China: Abandoned children
03 Jul 2015
Four children were found dead last week in southern China. The police said they had been living alone and killed themselves by ingesting pesticides. Their tragic deaths lay bare the tough ordeal facing a third of children in the Chinese countryside, forced to fend for themselves when their parents leave to work in the cities. The four brothers and sisters, aged between 5 and 13 years, had been fending for themselves for several years. Their mother had abandoned them and their father had left their home to work in a city 1,400 kilometres away. In a goodbye letter, the eldest wrote that he could no longer stand the pressure of looking after his brothers and sisters while studying at the same time, as his dad had wanted. Currently six million children have been left to fend for themselves - that’s one-third of China’s rural child population.
Four months after he was taken captive by IS fighters in north-eastern Syria, 70-year-old François Sawa was safely released and is in good health. Meanwhile In Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, Christian families are fleeing their homes after horrific fighting killed at least ten people, most of them children, and injured a further 150 . A few days later, two Armenian Christian men were killed in a mortar explosion in Aleppo. One was a visiting pastor from Armenia who had arrived only two days earlier. ‘All our congregation members are in agony,’ said Barnabas Fund’s partner on the ground in Syria, as he relayed the news. With fighting coming from four fronts, thousands of Christians have fled the city in terror. There are between 45,000 and 90,000 Christians living in Aleppo, down from 465,000 in 2010. IS forces have again attacked the north-eastern city of Hassake as well as the northern city of Kobane on 25 June.
Israel: Arson attack on Galilee church
03 Jul 2015
A suspected arson attack on a church on the shores of the Sea of Galilee has left two people injured and caused serious damage. An elderly monk and a German volunteer needed hospital treatment for smoke inhalation after the attack on the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha village. There was minor damage to the main worship hall but other areas were badly affected. No one has been arrested in connection with the blaze, but sixteen Jewish ‘youths’ were taken in for questioning before being released. In April last year, young Jewish extremists desecrated crosses and an altar at the same church. Graffiti painted inside the church during the attack earlier this month read, ‘The false gods will be eliminated.’ The Galilee church was built in the 1980s on the site of ancient places of worship that commemorated the spot where Jesus fed 5,000 people with the loaves and fish.
A spokesman for the arm of IS in Tunisia, which has pledged allegiance to the main extremist IS group, had warned British and western tourists last month in a tweet not to go there for their summer holidays and that they were planning an attack. It said the warning was aimed at countries taking part in the coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria. ‘To the Christians planning their summer vacations in Tunisia, we can’t accept u in our land while your jets keep killing our Muslim Brothers in Iraq & Sham’, it said (Sham is the word usually translated as ‘the Levant’). ‘But if u insist on coming then beware because we are planning for u something that will make you forget #Bardoattack.’ The reference to the coalition is significant because one witness to the shootings said the attacker, Seifeddine Rezgui, told him to ‘get out of the way’ as he was looking for ‘British and French’. Britain and France have both joined the coalition against IS. See also: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/11704849/Tunisia-attack-gunman-told-local-worker-Im-not-here-to-kill-you-as-he-tried-to-protect-British-tourists.html
A new record in Bible translation may have been set in 2014 for the highest number of new translations published in one year. According to the Global Scripture Access Report, last year there were complete translations in 51 languages spoken by more than 1.3 billion people. Some were launched in countries facing significant challenges. In Nigeria the Bible Society launched four new translations, one being the Bura Bible, which was launched despite a Boko Haram bomb attack on the translation office. All of these were first-time translations, potentially giving 2.1 million Nigerians access to the full Bible in their heart language for the first time. Liberia also faced enormous difficulties, losing more people to Ebola than any other country, but the Bible Society launched two first-time full Bible translations. The Bible in Kpelle and Southern Kisi, spoken by nearly a million people, arrived at a time when people needed God's Word in their language more than ever before.
Northern Ireland: A&E waiting times deteriorate
03 Jul 2015
Only 73.8% of people attending Accident & Emergency departments were treated and discharged or admitted within four hours of their arrival during 2014/15 despite the target being 95%, according to the latest A&E waiting times. Ulster Unionist Party health spokesperson Jo-Anne Dobson MLA, said last year's performance was a further deterioration on the year before and demonstrates that the crisis facing hospitals is continuing to deepen. She said, ‘This gridlock is not only bad for our hospitals and staff, but it’s bad for the health of patients. Delays in receiving treatment can often lead to conditions worsening, and I am often told by medical practitioners that hospitals are not always a safe place for patients if they do not absolutely need to be there.’
UK fracking hits setback
03 Jul 2015
Jubilant anti-fracking protesters danced in the street, popped champagne and chanted ‘Frack-free Lancashire’ outside the county hall in Preston after council leaders blocked a contentious drilling campaign by shale gas explorer Cuadrilla. Among energy executives there was stunned disbelief. For Britain’s shale explorers, hoping to replicate the ‘fracking’ boom in America that has sent US oil and gas output soaring, much was hanging on Cuadrilla’s proposals to drill up to four wells at a site in Little Plumpton, near Blackpool. The decision raises serious doubts over the longer-term prospects for fracking in the UK, putting one county council sitting on top of possibly substantial gas resources at odds with David Cameron’s claim to be ‘going all out for shale’. Electricity can be generated from wind, water, geothermal and solar energy. These energy resources are renewable. All resources have advantages and disadvantages. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/znn9q6f/revision
Challenges of doing faith-based films
03 Jul 2015
Creating faith-based films and shows is no easy feat for Christian couple Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. They have admitted that they relied heavily on prayer and research in order to get the job done correctly. They are busy working on the film ‘Ben-Hur’ and the new TLC series called ‘Answered Prayers.’ While it seems that the two are on a roll to create inspiring films, Burnett and Downey said they actually devote a lot of time and attention to make sure they get things right. Burnett said they did their homework before embarking on the shows The Bible and A.D. The Bible Continues. He said he told himself before embarking on his last project, ‘It better be authentic and you better not (sic) cross any lines.’ ‘When you're dealing with Jesus in a screenplay, it's not really the time for improvising,’ added Downey.