Worldwide
Hamas' new leader
12 May 2017
It was announced last Saturday that Ismail Haniyeh had won the movement’s internal elections, and that he is the new head of its political bureau. Haniyeh, who lives in Gaza, is widely popular among the Palestinians.…
North Korea: danger zone
12 May 2017
US citizen Kim Hak-Song, working at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, has been detained on suspicion of hostile acts against the Pyongyang regime. He is the fourth US citizen currently detained in North Korea: Kim…
Maldives: rising extremism
12 May 2017
Behind the facade of a ‘tropical paradise’ are tragic realities: the highest divorce rate in the world, rising crime, widespread child abuse, pervasive drug use and over 200 young people joining IS. All citizens are required…
Canada: transgender school play
12 May 2017
A Catholic school district in Ontario has cancelled a gender identity play, ‘Boys, Girls and Other Mythological Creatures’ aimed at children aged 5 to 10. The play was booked for five elementary schools, but school officials…
USA: Trump disappoints religious conservatives
12 May 2017
An executive order by President Trump last week fell short of what many had hoped for and drew widespread criticism. ‘The executive order on the whole looks to accomplish very little of substance, against the backdrop…
Iraq: dozens of enslaved Yazidis now free
05 May 2017
Yazidis revere the Bible and Qu’ran; much of their centuries-old religion is oral. Thirty-six Yazidis are free after nearly three years’ captivity by IS. They are in UN centres in Dohuk, in Kurdish northern Iraq. It…