Postcards: Mental health at risk as California wildfire threat grows

ELLEN WULFHORST, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from the US…
Vatican appears to rebuke new US West Bank settlement policy

RNS In what appears to be a rare public rebuke of US foreign policy, the Vatican issued a statement Wednesday, reaffirming its support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and calling on Israel to reside “within the borders recognised by the international community”. The communique follows this week’s controversial announcement that the US Government is […]
“The time feels right”: Prince Charles welcomed to New Zealand’s founding site of Waitangi

Wellington, New Zealand Reuters For Ngati Kawa Taituha, the welcoming of Prince Charles onto the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in New Zealand’s far north on Wednesday marks the latest step towards finally fulfilling the promise of New Zealand’s founding document. Taituha’s ancestors were among the 40 Māori leaders who signed the Treaty of Waitangi with representatives […]
‘Bear’ the dog helps find koalas injured in Australian bushfires

Sydney, Australia Reuters An obsessive compulsive dog who was abandoned as a puppy has a new mission: helping find and save koalas injured in Australia’s recent devastating bushfires. Bear, a Cattle Dog cross-breed, is trained to find both koalas and and quolls, another small Australian marsupial, in the wild. Bear, a Cattle Dog cross-breed who […]
StrangeSights: The case of the mysterious library censor; firefighters drink milk (but leave a note); and, Scottish artist draws a (very) big picture…

DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Ocean could provide over six times more food than it does today

London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation The ocean could provide over six times more food than it does now with better management and more technological innovation, scientists said on Tuesday, adding that boosting cultivation of bivalves like mussels and clams could be especially beneficial. They estimated the oceans could provide more than two thirds of the […]
Kenya maps first ‘Climate Atlas’ to battle future food losses

Nairobi, Kenya Thomson Reuters Foundation Kenya will launch its first localised weather modelling system early next year, providing key data on how climate change will impact crop production across the east African nation in the decades to come, the project’s founder said on Tuesday. Developed by researchers at Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and […]
Singapore vows “strong” action on labour trafficking after first conviction
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Singapore warned on Tuesday that it would take “strong” action against labour trafficking after an Indian couple was found guilty of exploiting migrant women, the first such conviction in the affluent city-state. The two Indian nationals were convicted for exploiting three Bangladeshi women they recruited to dance at nightclubs they […]
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…
In the US community of Santa Clarita, a church grapples with the aftermath of a deadly school shooting

Los Angeles, US RNS Soon after a 16-year-old shot and killed two of his classmates and wounded three others at Saugus High School on Thursday, Grace Baptist Church Senior Pastor David Hegg and members of his church opened their doors to the community. Faculty and students came to the church – just a few miles from […]