Pope Francis Calls Exploitation of Nature ‘Sin Of Our Time’

Pope Francis delivers a speech during a meeting with youth of the diocese on July 5, 2014 in Castelpetroso, (AFP Photo / Andreas Solaro)

By Philip Pullella, Reuters – http://tinyurl.com/pbo9s4d

CAMPOBASSO, Italy, July 5 (Reuters) – Pope Francis called for more respect for nature on Saturday, branding the destruction of South America’s rain forests and other forms of environmental exploitation a sin of modern times.

In an address at the university of Molise, an agricultural and industrial region in southern Italy, Francis said the Earth should be allowed to give her fruits without being exploited.

“This is one of the greatest challenges of our time: to convert ourselves to a type of development that knows how to respect creation,” he told students, struggling farmers, and laid-off workers in a university hall.

“When I look at America, also my own homeland (South America), so many forests, all cut, that have become land … that can longer give life. This is our sin, exploiting the Earth and not allowing her to her give us what she has within her,” the Argentine pope said in unprepared remarks.

Francis, who took his name from Francis of Assisi, the 13th century saint seen as the patron of animals and the environment, is writing an encyclical on man’s relationship with nature.

Since his election in March, 2013, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics has made many appeals in defense of the environment.

After the university meeting, Francis said mass for tens of thousands of people in a stadium.

Egypt's Sisi says independence for Iraq's Kurds would be 'catastrophic'

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a joint news conference with Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir (not seen) in Khartoum June 27, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday a referendum on the independence of Iraq's Kurdish region would lead to a "catastrophic" break up of the country, which is facing an onslaught by Sunni Islamist militants.

The comments from Sisi, leader of the most populous Arab nation, indicate a growing fear in the region that the division of Iraq could further empower the insurgents who have declared a "caliphate" on land seized in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

"The referendum that the Kurds are asking for now is in reality no more than the start of a catastrophic division of Iraq into smaller rival states," Egypt's MENA news agency quoted Sisi as saying during a meeting with local journalists.

The president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish north, Massoud Barzani, asked the region's parliament on Thursday to prepare the way for a referendum on independence.

Iraq's five million Kurds, who have ruled themselves in relative peace since the 1990s, have expanded their territory by up to 40 percent in recent weeks as the Sunni Islamist militants seized vast stretches of western and northern Iraq.

Egypt, a traditionally regional diplomatic heavy weight, has been embroiled in domestic turmoil for three years since a 2011 uprising ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.

Sisi said he warned the United States and Europe about the ambitions of the Islamic State militants, which have shortened their name from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

"ISIL had a plan to take over Egypt," Sisi said. "I had warned the United States and Europe from providing any aid to them and told them they will come out of Syria to target Iraq then Jordan then Saudi Arabia."

Sisi, Egypt's former army chief, last year orchestrated the ouster of the state's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who was elected in a free vote, in reaction to mass protests against his rule.

Sisi's interim government that ruled until his election had cracked down on Islamists. Thousands of Islamist activists and members in Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood group have been jailed since Mursi's ouster last July and hundreds of street protesters were killed.

The Muslim Brotherhood group, the state's oldest and most organized movement, is now banned and declared a terrorist organization.

(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Growing fears of 'catastrophic' Iraq breakup

Egypt's president warned the U.S. and Europe about the ambitions of the Islamic State militants.
'ISIL had a plan to take over Egypt' »

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Driven out of their key stronghold in eastern Ukraine, pro-Russia separatists regrouped Sunday in the city of Donetsk, vowing to renew their fight against the government in Kiev before thousands of cheering supporters at a rally.

Ukrainian troops on Saturday forced the rebels out of Slovyansk, a city of about 100,000 that had been the center of the fighting. The government's success there suggested it may finally be making gains in the months-long battle against the insurgency.

President Petro Poroshenko said, while it was not a total victory, purging Slovyansk of the armed insurgents had "incredible symbolic importance."

It was not yet clear, however, whether the rebels have been permanently crippled and their setback will also increase pressure on Russia to do more to help them.

Rebel fighters from Slovyansk and other towns taken over by the Ukrainian army moved freely Sunday around central Donetsk, a city of 1 million and the capital of a region where the separatists have declared independence in the name of the Donetsk People's Republic.

The insurgents control the regional administration building and checkpoints on the city outskirts, but Ukrainian forces demonstrated their superior firepower in repelling a rebel attempt to take control of Donetsk airport in late May. That battle left dozens of rebel fighters dead.

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An Ukrainian government army soldier stands in front of the government building with a Ukrainian fla …

Igor Girkin, the defense minister of the separatist republic, told the Russian television channel Life News on Sunday that he would keep up the fight from Donetsk.

"We will continue the combat operations and will try not to make the same mistakes that we made in the past," said Girkin, a Russian also known by his nom de guerre, Igor Strelkov. Ukrainian authorities have identified him as a veteran of the Russian military intelligence agency.

At the rally Sunday afternoon on a square in Donetsk, people waved flags from Russia and the Donetsk People's Republic.

"We will begin a real partisan war around the whole perimeter of Donetsk," Pavel Gubarev, the self-described governor of the Donetsk People's Republic, told the crowd. "We will drown these wretches in blood."

But he said the insurgents could easily die in Donetsk if Russia did not come to their aid.

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Ukrainian government army soldiers examine weapons captured from rebels in the city of Slovyansk, Do …

They were forced to flee Slovyansk because several commanders had betrayed Girkin and left his forces vulnerable to attack, Gubarev said.

Despite the bravado in the city, the mood was dire Sunday at a rebel checkpoint on the outskirts of Donetsk.

"We will fight to the end because we have nowhere left to retreat," said one of the masked fighters, a 32-year-old former coal miner who would give only his first name, Artyom, due to fears of retaliation. "I don't want to fall into the hands of the Ukrainian authorities, those fascists."

He said the insurgents still hope for help from Russia "but the hope grows weaker with every day."

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of fomenting the insurgency by sending troops and weapons, including tanks and rocket launchers. Moscow has denied providing soldiers or military equipment, saying that Russians fighting in the east are private citizens. The insurgents have shot down Ukrainian aircraft, but the military has a clear superiority in firepower.

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A Ukrainian soldier looks at a part of a wrecked APC at the checkpoint in Krasnyi Lyman, eastern Ukr …

Rebel leaders have pleaded with the Kremlin for military assistance, and some prominent Russian nationalists have taunted President Vladimir Putin for failing to send troops to the Russian-speaking area.

Putin has so far resisted, wary of having more Western sanctions slapped on Russia.

Nina Yakovleva, a 45-year-old accountant and resident of Donetsk, said she expected nothing good to come of the convergence of rebels in the city.

"We are afraid that Donetsk will be left in ruins like Slovyansk," she said. "The rebels have brought us war and fear."

Pro-Russia insurgents also have been fighting Ukrainian troops in the neighboring Luhansk region, which, like Donetsk, sits along the border with Russia.

The insurgency began in mid-April after the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Moscow president in February and Russia's annexation of Crimea in March.

Ukraine says forces will press forward after taking rebel stronghold

Newly-appointed Ukrainian Defence Minister Valery Heletey (C) walks with troops at a temporary base near the city of Slaviansk July 6, 2014. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

By Maria Tsvetkova

SLAVIANSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine's government said it would quickly seize more territory from pro-Russian separatists after re-taking their stronghold of Slaviansk in what President Petro Poroshenko called a turning point in the fight for control of the country's east.

"My order is now in effect - tighten the ring around the terrorists," Poroshenko tweeted on Sunday. "Continue the operation to liberate Donetsk and Luhansk regions," he said, naming Ukraine's two major eastern parts which have boiled with separatist rebellion since April.

There were no immediate figures for casualties caused by the government offensive in Slaviansk, launched after Poroshenko refused to renew a unilateral ceasefire and ordered the resumption of a government offensive on June 30.

In Slaviansk, where Ukrainian forces had been tightening their grip for more than a month, around 200 residents lined up in the city's central square for meat, potatoes, onions and bread distributed by troops.

"Everything is different now. Tonight is the first night with no shelling," said Mikhail Martynenko, 58, a guard at a local market near Slaviansk.

"People are in a better mood and there are more people on the streets. Everyone was afraid. They had no idea when another mortar would come flying," he said.

Under rebel commander Igor Strelkov, a Muscovite declared defence minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Slaviansk had put up some of the fiercest resistance to Ukrainian forces, bringing down at least three military helicopters and one Antonov-30 intelligence plane.

Slaviansk's re-capture represents Kiev's most notable military victory in three months of fighting in which more than 200 Ukrainian troops have been killed as well as hundreds of civilians and rebels.

"This is not full victory. But the clearing out of people armed to the teeth from Slaviansk has huge symbolic importance. It is the beginning of the turning point in the battle with fighters for the territorial integrity of Ukraine," said Poroshenko.

He said hostages held there by the separatists had been released and a significant number of weapons had been seized.

But he said the rebels were re-grouping in other big towns and he was far from euphoric.

"There are further tests ahead."

TESTS AHEAD

Rebel commander Strelkov said between 80 and 90 percent of the rebels in Slaviansk had escaped the city but that a mistake had cost the lives of a number of the militants who had carried out a diversionary attack during the escape, Interfax reported.

Ukrainian forces said they now had full control of Slaviansk and the nearby town of Kramatorsk. Many rebels appeared to have retreated towards Donetsk, the east's main industrial hub where separatists first declared a "people's republic".

Strelkov, whose exact whereabouts are unclear, said he intended to prepare Donetsk for active defence and said the city was "much easier to defend than little Slaviansk".

More than 1,000 pro-Russian separatists and their supporters gathered on Donetsk's central Square on Sunday. The mayoral office warned of armed people in the city.

"On the streets of the city, there is a large number of people in camouflage and weapons. A request to residents: do not enter into conflicts with them and when possible avoid areas where armed people are congregated"

In Slaviansk and neighbouring areas, Andriy Lysenko, a senior official of Ukraine's "anti-terrorist operation", said scores of rebels were surrendering and providing information on locations of rebel units and weapons.

Deputy security council chief Mykhailo Koval said blockades were being prepared around the capitals of the two separatist regions, Donetsk and Luhansk.

"A complete blockade will be carried out on these cities and corresponding actions will lead to the separatists and bandits being forced to lay down their weapons," Interfax reported him as saying.

TALKS OFF

Moscow, which has already come under economic sanctions from the West, denies Western and Ukrainian accusations it has been backing the insurrection, possibly with a view to dismembering the former Soviet republic.

The uprisings in eastern Ukraine erupted in April as rebels took over state buildings, built a powerful arsenal of seized weapons and declared their independence from Kiev, calling the pro-European government in Kiev illegitimate.

The crisis began when street protests ousted Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich in late February for rejecting a landmark political and trade deal with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia.

Russia subsequently annexed Crimea and separatist revolts against the new Kiev authorities broke out with rebels declaring "people's republics" and saying they wanted to join Russia.

(Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kiev, Writing By Richard Balmforth and Thomas Grove; editing by Ralph Boulton)

More than 60 girls and women kidnapped by Nigeria's Boko Haram have escaped their captors, a security source told Agence France Presse on Sunday.

The women who escaped had been abducted from Kummabza village in late June. Boko Haram is still holding more than 200 schoolgirls abducted about two months ago from a school in Chibok.

Abbas Gava, a local vigilante who has been working with Nigerian security officials, told AFP that the women made a break for it late Friday when the militants left to stage an attack. An anonymous high-level security source confirmed the escape to AFP.

Nigerian news website Premium Times earlier reported the escape, also citing an anonymous top security officer, though that report seems to no longer be accessible on its website.