Wow!: How social entrepreneurs are getting creative in pandemic
BEH LIH YI and NITA BHALLA, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on how social enterprises have adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic…
Palestinians may limit Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem
Ramallah, West BankAP The Palestinian Health Ministry has recommended strict limits on Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem this year due to the coronavirus outbreak. Celebrations in the Biblical town revered by Christians as Jesus’ birthplace are usually attended by thousands of people from around the world. Palestinian Christians celebrate the lighting of a Christmas tree outside […]
COVID-19 deaths of Serbian clerics highlight virus worries
AP As coronavirus cases surge globally, the COVID-19 deaths of two senior Serbian Orthodox Church clerics – one who died weeks after presiding over the funeral of the other – are raising questions about whether some religious institutions are doing enough to slow the spread of the virus. More reports are emerging about people who […]
Burkina Faso votes amid ongoing extremist violence, threats
Ouagadougou, Burkina FasoAP Fears of attacks by extremists prevented voting in many parts of Burkina Faso on Sunday, as the country went to the polls for presidential and legislative elections marred by ongoing violence linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Election and local government officials told The Associated Press that certain polling stations […]
US President-elect Joe Biden to name first Cabinet picks on Tuesday, plans scaled-down inauguration
Washington DC, USReuters US President-elect Joe Biden will announce the first of his Cabinet appointments on Tuesday and is planning for a scaled-down inauguration due to the coronavirus pandemic, aides said on Sunday, as he lays the foundation for his new administration despite President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede. Since Biden, a Democrat, was declared […]
To honour slave trade victims, a memorial in the depths of the Atlantic
New York, USThomson Reuters Foundation Tributes to victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade can be found in museums and through statues, but a new proposal is calling for a memorial that can neither be visited nor even seen. A virtual memorial of ribbons on maps of the Atlantic deep seabed could honour the estimated 1.8 […]
Tom Hanks, Joanne Rogers to raise money to rebuild Tree of Life Synagogue site
RNS The Jewish congregation that once gathered in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighbourhood is inching forward with a plan to repurpose its building, two years after an attacker shot and killed 11 Jews in an anti-Semitic rampage. On Wednesday, the congregation named a raft of celebrities who have signed on […]
Christian leader urges people to pray for kidnapped women in Nigeria
The leader of Nigeria’s Evangelical Church Winning All has called on Christians to pray for a number of women kidnapped by Islamic extremist groups in north-east Nigeria in recent years. Morning Star News reports that Rev Stephen Baba Panya, president of the ECWA, said church leaders were troubled at the lack of efforts from the Nigerian Govermnment […]
An elusive peace: Bosnia marks 25 years since inking of US-brokered deal
SABINA NIKSIC, of the Associated Press, reports on the challenges still facing Bosnia, 25 years after a peace deal brought an end to a war in which more than 100,000 died…