The Ukrainian Parliament passed a preliminary vote on Thursday (Oct. 19) for a bill that could ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, from operating within Ukraine’s borders. (Klein, Religion News Service)
Read MoreIsrael, the U.S. government and independent security experts said Wednesday the preliminary evidence for a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital compound pointed to a local militant group, casting doubt on Palestinian claims that an Israeli airstrike was responsible. (Stancatti, et.al., The Wall Street Journal)
Read MoreConsumers are dropping more money than ever on Halloween, with this year's total Halloween spending expected to reach a record $12.2 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. That figure is almost $2 billion more than the $10.6 billion people spent on the holiday in 2022. (Kline, NPR)
Read MoreJK Rowling has said she would happily go to prison rather than refer to trans women as “women”. The Harry Potter author was responding to reports that the next Labour government would make attacks motivated by hatred of a victim’s gender into “aggravated offences”, which could carry a two-year sentence. (Somerville, The Telegraph)
Read MoreCould a movie about a girl possessed by the devil really have caused audience members to faint and lose their lunch at theaters? The vehement reaction to “The Exorcist” when it premiered in late 1973 helped create a special place for it in pop culture, as evidenced by the media frenzy at the time. We asked three of our critics for new perspectives on the film: what it accomplished then and what it represents to us now. (Zinoman, Dargis and Piepenburg, The New York Times)
Read MoreAddressing a full auditorium that seats more than 2,600 people, Justice Barrett added that “all nine justices are very committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct.” But she said she could not speak for the court on a timeline, or precisely what such a code might look like. (VanSickle, The New York Times)
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