Wow!: 3D-printed homes build hope for US affordable housing
CAREY L BIRON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how new printing technology can build cheap, climate-resilient structures in a fraction of the time of traditional construction…
Pope again updates Vatican legal code amid scrutiny, probes
Rome, ItalyAP Pope Francis has made another set of changes to the Vatican City State’s legal code, which has come under heightened scrutiny and criticism as Vatican prosecutors seek to crack down on financial crimes and mismanagement by Holy See monsignors and money managers. In a new law published Tuesday, Francis made two modifications to […]
Celebrating Ash Wednesday in a pandemic? There’s an app for that
RNS There are filters that blur “imperfections” in photos and filters that turn lawyers into cats on Zoom. Now there are filters to help Christians safely display the very visible Ash Wednesday mark on social media. PICTURE: Ahna Ziegler/Unsplash/Creative Commons Many Catholic and other liturgical churches observe Ash Wednesday by smudging ashes on congregants’ foreheads […]
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon three times more likely to die with COVID-19
Beirut, LebanonThomson Reuters Foundation Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are three times more likely to die with COVID-19 than the population as a whole, according to UN figures that highlight the pandemic’s outsized impact on the community. An estimated 207,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon after being driven from their homes or fleeing the conflict surrounding […]
Europe’s rights court orders UK to compensate human trafficking victims
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Britain should pay €90,000 in compensation to two Vietnamese men who were convicted of drug crimes despite signs they had been trafficked as children and forced to work on cannabis farms, Europe’s top rights court ruled on Tuesday. The European Court of Human Rights said Britain had failed to protect potential […]
Malaysia to deport 1,200 Myanmar migrants amid concerns
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaAP Malaysia’s government will repatriate 1,200 Myanmar migrants next week despite a military coup in their home country, but has assured that they will not include minority Muslim Rohingya refugees or those registered with the UN refugee agency. But the UN High Commissioner for Refugees voiced concern Tuesday that there may be vulnerable […]
Australia approves AstraZeneca vaccine, bolstering inoculation program
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia’s medical regulator granted provisional approval for AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, bolstering a national inoculation program it plans to begin rolling out next week. The vaccine boost came as Australia’s second-most populous state neared the likely end of a five-day snap lockdown sparked by a fresh cluster of cases. A person […]
Stung by COVID-19, Indian businesses rethink worker benefits
Mumbai, India Thomson Reuters Foundation As Kerala’s industrial heartland cranks back to life post-lockdown, orders are returning to its printing presses, workshops and chemical plants. But to bosses’ dismay, many workers are in no hurry to come back from their villages. “There is a strong reluctance among the workers to return,” said Rajesh Gopalakrishnan, head […]
Two Christian evangelists charged with blasphemy in Pakistan – reports
Two Christian evangelists have been charged with blasphemy in Pakistan, according to reports. The charges reportedly related to a encounter in Model Town Park in Lahore last week between evangelists Haroon Ayub Masih and Salamat Mansha Masih and Muslim man, Haroon Ahmad, and several of his friends in which an argument broke out which ended with Ahmad […]
Saudi woman convicted of murdering Bangladeshi maid in rare verdict
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation A Saudi woman has been convicted of murdering her Bangladeshi maid by a criminal court in Saudi Arabia, in a ruling rights groups in the South Asian nation said was a rare example of an employer being found guilty of abusing a migrant worker. Ayesha Al Jizani was sentenced on Sunday […]