Fears for ‘stateless’ Myanmar workers in Thailand as deadline looms
Thomson Reuters Foundation Thousands of Muslim migrant workers from Myanmar risk being fined and deported from Thailand after June 30, under a new law that campaigners say may increase abuse and trafficking. Under Thai regulations issued last year, migrant workers have until Saturday to register, using a Certificate of Identity issued by their home country, […]
Iranian Christian woman pleads with UN to help family overturn “false and unjust” spy charges
World Watch Monitor An Iranian Christian woman pleaded with the UN’s Human Rights Council this week to urge Iran to overturn “false and baseless charges” imposed on her father, mother and brother. Dabrina Bet-Tamraz’s parents and brother are appealing against lengthy jail sentences they have received for church-related activities. The appeal by her father, Victor […]
ON THE SCREEN: THE SOMETIMES CONFRONTING, SOMETIMES INSPIRING, HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
NILS VON KALM looks at Australia’s Centre for Public Christianity’s documentary, ‘For the Love of God: How the Church is Better and Worse Than You Ever Imagined’…
More parents trade girls for cows as war and climate change hit east Africa
Thomson Reuters Foundation Child marriage is increasing in parts of war-torn South Sudan and drought-hit Kenya as parents swap their daughters for cows and goats to survive, campaigners said on Wednesday. Africa accounts for nine out of the 10 countries with the highest rates of underage unions globally, advocacy group Girls Not Brides said, with […]
Pakistanis hopeful as Pope Francis elevates country’s second-ever cardinal
RNS Pakistan’s second-ever cardinal of the Catholic Church is slated to be installed on Friday. In May, Pope Francis tapped Archbishop of Karachi Joseph Coutts to be among 14 new cardinals. Coutts would be only the second Pakistani cardinal, after Joseph Cordeiro, who was named by Pope Paul VI in 1973 and died in 1994. […]
RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE: IN EUROPE, RELIGIOUS MINORITIES FACE MOUNTING HOSTILITY, HARASSMENT
TOM HENEGAN, of Religion News Service, reports on how religious minorities including Muslims and Jews are facing rising antagonism in Europe…
Death toll from weekend of violence in Nigeria’s Plateau state more than 200, not 86 originally claimed, say sources
The death toll from those killed in a weekend of violence in Nigeria’s Plateau state is much higher than the officially released figure of 86, sources have told Morning Star News. That was the figure released by police in Jos following the attacks on Saturday. But the news agency said based on information from residents […]
GREAT PRAYERS: ‘PHOS HILARON’ (‘HAIL GLADDENING LIGHT’)
Actually a hymn – in fact said to be the earliest known hymn recorded outside the Bible still in use, the Phos Hilaron is at its essence a powerful daily prayer of thanks to God. DAVID ADAMS takes a look…
“Things have not changed”: Mother of gang rape victim backs India’s rank as “most dangerous for women”
Thomson Reuters Foundation The mother of a female student who was gang raped and killed on a Delhi bus more than five years ago supported a Thomson Reuters Foundation poll of experts on Wednesday that ranked India as the world’s most dangerous country for women. India topped the survey of 548 experts in women’s issues […]