Politics

Zimbabwe's prime minister and opposition presidential candidate has reportedly invited a controversial Christian minister to speak at the African country's National Day of Prayer event on May 25. The invitation is being fiercely opposed by President Robert Mugabe's party after the minister is believed to have prophesied the 88-year-old leader's death.

The faith healer in question is Temitope Balogun Joshua, who is accused by senior officials of being a "Satanist" and "false prophet" for teaching what the ZANU-PF calls "judgmental, partisan, and unorthodox" messages. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai invited Joshua to the May 25 event. The controversial minister claims to have healed people suffering illnesses through prayer and is believed to have made accurate prophecies concerning figures in the country. Most recently, Joshua has been accused of making a prophecy believed to predict Mugabe's death.

"TB Joshua uses evil powers which are satanic and satanic powers can also work. TB Joshua's visit does not scare me because he is not God. What are people scared of? What is he coming for? Does he have power to take life?" said Anglican Bishop Nolbert Kunonga. more >>

Israeli politicians, U.S. senators, and activists around the world are calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to issue a moment of silence during this summer's London games in honor of the 11 athletes, coaches, and referees killed in a terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich.

Israeli and American politicians are calling for "just one minute" – a request that has been made every year since the 1976 Montreal Games – on behalf of two widows. Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andrei Spitzer, and Ilana Romano, widow of weightlifter Yossef Romano, lost their husbands in the terrorist attack carried out against the Israeli Olympic team 40 years ago.

Despite the renewed calls for a moment of silence, the IOC has once again denied the request to pay tribute to the fallen athletes saying that the organization has already paid official tribute to the victims of the Munich massacre. more >>

Dr. Alveda C. King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., has expressed dissatisfaction with the NAACP's affirmation of gay marriage and rejects claims that the fight for such unions is linked to the civil rights movement. King claims the anti-traditional marriage community wants "a world where homosexual marriage and abortion will supposedly set the captives free."

Dr. King, who is also the Sr. Pastoral Associate and Director of African-American Outreach for Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries, said in a statement that she opposes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's recent endorsement of same-sex marriage.

"Neither my great-grandfather an NAACP founder, my grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. an NAACP leader, my father Rev. A. D. Williams King, nor my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced the homosexual agenda that the current NAACP is attempting to label as a civil rights agenda," the civil rights leader expressed. more >>

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the highest ranking Roman Catholic official in United States, has said that the church faces the dangerous prospect of having to end its services to the poor over the Health and Human Services mandate requiring employers to cover contraception, sterilization and some abortifacient drugs in their health insurance policies.

"If these mandates click in, we're going to find ourselves faced with a terribly difficult decision as to whether or not we can continue to operate. As part of our religion, it's part of our faith that we feed the hungry, that we educate the kids, that we take care of the sick. We'd have to give it up because we're unable to fit the description and the definition of a church given by, guess who? The federal government," Dolan said in a video aired Tuesday by MSNBC on Martin Bashir's program.

Bashir then turned to a panel of commentators asking them to explain how Cardinal Dolan's comments could be justified. The MSNBC host wondered if a compromise could be reached between the Catholic Church wishing to adhere to its beliefs by not allowing artificial birth control methods, while at the same time respecting women's rights to have access to such drugs. more >>

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was the subject of much scorn by the president of the AFL-CIO union in her state. At a retirement party for president Donna Dewitt, Haley's face was pinned to a piñata and beaten by Dewitt. Did the AFL-CIO go too far, though, in posting a video of the beating?

Dewitt retired this weekend, after serving as president of the AFL-CIO in South Carolina for two years. It was no secret that Dewitt is not fond of the governor, but things took a somewhat of a violent turn after a video was posted of her beating a piñata with Haley's image on it. Though Dewitt has received criticism from the leaders of the national American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations- of the largest union leaders in the nation- and the public at large, she has said she does not regret her actions.

"It was all fun and games, and there was certainly no ill intent," Dewitt told the Huffington Post. "Guys who know me know we've had to fight the governor and her comments on unions. She's been taking whacks at us for a couple of years. We could have played pin the tail on the donkey and put [Haley's] face on the donkey," she noted. "That would have suited me fine." more >>

A Reagan blood auction has the former president's charitable foundation in an uproar. A British auction house is currently selling a vial of the Republican leader's blood to the highest bidder.

The Reagan blood auction could not have been possible without the 1981 assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr., who shot the President in front of the Washington Hilton Hotel. The specimen is alleged to be from his hospital visit after his wound, and Reagan supporters have condemned the auction, calling it "craven."

"If indeed this story is true, it's a craven act, and we will use every legal means to stop its sale or purchase," Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation executive director John Heubusch said in a statement. more >>