On Mother’s Day, young Uighurs ask: Where are our mums?
RNS Akida Pulat has made it through her last three birthdays and the onset of a pandemic without knowing where her mother is. This weekend, she will add a third Mother’s Day to the list. On Mother’s Day, she and a group of Uighur diaspora youth living in the US, Turkey, Germany and Norway are […]
Caught between climate and virus threats, migrants have no safe place to go
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation Ali Mohammad, a 50-year-old Afghan nomad, lost most of his sheep to a harsh drought in 2018. The following year, his home was destroyed by floods that also killed his son and two daughters. These days he lives in a camp for displaced people in Herat province, with his surviving teenage […]
Friends mourn Darrin Patrick, US megachurch pastor and author, who died of apparent “self-inflicted gunshot wound”
RNS Darrin Patrick, a megachurch pastor, author and speaker, has died. Patrick was a teaching pastor at Seacoast Church, a multi-site megachurch based in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and the founding pastor of the Journey Church in St Louis, where he lived. He died of what appears to be a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” according to […]
Life-threatening extreme heat set to trap millions indoors by 2060
Rome, ItalyThomson Reuters Foundation Extreme heat and humidity are increasing across the globe, threatening millions of lives and economies in places where it could become fatal to work outdoors, scientists said on Friday. Parts of Australia, India, Bangladesh, the Persian Gulf, China, Mexico and the United States have experienced hundreds of previously rare incidents of […]
Church reopenings and liability: As pandemic persists, US churches and insurance companies grapple with risk
JACK JENKINS, writing for Religion News Service, looks at how churches are confronting the issue of liability as they move to re-open…
Poll: Most in US back curbing in-person worship amid virus
Washington DC, USAP While the White House looks ahead to reopening houses of worship, most Americans think in-person religious services should be barred or allowed only with limits during the coronavirus pandemic – and only about a third say that prohibiting in-person services violates religious freedom, a new poll finds. States have taken different approaches […]
Australia sets plan to end most COVID-19 restrictions by July
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia will ease social distancing restrictions in a three-step process, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, as Canberra aims to remove most curbs by July and get nearly one million people back to work amid a decline in coronavirus cases. Australia in March imposed strict social distancing restrictions, which coupled with the […]
Queen tells Britain “never give up” in tribute to World War II generation
London, UKReuters Queen Elizabeth II led tributes to veterans of World War II recalling the “never give up, never despair” message of Victory in Europe Day 75 years ago as the coronavirus damped commemorations for the end of the war on the continent. In a rare televised address that brought together the themes of wartime […]