Category: Trends

For Jeff Cohen, president of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, his sense of safety as a Jewish person in America was rocked on Jan. 15 when he and three other members of his congregation were held hostage at their synagogue by a gunman for eleven hours. All the hostages survived the attack, which the […]

Comment on this story Comment ROME — Pope Francis has revealed in an interview published Sunday that shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013 he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impede him from carrying out his duties. Speaking to the Spanish newspaper ABC, Francis said he gave the note to Cardinal Tarcisio […]

Comment on this story Comment HAIFA, Israel — Israel revoked the citizenship of a Palestinian activist and deported him to France Sunday over what it called a “breach of allegiance to the State of Israel,” threatening to spark a diplomatic fight with Paris and amplifying international condemnations of Israeli policies toward Palestinians under occupation. Salah […]

Comment on this story Comment STOCKHOLM — Officials at a Swedish zoo managed to get three chimpanzees who had broken out of their enclosure back into a secure space, but four others were shot dead. The Furuvik zoo said in a statement Saturday that the surviving animals are now being looked after and one who […]

Comment on this story Comment QAMISHLI, Syria — Baran Ramadan Mesko had been hiding with other migrants for weeks in the coastal Algerian city of Oran, awaiting a chance to take a boat across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Days before the 38-year-old Syrian Kurd was to begin the journey, he received news that a […]

Comment on this story Comment BENI, Congo — Kavira Mathe was making dinner for her two sons when bullets began flying. Eastern Congo’s M23 rebels had attacked her village, killing scores of civilians. She and others fled for their lives, she said. “I lost several friends,” said Mathe speaking to The Associated Press by phone […]

Comment on this story Comment KHERSON, Ukraine — When about 100 Russian troops rolled into Kherson’s Lilac Park on the morning of March 1, Oleh Shornik was one of about 20 lightly armed Ukrainian volunteers who didn’t stand a chance against them. Ukraine’s military was nowhere to be seen, and Russian troops in armored vehicles […]

Comment on this story Comment BOGOTÁ, Colombia — When the subject of Argentina comes up, Jimmy Becerra, like many Latin Americans, rolls his eyes. The stereotypes about the South American country — and especially its soccer fans — have been handed down through the generations in this part of the world, including in Becerra’s family: […]

Comment on this story Comment JERUSALEM — Israel said it deported a Palestinian lawyer and activist to France early Sunday, claiming he has ties to a banned militant group, despite objections from the French government. The expulsion of Salah Hammouri underscored the fragile status of Palestinians in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, where most hold revocable residency […]

Comment on this story Comment One woman has died and two others were in critical condition following a crowd crush at a concert last week in London, police said Saturday. The woman, Rebecca Ikumelo, a 33-year-old London resident, died at a hospital on Saturday after she was critically injured in the incident, London’s Metropolitan Police […]