WILL TIGRAY BE ETHIOPIA’S TIPPING POINT?
By Donnelly McCleland Forces fighting Ethiopia’s military in the Tigray region laid out eight conditions on Friday [19 February] for beginning peace talks, including the appointment of an international mediator and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered airstrikes and a ground offensive against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – the…
G5 SUMMIT CONSIDERS OPTIONS FOR COMBATTING DEEPENING CRISES IN SAHEL REGION
By Donnelly McCleland French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday [16 February] ruled out an immediate reduction of French troops battling Islamist militants in West Africa’s Sahel region, saying a rushed exit would be a mistake. Mr Macron and a group of five African allies — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger — were taking…
CONTROVERSIAL FRENCH BILL AIMED AT RADICAL ISLAM COULD NEGATIVELY IMPACT THE CHURCH
By Alex Pollock French lawmakers debated a bill on Monday [1 February] they hope will uproot radical Islam in the country, beliefs that authorities maintain are creeping into public services, associations, some schools and online with the goal of undermining national values. The bill is broad and controversial, with around 1,700 proposed amendments, and it…
WORLD WATCH LIST REVEALS IMPACT OF PANDEMIC ON RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
By Alex Pollock The Coronavirus pandemic has exposed the persecution of Christians, but it’s also shown how vulnerable so many of our sisters and brothers are in the places where they live. Christians who abandon a majority faith to follow Christ know they risk losing all support from spouses, families, tribes and communities, as well…
2021 – LOOKING AHEAD
By Andrew Richards The ongoing impact of COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the fastest, and most far-reaching response to a global health emergency in human history. 2021 will see the outworking of this collective scientific effort, as nations embark on the mammoth task of vaccinating millions of people. Despite the calamitous impact of COVID-19…
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED… AND WHY THEY MATTER
By Donnelly McCleland Jesus challenged His disciples to be aware of what was going on around them (Luke 12:56) and to respond to changing times from His perspective, rather than seeing things through their human understanding. 2020 was one of those monumental years – on a global scale. Covid-19 has quite possibly impacted every person…
W.H.O. WARNS COVID CRISIS FAR FROM OVER AS MASSIVE VACCINE ROLL-OUT BEGINS
By Donnelly McCleland Global coronavirus infections surged past 65 million on Friday [5 December] even as countries doubled down on restrictions and plans to roll out vaccines gathered pace. The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned against complacency and what it said was an erroneous belief that because vaccines are on the near-horizon, the Covid-19 crisis…
IRAN BURIES SLAIN NUCLEAR SCIENTIST, PROMISES RETALIATION
By Donnelly McCleland Iran has laid to rest assassinated nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in the capital Tehran as authorities blamed Israel for the killing and repeated vows to avenge it. Fakhrizadeh, a top figure in Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes, was killed outside Tehran on Friday [27 November] after assailants targeted his car. (Al Jazeera)…
G20 LEADERS UNITED TO ADDRESS MAJOR GLOBAL PANDEMIC AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
By Alex Pollock Discussions on how to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and deal with the global economic damage it has wrought dominated the Group of 20 Summit, which began on Saturday (21 November) and was hosted virtually by Saudi Arabia. In private sessions, heads of state of the world’s 19 richest countries and the European…
JOE BIDEN WINS US ELECTIONS AFTER RECORD VOTER TURNOUT
By Alex Pollock Former Vice President Joe Biden has been elected the 46th president of the United States, narrowly emerging victorious from a contentious White House campaign that stretched days past election night, as vote tallies in several swing states were slowed by an unprecedented surge in mail-in ballots…And with his victory, his running mate,…