Postcards: Pakistan faces an unexpected dilemma – too much electricity
ZOFEEN T EBRAHIM, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on Pakistan’s issues with power…
Papua New Guinea farewells “grand chief” at state funeral
Sydney, Australia Reuters Papua New Guineans gathered in their thousands to pay respect to their “grand chief” at a state funeral on Friday for Michael Somare, the former Prime Minister who led the Pacific archipelago to independence. Somare died on 26th February, aged 84, just weeks after he was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer. He […]
‘Quad’ nations agree to send a billion vaccines across Asia by end-2022; WHO approves J&J vaccine for emergency use
New Delhi, India Reuters Leaders of the United States, India, Australia and Japan agreed to pool financing, manufacturing and distribution capacity to send one billion coronavirus vaccines across Asia by the end of 2022, India’s Foreign Secretary said on Friday. The so-called “Quad” group of four nations want to expand global vaccinations and counter China’s […]
Cornel West returns to New York’s Union Theological Seminary after Harvard tenure dispute
RNS Cornel West is rejoining the faculty of Union Theological Seminary, where he started his teaching career more than 40 years ago, the New York seminary said this week. The move comes after West had threatened to leave Harvard University, which he said denied his request to be considered for tenure, according to media reports. This is West’s […]
Snapshot: Macau
See VERNON RAINEIL CENZON’s image…
Curbs on girls reading, singing in public stir rights fears in Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan Thomson Reuters Foundation A decision to ban girls over the age of 12 from reading poems or singing at public events sparked anger in Afghanistan this week, with literary figures and campaigners saying it marked a backwards step on educational rights. The Education Ministry’s directive comes as the government negotiates a power-sharing deal with […]
Islamophobia on the rise, according to United Nations report
RNS A new report from the United Nations highlights growing Islamophobia and excessive surveillance of Muslims in countries around the world. The United Nations Human Rights Council report, which was released last week, is unsparing in its critique that governments around the world, including in the United States and China, should do more to combat […]
A Los Angeles pilot program will vaccinate hundreds within three kilometre radius of a Catholic church
Los Angeles, US RNS The goal: to vaccinate 600 eligible people who live within a three kilometre radius surrounding St Brigid Catholic Church, a Black and Latino parish hit hard by COVID-19 in South Los Angeles. This effort is part of a two-day pilot project in partnership with the County of Los Angeles and One […]
Widow of Bangladesh shipbreaker pursues test case on worker safety
Dhaka, Bangladesh Thomson Reuters Foundation A Bangladeshi woman whose husband died dismantling an oil tanker in a local shipyard was given the green light this week to keep pursuing a claim for compensation from a UK company linked to the vessel in a test case for the shipbreaking industry. Britain’s Court of Appeal threw out […]
Islands, rocks and tuna: Pacific nations draw new battle lines against rising seas
ALISTER DOYLE, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, looks at how Pacific island states are looking to ensure their territories don’t disppear with rising seas…