ROME: Pope Francis will preside over an interfaith meeting in a mosque in the world’s largest predominantly Muslim country during a four-nation Asian visit in September that will be the longest and most complicated foreign trip of his pontificate.
The Vatican on Friday released the itinerary for Francis’ Sept. 2-13 trip to Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. The packed schedule makes clear that the 87-year-old pontiff, who has battled health problems and is increasingly reliant on a wheelchair, has no plans to slow down.
After a day of rest upon arrival in Jakarta on Sept. 3, Francis launches into a typically rigorous round of protocol visits to the four countries’ heads of state and government, speeches to diplomats and meetings with clergy and public Masses in each location. In Jakarta, he’ll preside over an interfaith meeting at the capital’s Istiqlal Mosque.
Sprinkled in the mix are encounters with young people, poor and disabled people, elderly people and Francis’ regular meetings with his Jesuit confreres.
The trip was originally planned for 2020 but was called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic. At 11 full days, it’s the longest of Francis’ 11-year papacy, outpacing by a few days some of his long trips to the Americas and recalling some of the strenuous, globe-hopping trips of St. John Paul II.
It will bring the Argentine Jesuit to the world’s most populous predominantly Muslim nation, Indonesia, as well as the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, where the Catholic Church wields enormous influence.
In East Timor, however, Francis may also have to reckon with the legacy of independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo. The Nobel Peace Prize winner was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2020 for having sexually abused young Timorese boys and is currently believed to be living in Portugal.
Francis had to cancel his last planned foreign visit -– a quick trip to Dubai last year to participate in the UN climate conference -– because of a recurring case of bronchitis. He has seemed in relatively good form in recent months, including during day trips to Italian cities and visits to Roman parishes.
But in recent years, as his mobility has been limited by bad knee ligaments, he has generally stuck closer to home and kept his trips relatively short.
After he returns to Rome in mid-September, he has a four-day visit to Belgium before the end of the month, the only other foreign trip that has been confirmed for the year.
Pope to preside over interfaith meeting in Indonesian mosque during longest, most challenging trip
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Pope to preside over interfaith meeting in Indonesian mosque during longest, most challenging trip
- The Vatican released the itinerary for Francis’ Sept. 2-13 trip to Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore
France’s Macron keeps prime minister in place for “stability of the country” after chaotic election
- French voters split the legislature on the left, center and far-right, leaving no faction even close to the majority needed to form a government
- The results from Sunday’s vote raised the risk of paralysis for the European Union’s second-largest economy
French voters split the legislature on the left, center and far right, leaving no faction even close to the majority needed to form a government. The results from Sunday’s vote raised the risk of paralysis for the European Union’s second-largest economy.
Macron gambled that his decision to call snap elections would give France a “moment of clarification,” but the outcome showed the opposite, less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics, when the country will be under an international spotlight.
France’s main share index opened with a dip, but quickly recovered, possibly because markets had feared an outright victory for the far right or the leftist coalition.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had said he would remain in office if needed but offered his resignation Monday morning. Macron, who named him just seven months ago, immediately asked him to stay on “to ensure the stability of the country.” Macron’s top political allies joined the meeting with Attal at the presidential palace, which ended after about 90 minutes.
Attal on Sunday made clear that he disagreed with Macron’s decision to call the surprise elections. The results of two rounds of voting left no obvious path to form a government for either the leftist coalition that came in first, Macron’s centrist alliance, or the far right.
Newly elected and returning lawmakers were expected to gather at the National Assembly to begin negotiations in earnest.
Macron himself will leave midweek for a NATO summit in Washington.
Political deadlock could have far-ranging implications for the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe’s economic stability. Still, at least one leader said the results were a relief.
“In Paris enthusiasm, in Moscow disappointment, in Kyiv relief. Enough to be happy in Warsaw,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former European Union Council head, wrote late Sunday on X.
According to official results released early Monday, all three main blocs fell far short of the 289 seats needed to control the 577-seat National Assembly, the more powerful of France’s two legislative chambers.
The results showed just over 180 seats for the New Popular Front leftist coalition, which placed first, ahead of Macron’s centrist alliance, with more than 160 seats. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and its allies were restricted to third place, although their more than 140 seats were still way ahead of the party’s previous best showing of 89 seats in 2022.
Macron has three years remaining on his presidential term.
Rather than rallying behind Macron as he’d hoped, millions took the vote as an opportunity to vent anger about inflation, crime, immigration and other grievances — including his style of government.
The New Popular Front’s leaders immediately pushed Macron to give them the first chance to form a government and propose a prime minister. The faction pledges to roll back many of Macron’s headline reforms, embark on a costly program of public spending, and take a tougher line against Israel because of its war with Hamas. But it’s not clear, even among the left, who could lead the government without alienating crucial allies.
“We need someone who offers consensus,” said Olivier Faure, head of the Socialist Party, which joined the leftist coalition and was still sorting out how many seats it won on Monday.
Macron warns that the left’s economic program of many tens of billions of euros in public spending, partly financed by taxes on wealth and hikes for high earners, could be ruinous for France, already criticized by EU watchdogs for its debt.
A hung parliament is unknown territory for modern France and many people reacted with a mix of relief and apprehension.
“What pollsters and the press were telling us made me very nervous so it’s a huge relief. Big expectations as well,” said Nadine Dupuis, a 60-year-old legal secretary in Paris. “What’s going to happen? How are they going to govern this country?”
The political agreement between the left and center to block the National Rally was largely successful. Many voters decided that keeping the far right from power was more important than anything else, backing its opponents in the runoff, even if they weren’t from the political camp they usually support.
“Disappointed, disappointed,” said far-right supporter Luc Doumont, 66. “Well, happy to see our progression, because for the past few years we’ve been doing better.”
National Rally leader Le Pen, who was expected to make a fourth run for the French presidency in 2027, said the elections laid the groundwork for “the victory of tomorrow.”
Racism and antisemitism marred the electoral campaign, along with Russian disinformation campaigns, and more than 50 candidates reported being physically attacked — highly unusual for France.
Unlike other countries in Europe that are more accustomed to coalition governments, France doesn’t have a tradition of lawmakers from rival political camps coming together to form a majority. France is also more centralized than many other European countries, with many more decisions made in Paris.
Starmer says UK can improve on ‘botched’ Brexit deal with EU
- ‘We think we can get a better deal than the botched deal that Boris Johnson bought home and we will work on that’
BELFAST: Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday promised to get a better deal with the European Union on post-Brexit trading rules than a “botched deal” secured by former prime minister Boris Johnson.
“We think we can get a better deal than the botched deal that Boris Johnson bought home and we will work on that,” Starmer told journalists in Belfast as part of a tour of the four nations of the United Kingdom.
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Rwandan troops fought alongside M23 rebels in DR Congo: UN experts
- Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebel group
- Until the end of 2023, Rwandan authorities publicly denied that their troops were operating alongside M23 rebels in Nord Kivu
GOMA, DR Congo: Some 3,000-4,000 Rwandan soldiers fought alongside M23 rebels in east DR Congo, said a UN experts report seen by AFP Monday, which noted that Kigali had “de facto control” of the group’s operations.
The North Kivu province has been in the grip of the M23 (March 23 Movement) rebellion since the end of 2021, with the group seizing swathes of territory in the region and installing a parallel regime in areas now under its control.
Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebel group. Kigali has never acknowledged its troops were operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But the report commissioned by the UN Security Council said the Rwandan army’s “de facto control and direction over M23 operations” renders the country “liable for the actions of M23.”
Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) military interventions and operations in the Nyiragongo, Rutshuru and Masisi territories — all in North Kivu — “were critical to the impressive territorial expansion achieved between January and March 2024” by the M23, the report stated.
The report’s researchers estimated that at the time of writing in April the number of Rwandan troops were “matching if not surpassing” the number of M23 soldiers, thought to be at around 3,000.
The report contains authenticated photographs, drone footage, video recordings, testimony and intelligence, which it says confirm the RDF’s systematic border incursions.
The footage and photos show rows of armed men in uniform, operating equipment such as artillery and armored vehicles with radar and anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as trucks to transport troops.
Until the end of 2023, Rwandan authorities publicly denied that their troops were operating alongside M23 rebels in Nord Kivu, but since then Kigali has no longer commented directly on such accusations.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame said on June 20 on France 24 “we are ready to fight” against the Democratic Republic of Congo if necessary, although he avoided the question of his country’s military presence in the country.
For several months the United States, France, Belgium and the European Union have been calling on Rwanda to withdraw its forces and ground-to-air missiles from Congolese soil and to stop supporting the M23.
The report also said that children from the age of 12 have been recruited from “almost all refugee camps in Rwanda” to be sent to training camps in the rebel zone under supervision of Rwandan soldiers and M23 combatants.
“Recruits aged 15 and above were combat-trained and dispatched to the frontlines to fight,” it said.
It added that the recruitment of minors in Rwanda was generally carried out by intelligence officers “through false promises of remuneration or employment,” and that those “who did not consent were taken forcefully.”
During their offensives the M23 and Rwandan army “specifically targeted localities, predominantly inhabited by Hutus, in areas known to be strongholds of FDLR” — the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.
The FDLR is a Rwandan rebel group formed by former senior Hutu officials behind the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994, who have since taken refuge in DR Congo.
The presence of the group in the eastern DR Congo is considered by Kigali as a threat.
The international community has called for an end to foreign intervention in war-riddled DR Congo and also asked Kinshasa to distance itself from the FDLR.
But the UN report noted that the DRC government has used several “North Kivu armed groups, including the FDLR, to fight M23 and RDF.”
This mixture of armed groups fighting alongside the Congolese army is known as the Wazalendo — Swahili for patriots.
The experts who wrote the report accused the Wazalendo of numerous violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
The experts also said they had confirmation of “active support” for the M23 from members of the Ugandan intelligence services.
This comes even though Uganda’s army has been working alongside the Congolese army in its fight against another rebel group affiliated with the Daesh group, some 100 kilometers north of the area under the control of the M23.
Fishing boat carrying 283 migrants to Europe safely reaches southern Greek island
ATHENS: A fishing boat carrying nearly 300 migrants to Europe has safely reached a southern Greek island after a large rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea, Greek authorities said Monday.
There were no immediate reports of injury or ill health among the 283 migrants, the coast guard said.
A coast guard statement said a search was launched before dawn Monday after authorities were notified that a vessel carrying migrants was hit by high winds south of Crete.
Two coast guard vessels, four merchant ships and two smaller private boats took part in the operation, and the migrant vessel was located 18 nautical miles (20 miles) south of Gavdos, a small island off southern Crete. The fishing boat was finally able to reach the port of Gavdos with its own engines, and the migrants safely disembarked.
There was no immediate information as to the nationalities of the migrants, or where they had departed from.
Tiny Gavdos in recent months has become an important destination for migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean from eastern Libya. Typically, people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia seeking a better life in Europe pay thousands of dollars to smugglers for a spot on the dangerous, overcrowded vessels.
In June 2023, a rusty trawler that was carrying an estimated 750 people from Tobruk in eastern Libya to Italy sank off southwestern Greece leaving hundreds feared drowned. Only 104 passengers survived, and 82 bodies were recovered.
The coast guard said the migrants who reached Gavdos Monday were transported to southern Crete, from which they would be taken to the western port town of Chania.
Kenya starvation cult leader goes on trial on terrorism charges
- Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appears in court along with 94 co-defendants
MOMBASA, Kenya: The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult went on trial on Monday on charges of terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in a macabre case that shocked the country and the world.
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants, an AFP journalist said.
