OPEN BOOK – PAUL’S FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY: PUBLIC PRAYER
BRUCE C WEARNE tackles what has been to some, a controversial passage, in I Timothy 2…
Christian politician in Indonesia accused of blasphemy for opposing Sharia-based bylaws
World Watch Monitor A young Christian politician has been accused of blasphemy in Indonesia after criticising Sharia-based bylaws, Catholic news agency UCAN reports. Grace Natalie, 36, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), was reported to police by a conservative Muslim organisation after delivering her speech at her party’s gathering in Tangerang, near Jakarta, last […]
Homelessness in Britain rises to one in 200, says charity
Thomson Reuters Foundation One in 200 people in Britain is now homeless, an increase of four per cent in less than a year despite government pledges to tackle the problem, the charity Shelter said on Thursday. A Shelter report blamed the rise on high rents, cuts to welfare payments and a dearth of affordable housing […]
Rise in rural poverty reverses gains in Latin America – UN
Thomson Reuters Foundation Rural poverty has risen for the first time in a decade in Latin America and the Caribbean, reversing earlier gains, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Wednesday. Two million people joined the ranks of the region’s rural poor between 2014 and 2016, taking the total to nearly half the rural […]
ON THE SCREEN: REDFORD MAY BE RETIRING BUT HIS CHARM NEVER GETS OLD
MARCUS CHEONG watches Robert Redford’s final film…
WOW! BRAZIL’S JUNGLE SCHOOL CROWNED WORLD’S BEST NEW BUILDING
ADELA SULIMAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the winner of the 2018 RIBA International Prize…
Cheap or kind? Europeans say they want clothes with a conscience
Thomson Reuters Foundation Shoppers in western Europe care how clothes are made and want to be kind to workers and the environment when they update their wardrobe, according to a survey released on Wednesday that shows public pressure on fashion to clean up its act. Yet, the shoppers faced no questions about the cost of […]
Lost lives, lost billions: the cost of child marriage in Africa
Thomson Reuters Foundation Child marriage is costing African countries at least $US60 billion in lost lifetime earnings, more than what the world gives the continent in aid each year, the World Bank said on Wednesday. Be it high school dropout rates, teen pregnancy or poor health outcomes, the cost of child marriage is far from just monetary, […]
American Christian killed by Indigenous inhabitants after approaching remote Indian island – reports
An American Christian has reportedly been killed on a remote Indian island after he was shot by arrows fired by its Indigenous inhabitants. The statement from the Chau family as it appeared on his Instagram account. Dependera Pathak, director-general of police on India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, was quoted as saying that seven fishermen have […]
INDONESIA: WITH FOREST RIGHTS, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES STAVE OFF MINING AND PALM OIL PLANTATIONS
RINA CHANDRAN, reporting for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, writes about how Indigenous people on the Indonesian island of Sumatra are looking to assert land rights to preserve forests…