US will not renew legal status for hundreds of thousands of migrants
Washington DC, US Reuters The Biden administration will not renew a temporary humanitarian entry program for hundreds of thousands of migrants with US sponsors who arrived in recent years, the US Department of Homeland Security said on Friday. Some 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela have entered the US by air since October, […]
Bishop E Anne Henning Byfield, former president of AME bishops’ council, dies at 74
United States RNS Bishop E Anne Henning Byfield, a leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, has died two months into her retirement, the denomination announced on Thursday. Byfield, 74, a former president of the AME Council of Bishops and a recent chair of social action for the church, died unexpectedly on Thursday in Indianapolis. […]
Pakistan police clash with supporters of former PM Khan in Islamabad
Islamabad, Pakistan Reuters Police in Pakistan’s capital fired teargas on Friday as they clashed with supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan who were holding an anti-government rally in defiance of a ban on congregating in the city. Authorities had sealed off Islamabad, and blocked cellphone services to prevent the gathering, with the city […]
Donald Trump’s favourite Bible might be on the way to Oklahoma schools
United States RNS The state of Oklahoma is in the market for some Bibles. They might get some help from Donald Trump. The state’s education department is on the hunt for 55,000 copies of the Scriptures, bound in leather or a similar material and including a mix of religious and historic documents like the US […]
River level at Amazon rainforest port hits 122-year low amid drought
Manaus, Brazil Reuters The river port in the Amazon rainforest’s largest city of Manaus on Friday hit its lowest level since 1902, as a drought drains waterways and snarls transport of grain exports and essential supplies that are the region’s lifeline. Below-average rainfall – even through the rainy season – has plagued the Amazon and […]
Documentary: In a new film, 12 pastors take a leap of faith – hoping friendship can overcome their divides
A new documentary, directed by Nicholas Ma, looks at whether friendship and faith can overcome polarisation in the age of Donald Trump. Ma’s father, the famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, has been helping promote the film. BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, reports…
By mule and helicopter, volunteers deliver aid to Helene victims
Asheville, North Carolina Reuters An army of private volunteers including mule drivers and helicopter pilots are helping deliver supplies and rescue stranded victims after one of the deadliest storms in recent US history ripped through the mountains of western North Carolina. One week after Helene slammed into the Florida Panhandle and devastated wide swaths of […]
Israeli bombardment kills 29 people in Gaza, militants renew rocket fire into Israel
Cairo, Egypt Reuters Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 29 Palestinians on Friday, medics said, and sirens blared in southern Israel in response to renewed rocket fire from militants in the Palestinian enclave. The new rocket salvoes indicated that Hamas-led militant factions in Gaza are still able to fire projectiles into […]
Death toll in worst Bosnian floods in years rises to 16, officials say
Donja Jablanica, Bosnia Reuters At least 16 people died in floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday and many others were missing as torrential rain and landslides destroyed homes, roads and bridges across the centre of the country, officials said. The municipality of Jablanica, about 70 kilometres south-west of the capital Sarajevo, where the deaths […]
Haitian gang kills at least 70 people as thousands flee, UN says
Updated: 8:45am, 6th October, 2024 (AEDT) Port-au-Prince, Haiti Reuters Gang members brandishing automatic rifles stormed through a town in Haiti’s main breadbasket region, killing at least 70 and forcing over 6,000 to flee, causing widespread shock even in a country grown accustomed to outbreaks of violence. More people were severely injured in the attack in […]