Veteran opposition leader Odinga ahead in Kenya’s presidential race – official results
Nairobi, Kenya Reuters Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga led Kenya’s presidential race, official election results showed on Saturday, pushing Deputy President William Ruto into second place. With just over 26 per cent of votes counted, Odinga had 54 per cent and Ruto had 45 per cent, according to results provided by the Kenyan election commission […]
“Freedom, happiness, opportunities”: Afghan women learn to swim, drive in Australia
Sydney, AustraliaReuters At an indoor pool in a western Sydney suburb, about 20 Afghan women who recently reached Australia as refugees listen to former asylum seeker Maryam Zahid as she offers them swimming classes and talks about the country’s beach culture. Zahid, who arrived in Australia from Afghanistan 22 years ago, said her sessions help […]
Artists paint flowers over Ukraine war wreckage, unsettling some locals
Kyiv, UkraineReuters Artists have painted brilliant sunflowers over heaps of burnt-out cars destroyed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – upsetting some locals who wonder if it is too soon to beautify the wreckage of war. The group of painters from Ukraine and the United States say they plan to sell digital images of the work […]
Five things you need to know from the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in the US
Columbus, Ohio, USRNS Watching backstage as more than 800 Lutherans sang hymns on the floor of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton mused, “We haven’t been singing like this for a long time together. “It’s really powerful.” The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Churchwide Assembly meets at the Greater Columbus Convention Center […]
Drought in England, fires rage in France as heatwave persists
Saint Magne, FranceReuters Firefighters from across Europe came to France’s rescue on Friday to battle a massive wildfire, while fire also raged in Portugal and parts of England faced a severe drought, as successive heatwaves renewed the focus on climate change risks. Much of Europe has faced weeks of baking temperatures that have also depleted […]
Gun violence: Gang crime looms over election in Sweden as shootings spread
JOHAN AHLANDER and SIMON JOHNSON, of Reuters, report on the role gang violence is playing in Sweden’s September election…
Rotavirus childhood vaccine shortage hits four African countries
London, UKReuters Supplies of a vaccine to prevent the deadly rotavirus infection in children have either run out in Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal and Cameroon or are close to doing so, officials close to the roll-out told Reuters, after disruptions at drugmaker GSK. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 200,000 children die each year […]
Salman Rushdie, novelist who drew death threats, on ventilator after New York stabbing
New York City, USReuters Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born novelist who spent years in hiding after Iran urged Muslims to kill him because of his writing, was stabbed in the neck and torso onstage at a lecture in New York state on Friday and airlifted to a hospital, police said. After hours of surgery, Rushdie was […]
Southern Baptists say denomination faces US Department of Justice investigation
Nashville, Tennessee, US AP Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention said Friday that several of the denomination’s major entities are under investigation by the US Department of Justice in the wake of its multiple problems related to clergy sex abuse. The SBC’s Executive Committee has received a subpoena, but no individuals have been subpoenaed at this […]
Nicaragua police ban Catholic procession in church crackdown
Reuters Nicaraguan police have banned a Catholic procession and pilgrimage in the capital of Managua on Saturday, citing internal security reasons, the archdiocese said on Friday as the crackdown on the church intensifies. In response, the archdiocese called for the country’s faithful to spend Friday in prayer and fasting and to attend mass at the […]