WEST-AFRICA   –  The first thing Dinah Colecraft does when she wakes up in her house in Ghana’s capital, Accra, isn’t take a shower or make a coffee.

Instead, she downloads a devotion sent by her church, using an app. With Asoriba she can browse the church events taking place that weekend and even make a donation using her credit card. Basically, it’s a one-stop shop for spirituality.  Created by a team of young Ghanaian entrepreneurs, Asoriba the parent company behind the app was deemed Africa’s Best Startup at the Seedstars World event last month in Casablanca, Morocco. In Ghana, Christians normally give tithes or a tenth of their monthly income  to the church.

While nobody knows exactly how much money is in circulation within the Christian church in the West African nation, due to the plethora of small institutions with no collective figures, most agree it’s a huge figure. (CNN.COM)…[+]

BANGLADESH   –   Sixty-five people have been killed by lightning strikes in Bangladesh in four days, as the country endures its annual severe storm season.

Most of the deaths occurred in rural parts of north and central Bangladesh, with the victims predominantly farmers and construction workers, Reaz Ahmed, director general of Bangladesh’s Department of Disaster Management, told CNN on Monday. The deadliest recent day was last Thursday, when 34 people were killed, he said. Twenty-one died the following day, seven on Saturday and three on Sunday. Lightning strikes are relatively common in the low-lying, densely-populated nation, with the country experiencing severe storms with frequent lightning often between March and June, ahead of the onset of the monsoon. .(CNN.COM)…[+]