Introducing Hong Kong’s four-step fining framework… On 29 April 2020, Justice Godfrey Lam, President of the Competition Tribunal, handed down judgment in relation to the fines to be imposed on the parties in the W. Hing and Others case....

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) Doha: With QFFD support, Qatar Charity is providing healthcare to pregnant Syrian refugees. The same place brought them toget... ......

(MENAFN - Caribbean News Global) OLDWICK, N.J.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Life/health-related catastrophe bonds face the greatest threat of losses from the COVID... ......

(MENAFN - Jordan News Agency) Zarqa, May 9 (Petra) - Director of Zarqa Health Affairs, Dr. Mohammed Tahan, said the epidemiological investigation team... ......

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday dismissed rumours about his ill-health, saying that he is healthy and has been working as the country fights coronavirus crisis. "I am completely healthy and am not suffering from any disease," Shah tweeted in Hindi. In his post, the Home Minister said that...

The Covid-19 crisis has many wealthy individuals thinking about estate planning opportunities. Personal finance expert Megan Gorman discusses the benefits of using GRATs during the current environment. ......

Nanjing University life science faculty's discovery of the anti-tumor mechanisms of high-salt diet was recently reported by Nature Communication and hailed by colleagues as a disruptive step of progress. Professors Zhang Junfeng and Dong Lei's team at the State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology of School of Life Sciences published in the online journal on April 7, 2020, the paper 'High-salt diet inhibits tumor growth in mice via regulating myeloid-derived suppressor cell differentiation' (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15524-1). The publication drew widespread interest from at home and abroad. The Nature Research Cancer...

Celia Hatton, BBC Asia Pacific Regional Editor It's rare for Chinese leaders to admit wrongdoing. Li Bin said the commission would fix the problems by centralising its...

Glenn Hutchinson has been in touch to tell us how his passion for the Spireites began when he visited Saltergate as a youngster in the mid-50s... I first visited the ground when I was about 7/8 in 1954/55 with my dad. Caught the bug and been a Spirerite ever since. When I was...

1. 'Not anticipating worst situation but…': Health Minister on Covid-19 in India  Hindustan Times
2. Testing capacity for Covid-19 scaled up to 95,000 per day: Harsh Vardhan  Times of India
3. 'Have prepared country for worst situation': Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on coronavirus pandemic  Times Now
4. ‘We’re prepared for the worst’: Health minister on Covid-19 crisis  Top Live News
5. Do not anticipate worst case situation like developed countries in India: Harsh Vardhan  Times of India
6. View Full coverage on Google News

A little over half of women across the globe are able to freely make choices about their sexual and reproductive health, according to a latest report based on data from 57 countries.  However, as much of the world has gone into lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, with countries implementing social distancing and restricting the […]

The post **Correction**How the COVID-19 Pandemic is Affecting Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health appeared first on Inter Press Service.

HSE’s Business plan With major structural changes to the UK economy expected post Brexit, now is a time for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to reflect on its business plan and the associated implications.  The HSE will be keen to de...

Up to a third of the country’s medical staff and health workers could lose out in the planned WHO cuts.

THE Philippines has “adapted well” as its health care capacity was “not overwhelmed” by the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19)due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) the government had enforced , an expert and consultant for the Interagency Taskforce on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) said on Friday. Edcel Salvana, director of the Institute of Molecular Biology […]

THE Supreme Court (SC) junked a petition for mandamus that seeks to compel Malacanang to disclose President Rodrigo Duterte’s state of health. Brian Keith Hosaka, SC Public Information Office chief and spokesman, disclosed that the decision was arrived at following the court’s virtual en banc session on Friday. “I confirm the denial of the petition, […]

Winnie Byanyima* is the Executive Director of UNAIDS

The post Coronavirus Proves Need for Free Healthcare for All– Now appeared first on Inter Press Service.

WHO has warned that Africa could be become the next epicentre of the pandemic.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are no allocations for additional food relief

The coronavirus crisis has exposed grave vulnerabilities in the nation's medical services.

[WHO] Geneva -Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.

[Govt of SA] As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 8895. Case Data

[U.S. House] Washington, DC -Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) led a letter to General Stephen J. Townsend today calling for increased transparency and public accountability of civilian causalities from the United States Defense Department's Africa Command (AFRICOM). The letter was signed by Rep. Adam Smith, Chair, House Committee on Armed Services; Rep. Adam Schiff, Chair, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Rep. Eliot Engel, Chair, House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Rep. André Carson, Chair, Subcommittee on Counterterrori

[Africom] As part of the command's commitment to transparency, U.S. Africa Command is implementing a quarterly report on the status of ongoing and completed civilian casualty allegations and assessments. This initiative was directed by U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander, U.S. Africa Command, to increase transparency regarding civilian casualty allegations that are reported to the command while demonstrating the U.S. military's constant commitment to minimizing collateral damage in the pursuit of

Efforts to fast-track the opening of pubs next month have been delivered a body blow by Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan.

The chief executive of the Mental Health Commission says 16 people in the sector have died with Covid-19.

No new deaths were reported on Saturday morning, marking the first full day Israel has gone without a COVID-19 related death in over a month.

In many markets, the MGA license is most respected by players and many new regulatory frameworks are modelled after it

Maltese government to inform EC it will no longer provide boarding team to Operation Irini, which is attempting to stop Turkish weapons to Libyan GNA

Police say Natalie Bonello pretended to be a care worker in order to gain access to elderly women’s homes, from which she then proceeded to steal jewellery

Malta has 58 active cases of COVID-19

This has not been a good year for Iran in Syria.

While admitting that the official death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran has exceeded 6,000, the Islamic Republic Minister of Health warned of a heavy second wave of the disease next autumn and winter. ";A relatively heavy attack by a combination of flu and coronavirus is expected in the fall and winter";, the Minister, Saeed Namaki, reiterated.

With the aim of expressing appreciation for the medical staff from around globe, the Iran's National Instruments Orchestra performed ";The Avicenna Suite"; by maestro Farhad Fakhreddini. The work has been recorded and edited by cell phone at home.

In the lead-up to the Truth Matters conference in October, we will be focusing our attention on the sufficiency, authority, and clarity of Scripture. Of our previous blog series, none better embodies that emphasis than Frequently Abused Verses. The following entry from that series originally appeared on April 5, 2017. -ed.

The prosperity gospel is neither a small nor isolated error. The fixation with money and material riches pervades the theology of its adherents, corrupting every aspect of their faith and doctrine. It is a comprehensive lie—one that skews the very nature of the gospel itself, distorting even the Person and work of Christ.

In particular, it assaults the nature of Christ’s atoning work on our behalf. Forgiveness of sins and imputed righteousness are of minor importance at best. Instead, prosperity preachers teach a version of the atonement that serves their material interests. And it all hinges on one verse: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Here’s how TBN televangelist Joseph Prince explains it:

On the cross, Jesus bore the curse of poverty! That is what the Word of God declares: “For you know the grace [unmerited favor] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” Read 2 Corinthians 8 for yourself. The entire chapter is about money and being a blessing financially to those who are in need. So don’t let anyone tell you that the verse is referring to ‘spiritual’ riches.” ^[1] Joseph Prince, Unmerited Favor: Your Supernatural Advantage for a Successful Life (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2010), 29.

Prince is partly right—2 Corinthians 8 is about blessing others financially. But his fixation with money forces him to overlook the obvious flaw in his argument—that Paul was exhorting the Corinthians to give for the sake of other Christians in need. Apparently they had not been—as Prince promised his readers—delivered from “the curse of poverty.”

In verse 1 Paul commends the Macedonian Christians for the “wealth of their liberality” that flowed out of their “deep poverty.” Likewise, in verse 7 Paul reminds the Corinthians of their own spiritual riches: “Just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious [giving] work also.” The Corinthians and Macedonians were wealthy in many ways, just not in the specific way Joseph Prince is.   

Phil Pringle, another prosperity preacher and founder of the gigantic C3 Church in Sydney, Australia, leaves no doubt about his interpretation of 2 Corinthians 8:9—going so far as to offer his own paraphrase: “Jesus became poor regarding the wealth of this world on the cross, that those who receive Him may become rich with the wealth of this world.” ^[2] Phil Pringle, Dead for Nothing?: What the Cross Has Done for You (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 2007), 58.

Such is the corruption and greed of men like Prince and Pringle, that no subject is off limits in their quest to sanitize and sanctify their perverse love of money. At best, they minimize the forgiveness of sin and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness at the expense of physical health and material wealth. At worst, they do away with the spiritual components of Christ’s atoning work altogether.

That self-absorbed theology collapses under biblical scrutiny. John MacArthur points out the true nature of Christ’s earthly poverty:

This verse is not a commentary on Jesus’ economic status or the material circumstances of His life. . . . The Lord’s true impoverishment did not consist in the lowly circumstances in which He lived but in the reality that “although He existed in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6–7). ^[3] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 2 Corinthians (Chicago: Moody Press, 2003), 291–92.

Christ was not a wealthy man, but He wasn’t especially poor, either. The poverty He endured was in contrast to the vast heavenly riches He willingly set aside during His incarnation:

Though as God, Jesus owns everything in heaven and on earth (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 10:14; Job 41:11; Psalm 24:1; 50:12; 1 Corinthians 10:26), His riches do not consist primarily of what is material. The riches in view here are those of Christ’s supernatural glory, His position as God the Son, and His eternal attributes. . . . As the eternal second person of the Trinity, Jesus is as rich as God the Father. To the Colossians Paul wrote, “For in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9), and “[Jesus] is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3). Arguments for Christ’s eternity and deity are inseparable. Since the Scriptures reveal Him to be eternal, and only God can be eternal, Jesus must be God. Therefore, He owns the universe and everything in it, possesses all power and authority (Matthew 28:18), and is to be glorified and honored (John 5:23; Philippians 2:9–11). ^[4]The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 2 Corinthians, 289–90.

Therefore, the riches Christ offers us surpass anything this world can offer. Material blessings don’t merely pale in comparison—they fade into oblivion when contrasted with the vast spiritual riches the Lord supplies. Justification, reconciliation, sanctification, and, eventually, glorification—the eternal benefits of salvation are beyond our comprehension. Peter described them as “an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [believers]” (1 Peter 1:4).

And as John MacArthur explains, these are the riches we most desperately require:

Sinners desperately need the riches of Christ because they are spiritually destitute. They are the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), beggars with nothing to commend themselves. But through salvation, believers are made “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17), sharing His riches because they are made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). The ultimate goal of their salvation is to be made like Him (1 John 3:2), to reflect His glory in heaven, “so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). ^[5]The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 2 Corinthians, 294.

Paul anticipated the lies of the prosperity gospel. In his letter to the Philippians, he described its promoters as “enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19). He charged the church to avoid such worldly distractions. Instead, Christians must fix their hearts on the eternal riches only Christ can provide.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20–21)

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party and the representatives of medical organisations of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have demanded an end to the privatisation of healthcare facilities in the province and provision of automated coronavirus testing machines to medical staff. The demand was made...

As many as 44 million people in Africa could be infected with Covid-19 in the first year of the pandemic if containment measures fail – causing 83,000 to 190,000 deaths – according to modelling by the World Health Organisation, reflecting fears of a potential widening crisis on the continent.The study, released on Thursday by WHO Africa, looked at 47 countries with a combined population of 1 billion people and suggested smaller countries alongside Algeria, South Africa and Cameroon were at a…

The Covid-19 crisis has exposed weaknesses in Chinese health care system despite some impressive reforms over the past two decades, witnesses told an advisory arm of the US Congress on Thursday.China has strengthened its Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve the monitoring of outbreaks and better coordinate local public health authorities, US experts on international health care told the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission.This happened after the…

A Utah-based start-up says it has exclusive business rights to the use of smartphones and other electronic devices for tracing people who have come into contact with a person with Covid-19, setting up a potential patent-infringement battle with some of the biggest technology companies.Blyncsy, which describes itself as a “movement and data intelligence” company headquartered in Salt Lake City, holds the business method patent for “tracking proximity relationships and uses thereof” by…

The Philippines’ top broadcaster ABS-CBN on Tuesday was ordered off the air over a stalled operating licence renewal, drawing fresh charges that authorities were cracking down on press freedom.Since running afoul of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, the media powerhouse has seen bills to extend its franchise languish in Congress as the leader repeatedly attacked ABS-CBN in speeches.Duterte is notorious for tangling with media outlets critical of his policies, sparking concern that press…

Doctors believe this will revolutionalise medicine, but there are ethical and safety concerns

The is until a case by activist Okiya Omtatah is heard and determined.

Chronic shortage of psychiatrists, inadequate funding and societal ignorance among challenges

Exam authorities will carry out citywide research to develop an alternative student grading system in the event university entrance tests are cancelled because of future pandemics, Hong Kong’s education minister told the Post on Thursday.In an exclusive interview, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung also said his bureau would review with schools how to better prepare for class suspensions, including teacher training and resources for non-traditional instruction methods.Hong Kong…

It is about 7pm when Muslim community leader Raheel Ahmed, 57, gathers with his wife, two sons and daughter for a home-made meal of dates, rice and spicy curried chicken, salad, fresh fruit and juice.For this Hong Kong family of Pakistani origin, it is their first meal after fasting for more than 12 hours, as this is the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.The world’s 1.8 billion Muslims mark the month by abstaining from food or drink from sunrise to sunset, and gathering as a community in mosques to…

For some time Wuhan in China and Lombardy in Italy were epicentres of the COVID-19 virus, something that has changed when the contagion is spreading fast in the US. A Lombardy in the grip of a deadly epidemic might among several Italians give rise to memories of their school days. For almost a century, Alessando […]

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Steven Broad is Executive Director, TRAFFIC, the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network

The post COVID-19 & Human Health Risks Linked to Wildlife Trade Practices appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Bomet Governor, Isaac Ruto was airlifted to Nairobi Hospital on Monday morning after clashing with police officers.