Vatican real estate deal trial gets underway with defence on the attack
Vatican CityRNS A dull silence filled the room when Cardinal Angelo Becciu, shoulders hunched and eyebrows furrowed, walked in for the first day of a historic Vatican trial, in which he is one of 10 facing a wide range of charges for their part in a real estate deal using Catholic Church funds. Becciu is […]
Ethiopia’s Somali region says town attacked, amid new local flare ups
Addis AbabaReuters The local government in Ethiopia’s Somali region said on Tuesday militia from the neighbouring region of Afar had attacked and looted a town, the latest flare-up in a local boundary dispute that adds to broader tensions in the Horn of Africa nation. Ali Bedel, spokesperson for the Somali region government, said Afar militia […]
South, North Korea have restored hotlines as leaders seek to rebuild ties
Seoul, South KoreaReuters South and North Korea have restored hotlines that Pyongyang severed a year ago when ties deteriorated sharply, with renewed efforts by the two countries’ leaders to rebuild relations, the South’s presidential Blue House said on Tuesday. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have exchanged multiple letters since […]
Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About The Bible
In August and September, 2021, we’re reading Australian theologian Michael F Bird’s new book, Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew about the Bible…
Explainer: Are World Heritage Site listings a blessing or a curse?
Thomson Reuters Foundation A beloved British city stripped of its hard-won World Heritage listing, an Australian treasure spared the blushes after it was left off an “in danger” list, and a Thai national park hoping to be third-time lucky despite its spotty human rights record. Why are World Heritage Site listings so sought after, and […]
‘Rolling Stone’ publisher planned to convert a Black church into his home, but residents fought back to preserve it
Los Angeles, USRNS On a recent Sunday, about 10 people sat outside the steps of the boarded-up First Baptist Church of Venice, a century-old congregation that, to many, remains a symbol of the thriving Black population that once existed in the seaside town of Los Angeles. They discussed potential uses for the church that would […]
Billy Graham’s grandson Jonathan Lotz, son of Anne Graham Lotz, in hospital with COVID-19
RNS Jonathan Lotz, the grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and son of Bible teacher Anne Graham Lotz, has been hospitalized and is in critical condition with COVID-19. His mother announced her son’s illness via social media and asked for prayers for him. “Fifty years ago I could hold my son in my arms. Now I […]
Karadima, priest defrocked for sexual abuses, dies in Chile
Santiago, Chile AP Fernando Karadima, a Chilean priest who was at the centre of a sexual abuse scandal that has recently shaken the Catholic Church in Chile and who was eventually defrocked by the Pope, has died. He was 90. Karadima died on Sunday of bronchopneumonia and kidney failure in the nursing home where he […]
Language
For a long time in linguistics it was assumed that people were born with a blank brain. As children we learnt languages bit-by-bit. PICTURE: Adam Solomon/Unsplash Then Noam Chomsky demonstrated that this was not true at all. Humans are born with our brains pre-wired for language. We have this amazing innate ability for words that […]
Room for 10,000: Inside China’s largest detention centre
DAKE KANG, of Associated Press, reports on a visit to the Urumqi No 3 Detention Centre in Dabancheng in China’s far west Xinjiang region…