Updated: Gunman assassinates Japan ex-PM Abe on campaign trail

Updated: 9:45am, 9th July, 2022 (AEST) Tokyo, Japan Reuters Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving leader of modern Japan, was gunned down on Friday while campaigning for a parliamentary election, shocking a country where guns are tightly controlled and political violence almost unthinkable. Abe, 67, was pronounced dead around five and a half hours […]
Ukraine pleads for more weapons as Russian military shells Donbas

Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Ukraine urged its allies on Friday to send more weapons as its forces dug in to slow Russia’s military advance through the eastern Donbas region, while a belligerent Moscow warned Western nations of consequences for their reprisals over its invasion. Signalling that the Kremlin was in no mood for compromise, President Vladimir […]
Snapshot: Sunset off Zanzibar, Tanzania

See CAMILLA FREDERIKSEN’s image…
UN Security Council feuds over how long to extend Syria aid from Turkey

United Nations Reuters The United Nations Security Council appeared headed toward a showdown on Friday over whether to allow UN aid deliveries from Turkey to some four million people in opposition-controlled north-west Syria to continue for six months or one year. The UN mandate for the eight-year-long aid operation expires on Sunday. After negotiations on […]
Helpdesk: Five big trends in Australians getting scammed

PAUL HASKELL-DOWLAND, professor of cyber-security practice at Australia’s Edith Cowan University, looks – in an article first published on The Conversation – at the latest scam trends – and provides some tips on how to avoid them…
Outgunned but defiant, Ukrainian twin cities’ defenders ready for Russian attack

Kramatorsk/Sloviansk, Ukraine Reuters In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, mechanic-turned-soldier Artchk helps shore up defences against imminent Russian attack while, nearby, farmer Vasyl Avramenko laments the loss of crops supplanted by mines. Shells are raining down steadily on Kramatorsk and its twin, Sloviansk, and they are poised to become the next frontline in Moscow’s […]
Tunisians protest against referendum for controversial new constitution

Tunis, Tunisia Reuters Tunisian police blocked hundreds of demonstrators from reaching electoral commission offices on Thursday as protesters took to the streets against a referendum on a new constitution that would expand the President’s executive powers. President Kais Saied proposed the new constitution this month that would limit the role of parliament and boost his […]
Haiti marks anniversary of Moise murder as gang violence spirals

Port-au-Prince, Haiti Reuters Haiti on Thursday commemorated the one-year anniversary of the murder of President Jovenel Moise, whose killing created a power vacuum and allowed the country’s gangs to expand their territory and even take over the headquarters of the nation’s courts. Haitian police have arrested more than 40 people but have yet to charge […]
Faith communities: How the UK’s Kairos Movement is “reviving the energy of the early Methodist mission”

ANGELA YOUNGMAN speaks with those behind the new Kairos movement within the Methodist Church in the UK…
Presbyterian Church (USA) to divest from five oil companies after years of debate

United States RNS A prominent mainline Christian denomination plans to divest from five oil companies it believes are not doing enough to address climate change. The vote to divest from Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66 and Valero Energy comes after years of debate in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The sun sets behind a […]