UN chief urges leaders of every country to declare “climate emergency”
London, UK/Brussels, BelgiumReuters UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on every country to declare a “climate emergency” on Saturday, as world leaders marking the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate accord made mostly incremental pledges relative to the scale of the crisis. Guterres made his call at a summit aimed at building momentum behind the Paris […]
Australia warns of modern slavery risks in government supply chains
Thomson Reuters Foundation Australia said this week that construction and textiles were among the riskiest industries for slave labour in the public sector, in its first report on government efforts to clean up its supply chains. The government’s inaugural modern slavery statement, required by a 2018 law, outlined efforts to train officials on the topic, inform […]
Jerry Falwell, Jr, drops defamation lawsuit against Liberty University
RNS Former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr, has dropped a lawsuit in which he claimed the school he once led defamed him after he resigned this summer in the wake of a sex scandal. According to the News & Advance, Falwell’s lawyers informed the Lynchburg Circuit Court on Wednesday that he will not pursue […]
Argentina’s lower house approves bill legalising abortion
Buenos Aires, ArgentinaAP Lawmakers in Argentina’s lower house on Friday passed a bill that would legalise elective abortions to the 14th week of pregnancy, a proposal from President Alberto Fernández in response to long-sought demands from women’s rights activists in the homeland of Pope Francis. The bill still needs approval from the country’s Senate in […]
WHO expects decisions on Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca vaccines in weeks
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The World Health Organization expects to make decisions on whether to give emergency use approval to COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca in the coming weeks, its chief scientist said on Friday. Soumya Swaminathan said the global health body could decide on Pfizer’s vaccine candidate in the next “couple of weeks”, and […]
Back to the future: Swedish firm bets on wind-powered cargo ships
ALISTER DOYLE, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on innovative plans to harness the wind for shipping…
Ahead of UN climate summit, urgent calls to “fix the future”
London, UKReuters When the Paris Agreement on climate change was finalised after two weeks of fraught negotiations and years of past failures, diplomats hugged and shed tears of joy. They had haggled over verb tenses, cut deals, and in the end, brought 196 countries into the accord. Five years later, governments are lagging far behind […]