Isabella

A Russian court has convicted three followers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses of participating in a religion banned for extremism. They were given suspended sentences of up to 2 1/2 years.
“Russian authorities today are following in the footsteps of their Soviet predecessors”, said a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses world headquarters in Warwick, New York.
The country has convicted 24 members since 2017, when it banned the denomination. Russia is known for its laws intended to crack down on opposition activists and religious minorities.
In November, Russia angered the West with by announcing a law that allows the Kremlin to label journalists and ordinary people as foreign agents if they collaborate with foreign media organisations and receive financial or other material support from them.
Last week, one of Russia’s elite universities, announced it is considering banning its students and staff from performing political speech.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/three-jehovahs-witnesses-convicted-in-russia-amid-crackdown/

The idea above was submitted by a patron. (The 1995 7/1 Watchtower “What is Truth” covers this topic well.)
Bonus point: Suppose the room is 75 degrees, but the two men feel it’s too cold or too hot. The cold man decides to change the temperature by adjusting the thermostat so that it’s more comfortable for him, but now the man who feels it is too hot is suffering.  This frustrates the hot man, so he adjusts the temperature to cool himself down. Now the cold person is suffering. This is similar to how religions treat the Bible. 
Christendom’s Churches keep adjusting and changing what the Bible teaches to try to make people more comfortable in their church. For example, they lower the temperature on God’s commands against the practice of homosexuality. Doing this doesn’t actually work. Their efforts to appease some ultimately ends up offending others. Bothered by the lies and hypocrisy people leave the “room” altogether.
The Bible should not be adjusted to make people feel more comfortable with their behavior. The temperature has been set by Jehovah. If someone is too cold, they can adjust and put on more clothes. If someone is too hot, they can adjust and remove unnecessary items of clothing. 
Instead of adjusting God’s standards to Make people more comfortable with immoral choices, people need to be encouraged to make personal adjustments to line up with God’s standards. 

The idea above was submitted by a patron. (The 1995 7/1 Watchtower “What is Truth” covers this topic well.)
Bonus point: Suppose the room is 75 degrees, but the two men feel it’s too cold or too hot. The cold man decides to change the temperature by adjusting the thermostat so that it’s more comfortable for him, but now the man who feels it is too hot is suffering.  This frustrates the hot man, so he adjusts the temperature to cool himself down. Now the cold person is suffering. This is similar to how religions treat the Bible. 
Christendom’s Churches keep adjusting and changing what the Bible teaches to try to make people more comfortable in their church. For example, they lower the temperature on God’s commands against the practice of homosexuality. Doing this doesn’t actually work. Their efforts to appease some ultimately ends up offending others. Bothered by the lies and hypocrisy people leave the “room” altogether.
The Bible should not be adjusted to make people feel more comfortable with their behavior. The temperature has been set by Jehovah. If someone is too cold, they can adjust and put on more clothes. If someone is too hot, they can adjust and remove unnecessary items of clothing. 
Instead of adjusting God’s standards to Make people more comfortable with immoral choices, people need to be encouraged to make personal adjustments to line up with God’s standards. 

The idea above was submitted by a patron. (The 1995 7/1 Watchtower “What is Truth” covers this topic well.)
Bonus point: Suppose the room is 75 degrees, but the two men feel it’s too cold or too hot. The cold man decides to change the temperature by adjusting the thermostat so that it’s more comfortable for him, but now the man who feels it is too hot is suffering.  This frustrates the hot man, so he adjusts the temperature to cool himself down. Now the cold person is suffering. This is similar to how religions treat the Bible. 
Christendom’s Churches keep adjusting and changing what the Bible teaches to try to make people more comfortable in their church. For example, they lower the temperature on God’s commands against the practice of homosexuality. Doing this doesn’t actually work. Their efforts to appease some ultimately ends up offending others. Bothered by the lies and hypocrisy people leave the “room” altogether.
The Bible should not be adjusted to make people feel more comfortable with their behavior. The temperature has been set by Jehovah. If someone is too cold, they can adjust and put on more clothes. If someone is too hot, they can adjust and remove unnecessary items of clothing. 
Instead of adjusting God’s standards to Make people more comfortable with immoral choices, people need to be encouraged to make personal adjustments to line up with God’s standards. 

The idea above was submitted by a patron. (The 1995 7/1 Watchtower “What is Truth” covers this topic well.)
Bonus point: Suppose the room is 75 degrees, but the two men feel it’s too cold or too hot. The cold man decides to change the temperature by adjusting the thermostat so that it’s more comfortable for him, but now the man who feels it is too hot is suffering.  This frustrates the hot man, so he adjusts the temperature to cool himself down. Now the cold person is suffering. This is similar to how religions treat the Bible. 
Christendom’s Churches keep adjusting and changing what the Bible teaches to try to make people more comfortable in their church. For example, they lower the temperature on God’s commands against the practice of homosexuality. Doing this doesn’t actually work. Their efforts to appease some ultimately ends up offending others. Bothered by the lies and hypocrisy people leave the “room” altogether.
The Bible should not be adjusted to make people feel more comfortable with their behavior. The temperature has been set by Jehovah. If someone is too cold, they can adjust and put on more clothes. If someone is too hot, they can adjust and remove unnecessary items of clothing. 
Instead of adjusting God’s standards to Make people more comfortable with immoral choices, people need to be encouraged to make personal adjustments to line up with God’s standards. 

Do not think it is this

 

Of the 4,515 confirmed cases in China, almost 1000 of them are in a critical or serious condition.
   

Another day without your smile
Another day just passes by
But now i know how much it means
For you to stay right here with me
The time we spent apart will make our love grow stronger
But it hurts so bad i can't take it any longer
I want to grow old with you
I want to die lying in your arms
I want to grow old with you
I want to be looking in your eyes
I want to be there for you, sharing everything you do
I want to grow old with you
A thousand miles between us now
It causes me to wonder how
Our love tonight remains so strong
It makes our risk right all along
The time we spent apart will make our love grow stronger
But it hurt so bad i can't take it any longer
I want to grow old with you
I want to die lying in your arms
I want to grow old with you
I want to be looking in your eyes
I want to be there for you, sharing everything you do
I want to grow old with you
Things can come and go
I know but
Baby I believe
Something's burning strong between us
Makes it clear to me
I want to grow old with you
I want to die lying in your arms
I want to grow old with you
I want to be looking in your eyes
I want to be there for you, sharing everything you do
I want to grow old with you
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Brian Mcfadden / Kian John Francis Egan / Shane Filan
I Wanna Grow Old with You lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
 

A Russian court has convicted three followers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses of participating in a religion banned for extremism. They were given suspended sentences of up to 2 1/2 years.
“Russian authorities today are following in the footsteps of their Soviet predecessors”, said a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses world headquarters in Warwick, New York.
The country has convicted 24 members since 2017, when it banned the denomination. Russia is known for its laws intended to crack down on opposition activists and religious minorities.
In November, Russia angered the West with by announcing a law that allows the Kremlin to label journalists and ordinary people as foreign agents if they collaborate with foreign media organisations and receive financial or other material support from them.
Last week, one of Russia’s elite universities, announced it is considering banning its students and staff from performing political speech.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/three-jehovahs-witnesses-convicted-in-russia-amid-crackdown/

A Russian court has convicted three followers of the Jehovah’s Witnesses of participating in a religion banned for extremism. They were given suspended sentences of up to 2 1/2 years.
“Russian authorities today are following in the footsteps of their Soviet predecessors”, said a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses world headquarters in Warwick, New York.
The country has convicted 24 members since 2017, when it banned the denomination. Russia is known for its laws intended to crack down on opposition activists and religious minorities.
In November, Russia angered the West with by announcing a law that allows the Kremlin to label journalists and ordinary people as foreign agents if they collaborate with foreign media organisations and receive financial or other material support from them.
Last week, one of Russia’s elite universities, announced it is considering banning its students and staff from performing political speech.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/three-jehovahs-witnesses-convicted-in-russia-amid-crackdown/

Do they pretend to kill someone sick? That sounds like "the walking dead" serie

A Dashoguz Region court jailed Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Kamiljan Ergashov for two years on 13 January, the first such jailing of 2020. He had offered to do an alternative civilian service but Turkmenistan does not offer this. He is likely to join the eight other jailed conscientious objectors in Seydi labour camp, known for harsh conditions and torture.
On 13 January, a court in Dashoguz Region of northern Turkmenistan jailed 18-year-old Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Kamiljan Ergashov for two years for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. This is the first known conviction and jailing of a conscientious objector so far in 2020. It is the 20th known such conviction since January 2018.
 
Conscripts at Ashgabat Military Conscription Office
Turkmen.news
Ergashov is the only bread winner in his family (see below).

Ergashov is appealing against his conviction to Dashoguz Regional Court, though courts and prisons often obstruct such appeals (see below).

Jehovah's Witnesses are conscientious objectors to military service and their beliefs do not allow them to undertake any kind of activity supporting any country's military. But they willing 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 sentence handed down to Ergashov brings to nine the number of conscientious objectors to compulsory military service known to be serving sentences. All of them are Jehovah's Witnesses (see full list below).

Including two who have been serving jail terms since 2018, nine Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors are known - as of 27 January 2020 - to be serving jail terms of between one and four years. Eight of them are imprisoned at the Labour Camp at Seydi in the eastern Lebap Region (see full list below).

Ergashov is still being held at the pre-trial detention prison in the city of Dashoguz, 450 kms (280 miles) north of the capital Ashgabat. He is expected to be transferred to the labour camp at Seydi, where the other eight jailed conscientious objectors are all being held (see 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.

The man who answered the phone of the deputy head of Dashoguz Region's Military Prosecutor's Office denied that it had any involvement in the prosecution. "We don't know anything" (see below).

Forum 18 could not immediately reach any other officials to find out why Ergashov was jailed and the regime is not willing to introduce a civilian alternative service. In particular, the specialist at the government's Commission for Work with Religious Organisations and Expert Analysis of Resources Containing Religious Information, Published and Printed Production, Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah, did not answer his phone (see below).

the United Nations Human Rights Committee has published 13 Decisions in favour of 15 conscientious objectors from Turkmenistan, all of them Jehovah's Witnesses (see below).

Another Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector former prisoner, Arslan Begenchov, lodged a case to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2018 and is awaiting a decision (see below).

Other prisoners of conscience jailed for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief – all of them Muslims – are serving far longer jail terms (see below).
 
No alternative to compulsory military service
 
Military Conscription Office, Ashgabat
Azathabar.com (RFE/RL)
Turkmenistan offers no alternative to its compulsory military service. Military service for men between the ages of 18 and 27 is generally two years. Article 58 of the 2016 Constitution describes defence as a "sacred duty" of everyone and states that military service is compulsory for men.

Young men who refuse military service on grounds of conscience generally face prosecution under Criminal Code Article 219, Part 1. This punishes refusal to serve in the armed forces in peacetime with a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment or two years' corrective labour.

Criminal Code Article 219, Part 2 punishes refusal to serve in the armed forces in peacetime "by means of inflicting injury to oneself, or by simulation of illness, by means of forgery of documents, or other fraudulent ways". Punishment is a jail term of one to four years. The first known use of Article 219, Part 2 to punish a conscientious objector was the case of Azat Ashirov, while Serdar Dovletov's case was the second (see below).

From 2014, courts punished conscientious objectors with corrective labour or suspended prison terms, rather than imprisonment. However, jailings resumed in January 2018. Courts jailed 12 conscientious objectors in 2018, two of them for two years and 10 for one year.
Read more: http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2537

US basketball legend Kobe Bryant was among five people killed in a helicopter crash in the city of Calabasas, California.
Bryant, 41, was travelling in a private helicopter when it crashed and burst into flames, according to reports.
The five-time NBA champion was widely considered one of the greatest players in the game's history.
Tributes from celebrities and fellow sports stars have been pouring in, many expressing shock at his sudden death.
"Please no. Please god no. It can't be true," basketball player Kevin Love wrote on Twitter.
The identities of the other victims have not yet been released.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51256756
 

via .ORGWorld News

🤭😁

(CNN)Coronavirus has been confirmed in Southern California -- making it the third case in the United States -- as a top Chinese health official delivered some worrisome news about efforts to contain the fast-moving virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified Orange County health officials Saturday that a potential case of coronavirus tested positive.
The person who tested positive traveled from Wuhan, China -- the epicenter of the outbreak -- and is in isolation and in "good condition" at a local hospital, the Orange County Health Care Agency said in a statement.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/26/us/coronavirus-orange-county/index.html

PORT ORCHARD — The youngest victim in the deadly Wednesday evening shooting in downtown Seattle was a 9-year-old Port Orchard boy.
The boy, named Judah, was reported to be recovering from surgery to repair a fractured left leg, according to a report by KOMO News this morning.
Seattle Police were continuing their search for two of the three gunmen who reportedly opened fire near a busy Third Avenue and Pine Street intersection filled with commuters heading home. A woman was killed in the crossfire and seven were injured. One of the gunmen is in custody, according to police.
In the KOMO News report, a family friend of the boy, Erik Larson, said the youngster had been to Seattle for a visit to the Pacific Science Center with family and friends from Port Orchard. The family, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, had been looking at sidewalk displays and literature about their faith, and were heading down Third Avenue toward Colman Dock to catch a westbound ferry when the gunfire erupted
Larson told KOMO News that the family was next to the McDonald’s restaurant when the chaos unleashed. “Tragically, the woman that ended up killed was on the pavement not far from where they were struck,” Larson said. “It’s really near-miraculous that none of the other nine in their contingent was impacted.”
The family friend said paramedics quickly responded to the scene.
“He held it together,” Larson said of young Judah. “In fact, one of the police officers mentioned that he wasn’t even crying when she responded.”
The Port Orchard boy and the other victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center, the region’s primary trauma center, where x-rays were taken of his left leg that was hit by a bullet. It was shown Judah had a fracture. He was taken into surgery Thursday morning and the fractured bone was repaired using a plate and screws.
Larson told KOMO News that Judah could possibly head back home to Port Orchard today.
“He’s not going to let [the shooting] deter him or detract him from moving ahead.”
https://www.kitsapdailynews.com/news/report-9-year-old-boy-shot-in-seattle-is-from-port-orchard/
 

An 89-year-old former maths teacher faces up to ten years in a Russian prison on charges of religious extremism in a crackdown on Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Russia outlawed the evangelical Christian group in 2017, categorising it as extremist and on a par with Islamic State and neo-Nazi movements.
Nine Jehovah’s Witnesses were jailed last year after being arrested while leading or organising prayer meetings.
They were jailed for between two and six years. More than 30 others have spent at least six months in detention.
Rimma Vashchenko, born in 1930, is one of eight other residents of Nevinnomyssk, a city in south Russia, who were charged with extremism after raids on Bible study groups by armed police. Four are in their seventies.
Ms Vashchenko, who has…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jehovah-s-witness-89-faces-jail-on-charges-of-religious-extremism-in-kremlin-persecution-xncd3rwm3