UN urges nations to spend more on species protection as new pact talks begin
Kunming, China Reuters The global community must invest much more and raise the scale and speed of its pledges to protect nature and prevent species loss, a senior UN official said on Sunday on the eve of a new round of global biodiversity talks. The first part of the twice-postponed “COP15” biodiversity negotiations begin in […]
Postcards: Lebanon’s crisis pushes mental health services to the limit
MAYA GEBEILY, of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from Beirut on the challenges facing mental health workers…
Iraq’s parliamentary vote marred by boycott, voter apathy
Baghdad, Iraq AP Iraqis voted Sunday in parliamentary elections held months ahead of schedule as a concession to a youth-led popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement. But the voting was marked by widespread apathy and a boycott by many of the young activists who thronged the streets of Baghdad and Iraq’s southern provinces in late […]
World should send pledged aid to Afghans to avert economic, refugee crisis – UNHCR
Islamabad, Pakistan Reuters The world should urgently provide promised aid to Afghanistan, the UN refugee agency said on the weekend, warning that a lack of resources is hampering efforts to avert an economic crisis that could push fresh flows of refugees to its neighbours and beyond. “The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan remains really dire,” Babar […]
Pope opens two-year consultation on Catholic Church future; meets freed nun
Vatican City Reuters Pope Francis on Sunday launched a two-year worldwide consultative process that could change the way the Roman Catholic Church makes decisions and leave its mark long after his pontificate is over. Proponents see the initiative called “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission” as an opportunity to change the church’s power […]
Volcanic lava in Spain’s La Palma engulfs more houses, land
La Palma, Spain Reuters Red-hot lava engulfed the land Jose Roberto Sanchez inherited from his parents on Saturday and lightning flashed around the rim of the volcano that has been erupting on the Spanish island of La Palma for almost three weeks. There were 37 seismic movements on Saturday, with the largest measuring 4.1, the […]
Indonesia’s race to preserve habitat of Javan gibbon
Petungkriyoni Forest, Indonesia Reuters Indonesian officials and researchers are working to preserve a small pocket of forest on the heavily populated island of Java as the habitat of the Javan gibbon, which they say is endangered by climate change and human encroachment. Also known as the silvery gibbon, the primate is unique to central and […]
Afghan women launch school for refugees on US army base
Thomson Reuters Foundation On an army base in the US Midwest, dozens of Afghan refugee children sit with colouring books and pencils spread across their desks – listening intently as they are taught maths, English and how to prepare for life in the United States. The hundreds of children living temporarily at the Fort McCoy […]
French EU presidency to push for worldwide end to death penalty, says Macron
Paris, France Reuters France will launch a campaign for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty as part of its upcoming presidency of the European Union, President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday. A conference will be held in Paris gathering civil society groups from countries where the death penalty is in use or suspended, Macron […]
“A place to call our own”: Mozambican slave descendants fight for snatched South African land
KIM HARRISBERG, writing for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, on the struggle of the Makua people…