This Life: Putting joy back in the Christmas season
US columnist CAROL ROUND, in an article first published on ASSIST News Service, on finding more joy this Christmas…
Protests, pandemics and politics: The top 2020 searches for Bible passages online
RNS In the midst of a strange and stressful year, people turned to the same place they have for decades in their search for answers. The internet. A person is taken on a stretcher into the United Memorial Medical Center after going through testing for COVID-19 Thursday, on 19th March, in Houston. People were lined […]
In the US, Southern Baptist seminary presidents nix critical race theory
RNS Southern Baptist seminary presidents have taken up a hot culture war issue in a recent statement, saying “critical race theory” is incompatible with the denomination’s central statement of faith. Issued on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Southern Baptist Convention’s most recent statement of faith, the Baptist Faith & Message, the presidents’ […]
2020 likely world’s second hottest year, UN says; New Zealand declares climate emergency
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters This year is on track to be the second hottest on record, behind 2016, the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. Five data sets currently place 2020, a year characterised by heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and raging hurricanes, as the second warmest since records began in 1850. Dried-up rivers and creeks can be seen […]
UK approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in world first
London, UKReuters Britain approved Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation program in history. Prime Minister Boris Johnson touted the green light from Britain’s medicine authority as a global win and a ray of hope for the end […]
In the US, Oklahoma Governor declares day of prayer as virus surges
Oklahoma City, USAP As the coronavirus surges in the US state of Oklahoma, nearing 200,000 total cases on Tuesday, Governor Kevin Stitt declared Thursday a day of prayer and fasting in the state. “I believe we must continue to ask God to heal those who are sick, comfort those who are hurting and provide renewed […]
StrangeSights: As Utah’s mysterious pillar disappears, another appears briefly in Romania, and, a bear of a master corporal
DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
Amid fight to curb coronavirus, UN urges designation of seafarers as key workers
New York, USReuters The 193-member UN General Assembly urged all countries to designate seafarers and other marine personnel as key workers on Tuesday after travel restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19 have left hundreds of thousands stranded at sea for months. A unanimously adopted resolution encouraged governments to ensure safe ship crew changes and […]
Latino Protestants more conservative, supportive of Trump than Latino Catholics, poll finds
RNS Latino voters this election season were instrumental in helping flip the state of Arizona blue for the first time since 1996, but in Florida and Texas more Latinos than expected voted for President Donald Trump. Faith affiliation has emerged as one explanation for this political divide among Latino Americans. “Religion is the largest demographic […]
Former CEO of Alight, Daniel Wordsworth, named new CEO of World Vision Australia
Daniel Wordsworth, former CEO of US refugee support organisation Alight, has been named as the next CEO of World Vision Australia. Wordsworth, 54, who was born in Tamworth but has spent the past 25 years working in conflict hotspots around the world – the last 12 with Alight, said in a statement released by World […]