International
JUST IN: Prominent Televangelist and Founder of Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson is Dead
A prominent televangelist who founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson, is reportedly dead at the age of 93 made the Christian right a powerful political force and unsuccessfully ran for president in 1988, died on Thursday.
According to a release by the network, “Pat Robertson, longtime TV host, religious broadcaster, educator, humanitarian, and one-time presidential candidate died at his home in Virginia Beach early Thursday morning. He was 93”.
Regent University in Virginia also released a statement saying it was mourning the loss of Robertson.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved founder,” Regent University Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs William L. Hathaway said.
“Dr. Robertson was a globally-renowned leader, broadcaster, philanthropist, educator, author, accomplished businessman, and – most importantly – a faithful servant of God who dedicated his life to glorifying the Lord and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Born in 1930, Robertson founded the Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960 and was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister a year later. He used that TV perch to push his message of conservative Christian values to people at home, taking aim at gay rights, feminism, abortion and other social issues.
Robertson helped transform the conservative evangelical movement into a political force on the American right that helped elect Ronald Reagan. He then ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1988, coming in behind both George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole.
Afterwards, he founded the Christian Coalition of America, which promoted conservative Christian political candidates, and returned to his TV show “The 700 Club.”
Robertson made a series of inflammatory and controversial opinions and repeatedly said that acts of terrorism or weather disasters were a form of divine retribution for perceived immorality.
“We have killed over 40 million unborn babies in America,” Robertson said on his September 12, 2005, broadcast of “700 Club,” about two weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.
“I was reading, yesterday, a book that was very interesting about what God has to say in the Old Testament about those who shed innocent blood. And he [the author] used the term that those who do this, ‘the land will vomit you out.’ … But have we found we are unable somehow to defend ourselves against some of the attacks that are coming against us, either by terrorists or now by natural disasters? Could they be connected in some way?”
In more recent years, he became a supporter of former President Donald Trump, and in 2017 he linked the Las Vegas mass shooting to “disrespect” for Trump.
All seven people on board a tourist helicopter were killed when the aircraft crashed in a remote area of northern Kenya on Wednesday morning, authorities confirmed.
The Eurocopter EC130 B4 was flying on a safari route from the Loisaba Conservancy to the Ewaso Nyiro area in Samburu County when it went down at approximately 9:13 a.m. local time near Mount Ololokwe. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said the helicopter was carrying six passengers and one pilot. Police later confirmed there were no survivors.
Five of the victims were American citizens, according to the U.S. State Department. Among those killed were José Alberto Suárez, a senior executive with Telemundo (NBCUniversal), and Michele Sensi-Contugi, director of Ecuador’s National Intelligence Center, who was travelling with his wife, Stephany Hollihan. Both she and her husband died in the crash.
The aircraft was operated by Lady Lori Helicopters and was carrying guests of the luxury safari company &Beyond. Rescue teams, including the Kenya Red Cross, faced difficult terrain and a fire at the crash site during recovery operations.
An official investigation into the cause of the accident is underway. The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi said it is providing consular assistance to the families of the American victims.
International
Trump Annex Strait of Hormuz “New US Territory”
The development follows Trump’s recent comments that he would declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory after defeating Iran.
US President Donald Trump has declared the Strait of Hormuz a “new US territory.”
Trump on Tuesday shared a map graphic on Truth Social, a social media platform he owns, labelling the Strait of Hormuz a “NEW U.S. Territory”.
The same graphic was also posted by the official White House account on X.
The image shows a blue-highlighted map of the strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with a circle around the narrow passage and the words “NEW U.S. Territory” displayed prominently.
The development follows Trump’s recent comments that he would declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory after defeating Iran.
Speaking at a political rally in New York State on Friday, Trump said,
“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated — pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”
International
Zambia’s Hichilema leads presidential vote count
Hichilema had 54.82% or 1,056,812 of the declared votes, figures showed, putting him on track for re-election without a second-round runoff if he keeps the overall majority.
Photo: Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema greets United Party for National Development (UPND) supporters during their election campaign launch in Lusaka, Zambia, June 28, 2026. Credit : REUTERS
Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema was well ahead in counting for national elections on Sunday with nearly half the constituencies declared, the electoral commission said.
Reuters reported that Hichilema had 54.82% or 1,056,812 of the declared votes, figures showed, putting him on track for re-election without a second-round runoff if he keeps the overall majority.
His main challenger, Brian Mundubile, was in second place with 43% or 830,841 of the declared votes, with 105 out of 226 constituencies announced by around 1500 GMT.
The presidential vote — held alongside parliamentary and local elections on Thursday — is seen as a test of whether Hichilema’s economic gains since a pandemic-era debt crisis are enough to win him a second term in Africa’s second-largest copper producer after the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia temporarily halted vote counting on Friday, citing violence against officials and the theft of ballot papers.
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