John Paul letters reveal 'intense' friendship with woman
- 15 February 2016
- Europe
Hundreds of letters and photographs that tell the story of Pope John Paul II's close relationship with a married woman, which lasted more than 30 years, have been shown to the BBC.
The letters to Polish-born American philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka had been kept away from public view in the National Library of Poland for years.
The documents reveal a rarely seen side of the pontiff, who died in 2005.
There is no suggestion the Pope broke his vow of celibacy.
The friendship began in 1973 when Ms Tymieniecka contacted the future Pope, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, then Archbishop of Krakow, about a book on philosophy that he had written.
The then 50-year-old travelled from the US to Poland to discuss the work.
Shortly afterwards, the pair began to correspond. At first the cardinal's letters were formal, but as their friendship grew, they become more intimate.
Chinese journalist banned from flying to US to accept a prize for his work
Yang Jisheng has been honoured by Harvard for his ‘fearless reporting’ on China’s 1958-61 famine that left at least 36 million people dead
A pioneering journalist who fought to expose the deaths of tens of millions of his fellow citizens in China’s Great Famine has been banned from leaving the country to accept a prize for his work in the United States.
Yang Jisheng, a retired correspondent from Beijing’s official news service Xinhua, was awarded Harvard University’s prestigious Louis M Lyons Award in December for his “ambitious and fearless reporting” on one of the 20th century’s deadliest man-made catastrophes.
The prize, which Yang had hoped to collect at a ceremony in Massachusetts next month, was in recognition of his 2008 book Tombstone.
The 1,200-page work – considered the most authoritative account of a tragedy China’s Communist leaders still attempt to conceal – meticulously documents the horrific toll of the 1958-1961 famine in which the author estimates at least 36 million lives were lost, including that of his own father.
'Islamic State' and economy force Kurds out of Iraq
People are leaving Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan en masse. The reasons range from the rise of the "Islamic State" to issues as comparatively mundane as the economy. Birgit Svensson reports from Irbil.
Desperation has slowly taken hold in Kurdish Iraq. Gone are the prosperous times when new buildings were built practically overnight. The autonomous region's economy is just getting worse.
After the end of the second Iraq War, thousands of Kurds in exile in Europe returned home. Up to 2011, there was a veritable boom in returnees from Germany, where an estimated half a million Kurds from Iraq made up the largest Kurdish diaspora community. Cash incentives and a free flight to Irbil for Kurds who voluntarily returned made the trip even more enticing. Many have come to deeply regret this move and are now trying to return to Europe. According to estimates, 350,000 Kurds have left Iraq for Europe just in the past six months, and there are no signs of the exodus letting up. Even Irbil Mayor Nihad Latif Qoja is going back to Bonn, Germany, after 10 years in office.
High speed railways in India: success will ride on the details
Environmental degradation along the route, dislocation of people, noise pollution, and regionally imbalanced development are potential pitfalls.
The flurry of activity that accompanied French President Francois Hollande’s visit to India last month extended beyond the Republic Day parade, at which he was chief guest. Among the toasts, speeches and statements were agreements on rail — including a feasibility study on upgrading the Delhi-Chandigarh line to a semi-high speed of 200 kmph, so the entire distance is covered in 1.5 rather than 3.5 hours. This marked another step in India’s race to roll out high speed rail across the country.
High Speed Rail means different things in different contexts.
One widely accepted definition applies to new lines running at 250 kmph and above, and existing lines that are able to run at 200 kmph and above. High speed rail programs have been successful in Japan, China and several European countries such as France, Germany and Spain. The benefits include reduced journey times that impact individuals and business, connectivity benefits to populations and markets, increased passenger comfort, mode shifts from more polluting air and road transport and consequently, lower road congestion. High speed rail can create agglomeration benefits i.e., benefits that accrue from the clustering together of firms and labour markets, and regeneration benefits for an area. The actual construction also provides an opportunity for employment and the potential for technology transfer.
Pope calls for peace in gang-striken Mexico City suburb
Pope Francis referenced the devil when preaching against the drug-fueled murders, kidnappings and violence that are a daily fact of life in the Ecatepec suburb.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered Sunday for the biggest event of Pope Francis' five-day trip to Mexico, a Mass in the capital's crime-ridden suburb of Ecatepec, where drug violence, gangland-style executions and kidnappings are a daily fact of life. Francis had a clear message for the masses: "With the devil, there is no dialogue."
The Mexican bishops' conference said some 300,000 tickets had been handed out and that an estimated 2 million people were expected to line the pope's motorcade route to the huge field where the liturgy took place. They tossed flower petals as Francis passed by and cheered with pom-poms in the yellow and white colors of the Vatican flag.
Not playing by the rules? FIFA scandal unfolds
The world's most powerful sporting organization is rife with corruption, say U.S. law enforcement authorities who have indicted FIFA officials
Steve Kroft
As everyone knows big-time sports have become big business, and most of the organizations that run them operate with little or no oversight from government or independent entities. Occasionally, issues arise like concussions in football, and doping in baseball that demand public scrutiny, but there has never been a scandal like the one enveloping FIFA -- the most powerful sporting organization in the world.
Its purpose is to regulate and promote the most popular sport in the world: international football, or soccer as we call it in the United States. But according to the U.S. Justice Department it has been operating as an organized crime syndicate for the past 24 years. And some of those alleged crimes like bribery and money laundering were planned and carried out here in the United States. Dozens of top FIFA officials past and present are under indictment and the investigation is still in its early stages.
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