This day was created by Emojipedia to celebrate the use of emojis. An emoji is a small digital image or icon used to convey an idea or emotion. They are different from emoticons which use characters rather than images, for example the smiley face emoticon is :). Emojis are commonly used in text messages and… Read More »World Emoji Day
The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office's kit for Migrant and Refugee Sunday 2021 is now available: https://www.acmro.catholic.org.au/resources/migrant-refugee-kit The theme for this year is, Towards an ever wider 'we'. Migrant and Refugee Sunday is celebrated in Australia on the last Sunday in September. This brings the practice of the Church in Australia into line with… Read More »Migrant and Refugee Sunday
The Nobel Prize website explains that Peace Prze Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is "the daughter of the legendary liberation movement leader Aung San. Following studies abroad, she returned home in 1988. From then on, she led the opposition to the military junta that had ruled Burma since 1962. She was one of the founders… Read More »1988: Formation of Burma’s National League for Democracy by Aung San Suu Kyi
"On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders. East and West Berliners flocked to… Read More »1989: Opening of the Berlin Wall
On this day in 1995, writer and human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed in Nigeria despite worldwide pleas for clemency. The country's military rulers ordered the execution of Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight other dissidents. BBC On This Day
On November 12, 1991, 271 unarmed and peaceful protesters were massacred by Indonesian troops at Santa Cruz Cemetery in Dili, the capital of Timor Leste. 250 people are still listed as missing. Timorese protesters attended Mass at Motael Church on the morning of the massacre to honour and remember Sebastião Gomes, a fellow protester, who had been killed by the Indonesian military on October 28. The protesters then walked two kilometres in procession to Santa Cruz Cemetery where they were met by an unprovoked assault… Read More »1991: Dili Massacre, Timor-Leste: more than 271 people killed
In the early hours on 16 November 1989, six Jesuit priests, a cook and her 16-year-old daughter were shot and killed at the Pastoral Centre of José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador. The victims were Fathers Ignacio Ellacuría, Rector of the University; Ignacio Martín-Baró, Vice-Rector; Segundo Montes, Director of the Human… Read More »1989: Murder of six Jesuit priests and two co-workers in El Salvador
The morning star flag was first raised in West Papua 60 years ago on 1 December. The flag was raised by West Papua legislators promised independence, however, Indonesia invaded the area in 1962 and since then the flag has been a sign of resistance and outlawed. The day is usually celebrated with marches, prayer services and flag raising services, however, there is currently an outbreak of violence in West Papua. Peter Arndt speaks to the current situation.
The Indian Ocean tsunami traveled as much as 3,000 miles (nearly 5,000 km) to Africa, arriving with sufficient force to kill people and destroy property. The epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake was under the Indian Ocean near the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to the USGS, which monitors earthquakes worldwide.… Read More »2004: Devastating tsunami in South Asia, killing 200,000 to 300,000 people