Author: Mike Bain/cvnznews.com

By Steve Gatena The alarm goes off.You reach for your phone before your feet hit the floor.Coffee, commute, clock in, clock out.No direction. No fire.Just the quiet hum of a life running on a preset course. God didn’t wire you for autopilot.He wired you for a destination. Maybe life handed you reasons to stay stuck.A past easier to hide from than to face.Voices telling you this is as good as it gets. Paul had more reasons than most to stay grounded.And yet Philippians 3 is one of the most forward-moving passages in Scripture:”Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what…

By Partner News Agency At least three vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz reported being hit by gunfire after Iran’s military declared on Saturday it was once again closing the chokepoint in response to the United States’ blockade of Iranian ports, according to The Wall Street Journal. The move came a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the strait was now open to all commercial vessels in the wake of the ceasefire reached in Lebanon. An outgoing convoy of eight tankers transited the waterway before the renewed closure was announced, Reuters reported. It was the first major movement of vessels…

By PNW Staff On a recent episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, Tucker Carlson did something few in conservative media have dared to do: he openly questioned whether Donald Trump could, in any sense, fit the biblical profile of the Antichrist. It wasn’t a throwaway comment. It was a carefully framed warning. Carlson pointed to Trump’s recent sharing of AI-generated images depicting himself alongside Jesus–imagery he argued crossed into mockery of the Christian faith. From there, he turned to Scripture, invoking the chilling description of the coming “man of lawlessness,” a figure who will “oppose and exalt himself over everything…

By Jonathan Tobin/JNS.org The headline published by the far-left outlet. The Intercept was spot on, even if most of the information in its article was slanted or downright false. In declaring that, “The Dam Breaks: Democratic Senators Overwhelmingly Reject Arms Sales to Israel,” the rabidly anti-Israel publication said nothing less than the truth. In the last year, the last vestiges of pro-Israel sentiment in the Democratic Party have more or less collapsed. In the vote held on April 15, 40 of 47 Democratic members of the U.S. Senate voted in favor of one or two of the proposals put forward…

By Staff Writers/JNS/Org When U.S. President Donald Trump sent Vice President JD Vance to negotiate with members of the Iranian regime in Islamabad, people initially thought that Vance–reportedly the most outspoken voice in the Trump administration against going to war with Iran–would be a soft touch. When the talks in Pakistan broke down, however, Vance’s position could hardly have been tougher. Having seen the Iranian regime up close, he said, he was absolutely certain that these people must never be allowed to get nuclear weapons. In recent days, he has again taken a position which contradicted previous assumptions about his…

OPINION: Ani O’Brien. How Liam Hehir convinced me I was wrong Last week, in my weekly political wrap up I wrote: Again we find ourselves with another lot of coup rumours. Yesterday, Luxon insisted repeatedly that he has the full support of his caucus. Sadly, the only time a leader has to say that is when he does not. My assessment of things is that the end of the road is nigh for the Prime Minister. He can not continue fending off these attacks. And I no longer think he should. Leadership coups are messy and difficult to get right,…

By Russell Moore. In the past few weeks, the president has posted an Easter message that used profanity and threatened civilizational genocide, has issued threats to the pope, and has posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus. (He now says he was portraying himself as a doctor.) After all this, even some of the president’s supporters feel humiliated and angry. I think it’s worth asking what exactly is coming to light in this moment and whether it could disrupt a means-to-an-end cultural Christianity. For years, some evangelicals have told us Donald Trump might be the disruptor we need to bring us back to Jesus. For the first time, I…

By Dianne Apen-Sadler As the Australian airline prepares for the first test flight on its new A350-1000ULR aircraft, we take a look at what passengers can expect onboard. Ultra-long-haul flights are a divisive topic among frequent fliers. Would you rather have the chance to stretch your legs, potentially grab a shower in the lounge, and eat some non-airplane food on a layover, or is your priority getting to your destination as quickly as possible. Love them or hate them, Australian airline Qantas is betting big on the sector with the launch of the world’s longest commercial flight next year. Passengers aboard the…

By Dean Foley/Australian Correspondent. Rising fuel prices linked to the Iran war are pushing more drivers across the United States to search for bargains and in many regions, the cheapest option is turning up on Native American reservations, where tribally owned stations can sell fuel at significantly lower prices. Junelle Lewis, from the Seattle area, drove to the Tulalip Reservation to fill up after noticing a sharp price difference on a phone app. “I purposely drove here just for the gas” she said, describing the savings compared with stations closer to home. The story says Lewis’s experience is increasingly common…

By Damilola Makinde  My doctor is a Muslim woman. When we speak, faith is an easily acknowledged part of the conversation. She introduces it in her Islamic dress; I introduce it with my occupation. It is clear as we speak that we have something in common beyond our sex and our experience as ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom. Beyond the immediacy of our London living—the din of traffic, the proximity of global foods—is our sense of the transcendent. We each understand the other to be living for something beyond themselves, and not just something, but someone. Someone above, to whom…

By Steve Gatena You just introduced yourself at a networking event.Name, company, title.On the drive home, you thought,Is that really who I am? Or just what I do? Your job isn’t who you are. It’s what you do.What you do will always flow from who you are. That’s the sequence that changes everything: BE → DO → HAVE.Before the impact comes the identity.Before the output comes the input.This isn’t a self-improvement formula. It’s a discipleship one The fact that you’re asking “who do I want to be?” means you’re already further along than most.That shift in question is the beginning…

By Associated Press . The U.S. Navy’s sea blockade against Iran appears to be working. Iran-linked or sanctioned vessels that have left the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz have stopped or turned around, shipping data firms say. They appear to have jammed or faked their locations in some instances, complicating an uncertain and risky shipping situation. The blockade that started Monday “has been fully implemented,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command. “U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going in and out of Iran by sea.” The action could put serious pressure on the Iranian…

OPINION: Teasi Cannon “You are a personal and professional offense to me!” The words pierced my heart and echoed in my mind for weeks. My pastor — the man whose ministry had shaped my life for more than 23 years — believed I’d somehow damaged his reputation, and he was furious. Despite our best efforts to bring clarity and biblical resolve, a few months later, my husband and I were left with no choice but to leave the church we’d built, loved, and faithfully served. We were broken and utterly confused — and because of a toxic leadership structure with…

Supplied by Partner News Agency. Pope Leo XIV’s recent visit to the Mosque of Algiers–where he removed his shoes, stood in silent reflection before the mihrab, and expressed gratitude for being in “a place that represents the space proper to God”–is not a harmless gesture of goodwill. It is a deeply consequential moment that raises serious questions about how the highest office in the Catholic Church is choosing to represent Christian truth in the public square. Because this is not simply about respect. No one is arguing against basic courtesy toward Muslims or any other religious group. Christians are called…

by Dean Foley/Australian Correspondent. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has confirmed she “had no concerns whatsoever” about the employment of her national campaign director, in a statement issued shortly after sacking him for the thing she had no concerns about. A party spokesperson said the vetting process for senior One Nation staff remained “robust”, consisting of one phone call, a vibe check and a final sign-off from whoever happened to be in the room. “We have an extensive screening procedure” the spokesperson explained. “Step one, we ask if they’re loyal. Step two, there is no step two.” Senator Hanson told…

By Partner News Agency. Abortion in South Korea is increasingly being shaped by commercial forces and global pharmaceutical interests, according to a presentation at an April colloquium hosted by a Seoul-based bioethics institute, which warned that the growing use of medication abortion reflects a broader shift from a medical and ethical issue to a profit-driven industry. The April colloquium of the Seongsan Institute for Bioethics, held April 11 at Yongsan Station in Seoul, featured Dr. Jang Ji-young, the institute’s secretary general and a physician at Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital. Speaking on “How does abortion become an industry? The U.S.…

By Colin Ambler/cvnznews.com Brian Tamaki has launched a fresh push to put the size of New Zealand’s Parliament back in the hands of voters — but the move raises a deeper question politicians rarely want to answer: Do they support fewer MPs, or do they simply prefer longer, safer terms in government? The Destiny Church leader has begun a citizens‑initiated referendum campaign asking New Zealanders whether the House of Representatives should be cut from 120 MPs to 65. The proposed question — “Should the House of Representatives be reformed by reducing the number of Members of Parliament from 120 to…

Opinion: Ani O’Brien. Note: I was a vegetarian for 10 years and previously worked at the SPCA. I am a believer in high animal welfare standards and think that many animal welfare groups do a great deal of good work. Many of them are a bit nuts though. There I was, scrolling the apps, when a familiar Kiwi farmer’s face appeared with a message that sounded quite good. I halted in my tracks and bestowed a view on the video’s tally. The gist was that our imported farming products should live up to our national animal welfare standards. Fair enough,…

by Mandy Te/Interest NZ. A mixture of political optics, an election year and a free trade agreement that doesn’t deliver the typical level of market access into India that New Zealand is used to in its trade agreements, has led to a political scrap putting the future of the deal in question. Labour is accusing National of pushing through a rushed, secretive India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as it seeks more details on visas for students and investment. But that has raised eyebrows in National, with Trade Minister Todd McClay telling interest.co.nz they had four months of engaging “extensively” with Labour on…

By John Stonestreet/Andrew Carico. The prophet Isaiah warned, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”  A modern example, as Dr. Al Mohler recently described on The Briefing, is the “moral incoherence” of believing life is sacred and valuable while also rejecting any consequences for those who take it.   Recently, the state of Georgia charged a woman with the murder of her 22- to 24-week-old baby, who died within an hour of birth after her mother took abortion pills at home to terminate the pregnancy. This is the first murder charge in the state related to its six-week abortion ban. The Washington Post article that covered this story concluded by citing a 2022 Economist/YouGov poll. According to the poll, 19% of respondents think a woman who…

Overseas funding for Christian mission work in India could be inhibited by a proposed amendment to a law surrounding foreign funding. The amended Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Bill would allow the Indian government to seize the assets of any organization that has its FCRA license blocked or that has a lapsed license. The FCRA license is what permits NGOs in India to accept foreign funding. Joseph D’Souza, head of the All India Christian Council, said, “This is a dangerous and deeply alarming crisis, with immediate and potentially irreversible consequences.” Critics of the new law fear it will be used by…

By Ashley Church. We’ve just had a big cyclone here in New Zealand and we were fixated on every aspect of its arrival, progress and eventual departure – constantly checking apps, following the news for updates, watching the maps, and trying to work out what was coming and whether we needed to prepare any differently. That’s just common sense. When people think a storm is coming, they want forewarning and enough information to prepare and adjust so as not to be caught out. But what if you checked your weather app and discovered that the storm that you were preparing…

OPINION: Roger Partridge. Critics of judicial overreach face an odd challenge. The most sophisticated response is not to defend the decisions – it is to deny that constitutional limits exist at all. If courts made the rules, the argument runs, courts can remake them. Last month’s column, An Inheritance Worth Defending, drew that response, among others. Four arguments recur. On the surface they are distinct – one concerns the foundations of parliamentary sovereignty, one the proper limits of common law development, one a comparison with Australian constitutional law, and one concerns the lessons to be drawn from two landmark cases…

By Lana Lam and Tiffanie Turnbull/BBC-Sydney. A major fire at one of Australia’s two oil refineries has been extinguished, but the damage has deepened fears over the nation’s petrol supplies amid a global fuel crunch. Emergency crews rushed to Viva’s Corio oil refinery in Geelong, southwest of Melbourne, just before midnight on Wednesday, after reports of explosions and flames. The blaze was put out on Thursday after burning for 13 hours. No one was injured, with dozens of workers on site when it broke out evacuated safely. The refinery – which produces 50% of Victoria’s fuel and 10% of the…

by Canaan Lidor The City Council of Auckland, the capital city of New Zealand, voted on Tuesday, Israel’s national memorial day for Holocaust victims, in favor of a resolution that calls for applying sanctions on the Jewish state, local activists said. The Auckland Council Policy, Planning and Development Committee voted 14 to 2 to request a staff report by July “on the alignment of Auckland Council’s policies and practices with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. including any potential facilitation of trade with relevant UN-identified entities and advice on how alignment could be strengthened,” according to The Daily Blog news site. That…

By Mike Bain/cvnznews.com National is accusing Labour of signalling support for a raft of new taxes after Labour’s Revenue spokesperson Deborah Russell described proposals from advocacy group Tax Justice Aotearoa as “really good suggestions.” The lobby group released a report calling for a series of major tax changes, including a 50% top income tax rate for earnings over $150,000, a broader capital gains tax, an inheritance tax, a wealth tax, windfall profit taxes, and higher trust tax rates. National MP Simeon Brown said Russell’s comments showed Labour was “pulling back the curtain” on its appetite for further taxation. He argued…

By JNS Staff Iran secretly obtained a Chinese-made reconnaissance satellite in late 2024 and used it to help target U.S. military positions across the Middle East during the recent conflict, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The newspaper, citing leaked Iranian military documents, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force took control of the TEE-01B satellite built by China’s Earth Eye Co. after its launch from China. The system reportedly provided the IRGC with imagery and coordinates of U.S. bases before and after missile and drone attacks in March. As part of the arrangement, the Iranian regime gained access to ground stations operated by…

By Steve Gatena Harry Houdini once claimed he could break out of any jail in the world. One day, a challenge was presented.He stepped into a cell, confident.Hidden in his belt was a tool to pick the lock. Thirty minutes passed.Nothing.An hour.Sweat dripped down his face. Two hours in, exhausted, he collapsed against the door. And it swung open.It was never locked.He just thought it was… How often have you been in that cell?Feeling trapped and paralyzed.Not by actual walls, but by voices that have made themselves at home in your head.You’re not good enough.You don’t have what it takes.This…

By Colin Ambler/cvnznews.com New Zealand’s fuel supplies remain stable despite a three‑day drop in petrol, diesel, and jet fuel stocks, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says, confirming the country will stay in Phase 1 of the National Fuel Plan. The latest update triggered one of the criteria for reviewing the plan, after fuel stocks fell more than three days between reports. But Luxon said ministers agreed with officials that the situation did not warrant moving to Phase 2, which would involve precautionary conservation measures and closer coordination with fuel companies. “Our fuel importers continue to report no material issues with future…

By Sarah McMillan/cvnznews.com. The Government’s drive to speed up diagnosis and treatment across the health system has taken another step forward, with Dunedin Hospital’s new Surgical Assessment Unit (SAU) now fully operational and already delivering faster care for patients across Otago and Southland. Health Minister Simeon Brown says the $2.4 million unit is reducing emergency department pressure, accelerating diagnosis, and ensuring patients with acute surgical conditions are treated sooner — a shift that mirrors the nationwide expansion of cancer infusion services announced earlier this week. “Patients avoid unnecessary waits in ED and instead receive care in a calmer, more appropriate…

By Mike Bain/cvnznews.com The future of New Zealand’s broadcasting regulator has become a live political battleground, as ACT intensifies its push to scrap the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) and the Government signals it may be ready to follow. The pressure escalated after a high‑profile jurisdiction ruling involving online talkback outlet The Platform, which reignited long‑running questions about whether a regulator created in 1989 can meaningfully govern a digital‑first media landscape. ACT MP Laura McClure says the Minister’s recent comments — suggesting the BSA may be abolished — show the Government is “finally catching up” with public sentiment. McClure argues the…

By Brit McCandless Farmer/CBS News For more than two decades, the numbers told a story of decline. Adult conversions to Catholicism had been falling steadily since the early 2000s, according to data compiled by Georgetown University. Weddings, baptisms, and even funerals registered fewer and fewer Catholic participants. The church appeared to be losing its hold on American life. Then something shifted. Since around 2022, dioceses across the country have reported a reversal of that trend, with growing numbers of Americans — particularly Millennials and Gen Z — choosing to join the Catholic Church. This past Easter, some archdioceses recorded their highest number…

By Colin/Ambler/cvnznews.com New Zealand’s cancer patients are set to benefit from one of the largest expansions of community‑based treatment in years, with thousands more people able to receive life‑saving infusions closer to home. Health Minister Simeon Brown says the nationwide rollout of new and expanded infusion services is already underway, marking a major step forward in improving access to cancer care. The upgrade follows the Government’s $604 million boost to Pharmac in Budget 2024, which funded 66 new medicines — including 33 cancer treatments — and created a surge in demand for infusion capacity. Around 13,000 additional cancer infusions are…

By Gavin Blackburn. Israel and Hezbollah have fought multiple wars since the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group was formed in the 1980s as a guerrilla force fighting against Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon at the time. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem urged Lebanon on Monday to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington the following day, reiterating his group’s rejection of direct negotiations with Israel. “We reject negotiations with the usurping Israeli entity…We call for a historic and heroic stance by cancelling this negotiating meeting,” Qassem, whose Iran-backed group has been at war with Israel since 2 March, said in a…

By Gavin Blackburn. Such misfires are common in Nigeria, where the military often conducts air raids to battle armed groups who control vast forest enclaves. A Nigerian Air Force strike targeting jihadist rebels hit a local market in the northeast, killing as many as 200 civilians, a local chief reported on Monday. Officials confirmed a misfire but provided no further details. Amnesty International cited survivors as saying that at least 100 people were killed in the air strike on Saturday on a village in Yobe state, near the border with Borno state, which is the epicentre of the insurgency that…

It’s Tuesday morning.You’re sitting in your driveway, engine running, hand on the gearshift.You know exactly where you need to go.You’ve run the play in your head a hundred times.And you still haven’t moved. In football, they call that living in the huddle.The play is drawn up.The clock is running. But the snap never comes. The snap is the moment strategy becomes action.Before it, you have the perfect play drawn up in your mind.After it, you have reality, and there’s no going back. When Jesus called the fishermen, Matthew tells us they “immediately left their nets and followed him.”Not after one…

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon dismissed Hawke’s Bay mayor’s concerns regarding the use of state of emergencies, stating a preference for being over-prepared for significant weather events. Wairoa Mayor Craig Little stated firmly on Monday that he declined the invitation to join Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Napier, Hastings, and Central Hawke’s Bay councils in declaring a local state of emergency for Cyclone Vaianu. “We’re becoming woke as a country when it comes to states of emergency,” Little said. “We didn’t need a state of emergency. When you make a call like that, it means you are under the pump. “I think…

cvnznews.com/ Editorial. The clean‑up from Cyclone Vaianau has barely started and already the fallout is as much about trust as it is about debris. Forecasts promised a hammer blow; the reality was a glancing strike. The result is predictable: frightened children, furious parents, and a public increasingly convinced the Met Service and Emergency Management are crying wolf. This is not mere annoyance. My own nine-year-old grandchild had heard the news and noted parental concerns feared going to bed because of the storm Other parents reported the same raw terror. That fear is real, and it is the direct product of…

By Abby Trivett/US Correspondent. We may just be living through one of the most prophetic moments described in the Bible. According to a new Pew Research study, 60% of adults in the United States were found to have “an unfavorable view of Israel,” going up seven points from last year’s 53% disapproval rating. Along with this disheartening statistic, 59% were discovered to have “little or no confidence in Netanyahu to do the right thing regarding world affairs,” which is also higher than last year’s 52% disapproval rating. What’s interesting about this is that it doesn’t appear to be a political party…

Supplied-Partner Media Outlet. A paramedic has been struck off after secretly injecting his lover with abortion drugs during a sexual encounter. Stephen Doohan, who was married at the time, began an affair with his victim after they met in Ibiza. Doohan later separated from his wife and it soon became apparent that his new lover was pregnant. Despite agreeing together to keep the baby, Doohan crushed up some abortion drugs and secretly injected them into his lover while they were having sex. The woman later had a miscarriage and suspected that Doohan may have done something. Doohan convinced her to…