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Lineup to include pastor who called Democratic platform ‘demonic’, Christian author who said he would die in fight to overturn 2020 election and rabbi who has defended tortureThe defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, will this weekend headline a faith rally on the National Mall in Washington DC hosted by a private foundation operating in partnership with the White House, which includes some speakers that experts have characterized as Christian nationalist or extremist.Rededicate 250, billed as the faith-based component of America’s semiquincentennial, features speakers including a Detroit pastor who has called the Democratic platform “demonic” and launched his own memecoin after praying at Trump’s second inauguration; a rabbi who has defended the use of torture and authored an essay titled “The Virtue of Hate”; and a Christian author and radio host who said in 2020 he would die in the fight to keep Joe Biden out of the White House and was later named in a defamation suit over 2020 election fraud claims. Continue reading...

Ahead of Paramount Skydance merger with Warner Bros Discovery, Amanpour talks ‘ideological realignment of CBS’One of CNN’s most recognizable and influential voices, chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour, has voiced concerns about CBS News parent company Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of CNN parent company Warner Bros Discovery and what it might mean for the cable news network.Speaking at the Truth Tellers summit honoring the late English journalism pioneer, Sir Harry Evans, Amanpour said: “Clearly I’m concerned, and I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about a corporate thing that’s underway, but I am obviously, as a person, as a journalist with a record, concerned, and I’m concerned based on what’s happened to the other things that [Paramount Skydance chief executive, David Ellison, has] taken over already, like CBS News.” Amanpour noted how the network has done since it came under the control of Skydance last summer and nodded to reports about major changes coming to the Sunday show, 60 Minutes. Continue reading...

Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslims said poor mental health made him admit to crimesThe Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019 has been prevented from appealing against his guilty pleas, after one of New Zealand’s highest courts said his bid was “utterly devoid of merit”.Brenton Tarrant, who is responsible for the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s history, asked the court of appeal in February to allow him to appeal against his guilty pleas, claiming harsh prison conditions had affected his mental health and compelled him to admit to the crimes. Continue reading...

Reciting of Old Testament passage comes days after clash with pope and posting AI image of himself as JesusSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxDonald Trump read a Bible passage from the Old Testament during a Tuesday event billed as a celebration of the US’s founding, days after he clashed with Pope Leo XIV and upset some of his religious supporters by posting an AI-generated image appearing to depict himself as Jesus.The event, titled America Reads the Bible, was imagined as a “sacred opportunity to call our nation back to its spiritual foundation”, according to its website. Continue reading...

Three other men already charged over February death remain before the courtsA fourth man has been charged over the kidnapping and murder of an elderly Sydney man, who was allegedly abducted in a case of mistaken identity.More than two months after 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian was abducted from his home in Sydney’s north in the early hours of 13 February, police arrested a 19-year-old on Tuesday over two offences, including murder. Continue reading...

Tony award-winning actor will play lead role of Judith Bliss in Noël Coward’s comedy at Wyndham’s theatre in LondonChristine Baranski is to make her West End debut alongside Richard E Grant in a revival of Noël Coward’s comedy Hay Fever. The US star, known for her TV roles in The Good Fight and The Gilded Age, says she is looking forward to “tearing a passion to tatters” in the 1925 play about a family toying with their guests at a country house party.She will star as the newly retired actor Judith Bliss, with Grant playing her novelist husband. Baranski has twice won the Tony award for best featured actress in a play – with New York productions of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing in 1984 and Neil Simon’s Rumors in 1989. She also appeared in the comedies Hurlyburly (in 1985) and Boeing-Boeing (in 2008) on Broadway. Continue reading...

The US president’s conservative, Christian supporters decried the Truth Social post, calling it ‘disgusting’ Just months after signing legislation that will pull nearly 12 million Americans off health insurance by gutting Medicaid, Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself to Truth Social on Sunday depicting him as a Jesus Christ-like figure, with divine light emanating from his hands as he heals a stricken man in a hospital bed with a demon from hell floating in the background.Some of his most high-profile and loyal Christian supporters, many of whom have stood by the president through multiple other indiscretions, are unable to contain their righteous fury. Continue reading...