POSTCARDS: IN ABANDONED CAPE TOWN HOSPITAL, SQUEEZED RESIDENTS HEAL WOUNDS OF GENTRIFICATION
KIM HARRISBERG, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from South Africa…
Climate change hits health, yet funds lacking – WHO
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Climate change is harming human health as more people suffer from heat stress, extreme weather and mosquito-borne diseases including malaria, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. The UN agency, in a report issued a day after a climate summit began in Madrid, urged governments to meet ambitious targets to reduce heat-trapping carbon […]
Earth’s temperature likely marks hottest decade on record – report
Madrid, SpainReuters The past decade is almost certain to be the hottest on record, weather experts warned on Tuesday, painting a bleak picture of vanishing sea ice, devastating heatwaves and encroaching seas in a report launched at a climate summit in Spain. An annual assessment of the Earth’s climate by the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization […]
At least 14 dead after Burkina Faso church attack
At least 14 people died after gunmen opened fire in a Protestant church in Burkina Faso during a service on Sunday, according to reports. The attack, which took place in the Fada N’Gourma area near the border with Niger, is the latest in a string of incidents by Islamic extremists targeting Christians in the West African […]
Asian pulp giants pressed to paper over rivalry to save rainforest
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Asia’s pulp and paper giants – which supply materials for stationery, tissues and toilet roll – are being urged by environmentalists to follow the palm oil industry in stepping up collaboration to tackle forest loss and fires in Indonesia. Singapore’s APRIL Group and its main rival Indonesia’s Asia Pulp & […]
With ‘thank you’ emails, polite Britons burn thousands of tonnes of carbon a year
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Britain could significantly cut its carbon footprint if people stopped sending unnecessary ‘thank you’ emails, researchers said last week, calling on the public to “think before you thank”. Britons send more than 64 million unnecessary emails per day, a study by energy supplier OVO Energy found, with unactionable pleasantries such as […]
London holds vigil after attack thrusts security to election fore
London, UKReuters London held a vigil on Monday for two people killed near London Bridge by a convicted terrorist who had been released early from prison, an incident that thrust criminal justice to the centre of a campaign 10 days before a national election. Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, both former students active […]
Mexican-born bishop chosen to soon lead the US Catholic diocese of San Bernardino
San Bernardino, USRNS Bishop Alberto Rojas has been named to lead the Diocese of San Bernardino – one of the nation’s largest Roman Catholic dioceses – and will succeed Bishop Gerald Barnes, who plans to submit his resignation in June. Pope Francis appointed Rojas, an auxiliary bishop from Chicago, to be coadjutor bishop of the […]
No more chains: Anti-slavery campaigns urged to stop relying on shock images
Thomson Reuters Foundation From chains to scarred backs, sensationalised images used to raise awareness of modern slavery risk doing more harm than good because they misrepresent the problem, researchers said on Monday. In fact, most modern slavery networks rely more on psychological methods of coercion than on physical violence or restraint, according to a study […]
DEMOCRACY
Most would say that our democracy is largely based on Greek and Roman democracies. Athens was home to what’s often described as the world’s first democracy. PICTURE: Kylie Docherty/Unsplash This system was lost during the dark-ages, but found again when the renaissance rediscovered Greek culture. Not quite. Greco-Roman democracies were not like ours. Only the […]