ROME – The nuns at the Marist Sisters religious order are counting their blessings after two sisters were trapped in a hot elevator in Rome for nearly three days before being rescued. A nun who answered the phone Tuesday at the order’s headquarters sighed deeply and said in English: “We …
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VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis’ newly released teaching document is a wide-ranging look at what he calls an “ecological crisis” destroying our “common home.” The document, or encyclical, titled “Laudato Si,” (Praise Be), is at once a theological treatise, a public policy analysis and a heart-felt plea for personal change. …
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MOSCOW – Lawmakers in Russia’s Kremlin-controlled parliament have given tentative approval to a bill that would move up next year’s parliamentary election by three months, a tactic seen by critics as an attempt to weaken the opposition. The lower house voted 339-101 with one abstention Friday to approve the bill …
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BUJUMBURA, Burundi – An official in Burundi says four people died and at least 30 were wounded in a grenade attack on a bar in the country’s northern region of Ngozi. Ngozi’s Governor Claude Nahayo said Monday three people have been arrested following the overnight attack in which two grenades …
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MOSCOW – Russian police say 15 people have been killed and eight others injured when a passenger bus and a truck collided on a road in Siberia. The LifeNews website published a photograph of the crash, showing the wreckage of a green bus and a Kamaz truck, which had been …
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SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea says it has imposed financial sanctions on seven individuals and organizations from Taiwan and Syria after they were linked to weapons trade with North Korea. The list revealed by government officials on Friday included Taiwanese businessman Hsien Tai Tsai who was sentenced to 2 …
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CAIRO – An Egyptian court will issue its final verdict on July 30 in the re-trial of three Al-Jazeera English journalists on terrorism-related charges. Judge Hassan Farid made the announcement on Monday after defense lawyers wrapped up their arguments in a case that has captured international attention. Canadian national Mohammed …
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UNITED NATIONS – Western nations and Russia are dueling over whether the U.N. Security Council should call the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian war a genocide in a resolution commemorating the 20th anniversary of Europe’s worst mass killing since World War II. Britain has circulated a draft U.N. Security Council …
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BAGHDAD – Iraqi officials say bombings in Baghdad and in a town south of the Iraqi capital have killed eight people. Police officials say a bombing Friday near shops in the town of Madain, just south of Baghdad, left three people dead and wounded eight. Also in Madain, a bomb …
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KABUL, Afghanistan – An official says a bomb blast at a police checkpoint in the southern city of Kandahar has killed two civilians, one policeman and wounded 13 others. Samim Khpolwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor, said the blast Sunday evening came from a bomb strapped to a motorcycle. …
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