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The Arizona House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill that, if enacted, would bar trans-identified athletes from competing in girls’ sports.  

On Tuesday, the House approved House Bill 2706, also known as the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” in a vote of 31 to 29.

Sponsored by 23 Republican legislators, the bill would require any interscholastic and intramural sports overseen by schools to designate boys’ and girls’ sports on the basis of biological sex.

“Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women or girls may not be open to students of the male sex,” reads HB 2706 in part.

“If disputed, a student may establish the student’s sex by presenting a signed physician’s statement that indicates the student’s sex based on an analysis of the student’s genetic makeup.”

Republican state Rep. Nancy Barto, who introduced the bill, said HB 2706 advanced fairness, given documented biological differences between the sexes.

“That is why we have separated male and female sports. And that is why women have been so successful in achieving greatness on the field, and all the benefits that go with it,” Barto added, according to ABC News.

“What has changed is Interscholastic policies allowing biological males identifying as females to compete on women’s teams.”

Democratic state Rep. Daniel Hernandez Jr. denounced the legislation on Twitter after the bill passed, calling it harmful to the state.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Michael Gryboski

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Life.Church Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel and pastor and innovation leader at Life.Church Bobby Gruenewald have been quarantined by health officials after being exposed to the coronavirus at a conference in Germany.

In a video titled “Something Different This Month,” Groeschel, whose church has 90,000 attenders at its 34 campuses spread over 10 states, broke the news to Life.Church members late Wednesday afternoon.

“You might notice that the background for this month’s video update looks a little different. Watch this video to find out why,” Groeschel said, revealing he taped his video from his home instead of the church’s headquarters.

“If it looks like I’m shooting out of my bedroom, the reason is it’s because I’m shooting out of my bedroom,” he said.

Groeschel said he and Gruenewald, founder of the YouVersion Bible app, were already on a plane headed home when they learned that someone at the three-day Willow Creek Germany summit had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

After sharing the news with a flight attendant, the pastors were met with health authorities once they landed.

“We decided to isolate ourselves for the full 14 days, no contact with anyone whatsoever,” Groeschel said.

“The good news is, I’ve gotten time to pray,” he added. “I’ve written sermon outlines through like, the end of May.”

In his video, he made sure people knew that he and Gruenewald would not be at church to prevent any possible spread of the disease, adding that both men felt “great.”

“We will not be at church, don’t worry. We’re going to stay completely away. We’re trying to do this out of an abundance of caution to ensure that everyone is safe,” Groeschel said.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett

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As the Toronto Raptors celebrate this season as their 25th year in the NBA, celebrating right along with them is their Number 1 fan who has been with them since Day 1, public address announcer Herbie Kuhn.

Having survived every minute of the rollercoaster ride that ended with the Raptors winning their first NBA championship in 2019, Herbie says he never doubted that the team was going to survive the bad years and eventually thrive, because the Raptors had something no other NBA team had: a united, country-wide support on the homefront.

“I will tell you, we have basketball fans who are consistent and solid,” he says. “We had attendance numbers during the struggling years that other teams would have begged for, even those with winning records! We have the most amazing fans in the world. It’s a privilege to be part of this franchise.”

Herbie is fan first, announcer second. The Raptors have brought out all his emotions over the years, but especially so throughout last June.

“I have been reduced to tears many times, whether due to happiness or frustration,” he comments. “When game six of the finals was being played in Oakland, we had a whole bunch of people over to watch on TV. It got really loud at my house when the final buzzer finally sounded and we knew we were champions. Even though all day I really had had an unusual quiet confidence we were going to win this thing, I just stayed in my chair, buried my head in my hands and sobbed.

“It was such an overwhelming sense of release and relief in that moment.”

Besides caring about the players’ performances, Herbie also cares about the welfare of their souls. He is one of the Raptors’ co-chaplains who take turns offering a short sermon at a chapel service open to both teams right before Toronto home games. The players know they can come to him any time for prayer or counseling.

“I try to give them perspective on their true identity,” he says. “I tell them that regardless of the result out on the court, it doesn’t change who they are on the inside – a child of God.”

Herbie takes his role of chaplain seriously, and knows that he must set an example daily of what being a Christian looks like.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Jayne Thurber-Smith

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BANGKOK (AP) – The global march of the new virus triggered a vigorous appeal Thursday from the World Health Organization for governments to pull out “all the stops” to slow the epidemic, as it drained the color from India’s spring festivities, closed Bethlehem’s Nativity Church and blocked Italians from visiting elderly relatives in nursing homes.

As China, after many arduous weeks, appeared to be winning its epic, costly battle against the new virus, the fight was revving up in newly affected areas of the globe, unleashing disruptions that profoundly impacted billions of people.

The U.N. health agency urged all countries to “push this virus back,” a call to action reinforced by figures showing there are now about 17 times as many new infections outside China as in it. To date, the virus has infected nearly 97,000 people and killed over 3,300. 

“This is not a drill. This is not the time for giving up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a daily briefing in Geneva. “Countries have been planning for scenarios like this for decades. Now is the time to act on those plans.” 

As Chinese manufacturers gradually reopened their factories,  anti-virus barriers went up elsewhere. 

In Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak, workers in latex gloves pinned “closed” notices on school gates, enforcing a 10-day shutdown of the education system. Italy’s sports-mad fans are also barred from stadiums until April 3.

A government decree that took effect Thursday urged the country’s famously demonstrative citizens to stay at least 1 meter (3 feet) apart from each other, placed restrictions on visiting nursing homes and urged the elderly not to go outside unless absolutely necessary.

That directive appeared to be widely ignored, as school closures nationwide left many Italian children in the care of their grandparents. Parks in Rome overflowed with both young and old, undercutting government efforts to shield older Italians from the virus that hits the elderly harder than others. Italy has the world’s oldest population after Japan.

“It’s an absolute paradox!” said Mauro Benedetti, a 73-year-old retiree called upon to watch his grandson. “They tell us to stay home. How can we help our kids and grandkids at the same time?”

“Grandparents are now at risk,” he said.

Italy’s death toll climbed Thursday to 148, and its confirmed cases to 3,858. 

Iran, which has registered 107 virus deaths, also closed schools and universities and introduced checkpoints to limit travel between major cities. Iranians were urged to reduce their use of paper money.

Amid the string of bad news, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged state television to offer “happier” programs to entertain those stuck at home. 

“I urge all artists, scientists, psychologists and all who can bring smiles to people’s faces, come into the social media,” he said. 

Brian Hook, the U..S. special representative for Iran, said the United States offered humanitarian assistance to help Iran deal with its outbreak but “the regime rejected the offer.” He said the offer would stand.

Virus fears also affected the joyful Indian celebration of Holi, in which Hindu revelers celebrate the arrival of spring with bursts of color, including bright powders smeared on faces. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders said they wouldn’t attend Holi events and the Holi Moo Festival in New Delhi was canceled. 

In the United States, where 11 have died from the virus, hundreds of people were placed in self-quarantines due to cases in a New York suburb. A school district north of Seattle with 22,000 students announced it would close for up to two weeks because of coronavirus concerns.

Off the coast of California, a cruise ship with about 3,500 aboard was ordered to stay put until passengers and crew could be tested because a traveler from its previous voyage died and another one was infected.

Financial markets remained volatile, as investors continued to weigh the size of the epidemic’s dent on the global economy. The U.S. stock market was down more than 3 percent in Thursday afternoon trading. Analysts say more yo-yo moves on global markets are likely as long as the number of new infections continues to accelerate.

The OPEC oil cartel called for a deep production cut to keep crude prices from falling further as disruption to global business from the coronavirus slashes demand from air travel and industry.

Oil ministers from the 14 OPEC countries decided at a meeting Thursday to push for a cut of 1.5 million barrels a day or about 1.5% of total world supply.

Across the globe, travelers faced ever-greater disruptions, as countries sought to keep the virus out. But South Africa confirmed its first case Thursday, becoming the seventh African nation to report infections. Britain and Switzerland reported their first coronavirus deaths.

“The virus doesn’t care about race and belief or color. It is attacking us all, equally,” said Ian MacKay, who studies viruses at the University of Queensland in Australia. 

The outlook for the travel industry was increasingly grim. The International Air Transport Association said the outbreak could cost airlines as much as $113 billion in lost revenue. The struggling British airline Flybe collapsed Thursday amid sinking demand.

Australia banned travelers from South Korea who aren’t Australian citizens or permanent residents, following similar bans for China and Iran. 

Indonesia announced restrictions on travelers from parts of Iran, Italy, and South Korea after previously banning those coming in from China. The United Arab Emirates warned its people not to travel anywhere abroad.

Germany’s Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss said they will cancel all flights to and from Israel for three weeks starting Sunday after Israeli authorities announced tough restrictions on travelers from several countries because of the new virus.

Palestinian officials closed the storied Church of the Nativity in the biblical city of Bethlehem indefinitely, weeks ahead of the busy Easter holiday. 

Japan said visitors from China and South Korea would face a two-week quarantine at a government facility and be barred from public transit. Sri Lankans arriving from Italy, South Korea and Iran will be quarantined at a hospital once used for leprosy patients. 

In South Korea, with the highest number of infections outside China, exports of masks will be prohibited beginning Friday and people will be limited to buying two masks a week.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in to express condolences over the health crisis.

In China, where hospitals were releasing hundreds of recovered patients, officials reported 139 new infection cases and 31 more deaths. Overall, China has reported 80,409 cases and 3,012 deaths, and authorities say about 6,000 people remained hospitalized in serious condition.

A state visit to Japan by Chinese President Xi Jinping was postponed. It was to have been the first for a Chinese leader since 2008.

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BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian officials on Thursday closed the storied Church of the Nativity in the biblical city of Bethlehem indefinitely over fears of the new coronavirus, weeks ahead of the busy Easter holiday season.

The announcement by the Palestinian tourism ministry threatened to devastate the vital tourism industry in the town where Jesus is believed to have been born. The spread of the virus across the Middle East has already disrupted worship at other major holy sites.

Iran, the epicenter of the virus in the region, announced that it would set up checkpoints to limit travel between major cities and urged citizens to reduce their use of paper money to help slow the outbreak, which has killed at least 107 people in the country.

Iranian state TV also reported that Hossein Sheikholeslam, a 68-year-old diplomat who was an adviser to Iran’s foreign minister, died of the coronavirus.

In addition, Iran’s state-run media said that Mohammad Sadr, a member of the country’s Expediency Council and a senior adviser to the foreign minister, has been infected. Another member of the council, which advises Iran’s supreme leader, died earlier this week after falling ill with the new virus, which has sickened a number of Iranian officials.

The Church of the Nativity was closed after suspicions that four Palestinians had caught the virus, prompting a flurry of measures that included banning all tourists from the Israeli-occupied West Bank for an unspecified amount of time and shutting down other places of worship in Bethlehem for two weeks.

The Palestinian health ministry later said a total of seven Palestinians from Bethlehem have tested positive for the virus, the first cases reported in the Palestinian territories.

It said the seven worked at a hotel where a group of Greek tourists stayed during a tour of Israel and the Palestinian territories in late February. The tourists tested positive for the virus after returning to Greece.

Built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born in a manger, the Church of the Nativity is one of several tourist and holy sites to shut their doors over concerns about the virus, which has infected tens of thousands of people and killed more than 3,000 globally.

Just before 4 p.m., a bearded clergyman walked outside and locked the church’s wooden door with a large key. A team of workers dressed in white overalls arrived with jugs of cleaning materials and walked through a side entrance to disinfect the building. Tariq al-Ali, one of the workers, said it was the second time his team disinfected the church.

“We have disinfected many institutions in the past week. We are under pressure,” he said.

Saif Saboh, a Palestinian tour guide, said a number of groups had canceled visits in recent days. He said he has stopped shaking hands or getting too close to tourists. “I’m terrified,” he said. “Any tourist could be infected.”

The virus has disrupted Muslim worship across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia banned pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca, while Iran has canceled Friday’s Islamic prayers in major cities. Iraq canceled Friday prayers in Karbala, where a weekly sermon is delivered on behalf of the country’s top Shiite cleric.

The Church of the Nativity receives some 10,000 tourists a day, according to Palestinian officials, and is expected to welcome tens of thousands of visitors during the Easter season.

Elias al-Arja, the head of the Bethlehem hotel owners union, angrily accused authorities of caving in to panic. “This will cause huge damage to the economy. We have 3,000 workers in the tourist sector and they will all go home. Who is going to feed their families?” he said.

Anton Suleiman, the mayor of Bethlehem, acknowledged the economic impact, but said “public safety is the most important thing to us.”

In Iran, Health Minister Saeed Namaki announced his country’s latest restrictions, saying schools and universities will remain closed through Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on March 20. “We will strictly control comings and goings,” he said.

More than 3,740 cases have been confirmed across the Middle East. Iran and Italy have the world’s highest death tolls outside of China.

The U.S. official focused on Iran, Brian Hook, said Thursday the U.S. offered humanitarian assistance to Iran to help them deal with the outbreak, but “the regime rejected the offer.”

Hook, speaking at a news conference in Paris, also said the U.S. has asked Iran to release American detainees “on medical furlough” over fears the coronavirus may be infesting the country’s prisons.

Israeli officials said they were working closely with their Palestinian counterparts to contain the virus. COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian matters, said it had delivered 250 test kits to the Palestinians and was coordinating joint training sessions for Israeli and Palestinian medical workers.

For the time being, other major places of worship in the Holy Land remained open. Israeli officials said there were no special precautions at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, though hand sanitizing stations were placed at the site.

“In this time of distress, there is nothing more appropriate than coming to pray at the Western Wall,” said Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi who oversees the site.

The nearby Al Aqsa mosque compound was expected to welcome 50,000 worshipers for Friday prayers. The Islamic Waqf, which administers the site, said the buildings have been disinfected and the sermon would be brief.

Israel, which has 17 confirmed virus cases, has taken strict measures in a bid to stave off an outbreak, including banning the entry of visitors from around 10 countries.

On Thursday, German airline Lufthansa said it and its Austrian and Swiss subsidiaries were canceling flights to and from Israel for three weeks starting Sunday because of the restrictions.

Israeli airline El Al, which has canceled dozens of flights to countries with outbreaks, announced Wednesday that it was laying off 1,000 employees.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government will set up an “emergency cash flow assistance fund” for businesses deemed essential to the economy. It was not immediately clear if that would apply to El Al.

Earlier on Thursday, the United Arab Emirates warned citizens and foreign residents not to travel abroad, The country is home to two major long-haul airlines, Emirates and Etihad, which have encouraged staff to take time off as foreign travel has dropped due to the virus.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Josef Federman and Joseph Krauss in Jerusalem, and Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.

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Amid the international community’s lack of response to the ongoing severe persecution of Christians in the Middle East, the small nation of Hungary is spending millions of dollars in the region to help rebuild churches and Christian communities.

This central European country is home to less than 1% of the world’s population, but it has spent at least $40 million since 2017 helping persecuted Christians, according to Fox News, which spoke to Peter Szijjarto, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“We give the money directly to the churches, to the church communities. We have rebuilt 33 torn-down Christian churches in Lebanon, for example,” Szijjarto was quoted as saying.

Hungary, which affirms its Christian foundations in its constitution that was ratified in 2011, has also rebuilt towns and schools for the Christian communities in the Middle East. Hungarian funds have been used to rebuild 1,000 homes on the Ninevah Plains in Iraq, according to Catholic News Service.

“Under current circumstances, when we are faced with tremendous historic challenges ahead of us, ahead of the European Union, someone has to speak openly,” Szijjarto said. “And this road is taken by us currently.”

Last month, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban acknowledged in a speech that the Christian culture was under attack. “A whole culture is under organized attack, our culture and our civilization. Not only in Africa, not only in the Middle East, but here, too, in Europe, the land of, so far, the most successful Christian culture.”

Orban, who is serving for a third consecutive term, has been criticized for being vocal about conservative issues.

Szijjarto defended him in his interview with Fox News. “If a nation is not proud of its national identity, or if it does not stick to historic cultural and religious heritage, then that country and that nation will not be strong for sure because it loses the anchor,” he said.

“In global politics, the fact that Christians are being persecuted is being ignored,” Szijjarto said last September, according to CNS. He said his government was “fighting against the perception that Christianophobia would be the last acceptable form of discrimination.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

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