United States: Fire Strikes Adventist School ...Honolulu firefighters fought a three-alarm fire for more than two hours on Sunday morning, June 18, to put out a blaze at Hawaiian Mission Elementary and Intermediate School, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Makiki. According to Deloris Trujillo, superintendent of schools for the Adventist church in Hawaii, fire investigators believe the fire was caused by an electrical problem that triggered some combustible material in the attic. No injuries were reported. The auditorium suffered extensive damage, but smoke and water damage in the rest of the building, which houses the cafeteria, music room, administrative offices, and one of the campus’s nine classrooms, makes it unusable for summer and autumn classes. The students, however, will be able to use the other classrooms housed in a separate building. According to Trujillo, Adventist Risk Management, the Adventist Church’s insurance company, is currently assessing the damages and has already begun working to restore the building. [Adventist Review/ANN Staff]

Thailand: ADRA Partners with UN to Fight Human Trafficking ... The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) leadership from its office in Thailand met recently with representatives from the United Nations to discuss ADRA’s Keep Girls Safe Project, an initiative that combats human trafficking in Thailand. With approximately 800,000 prostitutes under the age of 18, and 200,000 of these aged 12 or younger, Thailand is one of the sex trade’s worst offenders. The Keep Girls Safe Project works to reduce the threat of commercial sexual exploitation to vulnerable girls and young women from disadvantaged regions of northern Thailand. After a meeting between representatives from ADRA and representatives of the United Nations, ADRA Thailand was formally invited to join the United Nations Inter Agency Project on Human Trafficking network, requesting ADRA share vital and relevant information to UNIAP and other stakeholders in the network. [ADRA/ANN Staff]

Russia: ADRA Warms Hearts and Soles  ... More than 1,600 children in 14 Serbian cities now have warm feet because of an Adventist Development and Development Agency wool socks distribution project.  The recently completed “Project Warm Feet,” provided hand-knitted wool socks to orphaned children in Siberia. “This year, the whole territory of Siberia was unusually frosty,” reported Nikolai Grebenjuk, country director for the ADRA office in East Russia. “In some regions, the temperature was 40 to 45 degrees below Fahrenheit, and the warm wool socks were very much in demand,” he continued.  Members from local Seventh-day Adventist churches volunteered to make the socks for the children. In each city, volunteers personally delivered the socks, organizing festive parties for the children, who live in orphanages. “It was not just give and leave,” said Grebenjuk. “Volunteers spent time with the children, providing them with a beautiful program, as well as love and attention. This may have warmed the children’s hearts even more than the socks on their feet.” [ADRA/ANN Staff]

Jamaica: Adventist University President Speaks at Oxford University ... Dr. Herbert Thompson, president of Northern Caribbean University (NCU) was one of the presenters at the Annual Oxford Round Table to be held at the Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford, Oxford, England, on Tuesday July 4.  He spoke on the topic “Globalization and the Migration of Academic Talent.” A biochemist, and researcher in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, Dr. Thompson says his presentation, “seeks to look at ways in which poorer states may be able to reduce the loss of human capital by pooling resources to make both tertiary training and employment opportunities more satisfying to their citizens. As an internationally renowned center for teaching and research, Oxford attracts students and scholars from across the globe, with almost a quarter of their 18,000 students from overseas. [WIU/ANN Staff]

Australia: Weet-Bix Voted in Top Ten Australian Trade Marks ...  A panel of eminent Australians have voted Weet-Bix as one of Australia’s top 10 trademarks. Weet-Bix, is a breakfast cereal produced by the Adventist-owned Sanitarium Health Food company.  “I think just about every Australian kid has grown up on Weet-Bix,” says panelist George Gregan. “It’s certainly embedded in our culture and is instantly recognizable as a great Australian product.”  Other trade marks voted in the top ten include Qantas, the Wallabies, Arnott’s, Penfolds, David Jones, Vegemite, R. M. Williams, Woolmark, and the ABC. [Australian Government/IP Australia/ANN Staff]