Egyptian court acquits men accused of abusing Coptic woman
\ Cairo, EgyptAP An Egyptian criminal court acquitted three Muslim men accused of stripping naked an elderly Coptic Christian woman and parading her through the streets of a village in southern Egypt in 2016, the state’s official news agency reported. The three had been sentenced to 10 years in absentia in January, before they were […]
Freed Nigerian schoolboys return home, tell of beatings and hunger
Katsina, NigeriaReuters Scores of schoolboys who were rescued from kidnappers in north-west Nigeria arrived back home on Friday, many of them barefoot and wrapped in blankets after their week-long ordeal. The boys, dressed in dusty clothes, looked dazed and weary but otherwise well as they got off buses in the city of Katsina. Rescued Nigerian […]
US National Prayer Breakfast will be virtual in 2021 due to COVID-19
RNS The National Prayer Breakfast will be a virtual event next year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The gathering has been held annually, usually on the first Thursday of February, for nearly seven decades and draws thousands of attendees from around the world. Attendees mingle at the 68th annual National Prayer Breakfast, at the […]
Snapshot: Christmas lights, Helsinki, Finland
See TAPIO HAAJA’s image…
Soundbite – The TCM Update: This year’s Christmas albums
Rend Collective are among artists who have released a Christmas album this year. Listen to this week’s TCM Update…
Updated: Lauren Daigle responds, wants out of Sean Feucht, ‘New Years Rockin’ Eve’ controversy
9.15am (AEDT), 19th December, 2020RNS Christian pop star Lauren Daigle is responding to Louisiana news reports that she had been removed from the lineup of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, the iconic musical countdown to the New Year on ABC. The move reportedly came after New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell raised concerns about Daigle’s appearance at […]
Updated: Fiji says two dead as powerful cyclone tears across Pacific nation
Updated 6.45pm (AEDT)Reuters A powerful cyclone pounded Fiji, killing two people, including a three-month old baby, and leaving a trail of destruction across the Pacific Island nation, authorities said on Friday. Cyclone Yasa, a top category five storm, made landfall over Bua province on the northern island of Vanua Levu on Thursday evening, bringing torrential […]
Ralph D West, Houston pastor, cuts ties to Southern Baptists over critical race theory rejection
RNS A pastor pursuing a doctorate at Southwestern Theological Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, announced in an editorial Wednesday that he was withdrawing from his degree program and severing his megachurch’s affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention over a recent statement by its seminary presidents on critical race theory. The move by Rev Ralph […]
“Rising” anew: After church fire in New York, advice from houses of worship that have survived disaster
In light of the recent fire at the historic Middle Collegiate Church in New York, ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, reports on how it – and other houses of worship in the US – have responded in the aftermath of disaster…
Macron tests positive for COVID-19, European leaders rush for tests
Paris, ReutersReuters President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, prompting a track-and-trace effort across Europe following numerous meetings between the French leader and EU heads of government in recent days. Macron, who will turn 43 on Monday, is running France remotely and has gone into quarantine at the presidential retreat of La […]