Forty-five women from around the world begin their trek on 9 April to Mt. Everest Base Camp and summit of Kala Patthar Peak in Nepal.

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- The Republic of Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission has decided that an atheist child was discriminated against by his Catholic school when students were rewarded for attending a religious ceremony.

The commission, an independent, quasi-judicial forum, ruled that the Yellow Furze National School in County Meath had discriminated against an atheist student.

Early in the 2019 school year, the students had been promised a homework pass if they took part in the choir during a First Communion ceremony

The boy’s mother complained, but the school defended its policy.

"Any student, regardless of his/her religion in our school who opted not to participate in this extracurricular event was not 'rewarded,'" the school said, according to the Irish Post last year.

The school added that children of any religion were able to participate in the choir, and that the claim of discrimination was thus “wholly unfounded.”

The commission said the school “does not appreciate this action had an adverse effect on students who are not of a Catholic faith,” the Irish Times reported.

His mother said that "on that day my son was the only child in the class who was not participating. He was also the only non-Catholic child in the class." She added that “he came out of school crying.”

“We are atheist and this is not a choice that is open to him,” she said.

The Irish Post reported in 2019 that the boy was one of two pupils in his class of 33 to receive homework instead of attending the choir ceremony.

According to the commission the boy’s parents were “deeply hurt and upset” by the school.

“We felt that the school had disregarded the fact that we have a different set of beliefs,” the mother told RTE News. “We felt that our child had been singled out and punished for not being a Catholic,” and she added that she hoped the ruling would “change things for children here who are not Catholic".

The mother has since enrolled her son in a different school.

The commission ordered the school to pay €5,000 and demanded the school review its policies so it complies with the Equal Status Acts. The school will also have to post a memo of its compliance in a noticeable location within the school.

The mother told RTE News she will return the €5,000 to the school, “because it will be our friends and our neighbours who will be funding it, through school fundraising. We have been vindicated, but we feel that it would be wrong to accept this money.”

Catholic schools in Ireland make up 90% of all primary schools in the country, the Irish Times reported. The ruling is likely to affect how other schools promote and organize religious events.

A 20-year-old man, who suffered from addictions and domestic violence, accepted Christ into his life during the OM Mexico July outreach in Huatulco, Oaxaca.

Young Mexicans are challenged to do their part in missions during a conference in August, in which OM participated.

Veracruz, Mexico :: Logos Hope is welcomed to Mexico with fanfare and excitement as people get behind the endeavour of sharing knowledge, help and hope.

Tampico, Mexico :: Children visiting Logos Hope learn that spreading love and helping others can make the world a better place.

Tampico, Mexico :: Logos Hope's international crewmembers perform their onboard theatre show entirely in Spanish for the first time.

Ethnomusicologists visited a North African country to help local singers and a Sudanese Nubian believer write a worship song in his language and style.

OM Ships’ Logos Hope is back in the water after 90-day dry dock marathon but more work is needed to sail again.

After eight months of maintenance and improvements to prepare the vessel for future service, Logos Hope sets sail from Subic Bay, Philippines.

Name: Caleb Epp Home: La Ronge, Canada Born in: May 1986 Joined OM Ships: February 2013 Previous employment: Carpenter ​Current job on board: Maintenance team member

With a team of 6 people, OM Peru recently went on an outreach to an area called Alto Piura.

If the coronavirus breaks as bad we fear, a lot more people are going to be working from home. These business messaging apps can help teams stay in touch, and stay productive, even if they can't come in to the office.

Vatican City, May 6, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- The coronavirus crisis can be an opportunity to recenter work on the dignity of each person, Pope Francis said in an appeal at the end of his general audience broadcast on Wednesday. 

“On May 1, I received several messages about the world of work and its problems. I was particularly struck by that of the agricultural workers, among them many migrants, who work in the Italian countryside. Unfortunately, many are very harshly exploited,” Pope Francis said May 6.

“It is true that the current crisis affects everyone, but people's dignity must always be respected. That is why I add my voice to the appeal of these workers and of all exploited workers. May the crisis give us the opportunity to make the dignity of the person and of work the center of our concern,” he said. 

Amid fears of a food shortage, the Italian government is currently discussing whether to legalize some undocumented migrant workers. These workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation with illegal contracts that can pay less than half of Italy’s minimum wage for the agricultural sector.

May 1 is recognized as Labor Day in Italy and many countries throughout Europe, however it is not an official holiday in the Vatican, which instead celebrates the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, established by Pope Pius XII in 1955.

On the feast day, the pope asked St. Joseph to help Catholics fight for dignified work. He prayed that “no one might be without work and all might be paid a just wage.”

Pope Francis said in his Wednesday audience that prayer is “a cry that comes for the heart of those who believe and entrust themselves to God.” The pope began a new cycle of weekly catechesis on May 6 focused on prayer. 

“Not only do Christians pray, they share the cry of prayer with all men and women. But the horizon can still be widened. Paul says that the whole creation ‘groans and suffers the pains of childbirth,’” he said, quoting St. Paul’s letter to the Romans.

“The Catechism states that ‘humility is the foundation of prayer,’” the pope said. “Prayer … comes from our precarious state, from our continuous thirst for God.”

Pope Francis focused his catechesis on the Gospel account of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar from Jericho.

Bartimaeus “uses the only weapon in his possession: his voice. He starts shouting: ‘Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me,’” the pope explained.

“And Jesus listens to his cry. Bartimaeus' prayer touches his heart, the heart of God, and the doors of salvation are opened for him,” he said. “He recognizes in that poor, helpless, despised man, all the power of his faith, which attracts the mercy and power of God.”

“Stronger than any argument, there is a voice in the human heart that calls out. We all have this voice inside. A voice that comes out spontaneously, without anyone commanding it, a voice that questions the meaning of our journey down here, especially when we are in the dark: ‘Jesus, have mercy on me! Jesus, have mercy on me!’ This is a beautiful prayer,” Pope Francis said.

Stephen Brandon takes on the role of national director for OM New Zealand after serving as OM’s International Web Manager for six years.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:

Use of specific services may help to optimize health for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, little is known about their service use patterns. We aimed to (1) define service use groups and (2) determine associations of sociodemographic, developmental, behavioral, and health characteristics with service use groups among school-aged children with ASD.

Research suggests that the prevalence of obesity in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is higher than in typically developing children. The US Preventive Services Task Force and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have endorsed screening children for overweight and obesity as part of the standard of care for physicians. However, the pediatric provider community has been inadequately prepared to address this issue in children with ASD. The Healthy Weight Research Network, a national research network of pediatric obesity and autism experts funded by the US Health Resources and Service Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau, developed recommendations for managing overweight and obesity in children with ASD, which include adaptations to the AAP’s 2007 guidance. These recommendations were developed from extant scientific evidence in children with ASD, and when evidence was unavailable, consensus was established on the basis of clinical experience. It should be noted that these recommendations do not reflect official AAP policy. Many of the AAP recommendations remain appropriate for primary care practitioners to implement with their patients with ASD; however, the significant challenges experienced by this population in both dietary and physical activity domains, as well as the stress experienced by their families, require adaptations and modifications for both preventive and intervention efforts. These recommendations can assist pediatric providers in providing tailored guidance on weight management to children with ASD and their families.

OBJECTIVES:

Our goals for this study were to characterize the frequency of agitation in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) admitted to an inpatient pediatric medical unit and to identify risk factors associated with agitation.

Family involvement in the Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health, the Autism Treatment Network, and the Autism Learning Health Network, jointly the Autism Networks, has evolved and grown into a meaningful and robust collaboration between families, providers, and researchers. Family involvement at the center of the networks includes both local and national network-wide coproduction and contribution. Family involvement includes actively co-authoring research proposals for large grants, equal membership of network committees and workgroups, and formulating quality improvement pathways for local recruitment efforts and other network initiatives. Although families are involved in every aspect of network activity, families have been the driving force of specifically challenging the networks to concentrate research, education, and dissemination efforts around 3 pillar initiatives of addressing comorbidities of anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and irritability in autism during the networks’ upcoming funding cycle. The expansion of the networks’ Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes program is an exciting network initiative that brings best practices in autism care to community providers. As equal hub members of each Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes team, families ensure that participants are intimately cognizant of family perspectives and goals. Self-advocacy involvement in the networks is emerging, with plans for each site to have self-advocacy representation by the spring of 2020 and ultimately forming their own coproduction committee. The Autism Treatment Network, the Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health, and the Autism Learning Health Network continue to be trailblazing organizations in how families are involved in the growth of their networks, production of meaningful research, and dissemination of information to providers and families regarding emerging work in autism spectrum disorders.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common female reproductive disorder that often manifests during adolescence and is associated with disruptions in health-related quality of life. Prompt evaluation and clinical support after diagnosis may prevent associated complications and optimize overall health management. This article incorporates the most recent evidence and consensus guidelines to provide an updated review of the pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnostic evaluation, and management strategies for adolescents with this complex condition. We will review the recent international guidelines on PCOS; because the diagnosis of PCOS remains controversial, management of this condition is inconsistent. In 2019, PCOS remains a common, yet neglected, condition, in part, because of the lack of agreement around both diagnosis and management.

In response to the growing impact of the current opioid public health crisis in the United States on adolescents and young adults, pediatricians have an expanding role in identifying opioid use early, preventing escalation of risky use, reducing opioid-related harms, and delivering effective therapies. Research and expert consensus suggest the use of brief interventions focused on reducing risks associated with ongoing opioid use and using motivational interviewing strategies to engage youth in treatment. Because fatal opioid overdose remains a major cause of opioid-related mortality among youth, delivering overdose education as part of any visit in which a youth endorses opioid use is one evidence-based strategy to decrease the burden of opioid-related mortality. For youth that are injecting opioids, safe injection practices and linkage to needle or syringe exchanges should be considered to reduce complications from injection drug use. It is crucial that youth be offered treatment at the time of diagnosis of an opioid use disorder (OUD), including medications, behavioral interventions, and/or referral to mutual support groups. The 2 medications commonly used for office-based OUD treatment in adolescents are extended-release naltrexone (opioid antagonist) and buprenorphine (partial opioid agonist), although there is a significant treatment gap in prescribing these medications to youth, especially adolescents <18 years of age. Addiction is a pediatric disease that pediatricians and adolescent medicine physicians are uniquely poised to manage, given their expertise in longitudinal, preventive, and family- and patient-centered care. Growing evidence supports the need for integration of OUD treatment into primary care.

St. Patrick's Day celebrates the patron saint of Ireland known for bringing Christianity to Ireland. Hundreds of years later, OM Ireland brings the same message.

To present the true meaning of Christmas, OM Ireland’s creative arts team performs a multimedia production in schools, churches and community centres around Ireland.

Brandy and her daughter Alexia (USA) went to Ireland for a two-week outreach and left impacted just as much as they'd impacted others.

Team members of MAP Australia seek to live out the message of the Gospel to all people, no matter how sympathetic or opposed.

OM Ukraine team gets excited about church planting in a northern Odessa province after participating in a Bus4Life outreach in the area.

Participants from around the world learnt to speak the language of love and laughter during an outreach to the indigenous tribes in Panama.

Meanwhile, back on the farm - a thriving trade in agri futures.

IF there's one thing that online news proves without any shadow of uncertainty, it's that there's no knowing what will capture the popular imagination.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that institutional investors in South Africa and across the globe are starting to take their ownership rights more seriously.

OM EAST, in partnership with OM Bosnia, is getting ready for their annual Schoolbags Project in north-west Bosnia-Herzegovina this summer.

A Crimean Tatar man shares how he gained courage and learnt vital truths through reading Into the Den of the Infidels, produced by OM EAST.

OM EAST offers a special start to the new school term for hundreds of children in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Graphic designers, translators and distributors from 130 organisations meet to develop media for minority languages in Eurasia.

This summer nearly 1,000 Roma children in Roma villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe heard the Gospel.

THE LTA has today announced a multi-million pound package of additional funding and measures to support those involved in tennis in Britain through the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

SIR Andy Murray has sent a heartfelt message to NHS staff for their heroic work during the coronavirus crisis.

ONE of the biggest sporting scandals of all time was just about to erupt in the USA 100 years ago this month. It was in the spring of 1920 that a persistent rumour engulfed the Chicago White Sox baseball team.

WHILE almost every athlete has been affected by the global shutdown of sport, it is perhaps the old and the young who are feeling it the most.

Against the backdrop of the global corona crisis and a collapse in flight operations, the Supervisory Board today set the important course for the development of the airport company after commissioning BER.

Due to overwhelming response, Magnum Tonic Wine has expanded its TekChargeAYard Dance Challenge to Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and The Grenadines, and Guyana.The challenge was initially open to participants from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

NEW YORK, USA (AP) — Queen Latifah, Rebecca Breeds, and Thomas Middleditch are set to star in three new CBS shows for the 2020-21 season as the network adds a reimagined Equalizer, a show based on The Silence of the Lambs and a comedy about organ donation.

A group of Costa Ricans visit a local church in an indigenous region of the country and bring encouragement by serving.

Choose a fragrant gift for your gardening mum, whether it's plants, flowers or botanicals. Hannah Stephenson sniffs out 10 ideas.

By Kristy Dorsey

The 64GB Wi-Fi model is currently on sale for $459 at Walmart (down from $499.99).

IF you’re under 40, or as I like to call it these days, "pre-arthritis", you probably won’t remember the dark days of malbec when you had a 50-50 chance of opening something that would be as rough as sandpaper.

PLANS for league reconstruction have been scrapped after Ladbrokes Premiership clubs indicated there isn't enough support for the proposed changes at this time.