Extremist and criminal violence is on the rise across Northern Africa from Somalia to Nigeria as local security forces face off against gangs and insurgencies they are often ill-equipped to contain.

Film-making in Ireland has been in the shadow of other cultural successes in literature and music. That may all be about to change. At this year’s Academy Awards, there are three movies with strong Irish connections up for Oscar consideration.

Long before the earthquakes in February, the viability of the Christian community in Samandag had been under cultural and economic threat. Many from the city’s minority Christian community had already departed, seeking economic or educational opportunities elsewhere.

The staff and volunteers of Caritas Ukraine accept a double duty—agents of humanitarian aid but also, with their families, victims and targets of conflict themselves.

Ahead of upcoming general elections on Feb. 25 and March 11, Nigerian Catholics want their next national leaders to address the difficult political and socio-economic issues facing the country.

With the first anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine just days away, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church spoke about gratitude and powerlessness in the face of a “blind, absurd, sacrilegious war.”