Updated: Australian animals at dire risk as environment deteriorates
Updated: 5pm (AEST)Melbourne, AustraliaReuters Australia has lost more mammal species than any other continent and has one of the worst rates of species decline among the world’s richest countries, a five-yearly environmental report card released by the government on Tuesday said. Animals such as the blue-tailed skink are only known to exist anymore in captivity, […]
Zelenskiy sidelines close allies in Kyiv’s biggest purge of war
Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sidelined his childhood friend as head of Ukraine’s security service and another close ally as top prosecutor in Kyiv’s biggest internal purge of the war, citing their failure to root out Russian spies. The careers of SBU security service chief Ivan Bakanov and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova had personified […]
Southern Europe battles wildfires as heatwave spreads north
Madrid. Spain/Lisbon, PortugalReuters Britain was heading for its highest temperatures on record and firefighters battled blazes across southern Europe as a heatwave sent people hunting for shade and compounded fears about climate change. In Spain, a wildfire raced across a field and engulfed a excavator near the northern town of Tabara, forcing the driver to […]
Another state of emergency declared in Sri Lanka as acting President takes reins
Colombo, Sri LankaReuters Sri Lanka’s acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency, according to a government notice released late on Sunday, as his administration seeks to quell social unrest and tackle an economic crisis gripping the island nation. Sri Lanka’s beleaguered leaders have issued imposed a state of emergency several times since […]
Pacific bloc, united, demands climate action as China, US woo
Suva, FijiReuters Pacific island nations, courted by China and the United States, put the superpowers on notice, telling the world’s two biggest carbon emitters to take more action on climate change while pledging unity in the face of a growing geopolitical contest. Leaders at a four-day summit of the Pacific Islands Forum, meeting in Fiji’s […]
Macron decries anti-Semitism on 80th anniversary of Jewish deportations
Paris, FranceReuters French President Emmanuel Macron warned against anti-Semitism and historical revisionism on Sunday as he commemorated victims of the Holocaust on the 80th anniversary of the Vel d’Hiv roundup of Jewish families. On 16th to 17th July, 1942, around 13,000 people were taken to the Winter Velodrome, the Vel d’Hiv, in Paris before being […]
G20 finance chiefs resolved on food security; Ukraine war prevents formal communique
Nusa Dua, IndonesiaReuters The Group of 20 major economies’ finance chiefs on Saturday pledged to address global food insecurity and rising debt, but made few policy breakthroughs amid divisions over Russia’s war in Ukraine at a two-day meeting in Indonesia. With questions growing about the effectiveness of the G20 in tackling the world’s major problems, […]
Safe spaces?: US houses of worship increase security after shootings
DEEPA BHARATH and LUIS ANDRES HENAO, of Associated Press, report on how some faith leaders are increasingly looking to security amid a string of high-profile mass shootings in the US…
Chilean cowboys gather for blessing at national shrine
Santiago, Chile AP With the snow-covered Andes shining in the background, several dozen cowboys in woollen ponchos and families on wooden horse carts lined up Saturday to receive a priest’s blessing in the huge esplanade in front of the National Sanctuary of Maipú. “I come every year to fulfill a vow,” said Joshua Contreras, 30, […]
Essay: In the US, Gen Z mixes abortion politics – like all their politics – with spirituality
In an article first published on Religion News Service, JOSH PACKARD, executive director of Springtide Research Institute, says data shows college-age Americans are resisting fixed definitions for what it means to be religious…