Act now to avert disaster in drought-hit East Africa, aid agencies say
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation East Africa could suffer a repeat of a 2011 famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people unless foreign donors stump up funds to help drought-hit communities in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia now, aid agencies warned on Thursday. More than 15 million people across the Horn of Africa are struggling to […]
Russian women post bruised selfies to push for domestic violence law
Tbilisi, GeorgiaThomson Reuters Foundation Thousands of Russian women are posting selfies on social media with their faces covered in fake blood and bruises in an effort to push the government to pass a domestic violence law. A series of recent abuse cases have jolted Russia and prompted fierce discussions about attitudes towards domestic violence in […]
HELPDESK: FIVE WAYS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM CYBER CRIME
In an article first published on The Conversation, SCOTT SHACKELFORD, of Indiana University in the US, looks at how you can protect yourself in the online world…
Data is the new oil so watch out for mass mining – Netflix film
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Big business and politics are mass-mining everyday data – from Facebook ‘likes’ to online subscriptions – for profit and power, according to a Netflix documentary released on Wednesday. The Great Hack says personal data has surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable asset, and warns viewers that companies and governments are hacking […]
UK Christian leaders write letter to new PM expressing concern over impact of ‘no deal’ Brexit on the poor
The leaders of seven UK Christian denominations have written to the country’s new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, expressing “urgent concern” over the impact of a “no deal” Brexit on the country’s poor. The leaders – who include Rev Dr Barbara Glasson, president of the Methodist Conference, Rev Lynn Green, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great […]
Food for…trash? India’s first “garbage cafe” to offer meals for plastic
New Delhi, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Hungry, but don’t have cash? No problem, bring plastic waste and get a free meal, said the mayor of an Indian city where the country’s first “garbage cafe” will open next month. The small restaurant in the eastern city of Ambikapur will provide hearty food to homeless and poor people […]
Faith groups urge State Department to abolish new ‘unalienable rights’ commission
RNS A coalition of 430 human rights, civil rights, foreign policy and faith organisations, leaders and scholars has submitted a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to dismantle his department’s new Commission on Unalienable Rights. Organised by Human Rights First, the letter’s signatories include 21 American religious leaders and dozens of faith-based organisations, […]
DRUG POLICY: AUSTRALIAN CHURCH DOCUMENTARY ‘HALF A MILLION STEPS’ PART OF A BROADER PUSH FOR CHANGE
CHRISTOPHER GILBERT reports on how a Uniting Church-funded documentary aims to change the way Australia approaches the issue of drug use…
ESSAY: THE QUEEN AND THE “KING OF THE WORLD”
MAL FLETCHER, writing from London, looks at the challenges ahead for the UK’s new Prime Minister…
Africa-wide Roman Catholic body marks 50 years of progress
Nairobi, KenyaRNS Roman Catholic leaders in Africa are celebrating the church’s progress and steady growth across the continent as they meet in Kampala, Uganda, this week to mark the 50th anniversary of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. Established during Pope Paul VI’s 1969 first-ever papal visit to Africa to give its churches […]