Sight-Seeing: Seeing mission as worship
BEN BOOKLESS, of OM in the UK, writes that it’s time to broaden the way we view mission…
Northern Ireland police to probe abuse at church-run homes
London, UKAP Police in Northern Ireland on Wednesday announced an investigation into allegations of physical and sexual abuse at church-run institutions that housed unmarried women and their children. The announcement came a day after an independent panel recommended a public inquiry to examine human rights abuses in the homes, so-called Magdalene laundries and workhouses. Detective […]
South Africa’s Desmond Tutu turns 90 amid new racist slur
Cape Town, South AfricaAP As South Africa’s anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu turns 90, recent racist graffiti on a portrait of the Nobel winner highlights the continuing relevance of his work for equality. Often hailed as the conscience of South Africa, Tutu was a key campaigner against South Africa’s previous brutal system of oppression against […]
WHO backs malaria vaccine rollout for Africa’s children in major breakthrough
Nairobi, KenyaReuters The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the only approved vaccine against malaria should be widely given to African children, potentially marking a major advance against a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people annually. The WHO recommendation is for RTS,S – or Mosquirix – a vaccine developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline. […]
“This is the moment of shame,” Pope says about France abuse report
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis said on Wednesday he was saddened and ashamed by the Catholic Church’s inability to deal with sexual abuse of children in France and that the church must make itself a “safe home for everyone”. “I would like to express to the victims my sadness, sorrow for the trauma they have suffered […]
Their prospects dim, Haitian migrants strain Mexico’s asylum system
Mexico City, MexicoReuters Mexico could see asylum applications jump 70 per cent this year compared with 2019 as requests from Haitians soar, though most of those Caribbean migrants do not meet the criteria under current rules, according to Mexico’s top asylum official. Haiti is currently the second-most common country of origin for asylum requests in […]
Australia to stop controversial practice of asylum seeker detentions in PNG
Canberra, AustraliaReuters Australia will stop detaining asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea at the end of December, the two countries said on Wednesday, as Canberra shuts one of two remote Pacific detention centres that have been criticised by the United Nations. Under Australia’s hardline immigration policies, asylum seekers attempting to reach the country by boat […]
In the US, Missouri man executed for killing three workers in ’94 robbery
Bonne Terre, Missouri, US AP A Missouri man was put to death Tuesday for killing three workers while robbing a convenience store nearly three decades ago, an execution performed over objections from racial justice activists, lawmakers and even the Pope. Ernest Johnson died from an injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre. […]
StrangeSights: Argentine artist destroys works to go virtual; a Barbie astronaut; and, mail robots…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Sitting pretty? Indian shop workers win the right to a chair
Chennai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation On her feet at work for 10 hours each day,Indian shop assistant S Lakshmi lumbers home at the end of her shift to nurse her aching legs and swollen ankles. But relief may be in sight. Tamil Nadu became last month the second Indian state to enshrine the “right to sit” for retail […]