As drought stokes urban hunger, Ethiopia dishes up free school meals
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaThomson Reuters Foundation Endale Terefe remembers a time when he used to go to school so hungry he had trouble staying awake during lessons. The 14-year-old student in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, was living with his aunt after his parents died. “My aunt has no money to buy food,” he said. “So I […]
Eritrea’s last Catholic hospital closed – report
Eritrea’s last Catholic hospital was closed on Friday, with the nuns who ran the facility taken away by police and seals placed on the doors, according to a report frpm Agenzia Fides. The Catholic news agency said the hospital, located in the village of Zager – about 30 kilometres from the capital of Asmara, had […]
‘Under siege’ – Fear and defiance mark life for Pakistan’s minority Hazaras
Hazara Town, PakistanReuters High walls around the neighbourhoods of Pakistan’s embattled Hazara community in the south-western city of Quetta are designed to protect them from extremist militants, but also serve as a constant reminder of the threat they face. Soldiers and security checkpoints greet visitors to Hazara Town, one of two large guarded neighbourhoods in […]
Scientists urge climate protesters to save planet by planting trees
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation The best way to keep climate change in check is by replanting trees on destroyed forest areas the size of the United States, scientists said last week, as doing so would capture two-thirds of man-made planet-warming emissions. Tom Crowther, a professor at the Crowther Lab, a research group based at […]
INDIA: IN DROUGHT-HIT DELHI, THE ‘HAVES’ GET LIMITLESS WATER, THE POOR FIGHT FOR EVERY DROP
MAYANK BHARDWAJ, of Reuters, reports on India’s water crisis…
UK gangs exploiting children as young as seven to deal drugs
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation British schoolchildren as young as seven are being exploited by criminal gangs and forced to deal drugs, with some duped into debt bondage, researchers said on Friday. Thousands of children in Britain – most aged between 15 and 17 – are being used by so-called county lines gangs to carry drugs from […]
ESSAY: OPPONENTS OF THE PAN-AMAZON SYNOD DISCARD CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCTRINE
In an article first published on Religion News Service, US Catholic commentator CHARLES C CAMOSY is disturbed criticism of the working document for the synod of bishops of the Pan-Amazon region scheduled to be held in Rome later this year seems to be targeted at Catholic social doctrine…
POSTCARDS: IN CALIFORNIA, FOSTER MOTHER OF MORE THAN 100 CHILDREN WORKS TO RECRUIT LATINO FAMILIES
HEATHER ADAMS, of Religion News Service, reports…
Sydney conference hears call to “go deeper” with Jesus in search for Biblical justice
Sydney, Australia Even as many students were sleeping last weekend, immigrant sociology majors Annette, from Sierra Leone, and Thuto, from South Africa, were making their way to the Living Justice Conference at Hillsong’s Alexandria Campus in Sydney. “Why do so many people in the developed world disconnect themselves from the issues of justice in the […]