texas may have been exposed to measles in the last 16 days.

Southwest Airlines confirmed passengers on two flights in and out of Dallas Love Field may have been exposed and  they were working with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to inform those affected, NBC 5 reported.

A kangaroo is on the loose and has been spotted in forests and meadows in Austria, police said Monday.

The animal – not a native to the central European country – has been seen numerous times since late last week in Hellmonsoedt district in Upper Austria state.

Police, who have identified it to be a kangaroo from photos and videos they received, are trying to find out who the animal belongs to.

"We have called all the zoos and kangaroo breeders around us, but no one is missing a kangaroo. We hope the owner will come forward," a Hellmonsoedt police official, who declined to be named, told the AFP news agency.

"It sounds unbelievable, but it’s true."

Police cannot say what breed the kangaroo is but believe there is little to worry about for now – the kangaroo is a "shy animal" so is unlikely to cause any damage, and "its survival chances (in the wild) are perfect", the official said.

People need permission to keep kangaroos in Austria.

But kangaroos have been spotted before in the wild, according to local media reports, such as in 2015, when one escaped from an owner in neighbouring Germany.

Dominic Raab lashed out at “hair-raising scare stories” about a no deal Brexit at a press conference with Michel Barnier on Tuesday, as the EU’s chief negotiator warned that Brussels would not accept the blame for failure to strike an agreement.

Britain’s new Brexit Secretary and Mr Barnier vowed to “negotiate continuously” to beat the looming deadline for Britain to leave the bloc, rather than rely on the now traditional rounds of negotiation.

If the UK and the Brussels cannot finalise a Brexit deal before 29 March 2019, Britain will crash out of the EU without a deal, which Mr Barnier warned would be “the most costly form of Brexit”.  “We don’t want this option,” he added.

"To be very frank I do see a blame game starting against the EU in case of a no deal,” Mr Barnier told reporters at the European Commission in Brussels, as he warned it was unlikely there would be a deal before November.

“The EU will not be impressed by a blame game and everyone should understand that."

Britain’s new Brexit Secretary said that with “ambition, pragmatism and energy” a deal could be struck in time but he dismissed fears that failure could result in shortages of supplies such as medicines.

“These hair-raising scare stories [of chaotic Brexit] are very far from the truth," he said before vowing to address the concerns in more detail in a speech on Thursday, when the government plans to publish 84 notices to help various sectors prepare for no deal on Thursday.

He added, “our actions speak louder than words” as the two men revealed they would meet again next week in Brussels in a bid to overcome some of the sticking points preventing a deal. 

Chief among them remains how to avoid the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. Mr Barnier once again called on Britain to “dedramatize” the issue amid fears the EU plans to create a border between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland.

Mr Barnier said he had no intention of shifting the EU’s position in the negotiations, though Brexit-supporting politicians has claimed his  repeated refusals of Theresa May’s proposals are pushing the UK towards a crash-out. Mr Barnier said that it was Britain which was leaving the EU and not the other way around. "The principles of the EU in these negotiations are well known and have been consistent for the last two years," he said, "We can find common ground based on the EU principles and on the other end the choices made by the UK. "

But Mr Barnier, who said negotiations were entering the final stage, said that the EU wanted an ambitious partnership with the UK that had “no precedent”.

Mr Raab said: “I agree with Michel that we need to keep, as we climb the mountain, our eyes on the summit and accentuate the positives, and there are many positive areas where we agree, but of course we’ve got to close down those areas of disagreement.

“I’m out here seeing Michel again, I shall be returning next week, we’re going to be picking up the intensity of negotiations, we agree on that.

"But of course the responsible thing for any government to do, and indeed on the EU side to do, is to make sure that we’re prepared for all eventualties.”

In a later BBC interview, Mr Raab vowed Britain would move swiftly to secure the rights of EU citizens living in the UK if there was a no deal Brexit.

Mr Raab’s predecessor David Davis did not visit Brussels at all for the first three months of this year. In stark contrast, Mr Raab has met EU officials three times in just  a month and will meet Mr Barnier again next week.

Asked if he missed Mr Davis, who resigned in protest at the UK White Paper on customs, Mr Barnier said, “I am very happy to be working with Dominic”. 

Mr Raab added swiftly, "I am very happy to be working with Michel".

Last week the UK and EU held "technical talks" on the terms of the UK’s departure from the bloc, including Ireland and the future trading relationship.  Talks will continue on Wednesday. 

Progress has so far been slow, leading Mr Barnier to signal that his October deadline to finalise the Brexit agreement, which would give national governments and the European Parliament five months to ratify the deal, was slipping.

“I’m not going to say October. A Few days here or there, but certainly not later than the beginning of November," the EU’s chief negotiator said before warning that some parts of a British white paper on the future relationship were incompatible with the red lines he had been given by the EU-27.

At least six people were killed, including two children, after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside a district headquarters in Somalia’s capital, authorities said Sunday.

Police captail Mohamed Hussein said the bomber tried to speed through a checkpoint but was stopped by security forces, prompting him to detonate the vehicle near the gate of Howlwadag district headquarters.

The three soldiers who stopped the truck were killed instantly and the three others killed were civilians, said the Mogadishu mayor’s spokesman, Salah Hassan Omar.

Fourteen people need intensive care, including six children, said the Aamin Ambulance service.

Among the wounded was deputy district commissioner Ibrah Hassan Matan, and any victims were students at a nearby Islamic school.

Officials warned there could be more casualties as the blast brought down nearby buildings including a mosque.

"I saw bodies strewn on the ground after the explosion before the ambulances and the paramedics reached the scene and the whole scene was very ugly," witness Halima Mohamed said.

The attacker "literally failed to achieve their goal of inflicting maximum casualties," Mr Hussein said, accusing the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab of carrying out the attack.

Al-Shabab later claimed responsibility for the explosion, which shattered a period of calm in seaside Mogadishu.

The Somalia-based al-Shabab often targets the capital with bombings, including a truck bombing in October that left at least 512 people dead.

Somali troops are meant to take over the Horn of Africa nation’s security in the coming years from an African Union force but concerns about their readiness remain high.

The UN Security Council recently voted to delay the reduction of troops in the AU force from October to February and the target date to hand over security to Somali forces to December 2021.

The Democratic National Committee last night said it had thwarted an attempt to hack into a database containing information on tens of millions of voters across the US.

A sophisticated "spear phishing" operation used a fake login page in a bid  to secure usernames and passwords, and gain access to the database.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.

In 2016 Russian hackers gained access to DNC servers and released embarrassing to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

A party official said, on this occasion, no information was compromised, and the FBI had been called in.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bob Lord, the DNC’s chief security officer, briefed leaders of state Democrat parties on the attempt at a gathering in Chicago on Wednesday.

The DNC distributes the voter files to state parties for Democrat candidates to use during campaigns.

Mr Lord said: "This attempt is further proof that there are constant threats as we head into midterm elections and we must remain vigilant in order to prevent future attacks.

"We can’t do this alone. We need the administration to take more aggressive steps to protect our voting systems."

In the latest hacking attempt a San Francisco-based security company detected the fake website page, which had been designed to harvest the passwords of users. It was taken down within hours.