Flash flood kills nine at church gathering in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least nine people died and eight others were missing in South Africa after a flash flood swept away members of a church congregation along the Jukskei River in Johannesburg, rescue officials said Sunday. The dead and missing were all part of the congregation,...

UN: Iraq Christians were victims of Islamic State war crimes

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Evidence collected in Iraq strengthens preliminary findings that Islamic State extremists committed crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Christian community after it seized about a third of the country in 2014, a U.N. investigative team said in a report...

Taliban official says at least 10 students killed in a bombing at a religious school in northern Afghanistan

Drive-by shooting injures 2 at funeral at Nashville church

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A drive-by shooting in Nashville on Saturday injured two people as they and others were walking out of church from the funeral of a woman who was fatally shot earlier this month, according to police. Metro Nashville Police Department spokesperson Don Aaron...

Trial resumes for suspects in 2015 Bangkok shrine bombing

BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai court on Tuesday resumed the long-delayed trial of two members of China's Muslim Uyghur minority accused of carrying out a 2015 bombing at a Bangkok landmark that killed 20 people. Another 120 people were injured in the Aug. 17, 2015, bombing of the Erawan...

New cemetery chapel honors victims of synagogue attack

SHALER, Pa. (AP) — Until recently it was a garage with a dirt floor. But what had been an outbuilding for the cemetery of New Light Congregation has been transformed into a chapel with stained glass windows and other mementos honoring victims of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. ...

Man sentenced to life in slaying of Oklahoma pastor

ADA, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting a pastor at the request of the pastor’s wife. Kahlil Square pleaded guilty in September to first-degree murder in the 2021 shooting death of David Evans in Ada while...

Man charged in connection with online threat to synagogues

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A man accused of posting a broad online threat last week that spurred heightened security at Jewish synagogues and schools in New Jersey expressed admiration for white-supremacist mass murderer Dylann Roof and said his planned attack was in retaliation for the 2019 mosque...

7 killed as Philippine troops clash with Muslim rebels

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine troops have clashed with Muslim guerrillas in a southern village, leaving at least three soldiers and four rebels dead and sparking fears that an escalation could threaten a 2014 peace pact that has considerably eased years of heavy fighting. ...

Syrian refugee gets 17 years in church bomb plot case

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Syrian refugee has been sentenced to more than 17 years in what authorities said was a plot to plot to bomb a Christian church in Pittsburgh. Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, 24, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and four months on a guilty plea last year to a federal...