In Iceland election, political stability again at stake
Copenhagen, DenmarkReuters Icelanders vote on Saturday in an election that could have a messy outcome with a record nine parties likely to enter parliament, making it difficult to find common ground on topics like climate change and healthcare. The North Atlantic island of 371,000 citizens has seen a period of stability since 2017 under the […]
California to replace toppled statue with memorial to tribes
Sacramento, California, US AP More than a year after protesters toppled a statue of a Spanish missionary on the grounds of the California Capitol, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Friday to replace it with a memorial for the state’s Native Americans. A statue of Father Junipero Serra had stood in Capitol Park since […]
Cinema returns to Somalia after decades of shut-downs and strife
Mogadishu, SomaliaReuters Dozens of Somalis posed for selfies and chattered excitedly in rows of red, plush seats as they waited for the start of their country’s first movie screening in three decades. Among the crowd in the National Theatre was 24-year-old Kaif Jama, the writer and star of both films on the programme – the […]
Pope keeps German archbishop criticised over abuse scandal
Berlin, GermanyAP Pope Francis has decided to leave in office a prominent German archbishop who has faced criticism for his handling of the church’s sexual abuse scandal, but the cleric has decided to take a several-month time out, his archdiocese said Friday. The Vatican said that the Pope “is counting on” the Archbishop of Cologne, […]
Land rehabilitation: In Indian mining hub, farmers bring polluted land back to life
ANURADHA NAGARAJ, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on a land restoration scheme located in the heart of India’s iron ore industry…
US border camp cleared of Haitians, thousands more on the move
Del Rio, Texas, USReuters An impromptu border camp that roiled the US Government was cleared of thousands of Haitian migrants by Friday, with most remaining in the United States for now and others expelled on deportation flights or returned to Mexico. Reuters witnesses said the jumble of makeshift shelters and tents had all but disappeared from […]
Young US evangelicals to host Capitol Hill rally for climate action
RNS Growing up in the Church of Christ in Burbank, California, Angelea Hayes was often told Christianity and environmentalism were incompatible. But in her first year at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Hayes found herself sheltering in place and sleeping on gym floors as 2018’s Woolsey Fire burned across Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Today, Hayes […]
Canadian Catholic bishops apologise for residential schools
Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaAP Catholic bishops in Canada apologised Friday “unequivocally” to Indigenous peoples for the suffering endured in residential schools, just as Pope Francis prepares to meet with Indigenous leaders at the Vatican later this fall. The institutions held children taken from families across the nation. From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than […]
Tiny San Marino votes in referendum on legalising abortion
Rome, ItalyAP Tiny San Marino is one of the last countries in Europe which forbids abortion in any circumstance – a ban that dates from 1865. On Sunday, its citizens can vote in a referendum calling for abortion to be made legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The ballot proposal also calls for […]