News
Russian Orthodox Church rep: EU needs to protect Christians
The European Union should do more to protect Christians worldwide, said the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to European Union officials on Monday.
Euthanasia - still a dilemma for Dutch doctors
"I am not a monster. I'm also not a God. In the best case I'm an angel," muses a doctor in a Dutch play about euthanasia, before delivering a lethal injection to an old friend, a cancer patient.
Police clamp down on Mongolian house churches
China Aid Association (CAA) has learned that officials from the Arong Qi Security and Religious Affairs Bureau detained two house church ministers last Thursday.
TD Jakes: Don't stereotype black church after Wright comments
Black megachurch leader Bishop TD Jakes said on Monday that he was pained at seeing the African-American church portrayed negatively by the media.
Government to rule on cannabis
Gordon Brown's government will announce on Wednesday whether it plans to reclassify cannabis, in a move that is set to draw criticism whatever the outcome.
Probe launched after man shot in London house siege
An investigation was underway on Wednesday after a man was shot dead following an armed siege by police at a house in the fashionable Chelsea area of London.
Obama wins North Carolina and Clinton takes Indiana
Barack Obama scored an easy win in North Carolina on Tuesday to take a big step toward the Democratic presidential nomination, and Hillary Clinton struggled to a narrow victory in Indiana that kept her faint White House hopes alive.
Food dropped to Burma towns
Military helicopters dropped food and drinking water to the cyclone-stricken people of Burma's Irrawaddy delta, where entire villages have been virtually washed away, officials said on Wednesday.
Georgia says 'very close' to war with Russia
Russia's deployment of extra troops in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia has brought the prospect of war "very close", a minister of ex-Soviet Georgia said on Tuesday.
Russia to swear in new leader
Thirty guns will salute Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday, when he is sworn in as a new Russian president in the Kremlin's throne room to replace his long-time mentor, the powerful Vladimir Putin.
Burma cyclone aid starts amid hunger fears
Disease, hunger and thirst pose a major threat to hundreds of thousands of survivors of Cyclone Nargis, aid agencies said on Wednesday, urging Burma's military rulers to open the doors to international humanitarian relief.
Anti-government protesters paralyse Beirut
Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition blocked main roads in Beirut with burning barricades on Wednesday, paralysing the city and deepening a political conflict with the U.S.-backed government.
Drugs undermine Afghanistan's efforts to rebuild
Jam Bigum, a drug addict in Afghanistan's impoverished northern province of Badakhshan, feeds her three-month-old son opium three times a day to keep him quiet.
Bush urges Burma to accept U.S. relief officials
President George W. Bush made a rare appeal to Burma's military rulers on Tuesday to accept U.S. relief officials and added $3 million (1.52 million pounds) in aid to help victims of a cyclone that devastated the Southeast Asian nation.
Emergency evacuation as Chile volcano spits lava
Crackling with explosions, Chile's Chaiten volcano began spitting lava on Tuesday following its first eruption in thousands of years, and Navy warships were deployed to evacuate nearby residents in the southern region of Patagonia.
Nigeria oil rebels pledge truce if Carter mediates
Niger Delta rebels promised on Tuesday to halt attacks on the oil industry if the Nigerian government would allow former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to act as a mediator.