China installs new Beijing bishop
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 09:53am (Mla time) 09/21/2007

BEIJING -- China's official Catholic church began Friday the ordination ceremony of Father Joseph Li Shan as the new bishop of Beijing in a move that has received the blessing of the Vatican.

"The ordination of Father Joseph Li Shan as the bishop of Beijing started at 0845 (0045 GMT)," Sister Yu Shuqin, a spokeswomen at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, told AFP.

Li, 42, will replace Fu Tieshan, who died in April, as head of the country's highest-profile diocese.

Previous reports have said that while Li was named to the post without formal Vatican consent, the Holy See approved of the choice.

In July, the Catholic World News quoted Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as calling Li "a very good and qualified individual."

Italian bishops slam Amnesty on abortion stance
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 00:10am (Mla time) 09/18/2007

ROME--Italian Catholic Church leaders on Monday slammed Amnesty International's new policy of defending the right of women to have abortions if they are victims of rape or face health risks from pregnancy.

"These are departures that warn us further of the dangerous erosion afflicting human conscience," said the president of the Conference of Italian Bishops, Monsignor Angelo Bagnasco, following their semi-annual meeting.

Amnesty's new policy, announced in June, prompted a senior British bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Evans of East Anglia, to end his longstanding membership of the human rights group.

Bagnasco also lamented "socially deplorable, even criminal" behaviour such as the deliberate lighting of forest fires that raged across Italy this summer. At least 13 people died in the fires, many blamed on arson.

"In light of such events, but also given other behavioural trends, it seems that social bonds are becoming ever more fragile (and that) the solidarity on which a structured community should rely is ebbing away," he said.

Ten 'most polluted places' named
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6995621.stm
Published: 2007/09/14 17:07:37 GMT
© BBC MMVII

A list of the world's most polluted places has been published by a US-based independent environmental group.

The Blacksmith Institute's top 10 towns and cities included sites in ex-Soviet republics, Russia, China and India. Peru and Zambia were also listed.

The report said an estimated 12 million people were affected by the severe pollution, which was mainly caused by chemical, metal and mining industries.

Chronic illness and premature deaths were listed as possible side-effects.

The annual review, which debuted in 2006, is listed alphabetically, and the sites are unranked "given the wide range of location sizes, populations and pollution dynamics".

Among the new sites listed in 2007 were Tianying in China, where potentially 140,000 people were at risk from lead poisoning from a massive lead production base there.

The report also said that in the Indian town of Sukinda there were 12 mines operating without environmental controls, leaching dangerous chemicals into water supplies.

Sumgayit in Azerbaijan was also included in the report, which said the former Soviet industrial base was polluting the area with industrial chemicals and heavy metals.

According to the report, cancer rates in Sumgayit were as much as 51% higher than the national average and that genetic mutations and birth defects were commonplace.

The Blacksmith Institute's director, Richard Fuller, said: "The fact of the matter is that children are sick and dying in these polluted places, and it's not rocket science to fix them.

"This year, there has been more focus on pollution in the media, but there has been little action in terms of new funding or programmes. We all need to step up to the plate and get moving," he said. -End-

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