New contract for Lebanon’s migrant maids only a first step, rights groups warn
Amman, JordanThomson Reuters Foundation Rights campaigners said the launch of a new contract for migrant domestic workers in Lebanon was a positive first step but that far deeper reform was needed to abolish the kafala sponsorship system they blame for widespread labour abuses. Caretaker Labour Minister Lamia Yammine said on Friday she had issued a […]
Almost 300 Rohingya found on beach in Indonesia’s Aceh
Banda Aceh, IndonesiaAP Almost 300 Rohingya Muslims were found on a beach in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Monday after months at sea, officials said. The group arrived at Ujong Blang beach from one boat and were reported by local residents. Officials arrived and found that the Rohingya had dispersed into three groups after landing, Banda […]
India surges to world’s second-worst virus caseload
New Delhi, IndiaAP India’s coronavirus cases surged to 4.2 million, the second-highest total in the world, on Monday as urban metro trains partially resume service in the capital New Delhi and other states. The 90,802 cases added in the past 24 hours pushed India’s total to 4,204,614, passing Brazil, which has more than 4.1 million, […]
Australia expects to receive AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine within months
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia expects to receive its first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in January, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as the number of new daily infections in the country’s virus hotspot fell to a 10-week low. Morrison said his government has struck a deal with CSL Ltd to manufacture two vaccines […]
Jimmy Lai, Chinese Catholic financier, acquitted of first in a series of charges
Religion Unplugged Jimmy Lai, media mogul and entrepreneur, was acquitted last Thursday on the first of several charges he is currently facing from Chinese authorities. Lai, a Catholic convert, was charged with intimidating a reporter of a rival newspaper, the Oriental Daily, at a Tiananmen Square memorial. Lai’s time in the courthouse was only minutes […]
Britain advances digital ID plans as identification technology stirs debate
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Britain set out its plans last week for a digital identity system aimed at making it easier for people to access public services and buy age-restricted goods – whether registering with a new doctor or buying a bottle of wine. But the British government’s latest plans come as digital rights campaigners […]
Devastation in Beirut: Race against rain to save historical homes
STEPHANIE GLINSKI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
New Zealand election campaign starts, Ardern seeks mandate
Melbourne, AustraliaReuters New Zealand’s general election campaign began on Sunday, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern seeks to ride popularity for the nation’s COVID-19 response and compassionate handling of a massacre at two mosques to a revived mandate. Parliament was dissolved in a brief ceremony, the official start of campaigning for the 17th October election. In […]
Essay: The complicated legacy of the Pilgrims is finally coming to light 400 years after they landed in Plymouth
In an article first published on The Conversation, US academic PETER C MANCALL looks at why the Pilgrim’s voyage to Plymouth has such a prominent place in the story of America…
Postcards: US ‘Kayak Church’ holds church in person — and on the water
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, visits the ‘Kayak Church’ in the US state of Pennsylvania…