church

SEOUL, Oct. 20 (UPI) — South Korea’s special prosecutor has launched an internal probe after investigators found a confidential roster of law enforcement officers inside a Unification Church office during a recent raid — a discovery that has intensified a widening corruption case linking religion, politics and the state.

The list, first reported by The JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, contained the names and assignments of police officers temporarily working at the Special Prosecutor’s Office. Such documents are normally restricted even within the agency.

Officials said they are investigating whether a retired police officer, identified only by the initial A, leaked the file to church officials.

An special prosecutor’s spokesperson said the office is “verifying how the document was obtained and whether any ongoing investigations were affected.” If confirmed, prosecutors say, the breach would mark one of the most serious leaks of investigative information in years, potentially allowing suspects to anticipate raids or destroy evidence.

Indictments for embezzlement, political-fund violations

The leak inquiry comes just days after prosecutors indicted Unification Church leader Hak Ja Han and two senior aides, Jung Wonju and Yoon Young-ho, on charges of embezzlement and illegal political donations.

According to charging documents filed Oct. 10, Han and Jung allegedly diverted money from church accounts earmarked for missionary work to finance luxury purchases and covert political activity.

Between May and August 2022, about 500 million won (about $380,000) was allegedly used to buy designer jewelry and handbags for Han, disguised through falsified expense reports. One transaction dated May 9, 2022, shows Jung instructing a finance officer to spend 42 million won on jewelry “for Hak Ja Han.”

Another section of the indictment cites roughly 900 million won ($700,000) moved from the “2027 Project Support Fund” into accounts controlled by Jung without approval from the church’s finance board. Prosecutors believe the funds were used for non-religious or political purposes, violating internal rules.

Donations to ruling party before 2022 election

Investigators also allege that the Unification Church, directed by Yoon Young-ho, its former secretary-general, channeled money to all 17 provincial branches of the ruling People Power Party around the time of the 2022 presidential election.

According to the special prosecutor’s findings, Yoon called regional leaders to a meeting in early March 2022 and instructed them to distribute “missionary support funds.” Roughly 2.1 billion won ($1.5 million) was withdrawn from church accounts, and 144 million won (about $105,000) was later delivered through split donations made under individual members’ names.

Prosecutors say the arrangement violated the Political Funds Act, which bars corporate or religious entities from contributing to political organizations.

A special prosecutor’s official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said the case “shows signs of coordinated funding activity at a national level.”

Church denial

In a written statement, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification — the church’s official name — denied wrongdoing, asserting that “all expenditures were legitimate and related to global missionary work.” Han’s defense team said she would cooperate fully while seeking to have the charges dismissed as “politically motivated.”

Han was indicted under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and the Political Funds Act. Jung was indicted without detention. Their first hearings are expected later this month at the Seoul Central District Court.

Broader implications for institutions, trust

The twin controversies — alleged embezzlement and the suspected leak of a classified roster — have raised alarm over the integrity of state institutions, as well as the political reach of major religious movements.

Legal commentators in Korean media have warned that, if verified, the leak could amount to obstruction of justice or a violation of the Public Official Information Protection Act, both of which carry heavy prison terms.

Local editorial writers have described it as a test of transparency — whether the rule of law can withstand influence from powerful organizations that straddle the line between religious authority and political power.

The Special Prosecutor’s Office said it has strengthened internal data-security protocols and restricted access to sensitive records.

Charlotte Church was once one half of Wales’ most high-profile power couple – now she is taking on Celebrity Traitors

Few players have transcended the game of rugby quite like Gavin Henson, with the former Wales international earning comparisons to David Beckham for the talent he showed on the pitch and the life he lived off of it.

The flamboyant back was one of the most naturally talented players of his generation and few could take their eyes off him as he shone on the international stage and for his many clubs, single-handedly turning games on their head on more than one occasion.

In addition to winning 33 caps for Wales and touring with the British & Irish Lions in 2005, Henson represented three out of the four Welsh regions – the Ospreys, Dragons and Cardiff – while he also played in England with Saracens, Bath, Bristol and London Welsh, as well as in France with Toulon.

He tasted glory with Wales, being part of two Grand Slam campaigns in 2005 and 2008, while he also won two domestic titles and the Anglo-Welsh Cup with the Ospreys. But for all the headlines he made for his success on the pitch, he would make just as many off it, sometimes for the wrong reasons.

Most notably, Henson’s relationship with singer Charlotte Church – who is one of 19 famous faces taking part in the BBC’s new series of Celebrity Traitors – was splashed across newspaper pages for much of the 2000s, as they became one of the most high profile couples in British sport.

He would later have stints on reality TV shows including Strictly Come Dancing but things now look very different for the former rugby star, who is now 43-year-old. From his romance with Church to running his own pub, here’s what you need to know about Henson’s life away from the pitch.

Relationship with Charlotte Church

Henson and Church – who rose to fame as a classical singer before pursuing a pop career – sparked a media frenzy when they were first seen in public together in April 2005, shortly after she split up with her previous boyfriend Kyle Johnson.

On her BBC podcast, Kicking Back With the Cardiffians, Church said she went looking for the rugby star after watching him play on TV, explaining: “I remember watching on this television, Wales vs England, when Gavin kicked the kick over.

“Then that night – I didn’t know Gav before that – I was like, I’m going to go out and find him in town. He is nice. Actually I was going round asking everybody, ‘Do you know Gavin Henson? Where will he go out drinking afterwards?’ Nobody knew – but I did find him.”

The Welsh power couple moved in together the following year, while in March 2007, Church revealed that she was pregnant with the couple’s first child. They welcomed a daughter, Ruby, later that year, with their second child, a son, Dexter, born in January 2009.

They looked to be going from strength to strength, with Henson proposing to Church on her 24th birthday in February 2010, the same month she landed a big TV gig on BBC singing show Over The Rainbow. However, it all fell apart just six weeks later, as the couple confirmed they were splitting up after five years together.

It was later confirmed that the decision was a joint one, with Church explaining: “When he proposed, I was overjoyed. It was amazing. I really was going to marry Gav and spend the rest of my life with him. But then he came back from Norway, and he’d changed, and I’d had time to think. We had both had a change of heart – so we were both of the same mind.”

Church later hit out at the “insane” media intrusion she had to deal with before and during her relationship with Henson, having also claimed that her phone was hacked by the News of The World, for which she later received an apology and substantial damages.

“The press intrusion was insane, there was all sorts of dark stuff going on,” she said. “There were stories in the papers all the time and lots of things were blown up, misconstrued and made seedy – when they really weren’t.

“There was a lot of shame being thrown at me, with the press desperately trying to make me a figure of sin and push this ‘fallen angel’ narrative. If I had let that shame in, or internalised it, my life could have gone in a very different way.”

Today, Henson and Church maintain a good relationship and co-parent Dexter and they have both found love again. While the former rugby star married long-term partner Katie Wilson Mould in 2019, Church tied the knot with musician Jonathan Powell in 2017, having asked Henson for his blessing before they started dating.

Past controversies

Aside from his relationship with Church, Henson found himself making headlines for all the wrong reasons on more than one occasion, sometimes landing himself in trouble with the law and his clubs.

In 2007, he and three other men were charged with disorderly conduct for drunken behaviour on a train between London and Cardiff, only for the case to be dropped due to insufficient evidence. In 2009, he was also given a police caution over his behaviour on a night out in Cardiff following Wales’ Six Nations win over England.

Henson also landed himself in hot water after some drinking sessions went too far, as he was sacked by Cardiff after playing just eight games for them following his “inexcusable” and “inappropriate” drunken behaviour on a flight back from Glasgow in March 2012.

A year later, a drunken comment he made to new Bath teammate Carl Fearns led to the two-time Grand Slam winner being knocked out by the flanker during a team bonding night, with the incident caught on CCTV.

However, Henson has since opened up on his past behaviour and revealed he has been able to understand himself better after discovering the ‘chimp’ that had been running his mind, leading him to put boozing behind him.

Having “battled for a long time” with his own mind, Henson was captivated by Professor Steve Peters’ mind-management book The Chimp Paradox, which outlined how to control the ‘chimp’, or “the voice which tells you to do things you maybe shouldn’t.”

“I didn’t understand the thoughts I was having after games where I wanted to go out and drink,” he explained in an interview with MailOnline. “They were a million miles away from my core values and goals in rugby.

“Now, having read the book, I understand that for most of my rugby career, the chimp was controlling me and running my life more than I was. If I’d found the book while I was still playing rugby, I’d 100 per cent have been a better player and maybe I wouldn’t have made the mistakes I did.”

“In social interactions, I probably need a drink because I’m an introvert,” he continued. “If I have a drink, I become more of an extrovert and the chimp has more confidence! I can be good fun on a night out! But now I choose not to go into those environments. I’m not tee-total. In the last year, I’ve probably had one good drink. There’s a place in rugby for sharing a drink with your team-mates”.

New life as pub landlord

While Henson has cut down on his drinking habits, these days he can be found pulling pints, having become the landlord of The Fox & Hounds pub in St Brides Major, Vale of Glamorgan in 2019.

After carrying out an extensive refurbishment and restaurant upgrade, the former Wales international shortened the name of the pub to The Fox and manages the venue with his wife Katie.

Speaking to The Times about the venture, Henson said: “I was coming to the end of my career, and it [the pub] had been sat here for 18 months, two years. It was not nice for the village, and I needed something to do after rugby and to be busy, not to mourn rugby and get depressed, as they say everyone does.

“But be careful what you wish for because this is so full-on. We want to feel like we’ve achieved something with the pub. We’re perfectionists. We’re all about the detail.”

Henson – who is believed to have a net worth of around £800,000 after once earning roughly £120,000 a year at the height of his career – has also recently pulled his rugby boots back on again.

In September last year, he returned to the field with his boyhood club Pencoed and he is now into his second season in League 2 West Central, in the fourth tier of Welsh rugby.

Speaking to BBC Scrum V, Henson admitted he is “loving” being back in rugby, explaining: “I’m 43 now, so a bit old, as my wife tells me. But I’ve missed it, I’ve missed the physicality of it, and being in a team environment again and trying to win.

“I’m very competitive, I like trying to win, that’s the main thing. We have a good group of boys. We’re aiming for promotion, so hopefully it will be a good season and great for the club.

“I’m playing 10, I would like to play 12 but I am just not quite big enough yet. So I’ll still try to aim to get there but 10 at the moment.”

Announcement draws criticism from Anglican churches that oppose female bishops.

The Church of England has named Sarah Mullally as the next archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to be appointed to the Church’s most senior office.

Mullally, 63, will become the spiritual head of 85 million Anglicans globally, and like her predecessors will face a Communion divided over several issues, including the role of women in the Church and the acceptance of same-sex couples.

Mullally replaces Justin Welby, who resigned due to a child abuse cover-up scandal last year.

The new archbishop addressed congregants for the first time at Canterbury Cathedral on Friday and spoke of the hope she saw in the world despite uncertain times.

Mullally said her first calling is to follow Christ and spread his message, but she also used her speech to address issues in the United Kingdom, including migration and the deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday, which killed two people.

“We are witnessing hatred that rises up through fractures across our communities,” Mullally said.

“I know that the God who is with us draws near to those who suffer. We then, as a Church, have a responsibility to be a people who stand with the Jewish community against antisemitism in all its forms. Hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart,” she added.

Mullally’s appointment drew criticism from conservative Anglican churches in Africa on account of her gender.

The Global Anglican Future Conference, which includes bishops from Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda, said the appointment of Mullally would further split the Church because she “promoted unbiblical and revisionist teachings regarding marriage and sexual morality.”

“Though there are some who will welcome the decision to appoint Bishop Mullally as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, the majority of the Anglican Communion still believes that the Bible requires a male-only episcopacy,” the Reverend Laurent Mbanda said in a statement for the group.

The Church of England’s evangelical wing called for a stop to what it referred to as a drift away from scripture.

Mullally, who has been bishop of London since 2018, has previously championed blessings for same-sex couples.

The Vatican congratulated Mullally and wished her well. King Charles III approved Mullally’s nomination and offered his congratulations.

She will officially become the archbishop of Canterbury at a ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral in January 2026.

Pilgrims were visiting the Menjar Shenkora Arerti Mariam Church to mark the annual Virgin Mary festival.

Makeshift scaffolding set up at a church in Ethiopia has collapsed, killing at least 36 people and injuring dozens, state media reported.

The incident occurred at about 7:45am [4:45 GMT] on Wednesday in the town of Arerti, in the Amhara region, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) east of the capital, Addis Ababa.

A group of pilgrims were visiting the Menjar Shenkora Arerti Mariam Church to mark the annual Virgin Mary festival when the scaffolding collapsed.

District police chief Ahmed Gebeyehu told state media Fana “the number of dead has reached 36 and could increase more,” according to the AFP news agency.

The number of people injured remains unclear, but some reports suggest they could be as many as 200.

Local official Atnafu Abate told the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) that some people remained under the rubble but did not provide details on rescue operations.

Some of the more seriously hurt were taken to hospitals in the capital, he added.

Teshale Tilahun, the local administrator, described the incident as “a tragic loss for the community”.

Images shared on the EBC’s official Facebook page showed tangled wooden poles, with crowds gathering amid the dense debris.

Other pictures appeared to show the outside of the church, where scaffolding had been precariously constructed.

Health and safety regulations are virtually non-existent in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, and construction accidents are common.

Sept. 29 (UPI) — Authorities are no longer looking for victims in the shooting at a Michigan church that left four dead and eight injured.

The dead gunman, Thomas Jacob Sanford, a 40-year-old Marine who served in the Iraq War, described Mormons as “the antichrist” to a Burton City Council candidate about one week before the shooting.

During a news conference Monday, Grand Blanc Township Police Chief Bill Renye said authorities have accounted for anyone who attended services Sunday morning at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints about 50 miles north of Ann Arbor.

Sanford, 40, of Burton, Mich., drove a vehicle into the building at about 10:25 a.m. EDT Sunday and opened fire with an assault-type weapon, local police said. Sanford was shot dead in the church’s back parking lot by two police officers.

“We still are in the process of clearing out that church, but at this time, everyone is accounted for,” Renye told reporters.

The injured, who ranged from 6 to 78 years old, were taken to Henry Ford Genesys, and two of them are still in critical condition, according to Dr. Michael Danic, chief of staff at the hospital in Grand Blanc.

Five were treated for wounds, including the person who died, and three others were treated for smoke inhalation, with one still intubated, Danic said. A 6-year-old child was stabilized and released, Danic said.

Police said 10 were injured and two later died.

Danic said several of the hospital’s resident physicians were at the church during the service, describing them as “heroes.”

“Not only were they victims, they are also first responders,” Danic said. “And having your friends and family come in injured and take care of them is a really incredible experience.”

The FBI, which is the lead agency in the investigation, has interviewed more than 100 victims and witnesses, Reuben Coleman, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, said.

“The FBI is investigating this as an act of targeted violence, and we are continuing to work to determine a motive,” Coleman said at the news conference.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives dispatced a “world-renowned” specialized rapid response team to investigate, ATF acting special agent in charge James Deir said at the news conference. Team members arrived Sunday night.

“They have been used all over the world, and they come from places as far as California, Hawaii, and they’re here in Michigan now,” Deir said.

Improvised explosive devices were found but investigators are still trying to determine a motive.

“Our special agents, victim specialists, child advocates, forensic interviewers and local partners have interviewed over 100 victims and witnesses to date, and are continuing to interview individuals as we speak,” Coleman said.

The suspect is believed to have ignited the church with gasoline.

“This is not Grand Blanc. This does not define Grand Blanc and who we are,” Renye said during a news conference. “We are a community, and I am confident that together we’re going to build a stronger community due to this incident.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also spoke at the news conference.

“We’ve seen gun violence in our schools, stores, parades, festivals and our houses of worship,” she said. “These are places that we go to feel connected, to feel safe, to be together.

“But today, this place has been shattered by bullets and broken glass. And this might be a familiar pain, but it hurts all the same every time.”

The church was destroyed and a “lifetime of memories is just gone,” Brandt Malone, who has been going to the church for several years, told CNN.

“The hardest thing for our community right now is feeling like that security blanket has been ripped away,” Malone said.

Sanford rammed his pickup truck into the church before shooting congregants with an assault rifle. The building was set on fire, with flames reaching up to 70 feet.

Sanford was a sergeant during Operation Iraqi Freedom, starting in the summer of 2007. He received several medals for his service, a Marine Corps spokesperson told CNN.

He was married and had at least one child. A GoldFundMe page in 2015 said the family needed donations to help pay for a son, who was born with a rare genetic disorder.

Kris Johns, a Burton city council candidate, told the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News that he spoke with Sanford on the campaign trail a few days before the shooting.

Johns recalled Sanford had a tirade against the church and described Mormons, which is the informal name given for members as the Church of Jesus Christ, as “the antichrist.”

“It was very much standard anti-LDS talking points that you would find on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook,” Johns told the Detroit News.

The council candidate recalled to the Free Press “there was no mention of anything right or left, blue or red. He said he saw Trump 2024 sign on the suspect’s fence.

NBC News confirmed an image loaded to Facebook in 2019 showed him wearing a “TRUMP 2020” shirt.

Johns said the man noted struggles with drug addiction.

A survivor at the shooting said there was no security at the church.

“We heard a big bang and the doors flew open,” Paula, who didn’t give her last name, told WXYZ TV. “And then everybody rushed out. We went through the church and through the parking lot … when we got in the cars and flipped around, that’s when the shooter started shooting at the car.”

At least four people have been killed and several others injured after a gunman drove a vehicle into a Michigan church, opened fire and set the building ablaze, police say.

Officials said the attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, a town 60 miles (100km) northwest of Detroit, happened during a Sunday service that attracted hundreds of people.

The suspect, identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, from Burton, Michigan, was later shot dead by police in the church car park.

Authorities are investigating the incident as an “act of targeted violence”, but say the motive remains unclear.

Two victims died from gunshot wounds, Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye told a news conference on Sunday.

The fire caused extensive damage to the building and some people remained unaccounted for, Chief Renye said.

Earlier, he said “hundreds” of people were attending services at about 10:25 local time (15:25 GMT) when a gunman drove a vehicle into the building.

The attacker then opened fire with an assault-style rifle, “firing several rounds at individuals within the church,” he said.

The police responded immediately to the scene, he said, adding officers “engaged in gunfire with that particular individual, neutralising that suspect”. He was killed at 10:33 local time, eight minutes after the shooting.

“We are still trying to determine exactly when and where the fire ended up coming from and how it got started,” the police chief said. “We believe it was deliberately set, though, by the suspect.”

Investigators are conducting a search of the suspect’s property and examining his cell-phone records as they work to establish a motive.

The FBI is leading the investigation and has deployed crisis response teams, bomb technicians and others to the scene, according to Reuben Coleman, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office.

Michigan State Police spokeswoman Kim Vetter told reporters that officers have been responding to additional bomb threats at multiple other locations.

“We’ve responded and cleared those locations,” she said.

In a statement, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints confirmed a gunman opened fire during worship services, and “multiple individuals were injured”.

“We pray for peace and healing for all involved,” it said.

Grand Blanc police said that 100 FBI agents have been deployed to assist with the investigation.

President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the shooting, and confirmed the FBI will be leading the federal investigation.

Writing on Truth Social, he described it as “yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America”.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that she had received briefings on “what appears to be a horrific shooting and fire” at the church.

“Such violence at a place of worship is heartbreaking and chilling,” Bondi said. “Please join me in praying for the victims of this terrible tragedy.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer condemned the incident, saying: “Violence anywhere, especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable,” adding that she was monitoring the situation.

Mitt Romney, former US senator for Utah and one of the most prominent Mormon politicians, called the shooting a “tragedy”, adding: “My brothers and sisters and their church are targets of violence. Praying for healing and comforting.”

A few years ago, Jaleel White got really into game shows.

The actor, most widely known for his role as the nerdy, suspenders-pulling neighbor Steve Urkel on “Family Matters,” began appearing as a celebrity guest on shows like “25 Words or Less,” Anthony Anderson’s “To Tell the Truth” and “Pictionary” with Jerry O’Connell.

“I just enjoyed winning the money for the people,” White says. “It’s strangely equally gratifying.”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

Soon, his longtime producer friend asked if he wanted to host a game show. He did. “Flip Side” is a survey-based competition in which two teamstry to determine how the majority of a crowd voted on various this-or-that questions for a chance to win $10,000. Its second season aired earlier this month.

White says that, in a way, hosting the show feels similar to being on a sitcom.

“When I did sitcom, I really felt the audience,” White says. “I really felt where the audience wanted to go emotionally in our storytelling, and I would play with it. I would consciously hear them and be like, ‘Milk that or dial that down.‘” He adds that he thrives off that “symbiotic” interaction, which is similar to engaging with contestants.

White is also developing a TV show based on his memoir, “Growing Up Urkel,” which was released last year.
While the Pasadena native’s Sundays during the NFL season are typically dedicated to Chargers games, he takes us along on his ideal day in L.A., which involves eating fluffy pancakes after church, checking out a show or game at the immersive venue Cosm and playing footgolf.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

9:30 a.m.: Sleep in, then head to church
If I’m not shooting “Flip Side,” so man, I might not get up before 9:30 a.m. I typically stay up late. I’m just a late-night person by nature. My mom said that she would stay up late a lot while she was pregnant with me, eating Mexican food, so I think biologically that turned me into a night owl, and I really appreciate great Mexican food [laughs]. If I’m on my game, I like to go to Oasis church on Wilshire. Shout to Pastor Julian. I think he’s one of the most underrated spiritual voices in the city, and he’s a pastor who wears Js, so that’s just kind of cool in itself to get the word like that.

Noon: Time for pancakes
If you want to have the best pancakes in the city after you go to church, [go to] Redbird, which is near downtown L.A. Their pancakes are crazy with the char on the edges. Not everybody makes them like that. I also like Takagi Coffee on West Third Street. It’s a Japanese cafe and they have soufflé pancakes. Those are my two favorite pancake spots to hit after church. We get screwed in the cost of living in L.A., but the cultural exchange that we experience daily is so taken for granted. In L.A., I just gave you an all-American spot and a Japanese coffeehouse after leaving a very diverse church.

2 p.m.: Experience a game or a show at Cosm
I rarely get to the movies these days and I feel terrible. I want to try to be like Kevin Bacon and encourage people to go to the movies and experience communal entertainment again. But one of my favorite places is Cosm in Inglewood. They are revolutionizing the sports bar business model. You can catch Cirque du Soleil with your family. You can catch a game. It’s just a big screen. It’s an experience that actually puts you on the field, so you feel like you’re actually at the game. Sometimes they get wild and they start shooting T-shirts with the T-shirt gun into the stadium seats.

5 p.m. Play footgolf
But if you’re on a budget, a really fun thing to do actually is to play footgolf. One of the best footgolf courses is at Rancho Park. It’s literally golf with your feet, a soccer ball and an oversized hole. We’ll go out there, smoke some purple, grab some snacks and just be out there like kids, betting on each hole [laughs]. That’s the adult way of doing it, but you can also do it with the kids. You can hit up a good taco truck beforehand. I think Mariscos Jalisco is my favorite taco truck. They make a crunchy shrimp taco that is just ridiculous.

8 p.m.: Order in from Goop
At this point, we’re kind of scrounging for dinner. I got to admit it, Gwyneth Paltrow be killing it with the Goop [Kitchen] order in. ’Cause I’ve eaten junk all day, so now I gotta start cleaning it up. Get yourself a salad from Goop, and really at this point, I’m probably on my couch trying to catch up on some binge TV with the lady and prepare for Monday.

11:30 p.m.: Binge TV until bed
On a Sunday, I can probably do a little bit better, somewhere around 11:30 p.m. or midnight. I’m going to get my series binge on, and we have to watch the highlights from the games that we just attended. I recently finished up “Forever” on Netflix and “Wednesday” is back. I’m such a kid. I love Tim Burton. I’m all over the place in my film and TV appreciation. People would be really shocked by what I enjoy.

Jerardyn sat quietly on the bus, her mood relaxed as her eyes scanned the fleeting horizon of Southern California one August afternoon.

But as the U.S.-Mexico border wall, a towering barrier of steel pillars, came into view, she began taking big, deep breaths. Her heart began to race as she clutched her immigration documents and tried to hide her anxiety from her two youngest children traveling with her. She caught what she believed would be her last glimpse of the United States for now.

A refugee from Venezuela, Jerardyn, 40, entered the United States last year with her family, hoping to obtain asylum. But this was before President Trump took office and launched immigration raids across Southern California, shattering her sense of safety. She lived in fear that immigration agents would detain her or, worse, send her family back to Venezuela, where they risked facing retribution from the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Jerardyn bathes Milagro in the basement of a church in South Los Angeles, where she found refuge with her four children, daughter-in-law and the family’s dog.

So after eight months of living in the basement of an L.A. church, she made a painful decision. She would migrate again. This time she’d voluntarily move back to Mexico with her two youngest kids, leaving behind her two eldest, who are applying for asylum.

She planned meticulously. She withdrew her asylum application from immigration court. She found an apartment outside Mexico City. She filled two boxes with toys, clothes and shoes to ship to Mexico ahead of her departure. She bought bus tickets to Tijuana and plane tickets to Mexico City.

The bus ride from Los Angeles to Tijuana had been smooth, but as they pulled into the National Institute of Migration, Mexico’s border immigration office, she felt a sense of dread.

Milagro plays with Pelusa, the family’s dog, in the church basement.

Jerardyn, right, prepares for their move to Mexico as her daughter-in-law styles Milagro’s hair.

Jerardyn and son David, 10, say goodbye to his brother Jahir, 18, at the bus station in Huntington Park on Aug. 16, 2025.

Milagro holds onto her eldest brother, Jesus, at the bus station as she prepares to move to Mexico in August.

“I’m panicking,” she said.

She hadn’t expected to face Mexican immigration officials so soon. She tried to self-soothe by telling herself that no matter what, she would figure it out.

“I’m going to make it in any country because I’m the one doing it.”

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Gathering her bags and suitcase, she shepherded Milagro, 7, and David, 10, into the empty line and handed her Venezuelan passport to an immigration officer. He gave her a stern look and pulled Jerardyn and her children away from the counter and into another room.

Would Mexico deport her to Venezuela? Or grant her some mercy? All she knew was that the doors leading to Mexico were, for now, closed.

Jerardyn grew up in a comfortable, middle-class family in a seaport city, the youngest of eight, and was doted upon by her father. She had aspirations of becoming a social worker, but at 15, she became pregnant. Her parents initially disapproved, but her father, a former police officer, came around after she told him she would name her firstborn after him.

Jerardyn asked that her last name not be published, for fear of retribution for fleeing Venezuela, an act viewed as treason by the government. Her children are being identified by their middle names.

With help from her parents, she earned a certification to become a medical technician. But after her second son, Jahir, was born, her father died, upending her life.

When she was 22, Jerardyn said, she was assaulted by a man who had hired her to do some office cleaning, an ordeal that left her scarred. Violence became rife in Venezuela, as family members got caught up in illegal activity. A nephew she helped raise since he was young was shot by a police officer in front of her, she said.

Jerardyn comforts Milagro on the bus bound for the border with Mexico, after they said their goodbyes to family members.

Conditions in Venezuela continued to worsen. The economy collapsed, bankrupting an auto parts shop she had been running with her husband. By the time Milagro was born in 2018, their relationship had become strained, and they were no longer a couple.

As corruption ran rampant in Venezuela, Jerardyn learned that government officials were kidnapping teens. It wasn’t long before her oldest son, Jesus, then 17, became a target.

During a nationwide power outage in 2019, Jesus went out to buy gasoline around 10 a.m. but never returned. Panicked, she went looking for him, but no one knew where he was.

Frantic, she prayed to God for his safe return. At midnight, government officials released him.

Jerardyn and her children David and Milagro wait at Tijuana International Airport for their flight to Mexico City on Aug. 17, 2025.

Jerardyn, who lovingly refers to her children as her pollitos — baby chicks — concluded they were no longer safe in their homeland. So without notifying her family, she fled with the children to neighboring Colombia. Milagro was 4 months old.

“No one knows what you live through in your country,” she said of her decision to escape Venezuela. “If I had stayed there, my kids could have died from hunger, suffered psychological torture, kidnappings, so many things…. I’m just trying to save them.”

Aid workers in Colombia helped the family relocate to Lima, Peru, where Jerardyn worked as a server and in clothing stores.

Jerardyn, center, sleeps on the flight to Mexico City with her two youngest children, David and Milagro.

David and Milagro bundle up while Jerardyn waits for the landlord to let them into their new apartment in Texcoco de Mora, a town northeast of Mexico City

She made one foray back to Venezuela during that time — attempting to obtain passports for her children. But that effort backfired. Government officials detained her and her children in a white room and forced her to pay the equivalent of $3,000 to be released, with no passports for David and Milagro.

Peru did not prove to be a refuge either. The country was growing increasingly hostile to Venezuelan immigrants, and her sons faced bullying in school. So after four years of living abroad, she began researching what it would take to travel through the Darien Gap, the dangerous strip of jungle linking Central and South America.

She made a list of what they needed to pack to survive.

Altogether, there were six on the journey through the Darien Gap — Jerardyn, her four children, her daughter-in-law, and Pelusa, a dog they had found in Peru. She was especially worried about David, who was 8, and Milagro, then 5.

The jungle was “a living hell,” she recalled, a place where people lost their humanity. Migrants robbed other migrants. Travelers were left injured and abandoned by their families. Jerardyn and her kids had to hike past decomposing bodies, an image she cannot shake. They could hear snakes slithering past their tent when it was not raining, which it often did.

It took the family five days to cross the jungle. She was certain that if one of them died, she would have stayed behind too.

After a month traveling through Mexico, they arrived in the capital covered in dirt, their sandals worn down from the miles behind them. Jesus’ feet were bloody. A taxi driver recommended they visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. They arrived at 6 a.m., exhausted and penniless.

After the morning Mass, Jerardyn kneeled and prayed for her family’s safety and a pathway to a life in Mexico, while they waited to enter the U.S.

A pathway soon emerged. A friend helped her settle in Texcoco de Mora, a town northeast of Mexico City. Jerardyn began working at a salon and enrolled Milagro and David in school. Jesus and Jahir hawked vegetables at street markets, and her daughter-in-law worked at a restaurant. Every day, they tried to land a CBP One appointment, which would allow them to enter the U.S. legally to seek asylum.

By a stroke of luck and persistence, the family secured a coveted appointment on Dec. 11, 2024. They continued north to Nogales, Mexico, and suddenly Jerardyn was seeing the U.S. southern border for the first time.

Moments later, she heard a U.S. immigration official voice the words she had long awaited: “Welcome to the United States.”

Immigration raids had been roiling Los Angeles for more than a month when Jerardyn went to Mass one Sunday in July. Having just finished her overnight shift cleaning up a stadium after a concert, she smiled tiredly as she joined her children in the front pew at the church in South L.A. She hugged them as Pastor Ivan began preaching about immigrants and how they shape communities.

Before the raids, the pews would be filled with dozens of families. Now, only a handful of people sat scattered around.

Pastor Ivan’s voice boomed as he urged the congregation to pray for families torn apart by the raids. After a prayer, Jerardyn stood, picked up the collection basket and began gathering donations for the church. She had given Milagro and David a few dollars, which they dropped into the basket.

Milagro walks down the aisle at the South L.A. church.

The church became their haven in January after Jerardyn spent a night homeless. Along with her kids, she had originally been staying with the father of her children, who arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela on his own years ago. But after an argument, he kicked her out of the apartment, forcing her to find a new refuge for herself and her kids.

Pastor Ivan, whose church The Times is not naming because Jerardyn’s family members still reside there, said the church has a history of sheltering immigrants, including Afghans, Haitians, Mexicans and Venezuelans. The pastor said he lived in the U.S. for a decade without documents and knows firsthand the plight of migrants.

“They feel that everything is closing up around them,” he said. But the church’s role is to not stay silent, he said, and instead, to offer help and compassion.

That is why Jerardyn and her family began to slowly build a semblance of a normal life in the church’s basement. David and Milagro attended school nearby, where Milagro was praised for picking up English quickly.

But the family found everyday life stifling. In the basement, Jerardyn felt like they were hiding from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Once, when the school notified her that immigration agents were nearby, she panicked, she said, wondering whether they would seize her children.

David sits at the kitchen table as Jerardyn cleans up in the church basement.

In the eight months they lived there, she had taken her children on public transit only six times. Once, on the metro, a homeless woman pulled her pants down in front of them and urinated. Another time, on a bus, a man became visibly irritated while she spoke Spanish to another passenger.

In the most jarring incident, Jerardyn and David watched from a bus window as immigration agents detained a woman. Suffering panic attacks, the boy would wake up crying from nightmares in which Jerardyn was the one arrested. She shed tears thinking of the stress she was placing on her children.

In the church, she spent several nights mulling over whether to leave the U.S. She would lie on the carpet, alone, in tears, and ask God for answers. But the choice became clear, she said, when David told her he wanted to return to Mexico.

In her request to close her asylum case at immigration court, she carefully wrote out a translated version of a plea to the judge.

“I am requesting voluntary departure because my children and I are experiencing a very stressful situation,” she wrote, recounting how she and David watched a woman get detained. Milagro loved going to school but suffered from anxiety too. “For me it is difficult to make that decision, but it is preferable to leave voluntarily and avoid many problems and even so in the future I can get my documents in the best way and return to this country legally. Thank you very much.”

The judge approved her request. Jesus, 23, and Jahir, 18, would continue to seek asylum and live at the church, with support from Pastor Ivan, who assured Jerardyn they would be safe.

When it came time to say goodbye as they boarded the bus for Tijuana, Jerardyn told Jesus to look out for Jahir. She hugged Jahir, caressed his head, and told him to listen to his older brother. Milagro pressed her small face into Jesus’ stomach and held him tightly until it was time to board. She then sobbed quietly in her mother’s arms as the bus pulled away.

There are no clear numbers yet on how many migrants have opted to self-deport this year. In a statement, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that “tens of thousands of illegal aliens have utilized the CBP Home app.” The app offers to pay for one-way tickets out of the U.S., along with a $1,000 “exit bonus.”

Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, said the Trump administration has pushed hard to get people to leave on their own, as the White House appears to be falling short of its goal of 1 million deportations a year. The raids, courthouse arrests and threat of third-country removals are compounding a climate of fear.

“Some of the high-profile moves that this administration has taken [have] been aimed at trying to scare people into self-deporting,” she said.

At the immigration office in Tijuana, Jerardyn, Milagro and David were placed in a white room with one window and told they would be deported because Jerardyn did not have a visa to stay in Mexico.

As they waited, Jerardyn started to pace the small room, which was reminiscent of the one Venezuelan officials had placed her in when they extorted money from her. She had no luggage or phone. Mexican officials had taken them.

As the officials questioned her, she said, she maintained that she had committed no crimes and that she knew she had rights to travel into the country. Somehow, Milagro and David remained calm, eating tuna and crackers provided by the officials.

Jerardyn and her children were released by Mexican immigration authorities after being fingerprinted at the Tijuana-San Ysidro border in August.

The family waited for more than three hours before the officials returned with news: They could stay. All were granted temporary status for a month while Jerardyn sought legal status. Officials fingerprinted them, staining their fingers green, took their pictures for documents that would allow them to travel freely and — 12 hours after leaving Los Angeles — let them leave for their flight to Mexico City.

Because of her preparations, Jerardyn had a job lined up at the hair salon where she previously worked. But a big question mark was Gonzalo. She had met him in Texcoco and they had become close. He showered her children with adoration and care. He asked to marry her, and she had said yes. But when she departed for the U.S. just days later, the distance became too difficult, and they broke off their engagement.

When she and the kids returned, Gonzalo met them at the airport in Mexico City, and the children hugged him in greeting.

Now that she was back, Jerardyn hoped that she and Gonzalo would rekindle their romance. At first they did, easily falling back together, holding hands while strolling through the streets.

Jerardyn, Gonzalo, Milagro and David, center, walk through the town after dinner in Texcoco, Mexico, on Aug. 17, 2025.

Jerardyn, left, chats with a neighbor at her family’s new apartment in Texcoco, Mexico.

Jerardyn shares a laugh with Gonzalo during a family dinner in Texcoco, Mexico.

Jerardyn and Gonzalo walk through town after dinner in Texcoco, Mexico.

At her new two-bedroom apartment, Jerardyn unloaded air mattresses that would serve as beds until she could afford real ones. She made a note of what she would need to buy. A fridge. A trash can and bath mat. A couch for the kids to relax on after school.

One Sunday, the family walked through Texcoco’s crowded central plaza, the air warm and scented with cooking meats and sweets. They navigated around the vendors and chatting families sitting on benches and enjoying snacks. Her children were smiling, and Jerardyn was at peace, something she hardly ever felt in the U.S.

She was finally back in “mi Texcoco,” she said. This feeling of tranquility reminded her of the first time she left Venezuela, when she no longer feared that the government would take her children from her.

“I feel free, complete peace of mind, knowing I’m not doing anything wrong, and I won’t be pursued,” she said.

Jerardyn stares out of the bedroom at her new apartment.

During her first week back, Jerardyn and the children made the trek into Mexico City, where she found herself nearly asking for directions in English, only to remember that everyone spoke her language too.

She returned to the Basilica, her family’s first stop in Mexico City, and gave thanks to the Virgin Mary for guiding her safe journey. The three bowed their heads and knelt in prayer. David prayed for the well-being of his brothers.

That first week, she signed her children up for online English classes at a nearby academy. She worked on a client’s hair, her first gig. She also started therapy to begin sorting through everything she has lived through.

Milagro roller-skates outside her family’s new home in Texcoco, Mexico.

One crisp August morning, Jerardyn helped Milagro slip into the in-line skates Jesus had given her as a parting gift. The little girl had carried them in her pink backpack all the way from L.A., and she wanted to show them off.

In the safe, enclosed space of the apartment complex, where the buildings were painted vibrant shades of red, yellow and blue, Milagro went slowly at first, using a pillar to make turns and the wall as a stop. But as she settled into a flow, she began to speed up, making the turns smoothly on her own.

Milagro cuddles up to a new stuffed toy, a gift from her cousin, right, inside her family’s new apartment in Texcoco, Mexico.

A few times, she fell with a huff. But with her mother looking on, she’d pick herself back up and keep going.

Sept. 18 (UPI) — A federal jury in Gulfport, Miss., has convicted a man charged with six counts of federal arson and civil rights offenses for vandalizing and setting fire to a house of worship, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

Stefan Day Rowold set fire to the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Wiggins, Miss., on July 7, 2024.

Evidence presented at the trial suggested that Rowold targeted the church because he disagreed with its fundamental religious beliefs and principles, the Justice Department said in a release.

Rowold confessed to breaking into the building, vandalizing the interior walls and setting a fire in the middle of the church’s multi-purpose room so leaders could not hold services.

Rowold used the church’s hymnals for kindling for the fire, court records showed. He also admitted to breaking into the church two days later with the intention of creating more damage.

“The second time he broke in, Rowold set another fire using cardboard and a piece of firewood,” the Justice Department statement continued.

Rowold is scheduled to be sentenced in January. He faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison on each of the arson charges, a maximum sentence of 20 years on each of the civil rights charges and a minimum of 10 years for using fire to commit a federal felony offense.

A few hours after Charlie Kirk was killed, Sean Feucht, an influential right-wing Christian worship leader, filmed a selfie video from his home in California, his eyes brimming with tears.

The shooting of one of the nation’s most prominent conservative activists, Feucht declared, was no less than “a line in the sand” in a country descending into a spiritual darkness.

“The enemy thinks that he won, that there was a battle that was won today,” he said, referencing Satan. “No, man, there’s going to be millions of bold voices raised up out of the sacrifice and the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk.”

Soon afterward, Pastor Matt Tuggle, who leads the Salt Lake City campus of the San Diego-based Awaken megachurch, posted a video of Kirk’s killing on Instagram, adding the caption: “If your pastor isn’t telling you the left believes a evil demonic belief system you are in the wrong church!”

People place lighted candles below a photo of Charlie Kirk at a vigil in his memory in Orem, Utah.

(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)

Kirk’s death has triggered a range of reaction, much of it mournful sympathy for the 31-year-old activist and his family. But it also has sparked conspiracy theories, hot-take presumptions the left was responsible and calls for vengeance against Kirk’s perceived enemies.

At a vigil for Kirk in Huntington Beach this week, some attendees waved white flags depicting a red cross and the word “Jesus,” while some chanted, “White men, fight back!” Kirk spread a philosophy that liberals sought to disempower men, and some of his male supporters see his killing as an attack against them.

Whether the calls for vengeance will ebb or intensify remains to be seen, especially with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s announcement Friday that a suspect in the fatal shooting, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, had been arrested after a family member turned him in.

In life, Kirk spoke of what he called a “spiritual battle” being waged in the United States between Christians and a Democratic Party that “supports everything that God hates.”

In death, Kirk, one of the Republican Party’s most influential power brokers, is being hailed by conservative evangelical pastors and GOP politicians as a Christian killed for his religious beliefs.

President Trump called Kirk a “martyr for truth and freedom,” and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in his honor. He blamed Kirk’s death on the rhetoric of the “radical left.” Vice President JD Vance, who helped carry Kirk’s casket to Air Force Two, retweeted a post Kirk wrote on X last month reading, “It’s all about Jesus.” And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, quoting Jesus, wrote on X: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

A woman lays her head down on a seat during a vigil at CenterPoint Church for Charlie Kirk in Orem, Utah.

(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)

Experts on faith and far-right extremism say they are troubled by the religious glorification of Kirk in this era of increased political violence — and the potential vengeance that may spring from it. The activist’s death, they say, seems to have ignited various factions on the right, ranging from white supremacists to hard-core Christian nationalists.

“The ‘spiritual warfare’ rhetoric will only increase,” and Kirk is now being lifted up as “a physical manifestation” of a religious battle, said Matthew Boedy, a professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia who has written a forthcoming book about Christian nationalism that prominently features Kirk.

“Spiritual warfare rhetoric was a big part of Jan. 6,” he said of the deadly 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. “Making a martyr out of Charlie Kirk will change our nation in severe ways.”

Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma and expert on Christian nationalism, said he is a Christian himself but that religion, cynically used, “has the potential to amplify what would otherwise be very secular political conflicts between Democrats and Republicans.”

“What if those are amplified with a cosmic and ultimate significance?” he said. “It becomes, ‘This is God vs. Satan. This is angels vs. demons — and if we lose this next election, we plunge the nation into a thousand years of darkness.’ … It basically provokes extremism.”

Feucht, a Christian nationalist and failed Republican congressional candidate from Northern California, said that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” and that, in the wake of Kirk’s death, “we have to do something.”

Kirk — who rallied his millions of online followers to vote for Trump in the 2024 election — declared that God was on the side of American conservatives and that there was “no separation of church and state.” He was also known for his vitriol against racial and religious minorities, LGBTQ+ people, childless women, progressives and others who disagreed with him.

Kirk called transgender people “a throbbing middle finger to God.” He said the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was “a huge mistake” and called the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “awful.” On his podcast, he called with a smirk for “some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area [who] wants to really be a midterm hero” to bail out of jail the man who attacked then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer in their home in 2022.

A memorial is set up for Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)

In 2023, Kirk sat on the stage of Awaken Church in Salt Lake City and said: “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the 2nd Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”

Two days before his death, Kirk retweeted a video of himself saying that a “spiritual battle is coming for the West,” with “wokeism or marxism combining with Islamism” to go after “the American way of life, which is, by the way, Christendom.”

Perry said, “There’s no need to whitewash the legacy of Charlie Kirk.”

“This is a tragedy, and no one deserves to die this way,” Perry said. “Yet, at the same time, Charlie Kirk is very much part of this polarization story in the U.S. who used quite divisive rhetoric, ‘us vs. them, the left is evil.’”

Perry noted that Kirk’s Turning Point USA had placed him on its Professor Watchlist, a website that says it aims to expose professors “who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda.” The entry on Perry flags him for “Anti-Judeo-Christian Values.”

Some on the right say their recent fiery words are only a response to the hateful rhetoric of the left. One widely shared example: Two days before Kirk’s killing, the feminist website Jezebel published an article titled, “We Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk.” It has since been removed and replaced by a letter from the site’s editor saying it had been “intended as satire and made it absolutely clear that we wished no physical harm.”

Kirk was killed by a single sniper-style shot to the neck Wednesday during an outdoor speaking event at Utah Valley University.

After announcing the suspect’s arrest Friday, Gov. Cox said he had prayed that the shooter was not from Utah, “that somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country.” But that prayer, he said, “was not answered the way I hoped for.”

He then said that political violence “metastasizes because we can always point the finger at the other side” and that, “at some point, we have to find an offramp, or it’s going to get much, much worse.”

Some of Kirk’s most prominent evangelical followers have said that his death represents an attack on conservative Christian values and that he was gunned down for speaking “the truth.”

Jon Fleischman, Orange County-based conservative blogger and former executive director of the California Republican Party, who started out as a conservative college activist, knew Kirk and said “there is one hell of a martyr situation going on.”

“A lot of people are getting activated and are going to walk the walk, talk the talk, and give money as their way of trying to process and deal with losing someone they care about,” he told The Times.

In recent years, Kirk had become more outspoken about his Christian faith. He founded the nonprofit Turning Point USA in 2012 as an avowedly secular youth organization and became known for his college campus tours, with videos of his debates with liberal college students racking up tens of millions of views.

But in 2020, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, college campuses closed. Kirk started speaking at churches that stayed open in violation of local lockdown and mask orders, including Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Ventura County, which was led by Pastor Rob McCoy, a former Thousand Oaks mayor.

McCoy is now the co-chair of Turning Point USA Faith, which encourages pastors to become more politically outspoken. McCoy, who could not be reached for comment, wrote in a statement Friday: “For those who rejoiced over his murder, you are instruments of evil and I implore you to repent. For those of you who mock prayer, you would do well to reconsider. Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us toward a more peaceful and civil life.”

Professor Boedy said McCoy turned Kirk toward Christian nationalism, specifically the Seven Mountains Mandate — the idea that Christians should try to hold sway over the seven pillars of cultural influence: arts and entertainment, business, education, family, government, media and religion.

Christian nationalism, which is rejected by mainline Christians, holds that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that the faith should have primacy in government and law.

Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and a professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino, said, “the more violent fringes of Christian nationalism have disturbing aspects that are eliminationist and antidemocratic.”

He noted that some of the same Christian nationalists and white supremacists who are now calling Kirk a martyr already deified Trump, especially after he survived two assassination attempts on the campaign trail last year and said he had been “saved by God to make America great again.”

Levin said many Christian nationalists portray Trump as “an armed Christian warrior protecting America from a disturbing assortment of immigrants, religious minorities, genders and sexual orientations.” And so, when he uses martyr language to describe Kirk, his adherents latch on.

“Where do martyrs come from? From violent conflicts and wars,” Levin said. “The fact of the matter is that this is a moment that Trump could have more effectively seized, but he veered into divisive territory.”

California Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-Santee) also called Kirk “a modern day martyr.” In a statement, Jones quoted Thomas Jefferson, who said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Jones wrote: “Let us take care that we allow that tree to grow and blossom as it feeds on the lifeblood of Charles J. Kirk in the years to come.”

Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.

St Just in Roseland is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, located just north of St Mawes and six miles south of Truro

This secluded Cornish retreat boasts stunning natural beauty and one remarkable historic structure just six miles south of the bustling tourist destination, Truro.

St Just in Roseland stands out as a charming village and civil parish renowned for its breathtaking church and surprising tropical surroundings. Positioned just north of St Mawes, this hidden gem is perfectly nestled along the Cornwall coastline, providing peaceful views far from the usual Cornish attractions.

What sets this location apart is its 13th-century Church of England parish church, referred to by locals as St Just’s Church. This ancient structure is positioned amongst waterside gardens that house some of Britain’s most unusual species.

St Just’s Church rests peacefully at the water’s edge of a tidal creek, resembling something from a storybook, sitting quietly alongside the Carrick Roads, away from the main village centre. The approach features a delightful pathway constructed from granite stones that bear inscribed Biblical passages and meaningful quotes.

The surrounding gardens burst with verdant palm trees, blooms, vegetation and more, forming an enchanting miniature wilderness around the ancient building. One TripAdvisor reviewer describes St Just in Roseland as having “tranquil” gardens that are “the most beautiful” they’ve encountered at any church, reports the Express.

Another delighted visitor said: “I have been to many wonderful churches, but this one is very special. For almost 1,500 years there has been a church on this site; even today there is a sense of peace and solitude.

“The graveyard is really a semi-tropical garden and compares well with some of the famous gardens in Cornwall.The church is relatively plain inside but provides a magic space to leave behind the modern world and all its troubles.”

Another visitor added: “This church and area are just so beautiful. The church and grounds are just so serene and peaceful and pretty. The views over the water from the church are beautiful.

“Lovely old graves and a well-kept graveyard. Definitely worth a visit if you love churches.”

The church interior welcomes respectful guests, serving as both a sanctuary for prayer and worship, plus a “place of respite” for the entire community.

According to its website, St Just in Roseland Church promises an experience “you will never forget you have visited”.

The site adds: “St Just church is open daily from 9am to 6pm in the summer and 9am to 4pm during the winter months.Please note there may be times when the church is closed – such as for a funeral or reflective service.”

The grounds also house charming Renwicks Café, which caters to both residents and holidaymakers within the subtropical gardens.

To find it, guests must venture beyond the main village along a narrow lane leading to the hillside church entrance.

While on-site parking is limited, roadside spaces offer an alternative for those travelling through.

BOSTON — As he gave his acceptance address at the Republican National Convention last week, Mitt Romney for the first time gave America an intimate look at the role that his Mormon faith has played in his life and how his work in the church as a pastor helped shape him.

When Romney and his wife, Ann, attended church Sunday in Wolfeboro, N.H., his close friend J.W. Marriott (who is known as “Bill”) offered a bookend to that discussion — testifying during the service about how the spotlight on Romney this week had cast the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a positive light and had drawn welcome attention to good works of the church.

“There has never been as much positive attention to the church, thanks to the wonderful campaign of Mitt Romney and his family,” Marriott told the congregation during his testimonial, which is a part of the service where church members often speak about what their faith means to them.

“Today we see the church coming out of obscurity and we see that 90% of what has been written … has been favorable. And that’s a great tribute to Mitt and Ann and their family for living such an exemplary life,” Marriott said. “A life of love and compassion, a good Latter-day Saint life. A life of leadership, reaching out to others, and touching others, and worshiping the lord and putting families and the church first.”

He added that now that the church was in the public eye, “everybody is looking at us and saying, ‘Are you as good as the Romneys?’ And of course we all have to continue to do better and live the commandments, and do the best we can to serve our church.”

The Marriotts have been a major presence in the communities around New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee. During a brief interview in July 2011, after a Wolfeboro campaign event, Ann Romney said she and her husband got their first glimpse of Lake Winnipesaukee when they came to the area to visit the Marriott family.

The friendship between the Marriott and Romney families extends over many decades. Bill Marriott, who spoke Sunday in Wolfeboro, has been a major financial backer of Romney’s campaign, and for a time Romney served on the board of Marriott International.

The Republican nominee’s parents, George and Lenore, were close friends with J. Willard Marriott, Bill Marriott’s father. George Romney’s papers at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan show that he relied on his friend for advice throughout his life on matters of church, family and politics.

After their introduction to the Lake Winnipesaukee area, the Romneys have used their lakeside retreat in Wolfeboro to relax and gather with their five sons and grandchildren. The house is set up for family activities including boating and games on a sand volleyball court. A building that was once used as stables has been converted to bedrooms that can house all 18 of the Romney grandchildren in a series of bunk beds.

The family’s home is set in the white pines with views of the Belknap Mountains and is only visible from the lake. After a busy few days on the campaign trail, Romney will spend time there this week (and at a friend’s home in neighboring Vermont) preparing for his fall debates with President Obama while Democrats hold their convention in North Carolina.
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SEOUL, Sept. 2 (UPI) — Hak Ja Han, leader of the Unification Church, publicly denied she had ever directed aides to undertake illicit influence peddling.

“False claims are being spread that, under my direction, our church provided illegal political funds,” she said Sunday. “I have never instructed any unlawful political solicitation or financial transaction.”

Her remarks came as a special prosecutor deepened investigations into the religious movement’s political ties, bringing renewed attention to allegations involving conservative legislator Kweon Seong-dong.

Han issued her statement as prosecutors examined claims that the church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, provided illicit financial support to sitting lawmakers. Kweon, a longtime ally of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, has admitted to meeting Han but denied receiving any funds.

According to indictment documents cited in South Korean media, prosecutors allege that, in October 2022, Kweon warned Yoon Young-ho, then director of the church’s global headquarters, that authorities were preparing to investigate possible illegal overseas gambling linked to the church.

He allegedly told Yoon to prepare for a search, after which church officials reportedly ordered staff members to alter financial records from 2010 to 2013.

Separately, Yonhap News reported that the Unification Church has filed an embezzlement complaint against its former finance chief, who also is the wife of Yoon Young-ho. The complaint accuses her of misappropriating about 2 billion won (approximately $1.4 million) in church funds, part of which allegedly was used to purchase a luxury Graff necklace.

Han’s categorical denial has drawn further attention from prosecutors, who now must determine whether her statement conflicts with testimony or documentary evidence.

Sept. 1 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV confirmed his intent to include LGBTQ parishioners within the Catholic Church ahead of their planned Holy Year pilgrimage to Vatican City.

The pope met editor and author the Rev. James Martin of New York for 30 minutes and said he intends to continue Pope Francis‘ policy of inclusion for all, the National Catholic Reporter reported Monday.

Pope Francis refused to judge and expel a gay priest in 2013 and afterward allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.

Francis did not change the Catholic Church’s policy of teaching parishioners that homosexual acts are “disordered,” though.

Martin co-founded Outreach, which is a Catholic ministry that promotes LGBTQ inclusion, and will participate in the Holy Year pilgrimage to Vatican City on Friday and Saturday.

An estimated 1,200 people are expected to participate in the pilgrimage, which is not sponsored by the Vatican.

Leo and Martin met in the library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, where the Pope clarified his position of inclusion for LGBTQ church members.

The pontiff’s position was in doubt after he criticized what he called the “homosexual lifestyle” in 2012 while serving the church and was still known as the Rev. Robert Prevost.

After being elevated to a cardinal in 2023, Prevost told Catholic News Service he did not oppose Pope Francis’ inclusion of members due to the choices that they make in their personal lives.

He confirmed the Catholic Church’s policy regarding homosexuality had not changed.

Leo also said church leaders were “looking to be more welcoming and more open and to say all people are welcome in the church,” the Catholic News Service reported.

Aug. 29 (UPI) — The two children killed in Wednesday’s church shooting in Minneapolis have been identified by their families.

The two children were killed Wednesday when a gunman opened fire at the church of the Annunciation Catholic School where students and parishioners had been assembled for Mass.

Jesse Merkel identified one of the deceased as his 8-year-old son, Fletcher Merkel, during a press conference outside of the school on Thursday.

“Yesterday, a coward decided to take our 8-year-old son, Fletcher, away from us. Because of their actions, we will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming,” Jesse Merkel said.

“Fletcher loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking and any sport that he was allowed to play.”

He added that they are not asking for sympathy, but empathy as his family and the community grieve.

“Please remember Fletcher for the person he was and not the act that ended his life,” he said.

The second deceased victim was identified as 10-year-old Harper Moyski, according to a statement from the family.

“Harper was a bright, joyful and deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness and spirit touched everyone who knew her,” Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin said in the statement.

“Our hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper’s sister, who adored her big sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss. As a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain.”

Eighteen others, including 15 children aged 6 and 15 and three adult parishioners in their 80s, were wounded in the shooting.

The Minneapolis Police Department earlier Thursday increased the casualty count from 17 after an identifying another injured child.

The suspect, 23-year-old Robin Westman, reportedly a former student and transgender woman, was found dead at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police said in a statement the shooter used three different firearms in the shooting, with officers recovering 116 rifle casings, three shotgun shells and one live pistol round from the scene.

Video surveillance of the shooting confirmed the gunman was unable to enter the church and fired into the church from outside.

“The practice of locking the doors once Mass began likely prevented a worse incident,” the Minneapolis Police Department said. “At the same time, the suspect attempted to barricade a door from the outside, preventing exit from the church.”

Mayor Jacob Frey said following the shooting that “it could have been far worse.”

A motive for the shooting was not clear.

On Thursday, police said four search warrants were executed at the church and three other locations in the Metro Minneapolis area, resulting in officers finding additional firearms.

Hundreds of pieces of evidence were also recovered, they said.

Aug. 28 (UPI) — In Minneapolis, people of all faiths have united in mourning after Wednesday’s church school shooting that killed two children.

Minneapolis officials have added another victim to the total from yesterday’s mass shooting at the Church of the Annunciation.

Current totals now are two children, ages 8 and 19, who were killed by shooter Robin Westman, who died by gun suicide at the scene, according to Minneapolis officials.

Another 15 children and minors between ages 6 and 15 were injured, along with three adult parishioners who were attending the morning school mass at the church in south Minneapolis.

Hundreds of people gathered at Lynnhurst Park in the city on Wednesday evening to mourn the two children who were killed. Many left flowers and candles.

A memorial prayer was held at the Academy of Holy Angels at 8:58 p.m. after starting late to accommodate hundreds of attendees, the Star Tribune reported.

“I was very moved to see how many churches were having prayer services this evening, how many of our Protestant brothers and sisters [attended],” Archbishop Bernard Hebda told those in attendance.

“I received messages today from the Jewish community, from the Muslim community,” Hebda added. “I know there are representatives from both of those groups who are here.”

Hebda read a message from Pope Leo, as written by Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

“He sends his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy,” Hebda said.

The Minneapolis Police Department increased its patrols near the school, and city officials are coordinating with the St. Paul Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement to provide added security at all schools in the city’s metro area for the next couple of weeks.

A news conference was scheduled at 1 p.m. CDT at Minneapolis City Hall and was to include local officials, law enforcement and members of Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.

Westman, 23, legally purchased the rifle, shotgun and pistol used to carry out the attack at the religious school for children in pre-K through eighth grade.

Westman once attended the Annunciation Catholic School, and Westman’s mother formerly was a teacher.

Westman was born Robert Westman but, according to Fox News, changed his name to Robin in 2019. CNN reported that Westman graduated from Annunciation’s grade school in 2017, based on a yearbook photo.

Local officials say Westman acted alone, and local police obtained four search warrants for the church and three other locations in Minneapolis, which led to the recovery of several more firearms.

A motive remains unknown, but Westman had posted a manifesto online, along with photos of firearms and ammunition magazines upon which he had written various statements.

The online content has been removed, and the FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime against Catholics, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X.

US senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley condemned violence against Palestinians as they visited the historic church of St George in the occupied West Bank, which was attacked by Israeli settlers in July.

Sweden’s landmark Kiruna Church begins a two-day journey to a new home, inching down an Arctic road to save its wooden walls from ground subsidence and the expansion of the world’s largest underground iron ore mine.

Workers have jacked up the 600-tonne, 113-year-old church from its foundations and hefted it onto a specially built trailer – part of a 30-year project to relocate thousands of people and buildings from the city of Kiruna in the region of Lapland.

Mine operator LKAB has spent the past year widening the road for the journey, which will take the red-painted church – one of Sweden’s largest wooden structures, often voted its most beautiful – 5km (3 miles) down a winding route to a brand new Kiruna city centre.

The journey, which begins on Tuesday, will save the church but remove it from the site where it has stood for more than a century.

“The church is Kiruna’s soul in some way, and in some way it’s a safe place,” Lena Tjarnberg, the vicar of Kiruna, said. “For me, it’s like a day of joy, but I think people also feel sad because we have to leave this place.”

For many of the region’s Indigenous Sami community, which has herded reindeer there for thousands of years, the feelings are less mixed. The move is a reminder of much wider changes brought on by the expansion of mining.

“This area is traditional Sami land,” Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chair of the local Gabna Sami community, said. “This area was grazing land and also a land where the calves of the reindeer were born.”

If plans for another nearby mine go ahead after the move, that would cut the path from the reindeer’s summer and winter pastures, making herding “impossible” in the future, he said.

“Fifty years ago, my great-grandfather said the mine is going to eat up our way of life, our reindeer herding. And he was right,” he added.

The church is just one small part of the relocation project.

What next?

LKAB says about 3,000 homes and approximately 6,000 people need to move. A number of public and commercial buildings are being demolished, while some, like the church, are being moved in one piece.

Other buildings are being dismantled and rebuilt around the new city centre. Hundreds of new homes, shops, and a new city hall have also been constructed.

The shift should allow LKAB, which produces 80 percent of the iron ore mined in Europe, to continue to extend the operation of Kiruna for decades to come.

The state-owned firm has brought up about two billion tonnes of ore since the 1890s, mainly from the Kiruna mine. Mineral resources are estimated at another six billion tonnes in Kiruna and nearby Svappavaara and Malmberget.

LKAB is now planning the new mine next to the existing Kiruna site.

Rare earth elements

As well as iron ore, the proposed Per Geijer mine contains significant deposits of rare earth elements – a group of 17 metals critical to products ranging from lasers to iPhones, and green technology key to meeting Europe’s climate goals.

Europe – and much of the rest of the world – is currently almost completely dependent on China for the supply and processing of rare earths.

In March this year, the European Union designated Per Geijer as a strategic project, which could help to speed up the process of getting the new mine into production.

About 5km (3 miles) down the road, Kiruna’s new city centre will also be taking shape.

“The church is … a statement or a symbol for this city transformation,” mayor Mats Taaveniku said. “We are right now halfway there. We have 10 years left to move the rest of the city.”

Pope Leo XVI is set to meet with representatives from a pro-LGBTQIA+ equality group.

Back in May, the religious figure made history when he was elected as the first US-born pontiff. His placement came two weeks after the passing of Pope Francis, who died after suffering a stroke that was then followed by a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.

In his first public address, Pope Leo XVI said: “We want to be a synodal church, a church that moves forward, a church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close above all to those who are suffering.”

Since that fateful day, the new pontiff has dived headfirst into his holy tenure and is wasting no time to implement change.

On 14 August, the Vatican announced that eight representatives from We are Church (WAC) will participate in a Holy Year meeting of synodal teams and participatory bodies – describing it as “a first for the international church reform movement.”

The aforementioned reps will also be allotted time with Pope Leo XIV and “pass through the holy door,” which is described as a “powerful act of spiritual renewal.”

The landmark Jubilee celebrations are scheduled to take place from 24 October to 26 October.

Shortly after the news was announced, Christian Weisner of We are Church expressed excitement over the group’s inclusion while speaking to Vatican Radio.

“We were pleased that this meeting of synodal teams and bodies of the World Synod will also take place in the Vatican as part of the Holy Year, and that the invitation was open,” he said.

“After two major synodal assemblies in autumn 2023 and autumn 2024, it is important that the synodal spirit and synodal networking remain alive and become even more visible and tangible. This is what we hope for from the meeting, and are happy to contribute to it.

“Our patient work over 30 years, during which we have often been present in Rome at bishops’ synods, council commemorations, papal elections, and other events, may have contributed to this. I also see the passage through the Holy Door as a sign for the church as a whole: to leave mistakes behind and to set out again and again in Christian hope.”

Founded in 1995, WAC has committed itself to “the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church on the basis of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it.”

The equality group, which is represented in more than twenty countries and has presence in or is cooperating with similar groups, has committed itself to five goals: Shared decision making, full equality for all genders, free choice between a celibate and non-celibate lifestyle, positive evaluation of sexuality and good news instead of a threatening message.

For more information about the LGBTQIA+ and women’s equality group, click here.