World News

Alan Austin is a Uniting Church member and former Crosslight journalist who lives in Nîmes in the south of France. He shares his reflections on the impact of terror in his adopted homeland. The message was rapidly shared among neighbours in our small village near Nîmes: we will place a candle—une bougie—in our window tonight to show notre solidarité. At ...

Church leaders from across Australia and New Zealand gathered in Brisbane last month. Rohan Salmond reports. The annual trans-Tasman gathering of church leaders took place in Brisbane in April, bringing together the six moderators from Uniting Church synods, the president of the Uniting Church Assembly, the president of the Methodist Church of New Zealand and the moderator of the Presbyterian ...

There is a chance the global community can act for a more secure climate future. Marguerite Marshall explores. This December representatives from almost 200 countries will meet in Paris to try and solve perhaps the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced—climate change. According to NASA, 97 per cent of the world’s climate scientists say humans are causing climate change and if ...

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Pope Francis has written calling for the G20 leaders’ summit to focus on poor families and inequality as well as economic figures. In his letter dated 6 November, the Pope asked Mr Abbott and his fellow heads of government remember that behind the political and technical discussions of the G20 “many ...

The desperate woman who pushed through the crowd to tug at Jesus’ robe took a chance that his minders were too distracted to notice. There are better ways to make your voice heard at the G20, as Dianne Jensen reports. Raising your concerns directly with world leaders such as US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel or Chinese President ...

Ahead of Refugee Week, Sue Hutchinson and Rohan Salmond examine the federal government’s pursuit of a regional solution in asylum seeker policy. The federal government renewed its commitment to offshore processing of asylum seekers in the 2014 Budget with the closure of six onshore detention centres. The government is also in talks with Cambodia to resettle an as yet unknown ...

Church aid workers in the Solomon Islands are struggling to care for tens of thousands of people affected by deadly flooding in early April. Mardi Lumsden reports. Flash floods tore through the Solomon Islands’ capital Honiara and the Guadalcanal Province on 4 April after days of torrential rain, strong winds and rough seas, leaving up to 50 000 people homeless and ...

Flash flooding has caused enormous damage since torrential rain began in the Solomon Islands on Friday. So far three people have been confirmed dead and more than 49 000 people have been displaced from their homes. UnitingWorld is gathering support for the United Church in the Solomon Islands in their relief efforts. Please donate online or phone 1800 998 122. ...

When Cyclone Ian ripped through the Pacific Island nation of Tonga on 11 January, Caloundra Uniting Church member Judy Morrison’s first thoughts were with her friends on Tongatapu, the southernmost island. Ashley Goetze reports. While the category five storm left no dramatic structural damage on Tongatapu, the north island of Ha’apai, home to the Free Wesleyan Church school and kindergarten, ...

In an active demonstration of Christ’s love, different parts of the Uniting Church worked together to change the course of one man’s life. Ashley Goetze reports. Last October, a team of specialists from St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, Brisbane performed a rare life-saving operation on Vebui Bala, a 21-year-old man from a small village in Central Province, Papua New Guinea ...