WHO pushes to keep ties with “generous” US despite Trump’s exit move
London, UKReuters The head of the World Health Organization on Monday praised the United States’ “immense” and “generous” contribution to global health in a push to salvage relations after President Donald Trump said he was severing ties with the UN agency. Accusing it of pandering to China and overlooking an initially secretive response to the […]
Updated: In the US, Trump warns of military deployment hours after George Floyd’s brother pleads for peace
Updated 9.30am (AEST)Minneapolis, USAP President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to deploy the United States military unless states quickly halted the violent protests that have convulsed cities from coast-to-coast, hours after George Floyd’s brother pleaded for peace, saying destruction is “not going to bring my brother back at all.” The competing messages – one conciliatory, […]
Fires burn near White House in violent US protests
Minneapolis, USReuters Fires burned near the White House, stores were looted in New York City and Southern California, and a tanker truck drove into marchers in Minneapolis as the United States struggled to contain chaotic protests over race and policing. National Guard troops were deployed in 15 states and Washington, DC, in an attempt to […]
Scientists hunt pandemic hotspots in race to test vaccines
London, UK/Chicago, USReuters The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic may be waning. For vaccine developers, that could be a problem. Scientists in Europe and the United States say the relative success of draconian lockdown and social distancing policies in some areas and countries means virus transmission rates may be at such low levels that […]
Spain to top up incomes of poorest as coronavirus hits livelihoods
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation An income support program approved by the Spanish government on Friday to help those most vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic is a step in the right direction in a country that has long lacked a proper social safety net, analysts have said. Spain is among the countries worst hit by the […]
“Systemic racism is choking the life out of American democracy”, says Rev William J Barber II
RNS On Pentecost Sunday, after a night of unrest that swept the country in the wake of the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of police, Rev William J Barber II delivered what he called “a pastoral letter to America” urging that leaders hear – and heed – the calls for justice from […]
First poverty, now pandemic threatens access to electricity
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation One in 10 people lack electricity and the pandemic will likely make it harder still to meet a global goal of getting power to everyone by 2030, international organisations said last week. An annual report tracking progress on sustainable energy said more than a billion people have won access to electricity since 2010, […]
A “remarkable job”: How Australian churches are adapting to changing COVID realities
CHRISTOPHER GILBERT reports on how Australian churches are adapting as coronavirus restrictions start to ease…
With masks and gloves, Ukraine’s priests return to duties
Ivano-Frankivsk, UkraineAP Wearing a white biohazard suit, a face shield and a blue mask over his mouth and nose, Rev Yaroslav Rokhman is hard to recognise as a priest when he visits terminally ill patients at a Ukrainian care centre. But his words still bring comfort to the dying. Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church priest, Fr […]
Essay: In the wake of yet more anti-black violence – We must “fight the freeze”
In an article first published on Religion News Service, JEMAR TISBY, president of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, podcast host and author, responds to the death of George Floyd…