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A spate of suspicious fires within three hours in Christchurch overnight appear to be linked, police say. About 3am on Monday, firefighters received multiple calls about a large blaze at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, in Waitikiri Drive, Parklands. A spokesman said the building had not been used for congregations since March due to Covid-19, with meetings held online. “The building was well alight when we arrived. It’s a decent-sized building,” she said. “It has since been extinguished. It’s considered possibly suspicious and is being investigated.” Half an hour later, the alarm was raised at Christchurch Transitional Cathedral, in Hereford St, about a small fire in a back room. The blaze had gone out when fire crews arrived. Fire crews tackled a large blaze at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Waitikiri Drive, Parklands. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/122682854/suspicious-spate-of-earlymorning-fires-in-christchurch-thought-to-be-linked

A court in Turkmenistan has sentenced a Jehovah's Witness to one year in prison for his objection to military service. A spokesman for the religious group, Jarrod Lopes, told RFE/RL on September 8 that the Vekilbazar District Court in the southeastern region of Mary on September 3 found 18-year-old Myrat Orazgeldyev guilty of avoiding mandatory military service. According to the group, Turkmen authorities have imprisoned 25 Jehovah’s Witnesses for their conscientious objection to military service, of whom 11 are currently in prison. "It is a shame that Turkmenistan continues to mistreat peaceful young Christian men. Young Christians like Myrat would be happy to perform alternative service. Instead, they are thrown into prison, where they are stripped of the opportunity to support the families and community they love," Lopes said in a statement. Lopes also cited Rachel Denber, deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, as urging Turkmen authorities to "immediately free" Myrat Orazgeldyev "and vacate the criminal case against him." https://www.rferl.org/a/jehovah-s-witness-jailed-in-turkmenistan-for-conscientious-objection-to-military-service/30827496.html

A court in Mary Region jailed 18-year-old Myrat Orazgeldiyev for one year on 3 September, the 24th Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector to military service to be imprisoned since January 2018. Eleven – including Orazgeldiyev – are now jailed, eight of them at the harsh Seydi Labour Camp, where a former prisoner of conscience described conditions as "inhuman". All 24 young men offered to do an alternative civilian service, but none exists. A court in Mary Region of eastern Turkmenistan handed down a one-year jail term to 18-year-old Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector to military service Myrat Orazgeldiyev on 3 September. He had told the Military Conscription Office he was ready to do an alternative civilian service, but Turkmenistan has rejected repeated United Nations calls to introduce such a service. He is appealing against his conviction to Mary Regional Court. Myrat Orazgeldiyev Jehovah's Witnesses Orazgeldiyev's jailing brings to five the number of conscientious objectors to military service, all Jehovah's Witnesses, known to have been imprisoned so far in 2020. It also brings to 24 the number of known criminal convictions and jailings for conscientious objection since January 2018 (see below). Jehovah's Witnesses are conscientious objectors to military service and do not undertake any kind of activity supporting any country's military. But they are willing to undertake an alternative, totally civilian form of service, as is the right of all conscientious objectors to military service under international human rights law. The sentences handed down to Orazgeldiyev brings to 11 the number of conscientious objectors to compulsory military service known - as of 11 September 2020 - to be serving sentences. All of them are Jehovah's Witnesses. Three of them are serving second sentences (see full list below). On 1 September, Dashoguz Regional Court rejected the appeals by two brothers – 26-year-old Sanjarbek Saburov and 21-year-old brother Eldor Saburov – against their two-year jail sentences for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience, handed down on 6 August (see below). Including Eziz Dovletmuradovich Atabayev (born 15 March 1998), who has been serving a jail term since 2018, 11 Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors are serving jail terms of between one and four years. Eight of them are imprisoned in Seydi Labour Camp in the eastern Lebap Region, and the two Saburov brothers and Orazgeldiyev are expected to be transferred to the same labour camp (see full list below). Turkmenistan has ignored repeated international calls, for example by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, to introduce a genuine civilian alternative to compulsory military service, to stop prosecuting and punishing conscientious objectors, and to compensate those it has punished. http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2600

His murderous crusade ended on July 21, 1985 when he blew up the Jehovah’s Witnesses hall at Casula in southern Sydney, killing Graham Wykes and seriously injuring 13 others. “He‘s had 35 years of life. That’s 35 years my husband didn’t have. Nothing makes up for that, but I’m pleased with the outcome,” Mr Wykes’ ex-wife Joy said outside court. Of the 71 parishioners who were hospitalised, 16 were children and five were babies. Warwick targeted the congregation because some of its members helped Ms Blanchard move out of Sydney to the NSW mid-north coast. “In a final act of unspeakable evil, (Warwick) then sought to wreak revenge on innocent members of the Lurnea congregation,” Justice Garling said. https://www.couriermail.com.au/breaking-news/family-court-bomber-leonard-warwick-sentenced-to-life/news-story/f166dd276da851e8dc8355a511f71ba1

The 73-year-old was found guilty in the NSW Supreme Court in July of 20 offences relating to six Sydney events between February 1980 and July 1985. They included the shooting murder of Justice David Opas and the bomb-related murders of Pearl Watson, wife of Justice Raymond Watson, and Graham Wykes, who died in an explosion at a Jehovah's Witnesses hall. Graham Wykes died and 13 people were seriously injured when a bomb ripped apart the Jehovah's Witnesses hall. Congregation members had offered support to Warwick's ex-wife. Full article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8692961/Family-court-bomber-Leonard-Warwick-spend-life-prison-guilty-Sydney-murders.html

Dea Kulumbegashvili's debut follows a woman in a persecuted Jehovah's Witnesses community, facing a crisis in her marriage and in her faith. Georgia has selected Beginning, the debut feature from director Dea Kulumbegashvili, as its official entry for the 2021 Oscars in the International Feature category. The drama premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival this year, where it swept the top awards, winning best film, best director, best screenplay, and best actress for lead Ia Sukhitashvili. She plays Yana, a woman living in emotional isolation within a community of Jehovah's Witnesses in a sleepy provincial town in Georgia. Her familiar, insular world begins to crumble after her religious community is violently attacked by an extremist group and Yana, the wife of a community leader, suffers a crisis of faith, struggling to make sense of her desires and inner discontent. Director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), jury president in San Sebastian, called Beginning "a revelation, a moment of authentic cinema that fills the screen with flames." Originally picked for the Cannes 2020 official selection, the film also screened in Toronto, where it won the Fipresci critics' prize, and at the New York Film Festivals. Kulumbegashvili co-wrote Beginning with Rati Oneli, who also co-stars. Ilan Amouyal, David Zerat, Oneli, and Paul Rozenberg produced the film, with Carlos Reygadas and Gaetan Rousseau as executive producers. Wild Bunch International is handling world sales and co-repping North American rights with CAA Media Finance. Georgia has only once received an Oscar nomination — for Nana Jorjadze's A Chef in Love in 1996 — and the country has yet to win an Academy Award. Originally scheduled for Feb. 28, 2021, the ceremony for the 93rd Academy Awards has been pushed back due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and will be held on April 25, 2021. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-georgia-selects-beginning-for-international-feature-category

A Russian judge on Friday imposed an eight-year suspended prison sentence for a 24-year-old Jehovah’s Witness and a seven-year suspended sentence for his 27-year-old wife, capping a week that marked some relief amid continued persecution for the faith in Russia. An international spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses expressed gratitude that “this young couple will not need to be separated by prison bars” after the judge’s decision in Kostroma, 200 miles northeast of Moscow. The conviction comes a day after another judge in Ulyanovsk, on the Volga River, convicted six members of the persecuted faith. Those sentences were also suspended. “We are pleased that they were not imprisoned. Yet it remains a gross injustice for them to be convicted simply for their peaceful Christian worship,” said Jarrod Lopes, spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, in a statement. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/9/climactic-week-for-jehovahs-witnesses-in-russia/

Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君) fled the communist takeover of China as a teenager and found sanctuary in Hong Kong, a bastion of religious freedom that he now fears could disappear under Beijing’s tightening grip. The 88-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong has spent his retirement looking on with increasing alarm at the Vatican’s embrace of Beijing — and the imposition of a sweeping security law has only heightened his fears. “As I can see in the whole world, where you take away the freedoms of the people, religious freedoms also disappear,” Zen said from Salesian Mission he joined as a novice seven decades ago. Hong Kong has been a haven for faiths both before and after its 1997 handover to China. On the authoritarian — and officially atheist — mainland, religion is strictly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) crackdowns have intensified — from the demolition of underground churches to the widespread incarceration of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and a new campaign to “sinicize” religions. In contrast, Hong Kong boasts a dizzying array of faiths, including proselytizing groups barred from the mainland, such as the Latter Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Falun Gong. However, Zen wonders how long that can last. After huge and often violent democracy protests convulsed Hong Kong last year, China’s leaders launched a clampdown and on June 30, imposed a broadly worded National Security Law that outlawed certain views and ushered in a new political chill. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2020/10/09/2003744881

(RNS) — A day after a Jehovah’s Witness became the first to be acquitted in Russia since a 2017 ruling declared his faith group “extremist,” six Russian members received suspended sentences for gathering for worship. The developments come a week after dozens of scholars from across the globe called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The pacifist faith organization said six men and women were given suspended sentences ranging from 2 ½ to four years; in addition, they were given orders of “restricted freedom” from seven to 10 months in a court in the western city of Ulyanovsk. Freedom restrictions can include limitations on where they can travel and with whom they can associate. “We are pleased that they were not imprisoned, yet it remains a gross injustice for them to be convicted simply for their peaceful Christian worship,” said Jarrod Lopes, spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, in a Thursday (Oct. 😎 statement. https://religionnews.com/2020/10/08/one-jehovahs-witness-acquitted-russia-others-get-months-restrictions/

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When the knock came at the door at six in the morning, Sergei and Maria Silaev feared the worst. The couple first thought it was the Russian police, coming to arrest them for being Jehovah’s Witnesses. But it was the upstairs neighbour, telling them there was a water leak above their apartment. They were relieved, but after that had many anxious nights. "I couldn’t sleep," said Maria. From that moment on they knew they needed to leave Russia. The Silaevs life changed in 2017 when the Russian Supreme Court labelled their church an extremist organization and banned all Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations and gatherings in that country — a ruling that forced them, and other members, to go underground and meet in secret in their homes. Although no official reasons have been given for the persecution, it could be because members of the church are pacifist, refuse to serve in the military, don’t vote, and won’t salute the flag or take part in other nationalistic displays of loyalty. According to Human Rights Watch, Russian authorities have carried out at least 780 house raids since 2017 in more than 70 towns and cities across Russia. Altogether, more than 300 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been charged, are on trial, or have been convicted of criminal "extremism" for practising their faith. At least 32 are in prison, with sentences ranging from two to six years for leading or participating in church meetings. There are allegations of torture. "For Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, practising their faith means risking their freedom," said Rachel Denber, deputy director of Human Rights Watch for Europe and Central. The Silaevs decided not to wait to see if they would be added to the list of the accused and arrested. In January they came to Canada as tourists, seeking refugee status after arriving. Soon after, they moved to Winnipeg to await a verdict on their claim. Speaking through a translator over Zoom, they shared their story with me. The Silaevs who have no children, lived in Tver, a city of about 400,000 people 200 kilometres north of Moscow. Sergei, 29, worked as a maintenance supervisor; Maria, 27, was a hairdresser and also helped her husband in his work. The effects of the persecution were felt gradually, they said, starting with a ban on the New World Translation, the version of the Bible used by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The couple got rid of their printed version, but kept a copy on their computer. This made Maria sad. "I enjoyed turning the pages and reading it," she said of her physical copy of the Bible. Then there was a ban on door-to-door and street witnessing — a hallmark of the church, in that country and around the world. Read more: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/faith/jehovahs-witnesses-flee-russia-572391362.html

AZERBAIJAN: 34 freedom of religion cases pending at ECtHR Pending at the European Court of Human Rights are 34 known cases relating to violations of freedom of religion or belief, involving 61 individuals and 5 communities. A decision is expected on 22 October in the case of Nina Gridneva, fined for offering religious literature on the street. Other cases cover punishments for leading mosque prayers and holding religious meetings, refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience and the state's religious censorship. In September, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg accepted Azerbaijan's unilateral declarations in nine further freedom of religion or belief cases admitting that it had violated human rights and pledging to pay compensation within three months. The Court has already ruled on 21 such cases, accepting Azerbaijan's admissions of violations in 13 cases and finding against Azerbaijan in a further eight. These decisions leave 34 known cases relating to freedom of religion or belief – involving 61 individual applicants and 5 communities - at the Court awaiting decisions. The 34 cases – lodged at the ECtHR between 2007 and 2019 – cover cases where individuals have been jailed for leading prayers, punished for refusing compulsorily military service on grounds of conscience, raided for holding religious meetings, faced unlawful house searches, punished for talking to others about their faith, faced censorship of religious literature, faced denial of state registration for their community, and faced movement restrictions because of personal appearance (see full list below). An ECtHR decision is expected on 22 October in the case of Jehovah's Witness Nina Gridneva, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. In September 2010, police in the capital Baku stopped her while she was offering religious literature on the street and seized the literature. Read more: http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2606

In nine cases concluded in September at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), Azerbaijan admitted it violated freedom of religion or belief and the ECtHR has closed the cases. Yet, as lawyer Khalid Agaliyev noted, despite many ECtHR judgments against Azerbaijan, "we don't see any follow-up from these judgments. We want the general human rights situation to change under the influence of these judgments. Unfortunately, this is not happening". In nine cases concluded in September at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, Azerbaijan admitted that it violated the rights of people to freedom of religion or belief. The regime pledged to pay compensation to the victims within three months of the ECtHR decisions. On 3 September the Court issued its decisions and then closed all nine of the cases. Azerbaijan has admitted to the Court its violation of the freedom of religion or belief of Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses in earlier cases (see below). The government admitted violating the rights of four Jehovah's Witnesses punished for meeting for worship in 2010, and the Jehovah's Witness community in the capital Baku denied permission to import religious literature in 2011. It also admitted violating the rights of seven Muslims punished for discussing their faith in a meeting raided by police in 2015 (see below). "The Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan hereby wishes to express – by way of unilateral declaration – acknowledgement of the fact that there have been violations of the applicants' rights guaranteed under the Convention [European Convention on Human Rights]," the government admitted in the case of those punished for meeting for worship. The wording in the other cases varied only over whether there was one or more applicant. http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2605

A day after the Russian FSB carried out armed searches in occupied Sevastopol, four Jehovah’s Witnesses have been arrested and remanded in custody for two months. Although Yevhen Zhukov; Volodymyr Maladyka; Volodymyr Sakada and Ihor Schmidt are accused of ‘organizing the work of an extremist organization’ (under Article 282.2 § 1 of Russia’s criminal code), the charges pertain solely to their peaceful practising of their faith, and all are undoubtedly political prisoners. Early on 1 October, the FSB and other enforcement officers burst into the homes of nine Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sevastopol. Five people were detained – the men now in custody and Volodymyr Maladyka’s wife, Natalya. She was later released, and for the moment has ‘witness status’. She later told Graty that her husband rejects the charges and calls the search of their home unlawful. She is planning to appeal against her husband’s detention. Zhukov was identified on Russian official documents in 2015 as the head of the ‘local Christian religious organization the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sevastopol’. This was one of two Jehovah’s Witnesses organizations in occupied Sevastopol that were forcibly dissolved after Russia reverted to Soviet repressive ways and banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses on 20 April 2017. A similar ‘operation’ took place in the evening of 4 June 2019, with at least nine homes targeted then also. On that occasion, 52-year-old Viktor Stashevsky was arrested. He was released from custody the following day, but charged under Article 282.2, part 1 – organizing what Russia calls an ‘extremist organization’. His ‘case’ was passed to a Russian-controlled court in Crimea on 23 February 2020. The indictment claims that Stashevsky was “the ideological force behind an extremist organization” and that he “deliberately undertook active measures of an organizational nature in order to continue the unlawful actives of an extremist organization banned by a court.” Read more: http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1601602071

“Thriller” remains one of Michael Jackson’s most popular songs and music videos — however, not everyone was a fan. After dealing with some backlash to the video, Jackson wanted to destroy it. Here’s why the “Thriller” video upset some people in Jackson’s life — and why he ultimately didn’t destroy it. How the King of Pop reacted to the backlash Jackson’s reaction to the backlash was pointed. He almost had the footage of “Thriller” destroyed. However, the director of the video — John Landis — hid the canister with the footage in it so Jackson could not find it. Ultimately, Jackson decided not to destroy the footage — but he still had negative things to say about it. According to The New York Times, Jackson denounced the video in an issue of Awake!, a Jehovah’s Witnesses publication. ”I realize now it was not a good idea,” Jackson said. ”I’ll never do a video like that again. There’s been all kinds of promotional stuff being produced on ‘Thriller,’ but I tell them, ‘No, No, No.’ I don’t want to do anything on ‘Thriller.’ No more ‘Thriller.”’ https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/29/nyregion/dissent-grows-among-jehovah-s-witnesses.html According to Rolling Stone, if you watch the “Thriller” video today, you are watching a slightly modified version of it created in response to the Jehovah’s Witnesses controversy. The video now has the disclaimer “Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult.” Those personal convictions would not last forever. When Michael Jackson left the Jehovah’s Witnesses “Thriller” remained part of Jackson’s life but the Jehovah’s Witnesses would not. The Los Angeles Times reports Jackson left the group in 1987. The Jehovah’s Witnesses did not give a reason for his departure. Neither Jackson nor his manager, Frank Dileo, were willing to discuss the matter. https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/why-michael-jackson-denounced-thriller-and-almost-destroyed-its-video.html/

La libertad y la seguridad son derechos fundamentales para cualquier ser humano, pero en ciertos países como Rusia no es así. Personas, seres humanos, están siendo perseguidos, encarcelados y hasta torturados por su ideología. Algo impensable en pleno siglo XXI está ocurriendo en uno de los países más desarrollados del mundo. Hace dos años en Rusia se tachó de extremista a la religión de los Testigos de Jehová. El extremismo suele estar asociado a seguir las ideas de uno hasta la muerte, justificando el uso de la violencia si es necesario. Sin embargo, si nos paramos a analizar las enseñanzas y el comportamiento de los Testigos de Jehová a lo largo de la historia nos encontramos con lo contrario: promueven como cualidad esencial el amor, defienden la importancia de seguir los principios de respeto que se encuentran en la Biblia y en ningún contexto justifican el uso de la violencia. De hecho, han sido y son encarcelados precisamente por negarse a ir a la guerra, ya que va en contra de sus principios cristianos. Leer más: https://www.elperiodico.com/es/entre-todos/participacion/testigos-de-jehova-en-rusia-un-triste-realidad-que-no-deberiamos-pasar-por-alto-203597

Jehovah’s Witnesses Resolve Copyright Dispute With FaithLeaks The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the owners of the religious whistleblower site FaithLeaks resolved their dispute over the site’s unauthorized posting of copyrighted materials, according to a filing in Manhattan federal court. FaithLeaks admitted to reproducing 74 Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania videos without permission and agreed to stop displaying them on its website, according to the consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said. FaithLeaks once collected documents from whistleblowers in religious communities “to enable and expand news reporting, public commentary, and criticism related to religion,” its website said. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/jehovahs-witnesses-resolve-copyright-dispute-with-faithleaks

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A group of 50 religion scholars from around the world is calling on President Vladimir Putin and his administration to end the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. The scholars' statement, released Thursday, follows the Center for Studies on New Religions’ one-day conference, “Jehovah’s Witnesses and Their Opponents: Russia, the West, and Beyond,” held online from Vilnius, Lithuania, in early September. “As institutions and individuals concerned with religious freedom, we have followed the events in Russia with increasing alarm,” the CESNUR statement reads. Among those events is a reported armed raid of 110 homes of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia’s Voronezh region in July that the scholars call the “largest number of coordinated raids on Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern Russia” and an “escalation” in the persecution of Witnesses in the country. More than 170 Jehovah’s Witnesses have reportedly been imprisoned or put in pre-trial detention in Russia since 2017 for practicing their faith. https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/news/17366-scholars-call-out-putin-and-the-escalation-of-persecution-against-jehovah-s-witnesses-in-russia https://www.cesnur.org/2020/jehovahs-witnesses-statement.htm

The report details human rights violations in Crimea by the Russian occupying power against Crimean Tatars, including torture, forced confessions and the suppression of religious practice for several groups, including Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims and Messianic groups. Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Emine Dzhaparova corroborates the U.N. report. As a Crimean Tartar herself, she is particularly critical of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and of its alleged repressive actions to shut down the voices of dissent. https://www.voanews.com/europe/rights-violations-rampant-parts-ukraine-un-report-says

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The Reddit co-founder and Williams are focused on their daughter's future rather than spending on lavish parties. The couple previously skipped Olympia's first birthday celebration in 2018. Williams earlier explained that she and Ohanian are Jehovah's Witnesses and that their family does not practice throwing celebrations such as Christmas, Easter, and other important holidays. https://news.amomama.com/228592-check-out-this-adorable-pic-serena-willi.html

September 17, 2020 (Family Research Council) — When Seo Jin Wook met with a small group in a private home in Izhevsk, Russia to share the gospel with them, he had no idea it would lead to his deportation and an approximately $400 fine by the Russian government. Yet, under a so-called "anti-extremism" law passed in 2016, this is the new normal for religious people in Russia looking to share their faith. The vague nature of the law means anyone is at risk of violating it. Earlier this month, Nikita Glazunov was fined by a court in Kazan, Russia for organizing a Catholic Mass in a hotel conference hall. He was charged in part for inviting what the court called a "foreign preacher" to celebrate Mass without written authorization to engage in missionary activity. Glazunov is one of at least 42 people who have been prosecuted for missionary activity in Russia in the first half of 2020 alone. Russia's consistent violations of religious freedom drew the attention of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in a hearing on Wednesday. USCIRF has recommended that Russia be designated a Country of Particular Concern by the State Department this year due to the country's repressive policies. Unfortunately, the legacy of the Soviet Union's attitude toward religious groups lingers in contemporary Russia. At the hearing, Elizabeth Clark described the Russian government's attitude toward religions by saying the "Soviet-era view of religion as permissible so long as it supports the state continues..." Read more: https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/reports-continue-of-russia-torturing-jehovahs-witnesses-for-proselytizing

90 Sands Street, the former Jehovah’s Witness Dormitory, towers over its neighbors in Dumbo, Brooklyn alongside the Manhattan Bridge. The Jehovah’s Witness properties, which extended between Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo, have been parceled out over the last few years. The largest tract was transformed into the mixed-use campus Panorama which opened earlier this year. 90 Sands Street is unique however, as it is being redeveloped by the supportive housing provider, Breaking Ground. Closed since 2017, 90 Sands is very much frozen in time with ’90s era wallpaper and decor throughout. We were recently taken on a truly fascinating tour inside the 30-story building, from the basement levels all the way up to the observation deck which offers nearly 360 degree views of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The view from the observatory at 90 Sands Street The commercial kitchen in the cellar that once fed 1,000 people multiple times a day. On the right are commercial sized coffee urns. One of the former dining rooms in 90 Sands On our visit to 90 Sands, we were also able to see the original lobby, designed in a very ’90s-esque vibe with tiled and carpeted floors and a pale pink and mauve palette. There are six elevator banks with brass style buttons. Read more: https://untappedcities.com/2020/09/18/inside-90-sands-street-former-jehovah-witness-dormitory/

La administradora del Hospital del Norte, Cinthia Rojas, destacó el interés de los niños testigos de Jehová en expresar sus sentimientos de gratitud al personal de su hospital y anunció que hará llegar todas las cartas a la plantilla del centro médico a su cargo, informó Catari. Los pequeños hicieron muchos dibujos para mandar el mejor a los médicos y enfermeras. (Testigos de Jehová) Como padres nos hemos sentido recompensados al ver que nuestros niños muestran lo que están aprendiendo de la Biblia: amar al prójimo y hacérselo saber”, expresó Sandra, madre de uno de las decenas de pequeños, entre 4 y 10 años, hijos de testigos de Jehová, que escribieron cartas de ánimo a los médicos, enfermeras y personal de varios hospitales de Cochabamba. Las misivas fueron entregadas, en las últimas horas, por los representantes de la organización de testigos de Jehová en Cochabamba, Javier Quino y Miguel Catari, a los ejecutivos de los hospitales Salomón Klein, Viedma, del Norte y del Sur. Leer más: https://www.opinion.com.bo/articulo/cochabamba/ninos-expresan-carino-trabajadores-salud-lucha-covid-19/20200918184351787564.html