Thousands of Christian worshippers celebrated Easter’s Holy Fire Ceremony on Saturday (April 30) at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. They packed into the ancient church, believed to be built on the site of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection. The Holy Fire is considered a miracle occurring every year on Holy Saturday, […]
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The leader of the only South Asian Muslim community known to practise female genital mutilation (FGM) came under criticism on Friday by campaigers who accused him of urging followers to continue the centuries-old custom. Little is known about FGM in India, where it is carried out in great secrecy by the close-knit Dawoodi Bohra community, […]
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Romania is to fast-track claims from Holocaust survivors under an amended law on property restitution which is expected to be passed by parliament next week, legislators said on Tuesday. Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany during World War Two until it changed sides in August 1944, and much of the property seized during the […]
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Suspected Islamist militants hacked to death a leading Bangladeshi gay rights activist employed by the U.S. embassy and a friend in an apartment in Bangladesh’s capital on Monday, police said. The killings took place two days after a university professor was slain in similar fashion on Saturday in an attack claimed by Islamic State. Five […]
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It was a sight that hasn’t been seen in this suburb of Damascus in five years-Orthodox Christians celebrating Palm Sunday. The day is part of a series of observances that culminate in the celebration of the Christian holiday of Easter. Christians make up 11 nearly percent of Syria’s population. The largest Christian denomination in Syria […]
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Pope Francis surprises youngsters and teenagers who had gathered in St. Peter’s Square to confess their sins to priests, and personally hears the confessions of 16 young girls and boys. Mana Rabiee reports. Pope Francis surprised many in St. Peter’s Square — perhaps most of all the teenagers who had come to the Vatican confess […]
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News that the Sikh Gurdwara in the western German city of Essen may have been attacked by young people linked to a local fundamentalist extremist network has shifted focus away from far right groups, who were initially suspected for the attack. Police have suggested that the two suspects arrested have links to a local Salafist […]
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The Israeli military filed manslaughter charges on Monday against a soldier who shot a wounded Palestinian assailant as he lay on the ground in a killing a poll said many Israelis felt was justified. The defendant – a conscript infantry medic whose name has been barred from publication – was captured on video firing once […]
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Donned in eye-patches and a spaghetti bridal headdress, two New Zealanders have celebrated the first legally recognised ‘Pastafarian’ marriage on board a pirate ship, in a milestone of recognition for the bizarre global ‘religion’. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose stated beliefs are in a god made of spaghetti, have amassed followers around […]
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The Pentagon has sent nine Yemeni men to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, including an inmate who had been on a long-term hunger strike, U.S. officials said on Saturday, the latest step in President Barack Obama’s final push to close the facility. The group was the largest shipped out of the […]
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