NEWSWORTHY
Romania legislature votes in favor of man-woman marriage only, paves way for referendum
Romanian senators on Tuesday approved a measure that would pave the way for the constitution to be changed to explicitly state that marriage is a union of a man and a woman. Senators voted 107-13 with seven abstentions to allow a referendum that could change ...
Catch and release: Anti-nuke protesters break into joint German-U.S. air base
The German military said seven protesters were detained Monday after cutting through a fence surrounding an air base believed to hold U.S. nuclear weapons. Germany's dpa news agency reported that the intruders were stopped by guards after entering the security zone at Buechel Air Base, ...
Drive-by shooters gun down two Christians exiting church in Pakistan's Quetta
Two members of Pakistan's beleaguered Christian community were killed on Sunday in the country's southwest when unknown gunmen opened fire on a small group that had just left a local church, police officials said. The churchgoers were on their way home in Quetta, the capital ...
Residents of the Lebanese city of Tripoli donned bright, curly wigs and dark body paint Sunday for Zambo, a festival on the eve of the start of the Orthodox Christian period of Lent. The origins of the annual celebration remain unclear and it only seems ...
Nigeria holds mass burial for 73 killed in clashes between farmers and herdsmen seeking fertile land
Seventy-three people killed since the start of the year in communal violence between semi-nomadic herdsmen and farmers were buried in Nigeria on Thursday highlighting a bloody conflict over fertile land that is taking on political significance. The mass burial took place in Makurdi, in the ...
Father Christmas returns to war-ravaged Raqqa in wake of Islamic State's bloodletting
Amid the gray ruins of Syria's devastated city of Raqqa, three boys stopped and stared as two Father Christmases walked by with black sacks slung over their backs. The two men in red outfits and fake white beards rang their bells as they marched through ...
Iraq's Mosul fetes first Christmas since Islamic State forces fell
Hymns and cries of joy filled a church in Iraq's second city Mosul on Sunday as worshippers celebrated Christmas there for the first time in four years after the end of jihadi rule. Mass opened with the Iraqi national anthem as women ululated, despite the ...
In 'China's Jerusalem,' Christians say faith trumps official Sunday school ban
Despite authorities in China's southeastern city of Wenzhou having outlawed Sunday school earlier this year, Christian parents are still determined their children learn about Jesus and the Bible. Churches in Wenzhou started teaching children in private homes or at other venues. For example, some billed ...
Japan's historical resistance to Christianity
Jesus and Japan go back a long way, longer than you'd think if you don't happen to know of a peculiar legend that has the Son of God sojourning — twice: once before, once after the crucifixion — in a remote mountain village in ...
Fear stalks Bangladesh's Christians as Islamic extremism surges
As a young man Bidhan Kamol Rosario left his Catholic village to fight for Bangladesh's independence. Now he questions his future in the country after a rise in Islamist extremism that has left minorities living in fear. As Bangladesh's small Catholic community eagerly awaits the ...
Confession: Pope admits he dozes while praying, saying saints also nodded off
Pope Francis has confessed he sometimes nods off while praying and claims saints too have been known to grab some Holy shut-eye. "When I pray, sometimes I fall asleep," he said in an episode of a Catholic TV2000 television program published Tuesday on Youtube. "Saint Therese ...
Widodo upholds Indonesia as a model of moderate Islam despite extremist undercurrents
Indonesia's president said on Monday his country remains a model of moderate Islam, countering critics who point to mass rallies by radical Muslims and the jailing of a Christian politician for blasphemy as evidence its reputation is crumbling. "Pluralism has always been a part of ...
