SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – France legalized gay marriage on Tuesday after a wrenching national debate that exposed deep conservatism in the nation's heartland and triggered huge demonstrations that tapped into intense discontent with the Socialist government. Within hours, fiery clashes broke out between protesters and riot police. Legions of officers stayed late into the night, and a protest against the measure turned violent near the Invalides complex of museums and monuments. Protesters threw glass bottles, cans and metal…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) State media in Syria has reported that two Syrian bishops who were carrying out humanitarian work in the northern province of Aleppo have been kidnapped. SANA news agency said the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo, Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, were seized on Monday in the village of Kfar Dael. A Syriac member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Abdulahad Steifo, said the men had been kidnapped on the road to Aleppo…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- New Zealand's parliament has voted in favour of allowing same-sexmarriage, prompting cheers, applause and the singing of a traditional Maori celebratory song from the public gallery. Seventy-seven of 121 members voted in favour of amending the 1955 Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to wed, making New Zealand the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so. "Two-thirds of parliament have endorsed marriage equality," said Louisa Wall, a gay opposition Labour party MP who…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) In late 2012, Australia was rocked by fresh allegations of Catholic clergy child sex abuse by whistleblower, New South Wales Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox. Fox has pursued allegations of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy for more than a decade, and he claims that as his investigations continued, a frightening picture emerged of a widespread cover-up by the Catholic Church of the child sex crimes committed by its clergy. Fox repeated those claims publicly,…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) The Catholic Church's new leader has appointed a group of top churchmen to advise him on how to reform the Vatican's often arcane bureaucracy. Pope Francis chose eight cardinals and a bishop who between them represent nearly every continent, and only one of whom is currently a Vatican official. The bureaucracy, or Curia, has been blamed for the Church's hesitant response to sex abuse and other crises. It is nearly 50 years since the Vatican's…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – In Egypt, sectarian strife is brewing trouble at the top. After a rare outburst from the Coptic Christian pope on Tuesday, a steady stream of daggers has been thrust at Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi, possibly paving the way for further confrontation. Pope Tawadros warned that Egypt is collapsing under Mursi’s faltering rule, pointing blame at the Islamist president for failing to protect the church’s main cathedral after a mob attack on Sunday. The attack…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) France’s Senate has approved a controversial same-sex marriage bill, regardless of massive opposition to the legislation in the country. On Tuesday, the upper house of the French parliament approved by 179 votes against 157 the first article of the bill, which legalizes marriage between two people of the same gender.  Another article concerning the right of same-sex couples to adopt children will be voted on separately.  France has experienced huge protests against the same-sex marriage…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) Security remained tight around the main Coptic cathedral in Egypt's capital Cairo on Monday, days after sectarian violence left several people dead. Two more deaths were reported on Monday as clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims continued. A 21-year-old Muslim man, named only as Mohamed, died of a fractured skull in hospital, a security source said. His death followed fighting between local Muslims and Copts who had been attending a funeral for four Christians shot…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Pope Francis has called for "decisive action" in the fight against sex abuse of minors by priests. He told Bishop Gerhard Mueller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith - the Vatican watchdog that deals with sex abuse cases - to ensure that perpetrators were punished. It was the Argentine Pope's first public statement on clerical sex abuse. A leading sex abuse survivors' group has responded with scepticism, saying "actions speak louder than…

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - About one in four Americans suspect that President Barack Obamamight be the antichrist, more than a third believe that global warming is a hoax and more than half suspect that a secretive global elite is trying to set up a New World Order, according to a poll released on Tuesday. The survey, which was conducted by Public Policy Polling, asked a sample of American voters about a number of conspiracy theories, phrasing the questions in…