In a first, COVAX to send COVID shots only to least covered nations
Brussels, BelgiumReuters A global scheme designed to ensure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines will this month for the first time distribute shots only to countries with the lowest levels of coverage, the World Health Organization said. Co-led by the WHO, COVAX has since January largely allocated doses proportionally among its 140-plus beneficiary states according to […]
Some 1,900 Colombian guerrillas operating from Venezuela, says Colombia military chief
Bogota, ColombiaReuters About 1,900 fighters belonging to Colombian rebel and crime groups are operating from Venezuela, where they plan attacks and participate in drug trafficking, the commander of Colombia’s armed forces said. The Colombian Government has long said Venezuela’s leadership grants safe harbour to Colombian armed groups, allowing trafficking of cocaine in exchange for a […]
Snapshot: Talinn, Estonia
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Australia to ease international border restrictions from November
Canberra/Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday announced an 18-month ban on Australians travelling abroad will be lifted from next month, easing one of the toughest COVID-19 restrictions imposed globally. Reopening the international border for citizens and permanent residents will be linked to the establishment of home quarantine in Australia’s eight states and […]
Social hostility to religion declines, but government restrictions rise – study
RNS A global analysis of government restrictions toward religion finds that the number of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government restrictions rose slightly in 2019. The analysis from the Pew Research Center, which included 198 countries, also found that social hostility toward religion declined in 2019, the last year for which data is available. […]
“We live day to day”: Almost half of Argentines in shadow of poverty
Buenos Aires, Argentina Reuters Eduardo David Rodriguez takes bags of fruit and vegetables to sell in a fresh produce market in Buenos Aires twice a week to make ends meet for his family. They barely do. Rodriguez, like over four in ten Argentines, lives below the poverty line, a rate which has climbed during the […]
Canada marks first national holiday for Indigenous reconciliation
Ottawa, CanadaReuters Canada on Thursday held its the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour the lost children and survivors of Indigenous schools, following the gruesome discovery of more than 1,000 unmarked graves at two former schools earlier this year. The so-called residential school system, which operated between 1831 and 1996, removed about 150,000 Indigenous […]
A country calling: Rural chaplains support communities facing hate groups, isolation and labour shortages
KATHRYN POST, in an article first published on Religion News Service, reports on how rural chaplains in the US and UK are supporting communities amid an onslaught of pandemic-era challenges caused by labour shortages, ecological crises and changes in supply and demand…
UK food banks “prepare for the worst” as COVID-19 aid comes to an end
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Charity food banks in Britain are “preparing for the worst” as the government starts winding up emergency aid measures put in place to cushion the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on millions of workers and low-income households. An extra weekly payment of £20 to support the country’s poorest families will be cut next […]
Essay: Will the Black church continue to sing ‘I Believe I Can Fly’?
In an article first published on Religion News Service, professor, assistant pastor and author CHERYL TOWNSEND GILKES writes that from its beginnings, Gospel music has had a strained relationship with commercial interests and secular artists…