Nurses must be protected from abuse during coronavirus pandemic – WHO, nursing groups
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Authorities must protect nurses and other health workers from harassment and attacks compounding the already heavy toll they are paying in the pandemic, the World Health Organization and top nursing officials said on Tuesday. Some 100 medical workers are reported to have died from the disease so far, including many nurses, Howard Catton, […]
Masks should be prioritised for health workers to avoid shortage against coronavirus, says WHO; Coronavirus spread latest
Geneva/Zurich, SwitzerlandReuters The World Health Organization voiced concern on Monday that the wearing of medical masks by the general public could exacerbate the shortage for health workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. It said lockdowns in many places are proving effective in dampening spread of the coronavirus but any lifting of restrictions […]
UK PM Boris Johnson moved to intensive care as COVID-19 symptoms worsen
London, UKReuters British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to an intensive care unit on Monday after his coronavirus symptoms worsened though his Downing Street office said he was still conscious. Britain has no formal succession plan should the Prime Minister become incapacitated, but Johnson, 55, has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise for […]
Cyclone pounds Vanuatu, levelling buildings, amid virus shutdown
Sydney, AustraliaReuters A powerful tropical cyclone made landfall on the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Monday, witnesses said, levelling buildings in a country already in a state of emergency due to concerns about the coronavirus. Cyclone Harold approached Sanma province, an island north of the capital Port Vila, with winds of up to […]
Amid coronavirus scare, Americans flock to remote land, survival retreats
Washington DC, USThomson Reuters Foundation As Americans stockpile basic supplies, pet food and school items amid coronavirus-related closures and “shelter-in-place” orders, many are turning to another strategy to protect their families: fleeing to remote areas. With branches in multiple US states, Fortitude Ranch dubs itself a “survival community” and offers paying members access to remote, […]
Olympic Games building firm, cult added to Brazil’s slavery ‘dirty list’
Rio de Janeiro, BrazilThomson Reuters Foundation A company that helped build Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic village for the 2016 Games and a religious group that enslaved hundreds of people were named on Friday to Brazil’s “dirty list”, one of the country’s most powerful anti-slavery tools. The two were among 41 employers added to the roster […]
Armed with good data, engineers wage quiet battle for cleaner air
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation As countries try to slash air pollution and step up action on climate change, many are looking at a key culprit: tailpipes. India in 2016 put into effect its first fuel-economy standards for passenger cars and by 2021 is expected to have lowered planet-warming carbon emissions from new cars by 30 […]
The Interview: World Vision US President Edgar Sandoval, Sr, says “all hands on deck” for pandemic
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, speaks with World Vision US President Edgar Sandoval, Sr, about the organisation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic…
In the US, black churches, synagogues face racially abusive ‘Zoombombings’
RNS With their eyes closed in prayer, asking God to help the country’s overburdened healthcare workers, members of the Impact Movement ministry group never saw the attack coming. “God is dead, God is dead,” they suddenly heard a young male voice say over their Zoom video conference system. Then other voices joined in, laughing and chanting the n-word. […]
Essay: How the war on Christmas became the war on Easter
Writing from the US, SHANE CLAIBORNE, activist, author and co-director of Red Letter Christians, addresses – in an article first published on Religion News Service – about perceptions among some evangelical Christians of a new religious freedom battlefront…