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World news in brief

by
12 August 2016

AP

Remembered: A woman offers a prayer for the 19 people killed last month in a knife attack in a care home for adults with learning difficulties, in Sagamihara, Japan, among floral tributes to them outside the home. The Bishop of Yokohama, in the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (the Japanese Anglican Church) has expressed concern that the killings could result in negative attitudes towards people with mental illness or mental-health problems, the Anglican Communion News Service reports. Bishop Laurence Minabe, who previously served as Rector of St Barnabas's, not far from the care home, in the Rinkai area of Sagamihara, said that he was "shocked" and "very angered" by the incident. “It is our belief that we have to look after those who are in need and most vulnerable. . .  Indeed, their families and friends love them and this institution is well-known for the good service and behaviour of its staff. "I am afraid that people will take a negative attitude towards mentally unstable people as a result of [this]," Bishop Minabe said. "In order to recover our community to where physically disabled people, mentally disabled people and those who have weakness of some kind can share their thoughts and dignity. I pray to God and ask you to do likewise.”

Remembered: A woman offers a prayer for the 19 people killed last month in a knife attack in a care home for adults with learning difficulties, in Sag...

NZ Church admits part in forced adoptions

ONE of the Archbishops of New Zealand, the Most Revd Philip Richardson, has said that his Church is open to the idea of an inquiry into the practice of forcibly removing babies from unmarried mothers. Campaigners are urging the government to start an inquiry to uncover the truth of what took place between the 1940s and the 1970s. Speaking to the website stuff.co.nz, Archbishop Richardson said that some dioceses had already paid compensation to mothers whose children were taken away. “We should always be open to examining our past,” he stated.  

Dog foils attack on South Sudanese bishop

ARMED men attempted to break into the house of the Assistant Bishop of Juba, in South Sudan, the Rt Revd Fraser Yugu; but they fled, after his pet dog raised the alarm. As the attackers left, however, they shot the dog and smashed Bishop Yugu’s windscreen. Nobody else was hurt during the attempted break-in, early last Sunday, and the motive of the attackers is unclear.

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