Poverty

ATLANTA – Bryan Flournoy sits in a downtown church, sipping coffee and taking inventory of his life: He's 33 and homeless. He's a stranger in Atlanta, where a bus dropped him off from California last month. He needs a place to live, and he needs it yesterday.

In a few minutes, he'll be hoofing across the city, looking for work.

For now, his feet soak in hot water as a preacher buffs them with a pumice stone. more >>

While the economic downturn has affected nearly all Americans adversely, new refugees in the United States have been hit particularly hard by the financial turmoil and many are facing possible eviction on Jan. 1.

These newcomers to America, including those fleeing persecution in Iraq and Myanmar, are often times some of the first to be laid off because they are new employees, explained Larry Jones, director of the World Relief office in Idaho. Other refugees have had their hours reduced, which can be devastating when they earn just $6.15 an hour.

For those who lose their jobs, they face the additional obstacle of finding a new job, which is difficult because of their limited English and job skills on top of a shrinking job market. more >>

It seems everyone is parroting the words of soon to be Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, who boldly declared the current financial crisis to be an "opportunity for change." The latest group to take up the global change mantra is the World Council of Churches.

The WCC claims to speak for 349 Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox churches representing 560 million Christians in 110 countries. The truth is, most conservative; Bible-believing Christians stopped listening to the WCC years ago. My own denomination, Southern Baptists, withdrew from the Baptist World Alliance in 2004. The BWA is directly affiliated with the WCC and has long been a strong supporter of WCC policies. Recently, the World Council of Churches released public statements supporting homosexual marriage, recognizing the presence of the Holy Spirit in "other religions," condemning the free market system of economics, and condemning the war on terror.

Now they see the world financial crisis as an opportunity to redistribute wealth on a global basis. At the conclusion of their meeting in Doha, Qatar the WCC released a statement saying, "Rich, industrialized countries have...an ethical and moral obligation to pay for the ecological damages they inflicted on poor countries through their disproportionate appropriation of natural resources and unsustainable lifestyles." They also said the world financial crisis presents a "historic opportunity for world leaders to take responsibility and enact transformation towards building an equitable and sustainable global economic system that meets the economic, social and cultural rights of all, women and men, and nurtures the environment." more >>

President Bush made it clear he wants Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to leave the office amid reports of worsening humanitarian disasters, including a deadly cholera outbreak, on Tuesday.

“As my Administration has made clear, it is time for Robert Mugabe to go,” Bush said in a statement issued by the White House. “Across the continent, African voices are bravely speaking out to say now is the time for him to step down."

“These leaders share the desire of ordinary Zimbabweans for a return to peace, democracy, and prosperity,” the U.S. president said. “We urge others from the region to step up and join the growing chorus of voices calling for an end to Mugabe’s tyranny.” more >>

Nearly 40 percent of the population in North Korea will need food aid next year because of the severe shortages of fertilizer and fuel, U.N. food agencies said Monday.

The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization alerted in a joint report that food production was down again for the third straight year, according to The Associated Press.

North Korea faces a shortfall of more than 800,000 tons of grain for this year through October 2009 - the next harvest, Bloomberg news reported. more >>