News briefs

Gay-rights activists decry Anglican bishop

LONDON (AP) — A senior Church of England bishop has angered gay-rights campaigners by saying homosexuals should repent.

Archbishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the Bible defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He said the church welcomed gay people, "but we want them to repent and be changed."

Nazir-Ali is a leading member of the conservative wing of the global Anglican Communion, which is riven by divisions over homosexuality and the ordination of women.

Gay groups condemned the bishop's remarks. Campaigner Peter Tatchell said Nazir-Ali's view "goes against Christ's gospel of love and compassion."

The 77 million-member Anglican Communion has been splintering since 2003, when the Episcopal Church — the Anglican body in the U.S. — consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

S.C. town mourns after killing spree

GAFFNEY, S.C. (AP) — Hundreds of mourners thronged Sunday's funeral services for an elderly mother and her daughter, two of five victims of a suspected serial killer whose crime spree has terrorized this rural South Carolina community for more than a week.

Rites were held at First Baptist Church in Gaffney for 50-year-old Gena Linder Parker and her 83-year-old mother, Hazel Linder, station WSPA-TV said. Law enforcement officers provided security for the family and mourners.

The killings began a week ago Saturday when the wife of 63-year-old peach farmer Kline Cash found her husband shot dead in their rural home. Then on Wednesday, relatives discovered the bodies of Linder and Parker, both bound and shot to death in a separate attack at Linder's home.

On Thursday, Stephen Tyler and his 15-year-old daughter Abby were shot as they were closing the Tyler Home Center near downtown Gaffney. He died Thursday, while Abby Tyler fought for her life for two days before dying Saturday at a hospital.

The Herald-Journal of Spartanburg reported that the Tylers' minister at Cherokee Avenue Baptist Church, Clyde Thomas, urged congregants to keep the faith in the face of tragedy. The newspaper said he had a pistol in his office Saturday.

3 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan