Worldwide
USA: national emergency = constitutional crisis
22 Feb 2019
President Trump declared a national emergency to fund a US/Mexico border wall after failing to secure $5.7bn through a 35-day government shutdown. Concerned Republicans say, ‘We have a crisis at our southern border, but no crisis…
Egypt: ‘The Guest' film controversy
14 Feb 2019
Egyptian religious scholars want an award-winning film, ‘The Guest’, banned. The story of a daughter’s handsome suitor being her father’s worst nightmare unfolds on the silver screen as a conflict between radical Islam and deductive logic.…
Algeria: opportunities for Christianity
14 Feb 2019
The 41 million people of this Muslim-majority country depend on fossil fuels for their export income. Recently finances have been hurt by the drop in oil prices, prompting cuts in state subsidies. Algeria struggles to provide…
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ebola outbreak
14 Feb 2019
The second-largest Ebola outbreak in history has killed 97 children, and 811 people have symptoms. ‘We are at a crossroads’, said a spokesperson for Save the Children. ‘If we don't take urgent steps to contain this,…
Syria: Iranian missile factory
14 Feb 2019
Iran has built a new precision missile factory in the outskirts of Latakia, a port city in Syria near the Russian air force base. The Syrian government and Hezbollah reportedly assisted Iran in constructing the factory.…
Iran forty years on
14 Feb 2019
11 February marked the 40th anniversary of Iran’s revolution, ending a 2,500-year monarchy and creating the world’s first Islamic republic - now a complex and contradictory regime. Iran is a democracy trapped inside a theocracy -…