Judge in Catholic bankruptcy recuses over church donations

By JIM MUSTIAN

yesterday

In this image from video provided by the U.S. Senate, Judge Greg Guidry speaks during a hearing for district court nominees held by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in Washington, on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Guidry donated tens of thousands of dollars to New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church amid a contentious bankruptcy involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims, The Associated Press found, an apparent conflict that could throw the case into disarray

.(U.S. Senate via AP)

A federal judge overseeing the New Orleans Roman Catholic bankruptcy recused himself in a late-night reversal that came a week after an Associated Press report showed he donated tens of thousands of dollars to the archdiocese and consistently ruled in favor of the church in the case involving nearly 500 clergy sex abuse victims.

U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry initially announced hours after the AP report that he would stay on the case, citing the opinion of fellow federal judges that no “reasonable person” could question his impartiality. But amid mounting pressure and persistent questions, he changed course late Friday in a terse, one-page filing.

“I have decided to recuse myself from this matter in order to avoid any possible appearance of personal bias or prejudice,” Guidry wrote.

 

READ THE FULL AP INVESIGATION:– Judge stays on Catholic bankruptcy despite church donations

The 62-year-old jurist has overseen the 3-year-old bankruptcy in an appellate role, and his recusal is likely to throw the case into disarray and trigger new hearings and appeals of every consequential ruling he’s made.

But legal experts say it was the only action to take under the circumstances, citing federal law that calls on judges to step aside in any proceeding in which their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

“This was a clear and blatant conflict that existed for some time,” said Joel Friedman, a longtime legal analyst in New Orleans who is now a law professor at Arizona State University. “It creates the exact problem the rules are designed to avoid, the impression to the public that he’s not an impartial decisionmaker.”

Guidry’s recusal underscores how tightly woven the church is in the city’s power structure, a coziness perhaps best exemplified when executives of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints secretly advised the archdiocese on public relations messaging at the height of its clergy abuse crisis.

PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT 

AP’s review of campaign-finance records showed that Guidry, since being nominated to the federal bench in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump, gave nearly $50,000 to local Catholic charities from leftover political contributions from his decade serving as a Louisiana Supreme Court justice. Most of that giving, $36,000, came in the months after the archdiocese sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2020 amid a crush of sexual abuse lawsuits.

Guidry also served on the board of Catholic Charities, the archdiocese’s charitable arm, between 2000 and 2008, as the archdiocese was navigating an earlier wave of sex abuse lawsuits.

In the bankruptcy, Guidry frequently issued key rulings that altered the momentum of the bankruptcy and benefited the archdiocese.

Just last month, he upheld a $400,000 sanction against Richard Trahant, a veteran attorney for clergy abuse victims who was accused of violating a sweeping confidentiality order when he warned a local principal that his school had hired a priest who admitted to sex abuse. He also rebuffed at least one request to unseal secret church documents, part of a trove of records detailing clergy abuse in New Orleans going back decades.

Guidry referred the potential conflict to the Washington-based Committee on Codes of Conduct, which noted that none of the charities he donated to “has been or is an actual party” in the bankruptcy.

It also noted that Guidry’s eight years on the board of Catholic Charities ended more than a decade before the bankruptcy and that his church contributions amounted to less than 25% of the campaign funds he had available to donate.

“Based upon that advice and based upon my certainty that I can be fair and impartial, I have decided not to recuse myself,” Guidry told attorneys in the case on April 21.


But it was not clear what details Guidry shared with the committee, and he refused to release its advisory opinion. The opinion also raised eyebrows because one of the judges Guidry consulted on the potential conflict, Jennifer Walker Elrod, is scheduled to hear an appeal from the bankruptcy next week for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We have no reason to rely on this secret opinion because we have no idea what the analysis is,” said Kathleen Clark, a legal ethics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, adding it was “utterly reasonable to question Guidry’s ability to be impartial under these circumstances.”

“The public shouldn’t have to rely on a judge’s personal certainty about his own rectitude,” Clark added. “The fact that he would even make this assertion shows how misguided and ethically blind this judge is.”

Charles Hall, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, said Guidry had no comment beyond the recusal order.

James Adams, a creditor in the bankruptcy who alleges he was abused by a priest as a fifth grader in 1980, says the judge’s recusal was long overdue.

“Like the church, some federal judges will often do the right thing only after the press begins to investigate and question them,” he said. “Inflated ego and arrogance can be a dangerous side effect of putting on a black robe.”

___

Mustian reported from New York. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Frustration grows over wait on OxyContin maker’s settlement

By GEOFF MULVIHILL

yesterday

 OxyContin pills are arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt., Feb. 19, 2013. Purdue and state, local and Native American tribal governments across the U.S. agreed to settle lawsuits over the toll of opioids more than a year ago, but the money isn't flowing yet because of a wait for a key court ruling.(AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

More than a year after OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a tentative settlement over the toll of opioids that was accepted nearly universally by the groups suing the company — including thousands of people injured by the drug — money is still not rolling out.

Parties waiting to finalize the deal are waiting for a court to rule on the legality of a key detail: whether members of the Sackler family who own the company can be protected from lawsuits over OxyContin in exchange for handing over up to $6 billion in cash over time plus the company itself.

This week — days before the one-year anniversary of the April 29, 2022, appeals court arguments on the matter — lawyers told judges that the wait is causing problems.

Lawyers on multiple sides of the case, including those representing Purdue, asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to issue a ruling or provide an update soon, saying the efforts to use the funds to fight the opioid crisis can’t begin until the money can start to flow.

While it’s not unusual for an appeals panel to take a year or more from a hearing until it releases a decision, this case was originally fast-tracked by the court. At the hearing last year, there were signs that the three-judge panel might not rule unanimously.

A lawyer for creditors told a U.S. bankruptcy court in another filing this week that the wait is a problem for other reasons. The lawyer, Arik Preis, wrote that as long as the funds aren’t distributed, “the vast majority of more than $6 billion that could be put to use to abate the opioid crisis and compensate individual claimants continuing to accrue interest in Sackler accounts.”

While most of Purdue’s creditors have signed onto the settlement, the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee is objecting.

With the case stretching out, the legal costs continue to mount, too. Purdue reported in a court filing that as of March 31, it had spent about $900 million on nonrecurring legal fees since it filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as part of an effort to settle its lawsuits.

Purdue’s proposed settlement is not the biggest in a series of opioid-related settlements in recent years that totals over $50 billion, but it is large and closely watched because of the blame many have given the company for its role in sparking the crisis with its marketing of OxyContin starting in the 1990s.

The settlement also is the only one so far where some of the money is to go directly to people who lost loved ones or years of their own lives to opioids. About 149,000 individuals made claims and could receive between about $3,500 and $48,000 each from the settlement.

One of them, Lindsey Arrington, does not know how much she’ll qualify to be paid. The Everett, Washington, woman whose substance abuse disorder began with OxyContin she used as a teenager, said money would be helpful.

“I’m 12 years into my recovery from addiction and I’m still cleaning up the financial wreckage,” she said.

There were debts, including paying back the Washington state government for assistance she should not have received because her son, now 14, was not living with her at the time.

And some money could help her relationship with him. “I owe it to him to use some of the money to do something for him or with him as a symbolic gesture of the time that we lost, that we could have had together had it not been what I was going through,” she said.

Stephanie Lubinski, one of about two dozen victims who testified at a hearing last year that Sackler family members attended by Zoom, doesn’t know how much she might be granted under the settlement either. In the grips of an opioid addiction, her husband, a former Minneapolis firefighter, killed himself in 2020.

Lubinski, who has cancer, hopes to have the settlement in hand while she’s alive so she can pass it to her adult children.

“It’s like by keeping it going and going,” she said, “we’re replaying all the emotions and suffering.”

EPA: Machine gun range could harm Cape Cod drinking water

By STEVE LeBLANC

April 27, 2023

 A white shark swims across a sand bar off the Massachusetts' coast of Cape Cod, Aug. 13, 2021. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft determination Thursday, April 27, 2023, that a proposed machine gun training range at a National Guard base may contaminate the Cape Cod aquifer — an aquifer system beneath the Cape Cod peninsula in southeastern Massachusetts — creating a significant public health hazard. 

(AP Photo/Phil Marcelo, File)

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft determination Thursday that a proposed machine gun training range at a National Guard base could pose a threat to Cape Cod’s drinking water, potentially creating a public health hazard for more than 220,000 year-round residents.

There are no reasonably available alternative drinking water sources for residents should the Cape Cod aquifer become contaminated, the agency said.

“We have studied the proposed machine gun range very carefully because EPA recognizes the need for our armed forces to maintain readiness and provide training to service members,” EPA Regional Administrator David Cash said in a written statement.

“However, the risk of irreparable damage to the only drinking water source on Cape Cod is too significant,” he added.

The agency said it will accept public comment on the proposed machine gun range through June 26, and will hold a public hearing on May 24.

The Massachusetts Army National Guard has proposed building the new 138-acre gun range at Joint Base Cape Cod. The EPA launched a review of the project in August 2021.

In a statement Thursday, the Massachusetts National Guard said it is aware of the EPA’s draft findings and will provide “a robust response” during the public comment period.

“The Massachusetts National Guard remains deeply committed to upholding environmental protections while providing our personnel with a range that serves our complex training needs and enhances soldier readiness,” the guard said in a written comment.

The guard also said it has commissioned research over the past decade to ensure their military training is environmentally compliant. Those studies found that small-arms fire currently conducted at Camp Edwards does not impact the aquifer, the guard said.

The EPA study included a 20-month scientific review of the design and operational plans for the proposed site, according to the agency.

The federal Safe Drinking Water Act mandates a strong preventative approach where a drinking water supply is highly dependent on a single aquifer, the agency said.

If the aquifer were to become contaminated, surrounding areas might need to construct and operate expensive advanced drinking water systems, overburdening communities that already face economic hardships, according to the EPA.

If the agency makes a final finding that the machine gun range is hazardous. no federal dollars would be allowed for the project.

The range has won other key federal approvals.

The proposed gun range has also drawn concerns from neighbors, environmental activists and state and federal lawmakers including the state’s two U.S. senators — Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey — about potential negative environmental impacts.

In 1982, the Cape Cod aquifer was designated as the sole or principal source of drinking water for Cape Cod, according to the EPA.

The agency defines a sole source aquifer as one where the aquifer supplies at least 50% of the drinking water in its service area and there are no reasonably available alternative drinking water sources should the aquifer become contaminated.deral approvals.

The proposed gun range has also drawn concerns from neighbors, environmental activists and state and federal lawmakers including the state’s two U.S. senators — Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey — about potential negative environmental impacts.

In 1982, the Cape Cod aquifer was designated as the sole or principal source of drinking water for Cape Cod, according to the EPA.

The agency defines a sole source aquifer as one where the aquifer supplies at least 50% of the drinking water in its service area and there are no reasonably available alternative drinking water sources should the aquifer become contaminated.

WAIT, WHAT?

Colorado Dems kill ‘safe injection site’ bill for drug users

By JESSE BEDAYN

April 27, 2023

Visitors stand on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol, Sunday, April 23, 2023, in Denver. A Colorado bill to allow "safe injection sites" — where people can use illicit drugs under the supervision of trained staff who can reverse an overdose — was killed in committee Wednesday evening, April 26, by Democrats concerned with enabling addiction and a lack of proper guardrails. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado bill to allow “safe injection sites” — where people can use illicit drugs under the supervision of trained staff who can reverse an overdose — was killed in committee Wednesday evening by Democrats concerned with enabling addiction and a lack of proper guardrails.

The controversial idea of such sites — which New York and Rhode Island, along with Canada and Australia already host — incited emotional debate as it moved through the Colorado’s Democratic-controlled legislature after the state’s record-high of over 1,600 overdose deaths in 2021.

Proponents argued that it’s an imperative first step to prevent drug overdoses that killed an estimated 100,000 people nationwide in 2021, federal data show. The safe injection sites, also called “overdose prevention centers,” offer a place where trained staff monitor people who bring and use their own drugs — such as methamphetamine and heroin — and who could reverse an overdose if necessary.

The policy is an about-face from federal government’s long-waged war on drugs, and detractors said the centers would merely endorse and promote the use of illegal drugs and would be a magnet for ancillary crimes.

After last ditch efforts by the bill’s sponsors to appease one of their Democratic colleagues on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, the bill was voted down in an unceremonious and brusque vote Wednesday.

Democratic Sen. Kyle Mullica, who voted against the bill, had previously said he was torn by the issue, worried about regulating the sites — which would be left up to local municipalities — and whether it was the most effective solution.

Similarly, Democratic Sen. Joann Ginal said she wasn’t convinced by the available evidence, before reading testimony from one of her constituents — a former drug user — who compared the bill to giving a kid who was overweight a jar of cookies.

The bill’s failure reveals the wariness of Colorado’s moderate Democrats over some progressive measures in the once-purple state, even after the party’s sweeping success in the midterm elections and control of the House, Senate and governor’s office.

One of the bill’s sponsors, Democratic Sen. Julie Gonzales, pushed back against concerns, saying that “If we do not take action, one person who dies is too many.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis had voiced skepticism over the proposal, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year.

Questions also remain over whether the Department of Justice will permit such programs based on a 1980s-era law that bans operating a place for taking illegal drugs.

Last year, the Justice Department told The Associated Press it was “evaluating” safe injection sites and talking to regulators about “appropriate guardrails.”

Still, being open to evaluating the sites marks a shift from the Justice Department’s posture under former President Donald Trump, when the department fought against such a proposal in Pennsylvania.
____

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Operators of California refinery fined $27.5M over pollution

MARTINEZ, Calif. (AP) — The operators of a San Francisco Bay Area oil refinery have agreed to pay $27.5 million for violating a 2016 agreement to reduce air pollution at the facility, federal regulators announced Thursday.

Tesoro Refining and Marketing Co. of Los Angeles was penalized for violating a consent decree at its refinery in Martinez, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

Tesoro failed to install adequate pollution controls and failed to limit emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) that contribute to smog, the agencies said.

The settlement will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and other air pollutants by hundreds of tons each year, regulators said.

“As this settlement shows, EPA will seek substantial penalties when companies delay installing appropriate pollution controls to meet environmental obligations,” said a statement from Larry Starfield, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance

Tesoro was acquired by Marathon Petroleum Corp. in 2018.

“Marathon has a demonstrated history of continually improving our environmental performance across our operations, and we are committed to protecting the environment we all share,” the company said in a statement. ”“The origins of this matter predate Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s acquisition of the Martinez refinery, and we are glad to have resolved this matter with the U.S. government.”

The penalty is part of a settlement that requires the refinery to adhere to strict pollution controls and to give up emission credits, which companies can use to offset their pollution or trade to other companies to use.

The Martinez plant, which is about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco, had a refining capacity of approximately 161,000 barrels of oil per day and was the fourth-largest petroleum refinery in California, the EPA said.

The plant suspended operations in 2020. It is being converted to produce fuels from renewable sources such as vegetable oils. The refinery is expected to come online this year and produce up to 48,000 barrels of renewable fuels per day, according to the EPA.

“The agreement does not prohibit Tesoro from resuming petroleum refining, but if it does so, Tesoro must install specific air pollution control technology, at an expected cost of $125 million, to ensure stringent NOX emission limits are met,” the EPA statement said.

How about windfall tax on defense sector profits?


Arthur Sullivan
04/27/2023April 27, 2023

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, governments have spent much more on defense and weapons. That is good news for the defense industry. But windfall taxes are not on the agenda.
For weapons makers and defense companies, war is good for business. The war in Ukraine, as well as simmering geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea and elsewhere, has driven a surge in orders in the global defense sector.

Figures released this week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed that global military expenditure reached an all-time high in 2022, hitting €2 trillion ($2.2 trillion) for the year.

The two largest US defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon reported record weapons orders earlier in 2023.

In Germany, the defense sector is beginning to reap a historically large dividend. Rheinmetall, the country's largest defense contractor, expects sales to hit €7.6 billion in 2023, up from €6.4 billion last year.

Germany's Rheinmetall has seen profits rise on the back of strong demand for its weapons and ammunition

Image: Norbert Schmidt/picture alliance

Hensoldt, the German company responsible for providing much of Ukraine's air defense radar, has seen its shares rise throughout 2023 amid booming orders. The share prices for Rheinmetall, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have also been on sharp upward curves for many months.
War tax

The arms sector is not the only one where financial fortunes have improved in the past year. Oil and energy companies scored record profits amid soaring prices in the aftermath of Russia's invasion. Governments in several countries introduced windfall taxes after coming under huge pressure to do so.

There have been some calls for defense companies to be hit with similar levies but generally, the topic has not been a matter for discussion says Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, director of the military expenditure and arms production program at SIPRI.

"I don't think we're there," she told DW. "I think the hot topic right now when you're talking about the arms industry in Europe is more about increasing production and capacity because there's this big need to help supply ammunition and weapons to Ukraine and then to replenish stockpiles."

Such has been the intense demand from Ukraine for weapons to defend itself, the major arms makers and the myriad of companies in their vast supply chains have been struggling to keep up.

Who profits from the global arms trade? 18:36

In January, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin said supply chain problems meant they were struggling to keep up with orders. "We've got the orders, we've got the capacity. We just need to bring the materials in," Raytheon Chief Executive Greg Hayes told investors, US newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported.

It's a similar situation in Europe where companies have found it hard to keep supplying Ukraine and replenish national stockpiles in various countries due to major supply chain issues.

In that context, Beraud-Sudreau says talk of curbing profits at defense companies unable to keep up with orders would send the wrong message.

"I think if you were to see an emergence of a windfall tax or that type of thing then you sort of send a mixed signal to the industry," she said. "You cannot on the one hand ask them to do more, produce more and invest in their production capacity and at the same time tax them more. This is a bit of a contradictory message if we're going to go down that route."
Little momentum behind windfall tax idea

Governments across Europe tend to agree, with little momentum behind any calls for extra taxes to be leveled. Although the youth wing of Germany's center-left SPD party has called for action, it is barely a topic in national debates in Germany or elsewhere.

That is as much driven by the figures as by the urgency of the security situation. The energy sector windfall taxes were prompted by the huge profits made by oil companies.

Some of the biggest raked in annual profits more than fivefold what they had been the previous year. While arms makers have been doing well, their profits pale in significance compared to those in energy.

However, Greenpeace says an excess profits tax for arms companies would be "consistent".

"The EU passed such a tax last year for energy companies whose profits skyrocketed as a result of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine," Alexander Lurz, a campaigner for peace and disarmament with Greenpeace told DW.

"The same must apply to the extra profits for arms corporations. If Exxon's profits with Putin's war are limited, then this must also apply to Rheinmetall & Co."

Anti-war protests aside, there is little momentum behind calls for windfall taxes in defense

Image: Marc Vorwerk/SULUPRESS.DE/picture alliance

Peacetime profits less popular

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has upended the European security picture while increased wariness around China's intentions towards Taiwan has further mobilized defense spending in the US and Europe.

"It seems across the board there is consensus on increasing defense spending, of making defense a priority in terms of public spending," said Beraud-Sudreau. "So I think the public sort of senses that this is justified."

However, she thinks that could quickly change if the war were to end.

"Imagine if peace were to return to Europe, and let's hope that comes as soon as possible," she said. "Then maybe you could see a change in the public opinion. There might be less justification to see high defense spending, which of course translates into profits for the defense companies."

For now, though, the world's biggest arms makers are less concerned about getting taxed more than they are by keeping up with demand.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

Samsung records lowest quarterly profit in 14 years

DW

April 27, 2023

The Korean tech giant owed the slump in profits to weakened demand for memory chips, as the end of lockdown diminished previous demand for new computers and smartphones.

South Korean tech giant Samsung has reported its lowest quarterly profit in 14 years, with a global decline in microchip demand slowing sales and profits.

The company said on Thursday its operating profit plummeted by 95% from a year earlier. It also reported an 87.4% slump in net income for the 2023 Q1 compared to the same quarter last year.

The Samsung chip division recorded its first operating loss since 2009, when the world was dealing with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The Korean giant's chip production reported 4.58 trillion won (approximately $3.3 billion; €3 billion) in losses.

The future of the microchip industry  02:25

What caused the drop in profit?

Samsung owed its slowed profit to slowing consumer spending on electronics, coupled with the current excess in microchip production, which fails to match the slowing demand.

The core memory business saw almost unprecedented demand during the two years of the pandemic, with worldwide lockdowns fueling smartphone and computer sales. This created first a global shortage and then an uptick in the memory chips' production.

However, since lockdowns receded, and with rising global inflation, computer sales have dropped again, causing chip prices to drop as the demand shrinks.

The memory chips usually account for about half of the Korean tech giant's profits.

Samsung said it expected memory chips' demand to "gradually recover" in the second half of 2023. It cited forecasts of declining customer inventory levels.

Seoul announced last month that it would build the biggest chip center in the world, largely using some 300 trillion won of private investment from Samsung over the next 20 years.

rmt/msh (AFP, dpa)

Charles coronation: debut role for minority faiths, languages

Issued on: 29/04/2023 -

King Charles III met faith leaders, including Chairman of the Institute of Jainology Nemu Chandariaa, after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in September

 © Aaron Chown / POOL/AFP


London (AFP) – The UK's non-Christian faiths and its Celtic languages will play a prominent role for the first time in a royal coronation when King Charles III is crowned next week, organisers said on Saturday.

The May 6 service at Westminster Abbey will be overwhelmingly drawn from the Christian liturgy as Charles takes an oath, in English, to serve as "Defender of the (Protestant) Faith" and to protect the established Church of England.

But in a first, it will also feature a prominent role for Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish leaders, according to the order of service released by the office of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

At the end of the coronation, they will deliver a greeting in unison to Charles declaring that "as neighbours in faith, we acknowledge the value of public service".

"We unite with people of all faiths and beliefs in thanksgiving, and in service with you for the common good," they will say.

Members of the House of Lords from the minority faiths will hand non-Christian regalia to the king, such as gold bracelets and the royal robe.

Rishi Sunak, Britain's first Hindu prime minister, will give a reading from the Bible at the service, which will also be attended by Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf, the first Muslim to hold the post and to lead a Western European government.
Nightly prayer

Charles is a committed Christian and, according to the memoir "Spare" by his younger son Prince Harry, prays every night.

But the king also has a lifelong interest in other religions, and has spoken in the past about defending all faiths, not just Anglicanism, as Britain grew more multi-cultural.

Charles met Palestinian Muslim clerics outside Bethlehem's Omar Ben al-Khattab mosque in 2020 © Hazem BADER / AFP

Before his mother Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral in September last year, he held a reception at Buckingham Palace for faith leaders, and described himself as a "committed Anglican Christian".

But he recognised that the country he inherited is very different from the one his mother did 70 years previously.

"I have always thought of Britain as a 'community of communities'," he said.

"That has led me to understand that the sovereign has an additional duty... to protect the diversity of our country, including by protecting the space for faith itself."

Charles and Israeli's former ambassador Daniel Taub attended the installation of the UK's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis in 2013 

© STEFAN ROUSSEAU / POOL/AFP

In another coronation first, Charles will pray aloud during the service, to ask God that "I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and conviction".

He will also receive blessings from other Christian leaders, including from the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Scottish Free Church denominations.

A Greek choir will sing as a tribute to his late father, Prince Philip, who was born on the island of Corfu. A Gospel choir will also perform.
Four tongues

Diversity in the coronation service will extend to a role for the English-speaking UK's other native languages: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic.

As heir, Charles was the first Prince of Wales in seven centuries to learn Welsh, which today counts nearly 540,000 speakers.

The British Sikh Association said the late queen Elizabeth II was a uniting figure 

© LEWIS WHYLD / POOL/AFP

During the coronation, after a greeting and introduction by Welby, a prayer will be sung in Welsh. After the archbishop's sermon, verses of a hymn will be sung in all three minority languages.

"The coronation is first and foremost an act of Christian worship," said Welby, who leads the worldwide Anglican communion.

"At the same time, the service contains new elements that reflect the diversity of our contemporary society.

"I am delighted that the service will recognise and celebrate tradition, speaking to the great history of our nation, our customs, and those who came before us."

In the 2021 census, some 27.5 million people, or 46.2 percent in England and Wales, described themselves as Christian, down 13.1 percentage points from 2011.

Those listing "no religion" rose by 12 points to 37.2 percent while Muslims stood at 3.9 million or 6.5 percent of the population, up from 4.9 percent.

The next most common responses were Hindu (1.0 million) and Sikh (524,000), while Buddhists overtook Jewish people (273,000 and 271,000 respectively).

© 2023 AFP

'I was shaking': Stunning run takes Brecel into world snooker final

AFP

Sat, Apr 29, 2023, 

Eleven in a row: Belgium's Luca Brecel is into the world final

Luca Brecel admitted he was "shaking" after staging one of the most astonishing comebacks in snooker history as he won 11 frames in a row against China's Si Jiahui to reach the World Championship final with a remarkable 17-15 win on Saturday.

The Belgian, who won seven frames in a row after coming from behind to beat seven-times world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals, looked all but beaten at 14-5 behind against the 20-year-old Si.

But he began his astounding rally by winning the final five frames of Friday's evening session and carried on from where he left off Saturday to end Si's bid to become the youngest finalist at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre and the first debutant world champion since Wales' Terry Griffiths back in 1979.

Brecel was the first player in Crucible history to overturn a nine-frame deficit and this win saw him into his first world final, with the 28-year-old having never previously got past the first round.

"At 14-12, 14-13 I knew I had a chance, but I think 14-14 I was really believing it because I could see he was struggling and I was playing great stuff," said Brecel.

"But I knew I could have lost as well. To win is absolutely unbelievable, it is the biggest game of my life. I was in disbelief, I was shaking.

"The whole game I was expecting to lose, even with a session to spare, so to even have a chance to win was the craziest feeling ever in my body and I can't believe I did it."

He added: "I have never won a game here and now I am in the final, it is some story. It is going to take a while to sink in."

There has never been a Chinese winner of the world title, although Ding Junhui was beaten in the 2016 final by Mark Selby.

Si looked like he might at least equal Ding's feat only to be left in his chair as Brecel kept winning frame after frame.

Nevertheless, the qualifier showed admirable composure to end Brecel's run of 11 frames with a break of 91.

Si also had opportunities to send the match into a final-frame decider before a clipped red along the cushion allowed Brecel to close out a stunning success.

Si said he hoped the chastening defeat would make him a better player.

"I was feeling kind of disappointed, but not very, he played nearly perfect snooker in the final two sessions and my safety let me down," he explained.

"I have realised there are flaws in my game, there are so many things I can still improve, so in the coming season I will be confident I can beat anyone."

Brecel will now play either four-times world champion Selby or Mark Allen in the final.

Selby is 11-10 ahead in a match set to be played to a finish later Saturday.

jdg/dj

Thousands endure long wait for safety at Sudan-Ethiopia border

AFP
Sat, April 29, 2023 


Main destinations for refugees from Sudan

An interminable row of minibuses lines the road that separates Sudan's southeastern city of Gedaref from the Ethiopian border, slowly bringing people fleeing Sudan's war closer to safety.

There, families have been "sleeping on the ground out in the open", said Oktay Oglu, a Turkish engineer who worked at a factory in the capital Khartoum before escaping with his family.

Locals and foreigners alike have made this journey, fleeing more than two weeks of brutal fighting that pits forces loyal to rival generals against one other, with civilians caught in the crossfire.

The war in the capital and other parts of Sudan has killed hundreds, injured thousands and uprooted tens of thousands, some of whom have fled to neighbouring countries including Ethiopia.


The minibuses move at a snail's pace. At the end of the road to the border, Sudanese and Ethiopian flags flutter in the sky, a mere 10 metres (yards) between them.

But there, another long wait lies in store.

With his wife and three children, Oglu made the arduous trip from Khartoum to Gedaref after waiting days until a relative lull in fighting allowed them to escape.

They first reached the city of Wad Madani 200 kilometres (124 miles) south of the capital, where witnesses say life continues relatively normally. They spent the night there before continuing on to Gedaref another 250 kilometres east.

Finally, the road led them to the border with Ethiopia and the small community of Gallabat, with its bare-bones homes made out of wood and dried grass.

Having arrived at the crossing after it closed at 5:00 pm, they had to wait out the night until it reopened at 8:00 am the next morning.

- From Gondar to Dubai -

At the crossing they found nationals from all over the world gathered, all hoping to make it to the other side in as little time as possible.

An official at the crossing, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about "9,000 people crossed the border, the majority foreigners, including many Turkish".

Data from the United Nations' International Organization for Migration said about 3,500 people of 35 different nationalities had found refuge in Ethiopia as of Tuesday.

More than 40 percent of those are Turkish, while 14 percent are Ethiopians who lived in Sudan and are returning home.

Many of the Sudanese crossing are Gulf workers like 35-year-old Diaeddin Mohammed, an accountant with a Dubai-based company.

Though many among Khartoum's five million residents chose to flee northwards towards Egypt or east to Port Sudan -- where Saudi ships have been transporting foreigners across the Red Sea to Jeddah -- Mohammed favoured another route.

"I chose Ethiopia because the distance from Khartoum to the Ethiopian city of Gondar, which has an airport... is about 850 kilometres," he said.

By comparison, Cairo is a gruelling 2,000 kilometre road trip north through the desert, with refugees often waiting days to be processed at the border.

Once in Gondar, Mohammed could easily book a direct flight to Dubai.

Others have fled with no prospect of job security or a second home to return to.

Ahmed Hussein, 45, had to abandon his small business in Khartoum for a life in exile along with his wife and three daughters.

"We want to cross to safety in Addis Ababa until we see where things are going in Sudan," he told AFP.

Hussein added that he would try to start a small business in Ethiopia, "if that is possible".

In the meantime, he said, they would try to survive "with whatever means I have".

bur/sbh/it