News

Bus passenger stabbed and beheaded on Canada Prairies

A man sleeping on a Greyhound bus as it rolled across the Canadian Prairies was killed and decapitated by his seatmate on Wednesday night, other passengers who were on the bus told media on Thursday.

Casualties after bus overturns in Poole

Several passengers were injured, some possibly seriously, when an open-topped double-decker bus overturned near Poole harbour on Thursday, police said.

Domestic oil output steady in 2007

Crude production was steady in 2007 from the previous year as new oilfields came onstream to offset drops in output from older oil wells in the North Sea, a government report said on Thursday.

Target-driven police 'letting crooks off lightly'

Police attempts to meet targets have led to serial and even violent offenders getting off lightly, lawyers and magistrates said on Thursday.

Smoking ban cut heart attacks

Scotland's 2006 ban on smoking in public places cut the heart attack rate by 17 percent within one year, with non-smokers benefiting most, researchers reported on Wednesday.

World's oldest joke traced back to 1900 BC

The world's oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests that toilet humour was as popular with the ancients as it is today.

Bomb threat to Gaza Bible bookshop prompts call for prayers

A bomb threat to a Bible bookshop in Gaza run by the Palestinian Bible Society has led to a call for prayers.

Christians, Muslims walk thin line between peace and conflict

Christian and Muslim scholars meeting at Yale University for a discussion on peace and reconciliation this week forewarned that a clash of "global proportions" would inevitably unravel in the near future unless Christianity and Islam learn how to co-exist.

Report: Women of faith could help curb extremism and religious conflict

Women of faith have the potential to curb religious extremism and reduce the role of religion in conflict, says a new report from Catholic aid agency Progressio out on Wednesday.

Bishops discuss human sexuality at Lambeth Conference

The Anglican bishops meeting at the Lambeth Conference are today tackling the most anticipated item on their packed agenda as they move onto the thorny subject of human sexuality.

'Costly empathy is the way of Christ,' Keswick Convention hears

Christians who talk about bio-ethics and the issues of life and death such as abortion, euthanasia, infertility, "must not talk about these issues with judgement or hatred", said Dr John Wyatt, Professor of Neo-natal Paediatrics at University College London.