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Image via Scott Chacon/Creative Commons

David Himbara, a Rwandan international development advocate based in Canada, called the government’s justification for the closures bogus and said the “real reason … is fear and paranoia.”

the Web Editors 3-07-2018

Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi walks towards her car after arriving at Air Force Station Palam in New Delhi, India, January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

U.N. human rights officials have said Myanmar’s security forces may be guilty of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Since August, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since Myanmar began systematically targeting Rohingya armed groups.

the Web Editors 3-07-2018

A man prays as he waits for the newly elevated Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez at the grave of Mons. OscarArnulfo Romero upon his return at the Metropolitan Cathedral in San Salvador, El Salvador, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Photo

The announcement follows past pushback by previous conservative popes who disapproved of Romero's leftist political views and liberation theology. 

Pope Francis talks to Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, as they arrive at the Cathedral San Juan Apostol y Evangelista in Lima, Peru, January 21, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi/File Photo

"The Holy See has to work in whatever conditions arise. We can't [always] have the society that we would like to have, or the conditions that we would like to have," he told the Catholic news agency SIR.

FILE PHOTO: Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivers remarks before the National Sheriffs Association Winter Conference in Washington, Feb. 12, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
 

The U.S. Justice Department will file a lawsuit against the state of California alleging it is interfering with the enforcement of federal immigration laws, escalating a long-simmering battle over "sanctuary" policies that try to protect undocumented immigrants against deportation, senior department officials said Tuesday.

Bobby Ross Jr. 3-06-2018

Image via Bobby Ross Jr. / RNS

The lecture March 5 by the founder of the Ark Encounter — a $102 million, 800-acre Noah’s Ark theme park that opened in Williamstown, Ky., two years ago — came weeks after the university’s student government association rescinded an invitation for Ham to speak on campus. Some students, who deem Ham homophobic, objected to student funds being used to bring him to campus.

Image via Hamberg Media School / RNS

The Academy Award nomination was a cause for celebration throughout the country. President Uhuru Kenyatta tweeted after the 90th Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles on March 4: “You have won our hearts as a nation … Keep telling our stories through your camera and you will win next time.”

Kimberly Winston 3-05-2018

Image via Everything But The House / RNS

The first edition, printed in 1830, is most precious to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because Joseph Smith, the faith’s founder, personally oversaw its production in a small storefront printer’s shop in Palmyra, N.Y. Thousands of Mormons visit a restored version of the shop in Palmyra each year.

Image via Joi Rhone / RNS

Black youth get tired of seeing negative depictions of people of their own race in movies, said Gary, who wore a yellow and brown African dress to the movie showing. “When we found out that this was going to be an epic tale that actually was written by black writers, costumes designed by black costume designers, we were just, like, ‘We have to go see it.'"

Yingjie Gu 3-01-2018

Image via Donovan Shortey

North Dakota alone recorded 125 cases of missing Native American women and girls in 2016, and Sen. Heitkamp has said she suspects the real number is likely higher. The bill is named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, of the Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain Chippewa Nations, who was found dead in Fargo, N.D., in August 2017. She was murdered by two non-Native residents of Fargo, who forcibly removed her unborn baby from her womb before she died. 

Maggie Harden 2-28-2018

A controversial Department of Labor proposal could cost service workers billions of dollars in tips, experts say — and female service workers would be hit the hardest. The proposal has met harsh criticism, and earlier this month, the agency’s inspector general announced his office is reviewing allegations that Labor officials buried unfavorable economic analyses of the plan.

Helen Salita 2-28-2018

Image via Dhanya Addanki/Sojourners

“Giving legal status to Dreamers is not a political issue. It is a moral issue,” said Father Tom Reese, a Jesuit priest and popular Catholic columnist. “It is time for the people who worked in that building [pointing to the Capitol] to realize this is a moral issue, this is a justice issue. And the political gamesmanship must stop.” He was arrested shortly after.

the Web Editors 2-28-2018

Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. CEO Ed Stack announced Wednesday that the company — which runs more than 700 Dick's stores in the United States as well as Field & Stream and Golf Galaxy— would no longer sell assault-style weapons in any of its stores and will ban the sale of guns to people under 21, according to ABC News.

Pope Francis waves as he leads his Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, Feb. 25, 2018. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
 

Pope Francis on Sunday said Syria was being "martyred" by continued attacks killing civilians in the eastern Ghouta district, calling for an immediate end to violence and access to humanitarian aid.

the Web Editors 2-27-2018

An American flag still stands next to one of over 170 toppled Jewish headstones after a weekend vandalism attack on Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri, U.S. February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Tom Gannam

Greenblatt attributed the spike in numbers to President Donald Trump failure to denounce events such as the Charlottesville white supremacist rally and various incidences of bomb threats, cemetery vandalism, and school bullying. 

Bobby Ross Jr. 2-27-2018

Screenshot via McKinney schools video / RNS

Too often, Parker said, teachers have placed Christian crosses and Bible verses on school walls, prayed aloud in classrooms and said things like, “The answer to all your big questions is God.”

Image via Yonat Shimron / RNS

“When I see the aftermath of what’s happening in Florida, I thank God for your faith here,” said Pomeroy. “I am just thankful that we chose to lift up God, rather than man. Pray for those who are truly involved, not all the secondary people that are getting the noise on TV.”

Activists and DACA recipients at 'Walk to Stay Home,' Feb. 15, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
 

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dealt a setback to President Donald Trump, requiring his administration to maintain protections he has sought to end for hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought illegally into the United States as children.

the Web Editors 2-23-2018

The new mission statement reads:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers the nation’s lawful immigration system, safeguarding its integrity and promise by efficiently and fairly adjudicating requests for immigration benefits while protecting Americans, securing the homeland, and honoring our values.

The previous statement read:

USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.

Sandi Villarreal 2-23-2018

Over the past week — after listening sessions with the student survivors of the Parkland shooting and parents who have lost children, as well as state and local leaders — the most repeated solution to the epidemic of gun violence that President Donald Trump has offered is arming some percentage of our school’s teachers.