Teenager saw Jesus before being revived
Doctors can’t explain what happened, but one Texas family is sure it was the hand of God that brought their son back to life. 17-year-old Zack Clements is a strong, healthy and outgoing high school athlete who plays football at a Life Academy. Then last week he suddenly collapsed while running in a PE class. He was rushed to hospital where doctors worked to revive him. He was without a heartbeat for 20 minutes. Doctors finally got a pulse and then airlifted him to a children’s hospital where he woke up a few days later in the intensive care unit. His recovery is hard to believe, but even more amazing is that he says he saw Jesus when his heart stopped beating. His mother, Teresa Clements, says that although it may be a medical mystery, she has accepted that her son came back to life as a direct result of Jesus’ intervention. To watch a video of his story on Fox News click the ‘more’ button below.
CofE celebrates key Christian appointments in Parliament
The Church of England is celebrating the appointment of two of the nation's most influential Christians, one lay and one ordained, to key posts in the new Parliament. Caroline Spelman, a patron of the Conservative Christian Fellowship and MP for Meriden in the West Midlands, has been appointed Second Church Estates Commissioner, succeeding Sir Tony Baldry. Her role will be to represent and answer questions on behalf of the Church Commissioners in the House of Commons. Also a leading evangelical - David Urquhart, Bishop of Birmingham - has been appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as convenor of the 26 bishops in the House of Lords, known as the Lords Spiritual. Spelman said: 'I am honoured to be asked to undertake this role as the Church is important for the future of our country and I want to help it navigate the challenges of the modern world with the support of our parliamentarians.'
Azerbaijan host European Games next month
A few countries span more than one continent - transcontinental states. Azerbaijan is on both European and Asian maps, but this year’s European games place it firmly in Europe. An anomaly? Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, was awarded the right to host the 2015 European Games, which are the final ‘continental’ Games to be inaugurated (after the Asian Games, Pan-American Games, All-Africa Games and Pacific Games). As of 2015, every continent will have a continental Games in the Olympic tradition. A total of 20 sports will be represented: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports. Twelve of them - Archery, Athletics, Volleyball, Boxing, Cycling, Judo, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Triathlon and Wrestling - will offer qualification opportunities for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
EU leaders at eastern summit meeting
This week EU leaders convened in Riga for the eastern partnership summit. They met with officials from the six eastern partners. Latvian foreign affairs minister Edgars Rinkevics hoped it would be ‘an opportunity to look at the challenges the EU faces along its eastern borders’ (namely ongoing tensions with Russia and peace in Ukraine hanging by a thread). During the summit a rally congregated outside urging the EU to grant Georgia and Ukraine visa free regimes and recognise their European future. One of the rally's organisers said the main demand for Georgia and Ukraine to be promised a ‘European perspective’ was not achieved at the summit.
