Vatican approves revised abuse policy
Vatican approvesrevised abuse policy
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican gave its approval today to the revised U.S. bishops' policy to combat sex abuse in the clergy.
Approval had been expected after differences in the original plan were worked out by joint U.S.-Vatican commission in November.
The Vatican released a letter from Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re and Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pledging the Holy See's support to "combat and to prevent such evil."
Re also said that the Vatican together with the bishops of the United States "feels duty-bound" to defend "the good name of the overwhelming majority of priests and deacons."
The cardinal asked the American bishops to continue their meetings with the heads of religious orders who have been included in the policy but who have raised concerns about coming under the policy.
Re's letter stressed that the Vatican will not tolerate sex abuse crimes against children, saying that Pope John Paul II has affirmed "the Holy See's aversion to this betrayal of the trust which the faithful rightly place in Christ's ministers, and to ensure that the guilty will be appropriately punished."
North Korea pressuresU.S. to sign treaty
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea said today that the signing of a nonaggression treaty with the United States is the only way to prevent a war on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has repeatedly requested the nonaggression pact, but Washington has ruled out talks with North Korea unless it abandons it nuclear ambitions. Today's remarks were similar to anti-U.S. rhetoric often issued by the communist country's state media.
Raising fears of a crisis along the world's last Cold War frontier, North Korea said last week it will reactivate plutonium-based nuclear facilities that U.S. officials believe could be used to make weapons.
"Now the situation of the Korean Peninsula is on the verge of war," North Korea's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in a report carried by the state news agency, KCNA.
"The only way to prevent a catastrophic crisis of a war ... is to conclude a nonaggression treaty between North Korea and the U.S. at an early date," it said.
Chavez dismisses callfor early elections
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's opposition announced an escalation of protests in a 2-week-old strike to topple President Hugo Chavez, who shrugged off a 1-million-strong weekend march against him and sent soldiers to board a striking oil tanker.
Angered by Chavez's resolve to hang on to power, strike leader Carlos Ortega called for protesters to adopt a new strategy today. He urged strikers to block streets and rally around shopping centers, a move that risked confrontation with pro-Chavez groups or security forces.
Chavez, who twice won elections but stands accused of running the economy into the ground and failing in his leadership, dismissed a call by Washington for early elections.
Late Sunday, his leftist government sent thousands of "Chavistas" -- fervent believers in his "social revolution"-- in a horn-honking parade of cars and trucks that clogged the capital's streets.
"We're here supporting the only president who has ever cared about Venezuela!" said Nora Mendoza, 48, as the balloon-festooned motorcade wound through Caracas.
After the caravan, small groups of Chavez supporters and government opponents clashed briefly in downtown Caracas, but police swiftly dispersed them with tear gas. There were no reports of injuries.
Sick passengers
NEW ORLEANS -- More than 200 guests on the cruise ship Carnival Conquest reported symptoms of a gastrointestinal illness on a voyage that ended Sunday, Carnival Cruise Lines said.
The company said it was treating the illness as a Norwalk-like virus, the same type of illness that has sickened hundreds of passengers on other cruise ships in recent months.
The Conquest had left New Orleans on Dec. 8 with 3,160 passengers.
Carnival said it was working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine the source, but company officials said they believe the virus was carried onto the ship by a passenger who reported feeling sick two days before the ship left port.
"All it takes is one guest to get on and pass it onto other guests," said Steve Williams, director of Carnival's medical operations.
Sick passengers stayed in their cabins to contain the virus and the buffet area was closed during the voyage, Williams said.
Associated Press