---
title: "Vatican dodges UN sex abuse questions, and other stories &#8211; our morning round-up"
date: "2013-12-04T08:29:36+00:00"
modified: "2013-12-04T08:29:36+00:00"
url: "https://rationalists.org.uk/2013/12/04/vatican-dodges-un-sex-abuse-questions-and-other-stories-our-morning-round-up/"
post_id: 6050
categories: ["Uncategorised"]
---

# Vatican dodges UN sex abuse questions, and other stories – our morning round-up

[Vatican dodges UN sex abuse questions](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/vatican-dodges-un-sex-abuse-questions/2013/12/03/918ea7c0-5c59-11e3-8d24-31c016b976b2_story.html)

The Vatican on Tuesday dodged a series of questions posed by a U.N. committee about clerical sexual abuse by noting that the Holy See doesn’t control the actions of every Catholic in the world. The Vatican’s position was laid out in a response to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child about its implementation of the 1989 U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child. (Washington Post)

[UK ‘stagnates’ in global school test](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25187997)

The UK is falling behind global rivals in international tests taken by 15-year-olds, failing to make the top 20 in maths, reading and science. (BBC)

[Arafat did not die of poisoning, French tests conclude](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/03/us-palestinians-arafat-idUSBRE9B20DI20131203)

Yasser Arafat was not the victim of poisoning, French forensic scientists concluded on Tuesday, countering a Swiss report on the 2004 death of the Palestinian leader that found he was probably killed with radioactive polonium.The French conclusions were immediately challenged by his widow, Suha Arafat. A senior Palestinian official dismissed the report as “politicised”. (Reuters)

[Hezbollah militant killed in Beirut](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25211759)

One of the leaders of Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah has been killed near Beirut, the group says. Hassan Lakkis was “assassinated” near his home in Hadath – 7km (4.3 miles) south-east of the Lebanese capital, Hezbollah TV channel Al-Manar said. Hezbollah blamed Israel for his death. Israel has not commented. (BBC)

[Signs of water found on 5 alien planets by Hubble Telescope](http://www.space.com/23814-alien-planets-water-hubble-telescope.html)

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has detected water in the atmospheres of five planets beyond our solar system, two recent studies reveal.The five exoplanets with hints of water are all scorching-hot, Jupiter-size worlds that are unlikely to host life as we know it. But finding water in their atmospheres still marks a step forward in the search for distant planets that may be capable of supporting alien life, researchers said. (Space.com)