Combined work by the Church Commissioners for England and the Church of England Pensions Board scooped 2^nd place in the category of asset owners that contribute most to sustainable investment and corporate governance.
 
Adam Matthews, Director of Ethics and Engagement at the Church of England Pensions Board was awarded 2^nd place. Head of Responsible Investment at the Church Commissioners for England, Edward Mason followed closely behind him in 5^th place in the category of “industry professional that has made the most positive contribution to sustainable investment.”

 
 
The IRRI (Independent Research in Responsible Investment) Survey 2019 is drawn up from submissions by industry peers and is an annual analysis of the economics and dynamics of the global sustainable investment and corporate governance sector.
 
Commenting on the rankings, Adam Matthews, Director of Ethics and Engagement at the Church of England Pensions Board said: “The past year yielded some highly positive interactions for us around climate change, fossil fuels and corporate governance with a stand out being the commitment by Shell to set carbon emissions targets linked to executive pay. This follows investor engagement by the Church of England Pensions Board, on behalf of Climate Action 100+.
 
I’m delighted that our sustained collaborative activity in the field of responsible investment…

The foreign office has backed America’s claim that Iran is to blame, but Tehran has denied any involvement.

The Labour leader said the government “should act to ease tensions in the Gulf”, and “not fuel a military escalation”.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had blamed Iran for the “unprovoked attacks” on Thursday.

He added that the US had made its assessment based on intelligence about the type of weapons used.

But Iran dismissed the claim as “unfounded”. 

International lawyer and church consultant on Middle East issues, Dr Harry Hagopian told Premier, we need to be careful not to take sides but simply to pray, “it’s not a question of I want to be on the side of America or no, I want to be on the side of Iran. It is, let us pray to be on the side of peace.”

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The diocese of Paris announced that a mass will be held on Saturday evening with only about 30 people, including clerics, worshipers and media in attendance.

Those attending the mass will be required to wear hard hats for safety.

Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit will deliver the mass, which will be televised live and streamed online.

Since the fire, two months ago, only a small fraction of the multi-million pound pledges to rebuild the cathedral have been paid.

Hundreds of millions was promised toward the restoration of the cathedral’s roof and spire by some of France’s richest and most powerful families and companies, however, according to officials, so far they have not yet paid a penny.

Instead, it has been mainly American citizens, through the charitable foundation Friends of Notre Dame, who have footed the bills and paid salaries for up to 150 workers employed since the fire.

Protective net inside NOTRE DAME de PARIS during the preliminary work in the cathedral – Philippe Lopez/Pool via REUTERS #n0tredameparis pic.twitter.com/KJU2T3g56t

— Cathedral NotreDame (@n0tredameparis) May 22, 2019

This month the foundation is handing over the first payment for the cathedral’s reconstruction of 3.6 million euros (£3.2m).

“The big donors haven’t paid. Not a cent,” said Andre Finot, senior press official at Notre Dame.

“They want to know what exactly their…