The high cost of living has not deterred people spending money on Diwali. Several customers The Fiji Times spoke to said despite the increase in prices of fireworks, milk and other groceries, they were still spending a reasonable amount because they wanted to celebrate Diwali well. “Prices have gone up but we are willing to Read more
“Is it the greatest story ever told to the greatest music ever written?” This is the question the creators of Spears The Musical: The Gospel According To Britney ask in regard to their new opera, which tells the story of Jesus Christ through the music of Britney Spears. According to the musical’s website, the show Read more
The Vatican is hosting an international workshop on human trafficking this weekend (November 2-3), at the request of Pope Francis. The aim is to get an accurate picture of “the real state” of this heinous criminal activity against human dignity in order to explore new ways to better combat it. Recent trends reveal that trafficking Read more
A study of what teenagers really want to know about sex has revealed anxiety about being “normal”, and the clear influence of internet pornography. Researchers from Family Planning put question boxes in sex education classes at five high schools across New Zealand last year. Students from years 9 to 12 were able to post their Read more
Children’s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills has decided to publish his own annual stocktake of child poverty after the Government spurned his call to publish official measures and targets. His first annual update will be published in December with analysis by experts at Otago University, edited by a private communications company and totally funded by a Read more
The Hawai’i Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee has voted to pass a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Hawai’i. The vote came after nearly 12 hours of testimony from the public, as more than 400 people addressed lawmakers during Monday’s public hearing before the Senate committee. In addition, Senate clerks say more than 4,000 pages Read more
More than 3000 men and women religious leave the consecrated life each year, according to the secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo said that the majority of cases occur at a “relatively young age”. The causes, he said, include “absence of spiritual life”, Read more
Pope Francis has gained 10 million followers on Twitter — in nine different language accounts. The Pope’s Spanish-language tweets are re-tweeted an average of 11,116 times. His English-language tweets are re-tweeted by an average of 8219 followers. On Oct. 27, Pope Francis tweeted, “Dear Followers I understand there are now over 10 million of you! Read more
The Vatican has called a “summit meeting” for the leaders of the Eastern churches in communion with the Holy See, to take place on November 19-22. Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, said the meeting would allow the leaders of the Eastern churches to “speak before the Pope on Read more
The electorate chairman of a National MP has been taken to task by an arm of the Catholic Church for giving select committee evidence in support of the SkyCity convention centre deal. Seamus Donegan appeared before the committee of MPs on behalf of the Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission. The problem is that the Church’s Justice Read more