One Dead, 29 Injured in Berlin Car Ramming, Knife Attack

 

Police in the capital city of Berlin, Germany shot dead 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a suspect considered an "Islamic terrorist" with roots in Lebanon, after he rammed his van into a crowd gathered at a Pride event in Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate, then attacked participants with a knife, killing one person and injuring 29 others. See Full Story>

NYC 'Antisemitic' Stabbing Attack Injures Two

 

A 51-year-old man who yelled out "Allahu Akbar" before stabbing two men with a knife during separate attacks in a large Jewish community just blocks away from Central Park in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City was arrested by police and charged with multiple counts, including attempted murder, second degree assault and hate crimes. See Full Story>

Child Driver Kills 10 Thai Monks on 161-Mile Pilgrimage Walk

 

An 11-year-old boy in northeast Thailand stole his family's pickup truck while home sick from school and crashed into a procession of Buddhist monks taking a 161-mile (260km) pilgrimage walk in Mukdahan province, killing 10 people and injuring at least 11 others. See Full Story> 

Five Dead in San Diego Mosque Shooting

 

Authorities in California say two "radicalized" teenage gunmen, Cain Clark, 17 and Caleb Vaquez, 18, attacked the Islamic Center of San Diego, a site of both a mosque and school, while on video calls, killing three people, including a security guard, before turning their guns on themselves. See Full Story>

South Korean Unification Church Leader Arrested on Corruption Charges

 

Authorities in South Korea arrested Hak Ja Han, the 82-year-old leader of South Korea's Unification Church on charges including, illegal political funding, embezzlement, and obstruction of justice for bribing former South Korean first lady Kim Keon Hee in exchange for political favors, allegations Han denied, calling them "false". See Full Story>

Gunmen Kills at Least 12 at Mexico John the Baptist Religious Festival

 

At least 11 people died and 20 others suffered injuries at a religious festival marking the Nativity of John the Baptist in the Mexican city of Irapuato, Guanajuato state, after gunmen opened fire on the celebration, with President Claudia Sheinbaum condemning the attack as "deplorable" and only detailed its motive as a "confrontation" in a region plagued by cartel violence. See Full Story>

Suicide Bomber Attack Kills At Least 25 at Saint Elias Church in Damascus

The Islamic State Group claimed responsibility for a lone suicide bomber who blew himself up during a service inside the Church of St. Elias in the Syrian capital of Damascus, an attack which killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens others, with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch calling it a "heinous" crime and the first massacre of its kind in the region since 1860. See Full Story>

Vatican Appoints Pope Leo XIV as First American Pontiff

The Vatican elected Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, an American from Chicago taking the name Pope Leo XIV, as the new spiritual leader of the Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis, who during his first address to over a billion members of its global community called for "authentic lasting peace" from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica. See Full Story>

Pope Francis Dies From Stroke, Heart Failure at 88

Pope Francis, who lost part of his lung as a child, spent 38 days hospitalized for double pneumonia before passing away due to a cerebral stroke at the age of 88 in Domus Sanctae Marthae at the Vatican, making history by serving as the first Latin American pontiff of the Catholic Church. See Full Story>

First Openly Gay Imam Shot Dead in South Africa

Muhsin Hendricks, a man who opened a Cape Town mosque that welcomed members of the LBGTQ+ community to Islam and was regarded as the first openly gay Muslim imam, died after being shot execution-style by two masked gunmen while sitting inside his car in the southern city of Gqeberha, South Africa. See Full Story> 

Mother and Daughter Killed in Munich Car Ramming Attack

A mother and daughter died and more than 37 suffered injuries after a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker rammed his white Mini Cooper into a crowd at a trade union demonstration in the German city of Munich, an attack officials say had religious motivation. See Full Story>

Stampede at India's Maha Kumbh Mela Festival Kills 30

 

A stampede at India's Maha Kumbh Mela mega-festival in the northern city of Prayagraj, a celebration dubbed as the largest religious gathering in the world, attracting millions of pilgrims every 12 years, killed at least 30 people and injured more than 60, after a crowd broke through a police barrier to bath in the convergence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers, a site held sacred to devotees of the Hindu faith. See Full Story>

Five Dead, 200 Injured in German Christmas Market Terror Attack

The state premier of Saxony-Anhalt stated a "lone perpetrator" was responsible for a terror attack on a busy Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, which killed five people and injured more than 200, after a 50-year-old Saudi doctor upset over the treatment of refugees in the country plowed his vehicle through crowds of holiday shoppers. See Full Story>

Self-Exiled Turkish Spiritual Leader Fethullah Gulen, Dead at 83

 

Hundreds of mourners gathered in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania for the funeral of Fethullah Gulen, the self-exiled Turkish spiritual cleric who inspired a global social movement and blamed to be responsible for the 2016 failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusations which he denied, died at the age of 83. See Full Story>

120 Killed in Deadly India Stampede at Religious Event

 

120 people died during a stampede at a Hindu religious prayer meeting led by a guru in the Indian village of Rati Bhanpur, Uttar Pradesh province, India, after thousands of religious devotees gathered inside a tent rushed to leave the event at its closing for unknown reasons, crushing many who stumbled amid the crowd. See Full Story>

550 Dead During Hajj Pilgrimage Due to Extreme Heat Wave

 

Saudi Arabia says that of the 1.8 million worshipers to make the journey to Mecca this year for Hajj, the required once in a life-time pilgrimage for people of the Muslim faith to the Grand Mosque, which houses the sacred Kaaba, one hospital reported that at least 550 have died due an extreme heat wave, with temperatures reaching upwards of 117 degrees. See Full Story>

Shooter Killed, Son Injured After Opening Fire at Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church

 

A 36-year-old woman with her 7-year-old son and armed with an AR-15 with a Pro-Palestinian sticker on its side, opened fire inside celebrity pastor Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston Texas, one of the largest megachurches in the US, shooting and injuring one man before being killed by off-duty officers. See Full Story>

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Inaugurates New Ram Mandir Temple

 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir temple, with tens of thousands in attendance, in the northern city of Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, a structure built on the site where there once had once been a 16th century mosque and is believed to be the location of the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram. See Full Story>

Jailed Nicaraguan Bishops and Clergy Released, Expelled to Vatican

 

The Vatican welcomed two bishops and 17 other clergymen from Nicaragua, expelled to Rome following their release from prison after being incarcerated during a crackdown on opposition leaders and the Catholic church in the country, accused of inciting and supporting a 2018 civil protest believed to be aimed at overthrowing the government of President Daniel Ortega. See Full Story>

IDF Sniper Kills Two Women Inside Catholic Church in Gaza City

 

An elderly woman and her daughter were killed and seven others injured by an IDF sniper attack at the Holy Family Parish, a Catholic church in one of the oldest Christian communities in Gaza City, a place that families have been using as a shelter during the war between Israel and Hamas. See Full Story>