If modern lives were measured in unprecedented weather events, we would all be 200 years old. Defences against floods that were supposed to happen every other century are being overtopped in the space of a few winters. The victims surveying ruined homes and businesses are ageing fast.

Award-winning Herald and Sunday Herald columnist Ian Bell has died at the age of 59.

Ian Bell, the award-winning Herald and Sunday Herald writer and columnist, died last week aged 59. Here are excerpts from 10 of his finest pieces of writing.

THE Treasury has bombarded us all week with facts, figures and forecasts making the case for the UK to remain in the European Union. Its big report, on Monday, warned Brexit would tip the country into a year-long recession, resulting in up to 820,000 job losses within two years.

DOMINIC McKay, Scottish Rugby’s chief operating officer, has warned that if Covid-19 social distancing measures mean that rugby cannot resume by the end of November, the financial impact will be considerably more than the £12m lost revenue quoted by chief executive Mark Dodson in respect to the Autumn Tests not going ahead. The organisation’s total turnover last year was £61m.

SOMETIMES I appal myself. But I cannot deny that a small, reprehensible part of me will regret the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown.

Source: ftw.usatoday.com - Saturday, May 09, 2020
Justin Gaethje put on a show in front of zero fans Saturday night at UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Fla., winning the interim lightweight belt with a fifth-round TKO victory over the legendary Tony Ferguson after referee Herb Dean called the fight with just over a minute to go. But when it was time to get the belt from UFC boss Dana White, Gaethje wanted nothing to do with the impressive hardware as he quickly tossed it aside before talking to Joe Rogan in the Octagon. Why would he do that? Because interim belts in the UFC are pretty silly and Gaethje doesn’t want to waste his time celebrating an accomplishment that now sets him up to fight for the real lightweight belt against Khabib Nurmagomedov who still owns the belt and is one of the greatest fighters of all time. Look at how Gaethje treated his belt: Justin Gaethje tossed aside the interim lightweight title belt he won at #UFC249 "I'll wait for the real one." pic.twitter.com/GBxD1RUemj — ESPN (@espn) May 10, 2020 Seriously, he wanted nothing to do with that thing. He evenly let his coach leave Octagon with it: . @Justin_Gaethje truly wants no part of that interim belt. His head coach Trevor Wittman had to carry it out of the octagon. #UFC249 | More: https://t.co/N8mXceTwxO pic.twitter.com/MBDvMIHG1h — MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) May 10, 2020 Now that is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in the fight game for quite some time. Sure, we haven’t seen fighting in quite some time, eithe

Source: boxden.com - Sunday, May 10, 2020
via Remember when KD had Lebron scared to fight? @ sports

OM worker Jael shares about believers in North West Bosnia growing in faith and learning the joy of giving.

In the Olympic city of Sarajevo, OM connects with the local people through spaghetti nights, sports, 'smoke breaks' and coffee.

Bus4Life begins its sixth year serving churches and OM teams across Central and Eastern Europe.

OM Europe hosts its third annual Youth Factors Conference in Pälkäne, Finland, in April, which offers participants an opportunity for reflection and self-discovery.

Various Pastors joined OM El Salvador on an outreach to Honduras, obeying the Lords command to make disciples.

Children's club at the church in Tkvarcheli, which is held by MDT students, impacts lives of local children and gives them hope.

Transform mission conference one year, outreach team in France the following year, the sisters from Mexico are eager to share the love of Christ, realising the audience was different from what they expected.

Small outreach teams will share the life-changing message of the gospel with hundreds of women in brothels and on the street this Easter.

Rachel reaches out to Arabs through a mums and toddlers group based in her community in England.

In partnership with local churches, a team shared the good news of Easter through music with all kinds of people in Austria.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia :: God surprises a Logos Hope crewmember with birthday treats and new perspectives as she serves with a team on shore.

ESTABLISHING a consensus to maintain the peace has never been trickier. Being stuck at home for 23 hours a day has taken the already onerous challenge of preserving civil relations and lifted to it a new level altogether.

THERE was a popular fad in the 1990s for presenting music in its rawest form. Rather than the traditional bombast of turning everything up to 11, MTV Unplugged stripped it back to the basics. Often it was simply one singer, one guitar and a stool. And it was hugely popular.

Children's club at the church in Tkvarcheli, which is held by MDT students, impacts lives of local children and gives them hope.

Transform mission conference one year, outreach team in France the following year, the sisters from Mexico are eager to share the love of Christ, realising the audience was different from what they expected.

Small outreach teams will share the life-changing message of the gospel with hundreds of women in brothels and on the street this Easter.

Rachel reaches out to Arabs through a mums and toddlers group based in her community in England.

In partnership with local churches, a team shared the good news of Easter through music with all kinds of people in Austria.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia :: God surprises a Logos Hope crewmember with birthday treats and new perspectives as she serves with a team on shore.

Children's club at the church in Tkvarcheli, which is held by MDT students, impacts lives of local children and gives them hope.

Transform mission conference one year, outreach team in France the following year, the sisters from Mexico are eager to share the love of Christ, realising the audience was different from what they expected.

Small outreach teams will share the life-changing message of the gospel with hundreds of women in brothels and on the street this Easter.

Rachel reaches out to Arabs through a mums and toddlers group based in her community in England.

In partnership with local churches, a team shared the good news of Easter through music with all kinds of people in Austria.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia :: God surprises a Logos Hope crewmember with birthday treats and new perspectives as she serves with a team on shore.

College sports won't begin until schools reopen, NCAA president says

More U.S. employers seem to be recognizing a growing possibility.

Courtney Kantoski has created a line of T-shirts and tank tops which she is selling to benefit the United Way of Blair County’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.

With the digital business landscape ever-changing due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the North Central PA LaunchBox is teaming up with the Altoona LaunchBox to offer the webinar “Cyber Security for Business” from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 6.

As part of Penn State’s 2020 spring commencement activities, Andrew Bernstein will represent the Department of Political Science in the College of the Liberal Arts as the department’s student marshal. Bernstein, a Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar, will graduate with bachelor of arts degrees in political science and Spanish, with a minor in economics.

As part of Penn State’s 2020 spring commencement activities, August Pasquale will represent ROTC in the College of the Liberal Arts as its student marshal. Pasquale will graduate with a bachelor of arts degree in political science and a bachelor of science degree in finance.

Xiaoye You, Liberal Arts Professor of English and Asian Studies, will become director of the Center for Democratic Deliberation in the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, effective July 1.

As part of Penn State’s 2020 spring commencement activities, Lena Becker will represent the Department of Psychology as its student marshal. Becker, a Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar, will graduate with a bachelor of science degree in psychology and a bachelor of arts degree in Spanish.

Effective behavior-screening methods are key to response-to-intervention programs aimed at improving behavior problems, according to a new study.

Fourteen students from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru participate in an intensive mission training to gain insight and skill for cross-cultural work.

Members of OM Ecuador are robbed when arriving at the weekly prayer meeting. But the robbers flee upon hearing the name of Jesus.

Nathan Schmutz, an OMer working in Latin America, shares how a five year-old girl embodies OM's new mission statement.

Personal friendships combined with special events prove effective in sharing Christ with Belgians.

Offering concerts in private settings in Tienen, Belgium, proves effective in connecting with youth.

Relationships, mentoring, fun, practical work, spiritual growth and learning to love others are all part of OM Belgium's fACTOR programme.

Martha Ardila spent several years serving in OM's ship ministry. This year, after visiing the OM Andean Region headquarters in Ecuador and being commmissioned, she returns to Colombia to official begin OM's work in her native country.

OM Colombia and the Bolivar Prison Fellowship partner to bring Christmas joy to the inmates of the San Diego Women’s Jail in Cartagena last month.