Headline rates of inflation across most of the world’s economies have fallen back sharply since the autumn but core rates — which exclude volatile categories such as energy and food — remain at or close to multi-decade highs.

These rates, seen as a better gauge of underlying price pressures, have sparked concern that central banks will struggle to hit their targets without wiping out growth.

“The next leg of the improvement in the inflation numbers is going to be harder,” said Carl Riccadonna, chief US economist at BNP Paribas. “It requires more pain, and that pain likely involves a recession in the back half of the year.”

Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, added: “The only way to get inflation down to 2 per cent is to crush demand and slow down the economy in a more substantial way.”

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“The next leg of the improvement in the inflation numbers is going to be harder. It requires more pain:” BNP's Riccadonna

Apollo's Torsten Slok: “The only way to get inflation down to 2% is to crush demand.”
https://t.co/8BVmtH9pdm

— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) June 23, 2023

My God, I love Thee Thyself above all else, and Thee I desire as my last end. Always and in all things, with my whole heart and strength, and with unceasing labour, I seek Thee. If Thou give not Thyself to me, Thou givest nothing: if I find not Thee, I find nothing. Grant to me, therefore, most loving God, that I may ever love Thee for Thyself above all things and seek Thee in all things in this life present, so that at last I may find Thee and keep Thee for ever in the world to come.

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

Into the sun. pic.twitter.com/8mPC6WJCRd

— Tree-lined lanes (@LanesTree) June 23, 2023

The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family–from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.

–1 Samuel 3:8-13

Sur sa colline Valère, Sion 😍🏰🇨🇭#switzerland #photography #paysage #landscape #photooftheday #nature #castle @MySwitzerland_e @Veronique_Kanel @valaiswallis pic.twitter.com/aomrWSdNF0

— Délèze Dominique (@DelezeD) June 23, 2023

“Jeopardy” fans found themselves stunned Tuesday night after all three contestants failed to answer a question asking them to complete a line of the Lord’s Prayer, the most widely recited prayer in Christianity.

The puzzle, worth $200, read, “Matthew 6:9 says, ‘Our Father, which art in heaven,’ This ‘be thy name.’”

Contestants Suresh Krishnan, Laura Blyler and Joe Seibert stood in silence, with none of the three attempting to fill in the blank, until host Mayim Bialik revealed the answer: “Hallowed.”

The moment went viral, with viewers on Twitter expressing their shock at the contestants’ inability to answer a seemingly common-knowledge question.

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Jeopardy fans reel as “Lord’s Prayer” question goes unanswered: “How can those Jeopardy! nerds not know this answer. Have they never listened to Iron Maiden?” one fan of the show wrote, referencing the 1982 heavy metal song “Hallowed Be Thy Name.” https://t.co/iW3LN8LQ8B

— Judson Taylor (@judsontaylor) June 16, 2023

The Church of England has sacked a panel of experts who provided independent oversight of how it dealt with abuse.

The Archbishops’ Council confirmed it was “ending the contracts” of all three board members – acting chair Meg Munn, Jasvinder Sanghera and Steve Reeves.

The latter two recently claimed the Church had been obstructive and interfered with their work.

The Church said relations between them and senior bishops had “broken down”.

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I will be asking the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Andrew Selous MP, to request a briefing for MPs & Peers on *what on earth is going on* with the ⁦@churchofengland⁩ & safeguarding. https://t.co/eI9XNwPyi5

— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) June 22, 2023

The Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board are to remove Shell, BP, and other oil and gas firms from their investment portfolios, because they are not reducing their carbon emissions quickly enough.

The investment bodies were instructed by the General Synod in 2018 to disinvest from fossil-fuel companies by 2023 unless the latter could prove that they were on the path to tackling climate change, in line with the Paris Agreement (News, 13 July 2018).

The Commissioners, who manage a £10.3-billion endowment fund, announced on Thursday that they had “decided to exclude all remaining oil and gas majors from [their] portfolio, and will exclude all other companies primarily engaged in the exploration, production and refining of oil or gas, unless they are in genuine alignment with a 1.5°C pathway, by the end of 2023.

“In 2021, the Church Commissioners excluded 20 oil and gas majors from [their] investment portfolio. [They are] now also excluding BP, Ecopetrol, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, Pemex, Repsol, Sasol, Shell, and Total, after concluding that none are aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, as assessed by the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI).”

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The Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board are to remove Shell, BP, and other oil and gas firms from their investment portfolios, because they are not reducing their carbon emissions quickly enoughhttps://t.co/AvBQ86cUjC

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 22, 2023

The mystery is this. Since the late 1930s, sperm counts around the world appear to have dropped significantly. While the decline was initially observed in western countries, there is evidence of the same phenomenon in the developing world, and it seems to be accelerating. Swan, a Berkeley-trained statistician-turned-epidemiologist, believes she knows why.

For more than two decades she has devoted her life to studying the effects of “endocrine disrupting” chemicals (EDCs), which can interfere with the body’s natural hormones. These include pesticides, bisphenols, which harden plastic so it can be used in food storage containers and baby bottles, and phthalates, which soften plastic for use in packaging and products such as garden hoses. In recent years, traces of EDCs have been found in breast milk, placental tissue, urine, blood and seminal fluid.

In the glare of orange spotlights, Swan led the Copenhagen audience to her conclusion: that the innocuous products in your kitchen cupboard, bathroom cabinet or garden shed may be lowering sperm counts. They could also affect the reproductive systems of your unborn children. The implications of EDCs for human health don’t stop there: they can disrupt thyroid function, trigger cancer and obesity.

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Toxic chemicals found in plastics and pesticides may harm human fertility, according to scientist Shanna Swan.

She tells us why https://t.co/4FJng2nwQr

— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) June 22, 2023

Almighty God, by whose grace and power thy holy martyr Alban triumphed over suffering and was faithful even unto death: Grant to us, who now remember him with thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to thee in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Statue from the reredos of St Alban's Cathedral of Saint Alban, protomartyr of England whose feast is today, 20 June. May he pray for the Christians in this country, that we may follow his example of sacrificial love and so witness to the Gospelhttps://t.co/qy4tNiCrfc pic.twitter.com/RDJvumnR30

— Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. (@LawrenceOP) June 20, 2023

O God, who in thy blessed Son hast prepared for us a rich feast and dost invite us day by day to partake of thy bounties: Grant that neither the distractions of business nor the allurements of pleasure may cause us to turn a deaf ear to thy call, nor to neglect thy so great salvation, which thou hast given us in the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Pretty cool shot of sunrise over Downtown Charleston w/ an orange glow on the horizon! #chswx @stormhour pic.twitter.com/xzcovIMykF

— Joey Sovine Live 5 (@JoeySovine) June 22, 2023

O taste and see that the Lord is good!
Happy is the man who takes refuge in him!
O fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no want!

–Psalm 34:8-9

The Back Lane. 21°C with cloud approaching. Squirrels in the horse chestnut trees. pic.twitter.com/V8ULjL9Y90

— Yorkshire Wolds Weather (@WeatherWolds) June 22, 2023

Classical education eschews pedagogical fads. It instead steeps students in the great works of literature, philosophy, history, and science—what the poet Matthew Arnold called “the best that has been thought and said.” Instead of Critical Race Theory and Marxist claptrap, children learn about Greece and Rome, Shakespeare and the Renaissance, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, and the glory of the American founding.

Drawing inspiration from Greek and Roman academic traditions, classical education seeks to ground students in the good, the true, and the beautiful. Its highest aim is to form virtuous students grounded in the best of the Western canon. Classical schools instruct students through the sequence known as the “trivium,” guiding them through grammar, logic, and rhetoric. They first establish a knowledge base, then learn how to evaluate arguments, and finally how to articulately express their thoughts.

As such, classical education is interested in more than forming good students; its charge is forming students who are good.

More than two hundred new classically oriented schools have opened across the country in just the last two years. Classical learning is being adopted by charters, start-ups, and homeschooling parents. And classical education networks will only grow further as states embrace parental choice.

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Classical education is interested in more than forming good students; its charge is forming students who are good. | @KevinRobertsTXhttps://t.co/mCyviKWRw3

— First Things (@firstthingsmag) June 21, 2023

Bishop Christopher was educated at Manchester University and trained for ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham. He served his title at Christ Church, Epsom Common, in the diocese of Guildford, and was ordained priest in 1989.

In 1992 he was appointed Chaplain at Royal Holloway, University of London, and Bedford New Polytechnic and from 1997 to 2001 he served as Director at the Southern Theological and Education Training Scheme (STETS). From 1999 he held the additional title of Honorary Canon at Guildford Cathedral. In 2001 Christopher was appointed Principal of Ridley Hall, University of Cambridge.

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Today, we send huge congratulations to Bishop Christopher of Coventry on his new appointment as Dean of Windsor.

Full details can be found: https://t.co/PryizbHThV pic.twitter.com/l9jyIBhmYp

— Coventry Cathedral (@CovCathedral) June 20, 2023

It was the dead of winter in February 2022 when I first met Marwa, a 38-year-old opium addict, sitting huddled under a blanket in the women’s drug rehabilitation center in Kabul with two of her children. Mina, age 2, had just woken up and was writhing in pain, lifting her small head to see her new visitors.

Marwa’s other daughter, Zahra, age 15, was sitting by the edge of the bed. I first mistook her for a boy as she was dressed in boys’ clothing. Her mother said dressing as a boy made it easier for her to buy drugs. Zahra had been wearing the outfit when she was picked up by the hospital’s field team from under Pul-e-Sukhta, a bridge in western Kabul that has transformed into a gathering place for drug users and sellers.

Dr. Shaista Hakeem, director of the 150-bed National Center for the Treatment of Addiction for Women and Children in Kabul, introduced me to her patients that day, telling me the family had been at the hospital for more than a week. They were seeking treatment for opium addiction, which consisted of 15 days of medication and 15 days of counseling, awareness, and skill training. It was an ordeal, especially for the children, who suffered withdrawal symptoms despite regular doses of medication. The effectiveness of treatment varies from patient to patient, Hakeem added.

Marwa had been taking opium and heroin, a more refined opioid, for 10 years, and had passed on her addiction to her youngest child, Mina, through breast milk.

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'The % of women reporting drug addiction rose to 9.5% in 2015 from 3% in 2009. Furthermore, 9.2% of children up to 14 years old tested positive for drugs and were likely to be engaged in active drug use' '#Afghanistan's #opium tragedy' https://t.co/fvRJYb7pAX via @NikkeiAsia

— Kenneth Maxwell (@Kenny_Maxwell) June 21, 2023

National test results released Wednesday show reading and math scores for 13-year-olds have continued to worsen since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, setting up more roadblocks to their success in high school and beyond.