LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – A Mission Georgia initiative to build 15 tiny homes for survivors of human trafficking will get a financial boost on Sunday from the Atlanta Braves during the franchise’s annual Faith and Family Day. The Braves will present a check to Wellspring Living, the nonprofit organization that the Georgia Baptist Mission Board is partnering with to build the homes south of Atlanta.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed over 6% this week for the first time since the housing crash of 2008, threatening to sideline even more homebuyers from a rapidly cooling housing market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year rate rose to 6.02% from 5.89% last week. Sales of existing homes in the U.S. have fallen for six straight months, according to the National Association of Realtors.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Railroad workers secured a deal that will deliver 24% raises and $5,000 bonuses over five years, but it will also address some of their concerns about strict attendance rules and time off. The deal that’s retroactive to 2020 will give railroaders the biggest raises they’ve seen in more than four decades with 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses over five years.

ATLANTA – While Georgia’s unemployment rate remained at 2.8% last month, the number of jobs hit another record high in August, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday. Job numbers increased 15,800 from July to August to more than 4.82 million. The largest gains came in the educational services sector, which added 3,200 jobs; and professional, scientific and technical services, a sector that grew by 3,000 jobs.

Roger Federer has announced that he is retiring from professional tennis at the age of 41 after winning 20 Grand Slam titles. Federer has not competed since Wimbledon in July 2021. He has had a series of knee operations. Federer posted his news on Twitter. He says his farewell event will be the Laver Cup in London next week.

MIAMI (AP) — The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Tropical Storm Fiona is on a path to threaten the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend. Fiona took shape Wednesday night as the season's sixth named storm, centered east of the Leeward Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Carlos Rodón struck out eight in five dominant innings before leaving with a blister and the San Francisco Giants slowed down the Atlanta Braves 4-1 to win the series. Rodón improved to 13-8. He allowed just an unearned run on two hits and a walk. He moved into second in the majors with 220 strikeouts, behind only New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who has 228.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Oklahoma’s regular-season games against Southeastern Conference teams will have to wait until the Sooners are officially a member. The SEC says it has instructed Georgia and Tennessee to postpone home-and-home games scheduled for the next two seasons. The second meetings with both teams were scheduled for after Oklahoma and Texas leave the Big 12 and start playing in the SEC in 2025.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Thiago Almada scored in the 72nd minute and Raul Gudino stopped three shots as Atlanta United beat Orlando City 1-0 on Wednesday night. Orlando's loss clinched a playoff berth for the New York Red Bulls, the team's 13th consecutive postseason appearance.

BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — As Israel heads to the polls for the fifth time in under four years, Benjamin Netanyahu is using a bulletproof vehicle, dubbed the Bibibus, to attract passionate crowds of supporters and once again make himself the focus of attention among the electorate.

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of mourners lined up through the night to file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Parliament’s Westminster Hall. The queue to see the queen lying in state stretched for 4.4 miles past Tower Bridge. The line snaked along the south bank of the River Thames and then over a bridge to Parliament.

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have met to discuss boosting ties after Moscow suffered a major setback on the battlefield in Ukraine. Putin and Xi met Thursday in Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security alliance created as a counterweight to U.S. influence that also includes India, Pakistan and several ex-Soviet nations.

NASHVILLE (BP) – This week’s Bible study is adapted from the Explore the Bible curriculum by Lifeway Christian Resources and focuses on Amos 5:4-15.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The Georgia Baptist Executive Committee has appointed eight pastors to serve on the Committee on Committees, a key panel that nominates members to serve on the Administration Committee and the Georgia Baptist Health Care Ministry Foundation. Tom Vann of Rentz Baptist Church in Rentz will serve as chairman.

WADDY, Ky. (BP) – In the midst of ongoing recovery from recent natural disasters, Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief workers trained more than 200 volunteers during an event at Graefenburg Baptist Church on Saturday. Of those trained, nearly 100 had never received any type of disaster relief training before. After completing the training on Saturday, those first-timers received certification to serve with Kentucky Disaster Relief on future projects.

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the last time, her casket borne to Westminster Hall by a horse-drawn gun carriage. Her son, King Charles III, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow. The military procession from the palace was designed to underscore the queen’s seven decades as head of state as the national mourning shifted to the boulevards and landmarks of London.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Shorter University President Donald Dowless made a strong case on Tuesday for the value of the faithful Christians who are graduating from his school’s nursing program. “One of these nursing students may one day be the last person someone on their deathbed gets to talk to,” he told the Georgia Baptist Executive Committee in a meeting at North Metro Baptist Church in Lawrenceville. “Do you want someone from a Baptist school who has been trained to share Jesus Christ as part of the loving care of that person? That’s what I would want.”

ATLANTA – The Georgia Foundation for Public Education announced the awarding of $10,000 grants Wednesday to seven rural schools and school districts.  The latest awards – which will fund projects ranging from virtual reality programming to building a pollinator garden for bees – show that schools across the state aim to deliver unique experiences, often outside of the traditional classroom, to help students learn. 

SPINDALE, N.C. (BP) – Although it was difficult and painful, a North Carolina church is beginning to see the fruit of a challenging replant process that began more than two years ago. Lead Pastor Dale DuBose and his wife Meriana met and married while attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary before moving to Spindale for Dale to become the youth pastor at Main Street Baptist Church in early 2015.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Business and government officials are bracing for the possibility of a nationwide rail strike at the end of this week while talks carry on between the largest U.S. freight railroads and their unions. The railroads have already started to curtail shipments of hazardous materials and refrigerated products ahead of Friday's strike deadline.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says three Iranian citizens have been charged in the United States with cyberattacks that targeted power companies, local governments and small businesses and nonprofits, including a Pennsylvania domestic violence shelter. The charges accuse the hacking suspects of targeting hundreds of victims in the U.S. and elsewhere, stealing data from their networks and demanding ransom payments to unlock and return the stolen information.

DETROIT (AP) — When it came time to showcase its electric Chevrolet Equinox SUV to the public this year, General Motors decided against doing so at the big Detroit auto show, as it typically would have done in the past. Instead, it unveiled the Equinox six days earlier. GM’s decision symbolized just how much smaller this year’s auto show will be, with few new model debuts, less-glitzy displays, fewer journalists and possibly lower attendance.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s Legislature has passed a sweeping abortion ban with few exceptions. Several Republicans, whose party holds a supermajority, say they hope the bill approved Tuesday will make it impossible for the state’s only abortion clinic to continue to offer the procedure. Under the legislation, rape and incest victims would be able to obtain abortions at up to eight weeks of pregnancy.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina coach Shane Beamer's not sure what to expect out of his defense and that's even before this weekend's game with No. 1 Georgia. The Gamecocks will be without starters in linebacker Mo Kaba and defensive end Jordan Strachan. Both suffered knee injuries at Arkansas that will keep them out for the year.

BEIJING (AP) — A strong typhoon has made landfall on a group of Chinese islands as it heads toward the metropolis of Shanghai. China's National Meteorological Center says Typhoon Muifa hit the Zhoushan archipelago on Wednesday evening. It is forecast to weaken as it heads north across a bay but still be at typhoon strength when it reaches Shanghai later in the night.