- Russian police arrest pro-Navalny protesters
Protesters from Siberia to St. Petersburg to Moscow took to the streets of Russian cities on a bitterly cold Saturday to condemn the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Russian police arrested more than 3,000 protesters across the country, including Navalny’s wife, Yulia, in Moscow.What’s behind the protests? Navalny, 44, was poisoned and went into a coma on Aug. 20. He was transferred to a hospital in Berlin, and tests showed he had been exposed to a Soviet-era nerve agent. He returned to Russia on Jan. 17 and was arrested. He could face more than three years in jail for alleged fraud and money laundering—charges Navalny says are politically motivated. Navalny has campaigned against corruption in the government of President Vladimir Putin. Supporters of Navalny have called for protests again next weekend.Dig deeper: Read Rachel Lynn Aldrich’s report in The Sift about accusations that high-level officials in Russia ordered Navalny’s poisoning.Image: Category: Political UnrestArticle Title: Russian police arrest pro-Navalny protestersKeywords: RussiaPutinProtestCrimeAuthor: Tim Lamer
- 1 day ago 23 Jan 21, 11:06pm -
- Christians in a politically charged climate
Christians in a politically charged climatePoliticsTheologyDonald TrumpGovernmentQuestions to ask as tensions ratchet up GovernmentWaldemar KohlHow are we to respond—in this overly sensitive, divided, and politically charged climate—to a society that needs to know Jesus’ love? I think it starts with us doing some serious self-reflection on where our priorities lie, and even where our heart is. A few overarching questions I would ask:Are we focused on love? The world will know us by our love for each other (John 13:35), and how we love those who disagree with us—or who even curse us and persecute us (Matthew 5). I’m not seeing this among some prominent Christian leaders. In all manner of social and public discourse right now—on issues ranging from mask-wearing, to equal rights, to respect for due process or respect for authority—there appears to be deep anger, outrage, a “call for blood” even! What about Paul’s admonition to “let your reasonableness be made known to everyone” (Philippians 4:5)? Is our love growing cold (Matthew 24:11-13)? I want to understand my more liberal (or more conservative) neighbors—maybe even learn something new, or change my opinion—as I focus on loving them.What is our battle? This leads me to my second point: What are we fighting against? Why is there so much resentment and anger? We know that we are not at war with flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers of darkness and evil (Ephesians 6:12). Our behavior (speaking very broadly) would suggest we are at war with anyone who thinks differently about very earthly matters. I’m sensing from many Christians I know a strong undertone of condemnation of anyone who dares question their political beliefs, their political candidate, and anything their candidate says and does. Any information, “facts,” or insightful arguments that do not support what they believe to be true are grounds for mockery and disdain. (This is true on both sides, but shouldn’t believers be different?) Is it realistic to think all truth only comes from one party or one person? Does it stand to reason that anything offered by the “other side” is inherently false? And even if it were that black and white, on what are we focusing our fight? Our battle is against the devil, and for the souls of man. Our focus should be on living out the gospel, loving others because of the eternal glory set before us (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). Which kingdom are we pursuing? If we were Christians anywhere else in the world, we would struggle less with the melding of nationalism and faith. As it is, the church in the United States—in my opinion—has a dangerous emotional and spiritual bond with conservative political power. They are not one and the same. Jesus was clear, “My kingdom is not of this world.” If it were, He would have fought more like we’re fighting today—for power and control. Listening to the leaders involved in the Jericho March, you would think that the president is our messiah and we are fighting for his kingdom on earth. Anything that pulls us away from our focus on God’s eternal kingdom, or draws on our passion and energy to preserve worldly possession or influence, plays into the devil’s hands. Let us vote our conscience for the leaders we believe are best able to govern our country. But let our hearts and minds pursue the eternal kingdom, not a kingdom of any kind on earth.Are we guarding against deception? I do not read the Bible enough, nor am I praying in the Spirit as much as I should be, given these end times. I am increasingly aware of my susceptibility to false teaching and deceptive spirits as I read about how far a Christian leader can stray from his “first love.” We must absolutely test the spirits (1 John 4:1) and submit everything to God’s Word (Colossians 3:16) in order not to be deceived by the lust of the world (1 John 2:16). The idols of my heart are a constant battle. Like all Christians who are also human, I do not always have Christ preeminent in my heart and mind. For some reason—unique to this time in history, and to this political climate, and to this leader—the Church is diverting much of its focus from God’s kingdom to political power. More than any time in my life, many of us threw our commitment and loyalty toward Donald Trump, to the point of even defining what is true by his standard. Some Christians claimed that any authority other than his was from the devil! This, I’m afraid, may be the fulfillment of verses such as 2 Timothy 4:2-4: “For the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” I fear we may be following in the path of the Corinthian church that struggled with worldliness, heresies, and battled “party spirit,” which Paul decried (1 Corinthians 3:1-4, 21-23).Waldemar Kohl is a consultant who lives with his wife Ann and their five children in Hampton, N.H.PoliticsWhirled Views
- 1 day ago 23 Jan 21, 4:11pm -
- Larry King, TV interview virtuoso, has died
Radio and television host Larry King, who interviewed tens of thousands of subjects, including presidents, Hollywood celebrities, athletes, and world leaders, died Saturday. He was 87.How did he become famous? Lawrence Harvey Zeiger, born in the Brooklyn borough of New York to Jewish immigrants, became Larry King when he landed his first radio job as a disc jockey in Miami in 1957. His boss thought Zeiger sounded “too ethnic,” and noticed an ad for King’s Wholesale Liquors in an open newspaper on the desk.Known for his personable and straightforward style, he credited his ability to talk with anyone, whether a prime minister or bus driver, to his insatiable curiosity. Larry King Live premiered on CNN in 1985 and became a mainstay of American television for 25 years. He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev to Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra.King married seven women (one of them twice). His last marriage to Shawn Southwick lasted more than 20 years before he filed for divorce in 2019. He cited religious differences—she was a devout Mormon and he an “agnostic atheist”—as one reason they didn’t get along.Obsessed with the afterlife, King often asked about faith in interviews. In his book Powerful Prayers, co-authored with Rabbi Irwin Katsof, he questioned influential people about how they talk to God. On a CNN special, King said he wanted to live forever, and was public about his wish to be cryogenically preserved.King’s estranged wife and three of his five children survive him.Image: Category: TVArticle Title: Larry King, TV interview virtuoso, has diedKeywords: ObituariesObituaryTelevisionMediaCultureAuthor: Jenny Rough
- 1 day ago 23 Jan 21, 2:35pm -
- Trump impeachment trial has a start date
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said senators can balance confirming President Joe Biden’s executive nominees and holding former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she plans to send the impeachment articles to the Senate on Monday.When will the trial start? Once the Senate receives the articles of impeachment, it is supposed to start the trial right away. But Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agreed to begin the proceeding during the week of Feb. 8. That gives Senate Democrats more time to focus on confirmations. With the Senate split 50-50, at least 17 Republicans would need to vote against Trump in order to convict him of inciting insurrection on Jan. 6. In the House, 10 GOP lawmakers voted to impeach. Some Republican senators argue impeaching a president after he leaves office is unconstitutional. Democrats are seeking a conviction that would allow them to bar Trump from holding office again.Dig deeper: Read Josh Raimundo’s account in The Stew of what he saw at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.Image: Category: PoliticsArticle Title: Trump impeachment trial has a start dateKeywords: PoliticsImpeachmentSenateWhite HouseCapitol RiotAuthor: Rachel Lynn Aldrich
- 2 days ago 23 Jan 21, 3:09am -
- Earthquake hits already devastated Indonesia
Corrugated sheets, twisted windowpanes, and concrete rubble littered streets where many buildings once stood in the city of Mamuju on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island. A shallow 6.2-magnitude earthquake rattled the island just after midnight on Friday as many people slept.Nurwardi, manager of operations at Mamuju’s West Sulawesi General Hospital—the only clinic that survived the earthquake—said people steadily flocked to makeshift tents to receive care. “Many patients do not want to be treated inside the hospital because they’re worried about another quake,” he told the AFP news agency. “Many need surgery but we have limited resources and medicine.”The earthquake killed at least 90 people, the majority of them in Mamuju, and nearly 300 others sustained serious injuries. Aid workers this week continued to search for survivors and try to access cut-off villages. The quake came in the wake of several other disasters in the country, including the COVID-19 pandemic.The earthquake destroyed more than 1,000 homes and other buildings, including the governor’s office and a shopping mall in Mamuju. Thousands of people slept outdoors this week for fear of aftershocks. Nearly 30,000 displaced people moved to shelters in Mamuju and its neighboring district of Majene.A father of three who identified himself as Robert told the Associated Press he was at Mamuju’s Mitra Manakarra hospital when the earthquake began. The rattling bed woke him up, and he pulled out the drip from his hand before running out. “I cried when I saw the hospital where I was being treated collapse with people still inside,” he said. “I could have died if I got out late.”Didi Hamzar, the disaster agency’s director of preparedness, said rescuers have pulled at least 18 survivors from collapsed buildings. The region set up a navy hospital ship and field health centers to bolster the medical response. The International Red Cross deployed seven ambulances and first-aid teams to the region. Mark Baker, the director of disaster response with Water Mission, told me his team also sent in a mobile unit to deliver clean water to affected communities. The aid group is also assessing the needs before setting up permanent water treatment systems.Doni Monardo, Indonesia’s disaster agency chief, said authorities would set up COVID-19 testing sites at the camps. Indonesia has recorded more than 927,000 infections and more than 26,000 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia. Security officers patrolling with loudspeakers reminded people to observe health protocols as markets and gas stations slowly reopened this week.Indonesian President Joko Widodo mobilized the military and police to aid the rescue and relief operations and pledged more government support during a Tuesday visit to Mamuju: “Soon the central government will rebuild, then for collapsed houses, the government will help for those that were heavily damaged.”The archipelago nation sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arch of fault lines in the Pacific Basin, and experiences frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.Other disasters have struck the country as well. On Monday, Widodo visited southern regions on Borneo island, where flooding last week killed at least 15 people and forced thousands of people to flee their homes. On Jan. 9, a deadly landslide on Java island buried about 40 people. The same day, a Sriwijaya Air jet crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 62 people on board.“The people of Indonesia inspire the world community as an example of extraordinary resilience,” said Dr. Vlatko Uzevski, emergency response leader for the nonprofit Project HOPE, which is also responding in Sulawesi. Associated Press/Photo by Hassene Dridi Police officers face demonstrators in Ettadhamen City near Tunis, Tunisia, on Tuesday. Tunisian youths return to the streetsYoung Tunisians have gathered on the streets of the capital city of Tunis and other cities since Friday, throwing Molotov cocktails at security forces and holding posters that read, “Employment is a right, not a favor.” The demonstrations began after the government imposed a nationwide coronavirus lockdown on Thursday, the 10th anniversary of the ouster of authoritarian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali during the Arab Spring. Authorities have arrested more than 600 people and deployed troops across several cities, defense ministry spokesman Mohamed Zikri said.One-third of Tunisia’s youth remain unemployed, and the pandemic has worsened the country’s economic crisis. Tunisia has recorded more than 177,000 COVID-19 infections and more than 5,600 deaths. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi acknowledged the growing frustration but condemned the looting and violence: “Your voice is heard, and your anger is legitimate, and it is my role and the role of the government to work to realize your demands and to make the dream of Tunisia to become true.”Amnesty International urged security forces to refrain from using excessive force. —O.O. Associated Press/Photo by Rahmat Gul The site of a gunmen attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. Violence persists in AfghanistanGunmen killed two women Supreme Court judges in Afghanistan last week, the latest in a string of assassinations targeting civilians. The women were driving to their office in the capital city of Kabul when gunmen riding motorcycles opened fire on their car, said Ahmad Fahim Qaweem, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court. Police launched an investigation.Attacks in recent months have targeted government officials, activists, journalists, and prosecutors. The Taliban denied any involvement. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a November attack on Kabul University that left 22 people dead and 22 others wounded.The latest violence came two days after the United States said the U.S. troop level in Afghanistan reduced to a record low of 2,500, a stipulation in the U.S.-brokered peace talks. —O.O. Getty Images/Photo Alfredo Zuniga/AFP Women and children displaced by attacks in northern Mozambique attend a meeting at the Centro Agrrio de Napala. Freed captivesDefense forces in Mozambique’s terrorism-ridden northern province last week rescued 21 hostages abducted by extremists. Authorities said the insurgents captured the 15 women and six children from Matemo island and used them to transport looted goods.One of the women, Maisha Ambasse, counted up to 30 insurgents and said they planned to take the captives to a Koranic school. Bernardino Rafael, general commander of the police force, said the defense forces knew the terrorists’ location and launched a “smart attack” to rescue the hostages.A local rebel group called Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama started attacking the port town of Mocímboa da Praia in October 2017. Insurgent attacks in the oil-rich region have killed more than 1,000 civilians and displaced more than 500,000 people. On Wednesday, the United Nations called for expanded health and nutrition programs for the affected communities. —O.O. African tales go digitalThe African tradition of oral storytelling passed down to family members and communities could soon be available online. Herman Chinery-Hesse, a Ghanaian entrepreneur who established the country’s largest software company, created Afrikan Echoes to bring the continent’s tales to an international audience.The new audiobooks app, set to launch in March, will initially feature up to 50 unpublished African tales translated to Swahili, Yoruba, and other African languages. They include Frank Karefa-Smart’s story of his time working in New York during the civil rights movement and across West Africa at the time of the diamond trade. “We would like a situation where non-Africans can listen to African stories told by Africans, in an African way,” he told CNN. —O.O. Image: Deck: The country struggles to rebuild after the latest in a string of disasters this yearCategory: InternationalKeywords: InternationalIndonesiaAsiaEarthquakeDisasterCoronavirusTunisiaAfricaProtestPolitical UnrestHealthAfghanistanMiddle EastTerrorismMozambiqueArtsCultureSlug: InternationalArticle Title: Earthquake hits already devastated IndonesiaAuthor: Onize OhikereDigital Branding: World TourHide from Archive?: 0
- 2 days ago 22 Jan 21, 10:52pm -