Six dead in deadliest day of Indian citizenship law protests
New Delhi/Lucknow, IndiaReuters Six people died and dozens were injured on Friday as Indian police clashed with thousands of protesters who again took to the streets in several parts of the country to oppose a new law they say discriminates against Muslims. There were standoffs at police barricades in half a dozen towns in Uttar […]
SNAPSHOT: QUIET STREET IN GUATEMALA
See CLOVIS CASTANADA’s image…
New clean shipping fuel rules, but who polices the polluters?
London, UKReuters Sweeping new fuel rules aiming to cut pollution belching from ships and save lives are now just a couple of weeks away but with no central policing agency and several countries still not signed up to them, compliance is a major concern. From January 2020, ships must use fuel with a sulphur content […]
What lifting pontifical secrecy for clergy abuse cases will change for victims
Vatican CityRNS When Pope Francis announced Tuesday that he had abolished pontifical secrecy for cases of clerical sexual abuse, some observers compared the move to a regime opening its secret files, bringing to light years of testimony and documents. The new protocol will transform legal proceedings and the lives of abuse victims, those accused of […]
ORIGINS: “DECK THE HALLS” – THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
In an Origins special, ANNE LAWRENCE-MATHERS, professor of medieval history of the University of Reading, looks at – in an article first piublished on The Conversation – where Christmas decorations come from…
Lights out for multilateralism? Alarm as UN faces cash squeeze
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters During talks on disarmament at the UN’s Geneva headquarters last month, alarm bells went off in the chamber to indicate that delegates had infringed new cost-cutting rules that restrict the length of meetings. Screens and microphones were also shut off, forcing ambassadors to shout their speeches across the hall as events became “chaotic, […]
Updated: US evangelical flagship Christianity Today calls for Trump’s removal
Updated: 8.15am, 21st December, 2019RNS Mark Galli, the editor-in-chief of the influential evangelical magazine Christianity Today, says that President Donald Trump should be removed from office. In an editorial on Trump’s impeachment published Thursday, Galli argued that even though Democrats have “had it out” for Trump since his election, the case for the president’s impeachment – which […]
FARMING RIGHTS: GLOBAL RECOGNITION “OPENS DOORS” FOR PEASANT GROUPS, RIGHT TO LAND
CAREY L BIRON, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on hopes the one-year-old UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants will help rural people defend their rights…
Northern California church makes headlines as it prays to resurrect girl from the dead
RNS Kalley Heiligenthal stomped her feet and waved her arms, dancing her way from one side of the bright-lit stage to the other. “Come alive, come alive!” the congregants at Bethel Church in Redding, California, shouted in expectation as they clapped and sang praises. Andrew Heiligenthal holds his daughter, Olive Alayne Heiligenthal. PICTURE: Via GoFundMe […]
ESSAY: HOW MIGRANTS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS ARE REVIVING THE ETHOS OF THE 19TH-CENTURY UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
In an article first published on The Conversation, MAURICE STIERL, of the University of Warwick, looks at how the concept of the ‘underground railroad’ is being revived to help the displaced…