World’s first vaccine against deadly swine fever nears approval in Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam Reuters Vaccines against African swine fever being tested in Vietnam are close to approval, global and US veterinary officials said, in what would be a major breakthrough to tackle the deadly animal disease that regularly ravages pig farms worldwide. African swine fever has for years disrupted the $US250 billion global pork market. In […]
Essay: Repression of women points to worsening religious freedom trends abroad
NURY TURKEL, co-founder of the Uyghur Human Rights Project and chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and Rabbi ABRAHAM COOPER, director of global social action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and vice chair of USCIRF, say that denying religious freedom and women’s rights go hand-in-hand…
Iran, 27 other countries critiqued by US watchdog for religious freedom violations
United StatesRNS A watchdog for global religious freedom has used its new annual report to call out the Iranian Government for targeting women’s rights protesters during demonstrations last year. The report also points out the country’s “decades-long campaign” against religious minorities. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom criticised Iran for repressing the religious rights […]
A tightening grip: Rising online crackdowns across Asia target citizens, Big Tech
SEN NGUYEN and RINA CHANDRAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on how new laws on content are restrict users’ freedom on social media in Asian nations…
“Without sediment, we are done”: How dams built by China starve the Mekong River Delta of vital sediment
KANUPRIYA KAPOOR, SIMON SCARR AND PHUONG NGUYEN, of Reuters, report on the impact of Chinese-built hydroelectric dams on the Mekong River Delta…
Essay: Remembering Christians in Indigenous communities this Christmas
ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, urges Christians to remember – and pray for – Indigenous communities around the world this Christmas…
Essay: State Department blacklists are only one tool to foster international religious freedom
KNOX THAMES, US State Department special adviser on religious minorities in the Obama and Trump administrations, looks, in an article first published on Religion News Service, at whether such designations help…
Forty countries to unveil methane plans at UN climate summit, US official says
Washington, DC, USReuters Some 40 of the 119 countries that pledged last year to slash emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane will unveil their plans to do so at the UN climate summit next week, according to a senior US official. The outlook reflects modest progress on the US and EU-led Global Methane Pledge, […]
StrangeSights: The Last Supper (complete with hot sauce); Psyduck becomes most wanted in China; and, a new nerve test for Vietnam…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
List Afghanistan as religious liberty violator, report urges US State Department
United StatesRNS The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that Afghanistan be added to the State Department’s list of worst religious freedom violators, citing the changes that resulted when the Taliban took control of the country last year. The federal panel said in its annual report released on Monday that the regime change has […]