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News Briefing and Comment

Ekklesia runs a syndicated news and events listings service for churches, journalists, organisations and charities. Hundreds of churches and organisations now carry Ekklesia's news on their web sites. You can get Ekklesia's news on your web site in seconds, or by signing up for our daily email bulletin.

  • 16 Jun 2013
    'Austerity Uncovered' bus begins two week tour across England

    The TUC's Austerity Uncovered bus will be visiting communities in towns and cities across England during the next two weeks. .

  • 16 Jun 2013
    Nothing to fear? Security, privacy and dissent

    The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has said reports that GCHQ are gathering intelligence from phones and online sites should not concern people who have nothing to hide. Hague's refusal – on security grounds of course – to either confirm or deny the UK's links with the US Prism secret surveillance programme is a source of further disquiet.

  • 16 Jun 2013
    Who needs lobbying?

    External lobbying is increasingly an irrelevance. In many major policy areas vested interests are right at the heart of government, in what amounts to a serious subversion of democracy.

  • 16 Jun 2013
    African churches called on to 'affirm dignity of women'

    A young woman from Botswana has called on churches to affirm the dignity of women amid the realities of HIV and AIDS and sexual violence.

  • 15 Jun 2013
    Back from the brink: combatting violent extremism

    A critical modern issue affecting the global family is the rise of violent extremism and the roots and outlets of its ideologies.

  • 15 Jun 2013
    Scotland's lobbying register 'sets the bar', says Unlock Democracy

    The political reform group Unlock Democracy has welcomed the Scottish Government's decision to introduce a formal lobbying register.

  • 15 Jun 2013
    Securing a Syrian peace conference is major G8 challenge

    Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin must throw all their political weight into making the Geneva peace conference on Syria at the G8 summit.

  • 14 Jun 2013
    US arms to Syria 'will make bloodbath worse'

    Far from leading to a swift overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria, US arming of rebel groups will "make the suffering and bloodshed worse".

  • 14 Jun 2013
    UK-linked tax havens 'encourage crime, corruption and avoidance', says new report

    The IF campaign says developing countries lose some US$160 billion of tax revenues a year from multinationals shifting profits offshore before they can taxed.

  • 14 Jun 2013
    Colombia: the history of peace negotiations

    As Ekklesia has reported recently, FARC and the government are moving ahead with peace talks in Colombia. But many questions remain about the current process, and as this Christian Peacemaker Teams briefing indicates, what lies behind it is a decidedly mixed history. Can the politics of hope overcome a legacy of oppression and despair?

  • 14 Jun 2013
    FARC and Colombian government move ahead with peace talks

    Negotiations between the left-wing guerilla group FARC and the US-allied right-wing Colombian government been making some progress this past week, CPT reports.

  • 14 Jun 2013
    Churches continue their commitment to housing justice

    Housing Minister Mark Prisk was among those joining representatives from churches and housing organisations from all over the country this week.

  • 14 Jun 2013
    A mission to end poverty and oppression

    Muff, County Donegal, near Derry, Ireland - A gathering of returned missionaries at the Island of Saints and Scholars Centre (IOSAS) recalled the long tradition of Irish people leaving families and friends and going overseas, for life, to bring the Gospel message of God's love and to build up the community of justice and faith.

  • 14 Jun 2013
    Opponents seek to weaken equal marriage bill

    As a law to allow equal marriage in England and Wales reaches committee stage in the House of Lords, those most strongly opposed are still trying to weaken or block it. Despite large majorities for the Marriage (Same Sex) Couples Bill in the Lords and earlier House of Commons, some peers have put forward amendments which would delay or undermine marriage equality.

  • 14 Jun 2013
    Guarani man killed in ambush by gunmen

    A Guarani Indian man was killed on 12 June in southern Brazil, reportedly by gunmen working for the cattle ranchers who have occupied his community’s land.