RELIGION HEADLINES MON 3-2

(SRN NEWS)-

(  )  A New York man has been convicted of anti-Semitic hate crimes.  A state court judge has found Skiboky (skuh-BOH-kee) Stora guilty of assaulting, stalking and harassing strangers in what prosecutors described as a series of anti-Semitic as well as anti-white and anti-female incidents between 2023 and 2024.  Prosecutors showed a video of Stora harassing a Jewish couple as well as videos he recorded of himself shouting and harassing white people.  Stora followed the couple, shouting anti-Semitic threats and insults including, “Die, Jews, die!”.

(  )  Muslims around the world are being invited to make investments with a company called Musaffa (moo-SAH-fah).  Executives describe the firm as a “fintech platform dedicated to Shariah-compliant investment research and Islamic finance education.”  Musaffa has just launched its Global Halal Investment Platform, which will provide Muslim investors across 200 countries with expanded access to US capital markets.  The company says it seeks to embed Shariah-compliance directly into the investing experience.  There’s a lot of money to be had — global Islamic finance assets are projected to reach 9.7 trillion dollars by 2029.

(  )  The European Union says it will help pay for women to get abortions — especially in pro-life countries.  The European Commission for Equality says that the 27-nation bloc’s 147 billion euro social fund can be used to defray costs of abortion for women.  Abortions are legal and common in much of Europe.  But strong pro-life laws restrict the procedure in Poland, Malta, Liechtenstein, and Monaco.  Pro-life advocates say those countries, who are paying into the EU social fund, should not see their money used to fund abortions anywhere, nor to help undermine the pro-life laws that are in place in their own nations.

(  )  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says Scouting America will alter several policies to maintain its support from the U.S. military.  The changes include a requirement that members use “biological sex at birth and not gender identity.”  Hegseth has criticized Scouting America’s rebrand in 2024 from the Boy Scouts and other changes in recent years.  Scouting America now accepts boys, girls, transgender children and openly-gay scout leaders.  Hegseth says in a video posted on X that the Pentagon will review the changes the organization has made in six months and will cease its support of Scouting America if it fails to comply.