Latest Religion and politics News
Live updates | Luhansk gov. denies Russians surround city
KYIV, Ukraine – The governor of the Luhansk region is denying Russian claims that their forces have surrounded the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk but said Ukrainian soldiers may have to retreat. Serhiy Haidai wrote on Telegram Friday that the Russians have seized a hotel and bus station. ...
UN official expresses concern on rights in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan on Thursday expressed concern over the deterioration of rights in the country and called on the ruling Taliban to reverse new restrictions on women. Richard Bennet spoke to journalists at the...
Dispute over mosque becomes religious flashpoint in India
NEW DELHI (AP) — For nearly three centuries, Muslims and Hindus in India’s northern Varanasi city have prayed to their gods in a mosque and a temple that are separated by one wall. Many see it as an example of religious coexistence in a country where bouts of deadly communal violence are...
Live updates | Russia-Ukraine War
The Russian Defense Ministry is promising to open a safe corridor to allow foreign ships to leave Black Sea ports. A separate corridor will be open to allow ships to leave Mariupol by sailing from the port on the Sea of Azov port to the Black Sea. Mikhail Mizintsev, who heads the...
Abortion rights graffiti on tiny, rural Mississippi church
COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) — Authorities in a rural Mississippi county are stunned and perplexed after finding a tiny, isolated church vandalized with abortion rights slogans. “It’s mystifying, you know?” said St. Elmore Armistad, a deacon at Mt. Avery Missionary Baptist Church in...
Chicago-area man gets year in prison for throwing explosive
CHICAGO (AP) — A suburban Chicago man who admitted throwing an explosive at police during a violent demonstration in June 2020 was sentenced Wednesday to one year in federal prison. Christian Rea, 21, of Aurora, pleaded guilty last year to obstructing law enforcement when he threw...
Blast in Kabul mosque, IS bombs in north Afghanistan kill 14
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A series of explosions shook Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Taliban said, including a blast inside a mosque in the capital of Kabul that killed at least five worshippers and three bombings of minivans in the country's north that killed nine passengers. The Islamic...
School loses challenge to expired Michigan mask order
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a Catholic school's challenge to Michigan's 2020-21 mask order. The Whitmer administration policy during the COVID-19 pandemic was dropped about a year ago, making the lawsuit moot, the court said. ...
Indian court sentences Kashmiri leader to life in prison
NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian court sentenced a Kashmiri separatist leader to life in prison on Wednesday after declaring him guilty of terrorism and sedition, triggering a clash between protesters and police and a partial shutdown of businesses in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. ...
Rep. Cuellar, Cisneros locked in tight race in Texas runoff
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, one of the only anti-abortion Democrats remaining in Congress, faced the toughest reelection fight of his career in a primary runoff against progressive Jessica Cisneros that could offer clues over how much abortion rights could animate voters in...
