Xi Jinping visits Macau to mark 25 years of Chinese rule
Hong Kong, China Reuters China’s President Xi Jinping arrives in Macau on Wednesday to mark a quarter century of Beijing’s rule over the former Portuguese enclave, and is likely during his three-day visit to urge further diversification from its casino industry. Xi’s trip to the world’s biggest gambling hub is his third as President, during […]
StrangeSights: Kosovo’s “Run Santa Claus”; “fish-mas” at London aquarium; and, barbers battle it out in Rio…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
In the US, Wisconsin police search for answers in rare case of female school shooter
Reuters Police in Wisconsin on Tuesday were interviewing friends and family and examining the online presence of a 15-year-old girl to determine what drove her to open fire at her private Christian school, killing a fellow student and a teacher before taking her own life. The shooter, identified by police as Natalie Rupnow, who also […]
Armed men attack Haiti hospital as violence shows no signs of abating
Port-au-Prince, Haiti Reuters Armed men attacked and partially destroyed a hospital in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, a hospital director told Reuters on Tuesday, amid a wave of escalating violence that prompted Doctors Without Borders to suspend operations in Haiti last month. The bandits set the Bernard Mevs hospital on fire on Monday night, destroying four operating […]
New HIV prevention drug could reach poorest countries by 2025, says health official
London, UK Reuters A new long-acting preventive HIV drug could reach the world’s poorest countries by the end of 2025 or early 2026, a global health official told Reuters on Tuesday. The ambition is to start deliveries of Gilead Sciences’ lenacapavir on that timeline, said Hui Yang, head of supply operations at the Global Fund […]
Former Church of England leader resigns as priest after claims he mishandled an abuse case
London, UK AP A former leader of the Church of England has resigned as a priest following allegations that he failed to properly handle the case of a priest accused of sexual misconduct. George Carey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, quit after a BBC investigation reported that he allowed a priest who […]
UN refugee agency expects a million Syrians to return in six months
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters A UN refugee agency official said on Tuesday that some one million Syrian refugees are expected to return to the country in the first six months of 2025, asking states to refrain from forcing them to do so. A lightning rebel advance swept Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad from power this month, shocking […]
Trump cabinet: Top level nominees represent an unusual slice of American religious life
JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, reports that Trump’s cabinet selection includes everyone from pastors to Catholic converts to one nominee who credits their spiritual rebirth to a book by a Swiss psychiatrist…
Inside South Korea’s right-wing YouTube world openly embraced by Yoon
Seoul, South Korea Reuters When South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol cited claims of election hacking and “anti-state” pro-North Korean sympathisers as justification for imposing a short-lived martial law, right-wing YouTuber Ko Sung-kook had heard it before. In fact, Ko had made the same claims himself many times to the 1.1 million subscribers of his […]
Essay: A Christmas miracle in Syria
US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says Assad was the King Herod of our time and, like Herod, he slaughtered the innocent…