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- BOB SMIETANA
Sainte Ann Catholic Church on Mackinac Island, Michigan. PICTURE: RNS/Bob Smietana
In a battle between a squirrel and the Son of God, the squirrel won.
But Jesus, as always, made a comeback.
A squirrel trapped at Ste Anne Catholic Church on Mackinac
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- MARTON DUNAI
Budapest, Hungary
Reuters
Coronavirus infections are ravaging Hungary's 700,000-strong Roma community, according to personal accounts that suggest multiple deaths in single families are common in an unchecked outbreak fuelled by deep distrust of authorities.
Data on infections in the community is unavailable but interviews with about a dozen Roma, who often
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- RINA CHANDRAN
Bangkok, Thailand
Thomson Reuters Foundation
An ambitious Indonesian project to create a single database of the country's land area and stop conflicts is destined to flounder unless it includes maps created by Indigenous communities, advocates said on Wednesday.
The One Map policy, rolled out a decade ago
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- RINAT HARASH
Jerusalem, Israel
Reuters
Crosses etched in mysterious abundance across the walls of Christianity's most sacred church were long assumed to be graffiti, but they may be the work of mediaeval masons paid to carve them by pilgrims, research suggests.
Revered in Christian tradition as the site of Jesus’s
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- JACK JENKINS
Washington DC, US
RNS
Two Roman Catholic bishops and other church leaders have teamed up with the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organisation, to condemn discrimination against transgender people, the groups announced Wednesday.
In a statement provided to Religion News Service, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New
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- CORRESPONDENTS
Aden, Yemen
Reuters
Yemen received its first COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, a week after the internationally recognised government declared a health emergency in areas under its control.
The 360,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine arrived by plane at Aden, part of a consignment from the global COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme
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- BOUREIMA BALIMA and MOUSSA AKSAR
Maputo, Mozambique
Reuters
Thousands of people fleeing an attack claimed by Islamic State have made their way to safety elsewhere in northern Mozambique, aid workers said, while a small group of victims arrived by boat in neighbouring Tanzania.
Insurgents hit the coastal town of Palma, adjacent to gas
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- MEGAN ROWLING
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Thomson Reuters Foundation
Tropical forest losses hit their third-highest level in almost two decades last year, despite improved conservation in parts of South-East Asia, researchers said on Wednesday, warning of rising deforestation risks as nations restart pandemic-hit economies.
The loss in 2020 of 4.2 million
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- GABRIEL CROSSLEY
Beijing, China
Reuters
A top Chinese medical expert said on Wednesday there was no factual basis to accusations that China did not share data with international researchers appointed by the World Health Organization to look into the origins of COVID-19.
Following the publication of the joint study into
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- A CORRESPONDENT
Washington DC, US
Reuters
The United States and 13 other countries expressed concerns on Tuesday that the World Health Organization report on the origins of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was delayed and lacked access to complete data, according to a joint statement.
It followed WHO Director-General
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- STEVE GORMAN
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- ADELLE M BANKS
The African American caucus within the Southern Baptist Convention has asked its denomination’s seminary presidents to do more to address continuing tensions about racism and critical race theory.
The denomination’s Council of Seminary Presidents issued a statement in November declaring the academic theory that examines systemic
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- JACK GRAHAM
Nearly nine in 10 leading global climate economists think climate change will deepen income inequality between rich and poor countries, with most calling for urgent action to cut planet-warming emissions, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The impacts of rising temperatures could create "enormous difficulties" for
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- JACK JENKINS and ADELLE M BANKS
