UN suspends food distribution in two towns in Ethiopia after looting
Washington DC, USReuters The World Food Programme has suspended food distribution in Ethiopia’s Kombolcha and Dessie towns after looting of supplies that staff were unable to stop due to intimidation, including being held at gunpoint, the United Nations said on Wednesday. An Ethiopian woman, who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, holds her child […]
Postcards: Urban garden in Rio feeds hundreds of families in former “crackland”
SEBASTIAN ROCANDIO, of Reuters, reports on the transformation of a Brazilian neighbourhood…
New podcast ‘Hark!’ explores the stories behind the most beloved Christmas carols
RNS Mary, did you know…how that perennially divisive song got made about you? Many people don’t know the stories behind their favorite Christmas carols, it turns out. PICTURE: Mario Mendez/Unsplash/Creative Commons That’s where Hark! The Stories Behind Our Favorite Christmas Carols comes in. The new podcast produced by Jesuit-owned America Media and hosted by Maggi Van Dorn explores […]
Pope decries “stone hearts” of indifference to migrants’ pain
Rome, ItalyReuters Pope Francis made a private pre-dawn visit to a Rome religious landmark on Wednesday for the second year after a public service was again cancelled because of the pandemic and decried the “stone hearts” of those not moved by the suffering of migrants. Francis, wearing a full-length white overcoat against the cold, arrived […]
Act now to curb Omicron’s spread, WHO’s Tedros tells world
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters Governments need to reassess national responses to COVID-19 and speed up vaccination programs to tackle Omicron, though it is it too early to say how well existing shots will protect against the new variant, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. The variant’s global spread suggests it could have a major impact […]
In US, Louisiana court to hear pastor’s case against virus charges
New Orleans, USAP Louisiana’s Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will hear arguments in a pastor’s fight against criminal charges he faces for violations of pandemic gathering limits that were in effect last year. Tony Spell got national attention when he began to flout the state’s public health order in March 2020 at a time […]
Meeting between Canadian First Nations and Pope postponed
Toronto, CanadaAP A meeting at the Vatican between Pope Francis and Canadian Indigenous people who were abused at church-run boarding schools has been postponed because of the new coronavirus variant. National Chief RoseAnne Archibald of the Assembly of First Nations said Tuesday that the delegation had planned to travel to Rome next week and meet […]
StrangeSights: A Christmas tree record; man builds his wife a mini Taj; and, cheugy among the most mispronounced words…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
South African law change plan to allow land expropriation fails to pass
Johannesburg, South Africa Reuters A proposal to change South Africa’s constitution to explicitly allow expropriation of land with no compensation failed to win the two-thirds of parliamentary votes that it needed on Tuesday. Lawmakers debated whether to change Section 25 of the constitution to enable authorities to seize land to address racial land inequalities left […]
Mexico moves migrants from southern state and awaits return of US asylum seekers
Mexico City, Mexico Reuters Mexican officials have sped up the transfer of thousands of migrants from southern Mexico to other regions, as northern border states prepare to receive asylum seekers sent back to Mexico from the United States. Dozens of buses full of migrants, mostly from Central America as well as some from Cuba and […]