miniZibaldone

Philippine Star  "Still on Death Row" It took only a few months for the court in Yogyakarta to convict and sentence Veloso following her arrest. The Indonesians aren’t going to wait forever for the Philippine courts to do their job. Last year Indonesians themselves staged rallies in Jakarta to pressure their government to grant Veloso a reprieve. Those last-minute appeals to save Mary Jane must not be wasted.  [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  "Sacrificed for family" FOR the family” is the common pretext made by women who stay in an abusive relationship, preferring to risk their sanity and safety, as well as that of their children, than separating from a partner whom they depend on for survival.  Inequality is at the root of poverty, which spiked the number of crimes committed against women and children last year.  The public servants that deserve the votes must answer the long-denied demand of women: “for regular jobs and decent wages,” “for access to social serv...

ISIS obliterates oldest Christian monastery in Iraq IRBIL, Iraq — The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State group’s relentless destruction of   ancient cultural sites. For 1,400 years, the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship recently for US troops. In earlier centuries, generations of monks  tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ’s name, were carved near the  entrance. [link] In Wake of Bombings, Jesuit Calls on Indonesian Muslims to Fight Islamic Terrorism Says That Government Must Succeed so Youth Don’t Go Looking for Alternatives Such as ISIS “This attack should serve as an alarm bell for all Indonesians, and above all for Muslims. They need to recognize the danger of terrorism,” said a Jesuit based in the  world’s largest Muslim countr...