The decrease in resident numbers in the last year is largely because of delays in processing.

"It's not clear whether that is part of the way they're bringing the numbers down because they have a target to reach in terms of a lower number of residents." Read more

"What the (immigration service) did, in this case, is beyond what the law provides, that is why it has to be struck down," said a statement from Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who oversees immigration matters.

It added that Sister Fox "may continue to perform her duties as a missionary" until her visa expires in September or "until a final resolution" in her deportation proceedings is reached.

A spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte said the 71-year-old nun is "not yet off the hook" and still has to face the deportation case.

Harry Roque said the Justice Department upheld the validity of Fox's visa only "without prejudice to the deportation proceedings."

"The issue in the deportation proceedings is, was she involved in political activities?" said Roque.

Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon commented: "What Duterte wants, Duterte gets by hook or by crook."

Sister Elenita Belardo, national coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, said the ruling "gives hope to the poor who [Fox] vows to serve with her life."

Fox, who has been living in the Philippines since 1990, attracted Duterte's wrath after joining a fact-finding mission in April to investigate alleged abuses against farmers - including killings and evictions by soldiers fighting guerrillas in the southern Philippines.

Before Monday's decision was released, Fox said she would fight moves to deport her.

"It's more of looking at getting due process for myself (and) this happening to others," she told ABS-CBN television.

"I'm thinking if there's no due process when I am high profile, how much more in the provinces where people are being arrested?"

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• channelnewsasia.com
• ucanews.com
• Image: philstar.com

This was the question Mata'afa Keni Lesa put to the New Zealand prime minister in his opinion piece published in the Samoa Observer after her recent visit to Samoa.

"We cannot keep referring to a special relationship founded upon the Treaty of Friendship and then continue to treat our Samoans like second-class citizens by subjecting them to the vigorous and expensive process of having to obtain a visa simply to fly across for the weekend," he said.

This issue was raised in what was an otherwise very positive coverage of Ardern's visit.

"The truth is quite simple. The Samoan Government doesn't need to look far to find a role model." Lesa said.

"If Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr Sa'ilele Malielegaoi and his administration need some inspiration, they only have to look to New Zealand."

In a related matter, the issue Recognised Seasonal Workers (RSW) was raised by Tuilaepa during talks with Ardern and her deputy Winston Peters.

He said the Samoan workers under New Zealand's RSW scheme are trustworthy, skilful and are meeting the expectations of their employers.

Samoa called for the RSE workers to be eligible for the immigration quota because they already have established employment, which is one of the key requirements for applicants to meet.

New Zealand has an annual quota for 1,100 Samoans to immigrate to this country but it is frequently unfilled.

Source

• sobserver.ws
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: pro.newsroom.co.nz

His visa had been cancelled before he left the United States by Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

Mr Newman, who is president of Operation Rescue in the US, had planned a 10-day speaking tour in Australia.

The visa cancellation came after Labor MP Terri Butler wrote to Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton stating that Mr Newman could "cause significant harm to our community".

Ms Butler focussed on comments in the book "Their Blood Cries Out", which was co-authored by Newman.

She pointed to this passage: "In addition to our personal guilt in abortion, the United States government has abrogated its responsibility to properly deal with the blood-guilty. This responsibility rightly involves executing convicted murderers, including abortionists, for their crimes in order to expunge bloodguilt from the land and people."

Australian border force officers detained Mr Newman when he arrived in Melbourne from Los Angeles.

He was held in a detention centre.

His bid to stay in Australia was rejected at the High Court in Melbourne on Friday and on Saturday it was confirmed that he had left the country.

Evidence was produced to show that he knew his visa had been revoked before leaving the US.

Ahead of his arrival in Melbourne, Mr Newman said in a Facebook post that the decision to revoke his visa "was based on a pile of lies, including the idea that I promote violence".

"My 25-year history of peaceful, prayerful action speaks for itself," he said.

Operation Rescue insisted on its website that he "has never advocated violence and in fact, urges pro-life activists to work within the governmental and legal system to accomplish change".

Mr Newman had an order of costs made against him.

An investigation has been ordered into how Mr Newman managed to board a flight to Australia without a valid visa.

Sources

• The Guardian
• BBC
• The Guardian
• World Magazine
• The Guardian
• Image: Operation Rescue

The apostolic vicar, Bishop Camillo Ballin, said the move is being made because Bahrain is more central and "easily accessible for meetings and conferences of Church officials".

Bahrain's easier visa regime has been suggested as a factor in the vicariate's decision, which has come after several threats to the religious freedom of Christians in the region.

A Kuwaiti member of Parliament, Osama Al-Munawer, said he would submit a bill calling for the removal of all churches in Kuwait. After facing criticism, he later said that existing churches should remain, but he advocated a ban on the construction of any new non-Islamic places of worship.

In March, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah, reportedly said it is "necessary to destroy all the churches of the region" in accord with an ancient rule that only Islam may be practised there.

Shi'ite clerics in Iran are criticising Bahrain's Sunni monarch, King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, for granting the Catholic Church 9000 square metres to build a new church, complaining that he destroyed dozens of Shi'ite mosques during the unrest that erupted there early last year.

In Bahrain the head of the Salafist Asalah party, Abdel Halim Murad, said the building of churches in Islamic lands was "haram" (forbidden) and that the sound of church bells could not be allowed to drown out the call to prayer in the Arabian peninsula, the cradle of Islam.

The vicariate tends to the spiritual needs of around two million Catholics in the Arab Gulf states, the vast majority of them expatriates from the Philippines, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Bahrain already has one Catholic church, built in 1939 and serving about 80,000 Catholics, and shares another place of worship with the Anglican community.

The apostolic nunciature in Kuwait will remain.

Source:

Catholic News Agency

CNSNews.com

Image: Arabian Gazette