Catholic News 2

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's economy contracted at a worse than expected 1.4 percent annual pace last quarter as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's lavish stimulus policies failed to counter anemic consumer demand and sluggish exports....

SYDNEY (AP) -- Australian law enforcement agencies discovered 1.26 billion Australian dollars ($900 million) worth of methylamphetamine hidden in imported boxes of silicon bra inserts and art supplies in the country's largest haul of the illicit drug in its liquid form, officials said Monday....

BRUSSELS (AP) -- European Union officials are calling on Turkey to halt its military action in Syria after Turkish forces shelled positions held by a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia over the weekend....

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Islamic State militants drove Ayman Hussein from his home. Eighteen months later, he sent Iraq's soccer team to the Olympics....

NEW YORK (AP) -- A grab bag of weather conditions - including snow and sleet - will descend on communities from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, but with many people off for Presidents' Day it may be just another day to hunker down....

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- So where should the next impenetrable razor-wire border fence in Europe be built?...

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- The United States and Japan have already announced plans for new sanctions over North Korea's recent nuclear test and rocket launch, and the U.N. Security Council is likely to deliver more soon. Cross-border tensions with Seoul are escalating quickly and even China is starting to sound more like an angry neighbor than a comrade-in-arms....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The body of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was taken to a West Texas airport Sunday afternoon and was being flown to Virginia after it was determined he died of natural causes and an autopsy was not necessary....

 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops."Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others.""Even as Americans rema...

WASHINGTON-The Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, February 1, on behalf of USCCB, the Texas Catholic Conference and several Christian partners in support of a Texas law mandating health and safety standards protecting women who undergo abortions. Other groups joining the brief include the National Association of Evangelicals, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The case is Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court."There is ample evidence in this case that hospital admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical center requirements protect women's lives and health," said the brief. "When such requirements are not enforced, abuses detrimental to women's lives and health arise."The brief noted that some abortion clinics have decla...