Red Cross chief urges Israel, Palestinians to end cycle of violence
GazaReuters The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross urged Israel and the Palestinians on Wednesday to find a political solution so violence like last month’s hostilities over the Gaza Strip border might be prevented. On his first visit to Gaza in four years, Robert Mardini toured areas devasted by Israeli bombardments during […]
Canadian minister says Pope needs to apologise to Indigenous
Toronto, CanadaAP Canada’s Indigenous services minister said Wednesday that Pope Francis needs to issue a formal apology for the role the Catholic Church played in Canada’s residential school system, days after the remains of 215 children were located at what was once the country’s largest such school. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government also pledged again […]
Israel’s Lapid set to unseat Netanyahu, form new government
Jerusalem, IsraelReuters Israel’s opposition leader moved closer to unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday when he officially informed the country’s President that he has reached agreements with political allies to form a new government. About 30 minutes before a midnight deadline, the centrist Yair Lapid, according to a party statement, told President Reuven Rivlin […]
StrangeSights: Cicada art; the ‘Darth Vader House’; and, a presidential mishap…
DAVID ADAMS reports on the odder side of life…
US to detail global distribution plan for 80 million vaccine doses
San Jose, Costa Rica Reuters The United States will announce in the next two weeks how it plans to distribute 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses it has pledged globally, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday. Speaking at a joint news conference with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, Blinken said the administration of […]
Gen Z lost touch with faith communities during pandemic but kept the faith, says US study
RNS Researchers are warning religious leaders, teachers and parents there isn’t going to be a simple “back to normal” approach for young people after the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather, we should all be looking for ways to help them experience “the new normal“. That’s the argument from Springtide Research Institute, which surveyed 2,500 members of Generation Z […]
US formally ends Trump’s ‘remain in Mexico’ asylum policy
Washington DC, USReuters The United States has formally ended the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” policy, which forced tens of thousands of Central American asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for US court cases, according to a US Department of Homeland Security memo sent to agency leaders on Tuesday. The administration of President Joe Biden paused the […]
Recession and violence among COVID side effects in Africa, report finds
Dakar, SenegalReuters Much of Africa may have been spared the death toll that COVID-19 brought to other regions, but it now faces recession, growing violence and higher unemployment because of the pandemic, a report said on Wednesday. “The global economic shutdown has driven Africa into recession for the first time in 30 years, with severe […]
Digital divide: How to unmute climate voices in poorer nations
SONIA ELKS, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
Demonstrations, defiance as Myanmar marks four months since coup
Reuters Pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets in towns around Myanmar on Tuesday to denounce the country’s military, marking four months since it ousted an elected government and unleashed a wave of nationwide anger. Despite a bloody crackdown by security forces, Myanmar’s military is still struggling to impose order amid protests and strikes, and fighting […]