Funeral of last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to take place on Saturday – media reports
Reuters The funeral of the Soviet Union’s last leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday in Moscow aged 91, will take place on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported, citing Gorbachev’s daughter and a spokesperson for his foundation. It will be held in the famous Hall of Columns inside Moscow’s House of Unions, agencies reported, the […]
UN inspectors near Ukrainian nuclear plant on mission to avert an accident
Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine Reuters United Nations inspectors arrived on Wednesday in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on a mission to prevent a nuclear accident at a Russian-occupied power plant where nearby shelling has prompted global fears of disaster. The International Atomic Energy Agency team reached the city 55 kilometres away from the plant, where they were […]
Pakistanis protect homes against devastating floods; aid arrives
Shikarpur, Pakistan Reuters Residents in southern Pakistan used sandbags to shield their homes from surging floodwaters that inundated a major highway on Wednesday, as global aid began arriving with food, medicine and tents to help alleviate a major national disaster. Abnormal heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers triggered floods that have submerged a third of […]
Mourners mark Princess Diana’s death in Paris, 25 years on
Paris, FranceReuters Mourners marked the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in Paris on Wednesday, laying flowers and leaving messages on the bridge above the underpass where she was killed in a car crash. Blooms and pictures of Diana adorned the gold-leaf covered Flame of Liberty, a replica of the torch of the Statue of […]
UN rights chief’s tenure ends in disappointment for China activists
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Michelle Bachelet, once a political detainee under Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and a doctor for tortured children, pledged to be the champion of victims when she became UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2018. But as her tenure ends on Wednesday, family members and advocates for those caught up in China’s repression […]
Books: Help for pastors navigating divisive times
DAVID ADAMS reads ‘The Unwavering Pastor’…
UNESCO supports Ukraine bid to put Odesa on World Heritage list
Paris, FranceReuters United Nations cultural agency UNESCO said on Tuesday it supported a bid by Ukraine to put its port city of Odesa on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Following a meeting of Ukraine Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay at the agency’s Paris headquarters, UNESCO said it had mobilised experts to […]
StrangeSights: Medieval friars struggled with hygiene; pumpkin rider attempts a new record; and, a lost time capsule…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Twenty-five years since Paris death, Princess Diana still captivates
London, UKReuters A quarter of a century after her death at the age of just 36, Princess Diana remains a source of fascination to people around the world and her fate still casts a shadow over the British royals. Diana was killed on 31st August, 1997, when the limousine carrying her and her lover Dodi al-Fayed crashed […]
Pope wraps up meeting with cardinals on future direction of church
Rome, ItalyAP Pope Francis on Tuesday wrapped up two days of closed-door meetings with about 180 cardinals, many of them young enough to elect a future pontiff, including discussions about how the Catholic Church’s governance could be made more inclusive. The sessions focused on a new Apostolic constitution that, among other things, allows lay people […]