Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the UnitedKingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines andtrade publications, and a network of award-winning Web sites. Gannettalso operates 23 television stations in the United States and is anInternet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapersincluding USATODAY , one of the most popular news sites on the Web.Contact:John RemesPresident and General Manager(763) 546-1111Copyright 2009, Market Wire, All rights reserved.-0-. DUBLIN (Reuters) – Victims of sexual abuse and neglect in Catholic-run schools and orphanages in Ireland swamped counseling services on Thursday after the publication of the harrowing findings of a nine-year investigation. The Irish government colluded in the silence.A lawsuit by the Christian Brothers led the commission to drop its original intention to name the abusers and no one will be prosecuted as a result.Sexual abuse scandals have rocked the Church around the world. Pope Benedict publicly apologized to victims in Australia last year and met others in the United States in an effort to heal the scars.In 2007, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to 500 victims in the largest compensation deal of its kind. There have been 107 convictions for sexual abuse in Australia.”Australia’s response was quite immediate, quite thorough and very effective,” a source close to the country’s National Committee for Professional Leaders, a group set up by church leaders to deal with abuse cases, told Reuters, comparing it to Ireland’s action.SHOCKING CONTENTSThe report comes on the heels of a spate of scandals about sex-predator priests that have dislodged the Catholic Church from its pre-eminent position in Ireland.
But the depravity revealed in its contents still came as a huge shock.”I think it’s a defining moment in Irish history,” said Father Michael Mernagh who embarked on an eight-day walk for the victims of child sex abuse earlier this year.”It was far more shocking than I imagined. I would ask people to sit down, read it and weep.”Details of ritual humiliation, torture and slave labor were splashed across Ireland’s newspapers. The Irish Times described the report as “the map of an Irish hell” while the tabloid Irish Daily Mirror’s front page simply read “You evil monsters.”Ireland’s President Mary McAleese praised the victims, now mostly in their 50s to 80s, for demanding the truth.”This report utterly vindicates their determination to break that silence,” she said in a statement.But many felt cheated that there will be no prosecutions.”I’m so angry. I should be filled with hope but I’m not,” said Christine Buckley, founder of the Aislinn Center.(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins and Padraic Halpin; Additional reporting by Alison Shine; editing by Robert Woodward) World. * LDK Q1 shr loss $0.21 vs $0.16 loss estimate Stocks * Revenue rose 21.4 pct to $283.3 mln LOS ANGELES, May 21 (Reuters) – Chinese solar wafer makerLDK Solar Co Ltd (LDK.N) on Thursday reported awider-than-expected quarterly net loss as the global creditcrisis dried up funding for renewable energy projects. The first-quarter net loss was $22.5 million, or 21 centsper share. Wall Street analysts, on average, had been expectinga loss of 16 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
The company did not provide comparable figures from thefirst quarter of last year, but a year ago it had reported afirst-quarter profit of $49.8 million, or 45 cents a share. Revenue was $283.3 million, up 21.4 percent from $233.4million a year ago. Analysts had been expecting revenue of$236.6 million, according to Reuters Estimates. LDK said it expected to ship between 200 MW and 220 MW ofwafers in the second quarter It shipped 206 MW in the firstquarter. Earlier on Thursday, LDK adjusted its 2008 financialresults to include a new $87.5 million inventory writedown anda provision of about $12.3 million for prepaid funds tosuppliers that it may not recover, sending the company’s sharesdown sharply.
