PESHAWAR, Pakistan — One of the five Taliban leaders freed from Guantanamo Bay in return for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release has pledged to return to fight Americans in Afghanistan, according to a fellow militant and a relative. “After arriving in Qatar, Noorullah Noori kept insisting he would go to Afghanistan and fight American forces there,” […]
A California pastor is being extradited to Nevada on a murder charge in the death of a man outside a Las Vegas sports bar — despite claims by witnesses that the father of two was acting in self-defense. Robert Cox, of Manteca, Calif., claims he did not throw a punch at Link Ellingson, knocking him […]
A research study published in the latest Journal of American Medical Association: Psychiatry concludes that the more pornography a person watches, the less gray matter, connectivity and activity they have in their brain. Numerous negative effects of pornography are already well documented. For instance, boys who consume pornography daily show more interest in deviant and […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — For years, opponents of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro vowed to take their legal fight to shut down the mosque all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. That fight ended Monday (June 2), when the nation’s highest court declined to hear their case. The four-year conflict over construction of the […]
A Catawba County trial judge has been scolded by the N.C. Court of Appeals for invoking Christian teachings into a lecture during a defendant’s sentencing phase. In its opinion released yesterday, however, the court ruled that the judge’s word choice did not violate the due process of the defendant, Max Earls, who was sentenced to […]
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – Boko Haram militants dressed as soldiers slaughtered at least 200 civilians in three villages in northeastern Nigeria and the military failed to intervene even though it was warned that an attack was imminent, witnesses said on Thursday. A community leader who witnessed the killings on Monday said residents of the Gwoza local […]
RIO DE JANEIRO (RNS) As Brazil counts down to the opening of the World Cup on June 12, churches in cities hosting the international soccer tournament are not content to sit on the sidelines and cheer. They’ve launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the hundreds of vulnerable children at risk of sexual exploitation […]
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Americans are showing more tolerance for a range of behaviors, with sex between unmarried adults, medical research on stem cells from human embryos, and doctor-assisted suicide all showing record highs and increases in “moral acceptability” from last year. The Gallup poll’s annual “moral acceptability” scale has been conducted since 2001 and charts […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — In the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, al-Qaida became a household name. But today, other extremist Islamist groups, many in Africa, are vying for headlines. Recently, the group Boko Haram gained international infamy after it abducted more than 250 schoolgirls. Since 2009, Christians in northern Nigeria have borne the […]
A mother whose daughter survived an abortion says she will “always regret” taking abortive drugs to end her baby’s life. Shannon Skinner, 20, followed medical advice to abort her unborn child after complications with her first baby, but baby Amelia survived and is now four weeks old. Skinner says she told herself “it wasn’t a […]