“I know that there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation. But there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that I think speaks to us all at times like this. ‘The bricks have fallen down but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled but we will replace them with cedars.’ That is what we will do. We will rebuild and we will recover…” So spoke United States Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, on September 12, 2001, in response to the shocking terrorist attacks the day before.

In an article in the UK’s Guardian, author Damian Carrington reviewed recently published research by three Cornell University faculty members suggesting that when food prices reach a specific level, riots and civil unrest are more likely to occur.

Before the world-changing events of 9/11/2001, Americans’ exposure to terrorism was mostly secondhand—perhaps watching video images of a bombed-out Oklahoma City building in April 1995, or reading newspaper stories of a botched World Trade Center bombing in February 1993. Millions, however, on that momentous Tuesday morning of September 11, were watching live television coverage of one burning skyscraper, when another jet suddenly appeared—and then crashed into the second WTC tower!

Sheikh Adel Shehato was imprisoned in Egypt in 1991 and released following the Egyptian uprising earlier this year.  He is a senior official in the Egyptian Jihad and his fame and influence are growing in Egypt.  In a recent interview, he shared his extremist views about Christianity.  When asked whether he was against blowing up churches, the sheikh responded, “Yes and no.

Hurricane Irene plowed a destructive path up the east coast of the United States and into Canada last weekend, causing billions of dollars in damage and leaving millions without power.  Although the storm was a “low” category hurricane, it was large and moved through some of the most densely populated areas of the nation—potentially impacting more than 65 million people.