Catholic News 2

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Carlos Parra used to love waking up to see his pet albino boxer, Nina. Now, seeing her skeletal body on the floor next to his bed has become a daily reminder of the economic crisis engulfing Venezuela....

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) -- Hurricane Newton swept onto the Gulf of California after slamming the resorts of southern Baja and headed on a path expected to take it to the Mexican mainland by Wednesday morning and then on to the U.S. border with potentially dangerous rains for Arizona and New Mexico....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- THE ISSUE: Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are spent each year on the country's public schools. The U.S. has record-high graduation rates, 82 percent, but also stubborn achievement gaps and dismally lagging math and reading scores compared with other countries. And university degrees are leaving millions mired in debt. Few issues touch the lives of families like the state of education....

WAKHAN, Afghanistan (AP) -- Saeed Beg and his family live in a two-room mud house with no electricity or running water, no bathroom, no kitchen and no furniture apart from a few threadbare rugs and a couple of thin mattresses....

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Some 28 million children around the globe have been driven from their homes by violent conflict, with nearly as many abandoning their homes in search of a better life, UNICEF said in a report....

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Republican Donald Trump is unveiling a plan for a major increase in defense spending as he works to convince skeptics in both parties that he's ready to lead the world's most powerful military....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It was time to purge the hacker from the U.S. government's computers. After secretly monitoring the hacker's online movements for months, officials worried he was getting too close to critical information and devised a plan, dubbed "the Big Bang," to expel him....

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) -- As bodies continue to pile up in his war on illegal drugs, the Philippine president is making waves at his first summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations where he joins a diverse cast of leaders, including some who have found themselves in the crosshairs of human rights watchdogs....

LUANG PRABANG, Laos (AP) -- Aiming to cement closer ties to Laos and its people, President Barack Obama toured a Buddhist temple Wednesday and paid tribute to Lao culture after pledging the U.S. would fulfill its "profound moral and humanitarian obligation" to clean up millions of unexploded bombs....

After watching more than 2,750 sunrises from above the Earth, three crew members of the International Space Station returned to the planet for a sparkling sunrise back on Earth Wednesday....