Christians Celebrate Palm Sunday

 

JERUSALEM— Pope Francis kicked off the Christian Holy Week leading up to Easter by celebrating Palm Sunday Mass with pilgrims in Saint Peter's Square Sunday, while observances in Jerusalem have been overshadowed by a wave of unrest. In Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church lamented the "indifference" of the people who he said do not want to take on the responsibility of deciding the destiny of refugees who have overwhelmed Europe. Pope Francis compared them to the local authorities who also washed their hands of Jesus' fate before his crucifixion. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when palm branches were strewn in front of him.  Later, he would be arrested and crucified. Jerusalem In Jerusalem's Old City, Palm Sunday dawned to the sound of bells at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulch. 

In France's Wine Capital, One Man Confronts the City’s Darker Past

 

France’s southwestern city of Bordeaux is best known as a global wine capital, but it was once involved in much grimmer commerce, as France’s second-largest slave trading port. Unlike in some other former slave-trading hubs, there is no massive memorial marking this bleak history, the city has deemed it too costly. But amid rising fears of racism and xenophobia across Europe, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA on a man with a mission to shed more light on the past.

 UN Concerned About Climate Change Pact, Xenophobia Under Trump Administration

 

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s reported aversion to the United Nations has come under fire by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, who expressed concern that a Trump administration could undermine the Paris Climate Change Agreement and U.N. efforts to restrain the growth of xenophobia around the world. Nevertheless, the Swedish diplomat, who will be leaving his post at the end of the year, said he hoped that negative comments made by Trump proved to be exaggerations. “I...

US: Anti-Nazi Resolution at UN Restricts Free Speech

 

The United States was one of three countries to vote against a U.N. resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism on Thursday, citing freedom of speech issues and concerns Russia was using it to carry out political attacks against its neighbors. The resolution entitled “Combating glorification of Nazism, Neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” was approved by the U.N.'s...