The head of a commission set up by the Catholic church to investigate accusations of clerical sexual abuse in Belgium has resigned. Academic Peter Adriaenssens tendered his resignation after controversial police raids last week on the headquarters of the Belgian Catholic church, the home of a retired archbishop and the graves of two other archbishops. Adriaenssens said he was quitting and that the commission “had been used as bait”, according to rep-orts in the Belgian media.
The commission’s offices were searched during police raids last week and its case files were seized. Adriaenssens’ computer was also removed by the police.
After a meeting on Monday, members of the commission said they would step down on Thursday, Belgian reports say.
“They could only act in that way with the sentiment that we were in the wrong or that we were trying to conceal the cases. This while I made a point of working in complete transparency,” he is quoted as saying in the Belgian press.
In an address on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI criticised as “surprising and deplorable” the controversial raids conducted by Belgian police investigating alleged child sex abuse.
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India mission in US opens new website
Washington, June 28: The Indian embassy in the US has launched its new website, which contains latest information, frequent update and new netizen-friendly features that would help people to get quick acquaintances with the happening about India, but also Indo-US relationship. The new website — www.Indianembassy.Org [1] — was quietly launched over the weekend; that among other things have added newsletter subscription feature, a useful tool for those Americans and Indian-Americans interested in India and Indo-US relationship. It also has links to YouTube — having links to India and Indo-US related videos — and Wikipedia; but still misses the popular social networking sites like Facebook. —PTI
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No sex please, we’re astronauts: Nasa
Tokyo, June 28: There is no room for romance on board the cosy confines of the International Space Station, a Nasa space shuttle commander said when asked what would happen if astronauts had sex in space.
“We are a group of professionals,” said space shuttle Discovery commander Alan Poindexter during a visit to Tokyo, after a reporter asked about the consequences if astronauts boldly went where probably no others have been. “We treat each other with respect and we have a great working relationship. Personal relationships are not ... an issue,” said a serious-faced Poindexter. Mr Poindexter and his six crew members, including the first Japanese mother in space Naoko Yamazaki, were in Tokyo to talk about their two-week resupply mission to the International Space Station. The April voyage broke new ground by putting four women in orbit for the first time, with three female crew joining one woman already on the station. —AFP
Links:
[1] http://www.Indianembassy.Org