Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as B次元官网网址渦njust,B次元官网网址� saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.
B次元官网网址淏eing homosexual isnB次元官网网址檛 a crime,B次元官网网址� Francis said during an exclusive interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.
Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against LGBTQ people, and he himself referred to the issue in terms of B次元官网网址渟in.B次元官网网址� But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone.
B次元官网网址淭hese bishops have to have a process of conversion,B次元官网网址� he said, adding that they should apply B次元官网网址渢enderness, please, as God has for each one of us.B次元官网网址�
FrancisB次元官网网址� comments, which were hailed by gay rights advocates as a milestone, are the first uttered by a pope about such laws. But they are also consistent with his overall approach to LGBTQ people and belief that the Catholic Church should welcome everyone and not discriminate.
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US economy likely slowed but still posted solid growth in Q4
WASHINGTON (AP) B次元官网网址� The U.S. economy likely rolled out of 2022 with momentum, registering decent growth in the face of painful inflation, high interest rates and rising concern that a recession may be months away.
Economists have estimated that the gross domestic product B次元官网网址� the broadest measure of economic output B次元官网网址� grew at a 2.3% annual pace from October through December, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.
The Commerce Department will issue its first of three estimates of fourth-quarter GDP growth at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Thursday.
Despite a likely second straight quarter of expansion, the economy is widely expected to slow and then slide into a recession sometime in the coming months as increasingly high interest rates, engineered by the Federal Reserve, take a toll. The FedB次元官网网址檚 rate hikes have inflated borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, from mortgages to auto loans to corporate credit.
The housing market, which is especially vulnerable to higher loan rates, has been badly bruised: Sales of existing homes have dropped for 11 straight months. Investment in housing plunged at a 27% annual rate from July through September.
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Donald Trump to be allowed back on Facebook after 2-year ban
Facebook parent Meta said Wednesday it will restore former President Donald Trump B次元官网网址榮 personal account in the coming weeks, ending a two-year suspension it imposed in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The company said in a blog post it is adding B次元官网网址渘ew guardrailsB次元官网网址� to ensure there are no B次元官网网址渞epeat offendersB次元官网网址� who violate its rules, even if they are political candidates or world leaders.
B次元官网网址淭he public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying B次元官网网址� the good, the bad and the ugly B次元官网网址� so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box,B次元官网网址� wrote Nick Clegg, MetaB次元官网网址檚 vice president of global affairs.
Clegg added that when there is a B次元官网网址渃lear riskB次元官网网址� to real-world harm, Meta will intervene.
B次元官网网址淚n the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,B次元官网网址� he wrote. Facebook suspended Trump on Jan. 7, 2021, for praising people engaged in violent acts at the Capitol a day earlier. But the company had resisted earlier calls B次元官网网址� including from its own employees B次元官网网址� to remove TrumpB次元官网网址檚 account.
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EXPLAINER: Why the US flipped on sending tanks to Ukraine
WASHINGTON (AP) B次元官网网址� For months, U.S. officials balked at sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, insisting they were too complicated and too hard to maintain and repair.
On Wednesday, that abruptly changed. UkraineB次元官网网址檚 desperate pleas for tanks were answered with a sweeping, trans-Atlantic yes.
The dramatic reversal was the culmination of intense international pressure and diplomatic arm-twisting that played out over the last week. And it resulted in in a quick succession of announcements: The U.S. said it will send 31 of the 70-ton Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, and Germany announced it will send 14 Leopard 2 tanks and allow other countries to do the same.
A look at the massive battle weapon, why it is important to UkraineB次元官网网址檚 war with Russia, and what drove the Biden administrationB次元官网网址檚 tank turnabout.
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Dems vote to give states more time on new primary calendar
WASHINGTON (AP) B次元官网网址� A Democratic National Committee panel voted Wednesday to give New Hampshire and Georgia more time to make changes that would allow both to be part of a revamped group of five states leading off the partyB次元官网网址檚 presidential primary starting next year.
But even as they voted 25-0 to extend the compliance deadline until June 3, members of the DNC rules committee complained about New HampshireB次元官网网址檚 ongoing feud with the national party because the new calendar would cost it the chance to hold the nationB次元官网网址檚 first primary.
The fight underscores how the effort to shake up the Democratic presidential primary could turn increasingly bitter, even at a time when the party will be counting on staying unified as it tries to hold the White House and Senate in 2024.
The DNC rules committee voted last month to approve a plan championed by President Joe Biden that would strip IowaB次元官网网址檚 caucus of its traditional post leading off the primary and replace it with South Carolina, which would open primary voting on Feb. 3. New Hampshire and Nevada would hold primaries together three days later, with GeorgiaB次元官网网址檚 primary coming Feb. 13 and MichiganB次元官网网址檚 two weeks later. Most of the rest of the country would subsequently vote on Super Tuesday in early March.
The DemocratsB次元官网网址� proposed shakeup comes after IowaB次元官网网址檚 2020 caucus was marred by technical problems. Biden says the new proposed calendar better reflects his partyB次元官网网址檚 deeply diverse electoral base, which relies heavily on African American voters.
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Spain: 1 dead in church machete attacks, terror link probed
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) B次元官网网址� A machete-wielding man killed a sexton and injured a priest at two Catholic churches in the city of Algeciras on Wednesday before being arrested, SpainB次元官网网址檚 interior ministry said. Authorities are investigating the attacks as a possible act of terrorism.
The suspect is in the custody of SpainB次元官网网址檚 National Police. The ministry did not identify him.
Algeciras is near the southern tip of Spain, resting across from a bay from Gibraltar. It is home to an important port with ferry connections to northern Africa.
The attack started around 7 p.m., when an armed man went into the church of Maria Auxiliadora y San Isidro and assaulted a priest, who was seriously injured, the ministry said.
The assailant then went to a second church, Nuestra Senora de La Palma, a five-minute walk away, where he attacked the sexton. The sexton, whose job it is to take care of the church, fled outside to a public square, where the attacker dealt him mortal wounds, the ministry said.
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Lawyer: Warnings boy had gun ignored before he shot teacher
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) B次元官网网址� Concerned staff warned administrators at a Virginia elementary school three times that a 6-year-old boy had a gun and was threatening other students in the hours before he shot and wounded a teacher, but the administration B次元官网网址渨as paralyzed by apathyB次元官网网址� and didnB次元官网网址檛 call police, remove the boy from class or lock down the school, the wounded teacherB次元官网网址檚 lawyer said Wednesday.
Later in the day, the school board voted to fire school district superintendent George Parker III as part of a separation agreement that will pay Parker a little over $502,000 in severance B次元官网网址� two years of his current base salary of $251,000. Parker has been sharply criticized by parents and teachers since the Jan. 6 shooting.
Diane Toscano, an attorney for Abigail Zwerner, said during a news conference that she has notified the school board in Newport B次元官网网址 that the 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School plans to sue the school district over the shooting, which left Zwerner with serious injuries.
B次元官网网址淥n that day, over the course of a few hours, three different times B次元官网网址� three times B次元官网网址� school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people. But the administration could not be bothered,B次元官网网址� Toscano said.
She said that Zwerner first went to an administrator at around 11:15 a.m. on the day of the shooting and said the boy had threatened to beat up another child, but no action was taken.
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UN: Myanmar opium cultivation has surged 33% amid violence
BANGKOK (AP) B次元官网网址� The production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the militaryB次元官网网址檚 seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year as eradication efforts have dropped off and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade, according to a United Nations report released Thursday.
In 2022, in the first full growing season since the military wrested control of the country from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, Myanmar saw a 33% increase in cultivation area to 40,100 hectares (99,090 acres), according to the report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
B次元官网网址淓conomic, security and governance disruptions that followed the military takeover of February 2021 have converged, and farmers in remote, often conflict-prone areas in northern Shan and border states have had little option but to move back to opium,B次元官网网址� said the U.N. officeB次元官网网址檚 regional representative Jeremy Douglas.
The overall value of the Myanmar opiate economy, based on U.N. estimates, ranges between $660 million and $2 billion, depending on how much was sold locally, and how much of the raw opium was processed into heroin or other drugs.
B次元官网网址淰irtually all the heroin reported in East and Southeast Asia and Australia originates in Myanmar, and the country remains the second-largest opium and heroin producer in the world after Afghanistan,B次元官网网址� Douglas said. B次元官网网址淭here is no comparing the two at this point as Afghanistan still produces far more, but the expansion underway in Myanmar should not be dismissed and needs attention as it will likely continue B次元官网网址� it is directly tied to the security and economic situation we see unfolding today.B次元官网网址�
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Afghan soldier seeking US asylum freed from immigration hold
HOUSTON (AP) B次元官网网址� An Afghan soldier seeking U.S. asylum who was arrested while trying to cross the Mexico border has been freed and reunited with his brother after spending months in immigration detention, his attorney said Wednesday.
Abdul Wasi SafiB次元官网网址檚 release from custody in a detention center in Eden, Texas, came after a judge dropped an immigration charge against him at the request of federal prosecutors.
Wasi Safi, an intelligence officer for the Afghan National Security Forces, fled Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in August 2021, fearing reprisals from the Taliban because he had provided U.S. forces with information on terrorists. In the summer of 2022, he began a treacherous journey from Brazil to the U.S.-Mexico border, where he was arrested in September near Eagle Pass, Texas. He had hoped to join his brother, who lives in Houston.
Prosecutors filed a motion asking a federal judge in Del Rio, Texas, to dismiss the immigration charge B次元官网网址渋n the interest of justiceB次元官网网址� and on Monday the judge granted that request.
Zachary Fertitta, one of his criminal defense attorneys, said Wednesday that Wasi Safi is receiving medical care at an undisclosed location but that he plans to speak at a news conference on Friday in Houston.
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Freed after 20 years, Hawaii man reflects on case, future
HONOLULU (AP) B次元官网网址� On Ian SchweitzerB次元官网网址檚 first morning of freedom Wednesday, he woke up in a hotel room, looked over the balcony at the ocean and took in the beauty of the island he had been away from for over 20 years while imprisoned for a 1991 killing and rape he has always maintained he didnB次元官网网址檛 commit.
In an interview with The Associated Press from the Big Island, he reflected on a range of emotions, from his faith in God that kept him positive to his complicated feelings about police and the criminal justice system to a quest to help solve who really killed Dana Ireland.
B次元官网网址淲e want justice for Dana,B次元官网网址� Schweitzer said.
Schweitzer said he considers himself a victim of the same crimes he was convicted of: B次元官网网址淚 feel like they murdered 25 years of my life. I feel like they kidnapped me away from my family. I feel like they raped me of being a son.B次元官网网址�
A judge ordered his release Tuesday after hours of expert testimony on new evidence showing Schweitzer wasnB次元官网网址檛 responsible for the death of Ireland, 23, a tourist from Virginia. She was visiting a remote part of the Big Island when she was found along a fishing trail, raped and beaten and barely alive. She died later at a hospital.
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