EU health ministers fail to agree common guidance on AstraZeneca shot
Brussels, BelgiumReuters European Union health ministers failed on Wednesday to agree a common guidance on the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, despite calls for coordination across member states to combat public hesitancy over taking the shot. Ministers held an extraordinary virtual meeting just after the European Medicines Agency changed its guidance on the vaccine […]
UK PM urges calm as Belfast protesters hijack bus, attack police
Belfast, UKReuters Crowds of youths in a pro-British area of Belfast set a hijacked bus on fire and attacked police with stones in the latest of a series of nightly outbreaks of violence that began last week. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “deeply concerned” by the violence, which has injured dozens of […]
Updated: Myanmar security forces kill 15 protesters, junta leader says opposition aims to “destroy” country
8am, 9th April, 2021 (AEST)Reuters Troops in Myanmar opened fire on pro-democracy protesters on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens, the latest victims of a campaign to crush opposition to the ruling military junta, activists and media said. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the army coup that ousted Myanmar’s elected […]
Increases in aid sex abuse complaints reflect tougher scrutiny, Britain says
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Increases in complaints about sexual abuse and harassment by aid workers are likely a sign that more victims feel able to come forward following closer scrutiny of the sector and increased safeguards, the British Government said on Tuesday. Aid agencies have come under pressure over the issue in recent years after […]
Hans Kueng, dissident Catholic theologian, dies at 93
Berlin, GermanyAP Hans Kueng, a Roman Catholic theologian who was an early colleague and friend of the future Pope Benedict XVI but later fell foul of the Vatican for challenging church doctrine and became a vocal critic of the pontiff, has died. He was 93. Kueng died Tuesday at his home in Tuebingen, according to […]
StrangeSights: GuacPaste to SmartBrick – April Fool’s pranks; stand still on escalators; and, weird vaccination centres…
DAVID ADAMS reports on the odder side of life…
US Black and Asian Christian leaders discuss role of church in fighting racism
Chicago, USRNS In the summer of 2020, as the death of George Floyd shined a spotlight on racism and violence against Black Americans, the Asian American Christian Collaborative marched for Black lives. Months later, leaders of the Black and Asian American churches involved in that march began to plan a second event uniting their communities […]
UN warns Tanzania not to reject people fleeing Mozambique violence
Johannesburg, South AfricaReuters United Nations teams have received “worrying” reports that Tanzania has rejected over 1,000 people seeking refuge from an Islamic State-claimed attack on a town in northern Mozambique, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday. The 24th March attack on the town of Palma, adjacent to gas developments worth $US60 billion, sent […]
“Much, much worse”: India’s richest state swamped by pandemic’s second wave
Mumbai, IndiaReuters Hospitals in Maharashtra are running short of beds, piped oxygen and a key anti-viral drug as a second wave of coronavirus infections has swamped India’s richest state, doctors and patients’ families said. Home to India’s financial capital Mumbai, Maharashtra accounts for nearly a quarter of India’s 12.7 million coronavirus infections. If the state […]
Unaccompanied children: US faith-based agencies invite volunteers, donations as they care for young people at southern border
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER and JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, report on the work of faith-based agencies responding to the crisis on the southern US border…