In a staggering revelation, a 700-page long report released by the Spanish national ombudsman Angel Gabilondo, it has been estimated that over 200,000 minors have been abused by the Roman Catholic clergy since 1940 in the country.
The poll conducted by the independent commission of over 8,000 people found that 0.6 percent of Spain’s adult population of around 39 million people said that they suffered sexual abuse by members of the clergy when they were still minors.
“Unfortunately, for many years there has been a certain desire to deny abuses or a desire to conceal or protect the abusers,” said Gabilondo while addressing the press.
Over the last two decades, the allegations against the Spanish Catholic Church have mounted to a great level often involving children. The report is also critical of the clergy as the response by them was “insufficient” thus, it recommends the state to pay reparations to victims.
Spain’s parliament in March 2022 overwhelmingly approved the creation of an independent commission led by the ombudsman to “shed light” on allegations of sexual abuse of “defenceless boys and girls” in the Catholic church.
The church, initially reluctant, said in June that it has discovered 927 cases of child abuse through a complaints procedure launched in 2020, and in response to that it has set up a “child protection” office.
El Pais, a leading Spanish Newspaper, states in their investigation of 2018 dark facts dating back to 1927 about thousands of victims and alleged abusers. The recent report is dubbed as the “tip of the iceberg” by them.
The church’s abuse crisis is rampant all across Europe-first surfaced in 2002-and these investigations stir governments to take serious steps to stop the malice. Spain has been leading the effort as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the release of the report was a “milestone” in the country’s democratic history. Child Protection Activist, Juan Cuatrecasas, commented, “This must be the start of something, not an end in itself.”
Kashmiris all around the world are observing a Black Day on October 27. On this day, India occupied the valley, denying the people of their right to have a plebiscite. Even after seven decades, Kashmiris are still waiting for the fulfilment of the promises made to them by the UN and India-the right of self-determination.
President Arif Alvi expressed solidarity with Kashmiris on the eve of the Black Day. ‘We are with you at every forum,’ he assured the valley. He also highlighted the unilateral revocation of Article 370 by India as a blatant violation of the UN Security Council resolutions and International Law.
In Indian Illegal Occupied Jammu and Kashmir massive violations of human rights have plagued the region. Indian Occupied forces have martyred over 96,000 Kashmiris, raped 11, 250 women arrested and tortured 1,62,000 persons and destroyed 1,11,000 properties. Adding to the misery, after August 5, 2019 settlements by non-kashmiris have started as well.
The day is a stark reminder that Kashmiri Lives Matter and the atrocities endured by generations of Kashmiris over seventy years will remain a bleak spot in the history of peace-making in the world.
The second and last lunar eclipse of the year is going to be partially visible in Pakistan. It will last for some hours but will hit peak at 14 minutes past one o’clock in the night.
The eclipse will be visible in many parts of Asia, Europe, Australia, America and Africa along with Pakistan. It will start at two minutes past 11 on October 28 and last till 26 minutes past three o’ clock in the morning of October 29.
In a partial lunar eclipse, a portion of the moon appears darkened when the Earth comes between the Sun and the moon causing the shadow of the planet to fall on the moon.
When Scout Frank lost her mother, she knew she needed to keep her close — and hit upon the perfect solution when she found she could have her ashes tattooed into her skin.
Clutching a small wooden box containing the cremated remains of her mom, Frank was emotional as she arrived at the tattoo studio of artist Kat Dukes in the California city of Oceanside.
“It’s a little bit overwhelming,” she said, her voice choking. “But I know I’m in really good hands.
“I’m really looked forward to just making my mama an even more permanent piece of my life.”
Dukes’ tattoo studio has a different aesthetic to many of those dotting main streets and strip malls all over the United States, and much of the western world.
Instead of roses, skulls or other traditional designs lining the counter it is immaculate, its clean white walls and scented candles evoking more of a spa than a tattoo parlor.
Dukes reverently scoops a small measure of ashes from the box in readiness for mixing with the ink.
“Come on, mom!” says Frank, whose tears have begun to turn into a smile.
“It’s respect for her in a different kind of way rather than just having her sitting in my house,” she says.
– By hand –
Dukes, who has built a loyal following at her Steel Honey studio thanks to her style of hand poke tattoo — in which the artists use a needle dipped in ink and poked into the skin dot by dot, rather than by machine — began incorporating cremains over three years ago when a client said he wanted to honor a pet dog.
“I had heard that this could be done, but I didn’t know how, so I looked it up,” she tells AFP.
In fact, tattooing with wood ashes is an ancient practice — and the use of cremation ashes is a growing trend that has seen some US funeral homes link up with tattoo parlors, or even post instructions for making the ink on their websites.
“It was pretty simple — just add ash, so that’s what we did,” Dukes said.
“It just made it that much more special. It healed the same and he loved the tattoo, and he would always, always tell people that there was his dog’s ashes in the tattoo.”
Videos of Dukes’ black inked hand-wrought tattoos have made the rounds on social media — bringing a surge of interest. A lot of it is positive, but not all.
“I do get a lot of criticism for doing this,” she says.
“A lot of people will argue that it’s unsanitary. I understand that this process is not for everybody.”
Dukes insists there is no risk of infection or contamination from the ashes — done properly, a tattoo’s ink sits in the dermis and does not migrate to the bloodstream.
And cremations are carried out at such high temperatures the ashes are usually sterile.
California tattoo parlors must meet legislated health standards, and Dukes says inspectors have affirmed that her work is safe and does not violate any regulations on the use of cremated remains.
And, she argues, the criticism is mostly because people in the United States are unfamiliar with it.
“It’s something that people don’t really hear about that often, and things that are foreign to people they’re pretty much gonna immediately disregard.”
Dukes herself has embraced the practice, and has her father’s ashes in a tattoo.
“I still just really love being able to do this for people because there’s not a lot of tattoo artists that are vocal about doing it,” she says.
– Meaningful –
For Frank, the chance to etch a meaningful, and lasting memory on her skin, is very special.
The design she asked Dukes to create was a simple outline of a dove with open wings — a shape that is indelibly linked in her mind with her mother.
“When I was younger, instead of saying ‘I love you’, she would say ‘I dove you’,” smiles Frank.
“So it’s just something that’s like so simple, but it’s something that’s really meaningful to me.”
Above all, the fact that she will always have her mother with her is what matters.
“She’s already a part of me,” says Frank. “But she’s really going to be a part of me forever and always going to be going on all these adventures with me.”
The Federal Investigative Agency has decided to blacklist the passports of professional beggars who go abroad to seek alms.
Director-General FIA Mohsin Butt has issued a directive to thwart these passengers from flying abroad. A crackdown has been initiated, with seventy-four suspects from airports across the country offloaded and transferred to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circles for further investigation. Their passports are going to be blacklisted.
Previously a report was submitted to the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis about a shocking percentage of professional beggars who were arrested in the Middle East. 90 per cent of them are Pakistanis. These also include pickpockets who are arrested from the religious sites.
The Secretary of Overseas Pakistanis raised the issue in front of the committee. “Beggars are leaving Pakistan in large numbers, often travelling by boatloads. They are exploiting Umrah and visiting visas to beg from pilgrims abroad,” he informed the committee. The increasing number of Pakistani beggars in Iraq and Saudi Arabia is also a cause of less regard, mistrust and growing suspicion attached to the Pakistani nation. An increasing numbers of prisoners in foreign jails is feeding into the tarnished image and highlights the serious issue of human trafficking as well.
The notorious pollutant, nitrogen dioxide gas, is predicted to stay low this year in Pakistan, thanks to the economic and energy crisis that the country is going through. This is seemingly a blessing in disguise because the result is reduced air pollution in the country.
For a few years the cities of Lahore and Karachi are constantly making it to the top charts of air pollution due to the smog. Higher concentration of nitrogen dioxide is released in the air due to the combustion of fossil fuels like petroleum, coal and gas which in turn pollutes it irreversibly.
This time around there is a record decrease of 24 per cent in the annual sale of petrol and diesel in Karachi alone. Simultaneously, there is a 20 percent decrease in the release of nitrogen dioxide.
Lahore has witnessed a decrease of 20 per cent in gas concentration whereas in Islamabad and Peshawar reduction of 14 and 5 per cent are recorded respectively. The same was observed during the winter of Covid times.
It is predicted that compared to last year air pollution will be a little less than it was in the winter. This may affect the lethal and obstructive smog to become a lot less than usual.
India said Thursday that eight of its citizens had been sentenced to death by Qatar in a case that media reported involved high-ranking ex-naval officers accused of spying.
New Delhi said it would “take up the verdict with Qatari authorities” and would continue to “extend all consular and legal assistance” to the prisoners, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We have initial information that the Court of First Instance of Qatar has today passed a judgement in the case involving eight Indian employees of Al Dahra company,” the statement added.
“We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement.”
Al Dahra is a Gulf-based company that offers “complete support solutions” to the aerospace, security and defence sectors, according to its website.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Qatari authorities.
India’s foreign ministry gave no further details on the eight condemned or their alleged crimes.
“Due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture,” the ministry statement added, saying it was “exploring all legal options”.
However, several Indian media outlets reported that among those sentenced were ex-naval officers -– including former captains and commanders -– and that the men had been arrested in Doha in August 2022.
The Times of India, Hindustan Times and the Press Trust of India all reported that the men were arrested for an “alleged case of espionage”.
As videos and pictures show the awful impact of Israeli airstrikes over Gaza, where the death toll is set to cross 7000, an awful trend of Israeli TikTok users mocking these war crimes has emerged online.
An Israeli TikTok user danarazmakeup is going viral on social media after her recent video showed her mocking the Palestinians for lack of access to clean water, electricity and air conditioning. In the video, she is running around using the applicants in her home while looking at the audience in a mocking manner.
Twitter user Hadi Nasrullah shared this clip with the caption: “Disgusting. More and more Israeli influencers and content creators are participating in trends mocking Palestinians in Gaza for not having water or electricity. And you want us to feel sorry for them.”
Disgusting. More and more Israeli influencers and content creators are participating in trends mocking Palestinians in Gaza for not having water or electricity. And you want us to feel sorry for them. pic.twitter.com/of8szp8ru3
They’re harming the propaganda of their government without realizing. I’m almost sure Israel is beginning to fear those tiktoks, and I hope you all save them and spread them like wildfire before they get deleted https://t.co/WSnOAII4sL
Other videos included parents along with their children, mocking Palestinians by applauding their lack of electricity, and even comparing them to dogs.
A trend has swept TikTok where Israeli’s mock the appearance of Palestinians, the fact they have no electricity and some even compare them to dogs.
Many of these videos also show parents making their kids take part in the trend. pic.twitter.com/5arRADPIQl
University campuses across the USA staged walkouts on Wednesday to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, as the death toll climbs to almost 6000 civilians. According to Teen Vogue, the walkout was organised by a number of groups including the Palestinian Youth Movement; Dissenters, an anti-war youth movement, National Students for Justice in Palestine and several others.
Zoe DeMarcado, a student from Xavier University in Louisiana, said the walk-out was staged to bring attention to calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israeli airstrikes have targeted bakeries, schools and mosques sheltering civilians. “The goal of our walkout and moment of silence is to disrupt the day-to-day complicity on American college campuses across the US,” she said. “We can’t stay silent about this.”
Islamophobic hate crimes are on the rise in the US after six-year-old Palestinian-American Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed by his neighbour in Chicago on October 16. On 23 October, another 20-year-old Palestinian American was hospitalised after a hit-and-run in Cleaveland.
More student activists are joining in on the call for a ceasefire and hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyu accountable for being a war criminal. A week ago, climate change activist Greta Thunberg expressed solidarity towards Palestine in an Instagram post, calling for a ceasefire. Several students from Harvard University were doxed by a conservative group, after they wrote an open letter calling out Israel over the genocide of Palestinians.
Currently the Wednesday walk-out in support for Palestine is the first nationally coordinated student movement of this scale, with students from campuses like NYU, Yale and Duke demanding for an end to Israel’s siege on Palestine, ban on weapons sales to Israel and for an end to university investment in the Palestinian genocide.
The walkouts are still going strong!
1000+ at McGill University in Montreal 500+ at University of Massachusetts-Amherst Now 400+ at Loyola 60+ at Xavier University of Louisiana
Rania, the Queen Consort of Jordan, talked to CNN about the situation in Gaza on Tuesday evening. Right now, Al-Jazeera reports, the death toll in Gaza, where airstrikes have bombed homes, hospitals and bakeries in the South, has reached almost 6000.
Queen Rania, who is also of Palestinian descent, criticised the silence of the West as the violence in Gaza goes on: “The people all around the Middle East, including in Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world’s reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding.”
Addressing the bias in the media, she pointed out that Palestinian deaths are not acknwoledged as war crimes committed by Israel:
“For the last couple of weeks, we have recieved silence around the world. Countries have stopped expressing concern over the casualties, always with a preference of declaration of support for Israel. Are we being told it is wrong to kill a family at gunpoint, but its oaky to shell them to death? There is a glaring double standard here, and it is just shocking to the Arab world.”
“This is the first time in modern history there is such human suffering and the world is not calling for a ceasefire. The silence is deafening, and to many in our region, it makes the Western world complicit through their support and coverage they give to Israel.” Further Queen Rania added how her people shocked to see this act as the West aiding and abetting the violence.
Speaking on the violence of October 7, Queen Rania responded Jordan reiterated its position by being against the killing of any innocent civilian, whether Palestinian or Israeli. “But why isn’t there equal condemnation to what is happening now?”
Queen Rania went on to slam the one-sided narrative of the Western media by emphasising how the war did not begin with the Hamas attacking out of the blue on October 7th, but because of the 75-year-long history of oppression of the Palestinians by Israel. She stressed on Israel’s history of documented crimes over Palestinians is missing from the narrative.
“This conflict did not begin on October 7th, although it is being portrayed as that. Most networks are covering the story under the title of ‘Israel at war’. But for many Palestinians on the other side of the separation war, on the other side of the barbed wire, war has never left. This is a 75 year old story. A story of overwhelming death and displacement for the Palestinian people. It’s the story of an oppressed people under an apartheid regime that occupies land, demolishes houses, confiscates lands, night raids.”
“Is the word terrorist reserved solely for Muslims and Arabs,” Queen Rania questioned when speaking about the way Israeli’s are protected under the claim of ‘self defense’ when Palestinians are murdered, but Palestinians are blamed as terrorists while trying to protect their homeland. “There are no two equal people in the conflict. One is an occupier and one is the occupied. One has a military force that is one of the mightiest in the world and the other doesn’t have a military at all.”
