The Methodist Council agreed further work on poverty, equality and inclusivity when it met at Uplands House in High Wycombe on 13 - 15 April.The Methodist Council agreed further work on poverty, equality and inclusivity when it met at Uplands House in High Wycombe on 13 - 15 April.Council members discussed a number of reports on the issues of inclusion and diversity, and considered plans to improve the ways the growing contributions of the diverse communities represented within the Church are valued. The Belonging Together project has involved engaging with a range of people and groups within and connected to the Church."This is not about committees and conditions", said Belonging Together Partnership Officer Katei Kirby."The Church has a responsibility to love all God's people, to affirm them, bring them together and celebrate them."The Council also received an update on the Church's work on challenging the stigma around poverty.Presenting the report, Public Issues Policy Adviser Paul Morrison said:"One of the things that the Church should do is stand up when people are misrepresented and when people who are in poverty are treated as less than they are. Everybody is valued, everybody is loved and everybody should be treated with dignity and respect. We have to challenge the narrative that people in poverty are somehow less deserving than the rest of society."The Church, together with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, United Reformed Church and Church of Scotland, produced a report on these issues which was launched last month. EntitledThe lies we tell ourselves, the report says that statistics have been manipulated and misused by politicians across the spectrum, as well as by the media, to support the belief that the poor deserve their poverty, and therefore deserve the cuts. The Council commended the report and associated resources for use by churches and groups throughout the UK.Council members also heard that significant progress had been made on establishing the Church's new Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network and discussed the details of the changes."It is exciting to see the vision of the Methodist Conference for a fresh approach to learning and development becoming real,"said Jude Levermore, Interim Head of the Discipleship and Ministries Cluster.Other matters discussed by the Council included plans to recommend that the Methodist Conference set up a working group to consider the implications of the Government's plans to legalise same sex marriage.[Ekk/4]

Parx Casino in Bensalem is the No. 1 casino in Pennsylvania, and is one of the most popular places in the area for people to spend their free time. Already featuring more than 3,330 slot machines, 110 live tables, and 60 poker tables, Parx is adding another form of entertainment for its patrons.

The U.S. government’s main watchdog on Monday reported that U.S. corporations are paying taxes on less than half of their declared income, largely due to dozens of tax breaks that have come under increased scrutiny in recent months. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is reporting that U.S. companies received tax breaks worth around 181 billion [...]

Contact: Lisa Lloyd, 405-605-2003, 405-973-6960 cell, Lloyd@saxum.com; www.hobbylobby.comOKLAHOMA CITY, April 15, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a privately held retail chain with more than 500 arts and crafts stores in 45 states, today announced a minimum wage increase to $14 per hour for full-time hourly employees of Hobby Lobby and its affiliate Hemispheres, effective immediately. The company also announced a minimum wage increase for all part-time employees to $9.5 Source: Saxum

“Be a climate-protection hero, not a climate victim” is the message energy experts from around the world are bringing to San Francisco Tuesday. It is the first conference in U.S. history where the leaders in the 100-percent renewable energy revolution will share their knowledge and vision. “There are powerful economic and environmental reasons for this [...]

Derek Cianfrance’s sophomore film is a sprawling, sobering effort on fathers and sons. Itinerant motorcycle stunt rider Luke (Ryan Gosling) turns to robbing banks in order to support his newborn child and win the trust of his lover, Romina (Eva Mendes). Avery (Bradley Cooper) is a young, ambitious police officer who is unexpectedly thrown in to Luke’s path. Their collision reverberates throughout the respective men’s lives.

Anyone who has ever had a job recognizes the desire to move up the ladder and eventually get a higher position and a better-paying spot. For the most part, everyone starts out at the bottom and then works his way up. And this is exactly what goes on in the play“How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.”

The spreading economic crisis is taking a bite out of Western military spending – even as the world’s developing nations, along with Russia and China, boosted their arms expenditures last year. In a study released Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported a decline in military spending last year in the United States, [...]

Gustavo Capdevila interviews NÉSTOR OSORIO, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the U.N.

“She is dangerous. None who makes an enemy of her will win an easy victory.”So is spoken of Medea, the titular character of the ancient Greek drama“Medea,”brought to life by The Baldwin School Maskers this past weekend.

"I hate theater!"These shocking words immediately and irrevocably pulled the entire audience into the crazy world of“The Drowsy Chaperone.”

Brian Flanagan was not the person that everyone expected to be the next popular club songwriter in Philly. He played the drums in surf bands, cover groups, and for a short time, with the Haddonfield Symphony Orchestra. But he was very influenced by the Kinks and other literate bands of the’60s and’70s.

The Hooters broke out of Philly during an interesting time during which the region had many great rock clubs, such as the Empire, Grendel’s Lair, the Chestnut, Ardmore, and Ambler Cabarets, and J.C. Dobbs. But on the national charts, most of the acts were foreign, a la Men at Work, Madness, Vandenberg, the Police, Peter Shilling, Duran Duran and Dexy’s Midnight Runners.

The daffodils have opened and the trees are budding bright and colorful leaves. But they aren’t the only things blooming this month.

At least forty-seven people, including several Christians, have been arrested while peacefully blocking entrances to the Faslane nuclear base in Scotland.At least forty-seven people, including several Christians, have been arrested today (15 April) while peacefully blocking entrances to the Faslane nuclear base in Scotland.They were calling for Trident nuclear weapons to be scrapped and the estimated £100 billion that the UK government plans to spend on them to be directed to welfare, pensions, disability benefits, green jobs and other human needs.All gates were blocked with the base completely shut from 7am until 10am. The entrance was filled with people singing and in good spirits. The action was backed by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Trident Ploughshares, the Scottish Green Party, the Scottish Socialist Party, the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre and other groups.The blockade is one of more than a hundred actions on the Global Day of Action on Military Spending, calling for deep reductions in military spending, currently at $1.74 trillion annually, and follows a demonstration in Glasgow on Saturday (13 April) when thousands of protesters called for the government to scrap Trident.Activists from a dozen campaign groups and political parties laid down in the entrance to the base and locked themselves together with metal and plastic tubes, chains and thumb cuffs. Police used specialist cutting equipment to cut them out before they were able to lift them out of the road.Briain Quail, 70, a retired teacher from Glasgow was reportedly the first to be arrested. Others included Green MSP Patrick Harvie and CND chair Dave Webb.Krista van Velzen, a former MP in the Netherlands and Christian peace activist, was also arrested, shortly after declaring “It's appalling that the UK spends £3 billion per year on weapons of mass destruction, while refugees in Syria struggle even to have a piece of tarp to make a shelter.”Those arrested are reported to have ranged in age from 19 to 83 and came from across Scotland, Wales, England and possibly beyond. Older participants amongst those arrested include veteran Quaker campaigner Sylvia Boyes, 69, from Yorkshire, and Caerphilly Labour councillor Ray Davies, 83. They were joined by younger people including theology student Duncan Logie from Glasgow and Dominic Lindley, 20, from Yorkshire CND.Lindley said he was “taking action to stop the breach of the peace” committed by the UK government in “owning and refusing to disarm weapons of mass destruction”.Sheffield University student Sara Moon said, “Sheffied University Student Union has a firm commitment to the belief that money should not be spent on funding the arms trade and supporting war but instead be spent on fundamental social goods such as education.”She added, “It would take a fraction of the cost of the Trident nuclear programme to fund free education for all in the UK. At a time when the worst off in our communities have been stripped of their access to education we have to demand that public money is not wasted on something as unnecessary and devastating as Trident”[Ekk/1]