World News

Religious

Egypt’s government proposed an anti-discrimination amendment to its criminal code, mostly aimed at the troubled Christian minority which has been the target of sectarian attacks. The bill, which the caretaker cabinet published a draft of on its Face­book page, would make discrimination a crime punishable by at least three months in prison, in addition to a fine. It defines discrimination as “any action, or lack of action, that discriminates between people or against a sect due to gender, origin, language, religion or belief.”

—AFP, 8/10/2011

“[It] has been called the single most important publication in English-speaking history,” says Ian Alexander of Sidney, a proselytizer for one of the wordiest celebrations of the 400th anniversary imaginable: a public reading of all 1,590 pages of the King James Version of the Bible at Christ Church Cathedral Sept. 19 to 24. It’s believed to be Canada’s only such reading.

—PostMedia News, 8/26/2011

While overall church attendance has declined slightly in the United States in recent decades, a new study says attendance at religious services among white Americans who did not go to college has fallen more than twice as quickly as it has among more highly educated whites. The study by the American Sociological Association, draws on decades of data from the General Social Survey and the National Survey of Family Growth to conclude that “moderately educated whites,” defined as people with high school degrees, attended religious services in the 1970s at about the same rate as whites with degrees from four-year colleges. In the last decade, however, they attended much less frequently.

—Huffington Post, 8/21/2011

While 92% of Americans believe in God, only 35% in Britain do and 43% say they have no religion, according to Britain’s National Centre for Social Research. The number of people who affiliate themselves with the Church of England was 23% of the population in 2009, down from 40% in 1983.

—Huffington Post, 7/3/2011

Sixteen Hungarian churches have appealed to the country’s Constitutional Court to overturn controversial legislation under which they and hundreds of other groups will lose their church status. From January 1, 2012, only 14 denominations, including Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran and Orthodox churches, will be recognized as a church in this ­nation of some 10 million people. Under a new ‘Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion, and on Churches, Religions and Religious Community’ smaller evangelical churches and other groups are forced to register again with ­authorities. Critics say that will be difficult as churches must have at least 1,000 supporters and operate at least 20 years in Hungary. Additionally, parliament will have to approve requests by at least a two-third majority.

—BosNewsLife, 8/17/2011

While the conflict in Libya really isn’t over yet, some conservatives are fearful since the draft constitution states “Islam is the Religion of the State, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia).” The constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan also include Islamic jurisprudence and identify Islam as the state religion, while, like the Libyan draft constitution, asserting that practitioners of minority faiths are protected.

—American Prospect, 8/23/2011

The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life released a study back in 2009 that found 70 percent of the world’s population lived in countries that had high levels of hostility or restrictions on religion. This month, Pew’s latest report, “Rising Restrictions on Religion,” does not offer much comfort: Things are getting worse. The new study looks at 2006-2009 and found religious ­restrictions and hostilities have increased in 23 of the world’s 198 countries. Those 23 countries where things got worse account for about one third of the world’s population—more than 2.2 billion people.

—Deseret News, 8/27/2011

Once decried as a cult, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have managed to successfully fight for the title of “statutory public body” in 12 of the 16 German states. This gives them the same legal status as, for example, the Protestant church. There are some 165,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany.

—Spiegel, 7/21/2011

Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that Yosef Nadarkhani, a 32 year-old Iranian evangelical pastor, must reject his Christian faith or be put to death. Nadarkhani was first arrested on the charge of apostasy (leaving Islam for another faith) in October 2009 and sentenced to death by hanging for his refusal to teach Islam to Christian children. Nadarkhani’s conviction was upheld in September 2010 by a lower Iranian court when it found that he had proven his apostasy by “organizing evangelistic meetings, sharing his faith, inviting others to convert, and running a house church.”

—Front Page Mag, 7/19/2011

Social

The worst famine in 60 years is devastating the Horn of Africa. In Somalia, where the problem is most acute, 3.9 million people are at risk of starvation and as many as 12 million throughout the region. Some 29,000 Somali children are believed to have died. Somalis are also victims of a country in chaos for 20 years. The Shabab, a ruthless extremist group linked to Al Qaeda, is battling a weak Western-backed government and has blocked aid groups from delivering food to the starving.

—New York Times, 8/11/2011

Now making up 1 in 4 adults, grandparents are growing at twice the rate of the overall population and sticking close to family—if their grandkids aren’t already living with them. Grandparents in recent decades have often filled in for absent parents who were ill or battled addiction, or were sent to prison. The latest trend of grandparent involvement, reflected in census figures just released, is now being driven also by the economy and the graying U.S. population, including the 78 million boomers born between 1946 and 1964 who began turning 65 this year.

—Washington Post, 8/26/2011

Texas has experienced its second-worst drought on record. The National Weather Service reports that the 2011 drought has surpassed one that ended in 1918. Texas’ most severe overall drought remains one that persisted from 1950-1957. However, the current drought is the state’s most severe one-year drought on record.

—Associated Press, 8/10/2011

There are close to 850,000 slot machines in the United States—twice the number of ATMs. Americans spend more money on slots than on movies, baseball and theme parks combined. More people are addicted to slot machines than any other form of gambling.

—60 Minutes, 7/31/2011

According to a new study from Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, obesity rates have risen dramatically in every state over the past two decades. The health concerns are greatest in the South, which is home to nine out of the ten most obese states. Among the national population, obesity rates were the highest for African-Americans and Latinos. In addition, Americans who made less money and had less education were more likely to be obese.

—Slate, 7/6/2011

The size of the aging boom is staggering. Every day for the next few decades, thousands of baby boomers will turn 65. That’s in addition to the oldest-old, the 85- to 90-somethings whose numbers have grown by nearly one-third in the past decade, with no signs of slowing. By 2050, 1 in 5 Americans will be seniors. Worldwide, almost 2 billion people will be 60 or older, 400 million of them over 80.

—Washington Post, 7/11/2011

Political

Lawmakers in Thailand elected their first female prime minister. Yingluck Shinawatra, 44, an American-educated businesswoman, will take the reins of a country that has been rocked by deep division and violent protest. In 2006, Yingluck’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a military coup. Two pro-Thaksin prime ministers who followed were removed by the country’s judiciary. Last year, protests broke out across Bangkok in opposition to the prime minister elected by Thailand’s Democrat party, resulting in 90 people dead and nearly 2,000 wounded, after the military engaged in a crackdown.

—Washington Post, 8/5/2011

The founder of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb program asserts that the government of North Korea bribed top military officials in Islamabad to obtain access to sensitive nuclear technology in the late 1990s. Abdul Qadeer Khan has made available documents that he says support his claim that he personally transferred more than $3 million in payments by North Korea to senior officers in the Pakistani ­military, which he says subsequently approved his ­sharing of technical know-how and equipment with North Korean scientists.

—Washington Post, 7/6/2011

The unexpectedly swift collapse of Colonel Gadda­fi’s grip on the Libyan capital, Tripoli, has brought into focus, faster than had been predicted, the many challenges facing the country as the rebel leadership prepares to take control. In the meantime, ­uncertainty surrounds the fate of much of the civilian population of Tripoli. Until Colonel Gaddafi and those still loyal to him are apprehended, Libya’s future will remain uncertain.

—Church Times, 8/26/2011

After examining hundreds of combat support and reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan, the U.S military estimates $360 million in U.S. tax dollars has ended up in the hands of people the American-led coalition has spent nearly a decade battling: the Taliban, criminals and power brokers with ties to both. The losses underscore the challenges the U.S. and its international partners face in overcoming corruption in Afghanistan. A central part of the ­administration’s strategy has been to award U.S.-financed contracts to Afghan businesses to help ­improve quality of life and stoke the country’s economy.

—Washington Post, 8/17/2011

Financial

Early estimates put Hurricane Irene’s damage at $7 billion to $10 billion, much smaller than the impact of monster storms such as Hurricane Katrina, which did more than $100 billion in damage. Irene’s effects are small compared with the overall U.S. economy, which produces about $14 trillion worth of goods and services every year.

—Associated Press, 8/30/2011

The cost of prescription medicines used by millions of people every day is about to plummet. The next 14 months will bring generic versions of seven of the world’s 20 best-selling drugs. The magnitude of this wave of expiring drugs patents is unprecedented. Between now and 2016, blockbusters with about $255 billion in global annual sales will go off patent. Generic competition will decimate sales of the brand-name drugs and slash the cost to patients and companies that provide health benefits.

—Associated Press, 7/25/2011

Between 2005 and 2009, the median net worth of Hispanic households dropped by 66 percent and that of black households fell by 53 percent, according to a report from Pew Research based on census data. In contrast, the median net worth of white households dropped by only 16 percent. The median net worth of a white family now stands at 20 times that of a black family and 18 times that of a Hispanic family—roughly twice the gap that existed before the recession and the biggest gap since data began being collected in 1984.

—Bloomberg News, 7/26/2011

Plans to introduce Islamic banking as one of the models of non-interest financial services has touched off intense controversy in religiously divided Nigeria. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published a final set of regulations on non-interest banking, which includes Islamic banking, and cleared in principle two banks to offer the product. The CBN says the introduction of Islamic banking is part of its drive to propel Nigeria’s economy and promote financial inclusion by introducing alternative products.

—AFP, 7/5/2011

The Postal Service is considering closing more than 1 in 10 of its retail outlets. The financially-troubled agency announced that it will study 3,653 local offices, branches and stations for possible closing. But many of those may be replaced by Village Post Offices in which postal services are offered in local stores, libraries or government offices. Currently the post office operates 31,871 retail outlets across the country, down from 38,000 a decade ago, but in recent years business has declined sharply as first-class mail moved to the Internet. In addition, the recession resulted in a decline in advertising mail, and the agency lost $8 billion last year.

—Associated Press, 7/25/2011

The nation’s health care tab is on track to hit $4.6 trillion in 2020, accounting for about $1 of every $5 in the economy, government number crunchers estimate in a report. How much is that? Including government and private money, health care spending in 2020 will average $13,710 for every man, woman and child, says Medicare’s Office of the Actuary. By comparison, U.S. health care spending this year is projected to top $2.7 trillion, or about $8,650 per capita, roughly $1 of $6 in the economy. Most of that spending is for care for the sickest people.

—Associated Press, 7/28/2011

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded the United States’ credit rating for the first time in the history of the ratings. The credit rating agency says that it is cutting the country’s top AAA rating by one notch to AA-plus. The credit agency said that it is making the move because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress on Tuesday did not go far enough to stabilize the country’s debt situation and that the policymaking is not stable or effective as needed to address the current economic challenge.

—CBS News, 8/5/2011

Israel

A rare bell with a loop at its end from the Second Temple period was found during an archeological excavation in the City of David by the Antiquities Authority in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir David Foundation. The bell looks like it was sewn on the garment worn by a man of high authority in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period. The Book of Exodus contains a description of the coat of Aaron the High Priest in which it is said his coat contains “bells of gold.”

—Israel National News, 7/26/2011

The Palestinian people are solidly opposed to a third intifada and support negotiations with Israel, but they also have not reconciled themselves to the existence of the Jewish State of Israel and believe the goal should be to eventually turn it all, including Israel, into a single Palestinian state. According to the poll of West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and Gaza Palestinians, conducted by Stanley Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research with the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion and sponsored by The Israel Project, 52% of Palestinians said the real goal should be to start with two states and then move to one Palestinian state.

— BFP Israel Mosaic Radio, 7/26/2011

Israel is in a serious water deficit. The Sea of Galilee is shrinking every year, as are its underground aquifers. Yet water needs are increasing along with energy costs. One answer to this crisis may be found in the water we send down the sink and bathtub drains. The Evergreen gray water solution has been developed by Green Solutions. Fitted to every pipe but the kitchen sink and toilet—wastewater from these drains contains too much organic material and oil to be safely recycled—the system collects gray water from baths, showers, hand-washing basins and washing machines. Running through a specially developed biofilter, the treated gray water is then sent to the toilet and to the garden, where it can be reused instantly.

— Israel21c, 7/21/2011

An estimated 150,000 Israelis took to the streets of twelve key cities in a mass demonstration for social change. Triggered by a national housing crisis [due to high rent prices], the call for change has been building and, in a source of concern for politicians, appears to be transcending the usual partisan political divisions. Israelis are angry that products and services cost more than in other countries with like economies. Many of those protesting are being clear that their angst is not aimed solely at the Netan­yahu government, but at the entire political echelon. A strike by Israel’s doctors is also earning support from the populace even though medical services available to the public continue to be sharply curtailed.

—The Media Line, 7/31/2011

A Roman sword, still in its leather-bound wooden scabbard, was unearthed in a Jerusalem ditch where it had apparently lain since the revolt that destroyed the Second Temple almost 2,000 years ago. It was a rare find and the only one that could definitely be linked to the Great Revolt by the Jews against the Romans in August 70 A.D. The iron sword was discovered in a dig carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

—BFP, 8/8/2011

Israeli experts are nearing completion of an ambitious restoration of the five-century-old walls of ­Jerusalem, the holy city’s dominant architectural feature and a unique record of its eventful and troubled history. The $5 million undertaking, which began in 2007, is set to be complete by the end of this year. The first restoration of the walls in nearly a century, it has required decisions about which of the walls’ many idiosyncrasies—the falcon nests, for example, the hundreds of machine-gun bullets, the botched restorations of years past—are flaws to be corrected, and which have earned a place in Jerusalem’s story and are thus worth preserving. Jerusalem’s stone walls are 2½ miles in length.

—Associated Press, 8/24/2011

In 2008, a secret State Department cable warned of a growing chemical weapons threat from a Middle Eastern country whose autocratic leader had a long history of stirring up trouble in the region. The leader, noted for his “support for terrorist organizations,” was attempting to buy technology from other countries to upgrade an already fearsome stockpile of deadly poisons. The Middle Eastern state with the dangerous chemicals was … Syria, a violence-torn Arab state whose advanced weapons are drawing new concern as the country drifts toward an uncertain future.  Syria possesses some of the deadliest chemicals ever to be weaponized, which could be dispersed in thousands of artillery shells and warheads that are easy to transport.