Concerns remained Sunday that certain immigrants suffering from the coronavirus disease COVID-19 would not seek medical help after a U.S.Supreme Court ruling. The top court declined a request by U.S.states to halt a Trump administration policy temporarily on health grounds.
A prominent Saudi Arabian rights campaigner imprisoned since 2013 for dissident activities for which he was awarded the ‘Alternative Nobel’ prize has died, activists and friends confirmed. The 69-year-old Abdullah al-Hamid passed away Thursday in King Saud Medical City in Riyadh, the capital, after suffering a stroke on April 9 in prison, said London-based Saudi rights group ALQST.
An evangelical church and mission group has launched rooftop services in Pakistan after authorities banned regular church meetings amid a national lockdown to halt the coronavirus pandemic. Besides providing alternative worship, the church also saved 100 Christian families from slavery in some of Pakistan’s notorious brickyards, a pastor said in an extensive interview.
Poland’s health minister risked the anger of other government officials by suggesting to delay next month’s presidential elections until 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Minister Lukasz Szumowski, who is also a cardiologist, said Friday that postponing the vote ‘the only safe option’ as the virus disease COVID-19 spreads across the nation.
Saudi Arabia is ending flogging as a form of punishment amid efforts to modernize the judicial system, according to a document obtained by several media outlets. The kingdom’s top court said in written remarks that flogging would be replaced by prison sentences or fines, or a mixture of both.
A tense calm returned to the outskirts of Paris after four days of riots exacerbated by the anger of the ongoing coronavirus lockdown and police measures in France. Crowds of youths targeted riot police with fireworks and torched rubbish bins amid rising tensions. The violence began Saturday after a motorcyclist was seriously injured in Villeneuve-La-Garenne in a confrontation with police.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion bill on Friday to aid employers and hospitals under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic as the related death toll rose to more than 50,000 Americans.
A group of pastors in Cuba is sharing the gospel message during the coronavirus pandemic by having Scriptures written on face masks to wear and give out as they minister. Fox News learned of this outreach from Vernon Brewer, the CEO and founder of the World Help Christian humanitarian aid organization.
Facebook has removed four videos of military chaplains encouraging prayer and referring to God during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fox News reported on Thursday. The posts were taken down after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRRF) complained the videos constituted ‘illicit proselytizing’ of Christianity.
The Liberty Counsel (LC) Christian non-profit organization has launched the ReOpen Church Sunday campaign, calling on US churches to resume congregating in person on May 3, the Christian Post reports. As the campaign follows weeks of on-line worship services due to the coronavirus pandemic, LC advises that congregations should continue to observe social-distancing and sanitation measures at in-person services. However, LC says: ‘Now is the time to act.’
Israel and the Islamic militant Hezbollah group have reportedly agreed on informal rules of engagement as they prepare for possible war while trying to avoid setting it off. The New York Times newspaper reports that Israel has mostly refrained from killing members of Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and committed to destroying the Jewish state.
U.S. unemployment is nearing levels of the Great Depression of the 1930s, with one in 6 Americans of working age out of a job as the coronavirus pandemic essentially shut down the economy. About 4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week alone, reported the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday.
Iran threatens a ‘crushing response’ to any American military attacks in the Persian Gulf after United States President Donald Trump threatened to ‘shoot down and destroy’ Iranian vessels. The leader of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that the security of the Gulf is among Iran’s strategic priorities.
Constitutional scholars in Israel are crying foul about the new unity agreement signed by alternating Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, saying it destroys the separation of powers necessary to democratic governance.
The foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, and Iran will hold a video conference on April 22 to discuss Syria and a de-escalation deal in the last rebel-held enclave in Idlib.
Four Christians were killed last week in an attack by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Kaduna state, Nigeria, Morningstar News reports. This attack is the latest in a string of murders committed by herdsmen targeting Christians: Nigeria ranks second after Pakistan on the Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List for countries where Christians are killed for their faith.
A California federal judge determined Wednesday that churches in the state are prohibited from holding in-person services during the coronavirus pandemic, the Los Angeles Times reports. The case was brought by three Southern California churches who argued that the state’s lockdown rules were a violation of the First Amendment and the right to freedom of religion and assembly.
Concerning Israel’s annexation of parts of the West Bank, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said: ‘The Israelis will ultimately make those decisions. That’s an Israeli decision,’ the Times of Israel reports. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Pompeo added that the US would share its views on the issue in a private setting.
European Union leaders are set to weigh Thursday the damage the coronavirus has inflicted on health care systems and the lives of around half a billion citizens across the bloc as they struggle to devise a more robust plan to resuscitate their ravaged economies.
Sales of new U.S. single-family homes dropped by the most in more than 6-1/2 years in March and further declines are likely as the novel coronavirus outbreak batters the economy and throws millions of Americans out of work.