SIGHT-SEEING: WHERE HAVE ALL THE SAD SONGS GONE?
US writer, pastor, and runner MARTY DUREN, in an article first published on Religion News Service, wonders where all the songs of lament have gone…
Belfast bakery did not discriminate by refusing pro-gay cake slogan, UK’s highest court rules
A Belfast bakery’s refusal to bake a cake bearing a pro-gay slogan was not discriminatory, the UK’s highest court ruled on Wednesday. Ashers Bakery was found guillty of discrimination in 2015 after refusing the previous year to make a cake with the words ‘Support Gay Marriage’ on it, having explained they couldn’t do so because […]
Climate disasters cause global economic losses to soar, says UN
Thomson Reuters Foundation Economic losses caused by climate-related disasters have soared by about two and a half times in the last 20 years, the United Nations said on Wednesday. From 1998 to 2017, direct losses from all disasters totalled $US2.9 trillion, of which 77 per cent was due to extreme weather that is intensifying as […]
STRANGESIGHTS: SEA MONSTER APPEARS IN PHILLY; A SHREDDED BANKSY; AND, GECKO DIALS UP A STORY…
DAVID ADAMS reports on the odder side of life…
Mother’s Union elects first non-Brit as worldwide president
Global Anglican mission organisation Mother’s Union has elected its first ever worldwide president from outside the UK. Sheran Harper, who was born in the UK but now lives in Guyana, will take over the post from Lynne Tembey at the start of 2019. “I am delighted to accept the role of worldwide president for the new […]
“Unforgivable” that more than 440 homeless died in UK in a year say charities
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Research showing that 449 homeless people died in Britain last year, many while sleeping rough, exposed a “horrifying” and “unforgivable” housing crisis, charities said on Tuesday. A former soldier, a quantum physicist and a travelling musician were among the dead, aged between 18 and 94, who lost their lives on the streets, […]
US black clergy, critiquing the national divide, announce plan to forge their own path
Washington, DCRNS Representatives of two black Baptist denominations, the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the National Baptist Convention USA, declared on Tuesday that they would stand apart from white liberals and conservatives alike while seeking to address a politically divided nation. Rejecting the “politics of fear” they say has taken hold in this election season, […]
HOUSING: US TAKES NOTE AS DC-AREA CHURCHES CREATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING
CAREY L BIRON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how churches are using surplus land to create low-income housing in the US…
Nigeria, Singapore and India fuel wealth gap – Oxfam
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Nigeria, Singapore and India are among countries fuelling the gap between the super-rich and poor, aid agency Oxfam said on Tuesday as it launched an index spotlighting those nations doing least to bridge the divide. South Korea, Georgia and Indonesia were among countries praised for trying to reduce inequality, through policies on […]
ESSAY: HOW THE LOSS OF NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES AFFECTS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURAL WORLD
In an article first published on The Conversation, ROSALYN R LAPIER, of The University of Montana, says the loss of languages “can be considered as extreme as the extinction of a plant or an animal”…