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MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — The sentencing of Australian Cardinal George Pell for child sex crimes will be broadcast live Wednesday in a rare move by the local judiciary, which had kept his trial under wraps for months with a draconian gag order. Pell, the most senior Catholic clergyman ever found guilty of child sex abuse, faces a maximum 50 years in prison for assaulting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral in 1996-97. The 77-year-old Australian […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Convicted Australian Cardinal George Pell faced a fresh legal challenge Thursday after a civil suit was filed against him for further alleged abuse in the 1970s. Pell — the most senior Vatican official to be found guilty of child sex crimes — is currently in detention awaiting sentencing for assaulting two choirboys in Melbourne in the 1990s. He maintains his innocence and an appeal is scheduled for June. Pell had […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Homes have gone up in flames and skies turned blood red as nearly 1,000 firefighters battle dozens of out-of-control blazes in southern Australia in the wake of the nation’s warmest summer on record. A days-long heatwave sent temperatures soaring towards 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) over the weekend, with bushfires raging across Victoria state forcing thousands of people to flee their homes. A lightning strike late last week sparked southeast […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia suffered its hottest summer on record from December through February and forecasts show the southern autumn will continue to be drier and warmer than average, the government said Thursday. “After a record hot December and January, it won’t come as a surprise that this summer will be our warmest on record,” said Andrew Watkins, manager of long-range forecasting at the Bureau of Meteorology. Although the final figures won’t be available […]
(Eagle News) — A Filipino student drowned off Australian waters on Monday, Feb. 25. The Department of Foreign Affairs did not give a name but said the 24-year-old victim who drowned off Flinders Beach in North Stradbroke Island was studying at Queensford College in Brisbane, based on a report from Ambassador to Australia Ma. Hellen De la Vega. The DFA extended its condolences to the victim’s family, who has requested its assistance in the repatriation […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Cardinal George Pell was ordered held in custody Wednesday following his historic conviction for child sex crimes, capping an extraordinary fall from grace for one of the most powerful men in the Catholic Church. Prosecutors told a pre-sentencing hearing that Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted for child sex abuse, faces a maximum 50 years in prison for five charges of sexual assault against two choirboys at Melbourne’s […]
By Agence France-Presse MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Angry protesters called Cardinal George Pell a “maggot” and a “monster” Wednesday as he arrived in court, possibly for the last time as a free man, in a last-ditch push for bail while he appeals his historic conviction for child sex crimes. Once one of Pope Francis’ closest advisors, Pell is facing up to 25 years in prison for five charges of sexual and indecent assault on […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Australian Cardinal George Pell, who helped elect popes and ran the Vatican’s finances, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two choirboys, a court said Tuesday, becoming the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted of child sex crimes. An Australian court found Pell guilty by a trial jury on one count of sexual abuse and four counts of indecent assault of two boys at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Cyclone Oma intensified to a damaging category three storm, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said Wednesday, warning that it could bring severe weather to the continent after hitting the Pacific Islands. In the early hours of Wednesday Oma produced winds of up to 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour, roughly equivalent to a category one hurricane. It is currently gusting far off the Australian coast, having passed New Caledonia, where high winds […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — A bulk carrier stranded on a coral reef off the Solomon Islands is being battered by heavy seas whipped up in a tropical cyclone, sparking fears a major environmental disaster. Officials said water had already breached the hull of the MV Solomon Trader, which ran aground on February 5, and one unconfirmed report said oil was leaking from the vessel. The 225-meter (740-foot) ship hit a reef near Rennell Island, […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — More than a decade after vowing to “close the gap” between indigenous Australians and the rest of the country, the government on Thursday admitted it was still falling far short. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that only two of seven government targets to improve the wealth, health and wellbeing of the first Australians were being met. Efforts to improve early education and rates of high school qualifications were on track, […]
CANBERRA, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s conservative minority government suffered a monumental political defeat Tuesday, becoming the first administration in nearly a century to lose a vote on major legislation and fuelling calls for a snap election. Despite a bruising and highly personal lobbying effort, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was defeated by MPs who insisted refugees held in offshore facilities have the right to be transferred to Australia for medical treatment. It is the first […]
