South Carolina coach Dawn Staley believes her top-ranked Gamecocks are the women's basketball national champions, even without an NCAA Tournament trophy to put in their display case due to the pandemic-shortened season. The NCAA decided against officially crowning champions after its signature tournaments were called off due to the coronavirus pandemic that has sent much of the world into lock down. Staley spoke from her home where she's spent the past month managing her program and ensuring her players don't linger too much on what they missed.

Medha Uppala, Mark S. Handcock.

Source: The Annals of Applied Statistics, Volume 14, Number 1, 339--356.

Abstract:
This paper focuses on spatial and temporal modeling of point processes on linear networks. Point processes on linear networks can simply be defined as point events occurring on or near line segment network structures embedded in a certain space. A separable modeling framework is introduced that posits separate formation and dissolution models of point processes on linear networks over time. While the model was inspired by spider web building activity in brick mortar lines, the focus is on modeling wildfire ignition origins near road networks over a span of 14 years. As most wildfires in California have human-related origins, modeling the origin locations with respect to the road network provides insight into how human, vehicular and structural densities affect ignition occurrence. Model results show that roads that traverse different types of regions such as residential, interface and wildland regions have higher ignition intensities compared to roads that only exist in each of the mentioned region types.

South East Family History Group (S.A.) -- Periodicals.

Siekmann, Francis Heinrich Ernst, 1830-1917.

Hicks (Family)

South Australia -- Genealogy.

South Australia -- History -- Sources.

Sherwell (Family)

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CNA Staff, Apr 27, 2020 / 11:30 am (CNA).- The number of Catholics in South Korea increased by less than 50,000 in 2019, continuing a trend of slowing growth after a peak following the 2014 apostolic visit by Pope Francis to the country. 

According to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, there are 5.91 million Catholics in South Korea’s 16 dioceses; an increase of 48,000 over to 2018’s total. Catholics make up 11% of the national population. 

Overall, the number of Catholics in the country increased by 0.8%, which is slightly lower than last year’s increase of 0.9%. In recent years, the Catholic population in South Korea has grown by an average of 1% each year. 

Like many countries, South Korea’s Catholic population is aging. About one in five South Korean Catholics are over the age of 65, and only 8.5% of Catholics are age 19 or under. A total of 14% of priests are over the age of 65.

South Korea’s flock saw the largest overall percentage increase in 2014, when it increased by 2.2%. Pope Francis visited the country in August of that year, the third visit by a pope to the country. Pope John Paul II visited South Korea in 1984 and again in 1989, when the country hosted the 44th International Eucharistic Congress.

These numbers come as South Korea is grappling with an outbreak of COVID-19, a disease which has seen much of its spread in the nation come from a single member of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. About half of South Korea’s nearly 11,000 confirmed coronavirus infections stem from “Patient 31,” a member of that church who did not abide by isolation rules after coming down with COVID-19. 

The Catholic Bishops’ Association of Korea refers to Shincheonji Church of Jesus as a “pseudo-religious organization” and a “cult.” The church was founded in 1980 by a man who believes that he is the second coming of Jesus. 

In 2017, the conference created the "Korean Catholic Task Force on Newly-risen Religions” specifically to combat the growing popularity of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. 

Another source of outbreak were 30 Catholic pilgrims who tested positive for the illness after returning to South Korea from a trip to the Holy Land. Korean Air Lines restricted travel to Israel after these infections were discovered.  

South Korea suspended the public celebration of Mass in late February, and re-opened churches--albeit with strict social distancing requirements--on April 26.

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HOLIDAYS may be temporarily on hold, but planning magical trips is still possible. Spontaneity shapes thrilling travel escapades, but there's also a case for careful, methodical planning. Often, the preparation – deciding on a route, reading up about a destination – can be just as enjoyable as the trip itself.

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The associations between food insecurity and child well-being have been well studied on the basis of household levels of food insecurity, as reported by heads of households.

Household measures, however, may not capture gender biases in food insecurity and morbidity. This study assessed adolescents' own experience with food insecurity and how it was associated with morbidity and the effect of gender in this process. (Read the full article)

South Africa’s efforts to foster peace and security have placed it centre stage in some of the continent’s most intractable conflicts. This is an inevitable result of the quest to promote “African solutions for African problems”.

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CNA Staff, Apr 20, 2020 / 10:40 am (CNA).- The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Cape Town, South Africa, was vandalized on Saturday and the tabernacle desecrated. In a statement on the incident, issued on Sunday, an auxiliary bishop of the diocese requested prayers from the faithful and donations to help feed the poor of Cape Town. 

“It is with great sadness and alarm that we confirm the news that has been doing the rounds on Social Media that the Cathedral has been vandalized,” said a message from Bishop Sylvester David, OMI, published Sunday, April 19. David is an auxiliary bishop of the Cape Town archdiocese. 

Bishop David said that various sacred objects had been stolen in the course of the break-in including “a ciborium, a pyx, four silver candelabra, a gold plated chalice, and two gold plated patens.” Money was also taken from the votive offering box, he said.

In addition to the robbery and damage, and more concerning to the Church, the vandalism included Eucharistic desecration.

“The consecrated hosts from the ciborium have been left inside the tabernacle but the host from the pyx has been removed,” said David. “There has been desecration.” 

The vandalism of St. Mary’s Cathedral occurred sometime of the early hours of Saturday, April 18. The damage was reported to the Cape Town Central Police when it was discovered the following day by the cathedral caretaker. 

South African media reported that in addition to the thefts, vandals ripped the tabernacle door off the hinges, and tore up carpets. Media reports estimated that the damage to the cathedral was more than R100,000, approximately $5,400 USD. 

This was the second time the cathedral has been targeted for a break-in.

Bishop David acknowledged that while the archdiocese was itself the victim of a crime, the acts of vandalism and desecration meant that “reparation has to be done,” and that each parish church of the archdiocese would be sent special prayers to offer.

“We request that all the faithful in the Archdiocese to join with the Cathedral parishioners and to engaged in the prayer which will be sent out to the Parish priests for distribution. It is important that the entire local Church engage in this as the Cathedral is the Mother church,” he said. “This prayer does not replace other daily prayers but supplements them.”

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, the Archdiocese of Cape Town suspended the public celebration of Mass on March 17.

Additionally, David requested that those who are able make a donation to the Archdiocese of Cape Town’s account in order to provide food for the poor. 

“We wish to thank you for the many expressions of the faith especially during this difficult time of the shutdown and wish you a meaningful Easter season,” he said. 

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