Global coronavirus cases top seven million as outbreak grows in Brazil, India – Reuters tally
Reuters Global cases of the novel coronavirus topped seven million on Saturday, as case numbers surge in Brazil and India, according to a Reuters tally. About 30 per cent of those cases, or two million infections, are in the United States. Latin America has the second-largest outbreak with over 15 per cent of cases. […]
Updated: Australia, Asia protests embrace ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement
Updated: 9.30pm AESTMelbourne, AustraliaReuters Thousands took to the streets across Australia on Saturday, as did hundreds in Tokyo and Seoul to support US protests against police brutality, while demonstrations were expected around Europe in the coming hours. The rolling, global protests reflect rising anger over police treatment of ethnic minorities, sparked by the 25th May […]
Lockdown reveals rampant child labour in India as kids stream home
Chennai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Vijay Kewat waited patiently at Gaya station, ready to receive 100 child workers who were headed home under India’s lockdown. He was speechless when 500 streamed off the train instead. “It was an extraordinary sight and even officials were stunned,” the child rights activist said. Migrant workers walk towards a bus […]
Explainer: Are asymptomatic COVID-19 patients safe or silent carriers?
BeijingReuters China said 300 symptomless carriers of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic, had not been found to be infectious, in a bid to reassure people as countries ease restrictions. But some experts say asymptomatic infections are common, presenting a huge challenge in the control of the disease. What is asymptomatic […]
In the US, activists call for justice, equal remembrance of Breonna Taylor on her 27th birthday
RNS On what would have been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday (5th June), some theologians and activists lament what they call an insufficient response to her March murder. They note that protests in her honour occurred only after widespread outrage over George Floyd’s death and that, to date, no charges have been filed against the three […]
Learning equity: In South Africa, two girls’ lockdown learning underlines educational divide
TIM COCKS, writing for Reuters, reports from Johannesburg on the learning disparities which have been exposed during school closures brought about as a result of the coronavirus pandemic…
Essay: Prayer is essential. Protest is required. Policy is necessary
Sojourners founder JIM WALLIS, in an article published on Religion News Service, says he’s never seen more white people engage with issues of systemic racism, structural injustice and the violent policing and killing of black people in the US…
Argentine newspaper publishes massive obituary of femicide victims
Mexico City, MexicoThomson Reuters Foundation Argentina’s largest newspaper this week published an obituary filling several pages with the names of more than 300 women and girls killed because of their gender, calling attention to the growing crime of femicide. The Clarin newspaper printed the list on Wednesday to mark the five-year anniversary of the South […]
US cardinal at Vatican prays for Floyd, and America’s future
Rome, ItalyAP The highest-ranking American cardinal at the Vatican on Friday deplored the “unjust” killing of George Floyd, saying it laid bare that the Christian principles of the US Constitution aren’t being applied to black people. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who heads the Vatican’s laity office, told The Associated Press that the brutality of what happened […]
Wear masks in public says WHO, in update of COVID-19 advice
London, UK/Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The World Health Organization updated its guidance on Friday to recommend that governments ask everyone to wear fabric face masks in public areas where there is a risk of transmission of COVID-19 to help reduce the spread of the pandemic disease. In its new guidance, prompted by evidence from studies conducted in […]