According to BBC News, rescue efforts are ongoing in Kerala, India which has recently experienced disastrous flooding from monsoon rains. 

BBC News reports that the rains have eased for now and that the rescue efforts have increased. 

So far, the flooding is reported to have claimed the lives of around 350 people and left thousands more stranded as some areas are still under water.

As a part of the rescue efforts, the Indian air force and navy are using helicopters to airlift people who are stranded on rooftops and are dropping off food and supplies to those who they cannot yet reach.

BBC News reported that, the state’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, made a vow on Sunday to “save even the last person stranded.”

It is being reported that officials fear that as many as 5,000 people could be trapped in the riverside town of Chengannur, so rescue teams are focusing much of their effort on the town.

It was also reported that the Indian government has deployed hundreds of government boats to use to rescue the stranded citizens. Local fishermen are also playing a pivotal role, offering their own boats as resources for the rescue and relief mission. 

Other forms of aid are coming from cellphone operators who, as of Saturday, began offering free data and text messages for people in Kerala in order to help those in distress.

The monsoon rain has not only caused…

NEW DELHI, August 20, 2018 (Morning Star News) – When a Hindu in northern India got rid of the idols in his house after several visits to a church, Hindu nationalists found the perfect opportunity to make life a nightmare for a pastor’s family, sources said.

 

Since the Hindu nationalists accused pastor Avianshu Kalra of desecration of Hindu idols and forcible conversion in Ambala, Haryana state, he and his family have had to leave their home, his wife has suffered pregnancy complications, and his father has been suspended from his work as a journalist after being hit with a defamation suit.

 

The 32-year-old Assemblies of God pastor of Karuna House of Prayer had to keep his 4-year-old son out of preschool for a week after a Hindu extremist-led mob of 200 people on July 11 blocked the entry and exit to his home and church compound and chanted threats.

 

“My mother was all alone and was terrified,” Pastor Kalra said, noting that he and his wife had gone to pick up their son from school, and his father was away at work. “The mob was shouting, ‘Come out, we will not spare you, we will burn you.’”

 

The mob accused him of forcibly converting a Hindu family and destroying their Hindu deities and images of Sikh gurus. Pastor Kalra said he was thankful to God that he did not return home while the mob was still there or they would have attacked him, his…

Shots were fired at the U.S. embassy in Turkey Monday amid escalating tensions between the two countries over an American pastor.

The six shots from an unidentified car hit a window but did not injure anyone, The Washington Post reported. 

American pastor Andrew Brunson was arrested in 2016 on charges that he supported an attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Brunson and the Trump administration say the charges are baseless. 

Brunson, under house arrest, leads a Protestant congregation in the predominantly Islamic nation.

After Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey earlier this month, prices on basic goods skyrocketed, NBC’s Richard Engel reported. Eggs cost 20 percent more. Bottled water has doubled in price. The local economy is “tanking,” Engel said. 

“Customers aren’t coming,” a shop owner told Engel.

It is the country’s worst economic crisis in 20 years. 

But Turkey isn’t backing down, and Erdogan has called for a boycott of U.S. products. Some residents smashed iPhones as a show of protest.

Trump is threatening more sanctions if Brunson isn’t released. 

“He’s a wonderful man, Pastor Brunson,” Trump told reporters Friday. “They made up this phony charge. We are not going to take it sitting down. They can’t take our people.”

Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his…