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Climate change means New York City’s flooding is “new normal”, Governor says

A police officer from the NYPD Highway Patrol looks on as motorists drive through a flooded street after heavy rains as the remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia bring flooding across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, at the FDR Drive in Manhattan near the Williamsburg Bridge, in New York City, US, on 29th September, 2023

Reuters Torrential downpours that caused flash flooding in New York City on Friday reflect a “new normal” due to the effects of climate change, New York Governor Kathy Hochul warned on Saturday, as the city began drying out after one of its wettest days ever.  A police officer from the NYPD Highway Patrol looks on […]

After $US2 million New York church robbery, houses of worship evaluate theft risk

US New York St Augustine Catholic Church stolen tabernacle

RNS When Rev Frank Tumino, pastor of St Augustine, walked into his Catholic church in the Park Slope neighbourhood of Brooklyn on the last Saturday in May, he found physical and spiritual wreckage: Angels that had decorated the front of the building were decapitated, Communion wafers were scattered across the altar and, most shocking, an […]

In the US, $US2 million relic stolen, angel statue beheaded at Brooklyn church

US Brooklyn stolen tabernacle1

New York, US AP Police say someone busted into the altar at a New York City church, stole a $US2 million gold relic and removed the head from a statue of an angel at some point late last week. The incident happened between 6:30pm Thursday and 4pm Saturday at St Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, known […]

In New York’s ‘Little Odessa,’ Ukrainians see Russians as neighbours, not enemies

US New York Guardian Angel Roman Catholic Church

New York, US Reuters In just one day, Inga Sokolnikova filled two rooms in her beauty salon in New York City’s Brighton Beach with donated diapers, clothes and medical supplies for her native country of Ukraine. Donations poured in not only from Ukrainian and Ukrainian American residents of this diverse waterfront neighbourhood in south Brooklyn, […]

Vatican exonerates US bishop accused of sexual abuse

US Catholic Church Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio

New York City, US AP The Vatican has concluded that allegations of sexual abuse dating back a half century against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn do not “have the semblance of truth,” but an attorney for the accusers said they would press forward with their civil cases. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New […]

“Stay home, stay safe”: Haitian Americans fret for relatives trapped by turmoil

US Miami Little Haiti

New York City, US Reuters At Radio Soleil, the usual playlist of pulsing Haitian ‘compas’ dance music has been replaced this week with more somber tunes and political analysis as listeners across the diaspora reel from the shock of Haiti President Jovenel Moise’s assassination. Broadcasting from the station’s small Brooklyn storefront, director Ricot Dupuy has […]