Millions could avoid deadly fever if world limits warming
Thomson Reuters Foundation More than three million cases of dengue fever, the world’s fastest-spreading tropical disease, could be avoided annually if global warming is capped at 1.5 degrees Celsius, said a study that purports to be the first to show the health benefits of a cooler planet. The mosquito-borne viral infection causes flu-like symptoms and […]
Australian aid agencies welcome review of how the sector prevents and responds to sexual misconduct
Aid agencies in Australia have welcomed a review into the way organisations in the sector identify, respond and prevent sexual misconduct. The independent review was launched last week by umbrella organisation, the Australian Council for International Development, and will be carried out by staff from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. It comes after reports of […]
It says grace, can pray and even finds your nearest church – meet the Church of England’s new Alexa “skill”
The Church of England has developed a new “skill” for Amazon’s Alexa personal assistant meaning the device, when asked, can now read the denomination’s prayer of the day, pinpoint the nearest church and answer basic questions about the Christian faith. The skill, which is activated by the words “Alexa, open the Church of England” and […]
UN agency seeks to marry “social good and profit making”
Thomson Reuters Foundation A United Nations body is offering $US40,000 for the best designed affordable housing for low-income workers at an industrial zone in Cambodia’s capital, as part of its strategy to encourage investment in sustainable development worldwide. The UN Development Programme’s SDG Impact Finance (UNSIF) aims to create 3,000 units of housing in a […]
ESSAY: IRISH VOTE SHOWS NEED FOR NEW PRO-LIFE STRATEGY
Writing from the US, Jesuit priest, THOMAS REESE, in an article first published by Religion News Service, reflects on the outcome of the Irish referendum on abortion…
POSTCARDS: SPIRITUALITY IN THE SUBURBS – THE LONDON DISTRICT UNITING FAITHS
ADELA SULIMAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, on how religious communities are coming together in London’s west…
New ruling in Russia could reduce prosecutions under “anti-missionary” law
World Watch Monitor Lawyers working for Christian and other minority religious organisations in Russia have welcomed a Constitutional Court ruling over the country’s so-called “anti-missionary law”, reports regional news agency Forum 18. The March ruling helps to partially clarify what is missionary activity. It stated that “giving information about religious events would constitute an ‘offence’ only if it […]