Displaying items by tag: accusations

Thursday, 22 February 2024 20:47

Australia: bishop charged with rape

Bishop Christopher Saunders has been charged with rape and a string of sex offences - some against children. The 74-year-old was arrested on 21 February, after parallel investigations ordered by police and the Pope. Mr Saunders, who denies the allegations, was refused bail. He is one of the most senior Catholics to face charges of this nature. The offences he is alleged to have committed include two counts of rape, 14 of unlawful and indecent assault, and three of child abuse. For years, he has faced allegations of sexual abuse made by several Aboriginal men from communities in his parish. When the accusations were first aired in 2020, the initial police investigation was closed without charge. However after a historic inquiry was ordered by the Pope - and its 200-page report subsequently leaked to the media last year - police began a new investigation.

Published in Worldwide

On 5 December Joe Biden called Donald Trump an ‘existential threat to the country’s system of government’, in response to Trump’s recent comments claiming it is Biden who is really the ‘destroyer of American democracy’. This exchange reflects how the issue of protecting democracy and Trump's baseless attacks on the 2020 election could be key in the 2024 presidential election. Biden, who looks increasingly likely to be headers for a rematch against Trump, has sought to define the election in terms of protecting not just democracy but personal liberty. He noted that Trump has said he would give presidential pardons to many of the people charged or convicted in connection with the January 2021 attack on the Capitol. He also attacked Trump for appointing three Supreme Court justices who joined an opinion in 2022 that reversed Roe v Wade, the national guarantee for abortion access, and added, ‘He's running again to get rid of the Affordable Care Act’ (popularly known as Obamacare). Later that day, Biden said, ‘We cannot let him win’.

Published in Worldwide
Friday, 14 July 2023 08:37

BBC’s damaged reputation

The Sun newspaper reported that a well-known BBC presenter has paid over £35,000 to a 17-year-old to fund his drug habit in exchange for explicit images of himself. A week later the BBC suspended Huw Edwards. But the BBC's investigation will need to tread carefully as the presenter has severe mental health issues. The BBC has a duty of care towards him as an employee, and that must be respected. He is in an internal corporate BBC process. On 12 July the Sun reported him breaking lockdown rules in 2021 to meet someone from a dating site. Without having seen the evidence people can't judge the outcome. Pray for an end to unhelpful media speculation. It could be a reprimand. It could be dismissal. It could need reputational rehabilitation. See

Published in British Isles
Friday, 19 August 2022 00:08

Global repercussions of Ukraine war

While explosions rocked a Crimean ammunition depot, disrupting railway services and causing 2,000 people to be evacuated from a nearby village, the Russian defence minister claimed Ukrainian military operations were being planned by the Americans and British while NATO increased its troop deployment in eastern and central Europe ‘several times over’. Vladimir Putin also said the bloc of Australia, UK, and the USA had the potential to develop into ‘a political-military alliance’. Meanwhile Russia’s Black Sea fleet struggles to exercise effective sea control, with patrols generally limited to the waters within sight of the Crimean coast, according to British intelligence reports. The fleet continues to use long-range cruise missiles to support ground offensives, but is keeping a defensive posture. Britain is training 10,000 Ukrainian raw recruits in marksmanship, battlefield first aid, and urban warfare. Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Nordic nations are also providing training.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 17 February 2022 21:45

‘Transphobic’ six-year-old

Parents Sally and Nigel Rowe were warned that if their six-year-old child expressed confusion about another pupil wearing a dress and used incorrect pronouns it would be unacceptable behaviour. A letter from the headteacher and governors said that pupils risked being viewed as transphobic if they showed an inability to believe a transgender person is actually a ‘real’ female or male. The parents have withdrawn both their sons from the school and been granted permission for a judicial challenge to the Department for Education’s (DfE) decision to provide the guidelines to state schools. A hearing is expected within six months, and the DfE is defending the claim. The parents withdrew their eldest son in 2015 after he became confused about another boy wearing girl's clothes. Two years later, they are raising the issue again after their second son was confused about another pupil who identified as ‘gender fluid’, alternating their appearance on various days of the week.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 06 January 2022 21:08

Russia: crackdown on ‘dissidents’

Russia declared Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (a member of the Pussy Riot band) and prominent satirist Viktor Shenderovich ‘foreign agents’ as authorities press ahead with a crackdown on dissent. The justice ministry also added to its list of ‘foreign agents’ journalist Taisiya Bekbulatova and art collector Marat Gelman. ‘These people systematically distribute materials to an indefinite circle of persons, while receiving foreign funds.’ the government said in a statement. Shenderovich is a prominent anti-Kremlin satirist and political observer. Anyone identified as a ‘foreign agent’ must disclose sources of funding and accompany all texts, videos and social media posts with a caption mentioning content from a ‘foreign agent’: this is reminiscent of the Soviet-era term ‘enemy of the people’. Independent media outlets including Rain TV and a popular Russian-language website have also been branded as foreign agents. Russia claims that there is increased interference from abroad, meddling in Russian affairs.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 27 May 2021 22:04

Dominic Cummings and Matt Hancock

On 26 May Dominic Cummings made ‘unsubstantiated allegations’ against health secretary Matt Hancock, describing him as ‘completely incapable of doing the job’. The next day Mr Hancock clarified the Government's handling of the pandemic  and accused him of lying. He said he was ‘straight with people in public and private throughout’, and the handling of the pandemic has been ‘unprecedented’. When asked if the PM still has confidence in Mr Hancock, No 10 said. ‘Yes, the health secretary is working closely with the prime minister and has been fully focused on protecting the health and care system and saving lives’. See Conservative Christian MP Gary Streeter said, ‘Last summer when Dominic Cummings was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons for breaking the lockdown rules, constituents were telling me how unfit he was to be so close to the Prime Minister. Now he is giving evidence against the Government. I think, going back to my old lawyer days, he might be described as a witness lacking credibility.’

Published in British Isles

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has accused the Houthis of covering up a large outbreak of coronavirus in areas that they hold, and has called for urgent global assistance to help their war-ravaged health sector deal with coronavirus. The United Nations warned that the country could suffer a ‘catastrophic’ food security situation due to the pandemic. The WHO said that the virus is spreading undetected among the population in the country, control of which is divided between the government in the south and the Houthi group in the north.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 21 November 2019 23:10

Italy: Vatican City - child abuse allegations

The historical child abuse allegations against the Vatican continue after three former altar boys who were at a seminary in the Vatican in the 1980s have now accused two priests of sexually abusing them. They said they were between the ages of 10 and 14 at the time. The allegations will be explored in an investigative Italian TV show on 24 November.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 16 May 2019 22:42

UK ‘spy’ jailed in Iran

An Iranian woman has been sentenced to ten years in prison in Iran for spying for the UK. A spokesman, Gholam Hossein Esmaili, said the woman had been ‘in charge of the Iran desk’ of the British Council. The British Council seeks to foster cultural relations and educational opportunities in many countries worldwide, but does not have offices or representatives in Iran. It knew that one of its staff had been detained while making a private family visit. Mr Esmaili said she ‘confessed’ to ‘co-operating’ with British intelligence. She is accused of ‘acting against national security’ - a charge laid against a range of activists, journalists, dual citizens and foreign nationals detained in recent years. A London-based British Council employee and art student, Aras Amiri, who was detained in March 2018, is thought to be the jailed person.

Published in British Isles
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