Investigated

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries said on Dec. 23 that claims that its late founder engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior appear to be true. The group hired a law firm to probe accusations that surfaced in news reports, including in WORLD, in the fall. It found significant, credible evidence to substantiate the accusations. “Some of that misconduct is consistent with and corroborative of that which is reported in the news recently, and some of the conduct we have uncovered is more serious,” attorney Lynsey M. Barron wrote. Zacharias died of cancer in May. RZIM committed to releasing the full report once complete. “In the meantime, we share your compassion for any victims of this conduct, and we appreciate your prayers for them and also for Ravi’s family who have been devastated by this information,” the board’s executive committee said.

Died

Investigators identified 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner as the only person who died in a bomb he detonated Christmas morning in Nashville. The explosion outside an AT&T building injured three people and knocked out AT&T network services as far away as Kentucky. Police, who said Quinn wasn’t on the radar before the explosion, didn’t immediately know Quinn’s motive. But he had recently given away a vehicle and transferred the title of his Antioch, Tenn., home of decades in exchange for no money, an official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.

Sentenced

The Pudong New Area People’s Court in China’s financial hub of Shanghai on Dec. 28 sentenced Zhang Zhan to four years in prison on charges of picking fights and provoking trouble. Authorities arrested the former lawyer in May, saying she spread false information, granted interviews to foreign media, and “maliciously manipulated” the coronavirus outbreak. Zhang had traveled to Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, and chronicled her findings on several social media platforms. The 37-year-old staged a hunger strike during her detention, according to her lawyer. China threatened and detained several doctors who first raised concerns about the pandemic on social media for “rumor-mongering.”

Pardoned

Former Republican congressmen Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York received presidential pardons for financial crimes on Dec. 22. President Donald Trump pardoned 13 others, including four former government contractors convicted in the 2007 killings of Iraqi civilians and two people implicated in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. He issued another round of pardons the next day. Despite speculation, the president did not extend clemency to anyone in his family, his attorney Rudy Giuliani, or himself. It’s not uncommon for presidents to issue hundreds of pardons. Trump had granted 70 by Dec. 30.