China accused of forcing 570,000 people to pick cotton in Xinjiang
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation China is forcing hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uighurs and other minorities to pick cotton by hand, a US thinktank said, sparking calls for governments to ban all cotton imports from the Xinjiang region. The vast western province, home to about 11 million ethnic Uighurs, produces 85 per cent of China’s […]
Postcards: Fishermen fight to keep land as El Salvador chases surfers
ANNA-CAT BRIGIDA, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from the remote community of Isla Tasajera…
WHO-led team expected in China in January to probe COVID-19 origins – experts
Geneva, Switzerland/Copenhagen, DenmarkReuters An international mission led by the World Health Organization is expected to go to China in the first week of January to investigate the origins of the virus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic, a member and diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday. The United States, which has accused China of having hidden the […]
Paris court convicts former Vatican envoy of sexual assault
Paris, FranceAP A Paris court on Wednesday convicted a former Vatican ambassador to France of sexually assaulting five men in 2018 and 2019, and handed him a suspended eight-month prison sentence. Retired Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 76 – who was not present in court – was “shattered” by the verdict, according to his lawyer, Solange Doumic. […]
WHO vaccine scheme risks failure, leaving poor countries no COVID shots until 2024
Brussels, BelgiumReuters The global scheme to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries faces a “very high” risk of failure, potentially leaving nations home to billions of people with no access to vaccines until as late as 2024, internal documents say. The World Health Organization’s COVAX program is the main global scheme to vaccinate people in […]
US appeals court rules againt Nevada cap on church attendance
Reno, Nevada, USAP A US appeals court agreed Tuesday with two Nevada churches that have argued for months that the state’s COVID-19 restrictions are unconstitutional because they place harsher attendance limits on religious gatherings than casinos and other secular businesses. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed earlier federal court rulings that upheld Nevada’s […]
New Zealand inquiry finds 256,000 children and adults abused in state and faith-based care
Wellington, New ZealandReuters Up to a quarter of a million children, young people and vulnerable adults were abused in New Zealand’s faith-based and state care institutions in the past several decades, a public inquiry revealed on Wednesday. An interim report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into historic abuse of children in state care estimated […]
StrangeSights: Christmas comes early for some; dangerous golf; and, an (almost) recycled painting…
DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Sexism still rife in Hollywood despite #MeToo uproar, survey finds
Los Angeles, USReuters Three years after the #MeToo scandal roiled Hollywood, causing dozens of powerful men to lose their jobs, two-thirds of women who took part in a survey of the entertainment business released on Tuesday report continuing incidences of sexual harassment. The survey by the Hollywood Commission also asked about racism, and found that […]
Pakistan toughens rape law after outcry over attacks
Lahore, PakistanThomson Reuters Foundation Pakistan introduced a rape law on Tuesday that will create special courts to try cases within four months, after protests over the gang rape of a woman whose car ran out of fuel. The presidential decree also provides for anti-rape cells to provide medical examinations within six hours of a complaint […]