In the US, the United Methodist Church has lost a quarter of its churches – most in the South
United States RNS Americans looking to understand the ways political polarization has defined US voting patterns need look no further than the divisions in the United Methodist Church. Five years after allowing churches to leave with their properties if they disagreed with the direction the denomination was heading on human sexuality, the results of the […]
Ukrainian forces press southward, say strategic village recaptured from Russians
Reuters Ukrainian forces pressed their counter-offensive through the Russian-occupied south-east on Thursday, capturing the village of Staromaiorske in a campaign to drive a wedge through Russian defensive positions. The counter-offensive has focused on securing villages on the southward push and areas around the eastern city of Bakhmut, taken by Russian forces in May after months […]
“The fresh water is finished”: Drought drives economic exodus from Iraq’s rivers and marshlands
AHMED SAEED, ISSAM SUDANI AND TIMOUR AZHARI, of Reuters, report from southern Iraq…
South Pakistan braces for yet more flooding as waters flow down from north
Dadu, Pakistan Reuters Southern Pakistan was braced for yet more flooding on Thursday as a surge of water flowed down the Indus river, threatening further devastation in a country already a third inundated, in a growing disaster blamed on climate change. Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountains have triggered floods that have […]
Ukraine launches counter-offensive in south as Russia shells port city
Mykolaiv/Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Ukrainian troops bolstered by stepped-up Western military aid launched a long-awaited counter-offensive to retake territory in the south on Monday as Russian forces shelled residential areas of the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv. Moscow acknowledged a new offensive had been launched but said it had failed and the Ukrainians had suffered […]
At least 160 Confederate symbols taken down in US in 2020 – SPLC
New York City, USAP When rioters tore through the US Capitol last month, some of them gripping Confederate battle flags, they didn’t encounter a statue of the most famous rebel general, Robert E Lee. The Lee statue, which represented the state of Virginia as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection in the Capitol for […]
As pandemic ensues, Italy’s south turn to faith for sustenance
Vatican CityRNS Positive coronavirus cases have started to grow in Italy’s very religious south, where high levels of unemployment and organized crime complicate the application of stringent rules to prevent the spread of the pandemic. In some southern cities, fights have started to break out and people have been robbed while leaving the supermarket. While […]
ESSAY: AFRICAN RHYTHMS, IDEAS OF SIN AND THE HAMMOND ORGAN – A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOSPEL MUSIC’S EVOLUTION
In an article first published on The Conversation, ROBERT STEPHENS, professor of world music at the University of Connecticut, charts the history of Gospel music…