Christchurch: New Zealand's leader says at least 65 people have been killed in the earthquake that hit the city of Christchurch. Prime Minister John Key told reporters in the stricken city that the death toll was expected to rise further. A 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch around lunchtime on Tuesday, collapsing buildings and sending bricks and other heavy debris toppling into busy city streets. ...
07:56 AM, Feb 22, 2011
Bangalore: The Karnataka government on Friday said it would withdraw cases registered against over 300 Christians when they protested against attacks on churches in 2008. "The government will take steps to withdraw the cases," Home Minister R Ashok told a delegation of 18 bishops who met him with the demand for rejecting a judicial panel report on church attacks as it had failed to identify the groups behind these attacks....
05:36 PM, Feb 18, 2011
Washington: Are you still looking for a date on Valentine's Day? It turns out there may be something to "playing hard to get". A woman is seemingly more attracted to a man when she is uncertain about how much he likes her, says a new study. "If we want to know how much Sarah likes Bob, a good predictor is how much she thinks Bob likes her," write study authors...
06:43 PM, Feb 08, 2011
New York: An iPhone app aimed at helping Catholics through confession and encouraging lapsed followers back to the faith has been sanctioned by the Catholic Church in the United States. Confession: A Roman Catholic app, thought to be the first to be approved by a church authority, walks Catholics through the sacrament and contains what the company behind the program describes as a "personalized examination of conscience for each user"....
11:23 AM, Feb 08, 2011
New Delhi: The one-man Commission headed by Justice BK Somashekhar appointed to probe the attack on churches in Mangalaore, on Friday, submitted its final report to Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa. The commission gave a clean chit to the police, but it says that not all attacks were spontaneous and that many were well planned. The Commission has blamed the attacks on misguided anti-Christian groups. The report also said that...
12:07 PM, Jan 28, 2011
Moscow: Russian feminists expressed outrage after the country's Orthodox Church proposed women dress more modestly and refrain from walking down the street 'painted like a clown.' Endorsed by Russia's leaders as the country's main faith, the Orthodox Church has grown increasingly powerful since communism fell and its dominance has drawn criticism from rights groups who say it undermines Russia's secular constitution. "We should create an all-Russian dress code," top Church...
12:48 PM, Jan 20, 2011
Athens: A Cypriot monk caught at a Greek airport with the skeletal remains of a nun in his baggage on the weekend told authorities he was taking the relics of a saint back to his monastery. The 56-year-old Cypriot was detained at Athens airport after security staff discovered a skull wrapped in cloth and skeletal remains in a sheet inside his baggage. "They maintained it was a woman who was...
10:22 AM, Jan 19, 2011
Shimla: A pipe organ in Christ Church traditionally rings in Shimla's Christmas celebrations. And it has been doing so for 111 years now, to be precise. "The pipe organ was installed in the church on Sep 23, 1899. It's believed to be one of the oldest working instruments in the world," organist Bazel Dean told IANS. The 'Queen of Hills', as Shimla was known during British colonial rule, perhaps deserves...
11:11 AM, Dec 24, 2010
New Delhi: Britain rose as an economic giant in the early 20th century at the cost of millions in the 1942-43 Bengal famine as, instead of sending emergency food shipments, prime minister Winston Churchill built stockpiles for post-war Europe, says Germany-based journalist-writer Madhusree Mukerjee. "I wanted to understand poverty which is very complicated. I decided to study the great Bengal famine because famine is about scarcity of food, which is...
12:46 PM, Dec 20, 2010
Mississippi: A man caught naked in a south Mississippi church cemetery says he was trying to take photographs of spirits. Robert Hurst told The Picayune Item newspaper that he shed his clothes because he believes skin is the best canvas to show spirits' orbs of energy. The 47-year-old said he only intended to remove his shirt, but he took off all his clothes, a move he now calls "stupid." Authorities...
12:04 PM, Dec 14, 2010
Philippines: Some church members in Southeast Asia's largest Roman Catholic nation praised Pope Benedict XVI for saying condom use might be justified in some cases, though Filipino bishops stressed on Sunday that the church leader still opposes contraceptives. Speaking to a German journalist whose book was excerpted in a Vatican newspaper Saturday, the pontiff reiterated that condoms are not a moral solution for stopping AIDS. But he added that in...
07:34 PM, Nov 24, 2010
Thiruvananthapuram: The University Appellate Tribunal here on Wednesday posted for October 29 hearing on the petition filed by lecturer T J Joseph challenging his dismissal from service by the Catholic church-run Newman College for setting a question paper, which hurt the sentiments of Muslims. Joseph, whose hand was chopped off by suspected activists of radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), has sought a stay on the management's action maintaining...
03:35 PM, Oct 13, 2010
Kochi: Despite widespread outrage over the barbaric act, the church in Kerala has refused to back Professor T J Joseph, the man whose hand was hacked off for allegedly insulting the Prophet. The Kerala Syro Malabar Church has rejected Joseph's appeal, saying it has to maintain its secular credentials. Joseph was sacked by the Newman College for preparing a controversial question paper that led to the brutal attack on him....
09:07 AM, Sep 15, 2010
New Delhi: The United States on Monday said it was "dismayed" by reports that a school and a church in Kashmir and Punjab had been attacked by rioters. It also condemned reports that a "misguided individual" in the US had desecrated the Quran, terming it "disrespectful, intolerant, divisive, and un-representative of American values". "The deliberate destruction of any holy book is an abhorrent act," US Ambassador Timothy Roemer said in...
06:43 PM, Sep 13, 2010
Kochi: A pastoral letter condemning the "irresponsible action" of Professor TJ Joseph, whose hand was hacked allegedly by activists of radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), was on Sunday read out during the Sunday mass in 120 parish churches under the Kothamangalam Dioceses in Ernakulam district. Coming out against the lecturer, whose is still recovering from the double blow of losing his hand and job, Kothamanagalm dioceses bishop George...
12:05 PM, Sep 12, 2010
Florida: The Florida Quran-burning controversy has not only dominated national conversations - but has become an international issue. We try to find out whether or not Christianity and Islam co-exist. On Thursday, just when it seemed like Saturday's Quran burning was cancelled, the pastor behind the plans said he's not sure on whether he should or shouldn’t burn the Quran. While some say this latest move has widened the gap...
03:18 PM, Sep 10, 2010
Thiruvananthapuram: Ignoring public outcry, the management of a church-run college has rejected the plea of dismissed lecturer T J Joseph, whose hand was chopped off by radical activists, to reinstate him. In his reply to Joseph's appeal, College Manager Fr Thomas Malekkudy made it clear on Thursday that the lecturer's explanations were not convincing at all and any relaxation of disciplinary action would be based only on the court decision,...
02:13 PM, Sep 10, 2010
A church in Florida plans to mark the Al Qaeda's biggest strike against America by burning copies of the quran. ...
03:19 PM, Sep 07, 2010
Wellington: Authorities declared a state of emergency after a major earthquake hit New Zealand's second biggest city, Christchurch, early on Saturday, bringing down power lines, ripping up roads and wrecking building facades, but authorities reported no deaths. A formal civil defence state of emergency was imposed to coordinate recovery operations in the city of around 350,000 after facades collapsed into streets, crushing cars and blocking roads. The earthquake had a...
09:50 AM, Sep 04, 2010
