Seventeen people killed in US school shooting
At least 17 people have been killed in another school shooting in the US. The Broward Country Sheriff Scott Israel said there were 17 confirmed fatalities following a mass shooting at a school in Parkland, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale in Florida. At least 14 people were taken to nearby hospitals. Police, who responded to […]
LIFESTORY: HOW FAITH BROUGHT US OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATER ALEXA SCIMECA KNIERIM “BACK ON THE ICE”
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, writes about the importance of faith in the life of two US figure skaters…
Progress on global goals ‘unacceptably slow’ for women, says UN
Thomson Reuters Foundation Women are being left behind in the United Nations’ ambitious goals to solve hunger, injustice and other global ills, and they remain poorer, sicker and more vulnerable to violence than men, the UN women’s agency said on Wednesday. Progress to date for girls and women is patchy and in danger of backsliding […]
US agency accuses Russia of abusing anti-extremism laws
World Watch Monitor Russia’s anti-extremism laws are being used to crack down on peaceful religious minorities such as Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hare Krishnas, the top US religious-freedom watchdog says. A report commissioned by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom found that “vague and problematic definitions of ‘extremism’ in Russian law give the authorities […]
Azerbaijan court turns down Baptist pastor’s appeal
World Watch Monitor Azerbaijan’s Constitutional Court in the capital, Baku, has informed Baptist pastor Hamid Shabanov that it will not be considering his appeal against a large fine for meeting for worship without state permission, reports regional news agency Forum 18. He cannot appeal to the higher Supreme Court because his offence was an administrative matter. […]
STRANGESIGHTS: A DEGREE IN…YODELLING?; NO, DOG, NO; AND, AUSTRALIA A COUNTRY?
DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
CASTING THE NET: STUDYLIGHT.ORG
DAVID ADAMS looks at Bible study resource, StudyLight.org…
Pakistani Christian says daughter, 12, abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry
World Watch Monitor A 12-year-old Pakistani Christian girl, who disappeared in November, was abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry her abductor, according to her father. Elisha, daughter of Iqbal Masih, appeared in the High Court in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, on Thursday, where she introduced herself by a new Muslim name but told the […]
INCLUSION: GLITZ AND A SURPRISE GUEST AT THE PROM FOR THOSE WHO DON’T OFTEN GO
BOBBY ROSS, Jr, in an article first published on Religion News Service, reports from the US on an initiative to reach out to special needs teens and adults…
Former Olympic curling hopeful now cheering Team USA from the priesthood
RNS When the men’s and women’s Olympic curling teams take to the ice this week in Pyeongchang, they can count on some friends in high places. The sport, which involves a four-person team sliding a “rock” across ice and sweeping with a broom to guide its path, confounds the unfamiliar but has attracted some famous […]