One of the highest-ranking Vatican officials is being compelled to testify in public starting Sunday about clerical sex abuse, an unusual demonstration of holding even the most senior Catholic bishops accountable.
Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ top financial adviser, will testify in a Rome hotel conference room for three nights running, answering questions via video link from Australia’s Royal Commission with his accusers on hand to confront him.
Top Vatican cardinal to testify about sex abuse
Russia halts air strikes as Syria truce takes hold
Russia has halted air strikes in Syria in accordance with a ceasefire brokered by the country and the US.
Russia entered the Syrian conflict on behalf of ally President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015, and its air power has played a significant role in the recent major gains by government forces.
This Court Ruling Brings Another State Down to One Abortion Clinic
The US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Wednesday upheld a Texas-style law requiring all abortion providers in Louisiana to have admitting privileges with local hospitals.
The now-active law will shutter three of the four clinics left in Louisiana. This means that for many women, the closest option will be the clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, which is the only clinic remaining in Mississippi, where strict abortion regulations took the number of clinics from 14 in 1981 to just 1 in 2012.
Palestinian journalist ends hunger strike
A Palestinian activist and journalist has ended his three-month hunger strike and will be released in three months.
The family of Mohammad al-Qeeq, who worked for a Saudi media outlet, announced on Friday that he was ending his fast.
Fayha, Qeeq's wife, described the announcement as "a very big victory for us and for him".
Under a deal with Israel, he will remain in custody until May 21, but his so-called administrative detention will not be renewed after that.
The cancer cluster of Piketon, Ohio
A patch of land in the hills of rural Pike County, Ohio, hardly looks as if it played a key role in the Cold War. But as politicians dueled on the world stage, workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant south of Piketon toiled away producing weapons-grade uranium for the United States’ military.
The plant went online in 1954, lasted through the Cold War and is now in the process of winding down. Presciently, a group of Amish settlers who once plowed the land pulled up stakes when construction on the plant began in 1952. They were worried about the environmental impact, and the traditional pacifists were uncomfortable with the militaristic aspects of the complex.
US, China draft new N. Korea sanctions
The United States and China have reached agreement on a U.N. resolution that would impose tougher sanctions on North Korea as punishment for its latest and rocket launch, U.N. diplomats said Wednesday.
One Security Council diplomat called the draft resolution "significantly substantive" and expressed hope that it will be adopted in the coming days. Another said the draft had been circulated on Wednesday to the three other permanent council members — Russia, Britain and France.
Telescope used on Armstrong's moon landing finds new galaxies
An Australian telescope used to broadcast live vision of man's first steps on the moon in 1969 has found hundreds of new galaxies hidden behind the Milky Way by using an innovative receiver that measures radio waves.
Scientists at the Parkes telescope, 355 km (220 miles) west of Sydney, said they had detected 883 galaxies, a third of which had never been seen before. The findings were reported in the latest issue of Astronomical Journal under the title 'The Parkes HI Zone of Avoidance Survey'.
Jury finds cancer linked to J&J Baby Powder
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) was ordered by a Missouri state jury to pay $72 million of damages to the family of a woman whose death from ovarian cancer was linked to her use of the company's talc-based Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for several decades.
In a verdict announced late Monday night, jurors in the circuit court of St. Louis awarded the family of Jacqueline Fox $10 million of actual damages and $62 million of punitive damages, according to the family's lawyers and court records.
The verdict is the first by a U.S. jury to award damages over the claims, the lawyers said.
SF declares tent city of homeless is health hazard
San Francisco health officials declared a tent city that has been growing along a city street a health hazard and gave homeless people living on the sidewalk 72 hours to clear the area.
The Department of Public Health said notices declaring the area along Division Street a public nuisance and encouraging homeless people to move to city shelters would be posted Tuesday.
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