Irish bishop resigns
Irish bishop resigns
VATICAN CITY
Heads are starting to roll in the Catholic Church’s child-abuse scandal.
Weeks after Europe awoke to reports of clerical sex abuse in its own backyard, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation Thursday of an Irish bishop who acknowledged failing to report abuse to police, and a German bishop also offered to step down.
The developments appeared to be part of a new strategy by the Vatican of getting rid of bishops who sought to protect the church from scandal rather than safeguard children.
Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare is the third Irish bishop to step down since December; two more Irish bishops have offered to resign, and the pope is expected to agree.
Store clerk wins Powerball jackpot
A 29-year-old Missouri convenience-store clerk has stepped forward as the winner of the $258.5 million Powerball jackpot.
Chris Shaw was introduced at Missouri Lottery headquarters Thursday as the winner of the Powerball jackpot in Wednesday night’s drawing.
Shaw bought the winning ticket Wednesday at the Break Time store where he works in the central Missouri town of Marshall.
Lottery officials say Shaw will have to choose between a one-time cash lump sum of nearly $125 million or a 29-year, 30-installment annuity.
Break Time will receive $50,000 for selling the winning ticket.
Republicans still supporting Rubio
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
Senate hopeful Marco Rubio, the new darling of the tea-party movement, finds himself caught up in a federal investigation into alleged credit-card abuses by top Florida Republicans. And yet his political fortunes seem brighter than ever.
In a testament to the conservative fervor now sweeping the GOP, Rubio is racking up endorsements and looking strong in the polls against his increasingly desperate rival for the nomination, Republican moderate Gov. Charlie Crist.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney was the latest to give his support Thursday, a day after Rubio repaid Florida’s Republican Party $2,417 for double-billed flights, an expense he blamed on an accounting error he discovered after the first of several stories on the flap appeared a few weeks ago in The Miami Herald and the St. Petersburg Times.
Airlines trying to get everyone home
BRUSSELS
European airports sent thousands of planes into the sky Thursday after a week of unprecedented disruptions, with airlines piling on more flights and bigger planes to try to get as many people home as possible.
Nearly all of the continent’s 28,000 scheduled flights, including more than 300 trans-Atlantic routes, were going ahead. Every plane was packed, however, as airlines squeezed in some of the hundreds of thousands who had been stranded for days among passengers with regular Thursday tickets.
Airlines said, despite their efforts, there was no quick and easy solution to cut down the backlog of passengers.
Associated Press