This Life: Trusting God in tough times
US columnist CAROL ROUND, in an article first published on ASSIST News Service, looks at what the story of Joseph and other Scriptures tell us about placing our trust in God…
After Grenfell fire, UK social housing tenants get ‘stronger voice’
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Social housing tenants in Britain will have new rights to demand improvements to their homes under a reform launched in the aftermath of a deadly 2017 fire at a London block, the government said on Tuesday. The blaze that killed at least 71 people in Grenfell Tower – a 23-storey block […]
Fugitive preacher sparks diplomatic incident in South Africa
Cape Town, South AfricaAP A preacher who calls himself a prophet has triggered anger, a diplomatic incident and a good amount of head scratching by authorities in South Africa after skipping bail, fleeing the country and emerging in his home nation of Malawi while facing charges of money laundering and fraud relating to more than […]
“SpaceX, this is Resilience”: Four astronauts begin six-month stay on space station
Washington DC, USReuters Four astronauts riding a newly-designed spacecraft from Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX greeted their new crewmates aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday after successfully docking in a landmark achievement for private space travel. In NASA’s first full-fledged mission ferrying a crew into orbit on a privately-owned spacecraft, the SpaceX Crew Dragon […]
US Secretary of State meets Orthodox spiritual leader in Istanbul
Istanbul/Ankara, TurkeyAP US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians on Tuesday during a short trip to Turkey that raised the ire of Turkish officials and included no meetings with any of them. Pompeo, who is on a seven-country tour of Europe and the Middle East, […]
Funding for climate disasters is “failing” those most vulnerable, says IFRC
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The number of disasters caused by extreme weather and climate-related events is surging, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a report on Tuesday, but funding is not getting to where it is needed most. Cases of floods, storms and heatwaves per decade have increased by nearly 35 […]
Breakthrough COVID vaccine tech could help defeat other diseases
Zurich, Switzerland/Frankfurt, GermanyReuters Breakthrough technology that transforms the body into a virus-zapping vaccine factory is poised to revolutionise the fight against COVID-19 but future pandemics and even cancer could be next, scientists say. The initial success of so-called messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines in late-stage trials by Moderna as well as Pfizer and its German […]
Books: Looking at the big questions Jesus asked
KARA MARTIN reads Australian Graham Hooper’s latest book written for those grappling with some of the key questions about the Christian faith…
McCarrick scandal, pandemic pose challenges for US bishops
AP Meeting online rather than in person, America’s Catholic bishops worried Monday that the coronavirus pandemic is testing people’s faith and wrestled with how to respond to a Vatican report detailing the serial sexual misconduct of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. “People’s faith in God has been shaken” by the pandemic, said Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, […]
Malaysia lets undocumented migrants work but hardship fears persist
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Malaysia launched a plan on Monday that gives undocumented migrants stuck in the country a chance to work in certain industries, but labour rights groups said the initiative did not do enough to protect victims of human trafficking. The government said the scheme aimed to revive Malaysia’s labour-reliant industries, including […]