Rogue Catholic bishops in growing defiance of Vatican |
- Rogue Catholic bishops in growing defiance of Vatican
- More than 100 flights cancelled over Thai airlines safety concerns
- Asia shares rise after Wall Street rally, China stimulus hope
- AIIB affects world economy — Sin Chew Daily
- Unsettled Italy’s boss Conte calls for patience against England
- Twitter hires Amazon cloud creator for a smooth operation
| Rogue Catholic bishops in growing defiance of Vatican Posted: 30 Mar 2015 06:39 PM PDT
French Bishop Jean-Michel Faure, himself consecrated only two weeks ago by the Holocaust-denying British Bishop Richard Williamson, said the new group rejected Pope Francis and what it called his "new religion" and would not engage in a dialogue with Rome until the Vatican turned back the clock. Williamson and Faure, who were both excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church when the former made the latter a bishop without Vatican approval, are ex-members of a larger dissenting group that has been a thorn in Rome's side for years. Their splinter movement is tiny — Faure did not give an estimate of followers — but the fact they plan to consecrate bishops is important because it means their schism can continue as a rebel form of Catholicism. "We follow the popes of the past, not the current one," Faure, 73, told reporters on Saturday at Santa Cruz Monastery in Nova Friburgo, in the mountain jungle 140 km inland from Rio de Janeiro. "It is likely that in maybe one or two years we will have more consecrations," he said, adding there were already two candidates to be promoted to bishop's rank. The monastery had said Williamson would ordain a priest there at the weekend but he was not seen by reporters, and clergy said it was impossible to talk to him. Faure ordained the priest himself. Asked what the new group called itself, Faure said: "I think we can call ourselves Roman Catholic first, secondly St Pius X, and now... the Resistance." Splinter off the SSPX The Society of St Pius X (SSPX) is a larger ultra-traditionalist group that was excommunicated in 1988 when its founder consecrated four new bishops, including Williamson, despite warnings from the Vatican not to do so. It rejected the modernising reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council and stuck with Catholicism's old Latin Mass after the Church switched to simpler liturgy in local languages. Former Pope Benedict readmitted the four SSPX bishops to the Catholic fold in 2009, but the SSPX soon expelled Williamson because of an uproar over his Holocaust denial. In contrast to Benedict, Pope Francis pays little attention to the SSPX ultra-traditionalists, who claim to have a million followers around the world and a growing number of new priests at a time that Rome faces priest shortages. Their remaining three bishops have no official status in the Catholic Church. Faure said the Resistance group would not engage in dialogue with Rome, as the SSPX has done. "We resist capitulation, we resist conciliation of St Pius X with Rome," he said. Faure said he was not sure what it would take for Rome to return to its old traditions but conflict could be a catalyst. "If there is another World War ... maybe the Church will go back to the way it was before," he said. The prior of the monastery, Thomas Aquinas, explained the split simply: "The Pope is less Catholic than us." Under Catholic law, Williamson and Faure are excommunicated from the Church but remain validly consecrated bishops. That means they can ordain priests into their schismatic group and claim to be Catholic, albeit without Vatican approval. By contrast, women supposedly made priests by dissident Catholic bishops are not validly ordained because Catholic law reserves the priesthood only for men. — Reuters  |
| More than 100 flights cancelled over Thai airlines safety concerns Posted: 30 Mar 2015 06:22 PM PDT
The move will come as a blow to Thai carriers that have just started recovering after a poor 2014 when political protests slashed the number of tourists visiting Thailand. The halt is disrupting the peak travel season around the Thai new year in April. About 100 charter flights to Japan alone have been cancelled and some 30,000 tickets either refunded or modified, the director general of Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) Somchai Piputwat told reporters yesterday. Budget carriers have been worst hit though national carrier Thai Airways International, which is in the midst of a major restructuring, has also been prevented from expanding because of the halt, Thai officials said. One aviation source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that significant safety concerns had been uncovered during an audit of Thailand's civil aviation authority by the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organisation. The source said the ICAO's concerns revolved around the issue of operator certificates to carriers by the Thai authority. While the ICAO cannot "downgrade" states, its audits identify concerns that could lead countries to take steps such as banning flights. "The audit revealed some safety concerns, primarily relating to air operator certification procedures," ICAO spokesman Anthony Philbin said in an email, adding that Thailand had submitted a plan to the ICAO to correct the issues identified. Domino effect Thai Transport Minister Air Chief Marshall Prajin Juntong told reporters yesterday that Thailand had struggled for a decade to comply with ICAO standards. Prajin said while the ICAO has not made the results of the audit public, aviation authorities in some countries had taken pre-emptive steps to stop Thai carriers from flying new routes. Authorities in China have rejected plans by budget carrier Orient Thai Airlines and charter flight operator Sky View to operate more flights to the country, the DCA's Somchai said. South Korea has rejected plans by charter airline Asia Atlantic Airlines to start new flights, he said. Japan had already made a similar move, according to reports in Thai media. Other airlines affected by the ban are Thai Airways International and long-haul, low-cost carrier Thai AirAsiaX. "It's a domino effect," Prajin said, adding that the ministry hoped the issue would be resolved within eight months. Thai Airways declined to comment. Nok Airlines chief executive said the impact on NokScoot, its joint venture with Singapore Airlines subsidiary, would be limited. Voradech Hanprasert, deputy permanent secretary at the Transport Ministry, said the ICAO findings had no impact on existing flights. Still, Thailand is concerned the results could lead the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to put Thailand on its watch list, Voradech said. An ICAO rep from one Asia Pacific country said yesterday he felt Thailand would rectify the concerns raised in the audit. "A state like Thailand will definitely take measures to address these issues," he said. "I think they need time." — Reuters |
| Asia shares rise after Wall Street rally, China stimulus hope Posted: 30 Mar 2015 06:20 PM PDT
Tracking overnight gains in US shares, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4 per cent. Japan's Nikkei added 0.9 per cent and Australian shares rose 1.3 per cent. The Dow and S&P 500 both climbed more than 1 per cent yesterday with sentiment boosted by Chinese equities, which soared to a seven-year high on hopes for more infrastructure spending and monetary easing. After unveiling details over the weekend for a modern "Silk Road" that could pump tens of billions of dollars into investment, China late yesterday announced steps to ease housing taxes and lending rules to prop up sliding house prices imperilling the world's second largest economy. "Tax cuts, reductions to down payments on second homes, along with further moves to requirement ratios have all been introduced to assist China's slowing housing sector and will be a medium term positive in the global growth story," Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, said in a note to clients. In currencies, the euro was down 0.1 per cent at US$1.0824 (RM4.02), adding to an overnight loss of 0.5 per cent. The common currency fell against the dollar on worries about whether Greece can secure aid before it runs out of cash in three weeks. Greece's biggest creditor Germany demanded that it show more commitment to reform while Athens said it cannot make an "unconditional" agreement with lenders. The dollar was little changed at ¥120.02 (RM3.70) after surging from an overnight low of 119.105. The Australian dollar found little support from prospects of more stimulus and monetary easing from China, Australia's key trading partner. The Aussie was little changed at US$0.7656 after skidding more than one per cent overnight amid persistent expectations of further interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia. US crude extended losses as the Mar. 31 deadline loomed for Iran and six world powers negotiating a deal for Tehran's nuclear programme. If a deal is reached to end Western sanctions, Iran would be able to ship more crude into an already saturated market. US crude was down 0.3 per cent at US$48.54 per barrel. — Reuters |
| AIIB affects world economy — Sin Chew Daily Posted: 30 Mar 2015 06:18 PM PDT
The AIIB is an international financial institution proposed by China aiming to provide funding for infrastructure development in Asia. It will be headquartered in Beijing and its authorised capital is US$100 billion (RM371 billion). On October 24 last year, delegates from Malaysia and 20 other countries signed up as founder members of the AIIB in Beijing and as of March 19, at least 32 countries have joined as founder members. The establishment of AIIB is seen as an action taken by China to fight for a more important and prominent position in the global financial system. It has drawn world attention, while the US posed an antagonistic attitude. However, despite strong condemnation from the US, Europe and Asian countries still joined the AIIB. Europe countries like France, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg followed the footstep of the UK and Switzerland to join the AIIB, and even the chief of International Monetary Fund has said the IMF would be "delighted" to co-operate with the AIIB, highlighting the potential impact of the AIIB on the world economy. In terms of financial strength, today's China has gone far beyond all Western countries except for the US. In addition for their own interests, the joining of big countries, including the UK, Germany, France and Italy, is also conforms to the trend of global economic forces restructuring. It also indicates the direction of world financial order, showing that the cooperation between European powers and China through the AIIB will change the pattern of world economy. The AIIB operates according to the model and principles of multilateral development banks, focusing on supporting and funding infrastructure development of Asian countries. Many Asia-Pacific countries face economic stagnancy mainly due to poor infrastructure and the establishment of AIIB provides a financing platform for these countries, assisting them to strengthen infrastructure and promote economic development and thus, promote the economy of Asia-Pacific region. From a macro perspective, the AIIB is not only conducive to economic growth in Asia, but also brings pragmatic interests to European economies. It is really not necessary for the US to take the AIIB as an imaginary economy challenging the World Bank. In fact, the AIIB can make up the insufficiency of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, to perfect the existing international financial order, instead of replacing them. The BFA's theme "Asia's New Future: Towards a Community of Common Destiny" indicates the future direction of Asia. Although the management rules of the AIIB has yet to formulate, its members should have a consensus of establishing a fair, open and inclusive financing platform. In addition to abandoning geopolitical disputes, major powers must also eliminate the gaming attitude to give fresh impetus to regional infrastructure and economic development in Asia. — Sin Chew Daily * This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online. |
| Unsettled Italy’s boss Conte calls for patience against England Posted: 30 Mar 2015 06:12 PM PDT
The 45-year-old can at least expect a warm welcome from the Juventus supporters in the crowd today as he guided the club to three Serie A titles before taking over from Cesare Prandelli in the wake of a second successive first-round exit from the World Cup last year. However it has been anything but a smooth transition. The former Italy international midfielder's demands to have more access to the national squad have been batted away by Serie A clubs and recent reports claimed Conte's request to be able to coach Italy part-time while coaching a club were denied. On the pitch, Italy remain unbeaten in competition following their early exit from Brazil with three wins and two draws from five Euro 2016 qualifiers so far, but the Azzurri are far from the finished article. While Conte said he expects the encounter to be of value, he stressed Italy remain a work in progress. "These games against top sides like England help us because as a squad we have to grow. It will give us a chance to see all our players in action and show us what they have," Conte told media in Turin yesterday. "Right now we're trying to work to create something positive but people have to wake up and realise that a major generational change is going on in this squad. "The young guys coming in need time, and support. It's not going to happen overnight. "The Euros are next year so we don't have a lot of time. But to achieve any dream, you have to work really, really hard. And that's what we're trying to do." Conte welcomes number one goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon back to his starting line-up after he missed their 2-2 Euro 2016 qualifying draw with Bulgaria on Saturday due to fever. Buffon said: "It hasn't been the most relaxing of times for the squad recently. "But it's much better to have this kind of nervous energy than a general feeling of apathy, which in general leads you on the road to defeat." Italy have made changes throughout their five-man midfield as well, although the focus will be on the inexperienced strike partnership of Brazil-born Sampdoria striker Eder and Graziano Pelle of Southampton. Eder came off the bench to hit an 84th minute leveller for Italy in Sofia, in the process silencing the critics who hit out at his call-up alongside Argentinian-born Palermo forward Franco Vazquez. Conte — who spent 13 trophy laden years at Juventus as a player picking up amongst other silverware five Serie A titles and the Champions League crown in 1996 — said it had been a very emotional moment to return to the ground where he experienced so much success as coach. "Obviously I had very strong emotions today, coming back to the stadium, walking into the dressing room and on to the pitch. Yes, it was very emotional," remarked Conte. "I had three fantastic years here, and so there's a lot of great memories. "I'm curious to see how we fare against England. But national games are always tough. You saw that against Bulgaria, although we deserved a lot more from that game than we got." — AFP |
| Twitter hires Amazon cloud creator for a smooth operation Posted: 30 Mar 2015 06:09 PM PDT
Chris Pinkham started as a vice president of engineering at the social-media service in January. San Francisco-based Twitter has been reworking its engineering department to help the company expand and release products more quickly. The company promoted Alex Roetter last May to be head of engineering with a mandate to improve the site's performance. Twitter used to crash so often that it had a Fail Whale icon, an image of little birds attempting to lift a large cetacean, it could trot out with an apology to users when their pages wouldn't load. Pinkham led cloud development at Oracle Corp after the database company acquired his startup, Nimbula Inc., in 2013. Before that, he worked at Amazon, where he conceived of and co-built the earliest incarnation of the Amazon Web Services elastic compute cloud, which provides customized computing capacity. Amazon Web Services is estimated to be a multibillion- dollar a year business for the Seattle-based company, which is due to start reporting sales for the operation at the end of April. Amazon Web Services helped fuel the rise of the cloud- computing industry, with companies such as Microsoft Corp and Google Inc developing similar products. The industry has challenged network-hardware vendors such as Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co. At Twitter, Pinkham is seeking to hire "people who are interested in building some of the most important infrastructure on the planet," according to his LinkedIn profile. — Bloomberg |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malay Mail Online | All To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
