After weeks of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, churches across America were encouraged to hold in-person services again on May 3, Fox News reports. This date was the first Sunday since the US government launched its reopening plan and allowed congregants to attend church in person.
The 30th anniversary of Hungary’s first freely elected Parliament since the end of Communist dictatorship has been overshadowed by fresh doubts over the government’s democratic credentials. Opposition parties stayed away from this weekend’s ceremony in Parliament, citing concerns about policies by the increasingly autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province has announced it will be compulsory for all students in all provincial universities to attend lectures on the Quran, The New International reports. The announcement has raised concerns for the welfare of the many Christian students in Punjab.
A senior US government official has said that clinics run by abortion provider Planned Parenthood will not qualify for a federal aid program being offered to small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. Part of the wider Cares Act, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is intended to support businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
An international pledging marathon has begun where world leaders are to raise at least 7.5 billion euros ($8.2 billion) to find a coronavirus vaccine. With social distancing the world’s new norm, world leaders choose video conferencing to raise the billions of dollars needed for research into a possible vaccine.
Iran has suggested it will abandon an already shaky deal to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons if an arms embargo on Tehran remains in place. The United States wants to extend the ban, which was due to end in October this year.
A majority of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s 17 spy agencies believe the coronavirus likely originated with an accidental lab escape from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, a senior intelligence official told the Washington Examiner.
Israel’s largest bank admitted to its role in a massive US tax evasion scandal and money laundering conspiracy that will cost it more than $904 million.
Syria accused Israeli helicopters of carrying out airstrikes in the Syrian Golan Heights in the early hours of Friday morning.
April was an historic month for tornadoes in the United States, as reflected in the tragic monthly data released by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) Friday.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he has seen “enormous evidence” indicating the coronavirus pandemic originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
China has refused to cooperate with the World Health Organizations’ efforts to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, a WHO official told Sky News.
Tensions between China and the United States are rapidly escalating into a possible trade war with Beijing and Washington accusing each other of responsibility for the coronavirus outbreak.
Aid workers say Christians, including pastors and their families, are excluded from government food aid in several parts of India despite an ongoing lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan and Russia have reported their most significant one-day rise in new coronavirus infections. Their announcement Saturday came after some other countries and U.S. states where case numbers are stabilizing allowed businesses and public activities to reopen.
Iran has condemned Germany’s decision to ban the militant Hezbollah movement from carrying out activities on its soil. Tehran also threatened Berlin with unspecified consequences for designating Hezbollah as a “terrorist “organization this week, when German police raided mosques and venues linked to the group.
The Philippines faces international pressure to end one of the world’s most repressive coronavirus lockdowns, with 120,000 people detained and some killed or abused for curfew violations in the past month. Witnesses, including Christian single mothers, have told Worthy News of intimidating police and military checkpoints.
The wife of a pastor imprisoned by Chinese authorities has said her husband was arrested for re-posting messages about the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Zhang Xinghong said she was told by Chinese authorities that her husband Pastor Zhao Huaiguo has been charged with inciting subversion of state power because of these posts.
Organizers of the April 24 “Secret Church” online event reported that a cyberattack may have blocked many participants from logging on in real-time. Focused on God, government, and the Gospel, the event is simulcast to around 50,000 people worldwide and is centered on Bible study and prayer for persecuted Christians.
Christians in Nigeria continue to be murdered and kidnapped by Muslim Fulani herdsmen who also burn down homes and invade churches in their communities. One Christian couple was recently kidnapped from their own wedding ceremony in Niger state, Morning Star News reports.