JUAN LACAZE, Uruguay (AP) — When Uruguay announced last year that it would be taking in five families fleeing Syria’s devastating civil war, residents of this small town pulled together and lobbied to host one. Then in November, locals welcomed a newly arrived Merhi Alshebli, his wife and their 15 children with food and seeds … Continue reading
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A popular dog run in a picturesque Mexico City park remained closed Tuesday following reported cases of dog poisoning. Orange tape surrounded the fenced-off dog area at Parque Mexico in the well-to-do Condesa neighborhood in the central part of the capital. Large banners hung on the fence warning of a “Red … Continue reading
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Coast Guard said Monday that a U.S. cargo ship carrying 33 people that has been missing since it encountered high winds and heavy seas from Hurricane Joaquin sank, but that planes and ships will continue searching for the missing crew. Chief Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios said the Coast Guard and … Continue reading
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A currency hitting historic lows. Unemployment at a five-year peak. Consumer spending in the dumps, and a grinding political crisis that’s frozen leaders’ ability to push through Congress measures to jumpstart a moribund economy. The news keeps getting worse for the once-ballyhooed Brazilian economy, compounding the delicate political situation for … Continue reading
AHUEHUEPAN, Mexico (AP) — The kidnappers promised Yolanda Alvarez Antunez they would free her husband after she paid the ransom. The mother of five, grandmother of 13 saw no other option. Around 10:30 p.m. on that Wednesday, Yolanda and her brother-in-law drove the old family truck to a mountain town in the southern state of … Continue reading
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis has defended his words of consolation to U.S. bishops over the priest sex abuse scandal but says — for the first time — that those who covered up for abusers are guilty of wrongdoing. In a wide-ranging press conference en route to Rome from his first-ever visit … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Declaring that “peace is near,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced a surprise trip Wednesday to Cuba for a key meeting with government negotiators trying to wrap up talks aimed at ending the country’s long-running conflict. Colombia has been abuzz in recent hours with speculation that the government and negotiators for … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Pope Francis hailed detente between the United States and Cuba as a model of reconciliation for the world, urging Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro to persevere in building normal ties as the pontiff launched a 10-day tour of the former Cold War foes Saturday. Francis’ surprisingly direct call for progress toward … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Pope Francis met with Fidel Castro on Sunday after urging tens of thousands of Cubans to serve one another and not an ideology, delivering a subtle jab at the communist system during a Mass celebrated under the gaze of an image of Che Guevara in Havana’s iconic Plaza of the Revolution. The … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — As vespers drew to a close at the St. Egidio Catholic community center, a dozen homeless men in threadbare pants and rumpled T-shirts shuffled into a side room where volunteers handed out cups of soda and soft yellow rolls spread with mayonnaise. “This is like my home,” said Ernesto Gutierrez, a 66-year-old … Continue reading
COCULA, Mexico (AP) — The convoy of gunmen fanned out across the southern Mexico municipality of Cocula before dawn. Some carried names and blasted their way into homes. Others simply swept up whoever crossed their paths. Seventeen people vanished from Cocula on this single day, July 1, 2013 — more than a year before the … Continue reading
CAIRO (AP) — At least 12 people were killed and 10 injured in Egypt’s southwestern desert Sunday when security forces mistakenly fired on a group of Mexican tourists, Egyptian officials said. The Mexican Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident and said at least two of the dead were Mexican nationals. It said in a statement that … Continue reading
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — With his booming voice and high-voltage charisma capable of working crowds of hundreds into a lather, Marcos Gladstone has all the trappings of a successful preacher. But Gladstone has something that most other Pentecostal leaders don’t — a husband. He and spouse Fabio Inacio are co-founders of the Contemporary Christian … Continue reading
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Arquimides Puccio seemed to neighbors like a pious, conservative and obsessively tidy man. Several times a day, he’d sweep the sidewalk in front of his home in an upper-class Buenos Aires neighborhood. Cleanliness was not his only aim. Puccio was making sure that the screams of kidnap victims imprisoned in … Continue reading
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan prosecutors wasted no time in pressing their corruption investigation of President Otto Perez Molina, persuading a judge to bar him from leaving the country just hours after a historic congressional vote to strip his immunity from prosecution. Prosecutor Thelma Aldana called the travel ban a “precautionary” measure and said the … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 