“Erasing history”: Russia closes top rights group, capping year of crackdowns
Moscow, RussiaReuters Russia’s Supreme Court ordered the country’s oldest human rights group to disband on Tuesday for breaking a law requiring it to act as “a foreign agent”, capping a year of crackdowns on Kremlin critics unseen since the Soviet era. The closure of Memorial International bookmarks a year in which Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin’s […]
UN chief lays wreath at Beirut port, pushes for blast accountability
Beirut, LebanonReuters UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said Lebanon needed proper accountability for the August, 2020, Beirut port explosion and that elections due to be held next year could usher in political stability in the troubled country. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lays a wreath of flowers at a memorial as he pays tribute […]
New York’s 9/11 Museum CEO seeks to educate, inspire younger generation
Reuters One of the most important tasks Alice Greenwald has as president and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum is to educate and inspire a younger generation and make sure the heroism and sacrifices made that day in 2001 are never forgotten. “If you think about 20 years, it is the span of a […]
Germany: Survivors, leaders remember victims of July floods
Berlin, Germany AP More than a month after extreme flooding killed more than 180 people in western Germany, survivors of the disaster, first responders, religious leaders and government officials came together Saturday to remember the victims who died and to express hope for the future. Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Bundestag President Wolfgang […]
Memorial sculpture at Beirut port blast site draws mixed reviews
Beirut, LebanonReuters A sculpture of a giant angular figure made from the wreckage of last summer’s Beirut port blast was unveiled at the site on Monday, drawing support from some but also stoking anger among other Lebanese who believe justice should come before memorials. The artwork dubbed The Gesture is the creation of Lebanese architect […]
Ukraine unveils folding ‘pop-up book’ synagogue at site of Babyn Yar massacre
Kyiv, UkraineReuters Ukraine unveiled on Friday a synagogue built of wood and designed to unfold like a pop-up book at a site commemorating the victims of one of the single biggest massacres of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust. The colourful new synagogue is part of a memorial project for the victims of the Babyn Yar […]
US Poor People’s Campaign mourns 250,000 COVID deaths, calls for stimulus relief
RNS At least 256,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus as of Monday – the vast majority of them poor. The Poor People’s Campaign, jointly led by Rev William J Barber II and Rev Liz Theoharis, doesn’t want America to forget these COVID-19 victims. On Monday, the group is staging a national service of eulogy […]
For whom the bell tolls: US COVID-19 deaths recalled with church bell, vigils, services
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, reports on how US churches are commemorating the lives lost to the coronavirus pandemic…
New Zealand holds minute of silence for volcano victims
Wellington, New ZealandReuters New Zealanders across the country observed a minute of silence on Monday to honour the victims of last week’s fatal volcanic eruption, as police continued efforts to recover two bodies. The official death toll from the surprise eruption on White Island, also known by its Maori name of Whakaari, stands at 16. […]
New memorial in India commemorates ‘witch’ hunt victims
Thomson Reuters Foundation A memorial dedicated to victims of witch hunts has been unveiled in India’s eastern state of Odisha as part of a campaign to stamp out the branding and persecution of women as “witches”, which is still widespread among poor and tribal communities. Commissioned by the government, the memorial has a statue of […]