Switzerland votes to make same-sex marriage legal by near two-thirds majority
Zurich, SwitzerlandReuters Switzerland agreed to legalise civil marriage and the right to adopt children for same-sex couples by a nearly two-thirds majority in a referendum on Sunday, making it one of the last countries in Western Europe to legalise gay marriage. According to results provided by the Swiss federal chancellery, 64.1 per cent of voters […]
German Social Democrats beat conservatives in vote to decide Merkel successor
Berlin, GermanyReuters Germany’s Social Democrats narrowly won Sunday’s national election, projected results showed, and claimed a “clear mandate” to lead a government for the first time since 2005 and to end 16 years of conservative-led rule under Angela Merkel. The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) were on track for 26 per cent of the vote, ahead […]
UN issues new Syria war death toll, says 350,000 is an “undercount”
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters At least 350,209 people have been killed in the decade-old war in Syria, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday in its first report since 2014 on the death toll, adding that the tally was an “undercount”. The figure includes civilians and combatants and is based on strict methodology requiring the full […]
Vatican Museums, Uffizi team up to confirm a Raphael is real
Vatican CityAP Two of the world’s most important art museums, the Vatican Museums and the Uffizi Galleries, joined forces for the first time on Friday to inaugurate a small exhibit of rarely seen works by two Renaissance masters that confirmed a painting long suspected of being by Raphael was indeed his work. Saints Peter and […]
As heating bills spike, how can Europe protect its poor?
Thomson Reuters Foundation Millions of Europeans face fuel poverty this winter as gas prices hit unprecedented highs, forcing governments to offer a raft of reforms, rules and sweeteners to cushion the blow. The spectre of soaring heating bills – after a pandemic that has already savaged incomes – has led some countries to come up […]
Mozambicans return to uncertain future after Islamists pushed back
Palma, MozambiqueReuters Rwandan forces will help secure and rebuild areas of northern Mozambique destroyed by an Islamist insurgency, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said on Friday, as Mozambican officials began encouraging civilians to return to the gas-rich region. The United Nations has warned of a continuing militant threat in Cabo Delgado, where Rwandan forces are patrolling […]
Changing climate: As Amazon destruction continues, Brazil faces future of floods, drought
FABIO ZUKER, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how heating planet and surging deforestation are altering long-standing weather patterns throughout Brazil and South America…