In Washington DC, black clergy testify to outrage and hope in demonstrations across Washington
RNS A series of religious demonstrations in Washington, DC, over the weekend mixed prayerful calls for racial equality with frustration with law enforcement, lawmakers and the Trump administration. Early on Sunday, thousands of churchgoers and clergy, most of them African American, assembled at the National Museum of African American History and Culture to march to the newly […]
UN rights body to examine “systemic” US racism and police brutality
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The top UN human rights body agreed on Monday to hold an urgent debate on allegations of “systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests” in the United States and elsewhere on Wednesday. The UN Human Rights Council’s decision followed a request last week by Burkina Faso on behalf of African countries […]
Streetlights or park? Mongolian residents pick using mobile app
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation Residents in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar have voted on what public amenities they’d like using a mobile app, a new method that authorities may extend to other areas to improve transparency and efficiency, a government official said. Nearly half of the city’s eligible voters picked their favoured facilities – ranging […]
Uganda wants people to leave flooded wetlands – and not come back
Entebbe, UgandaThomson Reuters Foundation For the last decade, Silus Musasizi has lived on a wetland on the shores of Lake Victoria. For most of that time, Uganda’s government has been trying to chase him away. Now, it is the water itself that has driven him from his small house on the edge of Entebbe, […]
Quick facts – How many children are victims of child labour worldwide?
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Two decades of global progress in reducing child labour could be jeopardised by the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations said on Friday, warning that millions more children were at risk of being put to work. Children who were already working before the pandemic may now be facing longer hours and worse […]
Protesters burn down Wendy’s in the US city of Atlanta after police shooting
Reuters Protesters shut down a major highway in the US city of Atlanta on Saturday and burned down a Wendy’s restaurant where a black man was shot dead by police as he tried to escape arrest, an incident likely to fuel more nationwide tensions over race and police tactics. The restaurant was in flames for […]
Educational impacts: Amid pandemic, scores of US Catholic schools face closure
DAVID CRARY, of Associated Press, reports on the hardship facing many Catholic schools in the US as a result of the coronavirus…
Protests, pandemic pile pressure on US public space
Washington DC, USThomson Reuters Foundation First pandemic, now social unrest – parks are in peak demand, but their new popularity has revealed an unfair distribution of public space in US cities, with minorities often shut out. Months of lockdown under COVID-19 and weeks of protest have sparked an unprecedented use of US parks and public […]
Essay: Churchgoers aren’t able to lift every voice and sing during the pandemic – here’s why that matters
Amid warnings over reintroducing congregational singing as churches reopen their doors, DONNA M COX, professor of music at Dayton University in the US, looks at, in an article first published on The Conversation, why group singing is such an important aspect of Christian life…
This Life: Are you seeing more clearly?
ELISABETH CARTER looks at what the coronavirus lockdowns have revealed…