After two years, Vatican financial trial closes preliminary stage
Vatican CityRNS The Vatican’s “trial of the century,” in which 10 defendants, including a cardinal, face charges of fraud and corruption in a shady real estate deal, has already seen a century’s worth of testimony alleging blackmail, scandalous liaisons and secretly taped conversations with Pope Francis. The trial itself, however, has only just begun. On Tuesday, a hearing ended […]
WILL POWER: COULD PROPERTY INHERITANCE HELP CLOSE US “WEALTH GAP”?
CAREY L BIRON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how estate planning in the US could help address racial economic inequalities…
Private property rights at stake in South Africa ballot
Johnannesburg, South AfricaThomson Reuters Foundation The South African Government’s promises of returning land to black South Africans taken during apartheid are under the spotlight during national elections this Wednesday, land experts said. President and African National Congress leader Cyril Ramaphosa last year launched a process to change the constitution to make explicit provision for the […]
Vietnam demolitions pit Catholic Church against authorities
Thomson Reuters Foundation The demolition of about 100 homes near Ho Chi Minh City, including one owned by the Catholic Church, has pitted the church against authorities in the latest such dispute over land in the Communist Party-ruled country. Residents in Tan Binh district received no warning of the demolitions earlier this month and were […]
Thousands grapple to secure homes as England housing crisis bites
Thomson Reuters Foundation More than 100,000 households in England could be living in bed and breakfast accommodation and hostels by 2020 due to a critical housing shortage, a study showed on Thursday. The report by charity group Crisis and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said current trends indicated the crisis would get worse as local councils battled to […]
Syria faces two million lawsuits over lost and damaged property, say experts
Thomson Reuters Foundation Syrians are likely to file more than two million lawsuits seeking restitution for lost and damaged property, experts said on Tuesday, emphasising the need to work on a solution even while the civil war is ongoing. The conflict will enter its eighth year next month, having killed hundreds of thousands of people […]