| Politics | | Amidst Omicron concerns, Biden imposes travel ban from 8 African countries | | President Joe Biden has announced the United States is restricting travel from eight southern African countries beginning Monday due to concerns about a new variant of COVID-19, first discovered in South Africa and dubbed Omicron, which is potentially more contagious and has more mutations than the other strains detected thus far. The eight countries include Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa, the Biden administration said. |
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| U.S. | | NY pastor accused of unlawfully selling historic church property where Malcolm X was eulogized | | A New York pastor has been accused of selling his church property, a historic Harlem house of worship where Malcolm X was eulogized after his assassination, to an inexperienced developer while wrongfully gaining $900,000 as part of the deal, according to a recently filed complaint. The complaint alleges that, in addition to the developer receiving title to the property "in exchange for $2 million in cash, construction of a new $2.5 million facility for the Church, and future income of approximately $1.2 million," Bishop Kevin Griffin also "established a personal financial relationship with the Developer, which yielded him nearly $900,000 in benefits." |
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| World | | Greece requiring negative COVID-19 tests, proof of vaccination to attend church services | | The government of Greece has recently enacted measures aimed at requiring churchgoers to present proof that they do not have the coronavirus in order to attend worship services following an uptick in COVID-19 infections in the European country. Despite supporting the government’s intentions, leaders within the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece expressed concern that churches won’t have the capacity to enforce the new rules and can’t guarantee that churchgoers will comply. |
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| World | | 11-year-old finds rare ‘Holy Jerusalem’ coin | | An 11-year-old girl in Israel found a rare silver coin from the first century, with the inscription “Holy Jerusalem,” while volunteering for an archaeological project, Israel Antiquities Authority has announced. “This is a rare find,” Robert Krool, who leads the IAA’s Coin Department, was quoted as saying. “[O]ut of many thousands of coins discovered to date in archaeological excavations, only about 30 are coins made of silver from the period of the Great Revolt.” |
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