Some nations look to shorten isolation rules as Omicron races around the world
Rome, Italy/Washington DC, USReuters Global COVID-19 infections hit a record high over the past seven-day period, Reuters data showed on Wednesday, as the Omicron variant raced out of control and governments wrestled with how to contain its spread without paralysing fragile economies. Almost 900,000 cases were detected on average each day around the world between […]
Lifestory: How Archbishop Tutu saved a small New York town from a blowup over hate crimes
US pastor Rev DWIGHT LEE WOLTER, in an article published on Religion News Service, recalls how a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu resolved an impasse over who is invited to take a seat at the table of justice…
For New Year’s resolutions, better health ranks higher than God, family or money
RNS When making a New Year’s resolution, Americans take a bit of advice from the beloved 1987 film The Princess Bride: “If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything.” Just under half of Americans (44 per cent) said they have made resolutions in the past to address their health, according to a new survey from Lifeway […]
Tears for Tutu, giant of struggle and neighbour who brought round groceries
Johannesburg, South AfricaReuters Mourners held a candlelight prayer ceremony outside the Soweto home of late Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Wednesday, weeping over the memory not only of a world-renowned lion of the anti-apartheid movement but of a kind and loyal neighbour. Tutu, who died at 90 on Sunday, lived for a while on the same […]
Russia shuts Memorial Human Rights Centre in ‘one-two punch’
Moscow, RussiaReuters Russia’s Memorial Human Rights Centre was ordered to shut by a Moscow court on Wednesday, a day after its sister organisation – Russia’s oldest human rights group – was forced to close. The Human Rights Centre keeps a running list of individuals it classifies as political prisoners, including Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Lawyer […]
Trash for rice: Bali recycling scheme gives families pandemic lifeline
Gianyar, Indonesia Reuters For Balinese souvenir shop owner I Kadek Rai Nama Rupat, the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic have been a fight for survival. The pandemic has prevented the foreign tourists that usually throng businesses like his on the Indonesian resort island from coming and rising food prices have compounded the economic pain. […]
South America, battered by COVID-19, now winning global vaccination race
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Buenos Aires, ArgentinaReuters Throughout much of 2020 and early 2021, South America was ground zero in the global fight against COVID-19. Oxygen ran low in Peru. Gravediggers worked through the night in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Bodies were stuffed into shipping containers in Guayaquil, Ecuador. A healthcare worker takes a swab sample from […]
Hong Kong police raid pro-democracy media outlet, arrest six
Hong Kong, ChinaReuters Hundreds of Hong Kong national security police raided the office of online pro-democracy media outlet Stand News on Wednesday and arrested six people, including senior staff, for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”. The raid further raises concerns about the freedom of speech and that of the media in the former British colony, […]
UN bodies urge Yemen’s Houthis to release two staff members
Geneva, Switzerland/Aden, YemenReuters Yemen’s Houthi movement has detained two staff members of UNESCO and UN Human Rights since early November, the UN bodies said in a joint statement on Tuesday, calling for their immediate release. The statement gave no details on the two individuals, but a Yemeni government official told Reuters they were Yemeni staff […]
“Huge setbacks”: In the year to end child labour, COVID wreaks havoc
EMELINE WUILBERCQ, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how the coronavirus pandemic impacted the fight against child labour…