Weather doesn’t deter Ferguson protesters
FERGUSON, Mo. – Pounding rain and tornado watches didn’t deter hundreds of protesters Monday outside Ferguson police headquarters, where they stayed for almost four hours to mark how long 18-year-old Michael Brown’s body was left in a local street after he was fatally shot by police.
Nearly 20 people were arrested – including scholar and civil-rights activist Cornel West – and some protesters used a bullhorn to read the names of people killed by police nationwide. The rally was led by clergy members on a third straight day of protests in the St. Louis suburb where Brown was unarmed when he was fatally shot on Aug. 9.
Protests have been common since Brown, who was black, was killed by a white police officer. But tensions escalated last week when a white police officer in nearby St. Louis shot and killed another black 18-year-old, Vonderrit Myers Jr., who police say shot at officers before he was killed.
Catholic bishops make opening toward gays
VATICAN CITY – Gay rights groups hailed a “seismic shift” by the Catholic Church toward gays on Monday after bishops said homosexuals had gifts to offer the church and that their partnerships, while morally problematic, provided homosexuals with “precious” support.
In a preliminary report half-way through a Vatican meeting on family life, the bishops also said the church must recognize the “positive” aspects of civil unions and even Catholics who cohabitate, with the aim of bringing them to a lifelong commitment in a church wedding.
The report summarized the closed-door debate that Pope Francis initiated to discuss a host of hot-button family issues such as marriage, divorce, homosexuality and birth control. No decisions were announced, but the tone of the report was one of almost-revolutionary acceptance rather than condemnation, and it will guide discussions until a final document is issued Saturday.
N. Korea leader makes appearance
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in five weeks, state media reported Monday night, ending an absence that drove a frenzy of global speculation that something was amiss with the country’s most powerful person.
Kim, shown in the North’s leading newspaper smiling and walking with a cane, toured the newly built Wisong Scientists Residential District. The North didn’t say when the visit happened, nor did it address the leader’s health.
Before Tuesday’s dispatch, Kim had last been seen in the media at a Sept. 3 concert.
Associated Press
