A group of US Catholic bishops issues statement condemning bullying of LGBTQ youth
RNS A group of US Catholic bishops has released a statement condemning the bullying of LGBTQ youth, insisting “all people of goodwill should help, support, and defend” them. “As we see in the Gospels, Jesus Christ taught love, mercy and welcome for all people, especially for those who felt persecuted or marginalized in any way,” […]
Postcards: Black, British, forgotten – UK arts retell lost tales
LIN TAYLOR, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on new efforts to tell stories about Black historical figures in the UK…
Stolen but not silent: Indigenous Australians protest national celebrations
Sydney, AustraliaReuters As Australia holds a national day of festivities on 26th January, Indigenous woman Rita Wright will be protesting the celebrations at a march in Sydney. Australia Day marks the date the British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1788 to start a penal colony, viewing the land as unoccupied despite encountering settlements. Indigenous […]
Earth is losing ice faster today than in the mid-1990s, study suggests
Anchorage, Alaska, USReuters Earth’s ice is melting faster today than in the mid-1990s, new research suggests, as climate change nudges global temperatures ever higher. Altogether, an estimated 28 trillion metric tons of ice have melted away from the world’s sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers since the mid-1990s. Annually, the melt rate is now about […]
Billionaires thriving as poor suffer in widening COVID-19 divide – Oxfam
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Billionaires including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk have seen their wealth soar during the COVID-19 pandemic while the world’s poor face years of hardship, charity Oxfam said on Monday as it demanded steps to tackle inequality. Nations have a “shrinking window of opportunity” to build a fair, green […]
New Zealand confirms first coronavirus case in months; Australia approves vaccine
Wellington, New ZealandReuters New Zealand on Monday confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in the community in months in a 56-year-old woman, but said close contacts of the recently returned traveller had so far tested negative. The woman, who returned to New Zealand on 30th December, had tested positive for the South African strain of […]
Israel targets flights, religious scofflaws, as virus rages
Jerusalem, IsraelAP Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will be closing its international airport to nearly all flights, while Israeli police clashed with ultra-Orthodox protesters in several major cities and the government raced to bring a raging coronavirus outbreak under control. The entry of highly contagious variants of the virus, coupled with poor […]
Eight unusual places being used as COVID-19 vaccination centres
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation As countries around the world roll out mass COVID-19 vaccination programmes, large public spaces from ice rinks to cathedrals are being repurposed as makeshift inoculation hubs. Here are eight of the more usual venues being used to host vaccination facilities: 1. A cathedral: The 800-year-old Salisbury Cathedral is one of several British cathedrals […]
1,500-year-old inscription ‘Christ born of Mary’ found in Israel
A 1,500-year-old inscription which speaks of ‘Christ born of Mary’ has been unearthed in Israel. The Israel Antiquities Authority, which reported the find last week, said the inscription – which is written in Greek and has been partially destroyed – once formed part of a church in what is now known as the village of […]
US politics: Political upheaval alters strategies in US abortion debate
In the wake of President Joe Biden’s inauguration last week, DAVID CRARY, of Associated Press, reports on the ongoing battle over abortion in the US…