Redmond O’Hanlon is often described as the ‘Irish Robin Hood’ or Scotland’s Rob Roy McGregor. Born in Armagh in 1620 he joined the Irish Catholic rebel forces and served under Owen Roe O’Neill at the Irish victory at the battle of Benburb. He fled to France after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland; his families’ lands […]
People who travel to South Korea often say that the most delightful aspect of their visit was the Korean people, who are hospitable, friendly, and “civic minded.” But those notoriously nice people come up way short in one very important aspect: reproducing. In 1960, South Korea’s fertility rate was 6.0. In 2020, it was 0.84. […]
In a rare display of like-mindedness, the New Zealand Parliament a couple of weeks ago unanimously passed a bill adding three days to a working woman’s bereavement leave to cover the miscarriage or still-birth of a child. The new entitlement extends to spouses and partners, including a separated biological parent, to couples adopting an expected […]
District Headquarters Hospital Faisalabad is a 570-bed hospital in the second-largest city in the Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. Like all hospitals in Pakistan, it is under pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has excellent facilities and trained staff. Its modern appearance made it all the more surprising that two Christian nurses have been […]
“It was in an English prison that they led him to his death. ‘I’m dying for my country,’ he said with his last breath. He’s buried in a prison yard, far from his native land And the wild waves sing his Requiem on lonely Banna Strand.” The story of Roger Casement’s landing and capture at Banna […]
Researchers in China and the United States have injected human stem cells into primate embryos and grown chimeric embryos for up to 20 days. Despite ethical concerns, the scientists says that the procedure has potential for providing insights into developmental biology and evolution, into disease and transplants, and into drug development. “As we are unable […]
Bees are important. Very important. They are needed for the pollination of crops, trees, meadows, wild fruits and of course for producing honey.
The Colombian legislature has once again failed to pass a law legalising euthanasia. Earlier this week a bill proposed by representative Juan Fernando Reyes Kuri needed to reach 85 votes in favour, but fell two votes short. Although Colombia is often described as a country where euthanasia is legal, the actual situation is complicated. In 1997 the country’s […]
Refusing a vaccine developed using stem cell lines derived from abortions may further the common good, lead to greater levels of vaccination, and contribute to defeating Covid-19. This appears counter intuitive but it may be part of a virtuous circle that can end embryonic stem cell research and a return to a normal society. […]
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is an enigma to many in the lands formerly known as the “free West.” However, it would behoove us to take note of his opening remarks in his Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly (comparable to the U.S. State of the Union) on February 15, 2021. He began thus: Colleagues, Russia’s future and historical perspective […]
Reporting by David Mullins and Niamh Uí Bhriain _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A new report has confirmed that senior Irish doctors are undergoing “international training” in a controversial late-term abortion method known as Dilation and Evacuation, with a view to carrying out such […]
Hardly a day passes without new descriptions of killing and dying — both fictional and factual — invading our consciences, and yet so many of us still choose to postpone consideration of our own death. The practical neglect of the obvious fact of our mortality seems to be a distinctively post-modern and Western phenomenon that […]