News

“He’s an ambassador of peace to a world in great need of it” wrote one journalist during the Pope’s recent visit to South Korea (Catholic News Agency, August 14, 2014). Following a mass in Seoul attended by mostly non-Catholics, the Pope performed the “beatification of 124 Korean martyrs.” A Thai woman in the audience commented “‘I think that the Pope is not just for Catholics, but for the world.

“A 14-year drought in the southwestern United States has drained reservoirs such as Nevada’s Lake Mead to record lows. But satellite measurements show that the losses are even greater underground” (Nature, July 25, 2014).

With the Israeli-Hamas crisis waning on, Israeli Foreign Minister Liberman told the German Bild “Germany and the EU must dispatch inspectors to Gaza to monitor trade with the neighboring countries” (Agence France Presse, August 7, 2014). Mr. Liberman noted that the inspectors should not be “police or soldiers” and that “Germany… take a leading role” – all to the agreement of Germany and France (ibid.).

Typhoon Halong “lashed Japan on Saturday as the country headed into a holiday week, causing the authorities to order the evacuation of a half-million people living near swollen rivers and canceling hundreds of flights” (Associated Press, August 9, 2014). By Monday, over 1.6 million people were told to evacuate and at least ten were dead.

After a month of fighting, a cease-fire has been declared and negotiating has begun in Egypt between Israel and Hamas (MSN.com, August 5, 2014).