Dozens of migrants rescued off Spain’s Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria, Spain Reuters Spain’s coast guard rescued 45 migrants off the coast of Gran Canaria on Sunday including 24 women and eight children. The migrants, from sub-Saharan Africa, were spotted in a boat by a passing ship around 61 kilometres south of Gran Canaria, local media reported. Migrants wait to disembark from a Spanish […]
Pope on Myanmar: Houses of worship serve as neutral refuge
Vatican CityAP Pope Francis on Sunday decried the suffering of refugees in Myanmar and pleaded that houses of worship be respected as neutral places to take shelter. He told the public gathered in St Peter’s Square for his customary Sunday noon remarks that he was joining his voice to that of the Asian nation’s bishops […]
“Starvation on the way”: Border crossing decision weighs on northwest Syria
Idlib, Syria Reuters Hussein Mahmoud, a displaced farmer from Syria’s Hama province who now lives in a camp in northern Idlib, divides the basic items in a food basket he receives monthly amongst his wife and 13 children. By mid-month, the bread, rice, lentils and other essentials he gets as aid are nearly scarce but […]
Feeling abandoned by Europe, Greece hardens migration policy
Ritsona, GreeceReuters With walled camps and tougher border controls, Greece is hardening its approach ahead of summer when migrant arrivals pick up, defying criticism from aid groups and saying it has little choice given a lack of support from the rest of Europe. The squalid conditions facing many asylum-seekers were laid bare last year when […]
James Forbes’ ode to Juneteenth calls on Americans to embrace the promise of freedom
RNS Rev James A Forbes, Jr, was already an adult when he first began to understand the significance of Juneteenth. It was his wife, Bettye, whom he met in the early ’60s when they were both students at Howard University, who helped him gain an appreciation for the commemoration. She had grown up in San […]
Winner of Iran’s presidency is hardline judge who is under US sanctions
Dubai, UAEReuters Ebrahim Raisi’s record of fierce loyalty to Iran’s ruling clerics helped explain why the senior judge had been expected to win Friday’s presidential election, a contest the authorities limited almost exclusively to hardline candidates like him. The win for Raisi, 60, an implacable critic of the West whose political patron is Supreme Leader […]
Spreading knowledge to save lives: Anti-family violence advocates in Zimbabwe tackle myths
FARAI SHAWN MATIASHE, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from Zimbabwe…
Brazilians protest Bolsonaro’s role in half a million COVID-19 deaths
Brasilia/Rio de Janeiro, BrazilReuters Thousands took to the streets across Brazil on Saturday to protest against President Jair Bolsonaro’s pandemic response, blasting the leader for not acquiring vaccines fast enough and for questioning the need for mask-wearing. Brazil surpassed 500,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday, according to the Health Ministry, the world’s highest death toll […]