Postcards: Christians in Holy Land face bleak Christmas season due to COVID-19
MICHELE CHABIN, of Religion News Service, reports on the impact of the coronavirus in Jerusalem and Jesus’ birthplace of Bethlehem…
Sydney isolated from rest of Australia as COVID outbreak grows
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Sydney was isolated from the rest of Australia on Sunday after all of the country’s states and territories imposed travel restrictions on its residents as a coronavirus cluster in the city grew to around 70. The Australian Capital Territory sent a stern ‘do not come to us’ message to Sydney, the country’s most […]
Amid freed Nigeria schoolboys’ joyful reunions, fear lingers
Kankara, NigeriaAP Nigeria’s freed schoolboys have reunited with their joyful parents after being held captive for nearly a week by gunmen allied with jihadist rebels in the country’s north-west. Relieved parents hugged their sons tightly on Saturday in Kankara, where more than 340 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School on the night […]
US authorises Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, elderly next in line for shots
Reuters Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine on Friday became the second to receive emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration, welcome news to a nation with a staggering COVID-19 death toll of over 307,000 lives lost. Millions of doses of the Moderna vaccine are expected to be added to the US rollout, which […]
Corporate America’s year of name changes and racial reckoning
Thomson Reuters Foundation American baseball team, The Cleveland Indians, announced last week it would change its name after criticism from fans for using a moniker many deem racist. The club joins several brands this year that have dropped racially-insensitive names – some centuries-old – following mass protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black […]
Spanish art show spotlights “hidden” digital divide in pandemic
Barcelona, SpainThomson Reuters Foundation A painting of a woman using an iPad, a vase depicting children dreaming of computers – both historical objects with a contemporary twist highlighting the world’s growing digital divide during the coronavirus pandemic. The exhibition at Barcelona’s Analog Museum of Digital Inequality aims to show how this gap – laid bare […]
‘Sesame Street’ unveils Rohingya Muppets to help refugee children
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation Children’s TV show Sesame Street has unveiled its first Rohingya Muppets to help thousands of refugee children overcome trauma and tackle the pandemic’s impact in the world’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh. Six-year-old twins, Noor and Aziz Yasmin, will feature alongside the show’s famous characters like Elmo and Louie in educational […]
“We have lowered our dreams”: After Arab Spring, a decade of upheaval and lost hopes
LEE KEATH, of Associated Press, reports on the situation in the Middle East 10 years after uprisings first began in Tunisia…