Sex abuse scandal haunts Pope Francis' aide and Australia's top Catholic cleric George Pell

Agencies
June 29, 2017

Sydney, Jun 29: From country priest to trusted top Vatican aide, the rise of Australia's most senior Catholic cleric George Pell has been plagued in its twilight by sordid controversies from the past.pope

To his admirers, the 76-year-old cardinal embodies the orthodox traditions of Australian Catholicism, but to his critics, he represents an institution that has failed to properly deal with child sex abuse allegations.

Pell, who was charged on Thursday with historical child sex abuse, strongly denies the allegations and says he had no knowledge of widespread paedophilia in the church in Australia, even suggesting a conspiracy to bring him down.

Born in 1941, he grew up in the rural Australian town of Ballarat where he was a keen member of his college debating team, a lead actor in school productions and a champion Australian Rules footballer.

His devout Catholic mother was reportedly pleased that her son decided to pursue a career in the Church, whereas his father, an Anglican, was bewildered that he turned down a contract from one of the country's top football teams.

Having chosen a religious path, he completed part of his studies in Rome before being ordained as a priest for the Ballarat diocese in 1966.

As his star rose, he went on to become Archbishop of Melbourne and then Sydney at the behest of Pope John Paul II and in 2003 was named to the Vatican's powerful College of Cardinals, a position that allowed him to vote for the next Pope of the day.

Then in 2014, he was handpicked by Pope Francis to make the church's finances more transparent.

"Cardinal Pell is one of the greatest churchmen that Australia has seen," former conservative Australian Prime Minister Tony Abott has said.

From the pulpit, and publicly, Pell has espoused traditional Catholic values, from a tough stance on euthanasia and gay marriage to his rejection of climate science and criticism of the harsh treatment of asylum-seekers.

But his reputation has been tarnished in recent years not just by claims that he covered up abuse by priests in Victoria state where he worked, but by allegations that he himself abused boys.

Australian police did not provide further details of the charges on Thursday, citing the need to preserve the integrity of the judicial process.

A national inquiry into the institutional responses to child sex abuse in Australia between 1950 and 2010 found that seven percent of Catholic priests were accused but that the allegations were never investigated.

The inquiry, ordered in 2012, found that 4,444 alleged incidents of paedophilia were reported to church authorities and that in some dioceses, more than 15 percent of priests were perpetrators.

Repeatedly questioned during the inquiry about paedophile priests in the Ballarat diocese in the 1970s and 80s, Pell apologised on behalf of the church but insisted he had no memory of claims of sustained mistreatment.

He did, however, admit he "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests in the 1970s, but said he was deceived by senior clergy about what was happening during a time of "crimes and cover-ups".

Australia's most powerful Catholic was cleared of any wrongdoing when historical accusations were levelled at him while he was Archbishop of Sydney in 2002.

But victims insist he must have been aware of the rampant abuse.

"I believe (Pell) did his job well," child abuse survivor Julie Stewart said after Pell gave evidence to the commission last year.

"He did his job by protecting the church's assets and protecting the church`s name, but I don't believe he protected the children."

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News Network
February 27,2020

Washington, Feb 27: President Donald Trump has said that the US' relationship with India is "extraordinary" right now and a lot of progress was made in bilateral ties during his maiden official visit to the country where America will be doing a lot of business.

Talking to reporters, after his return from India on Wednesday, Trump said, "He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is a great gentleman, a great leader. It's an incredible country."

President Trump visited India from February 24 to 25. He was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and the top brass of his administration, including national security advisor Robert O'Brien.

They visited Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi before leaving for Washington on Tuesday.

During his stay, he addressed a massive rally in Ahmedabad, visited Agra and held official meetings in New Delhi.

The US President was feted at the world's largest cricket stadium in the "Namaste Trump" event in Ahmedabad and was cheered by tens of thousands of people.

"We were treated very, very well and we really enjoyed it. A lot of tremendous progress was made in terms of relationship - our relationship with India is extraordinary right now," he said.

"We are going to be doing a lot of business with India, they are sending billions and billions of dollars now to the United States," Trump said in response to a question.

In a tweet, his daughter Ivanka said that, Trump announced that US international development finance corporation "will establish a permanent presence in India to strengthen our economic ties, improve development plus further women's economic empowerment through WGDP (Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative)!"

On her arrival from India, she thanked PM Modi for "your warm hospitality as we visited your beautiful country and celebrated the strength, spirit and unity of the US and India!"

"Throughout our visit we saw monumental achievements of human creativity and proof of the infinite capacity of the human heart!" she said.

The first lady tweeted two pictures of her with Trump facing the Taj Mahal in Agra.

"One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the breathtaking Taj Mahal!" she said.

President Trump "reaffirmed the strong strategic partnership, vibrant economic ties and expanding security relationship between our two countries. Wonderful trip, but glad to be home! Thank you India!" said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

During the visit, India and the US on Tuesday finalised defence deals worth $3 billion under which 30 military helicopters will be procured from two American defence majors for Indian armed forces.

The deals will include procurement of 24 MH-60 Romeo helicopters by India from the US at a cost of $2.6 billion. Another contract to acquire six AH-64E Apache helicopters for $800 million from the US is also on the table.

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News Network
May 13,2020

Islamabad, May 13 : The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 34,370 on Wednesday after new infections were confirmed in the country.

As per province-wise breakup of the total tally cited by Radio Pakistan, so far 13,225 cases have been registered in Punjab, 12,610 in Sindh, 5,021 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2,158 in Balochistan, 759 in Islamabad, 475 in Gilgit Baltistan and 88 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

As many as 2,255 cases positive were confirmed, while 31 deaths reported during the last 24 hours.

At least 737 patients have died so far while 8,812 stand recovered, the media reported further.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

Washington, Jul 7: The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will grill the CEOs of US tech giants Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon during an antitrust hearing on July 27.

Apple's Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet's Sundar Pichai and Amazon's Jeff Bezos will testify before the antitrust panel that is working on proposals to reform and regulate the digital market.

The hearing would mark the first time all four top executives testify together in front of Congress, virtually or in-person depending on the panel's call in the COVID-19 pandemic times.

"Since last June, the Subcommittee has been investigating the dominance of a small number of digital platforms and the adequacy of existing antitrust laws and enforcement," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) said in a statement on Monday.

"Given the central role these corporations play in the lives of the American people, it is critical that their CEOs are forthcoming. As we have said from the start, their testimony is essential for us to complete this investigation.”

The House Judiciary Committee announced its antitrust probe into the four tech giants in June last year.

Last month, the committee sent letters to technology giants Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet (Google's parent company), asking them to confirm if their chief executives will testify as part of the committee's tech competition investigation.

Committee chair David Cicilline said the documents that the investigators sought were "essential" to the probe and that requests like this were part of the "appropriate process" to obtain them.

"The only CEO who has expressed reservation about appearing, through a representative, has been Amazon," Cicilline said. "No one in this country is above the law ... nobody is above answering a congressional subpoena".

The lawmakers want the tech giants to furnish documents that have been produced in relation to other competition probes and internal communications.

The letters that the committee sent also posed questions related to possible harms to competition in the market.

In addition to the antitrust probe, Apple's App Store policies are also facing scrutiny from the US Department of Justice.

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