The United Nations is pressuring Nicaragua to relax its ban on abortion, according to reports from a Mexican government newsagency. The UN is reported to have urged the Nicaraguan government to allow abortion for so-called therapeutic reasons and in cases of incest and rape. The United States, Mexico, Canada, Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and France are all reported to have supported the move. [LifeSiteNews.com, 9 February] [http://is.gd/84yNs]

Philippines church warns of foreign anti-life pressures

Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, president of the Philippine bishops’ commission on family and life, has criticised efforts by the United States and UN agencies to promote anti-life policies in the Philippines. Those efforts come just months after the Philippines bishops published a catechism on family and life for this year's elections. The catechism instructs Catholics that it is morally impermissible to vote for an anti-life candidate. [CatholicCulture.org, 8 February] [http://is.gd/84F8q]

UN Vatican rep says population growth needed to fight poverty

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations, has said that population growth is needed to overcome poverty. The archbishop refuted the idea that population growth is the cause of poverty and said that the solution can only be found within the workforce. Archbishop Migliore’s words echo those of Pope Benedict earlier this year when he said that population was an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty. [LifeSiteNews.com, 9 February] [http://is.gd/84xUc]

Other stories:

• Archbishop of Canterbury speaks out against assisted suicide
• UN pressures Nicaragua to allow abortion
  
• Philippines church warns of foreign anti-life pressures
• UN Vatican rep says population growth needed to fight poverty
• Pro-life ad airs during US Super Bowl. [EWTN, 9 February] [http://is.gd/84x6X]
• Research in Quebec challenges assisted suicide. [People's Daily Online, 10 February http://is.gd/84Acw]
• Dutch Euthanasia Society promote death for those who are tired of life. [Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, 9 February] [http://is.gd/84FF3]
• Vatican responds to attack from the International Planned Parenthood Federation. [LifeSiteNews.com, 9 February] [http://is.gd/84ysH] 
• Crucial meeting at Pontifical Academy for life [LifeSiteNews.com, 8 February http://is.gd/84zzQ