Cyprus Orthodox Church backs Ukrainian Church’s independence
Nicosia, CyprusAP The Cypriot Orthodox Church’s top decision-making body on Wednesday backed the Archbishop’s move to effectively recognise the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s independence, overturning an earlier position of neutrality on the thorny issue. Of the Holy Synod’s 17 bishops, 10 voted not to contest last month’s decision by Archbishop Chrysostomos II to extend blessings […]
Postcards: Jamaican women worst hit by livestock and crop theft in pandemic
KATE CHAPPELL, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the growing issue of “praedial larceny” targeting women in the Caribbean nation…
Indian state outlaws religious conversion by marriage
New Delhi, IndiaAP India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party has approved legislation in the country’s most populous state that lays out a prison term of up to 10 years for anyone found guilty of using marriage to force someone to change religion. The decree for the state of Uttar Pradesh was passed Tuesday and follows a […]
Pope prays for Maradona, fondly recalls meeting him – Vatican
Vatican CityAP Pope Francis has remembered Diego Maradona in his prayers after learning of the soccer legend’s death on Wednesday, the Vatican said. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the Pope, after being informed of Maradona’s death, “thinks back fondly to the times they met in these years and remembers him in prayer”. He said […]
“I’m looking for God to help”: Somalia’s most powerful storm leaves traders, herders devastated
Garowe, Somalia Thomson Reuters Foundation Electronics shop owner Mohamed Nor had a thriving business selling televisions and phones in Somalia’s coastal town of Bosaso until three days ago, when the most powerful storm to hit the country hammered his business and left him with nothing. “I had a booming shop in downtown Bosaso. It has […]
Global coronavirus cases surpass 60 million infections – Reuters tally
Reuters The global tally of confirmed coronavirus cases hit 60 million on Wednesday, with the pace of new infections accelerating and the United States reporting record numbers of hospitalisations, according to a Reuters tally. Officials in the United States, the worst-affected country in the world, urged Americans to stay home for the imminent Thanksgiving holiday […]
Church organisation in Kansas, Oklahoma pays medical debts
Oklahoma City, USAP Medical debts totaling more than $US5.2 million owed by more than 3,200 families in Kansas and Oklahoma have been paid through a project of the United Church of Christ Kansas-Oklahoma Conference, church officials said Tuesday. “As a result of our campaign that netted $US40,000, with that $40,000 we were able to abolish […]
World Council of Churches urges protection of historic churches in Nagorno-Karabakh
The World Council of Churches has called on UNESCO to ensure religious and cultural monuments – including historic churches – are protected in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. In a letter dated 23rd November and addressed to the HE Audrey Azoulay, the director-general of UNESCO, Rev Prof Dr Ioan Sauca, interim general secretary of the WCC, referenced a […]
StrangeSights: Mysterious pillar found in Utah desert; a Thanksgiving text tradition; and, salt-licking Canadians…
DAVID ADAMS reports on the odder side of life…
“Something to be proud of”: UK graphic novel highlights homeless
London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation Passersby ignore a beggar, homophobic insults crowd a wall, a woman burns a note penned to a “victim” – not the usual stuff of comics but all vignettes from a new graphic novel by homeless people that aims to kill the stigma surrounding street life. The Book of Homelessness, launched […]