A boy runs to join other Hindu devotees for bathing and performing other rituals at the Gangasagar Island in India Sunday. The faithful believe the annual holy bath absolves them of sin.
CONTROVERSIAL BISHOP EDDIE LONG DIES AT 63
Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, died Sunday morning.
In a statement, the church confirmed Long ’s death from cancer-related causes.
Long, 63, had been battling health issues for several months.
In September 2016, Long released a statement that said he was recovering from a “health challenge” in response to reports that he had been recently hospitalized.
Long was born May 12, 1953, in Huntersville, N.C. In 1987, he became the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church which, at the time, had about 300 members. The church’s membership now totals more than 25,000.
In 2010, Long was accused of coercion by four male members of his congregation. The men, now in their 20s, filed separate civil lawsuits.
The lawsuits eventually were settled.
— Tim Darnell, WXIA-TV
FBI MOST-WANTED FUGITIVE ARRESTED IN EL PASO
A Milwaukee double murder suspect listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list was arrested in El Paso on Sunday morning.
Terry A.D. Strickland, 24, was arrested by El Paso FBI agents and El Paso police officers in connection with the shooting of two men during a fight on July 17 at a home in Milwaukee, officials said. He was booked into the El Paso County Jail.
Strickland did not answer any questions from the El Paso Times as he was being walked into the county jail. It wasn’t immediately clear why he was in El Paso, near the Mexican border, but FBI officials planned a news conference for 2 p.m. MT Sunday. — Aaron Martinez,
El Paso Times
U.K. PRIME MINISTER FORGING AHEAD WITH ‘HARD BREXIT’
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to confirm in a speech Tuesday that she’s forging ahead with a “hard Brexit,” a move that would result in the U.K. breaking free from the EU’s single-market in exchange for regaining control of immigration and law-making, according to a report in London’s Sunday Times.
Britain voted to exit the EU in June and has set a March deadline to trigger EU exit talks. Talk of a hard Brexit could roil financial markets, especially the British pound, which already is hovering near a three-decade low vs. the dollar because of fears that barriers to the EU market would hurt the U.K. economy.
— Adam Shell