Death toll from Colombia protests rises; UN, EU call for calm
Bogota, ColombiaReuters The United Nations and European Union on Tuesday urged calm and warned of the use of excessive force amid further protests against the administration of Colombian President Ivan Duque, while local authorities in epicenter Cali reported a further five deaths and 33 injuries. The protests – originally called in opposition to a now-cancelled […]
India COVID cases top 20 million, halting cricket and prompting lockdown calls; Nepal appeals for vaccines
Satara/Ahmedabad, India Reuters India halted its hugely popular cricket league on Tuesday as COVID-19 infections surged past 20 million in the world’s second-most populous country and the opposition leader said a nationwide lockdown was now the only way out. Cricket officials suspended the money-spinning Indian Premier League as the pandemic spirals out of control, with […]
Updated: Mexico promises justice after metro train collapse kills 24
Last updated: 9.45am, 5th May, 2021 (AEDT)Mexico CityReuters Mexico will punish those responsible for an overpass collapse that killed at least 24 people and injured dozens when a train on Mexico City’s newest metro line plunged onto a busy road below, the government said on Tuesday. Accompanied by officials involved in the construction and maintenance […]
In France’s overseas territories, Napoleon’s legacy has a more troublesome side
Reunion Island, FranceReuters When France commemorates the bicentenary of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death on 5th May, Aurelie Ramassamy will remember a tyrant who reversed the abolition of slavery rather than an emperor often lionised as a hero for his battlefield triumphs. Like most Creoles on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, one of France’s overseas departments, Ramassamy is […]
US broadcast veteran Bob Abernethy, host of ‘Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly’, dies at 93
RNS Veteran broadcast journalist Bob Abernethy, who founded the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, has died at the age of 93. He died on Sunday in Brunswick, Maine, his daughter Jane Montgomery Abernethy announced in a Facebook post. She said her father died of natural causes. Bob Abernethy on the set of Religion & […]
Costa Rica priest sings public health message amid pandemic
San Jose, Costa RicaAP A Roman Catholic priest better known for his outreach to the poor is winning new fans with his catchy public health-focused lyrics set to a popular 1990s salsa tune as Costa Rica experiences its worst moment of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the past two Sundays, Sergio Valverde has performed his song […]
Australian churches call for government to take more action on climate
The head of Australia’s national council of churches has called for the Federal Government to increase its commitments to lower carbon emissions ahead of the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in November. In a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Bishop Philip Huggins, president of the National Council of Churches in Australia, urged the government to join with […]
Your word
How much is your word worth? PICTURE: Cytonn Photography/Unsplash . Remember the old days when it was said your word was your bond? Your word was your reputation? Now days we say ‘yes’ to things, and never show up. We promise to get something done, and we don’t. We say we’ll call, and forget. At the end […]
“No-one is unemployed here”: Corn crop feeds prosperity in Bangladesh’s flood-prone north
MOSABBER HOSSAIN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how growing corn has helped lift people out of poverty in northern Bangladesh…
Through an app, a group of Latin American nuns in the US tracks mental illness across the US
RNS It took some getting used to, but sister Maria Minerva Morales is now a faithful user of a cell phone app where she documents her interactions with people she ministers to. Through the app, Morales – who is part of the Catholic congregation Missionaries of Charity of Mary Immaculate – documents the name, gender […]