(MENAFN - IANS) Chennai, May 9 (IANS) Two Air India Express flights commanded by women took off on Saturday, to evacuate stranded Indians from foreig... ......

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) As part of the Vande Bharat Mission, an Air India flight with around 200 Indians from Sharjah will take off for Lucknow today... ......

The Republican National Committee...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's capital has shut down more than 2,100 nightclubs, hostess bars and discos after dozens of coronavirus infections were linked to club goers who went out last weekend as the country relaxed social distancing guidelines. The measures imposed Saturday by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon came after the national government urged entertainment venues around the nation to close or otherwise enforce anti-virus measures, including distancing, temperature checks, keeping customer lists and requiring employees to wear masks. Park said the entry bans on the facilities will be maintained until the...

Crystal Palace went into the second leg of the play-off semi-final against Brighton & Hove Albion without the Championship's top scorer, Glenn Murray. Murray had found the back of the net 30 times...

Portugal is setting up a technology free-zone that would support innovations such as blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, and 5G internet. The council of ministers of Portugal announced it was working on a plan to build an innovation hub that would harness emerging technologies in a plan dubbed "Digital Transitional Action Plan.” The “technological free zones,” or zonas livres tecnológicas (ZLTs) in Portuguese would drive the country to facilitate the country’s sustainable development efforts. Lisbon’s approach, according to the...

Moscow sent over a dozen military transport planes with equipment and specialists to Italy back in March to help the country in its efforts to stop the spread of the COVID-19 infection. ......

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...

A daily commute of two-and-a-half hours each way would take a toll on anyone, but for Özkan, a construction worker in Istanbul, the hardest part of his long journey is coping with his fears about what might happen after he gets home. “The conditions on our job site are deplorable, and I feel psychologically broken […]

The post Across the World, Construction Workers are Caught Between Coronavirus Risk and Joblessness appeared first on Inter Press Service.

President Donald Trump’s threat to abruptly cut all US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) has been described as ‘reckless and deadly”—particularly at a time when the Geneva-based UN agency was engaged in an uphill battle against the spreading coronavirus. The US president, who has dismissed WHO as “China-centric”, has also been accused of […]

The post In His Fight Against WHO, Trump Plays Politics with Human Lives appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ensuring sex workers’ rights was essential, not just for the workers themselves, but for any country’s wider society, including public health

The post Ensuring Russia’s Sex Workers’ Rights Essential for Wider Gender Equality appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Lizzo, Shawn Mendes and others sang classic songs brimmed with messages of hope and change during a TV special aimed at fighting the coronavirus, while Beyoncé and Alicia Keys spoke passionately about how the virus has disproportionately affected black Americans.

A supermoon is seen over Turkey's northwestern Edirne province on Feb. 9, 2020. The astronomical event occurs when the moon is closest to Earth in its orbit, making it appear much larger and brighter than usual. (AA Photo)

A photographer from Turkey shot riveting time-lapse photos of the night sky from eastern Bingöl and Elazığ provinces.

After suspending its passenger flights due to pandemic flight restrictions, Turkey's low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines announced on May 7 it has started cargo flights.

More than 800 Turkish nationals were repatriated on May 8 from Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of an initiative by Ankara amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Last December, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) launched an inquiry into racial harassment in Higher Education. On 23 October 2019 the EHRC published its report “Tackling racial harassment: universities challenged” under t...

MANILA: Manila’s international airport will allow international charter and commercial flights to resume arriving on designated days, beginning from Monday.

The international community is developing policy measures and actions to help the people most vulnerable to drought to take early action to avoid loss of life, and the heavy and growing losses of livelihoods and damage to property and ecosystems following droughts. The Intergovernmental Working Group on Drought (IWG) that is leading this initiative is […]

The post A Positive Policy Turn for People Most Vulnerable To Drought Worldwide appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Sexual and reproductive health and pandemics might seem to be unrelated topics, but large and dense populations are drivers of the high velocity transmission of COVID-19, and there are lessons to be learned for the future. Gains made in women’s sexual reproductive health and rights just took several steps backward in the midst of the […]

The post Why Reproductive Rights Must Be a Critical Part of Our Arsenal to Fight Pandemics appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The U.S. needs a more expansive strategy to maintain its lead in this field, and that means working closely with its allies, especially Japan.

With gigs off and venues closed, Japanese artists are getting more creative in staging shows for fans staying at home.

Many English-speaking leaders have been using war terminology when discussing the coronavirus, but politicians in Japan have their own way of speaking to the ...

Some customers are returning to restaurants, bars and other shops in night entertainment districts that resumed operations.

South Korean health authorities are investigating a small but growing coronavirus outbreak centered in a handful of Seoul nightclubs, seeking to keep infections in check ...

The leaders of U.S. congressional foreign affairs committees wrote to nearly 60 countries on Friday asking them to support Taiwan’s participation in the World Health ...

While releasing the Annual Crime Report for 2019 recently, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Martin Okoth Ochola, revealed that defilement still poses a big problem to the police.

[WHO] The WHO country office and the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Somalia have joined hands under a new collaboration in the country to strengthen operational response activities for COVID-19. The new collaboration aims to accelerate support for the frontline work of WHO in combating COVID-19 in a seemingly vast country where transportation of vital medical supplies and personnel needed for rapid response to the outbreak remain a perpetual challenge owing to suspension of commercial and cargo flights

Thousands of people have taken part in the mental health charity Pieta House's 'Darkness Into Light' Sunrise Appeal at dawn.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expresses ‘deep concern’ over reports of failure to assist and coordinate pushbacks of migrant boats in the central Mediterranean

The pandemic has led to a series of changes, including the separation of US and coalition forces from locals.

Bank branches attacked with gunfire, petrol bombs.

Iran's parliament has voted to slash four zeros from the national currency, the rial, to fight hyperinflation caused by crippling U.S. sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers also decided on May 4 that the rial, which has been Iran's national currency since 1925, will be replaced by the toman, which will be equal to 10,000 rials, according to the IRNA and ISNA news agencies.

The body of Ali Ajami, an Iranian human rights activist, was discovered in McGovern Lake at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas, on Wednesday. The cause of death remains unknown. Houston Police on Wednesday started an investigation into the death of a deceased male found in a pond at Hermann Park but said no other information was available yet. Iranian social media users have reported that the body belonged to thirty-seven-year-old Iranian human rights activist Ali Ajami.

Some Christians undergo a frantic struggle every Sunday to remember where they last saw their Bibles. They know they had it with them at church last week. But they haven’t seen it since they got home and set it down. Inevitably, they’ll find it buried somewhere under the debris of the intervening week. And once the next Sunday rolls around, they will launch the same search to locate it again in time for its once-a-week use.

Describing the dangerous distance that sometimes exists between believers and their Bibles, Charles Spurgeon said,

Most people treat the Bible very politely. They have a small pocket volume, neatly bound; they put a white pocket-handkerchief around it, and carry it to their places of worship; when they get home, they lay it up in a drawer till next Sunday morning; then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat and goes to chapel; that is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an airing. That is your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger. There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write “damnation” with your fingers.^[1] Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “The Bible,” sermon 15 in The New Park Street Pulpit, vol. 1 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1855), 112.

Spurgeon noted that trend more than 150 years ago. Today, in a culture that excels at distraction, shallow thought, and casual indifference, it’s even easier to neglect one’s Bible. Some don’t even bother to keep a physical copy of God’s Word. Instead it’s just another app on their phones or words projected on a screen. Christians cannot afford to have such a dismissive, lackadaisical approach to Scripture. As the only repository of God’s written revelation to us, Scripture demands our attention.

It sounds incongruous that believers would need to be reminded to faithfully study and hold fast to the Word. But in his first epistle, Peter exhorts his readers about the way God’s people ought to hunger for His truth:

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:1–5)

Peter gives us a lot to unpack in that passage, but at its core is the imperative to “long for the pure milk of the word.” This is not a suggestion. It’s an unequivocal directive—one reinforced by everything else in the surrounding context. Peter’s primary emphasis here is the command to cultivate an abiding desire for Scripture.

A hunger for the truth is one of the defining characteristics of those who have been redeemed by God. Jesus indicated as much: “He who is of God hears the words of God” (John 8:47). Paul expressed a similar love for God’s Word in the believer’s heart: “I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man” (Romans 7:22). Job said, “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). Psalm 1 says that the godly man is blessed because “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2). In Psalm 19, David describes his own affection for God’s truth, saying it is “more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10). And in Psalm 40:8, he writes, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

But the magnum opus regarding love for God’s Word is undoubtedly Psalm 119. Over and over, the psalmist recounts the glories of Scripture, extolling its perfections and expressing the satisfaction found only therein. He rejoices in the truth, not from external compulsion, but from the overflow of his heart. He has seen firsthand the outworking of God’s Word in his life, and he can’t hold back his grateful adoration for all that it has already accomplished, and all that it will in the future. In verse 174, the psalmist’s praise for the truth culminates with the statement, “I long for Your salvation, O Lord, and Your law is my delight” (Psalm 119:174). The Word is his strongest desire and greatest delight. Psalm 42:1 communicates a similar longing: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.” In the Septuagint, both those verses are translated with the same Greek verb (epipotheō) Peter uses to describe how believers must “long for the pure milk of the word.” The term communicates an intense, compelling craving. In James 4:5, it is translated as “jealously desires.” Paul used the same word to describe his desire for heaven (2 Corinthians 5:2). Throughout Scripture, it is employed to reflect an intense, recurring passion and an insatiable longing.

Peter demands that his readers cultivate that kind of hunger for the Word. And he chooses a powerful analogy to illustrate his point. He says, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word” (1 Peter 2:2). He reaches into the physical world to find the most apt and vivid illustration he can employ. And as we’ll see next time, he had good reason to use that analogy—our spiritual survival hinges on the nourishment that can only be found in God’s Word.

(Adapted from Final Word)

The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church stands in stark opposition to the biblical gospel. Rather than salvation by grace through faith, they preach a false gospel of works.

Much of our anxiety is born out of concerns and uncertainty regarding our future. We get caught up in our plans and programs, overlooking the blessings of today and obsessing over uncontrollable details on the horizon...

God’s Word is clear—believers are not to be given over to anxiety. But it’s not simply a cold, abrupt command to stop worrying. Scripture is clear that we shouldn’t focus on the plans, needs, and uncertainties of tomorrow, but it’s also clear about where our focus should be instead.

FAISALABAD: Punjab Higher Education Department Secretary Zulfiqar Ahmad Ghumman has said that agriculture scientists should come up with the viable solutions to fight locust attack that is playing havoc with the food security of the country.He said this while visiting Faisalabad on the directions...

SWABI: The police on Friday claimed to have arrested eight alleged hired assassins in the district.Addressing a press conference here on Friday, District Police Officer Imran Shahid said that on March 17, Muhammad Iqbal, brother of a known lawyer Mustafa Kamal, was killed and his nephew Munawar...

The European Union remains central to the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, but the rivalry between China and the United States is doing little to help, the EU’s envoy to China said on Thursday.“We are seeing high levels of tensions – strategic, economic, political – growing day after day. It is our opinion that these tensions are not conducive to the cooperative spirit we need today,” ambassador Nicolas Chapuis told an online press briefing.“I am convinced that the EU voice is today…

Japan said it deployed patrols and issued warnings to a group of Chinese coastguard vessels spotted pursuing a Japanese fishing boat in the hotly contested waters of the East China Sea on Friday.The Japan Coast Guard said on Saturday that four Chinese coastguard vessels entered waters close to the Diaoyu Islands – a group of uninhabited islands controlled by Tokyo and known locally as known as Senkaku – at about 4pm.The face-off took place about 50 minutes later, when two of the Chinese vessels…

China has told North Korea it is willing to help contain the spread of Covid-19 in a note from President Xi Jinping to his counterpart Kim Jong-un.Xi’s message follows recent rumours about Kim’s health after he failed to appear at a major political event and speculation about the possible spread of the disease in the North, even though it has not reported any cases.Xi said he was very concerned about the situation in North Korea and the health of its people, and said he was pleased that its…

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday said the coronavirus pandemic keeps unleashing “a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scaremongering” and appealed for “an all-out effort to end hate speech globally”.The UN chief said “anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread, and Covid-19-related anti-Muslim attacks have occurred”. Migrants and refugees “have been vilified as a source of the virus – and then denied…

A large-scale study in New York looking at the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine has cast further doubt on its effectiveness in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.Researchers at Columbia University observed nearly 1,400 patients at a large medical centre in New York City in March and April. They found hydroxychloroquine use led to neither a higher nor lower chance of patients ending up with intubation or death.“Our results cannot completely exclude the possibility of either modest benefit or…

Hair salons, restaurants and even street-food stalls in Bangkok’s Chinatown came back to life this week, albeit with social distancing in place, as Thailand eased its lockdown rules and an alcohol ban after making progress in controlling the spread of Covid-19.The country has reported single-digit increases in cases in recent days, and has 2,988 confirmed infections and 54 deaths. More than 2,700 patients have recovered from the disease.However, it will be some time before the Thai capital’s…

Indian police are investigating an online chat group that made light of gang-rape and caused a backlash on social media over trivialising sexual assault, with one teenage boy questioned on Tuesday.An Instagram chat group called “bois locker room” was the top trending hashtag on Twitter in India, with many tweets using screenshots from the group to highlight derogatory comments made about women, sexism or victim blaming.Sexual violence against women has become a major issue in India since the…

The Singapore government is reviewing the sale and slaughter of live animals at wet markets, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, said on Tuesday. The relevant agencies are doing so while taking into consideration international benchmarking and scientific evidence, she added.Her comments were in response to a parliamentary question from MP for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency Louis Ng. He asked whether her ministry would consider banning the…