A South African preacher persuaded his congregation to drink petrol after claiming he had turned it into pineapple juice. Pastor Lesego Daniel performed the supposed 'miracle' in Garankuwa, near Pretoria, having poured the liquid into a bucket and dropped a match inside, causing it to set alight.

When a guesthouse belonging to one of Nigeria's leading Christian pastors collapsed last month, killing 115 mostly South African pilgrims, attention focused on the multimillion-dollar "megachurches" that form a huge, untaxed sector of Africa's top economy.

At least 45 people were killed in bombings in and around Baghdad Saturday as Iraqi soldiers continued to defend the capital against Islamic State, or ISIS, militants. In Syria, the Sunni terror group has encircled Kurdish fighters struggling to defend the besieged border town of Kobani.

A Chinese pastor has said he is "grateful" for the opportunity to go to jail as he awaits his prison sentence. Huang Yizi, 40, of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, could face up to seven years in jail. He is accused of "gathering to assault a state organ," and was detained on August 2 for "gathering crowds to disturb social order"

A coroner’s inquest was opened and adjourned in Nigeria on Monday into the deaths of scores of people who were killed at the church of a popular evangelical preacher and televangelist.