FINLAND
Jobless to get $587 a month
Finland has become the first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587), in a unique social experiment that aims to cut government red tape, reduce poverty and boost employment. Olli Kangas from the Finnish government agency KELA said Monday that the two-year trial kicked off Jan. 1, with 2,000 randomly picked citizens receiving the unemployment benefits. The trial aims to discourage people’s fears “of losing out something,” Kangas said, adding that the selected persons would continue to receive the 560 euros even after receiving a job.
VATICAN CITY
Pope: No tolerance for abuse
Pope Francis has exhorted Catholic bishops worldwide to do what’s needed to ensure children are protected from sexual abuse by clergy. The Vatican on Monday released the text of a Dec. 28 letter Francis sent to bishops about injustices to children. They included slave labor, malnutrition, lack of education and sexual exploitation, including abuse by priests. In the letter, Francis decried “the sufferings, the experiences and pain of minors who were abused sexually by priests.” “It is a sin that shames us,” the pope wrote. Francis also asked bishops for “complete commitment to ensuring that these atrocities will no longer take place in our midst.”
INDIA
Election strategy outlawed
India’s top court on Monday ruled that election candidates cannot use religion or caste to seek votes, describing them as corrupt practices under electoral laws. India has a Hindu-nationalist government, and most political parties select candidates in various districts based on caste and religious considerations to influence voting. The ruling is significant as it comes months before elections in Uttar Pradesh state where dominant campaign issues are caste affiliations and the building of a Hindu temple in place of a 16th century mosque demolished by Hindu hard-liners.
MYANMAR
Officers might be punished
Myanmar’s government said Monday that it would take action against police officers who were shown in a video beating villagers in western Rakhine state, where tens of thousands of minority Muslims are fleeing a military crackdown. The statement was a rare official acknowledgment of abuses in Rakhine, home to a large Muslim population known as the Rohingya, who have long suffered persecution.
Compiled from wire reports