Latest news with #KevinRollason
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Police to keep close watch on places of worship in Toronto area after Colorado attack
TORONTO – Police in Toronto and north of the city say they will maintain a heightened presence around places of worship after the attack in Colorado on a group calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Toronto and York regional police say they are closely monitoring the situation in Boulder and their officers will remain visible at places of worship, community centres, schools and other faith-based locations. U.S. authorities said Sunday that a man armed with a makeshift flamethrower and other incendiary devices attacked demonstrators in Boulder who were drawing attention to Israeli hostages. Eight people were injured in what the FBI described as a 'targeted terror attack' after the arrest of a 45-year-old suspect in the case. Police across the Greater Toronto Area had previously increased their presence around synagogues and other faith-based locations after two Israeli Embassy staffers were fatally shot in Washington, D.C., last month. Both Toronto and York regional police say they want to ensure a safe and inclusive region for everyone. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. — With files from The Associated Press. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Saudi Arabia stops 269,678 Muslims without Hajj permits from entering Mecca
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia has stopped more than 269,000 people without permits for the annual Hajj pilgrimage from entering Mecca, officials said Sunday, as authorities crack down on illegal journeys into the city. The government blames overcrowding at the Hajj on unauthorized participants. It also says they made up large numbers of those who died in last year's searing summer heat. The number of expulsions highlights the scale of unauthorized pilgrimages — as well as the demand to perform the Hajj. There are currently 1.4 million Muslims in Mecca officially, with more expected to arrive in the days to come. There are fines of up to $5,000 and other punitive measures, like deportation, for anyone performing the Hajj without a permit. The policy includes citizens and those with Saudi residency. At a press conference in Mecca, officials said they had stopped 269,678 people without permits from entering the city. According to the rules, only those with permits are allowed to perform the pilgrimage, even if they live in the city year-round. Officials have also imposed penalties on more than 23,000 Saudi residents for violating Hajj regulations and revoked the licenses of 400 Hajj companies. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Lieutenant General Mohammed Al-Omari told the media: 'The pilgrim is in our sight, and anyone who disobeys is in our hands.' The Hajj is the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and involves a series of religious rituals. It's a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able to do it. But it has been marred in recent years by concerns about extreme temperatures, with pilgrims performing their rituals outdoors in peak daylight hours. Historically, deaths are not uncommon at the Hajj, which has seen at times over 2 million people travel to Saudi Arabia for a five-day pilgrimage. It has also seen fatal stampedes and other accidents. Saudi Arabia's Civil Defense said Sunday that drones were being used for the first time at the Hajj. These can be used for surveillance and monitoring, as well as extinguishing fires.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Paris probes antisemitic vandalism targeting synagogues and a Holocaust memorial
PARIS (AP) — Authorities in Paris have launched an investigation after several Jewish sites across the capital were defaced with green paint. The vandalism, discovered early Saturday morning, targeted the Shoah Memorial, two synagogues and a Jewish restaurant in the city's historic Marais district, as well as a third synagogue in the 20th arrondissement (district). An open can of paint was reportedly found nearby, while French media said surveillance footage from the Holocaust Memorial showed an individual dressed in black spraying paint overnight. The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed it had opened a probe for 'damage committed on the grounds of religion,' citing attacks on 'three synagogues, a restaurant, and the Shoah Memorial' during the night of Friday to Saturday. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed his 'immense disgust' regarding the acts of vandalism targeting the Jewish community through a post on X, formerly Twitter. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. The acts come ahead of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. France's interior ministry had already called for heightened security around Jewish sites this weekend due to heightened global tensions. No suspects have been arrested, and no group has claimed responsibility.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Foundations donate $1.5M to help restore historic Black church in Memphis gutted by arson
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Several foundations have donated $1.5 million to help rebuild after arson gutted a historic Black church in Memphis, Tennessee, that played an important role in the civil rights movement. Clayborn Temple had been undergoing a yearslong renovation when someone intentionally set a fire inside the church in the early hours of April 28, destroying almost everything but parts of the facade. Before the fire, the Romanesque revival church was in the midst of a $25 million restoration project that included restoring a 3,000-pipe grand organ. The project also sought to help revitalize the neighborhood with a museum, cultural programing and community outreach. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Despite the extensive damage, Anasa Troutman, executive director of Historic Clayborn Temple, has said they plan to continue moving forward with the restoration. Troutman announced the new donations for that effort Wednesday. The money comes from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund along with the Mellon and Ford foundations. Located just south of the iconic Beale Street, Clayborn Temple was built in 1892 as the Second Presbyterian Church and originally served an all-white congregation. In 1949, the building was sold to an African Methodist Episcopal congregation and given its current name. In 1968, the church served as the headquarters for a sanitation workers' strike, which brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, where he was assassinated.
Winnipeg Free Press
6 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Live updates: Israel OKs more settlements in the West Bank as Gaza strikes kill at least 13
Israel announced Thursday it will establish 22 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalization of outposts already built without government authorization. Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have become increasingly desperate for food after nearly three months of Israeli border closures, killed at least 13 people overnight, local health officials said. Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict. In 2005, Israel withdrew its settlements from the Gaza Strip, but leading figures in the current government have called for them to be re-established and for much of the Palestinian population of the territory to be resettled elsewhere through what they describe as voluntary emigration. The war in Gaza began with Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack, in which militants stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas still holds 58 hostages, around a third of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Here's the latest: Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Israeli newborn dies after mother was killed in West Bank attack An Israeli baby who was delivered after his mother was fatally shot in an attack in the West Bank has died. A Palestinian militant opened fire on Tzeela Gez' car as her husband drove her through the Israeli-occupied West Bank on May 14. The couple was heading to the hospital to give birth. She later died from her wounds, but doctors delivered the baby by emergency cesarean section. Hamas praised the attack but did not claim it. The military announced days later that its forces had killed the suspected attacker. 'It is with great sadness and pain that we learned this morning of the death of baby Ravid Chaim, son of Tzeela and Hananel Gez,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. 'There are no words that can offer consolation for the murder of a newborn baby along with his mother.'
