Wow!: Kenya slum dwellers battle COVID-19 downturn with virtual currency
KAGONDU NJAGI, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how a digital commununity-based currency is helping some of the poorest Kenyans survive economic downturns caused by the coronavirus…
Italian police find stolen copy of Leonardo ‘Salvator Mundi’
Rome, Italy AP Italian police have recovered a 500-year-old copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century Salvator Mundi painting of Jesus Christ that was stolen from a Naples church during the pandemic without the priests even realising it was gone. The discovery was made when Naples police working on a bigger operation found the painting […]
Pope welcomes Biden admin as US bishops warn him on abortion
Rome, ItalyAP Pope Francis congratulated US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, urging him to help foster reconciliation as the Vatican welcomes a new administration more in line with the pontiff’s priorities on the environment and social justice issues. Francis’ congenial message contrasted with a statement issued almost simultaneously by Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, head […]
Belgium religious faiths want more worshippers at services
AP Representatives of the religious faiths recognised in Belgium have joined forces to urge federal authorities to increase the number of people admitted inside places of worship during the coronavirus pandemic. Under the current COVID-19 rules, such places can accommodate up to 15 people. In a letter to Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, the religious […]
China labels Pompeo “doomsday clown” over genocide claims
Beijing, China AP China’s Foreign Ministry described outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday as a “doomsday clown” and said his designation of China as a perpetrator of genocide and crimes against humanity was merely “a piece of wastepaper”. The allegations of abuses against Muslim minority groups in China’s Xinjiang region are “outright […]
Biden’s Bible puts him in line with inaugural tradition
Washington DC, US AP Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took their oaths of office on Wednesday using Bibles that are laden with personal meaning, writing new chapters in a long-running American tradition – and one that appears nowhere in the law. The Constitution does not require the use of a specific text for swearing-in ceremonies […]
Updated: US President Biden takes over nation in crisis, urges end to ‘uncivil war’
Last Updated 4.30pm (AEDT)Washington DC, US Reuters Joe Biden was sworn in as President of the United States on Wednesday, offering a message of unity and restoration to a deeply divided country reeling from a battered economy and a raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans. Standing on the steps of the […]
Trump’s legacy: A more divided America, a more unsettled world
MATT SPETALNICK, ANDREA SHALAL, JEFF MASON and STEVE HOLLAND, of Reuters, report…
Toxic air seen cutting thousands of lives short each year in Europe’s cities
Thomson Reuters Foundation Tens of thousands of European city dwellers die prematurely each year due to air pollution, researchers said on Wednesday in a study ranking more than 800 cities according to the risk of early death from two leading pollutants. The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, analysed the risk in each place […]
Swiss Government urges rejection of ban on full-face coverings
Geneva, SwitzerlandAP Switzerland’s executive branch on Tuesday urged voters to reject in an upcoming referendum a proposal that would ban full face-coverings like Muslim niqabs and burqas and ski masks worn by some protesters. Nearly three years after the proposal was first floated – and long before widespread mask-wearing due to the COVID-19 pandemic – […]