(USA Today) — He is just 38. He is openly homosexual. He is the son of an Indian immigrant. And he’s a sign of how much the Republic of Ireland has changed in recent decades from a conservative nation dominated by the Catholic Church into a multicultural society where you’re as likely to be served […]
MOSCOW — Russian police have arrested a man believed to be the mastermind behind the “Blue Whale Suicide Game,” which attracted young girls to its various activities leading up to ending one’s life. Ilya Sidorov, 26, allegedly confessed this week to creating the social media game, which includes instructions to carry out various tasks over […]
SINGAPORE (Associated Press) — Police in Singapore have detained a preschool assistant who shared pro-Islamic State group materials online and intended to travel to Syria, their first arrest of a female Singaporean citizen alleged to be a sympathizer of the radical group, the Home Affairs Ministry said Monday. The ministry issued a statement saying that […]
(World Watch Monitor) — Thailand’s government and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Bangkok have been accused of “negligence” after a Pakistani Christian asylum seeker died in a detention centre last month. Ijaz Masih, 35, was reportedly refused medical treatment on May 26 after complaining of chest pains, and died of a heart attack a […]
(The Christian Institute) — Deaths from drug overdoses continue to rise, with the UK recording the highest numbers in Europe, according to a new report from the EU drugs agency. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) identified a total of 8,441 overdose deaths in 2015, of which the UK accounted for […]
India (Mission Network News) — Sumani, a 16-year-old girl in India, is being pressured by her mother to become a devadasi—essentially a religious prostitute who is dedicated in “marriage” to a Hindu deity. Once dedicated, devadasis are not allowed to marry any man and are taken advantage of in the temples. Sumani participates in a Children’s […]
ONTARIO — Concerns are mounting over a recently passed bill in Canada that has been interpreted as empowering the government to seize children from homes where their parents or caregivers “abusively” refuse to allow the child to “transition” into the opposite sex. Ontario’s Bill 89, also known as “The Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act […]
WENZHOU, Zhejiang (ChinaAid)— Disputes over government surveillance devices in house churches continue in China’s coastal Zhejiang as officials cut power and water supplies to several area churches and the homes of church leadership at the beginning of June. Members of Tuanqian Village Church in Rui’an, a county-level city in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, spoke with reporters on […]
(Christian Concern) — More sex education is linked to higher rates of teenage pregnancy, a new study has shown. It found that teenage pregnancy rates have declined in areas where the government has cut spending on sex education and birth control. The decline was steepest in areas where councils slashed their teenage pregnancy budgets most […]
LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A Christian sanitation worker in Pakistan died on Thursday (June 1) after Muslim doctors refused to treat him for poisonous gas he was exposed to in a sewer, sources said. Doctors at Civil Hospital Medical refused to treat 28-year-old Irfan Masih of Umerkot City, Sindh Province, saying they did not […]