India probes suspected human trafficking after 276 nationals return home
Ahmedabad, India Reuters India has launched an investigation into how 303 Indians ended up on a chartered flight that was grounded in France last week because of suspected human trafficking, authorities in the western Indian state of Gujarat said on Wednesday. Tipped off by an anonymous informant, French authorities on Friday prevented the plane from […]
Trump wins Michigan state court battle to qualify for primary election ballot
Washington DC, USReuters Donald Trump scored a victory on Wednesday in his fight against challenges to his eligibility to run for the White House again when Michigan’s top court declined to hear a case seeking to disqualify him from the state’s presidential primary ballot. The Michigan Supreme Court said it would not hear an appeal […]
At least 40 more people die in floods and landslides in DR Congo
Bukavu, Democratic Republic Of Congo Reuters At least 40 more people have died in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said, after heavy downpours overnight on Tuesday unleashed floods and landslides that left residents digging through the mud to find bodies. In the city of Bukavu, onlookers gathered to watch on Wednesday as a […]
Indonesian protesters storm refugee shelter calling for deportation of Rohingya
Banda Aceh, IndonesiaReuters A large crowd of Indonesian students stormed a convention centre housing hundreds of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the city of Banda Aceh on Wednesday, demanding they be deported, Reuters footage showed. A city police spokesperson in Banda Aceh did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Two suspects, a Bangladesh […]
Israeli attacks in Gaza add to heavy Palestinian toll in war on Hamas
Updated: 11:40am (AEDT)Cairo, Egypt/Gaza/JerusalemReuters Israeli forces pounded central Gaza by land, sea and air and Palestinian authorities reported dozens more deaths, with the UN health agency saying thousands of people were trying to flee the fighting. Israel remains resolved to wipe out the Palestinian militant group Hamas in response to the militant group’s 7th October […]
Vatican to publish never-before-seen homilies by Pope Benedict XVI during his 10-year retirement
Rome, ItalyAP The Vatican next year will publish a collection of never-before-seen homilies delivered by the late Pope Benedict XVI during his private Sunday Masses, most of them penned during his 10-year retirement, officials said Saturday. The consecrated women who tended to Benedict during his pontificate and retirement recorded the homilies as he delivered them, and have […]
IHOPKC cuts ties with Mike Bickle over “inappropriate behaviour”
United StatesRNS Leaders of the International House of Prayer, an influential charismatic evangelical prayer and mission group based in Kansas City, announced on Friday (22nd December) that they have cut ties with founder Mike Bickle. In late October a group of former IHOPKC leaders accused Bickle of a pattern of alleged clergy sexual misconduct. Earlier in December, […]
Nine dead in Australia after thunderstorms
Updated: 4pm (AEDT)Sydney, AustraliaReuters Nine people were killed in Australia after severe thunderstorms battered the country’s east over the Christmas holidays, authorities said on Wednesday, with tens of thousands of properties still without power. Wild weather lashed the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland on 25th and 26th December bringing large hailstones and […]
Commander says Ukrainian forces still in shattered town
Reuters The commander of Ukraine’s armed forces said on Tuesday his troops remained in an area of the eastern town of Maryinka despite assertions by Russia’s defence minister that Moscow was in control of the settlement which has been reduced to ruins after many months of fighting. Valery Zaluzhnyi acknowledged to reporters that the town […]
Church music: Young organists pull out all the stops to inspire interest in a “complex” instrument
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, reports that young musicians have taken to the organ at a time when there has been a decline in the number of instruments and in the professionals who play them…