The economic downturn has sparked increased crime and public unrest in Russia, and the government is responding by encouraging citizens to join the militia or form neighbourhood vigilante groups.
In the last year, Russia has seen an 10-15 percent increase in street crime. This includes 1.7 million acts of minor hooliganism, 2 million incidences of [...]

An Anglican priest in the Diocese of Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan, who was kidnapped last week, was found on Sunday evening dumped outside the gates of Saint John’s Cathedral Church.  The Rev Tanzeel Zafar had been severely beaten, thrown at the church gate, and apparently left for dead.  He was rushed to hospital [...]

Jim Flaherty fits right in.
h/t: Political Conservatives

This is Nigel Mutemagau, who is now being held in solitary confinement in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, on the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe. He was taken into custody with his parents nearly three months ago by Zimbabwe’s secret police, the Central Intelligence Organisation.
Nigel’s parents are facing charges of recruiting “bandits” to topple Robert Mugabe’s [...]

A Turkish court has ordered five members of the same family imprisoned for life in the murder of a 16-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped.
The original news report is posted in French at CyberPresse.ca. What follows is my (literal but somewhat stilted) translation of most of the story:
A Turkish court has sentenced [...]

The collect for today, the Feast Day of Saint Hilary (c. 315-368), Bishop of Poitiers, Doctor of the Church (source):
Everlasting God,
whose servant Hilary
steadfastly confessed thy Son Jesus Christ
to be both human and divine:
grant us his gentle courtesy
to bring to all the message of redemption
in the incarnate Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of [...]