Tornadoes ripped through the Midwest Thursday leaving two women dead in the small Illinois town of Fairdale.
Geradine Schultz, 67, and Jacqueline Klosa, 69, were confirmed as fatalities by Governor Bruce Rauner.
Rockford Fire Department division chief Matthew Knott told NBC Chicago the town was “absolutely devastated” by the tornado. Knott said of the 75 homes in the town, 17 were completely destroyed and no home was spared significant damage.
At least seventeen tornadoes were confirmed in the outbreak and weather officials are investigating others. One tornado left a 22-mile path through Ogle County according to disaster management coordinator Tom Richter.
That twister destroyed the home of Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle. Fortunately, the sheriff’s family was out of town at the time of the storm.
One of the places heavily damaged by the storm was a small family-owned farm and zoo in Belvidere. The Sommerfield Zoo lost two emus and a fawn. Sheds, barns and other structures were destroyed including a $20,000 set of fencing.
“It’s amazing that’s all we lost. We’re very fortunate,” owner Tammy Anderson told the Chicago Tribune. “We’re just overwhelmed. I’m not sure where to start.”
An Indiana woman who threw her newborn baby in the trash after giving birth will be spending 20 years in prison.
Purvi Patel, 33, was arrested in 2013 after she arrived at an Indiana hospital following the birth of her child. She denied being pregnant but her injuries made it obvious to hospital personnel that she had just given birth. Patel then admitted she had been pregnant after an affair with a co-worker.
Patel claims because her Hindu family is against pre-martial sex so she panicked when she gave birth and threw the child into a dumpster behind a shopping center. She claimed the baby was stillborn, however doctors were able to show the baby had been born alive and could have survived if given medical attention.
The defense claimed she had been trying to induce her own abortion using drugs but that failed. Under Indiana law, it is feticide to induce premature birth with the intent of causing death except in the case of approved abortions.
“You, Miss Patel, are an educated woman of considerable means. If you wished to terminate your pregnancy safely and legally, you could have done so,” the judge said. “You planned a course of action and took matters into your own hands and chose not to go to a doctor.”
Lila Rose of Live Action said there was a high level of irony in the case.
“If an abortionist had destroyed this defenseless little person at 28 weeks, there would be no controversy,” she said. “But since the baby managed to be born, to breathe, and then to be killed at the exact same age, law enforcement is scrambling to see justice served.”
A group of masked terrorists have killed at least 70 people and taken hostages after attacking Garissa University in Kenya.
The Islamic extremist group Al-Shabaab claimed the assault and said they were targeting the Christians at the school.
“We sorted people out and released the Muslims,” said terrorist spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab. “There are many dead bodies of Christians inside the building. We are also holding many Christians alive. Fighting still goes on inside the college.”
Witnesses say that the terrorists had snipers on top of buildings to shoot those who were fleeing the dormitories during the attack. Soldiers reportedly ordered the students to dive for cover as they escaped the building.
The terrorists say they are also holding a number of female Christians alive as hostages.
The vice chariman of the student union told Fox News that the gunmen were asking people about their faith.
“If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot,” he said. “With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die.”
The terrorist group has targeted Kenya after that nation contributed forces to the African Union that drove Al-Shabaab from major cities in Somalia.
Rev. Robert H. Schuller, the founder of the television ministry “Hour of Power” that reached millions around the world, died Thursday at the age of 88.
Schuller had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer in August 2013.
“My father-in-law passed away peacefully early this morning. He was a great Dad and a great man of God,” said Schuller’s daughter-in-law, Donna Schuller, in a Twitter message.
Schuller and his wife Arvella started a ministry in 1955 with $500. He would preach from the roof of a concession stand at a drive-in theater near Los Angeles. The church had a motto of “come as you are in the family car.” They had their own building by 1961 and began the “Hour of Power” broadcast in 1970.
In 1980, Schuller built the iconic ‘Crystal Cathedral” that was seen in the “Hour of Power” broadcasts.
Schuller is remembered as a missionary who was called to reach people who had distanced themselves from church. His mission of “find a need and fill it, find a hurt and heal it” has brought millions help and healing.
Residents of the Nigerian border town of Gamboru had just returned after the village was liberated by Cameroon military forces when Boko Haram staged a surprise attack.
The attack left 11 residents dead before the troops could re-cross the border and drive out the terrorists.
“We were terrified when we started hearing gunshots echoing … but everywhere became calm about an hour later. The soldiers informed us that it was the Boko Haram terrorists that came back”, resident Aji Kaumi told the Associated Press.
It was the first offensive attack by the terrorists since they have been driven out of 38 cities and two entire states by the multinational forces helping the Nigerian military.
France has also sent military advisors into the region and French aircraft based in Chad are making scouting missions to find terrorist encampments.
French officials told reporters the goal is to make Boko Haram what it was once was: a fringe extremist group without any control of land within Nigeria.
At least three gunmen stormed a museum in Tunisia Wednesday attacking tourists and leaving at least 21 people dead.
The scene at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis was described as “horrific” by witnesses. In addition to the 21 confirmed dead, at least 21 others were wounded.
Officials say that 17 tourists are among the dead.
The government took the unusual step of taking tourists to a secured location for their safety while a manhunt took place for the shooters.
Tunisia’s internor ministry said the standoff with the gunmen ended when security forces stormed the museum. The attack was from “two or more terrorists armed with Kalashinkovs.” Local radio said the terrorists were in military-style clothing.
Witnesses say that many of the tourists were Italians who were part of a cruise that had docked in Tunis for the day.
The attackers were not immediately identified but Tunisia has been dealing with attacks by various Islamic terrorist groups, including several who have pledged support for ISIS.
The son of a Pakistani Christian woman who was accused of stealing of from her Muslim employer’s home was beaten and killed by local police in an attempt to make her confess to the crime.
The British Pakistani Christian Association says the police dumped the lifeless body of 20-year-old Zubair Rashid Masih into the street in front his mother’s home on March 8th.
The Muslim owner of the home where she had worked claimed she told gold ornaments and money from his home on February 24th, even though Aisha Bibi stopped working for him on February 20th.
Bibi was arrested and beaten by local officials when she did not admit to the crime. She suffered a broken arm as a result of the attack.
“When they arrived they had my eldest son with them and detained him as well. They were beating him and he was screaming in pain. I thought that I should confess to the theft charges to save my son,” Bibi said in an interview for The Christian Post translated and conducted by BPCA officer Shamim Masih. “However, at this point, they stopped my son’s beating for a while and told me to leave the prison and go home. Later they tortured my son to death.”
“I want justice, but I know the court will ignore our case. Our judicial system is corrupt despite attempts to prevent it. We forced police to lodge a [case] against the police officers involved in my son’s death,” Bibi explained. “It has now been registered after a protest but none of the police murderers have been arrested. The police are protecting themselves, placing their badge before their duties.”
“I am still facing threats from local Muslims who think I am a Christian thief,” Bibi continued. “I do not know how my remaining son and I can survive after this incident in this city that hates Christians.”
An American blogger who was critical of Islam was killed by Muslims who attacked in a “knife-wielding mob.”
Avijit Roy, who was an atheist, was attacked for promoting secularism and pointing out the violence and brutality of Islamic extremism.
“Avijit Roy has been killed the way other free thinker writers were killed in Bangladesh. No freethinker is safe in Bangladesh,” blogger Taslima Nasreen, who left Bangladesh in the mid-1990s after receiving death threats from extremists, told the Christian Post about the killing.
“Islamic terrorists can do whatever they like. They can kill people with no qualms whatsoever.”
BBC News reported that Bangladeshi officials for their role in the murder are now investigating a local Islamist group.
This is not the first time Islamists have attacked bloggers for being critical of Islam. In 2013, one atheist blogger was brutally killed and a second survived a severe beating at the hands of Muslim mob.
The Centers for Disease Control is investigating a potentially deadly bacterium that normally is found in hospitals but is appearing in doctor’s offices and medical facilities.
A study released Wednesday shows that the bacteria, C. difficile, has been found in patients who had not visited hospitals but doctors or dentists. The CDC study, published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, said 150,000 people who had not been in the hospital came down with C. diff in 2011.
The bacteria cause a deadly diarrhea and infected nearly half a million Americans in the last year. The bacteria were the direct cause of 15,000 deaths.
“This is really an important issue. We need to understand better how people are getting C. diff,” said Dr. Cliff McDonald, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.
The CDC encourages people to wash their hands with soap and water because alcohol based antibiotic jells do not work on C. diff.
Al Arabiya is reporting that a number of ISIS leaders have been killed by an American air strike.
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was en route to the area of the strike but officials were not able to confirm if he was at the site of the strike during the attack.
Dozens of leaders and members of the group were killed in the strike. A hospital source said that at least 17 ISIS terrorists are dead and another 29 wounded; many of the wounded were in critical condition.
Local residents in al-Qaim said that many ISIS buildings and key institutions were struck by the strike. The terrorists locked down the city and said that all citizens were prohibited from leaving their homes after the attack.
ISIS reportedly called for reinforcements from Syria after the attacks to help evacuate the dead and wounded and also to try and strengthen their hold on the town.