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The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Cuban minister under pressure for saying country has no beggars
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana, Cuba August 10, 2018. Picture taken August 10, 2018. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo/File Photo HAVANA (Reuters) -Cuba's labor minister denied there are beggars in the poor, Communist-run country in official testimony, prompting rare criticism by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel of one of his own ministers on Tuesday. "We have seen people who appear to be beggars, but when you look at their hands, when you look at the clothes those people wear, they are disguised as beggars ... In Cuba, there are no beggars,' Labor and Social Security Minister Marta Elena Feito said on Monday, while testifying before a commission of parliament. 'They have found an easy way of life, to make money and not to work as is appropriate,' she said in a statement broadcast live on state television. Her words struck a nerve in Cuba, where years of crisis marked by runaway inflation and scarcity of basic goods have left large swaths of the population living day-to-day and a small, but increasing number of visibly impoverished people on the street, 'These people, who we sometimes describe as homeless or linked to begging, are actually concrete expressions of the social inequalities and the accumulated problems we face,' Diaz-Canel told the same commission on Tuesday. 'I do not share some of the criteria expressed in the commission on this issue,' he said. Feito characterized people wiping windshields on street corners as possibly looking for money to get drunk, and those picking through garbage as unlicensed self-employed recyclers dodging taxes. "The economic crisis has exacerbated social problems … the vulnerable are not our enemies,' Diaz-Canel said. The minister was not seen during broadcasts of Tuesday's parliament session. (Reporting by Marc Frank, additional reporting by Nelson Acosta; Editing by Rod Nickel)
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Church of England votes to remove outdated document on sexuality from clergy selection
LONDON (Reuters) -The Church of England's governing body voted on Tuesday to do away with requiring those who want to become clergy to agree to a 1991 document on sexuality, saying some of the assumptions in the paper now appeared prejudicial and offensive. The document, titled "Issues in Human Sexuality," described "homosexual practice as especially dishonourable" and called on homosexual Christians to lead a life of abstinence. The mother church of 85 million Anglicans worldwide said the decision, which marks another step towards making the Anglican faith more inclusive for the LGBTQ+ community, was independent of the ongoing "Living in Love and Faith" process that is exploring sexuality and marriage. The CoE's decision to allow blessings for same-sex couples in 2023 deepened divisions both at home, where it is the established church, and in Anglican strongholds in Africa and Asia, where homosexuality remains illegal in some countries. The motion to change the vocations process was passed overwhelmingly at a meeting of the General Synod, made up of bishops, clergy and laity, the CoE said. It added that the move does not alter the Church's doctrine. The paper was originally intended as a teaching document, but had assumed a more definitive role to set out expected conduct within the Church's discernment and vocations process. The 48-page document states that "homophile orientation and its expression in sexual activity do not constitute a parallel and alternative form of human sexuality as complete within the terms of the created order as the heterosexual." "A paper introducing the item to Synod members noted that the tone, language, and some of the assumptions in 'Issues' are now contextually inappropriate, and appear prejudicial and offensive to many people," the CoE statement said. Charles Bączyk-Bell, an openly gay Anglican priest from London, said the document was dated even at the time of publication, and that it had been used to screen people out of the ordination pathway. "Now it has gone ... it opens the way for liberalisation of the church's policy on same sex relationships and means we can stop using it as a kind of reference text,' he told Reuters. (Reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
The Star
4 hours ago
- The Star
X hit by complaints to EU over user data and targeted advertising
FILE PHOTO: X logo, EU flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Elon Musk's X social media platform has been hit by complaints by nine civil society organisations to EU and French regulators over what they say is its use of users' data for targeted advertising that may breach EU tech rules. The organisations - AI Forensics, the Centre for Democracy and Technology Europe, Entropy, European Digital Rights, Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V. (GFF), Global Witness, Panoptykon Foundation, Stichting Bits of Freedom and VoxPublic said they took their complaint to the European Commission and the French media regulator Arcom on Monday. They urged both regulators to take action under the Digital Services Act (DSA) which prohibits advertising based on sensitive user data such as religion, race and sexuality. X, the Commission and Arcom did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. "We express our deep concern regarding the use by X of users' sensitive personal data for targeted advertisements," the organisations said in a statement. They said their concerns were triggered after they looked into X's Ad Repository which is a publicly available database set up by companies as part of a DSA requirement. "We found that major brands as well as public and financial institutions engaged in targeted online advertising based on what appear to be special categories of personal data, protected by Article 9 of the GDPR, such as political opinions, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and health conditions," they said. The group called on the regulators to investigate X. GDPR refers to the EU data privacy law. (Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
