International
Muslim athletes push boundaries to keep on training despite fasting during Ramadan
By Ken Maguire — April 5, 2024
LONDON (AP) — Dawn-to-dusk fasting poses obstacles about the best time to exercise — if it's an option — because it can adversely impact sleep and energy levels.
Peru archbishop who sued 2 journalists over reports on abuses, financial corruption resigns early
By Franklin BriceÑo and Nicole Winfield — April 4, 2024
ROME (AP) —The Vatican has had its eye on religious movement Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which has chapters across South America and the U.S., for over a decade.
For the Maya, solar eclipses were a sign of heavenly clashes − and their astronomers kept sophisticated records to predict them
By Kimberly H. Breuer — April 3, 2024
(The Conversation) — The skies and the gods were inseparable in Maya culture. Astronomers kept careful track of events like eclipses in order to perform the renewal ceremonies to continue the world’s cycles of rebirth.
Pope exposes confidential details of past conclaves and settles scores with Pope Benedict XVI’s aide
By Nicole Winfield — April 3, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis's frail health has raised questions about how much longer he will remain pope, whether he might follow in Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’s footsteps and resign.
Ships with a second round of aid for Gaza have departed Cyprus as concerns about hunger soar
By Associated Press — April 1, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — The United Nations and partners have warned that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza as early as this month.
One year ago, Pope Francis disavowed the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ – but Indigenous Catholics’ work for respect and recognition goes back decades
By Eben Levey — April 1, 2024
(The Conversation) — Indigenous Catholics have long argued they should be able to embrace both sides of that identity.
Israel’s high court says the government must stop funding seminaries. Could that topple Netanyahu?
By Julia Frankel — April 1, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — The politically powerful ultra-Orthodox, who make up roughly 13% of Israeli society, have traditionally received exemptions while studying full time in religious seminaries, or yeshivas.
Israelis stage largest protest since war began to increase pressure on Netanyahu
By Melanie Lindman, Wafaa Shurafa, and And Samy Magdy — April 1, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — Protesters blame Netanyahu for the failures of Oct. 7 and say the deep political divisions over his attempted judicial overhaul last year weakened Israel ahead of the attack.
Girl, 8, only survivor of bus crash that kills 45 Easter pilgrims on South Africa’s deadly roads
By Gerald Imray and Nqobile Ntshangase — March 29, 2024
MMAMATLAKALA, South Africa (AP) — Authorities said it appeared that the driver lost control and the bus ploughed into the barriers along the side of the bridge and then over the edge.
Ministers aid seafarers caught in Baltimore bridge crisis
By Adelle M. Banks — March 28, 2024
(RNS) — ‘Everyone’s still kind of rattled and trying to figure things out,’ said the Rev. Joshua Messick, who has Bibles ‘in every conceivable language’ to distribute upon request.
Easter 2024 in the Holy Land: a holiday marked by Palestinian Christian sorrow
By Roni Abusaad — March 28, 2024
(The Conversation) — A Christian Palestinian human rights scholar who grew up in Bethlehem writes about the special time of Easter, but also about the restrictions on Palestinian Christians.
With its soldiers mired in Gaza, Israel fights a battle at home over drafting the ultra-Orthodox
By Melanie Lidman — March 28, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — Among Israel’s Jewish majority, mandatory military service is largely seen as a melting pot and rite of passage. The ultra-Orthodox say that integrating into the army will threaten their generations-old way of life.
Malaysian convenience store owners charged over ‘Allah’ socks that angered Muslims
By Associated Press — March 26, 2024
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Allah is an Arabic word for God, and many Malaysian Muslims found it offensive to associate the word with feet.
Abducted as babies in the 1970s, these Argentines found a way toward their true identity
By MarÍa Teresa HernÁndez — March 26, 2024
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Now adults, they were found by their biological families years after their parents went missing when the military took power on March 24, 1976.
Pope Francis skips Palm Sunday homily at start of busy Holy Week that will test his health
By Nicole Winfield — March 26, 2024
ROME (AP) — The Holy Week schedule is challenging for popes even under the best of circumstances.
