StrangeSights: Kosovo honours Blair with life-size statue; NASA asked to help find Loch Ness Monster; and, Alfa Romeo changes car name after Milan criticism
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
“Extraordinary rollercoaster”, Good Friday talks remembered 25 years on
Belfast, UKReuters On 7th April, 1998, the head of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party drafted a letter to the British Prime Minister announcing that he was leaving talks and that the latest attempt to end three decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland was over. Three days later one of the most significant peace deals of […]
Essay: A global vaccine database?
Writing from London, MAL FLETCHER says there are “huge potential downsides” to Tony Blair’s proposal for a global database of the vaccinated…
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 […]
Essay: The UN’s ‘responsibility to protect’ doctrine is a hollow promise for civilians under fire in Ukraine
In an article published on The Conversation, PETER LEE, professor of applied ethics and director of security and risk research at University of Portsmouth in the UK, looks at the concept of ‘responsibility to protect’…
‘Pandora Papers’ bring renewed calls for tax haven scrutiny
Washington DC, USAP Calls grew Monday for an end to the financial secrecy that has allowed many of the world’s richest and most powerful people to hide their wealth from tax collectors. The outcry came after a report revealed the way that world leaders, billionaires and others have used shell companies and offshore accounts to […]
Religion and politics: Boris Johnson and Britain are having their own Catholic crisis
CATHERINE PEPINSTER, writing for Religion News Servcice, reports from the UK…
A hundred former leaders urge G7 to vaccinate poor against COVID-19
London, UKReuters One hundred former presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers have urged the Group of Seven rich nations to pay for global coronavirus vaccinations to help stop the virus mutating and returning as a worldwide threat. The leaders made their appeal ahead of a G7 summit in England which begins on Friday, when US […]
‘COVID generation’ risks child marriage, forced labour, ex-leaders warn
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Former world leaders called on Tuesday for urgent global action to stop coronavirus creating a “COVID generation” with millions of children deprived of education and forced into marriage and work. As lockdowns end, they urged governments to invest in catch-up programs to prevent irretrievable damage to children’s futures. An Afghan girl […]
Attacks against Copts “among deadliest acts of religious persecution” – report
World Watch Monitor Attacks by members of the Islamic State group against Egypt’s Coptic Christian community “were among the deadliest acts of religious persecution” last year, according a new report presented in Washington, DC, on Thursday. “Fifty-three per cent of ISIS attacks against the public in 2017 were aimed at the Coptic community,” described by the Islamist […]