SNAPSHOT: PENGUINS NEAR USHUAIA, ARGENTINA
See MARVIN HEILEMANN’s image…
Rape convictions in England and Wales slump to decade low
London Thomson Reuters Foundation The number of rape convictions in England and Wales has fallen to a decade low despite increasing reports to police, according to data released on Thursday, prompting criticism that rape is being “effectively decriminalised”. There were 1,925 convictions in 2018-19, a 27 per cent drop from the previous year, according to […]
Unilever reveals global tea suppliers in drive for slave-free sourcing
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Consumer goods giant Unilever released a list of its global tea suppliers on Thursday, bolstering a drive to stamp out worker exploitation and modern-day slavery on plantations. The move by the Anglo-Dutch food group – which buys 10 per cent of the world’s tea supply and owns at least a dozen major […]
Hopeful signs for change in Sudan meet with cautious pessimism
Juba, South SudanMorning Star News The appointment of a Christian woman to the council overseeing transition to civilian rule in Sudan is a hopeful sign, but some persecution-weary Christians are less than optimistic about prospects for improved religious rights. Raja Nicola Eissa Abdel-Masih, a Coptic Christian who long served as a judge in Sudan’s Ministry of […]
Soaring forest losses set to wreck global protection pledge
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation Meeting a landmark target to slash by at least half losses of natural forests by 2020 is likely to be “impossible”, as deforestation has soared in the five years since it was set, warned a report on progress towards the goal. The 2014 New York Declaration on Forests garnered more than […]
HONG KONG: CHARITIES FORCED TO STEP IN AS POOR STRUGGLE FOR HOMES
RINA CHANDRAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
Conflict and disaster force millions from their homes
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Conflict and disasters forced nearly 11 million people from their homes in the first half of this year, a global monitoring group said on Thursday, warning mass displacement was becoming “the norm”. Natural disasters such as cyclones and floods caused seven million people to leave their homes, while a further 3.8 million […]
ESSAY: FOR MANY RELIGIOUS AMERICANS, THE WORD ‘LIBERAL’ HAS BECOME TABOO
Co-founder of Religion in Public, RYAN BURGE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, reflects on the growing aversion to the word ‘liberal’, especially among the religious…
POSTCARDS: BIRMINGHAM CHURCH, 56 YEARS LATER, TO RECALL BOMBING WITH MESSAGES OF LOVE, ACTION
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, reports from Alabama…
Harvest Pastor Greg Laurie urges compassion after Jarrid Wilson’s suicide
Riverside, California, USRNS Pastor Greg Laurie urged his grieving congregants at Harvest Christian Fellowship on Wednesday to have compassion for people dealing with mental health issues as the church copes with the news that one of its pastors died by suicide. “Sometimes we want to just say, ‘They’re just not spiritual or they don’t love […]