Norway mourns 77 slain a decade ago in extremist attack
Oslo/Kristiansand, Norway AP Church bells rang out across Norway on Thursday to mark the 10th anniversary of the country’s worst peacetime slaughter as leaders called for renewed efforts to fight the extremism behind the attack that left 77 people dead. Norway was united in “shock, grief and anger,” said King Harald, speaking at an evening […]
Fighting in Ethiopia’s Afar forces 54,000 people to flee, official says
Addis Ababa Reuters Attacks by Tigrayan fighters in Ethiopia’s Afar region have forced over 54,000 people from their homes, an official said on Thursday, and refugees in a camp in southern Tigray described heavy clashes nearby. Tens of thousands of people, meanwhile, rallied in the capital to support Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has faced […]
Tens of thousands evacuated as China storms spread northwards
Beijing, China Reuters Tens of thousands of people were being evacuated from flood-hit regions of central China on Thursday as officials raised the death toll from heavy rains that have deluged Henan province for almost a week to 33 people. More cities were inundated and crops destroyed as the severe weather spread northwards, with the […]
Former NBA player Stan McKenzie, husband of first woman AME Church bishop, dead at 76
RNS Stan McKenzie, the first male episcopal supervisor of missionary work in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the husband of Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, has died. The Christian Recorder, the official publication of the denomination, announced his death, which occurred on Wednesday. Stan McKenzie, 76, died in Dallas after a brief illness, John Thomas […]
GreenSight: The ‘allon’ or oak tree
ALVIN JOHNSON finds plenty of Biblical references to oaks…
In the US state of Missouri, church leaders implore congregants: Get vaccinated
O’Fallon, Missouri, US AP As lead pastor of one of Missouri’s largest churches, Jeremy Johnson has heard all the reasons congregants don’t want to get the COVID-19 vaccination. He wants them to know it’s not only OK to do so but also is what the Bible urges. Across Missouri, hundreds of pastors, priests and other […]
Hundreds of cities back UN fight against global woes
New York, US Reuters Some 332 local governments worldwide have backed a New York City-led campaign to address global goals tackling poverty, inequality, injustice and climate change and pledged to report their progress to the United Nations. The governments signed on to a voluntary declaration drafted by New York City, up from some 22 cities […]
Norway marks 10 years since Breivik’s deadly attacks
Oslo, Norway Reuters Norway on Thursday marks 10 years since anti-immigrant extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in the worst act of violence in the country since World War II. Breivik detonated a car bomb outside the prime minister’s office in Oslo, killing eight, before driving to Utoeya island and shooting 69 people at […]
Vaccine deserts: The poor nations trailing in the fight against COVID-19
NITA BHALLA and ANASTASIA MOLONEY, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, report on how, as rich countries open up and start vaccinating less vulnerable younger people, poor countries are still struggling to secure vaccines…
With more than a million children orphaned by COVID, faith-based groups look to mobilise support
RNS More than a million children around the world may have been orphaned by COVID-19, losing one or both parents to the disease or related causes. Another estimated 500,000 lost a grandparent or another relative who cared for them. Orphans eat a meal in Sylhet, Bangladesh, in April, 2021. PICTURE: Imdadul Hussain/Unsplash/Creative Commons The numbers […]