To end slavery, free 10,000 people a day for a decade, report says
New YorkThomson Reuters Foundation Ten thousand people would need to be freed every day to eliminate modern slavery over the next decade, according to research on Wednesday showing countries making little or no progress in efforts to end forced labour. Less than half of countries rank forced labour as a crime and most do not […]
Protected forests to grow under new rules, says palm oil watchdog
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Protected forest areas will grow by up to 10 per cent under new rules to stop deforestation, the palm oil industry watchdog – which is working to make the edible oil greener – said on Tuesday. Under pressure to tighten standards, the 4,300-member Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, introduced tougher rules late […]
STRANGESIGHTS: A “NEW” WORLD’S STEEPEST STREET; $US11,000 GRAPES; AND, WIFE CARRIER’S BACK-TO-BACK WINS…
DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
Officials in Cuba forbid church leaders to attend US religious freedom event
Morning Star News Authorities in Cuba on Sunday refused to allow the national presidents of two Christian denominations to board their flight to Washington, DC, to attend a religious freedom event, sources said. Cuban officials blocked the departure from Cuba of Rev Alain Toledano Valiente. PICTURE: Via Facebook. Rev Moises de Prada Esquivel and Rev […]
Quick facts – Seven things you need to know about world hunger
RomeThomson Reuters Foundation The number of people going hungry has risen for the third year running after years of improvement, the United Nations said in a report published on Monday that blamed conflict, climate shocks and economic slowdowns. Market in Bolivia. Via Unsplash Here are seven things you need to know about world hunger. 1. […]
Violator or enforcer? Philippine harassment law puts president in spotlight
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was on Tuesday accused of being the “most brazen violator” of a new law he approved that would penalise a wide range of sexual harassment, from catcalling to wolf-whistling. The 74-year-old President’s controversial remarks about women include numerous jokes about rape and have incensed women’s rights […]
ABORTION: IN THE US, MILLENNIAL CATHOLICS GO ‘BIKING FOR BABIES’ TO RAISE FUNDS FOR CRISIS PREGNANCY CLINICS
ERIC BERGER, in an article first published on Religion News Service, reports…
US poll shows growing view that clergy are irrelevant
RNS In her 2004 Pulitzer-Prize winning novel Gilead Marilynne Robinson sketches a portrait of Rev John Ames, a small- town pastor in 1950s Iowa who is humble, self-aware, compassionate and devoted to his family and his congregation, and they to him. Americans no longer hold clergy in such high regard, according to a recent poll, and […]
ESSAY: WHAT IS THE NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY? HERE’S WHY IT’S STILL IMPORTANT
In an article first published on The Conversation, IAN JOHNSTONE, of Tufts University in the US, explains…
WOW! SOCIAL BUSINESSES TAKE TOURISTS OFF BEATEN PATH TO ‘SPREAD THE WEALTH’
SARAH SHEARMAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how tourism businesses like London’s Good Hotel as giving back to the community as well as making a profit…