Parishes in Margate, in Canterbury diocese, rated as one of the most deprived areas in the country, are among the recipients of the latest tranche of Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment (SMMI) funding.

In total, the diocese has been awarded £3.2 million for a five-year programme of church-planting, or setting up new congregations and revitalisation, it was announced on Friday.

SMMI is a new funding stream through which the Archbishops’ Council allocates funding to dioceses…. It replaces Strategic Development Funding (SDF), Strategic Capacity Funding, and Strategic Transformation Funding. It includes a £340-million Diocesan Investment Programme for the current triennium (2023-25), comprising a £100-million of Lowest Income Communities Funding…, and a remaining £240 million fund for which all dioceses can bid. Bids must be in line with the priorities of the overarching Vision and Strategy priorities for the 2020s.

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Millions given to help revitalise Kent churches. https://t.co/sWA9LMExmq #ebound #eboundavx #ukchurches #churchheritage

— E-Bound AVX (@EboundAVX) March 26, 2024

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An early 16th century representation of Christ on the back of a donkey. Part of the collections at the Bode Museum in Berlin. #PalmSunday 📸 My own. pic.twitter.com/AauiId9Lpf

— Kevin Wilbraham (@KPW1453) March 24, 2024

People in Senegal have been voting for a new president in a delayed election after weeks of political unrest.

Long queues of voters were witnessed across the country as they flocked to choose from 17 presidential candidates.

After he voted, outgoing President Macky Sall warned candidates against making premature claims of victory.

The election had been due to take place last month but Mr Sall postponed it, triggering deadly opposition protests and a democratic crisis.

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Senegal election: Voters choose new president after political crisis https://t.co/Sv73kCCfbn

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 24, 2024

A major commuter bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being struck by a container ship, causing vehicles to plunge into the water and halting shipping traffic at one of the most important ports on the US East Coast.

Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said two people had been rescued from the scene, one of whom was seriously injured. Authorities were looking for up to seven people who are believed to be in the water, although it was unclear if that included the two who were rescued.

The early morning disaster at the Francis Scott Key Bridge will cause huge disruption — both for shipping at one of the busiest ports on the US East Coast and on the roads — after severing a key link on the major highway encircling Baltimore.

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Vital Baltimore bridge collapses after being struck by ship https://t.co/JcDeInK9tR via @business pic.twitter.com/595cjxTpzz

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) March 26, 2024

The US faces a Liz Truss-style market shock if the government ignores the country’s ballooning federal debt, the head of Congress’s independent fiscal watchdog has warned.

Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said the mounting US fiscal burden was on an “unprecedented” trajectory, risking a crisis of the kind that sparked a run on the pound and the collapse of Truss’s government in the UK in 2022.

“The danger, of course, is what the UK faced with former prime minister Truss, where policymakers tried to take an action, and then there’s a market reaction to that action,” Swagel said in an interview with the Financial Times.

The US was “not there yet”, he said, but as higher interest rates raise the cost of paying its creditors to $1tn in 2026, bond markets could “snap back”.

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FT Exclusive: US debt is on an 'unprecedented' trajectory that could lead to a Liz Truss-style market shock, the head of Congress’s independent fiscal watchdog has warned https://t.co/JLiKKeQE9z pic.twitter.com/ljX3OpInL1

— Financial Times (@FT) March 26, 2024

Lord God, whose blessed Son, our Saviour, gave his back to the smiters, and hid not his face from shame: Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

volcano meets northern lights in grindavík, iceland pic.twitter.com/6meMInLYIj

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) March 26, 2024

And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you a question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me.” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the people, for all held that John was a real prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

–Mark 11:27-33

"Light in the Forest"#MonongahelaNationalForest #AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #Highlands #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/uAfVpm9yK9

— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) March 26, 2024