Worldwide
Samoa - a Christian country
03 Feb 2017
The Samoan government wants to change the constitution to define Samoa officially as a Christian nation. The constitution already references Christianity in the cover and preamble, but not in the main text. Prime minister Malielegaoi said,…
USA: nomination for Supreme Court vacancy
03 Feb 2017
President Trump named Judge Neil Gorsuch as his nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States, to replace Justice Antonin Scalia who died last February. Gorsuch currently serves on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals…
Bangladesh: trafficked girls learn Hindi
03 Feb 2017
Trafficked from Bangladesh and sold into a brothel in Mumbai, Babli started learning Hindi last year at the shelter where she was put up after being rescued. She can now read, write and speak the language…
South Africa: deaths of nearly 100 mentally-ill
03 Feb 2017
Malegapuru Makgopa, South Africa’s health ombudsman, has said that 94 mentally-ill patients died of starvation, dehydration and diarrhoea at care centres last year. The deaths followed a ‘reckless’ attempt by the government to save money by…
Colombia: rebels help to eradicate coca
03 Feb 2017
Colombia has announced a crop substitution programme to eradicate the raw material for cocaine. The Farc rebel group relied on cocaine production to fund its insurgency and controlled much of the industry, but a joint programme…
Sudan: three men found guilty
03 Feb 2017
(Updating last week’s Prayer Alert article) On Sunday Judge Osama Ahmed Abdulla found Czech national Petr Jašek guilty of espionage. He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus a further three and a half years and a…