Pizza and pasta are pretty obviously out, but what are the other no-nos?

"We thought it was a good idea to get a comprehensive record of the site while we could in case the water levels rise," says one official

The creator behind the reptilian repertoire hopes many more pet museums are in the works

Yukon officials say the territory's campgrounds will open to campers on June 4, but the territory's borders will remain closed. They also issued guidelines for some health care services to reopen.

Shadunjen van Kampen, a 21-year-old member of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations in Yukon, recently completed her written exams and flight test. She plans to be a commercial bush pilot. 

Alcohol industry groups were successful in getting the Yukon government to pull labels warning of the connection between alcohol and cancer from liquor store shelves, but the strategy may have ultimately backfired, researchers suggest.

OM teams in five countries along the Mekong River in South East Asia are focusing on discipling local believers to see them equipped to share about Jesus with those who have never heard His name.

Provincial surveillance testing has returned a positive case of COVID-19 in a resident of Wikwemikong Nursing Home on Manitoulin Island. Ogimaa Duke Peltier says every staff member and resident underwent tests Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and the results are starting to come in.

Live professional baseball games could be televised in the United States as early next week, with South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reporting Monday that ESPN and the Korea Baseball Organization are nearing an agreement.

The Korean baseball league opens its delayed season Tuesday in empty stadiums across South Korea and Canada's Jamie Romak, along with the rest of the league's players, are getting used to a new baseball normal that includes rules against high fives and spitting, daily temperature checks and the absence of fans.

The new baseball season began in South Korea on Tuesday with the crack of the bat and the sound of the ball smacking into the catcher's mitt echoing around empty stadiums.

Everyone is rooting for Korean baseball to succeed right now because, if it fails, we're left with a pretty dark thought: If they can't pull this off, what hope do we have?

The Cleveland Indians held a video conference with players and other team officials to lay out the provisional plan for returning to organized workouts with designs on being ready for a potential 2020 opening day of July 1, according to The Athletic.

Speech by Mr Fehmi Mehmeti, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo, at the press conference where the details of the measures taken by the CBK for maintaining health in the economy were given, Pristina, 3 April 2020.

Speech by Mr Benjamin E Diokno, Governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the central bank of the Philippines), at an investor call with Standard Chartered Bank, Manila, 22 April 2020.

The Canadian three-time world champion figure skater displayed his four-wheeler driving skills as part of the Americares Blades for the Brave fundraiser for front-line workers.

Happy birthday Vijay Deverakonda: Tollywood's 'Dear Comrade' who auctioned his first Filmfare Award for charity  The New Indian Express

Major League Soccer is easing its training restrictions, allowing clubs to use their practice fields but only for individual workouts and under strict rules.

Darin Isaac has been elected chief of the Selkirk First Nation while Jeremy Harper, Morris Morrison, Carmen Lee Baker and Ashley Edzerza were voted in as councillors. Cody Sims has been elected youth councillor.

Four-time All Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski has agreed to a reunion with Tom Brady. The trade, finalized Tuesday night, brings Gronkowski and a seventh-round pick to Tampa Bay in exchange for a fourth-round selection.

Two villages. 207 New Testaments. Countless steps. The Transform team walk from home to home, sustained by prayer.

A sports writer covering the strange return of South Korea's baseball season says fans should brace for similarly odd experience in Toronto, if and when the 2020 season begins.

Scuffles broke out at Hong Kong's legislature Friday, with security guards ejecting several pro-democracy lawmakers, including one who was carried out by medics on a stretcher after he was injured.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Finnish defenceman Mikko Lehtonen to a one-year, entry-level contract for the 2020-21 season, the club announced Monday.

The Kevin Koe curling team has split with second Colton Flasch after being eliminated from the recent men's national championship in Kingston, Ont., in a tiebreaker game. Flasch joined the foursome in 2018.

John Morris will play second for the Kevin Koe's team for at least the next 18 months heading into the Olympic trials in 2021.

Is the Republican indulgence of the president bottomless?

Staying active and maintaining physical fitness has many benefits to all elements of wellness, including mental and emotional well-being that may be taxed during social distancing. At Penn State Mont Alto, the athletic department has been releasing weekly at-home workout and challenge videos that are accessible on our Facebook and Instagram pages to keep our student-athletes engaged.

Although church planting has progressed at a slower pace than the team first expected, a few important milestones in Bar, Montenegro, have been reached.

Denver Newsroom, Apr 24, 2020 / 03:32 pm (CNA).- A Catholic lawyer says his arrest last Saturday is part of mainland China’s wide-ranging efforts to tighten control over Hong Kong.

His ordeal follows his participation in months of pro-democracy protests on the island, which have been slowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Hong Kong police arrested 81-year-old Martin Lee, along with 14 other pro-democracy protestors, on April 18. Lee has been demonstrating for universal suffrage in Hong Kong for nearly 40 years, and this is his first arrest, the Washington Post reports.

CNA spoke with one of Lee’s close friends, who said Lee and those arrested with him are currently bailed out of prison, and are safe.

Lee, the founder of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, wrote in an April 21 column in the Washington Post that he was arrested for taking part in protests last year against an extradition bill— now withdrawn— which would have allowed the Chinese government to extradite alleged criminals from Hong Kong to the mainland to stand trial.

Hong Kong is currently facing two plagues from China, Lee wrote: the coronavirus (COVID-19) and “attacks on our most basic human rights.”

“We can all hope a vaccine is soon developed for the coronavirus. But once Hong Kong’s human rights and rule of law are rolled back, the fatal virus of authoritarian rule will be here to stay,” Lee wrote.

He said that the free press in Hong Kong was vital for alerting the world to the dangers of the coronavirus, even as Chinese state media sought to repress information about the outbreak.

Now, Chinese authorities are attempting to pass legislation to increase their influence over Hong Kong, Lee said.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kongers enjoy freedom of worship and evangelization, while in mainland China, there is a long history of persecution for Christians who run afoul of the government.

In January, China appointed Luo Huining as the head of the powerful Central Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Luo last week intensified calls for Communist China to exercise more control in Hong Kong by passing “national security legislation.”

The legislation would outlaw “sedition, subversion and the theft of state secrets,” Lee wrote.

This is not the first time the legislation has been introduced— in 2003, widespread protests against the measure led China to withdraw it.

The passing of such a “subversion” law would give China even more power to quash Hong Kongers’ freedoms, Lee warned.

“These vague standards are designed to protect the Chinese Communist Party and undermine core freedoms of Hong Kong, such as freedoms of religion, assembly and the press — including the reporting of pandemics that embarrass Beijing,” he wrote.

The Justice and Peace Commission of the Diocese of Hong Kong released a statement condemning the arrests April 18, calling for an end to all arrests until an independent commission can be established, and for the police to return the mobile phones of all arrested persons in order to ensure their privacy.

The diocese also reiterated that the government must respond to the demands for which the pro-democracy demonstrators have been calling for months, which include an independent inquiry into police tactics.

A Hong Kong friend of Lee, who declined to be identified for safety, said they believe Sun Li Jun— the deputy public security minister for Hong Kong who oversees the Chinese secret police— wanted to send a message of power ahead of Chinese Workers’ Day celebration on May 1.

The friend believes Sun— who is reportedly under investigation by China for corruption— ordered the arrests to show that the authorities have control of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

“As the followers of God, we will keep praying for [Hong Kong] and let our Lord lead the way,” Lee’s friend told CNA.

“In HK we all love China and Chinese people but we are against CCP [Chinese Communist Party] for what they did to all of us now and before.”

An estimated 1 million protesters turned out at the first major pro-democracy demonstration in Hong Kong on June 6, 2019.

Catholics have played a major role in the protests, which continued after the extradition bill was revoked. Protestors largely called for the resignation of chief executive Carrie Lam— herself a Catholic— more open elections in the region, and an investigation into police brutality allegations.

In October, the legislature of Hong Kong completed the process of officially withdrawing the controversial extradition bill.

“Had the extradition bill been passed, we could have faced trial already in China instead of Hong Kong,” Lee noted in his column.

The impetus for the bill was a case involving a young Hong Kong man whom Taiwan requested be extradited for an alleged murder. Hong Kong previously has no formal extradition agreements with mainland China or Taiwan.

Christians and advocates widely opposed the bill, fearing that the Chinese government, which already seeks to control and suppress Christianity on the mainland, would use it to further tighten its grip on free exercise of religion in Hong Kong.

 

CNA Staff, Apr 27, 2020 / 11:30 am (CNA).- The number of Catholics in South Korea increased by less than 50,000 in 2019, continuing a trend of slowing growth after a peak following the 2014 apostolic visit by Pope Francis to the country. 

According to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, there are 5.91 million Catholics in South Korea’s 16 dioceses; an increase of 48,000 over to 2018’s total. Catholics make up 11% of the national population. 

Overall, the number of Catholics in the country increased by 0.8%, which is slightly lower than last year’s increase of 0.9%. In recent years, the Catholic population in South Korea has grown by an average of 1% each year. 

Like many countries, South Korea’s Catholic population is aging. About one in five South Korean Catholics are over the age of 65, and only 8.5% of Catholics are age 19 or under. A total of 14% of priests are over the age of 65.

South Korea’s flock saw the largest overall percentage increase in 2014, when it increased by 2.2%. Pope Francis visited the country in August of that year, the third visit by a pope to the country. Pope John Paul II visited South Korea in 1984 and again in 1989, when the country hosted the 44th International Eucharistic Congress.

These numbers come as South Korea is grappling with an outbreak of COVID-19, a disease which has seen much of its spread in the nation come from a single member of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. About half of South Korea’s nearly 11,000 confirmed coronavirus infections stem from “Patient 31,” a member of that church who did not abide by isolation rules after coming down with COVID-19. 

The Catholic Bishops’ Association of Korea refers to Shincheonji Church of Jesus as a “pseudo-religious organization” and a “cult.” The church was founded in 1980 by a man who believes that he is the second coming of Jesus. 

In 2017, the conference created the "Korean Catholic Task Force on Newly-risen Religions” specifically to combat the growing popularity of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. 

Another source of outbreak were 30 Catholic pilgrims who tested positive for the illness after returning to South Korea from a trip to the Holy Land. Korean Air Lines restricted travel to Israel after these infections were discovered.  

South Korea suspended the public celebration of Mass in late February, and re-opened churches--albeit with strict social distancing requirements--on April 26.

When it comes to government handouts, the conservative billionaires don’t necessarily practice what they preach.

German translation of the BIS press release about the BIS Quarterly Review, September 2017

German version of BIS Press Release - Big tech in finance: opportunities and risks, 23 June 2019

OM Hong Kong’s Companion Ministry helps come alongside sex workers to journey with them into freedom.

From 21 July - 19 August, Logos Hope brought the hope of the Gospel to over 50,000 people who visited the ship in Incheon, South Korea.

We meet the Oleksandr Kadenko, the gold medal recipient in the 2010 UEFA Grassroots Day Awards for best leader.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not undergo surgery or any other medical procedure, a South Korean official has said amid continued speculation about his health.

South Korea says its troops have exchanged fire with North Korea along their tense land border.

China and South Korea both reported more coronavirus infections yesterday after reopening economies damaged by devastating outbreaks.

China and South Korea both reported more coronavirus infections Friday after reopening economies damaged by devastating outbreaks.

STYLE AND SUBSTANCE

By the single most important metric, charter schools are succeeding, argues Bruno V. Manno.

Framed prints of Steven Camley's cartoons are available by calling 0141 302 6210.