The Belize Barrier Reef – the world’s second largest coral reef – is removed from endangered list
The World Heritage Committee credited Belize’s safeguarding measures as the cause for the historic conservational victory.
Civil society
The Church of Scotland has voted to allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages
The Church of Scotland has voted to draft new laws that would allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages.
Church of Ireland to end investments in fossil fuel companies
The Church of Ireland has voted to exclude fully companies with a turnover of greater than 10 percent from fossil fuel production, by 2022.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, dedicated to victims of American white supremacy, opens in Montgomery, Alabama
The Memorial overlooking the Alabama State Capitol demands a reckoning with one of the nation’s least recognized atrocities: the lynching of thousands of black people in a decades-long campaign of racist terror.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions presses ahead with nationwide protest over ‘poverty-level’ minimum wage
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) will go ahead with its planned nationwide mass mobilisation of workers to protest against the proposed “poverty-level” national minimum wage of R20 an hour and amendments to labour laws
Church of England issues anti-plastic tips for Lent
The Church of England is urging Christians to give up single-use plastics during Lent, in a bid to cut the environmental damage it can cause.
German union wins right to 28-hour working week and 4.3% pay rise
German workers won a key victory in their fight for a better work-life balance when a big employers’ group agreed to demands from the country’s largest trade union for the introduction of a 28-hour working week.
Frontline workers push Guinea worm disease to the brink of eradication
There have been just 26 cases of Guinea worm in 2017 so far, down from 3.5 million cases in 21 countries in Africa and Asia in 1986.
Interfaith leaders pledge to stand by American Muslims
Christian, Jewish and Buddhist leaders joined their Muslim neighbors for Friday prayers at a Washington, D.C., mosque, sending President-elect Donald Trump a strong statement of interfaith solidarity.
Evolve Foundation launches a $100 million fund to find startups working to relieve human suffering
Co-founder of Matrix Partners China Bo Shao will lead the fund and will be looking for entrepreneurs focusing on tech that can help people become more present and aware.