In the US, advocates urge transparency in Biden priest investigation
Santa Clara, Caliornia, USAP A prominent victims advocate group on Friday urged Santa Clara University in Northern California to release details about unspecified allegations against its president, a Jesuit priest who presided over an inaugural Mass for President Joe Biden and is now under investigation. The university said last week that Rev Kevin O’Brien allegedly “exhibited […]
This Life: Let’s adopt a Christ-like attitude
US columnist CAROL ROUND, in an article first published on ASSIST News Service, looks at what the account of the feeding of the 5,000 teaches us about Jesus’ approach to people…
Turkey withdraws from European treaty protecting women
Istanbul, TurkeyAP Turkey withdrew early Saturday from a landmark European treaty protecting women from violence that it was the first country to sign 10 years ago and which bears the name of its largest city. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s overnight decree annulling Turkey’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention is a blow to women’s rights advocates, […]
Filipino troops kill rebel commander, rescue last hostage
Manila, PhilippinesAP Philippine troops killed an Abu Sayyaf rebel commander blamed for years of ransom kidnappings and on Sunday rescued the last of his four Indonesian captives, the military said. Marines wounded Amajan Sahidjuan in a gunbattle on Saturday night and he later died from loss of blood on Kalupag Island in the southernmost province […]
Pope decries shame of racism, like “virus” lurking in wait
Vatican CityAP Pope Francis on Sunday denounced racism, likening it to a virus that lurks in waiting and only to emerge and show that “our supposed social progress is not as real or definitive” as people think. Francis tweeted on racism on the date that the United Nations marks as International Day for the Elimination […]
Updated: Heavy rain forces parts of Sydney to evacuate, downpour to continue
Updated: 9.15am (AEDT), 22nd MarchMelbourne, AustraliaReuters Heavy rains along Australia’s east coast over the weekend have brought the worst flooding in half a century in some areas, authorities said on Sunday, forcing thousands to evacuate and damaging hundreds of houses. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the downpour across the state, Australia’s most populous […]
Kenya court ruling gives boost to fight against FGM
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation Kenya’s High Court ruling upholding a ban on female genital mutilation will give a much needed boost to the fight to end the widely condemned practice in the East African nation, women’s rights groups said this week. One in five Kenyan women and girls aged between 15 and 49 have undergone […]
India’s Gujarat state land grabbing law hurting women, poor
Thomson Reuters Foundation A new law to curb illegal land occupation in the western Indian state of Gujarat is hurting the urban poor, women and lower-caste Dalits, land rights groups said on Wednesday, with thousands facing eviction and loss of their livelihoods. Under the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, enacted in December, anyone found to […]
One billion people live in cities shifting away from fossil fuels
Toronto, CanadaThomson Reuters Foundation The number of cities working to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy surged in 2020, representing a quarter of the world’s urban population, or one billion people, green energy policy network REN21 said this week. More than 1,300 cities had set targets or introduced policies to boost renewable energy by the […]
Women and the church: With Beth Moore’s exit, more evangelical women are challenging strict gender norms
YONAT SHIMRON, of Religion News Service, reports on how the idea of complementarianism within Southern Baptist churches is changing for some…