India’s Modi stuns opposition with huge election win
New Delhi/AyodhyaReuters Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scored a dramatic election victory on Thursday, putting his Hindu nationalist party on course to increase its majority on a mandate of business-friendly policies and a tough stand on national security. His re-election reinforces a global trend of right-wing populists sweeping to victory, from the United States to […]
Hey Siri, you’re sexist, finds UN report on gendered technology
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Popular digital assistants that reply in a woman’s voice and are styled as female helpers are reinforcing sexist stereotypes, according to a United Nations report released on Wednesday. The vast majority of assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana are designed to be seen as feminine, from their names […]
American Jews feel threatened, blame Trump – poll
RNS A survey of 1,000 Jewish voters released Wednesday by the Jewish Electorate Institute shows 73 per cent of registered Jewish voters believe Jewish Americans are less secure than they were two years ago, at least in part, respondents said, because of the way President Trump has handled anti-Semitism. The poll’s release coincides with a two-year spike […]
Charities fear for children separated from parents in cyclone-hit Mozambique
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation Hundreds of children remain separated from their parents two months after a powerful cyclone battered Mozambique leaving them in limbo and at risk of abuse or being trafficked into slavery, charities warned on Wednesday. Cyclone Idai struck central Mozambique on 14th March, ripping apart homes, schools and health clinics, and its […]
India’s Supreme Court orders Kandhamal Christian freed on bail after 10 years in prison
Gornath Chalanseth, one of seven Christians jailed for life for the murder of a Hindu swami in the Kandhamal district of Odisha state in eastern India, has been freed on bail by India’s Supreme Court, World Watch Monitor reports. Nearly 100 Christians were killed and 300 churches and 6,000 Christian homes damaged in the Kandhamal district after […]
KENYA: FROM CAMEL TO CUP – CAMEL MILK FROTHS HOPES AMID DROUGHT
NICKY MILNE, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how camel milk, also known as “white gold”, is helping Kenyan herders through a drought even as worldwide demand for it grows…
Hospital ship charity reaches milestone of 100,000 free surgical procedures
Hospital ship charity Mercy Ships passed a significant milestone on Monday: a team aboard its flagship Africa Mercy carried out the Christian organisation’s 100,000th free surgical procedure. Docked for a 10 month stay in the west African nation of Guinea, the milestone was passed when Australian plastic surgeon David Chong performed a cleft lip correction on […]
ESSAY: ABOLISHING THE PRIESTHOOD WILL NOT SAVE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE, in an article first published by Religion News Service, responds to calls for the abolition of the Catholic priesthood…
SIGHT-SEEING: HOW SIMPLE CONVERSATIONS CAN LEAD TO CHANGED LIVES
In an article first published on ASSIST News Service, JERRY WILES – North America regional director of the International Orality Network and president emeritus of Living Water International – looks at the difference oral communication can make in sharing the Gospel…
In central Africa, Islamist militias complicate church efforts to battle Ebola
Nairobi, KenyaRNS In North Kivu, an eastern province of Congo, church leaders are stepping up their fight to halt the advance of the 40-month-old Ebola epidemic, even as the Islamic State group increasingly makes its presence felt in the troubled region. Since August, when Ebola broke out in earnest in the eastern part of the […]