Pope says fake news, disinformation on COVID, is human rights violation
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis said on Friday that spreading fake news and disinformation on COVID-19 and vaccines, including by Catholic media, is a violation of human rights. It was the second time in less than month that the 85-year-old Pope has spoken out on the subject. Three weeks ago, he condemned “baseless” ideological misinformation about […]
Nearly 40 per cent of people in Ethiopia’s Tigray lack adequate food – WFP
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Nearly 40 per cent of people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region do not have adequate food after 15 months of conflict, according to an assessment released on Friday by the UN World Food Programme. The agency surveyed 980 households across the region and found that three-quarters of people are using extreme coping strategies like […]
China agrees to Xinjiang visit by UN rights chief in early 2022 – South China Morning Post
Beijing, ChinaReuters China has agreed to let the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights visit Xinjiang in the first half of 2022 after the Beijing Winter Olympics, according to a report in the South China Morning Post which cited unnamed sources. Rights groups have accused China of perpetrating widescale abuses against Uyghurs and other minority […]
Snapshot: Moroni, Comoros
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Australian religious leaders call for end to indefinite immigration detention
Sydney, Australia A campaign to end indefinite detention in Australia for dozens of men, some of whom have been locked up for as long as nine years, has been launched by the nation’s religious leaders in the wake of the Novak Djokovic case. More than 30 faith leaders have urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison and […]
In the US, Tennessee school board bans acclaimed Holocaust graphic novel, ‘Maus’
RNS A Tennessee school board voted unanimously to remove a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust from its curriculum earlier this month over concerns about offensive words. The 10-member board of education in McMinn County, nearly 100 kilometres south of Knoxville, voted on 10th January to remove the book Maus, by Art Spiegelman. The […]
US court affirms ruling against bakery, wants fine revisited
Portland, Oregon, USAP The Oregon Court of Appeals for a second time has upheld a ruling by the state civil rights division that found that an Oregon bakery illegally discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to sell them a wedding cake in 2013. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports, however, the court on Wednesday also found the Oregon […]
Princeton Theological Seminary removes name of slaveholder from chapel
RNS Princeton Theological Seminary’s board has unanimously voted to dissociate the name of slaveholder and anti-abolitionist Samuel Miller from the school’s chapel. The decision on Tuesday follows actions by the seminary’s Association of Black Seminarians and allies, who authored a petition and held demonstrations asking the board to rename the chapel. Miller Chapel at Princeton […]
Jerusalem’s holy sites and West Bank carpeted in rare snow
JerusalemReuters A rare heavy snowfall covered Jerusalem, some of northern Israel and hilly areas in the occupied West Bank overnight into Thursday, shutting down roads and schools. Worshippers had to trudge through inches of snow to reach the holy sites in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, including the snow-capped Dome of the Rock and the Western […]
West Africa: Coups show limits of diplomacy, opening door to new players
In the wake of a series of coups in West Africa, AARON ROSS and DAVID LEWIS, of Reuters, look at the wider context…