Sight-Seeing: In a year of waiting and hoping, Advent reminds us that patience can be healthy
WES GRANBERG-MICHAELSON, a former general secretary of the Reformed Church in America and author of ‘Without Oars: Casting Off Into a Life of Pilgrimage’, reflects on the practice of patience and its necessity during Advent…
Amazon ancestral land not up for sale, says ‘Green Nobel’ winner
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation As a girl growing up in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, Nemonte Nenquimo would listen to stories passed down from her ancestors about how the Waorani Indigenous people preserved their forests and defended their lands from settlers and oil companies. Those tales of survival and resistance later inspired Nenquimo to become a leader […]
Cardinal Pell on the Vatican and vindication
RomeAP The Pope’s former treasurer, Cardinal George Pell, said on Monday he feels a dismayed sense of vindication as the financial mismanagement he tried to uncover in the Holy See is now being exposed in a spiralling Vatican corruption investigation. Pell made the comments to The Associated Press in his first interview since returning to […]
Pandemic, funding gaps seen fueling gender-based violence in Yemen
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Gender-based violence has surged by 63 per cent since conflict erupted in Yemen in 2015, aid groups said on Monday, warning that the pandemic was exposing inadequate funding for protection services in war zones around the world. Globally, at least 40 million people affected by war are at risk of sexual […]
WHO worried COVID “amnesia” will lead to another pandemic
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The World Health Organization’s top emergency expert said on Monday that the world risked future pandemics if it suffered “amnesia” and did not learn from the current coronavirus crisis. “I have seen the amnesia that seems to descend upon the world after a traumatic event, and that’s understandable,” Mike Ryan told a briefing […]
Britons to plant trees to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on throne
London, UKReuters Britons will be encouraged to plant trees to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 70th anniversary on the throne as part of a plan to create a greener country in honour of her seven decades of service. The 94-year-old, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, is due to mark her Platinum Jubilee in February, 2022. Britain’s […]
New Zealand regulator charges 13 parties over White Island eruption tragedy
Wellington, New ZealandReuters New Zealand’s workplace regulator has filed charges against 13 parties following an investigation into a volcanic eruption on White Island in 2019 which killed 22 people. A surprise eruption on the White Island, also known by its Maori name of Whakaari, on 9th December last year, killed 22 people and injured dozens. […]
In first for Australia, Prime Minister speaks to parliament on video link
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Prime Minister Scott Morrison became Australia’s first leader on Monday to make an appearance before parliament by video link, as he spends time in quarantine following a recent trip to Japan. While not the first such session by a world leader, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson having addressed parliament online, Morrison spoke […]
In the US, faith takes the forefront as Georgia Senate runoffs heat up
Atlanta, Georgia/Washington DC, USAP Bishop Reginald Jackson stepped to the microphone at a drive-in rally outside a church in south-west Atlanta as his voice carried over a loudspeaker and the radio to people gathered in, around and on top of cars that filled the parking lot. “Let’s keep Georgia blue,” Jackson said. “Let’s elect Jon […]
Four killed in attack on Indonesian Salvation Army outpost
Four people have been killed when a Salvation Army outpost in central Sulawesi, Indonesia, was attacked on Friday morning, according to reports. The attack reportedly took place on the rural Lewono Lembantongoa Outpost at about 8am when attackers, wielding swords and firearms and reported as numbering up to 10, killed four people and set a church […]