PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of people, walking toward the spot where they take holy baths, drawn by the hope that the bathing would bring them salvation. But when they leave — believing their sins have been cleansed by the ...
Any serious science student knows about the work of Sir Isaac Newton. Back in 1687, after an encounter with a falling apple, Newton began to study the force of gravity. Newton’s work shaped the study of physics for centuries. As important as Newton’s contribution was, however, humanity might have missed out if it were not for the work of Edmund Halley. Halley encouraged Newton’s study, corrected Newton’s mathematical mistakes, and urged Newton to publish his findings, even financing the printing despite the fact that Newton was independently wealthy and could have easily afforded ...
(AP) — As Louisiana schools remain stuck in the middle of a legal battle over a new state law requiring every public classroom to display the Ten Commandments, a panel of three judges heard arguments over the controversial mandate on Thursday morning. The law, which has been touted by Republicans including President Donald Trump, went into effect on Jan. 1. However, schools have seemingly been stuck in limbo. At the start of the year, the state issued guidelines for districts to comply with the mandate that requires poster-sized displays of the Ten Commandments in all public K-12 ...
GOMA, Congo (AP) — When Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi was asked in 2007 to allow spoiled rice from Rwanda to be transported across the border to the eastern Congo city of Goma, he knew the risks of resisting corruption, especially as a government worker. He refused nonetheless. It ...
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — As Syria begins recovering from 50 years of autocratic rule by the Assad family, an international envoy says Christians and other religious groups expect their rights and freedoms to be preserved under a new constitutional settlement. Salina Shambos, a senior Cypriot diplomat and the newly appointed special envoy for religious freedom and protection of minorities in the Middle East, said on Friday that religious leaders in Syria expressed a “strong sense of patriotism” and are now “free to hope” that their country will be more inclusive and a respected ...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man broke into a Philadelphia church and stole a 125-year-old bejeweled crown from atop a marble statue of the Virgin Mary, city police said Monday. The burglary at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church occurred around 1:10 a.m. Saturday when the thief smashed through a stained-glass window, police said. The break-in was captured on surveillance video that police released Monday. The man then climbed into the upper nave of the church and went straight to the statue and crown, the church’s archivist, Anne Kirkwood, told The Philadelphia ...
