Community project saves homes from Chile wildfires
Vina del Mar, Chile Reuters Scorched earth surrounds the 70 houses of the Villa Botania neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Chile’s coastal town of Vina del Mar. Wildfires earlier this month that swept through parts of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso killed at least 132 people, marking the South American nation’s worst disaster since 2010. […]
African Methodist Episcopal Church leaders call for halt to all US funding of Israel
United States RNS The African Methodist Episcopal Church’s top officials have called for the US Government to halt all its funding of Israel, citing the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Hamas-Israel war. “The Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church calls on the United States Government to immediately withdraw […]
Ukraine leaves part of Avdiivka, says there is no strategic win for Russia
Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Ukraine’s military said it had withdrawn outnumbered troops from the south-eastern part of the city of Avdiivka amid escalating battles, adding that the decision provided no strategic advantage for Russia. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s south-eastern sector, said on Telegram Ukrainian units pulled back with minor losses. A Ukrainian serviceman walks […]
The last four nuns of a Spanish convent seek sisters to keep it open
Ronda, Spain Reuters With only four nuns left, southern Spain’s historic Corazon Eucaristico de Jesus convent is on the brink of closure. Now its prioress is calling on sisters everywhere to take a leap of faith, come up to the sanctuary in the mountaintop city of Ronda and stay on for a while to keep […]
Tens of thousands rally against Hungary’s Orban after sex abuse pardon scandal
Budapest, Hungary Reuters Tens of thousands of Hungarians protested in Budapest on Friday at the biggest rally against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government for years, after a sex-abuse case pardon by President Katalin Novak caused public uproar and led to her resignation. Conservative Orban, who has been in power since 2010, has sought to defuse […]
Marching for peace: US ‘Peace Pilgrimage’ takes up war in Gaza as a civil rights issue
YONAT SHIMRON, of Religion News Service, reports that many Black Americans view the Palestinian cause in the context of the African American experience of oppression, a stance which has, on occasion, strained relations with American Jews…
Israel bombards Gaza, with biggest functioning hospital under siege
Cairo, Egypt Reuters Gaza’s largest functioning hospital was under siege on Friday in Israel’s war with Islamist group Hamas, leaving patients and doctors helpless in the chaos as warplanes struck Rafah, the last refuge for Palestinians in the enclave, officials said. Israeli forces remained in Nasser Hospital in the town of Khan Younis after raiding […]
Russian emigres gather across Europe to mourn Navalny, denounce Putin
Berlin, Germany/Vilnius, Lithuania Reuters Hundreds of protesters, many of them Russian emigres, gathered in cities across Europe and beyond on Friday to express their outrage over the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Often gathering outside Russian embassies, they chanted slogans critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they blamed for the activist’s death, holding […]
Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition politician and Putin nemesis, reported dead at 47
London, UK Reuters Alexei Navalny, reported to have died on Friday by Russia’s prison service, was the fiercest domestic opponent of Vladimir Putin, whom he accused of trying to kill him and of having him jailed on bogus charges and deprived of medical care. He was 47. The Kremlin dismissed the allegations and cast Navalny […]
Putin foe Alexei Navalny dies in jail, West holds Russia responsible
Moscow, Russia Reuters Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most formidable domestic opponent, fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence, authorities said. The death of Navalny, a 47-year-old former lawyer, robs the disparate Russian opposition of its most prominent […]