Red Cross fears coronavirus spreading silently in Somalia’s displaced camps
Nairobi, Kenya/Garowe, SomaliaThomson Reuters Foundation The new coronavirus could be spreading undetected through camps across Somalia hosting some 2.6 million displaced people, the Red Cross warned on Tuesday, as floods and conflict swelled the numbers fleeing into overcrowded settlements. Almost 500,000 people have been forced from their homes by recent floods in central Somalia, the […]
World’s poor “will pay price”, charities say as UK scraps aid department
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Charities and former British prime ministers condemned the government’s decision on Tuesday to merge its diplomatic and aid departments, warning it could not come at a worse time and that “the world’s poorest will pay the price”. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament the new joint ministry – the Foreign, Commonwealth […]
Traffickers demand ransoms for Rohingyas held at sea in South-East Asia
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Rohingya refugees attempting to reach Malaysia by boat from Bangladesh are being held hostage by human traffickers who have demanded large ransoms from their relatives with threats of violence, according to several families and aid organisations. About a dozen Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh told the Thomson Reuters Foundation […]
Marj Carpenter, reporter who became US Presbyterian head, dies
Dallas, USAP Marj Carpenter, who pushed international missionary work while briefly leading the US’ largest Presbyterian denomination in the mid-1990s following a journalism career in West Texas that included covering millionaire swindler Billie Sol Estes, has died. She was 93. Carpenter, who once described herself as “sinfully proud” of being Presbyterian and traveled to more than 120 […]
China’s response to COVID-19 better than US, global poll finds
Brussels, BelgiumReuters Far more people around the world think China has responded well to the COVID-19 pandemic than those who think the United States has done a good job, a poll by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation showed on Monday. The survey of more than 120,000 people from 53 countries by the thinktank and German […]
Global coronavirus cases reach over eight million as outbreak expands in Latin America
Reuters Global cases of the novel coronavirus reached over eight million on Monday, as infections surge in Latin America and the United States and China grapple with fresh outbreaks. The United States still leads the world with the highest number of infections, about two million or 25 per cent of all reported cases. However, the […]
UN team probing IS horrors urges Iraq to pass war crimes law
Baghdad, IraqAP UN investigators have collected millions of call data records implicating Islamic State militants in atrocities committed in Iraq, but delays in passing a law to govern war crimes trials could hinder the pursuit of justice, according to the head of the investigation. Karim A Khan leads the team charged with investigating IS atrocities […]
History
Egyptian history tells of a foreign born slave, given the name Zaphenath-Paneah. PICTURE: Leonardo Ramos/Unsplash Even though he was a foreign slave, his wisdom and actions saved the entire nation of Egypt. So he was made second-in-command of all Egypt. His extended family were given special land and honour in Egyptian society, and a great […]
The Interview: Dave Dummitt, new senior pastor of Willow Creek
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, speaks with Dave Dummitt, the new senior pastor of Willow Creek, about stepping into his new role amid pandemic and protests, rebuilding trust at Willow Creek and his vision for the church…
US Supreme Court rules that federal law protects LGBTQ persons from employment discrimination
RNS The US Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act on Monday in a landmark opinion that makes employment discrimination against LGBTQ persons illegal in all 50 states and has important implications for religious organisations. “An employer who fires an individual merely for […]