News/International

Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, greets people after celebrating Mass Dec. 7 at Our Lady of the Annunciation Cathedral in Tartus, Syria. He urged Syrian Christians to hold onto their faith amid the country's conflict, now in its fifth year.

Maronite patriarch, visiting Syria, urges Christians to hold onto faith

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TARTUS, Syria - Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, visiting Syria, urged Christians to hold onto their faith.

A farmworker sits on a water tank Nov. 9 as he supplies his livestock with water at a drought-stricken farm outside Utrecht, South Africa

Poor farmers hope to influence Paris climate talks with their stories

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PARIS - Thandiwe Chidararume, who farms sweet potato, nuts and corn in Zimbabwe, traveled nearly 5,000 miles to be in Paris for the U.N. climate change conference. She wanted to tell negotiators there of the problems she and thousands of other Zimbabwean farmers face due to adverse weather conditions.

Smoke billows from a plant in late October at sunset in Wismar, Germany.

Cardinal tells world leaders 'great deal is at stake' in climate talks

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PARIS - A senior Vatican official urged a roomful of world leaders "to take action" and work in a spirit of solidarity to come up with an accord to combat global warming before it is too late.

Neighbors comfort a man prevented from returning to his home Dec. 3 in San Bernardino, Calif., near an investigation scene around the area of the SUV vehicle where two suspects were shot and killed by police following a mass shooting the previous day. The shooting left 14 people dead and more than a dozen injured.

San Bernardino victim had clashed with shooter over Israel, Holocaust

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One of the victims of the massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., was a Messianic Jew who had clashed with co-worker and shooter Syed Farook over religion and politics, including the Holocaust and the right of Israel to exist as a homeland for Jews.

Steam rises from the cooling towers of a nuclear power station at sunset Nov. 25 in Nogent-Sur-Seine, France.

Activists say human rights, financing pose obstacles to climate accord

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PARIS - Major hurdles stand in the way of a global accord on climate change, including over the questions of human rights and who pays the costs for poor countries to transition into using greener energy, said Catholic and other Church activists on the sidelines of the UN climate conference.

Advent's focus is waiting for Christmas but it also includes lots of feasts

Advent's focus is waiting for Christmas but it also includes lots of feasts

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WASHINGTON - Although the four weeks of Advent focus on waiting for Christmas, the Church does not just sit around and wait for the main event. It celebrates plenty of major feasts with lots of customs, traditions and even special foods during the month of December.

Neighbors comfort a man prevented from returning to his home Dec. 3 in San Bernardino, Calif., near an investigation scene around the area of the SUV vehicle where two suspects were shot and killed by police following a mass shooting the previous day. The shooting left 14 people dead and more than a dozen injured.

‘Own it!’ Terrorism is an Islamic issue, say some Muslims

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WASHINGTON - While details are still unfolding as to why a California Muslim couple turned to murder, Muslims in the West must step up and admit terrorism is rooted in extremist Islam, said four Muslim panelists speaking at a conservative think tank on Thursday (Dec. 3).

A bird is seen landing on a tree at sunset in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. "All African nations are contributing less to the total harmful emissions and are the most affected by climate change," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said at the U.N. climate conference in Paris

Africans seek climate accord that respects their concerns

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CAIRO - Africa is among the world's regions most in need of a "just and clear" global accord to combat climate change, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told the UN climate conference in Paris.

Imam Talib Shareef sits at his desk Nov. 28 at the Nation's Mosque in Washington, an historically African-American Muslim place of worship. Imam Shareef says attacks carried out by Islamic extremists pose a challenge to all people of faith.

Terrorist attacks pose challenge for all 'people of faith,' says imam

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WASHINGTON - Atrocities committed in the name of Islam reverberate in a historic mosque in Washington.

Evacuees from the scene of a shooting at the Inland Regional Center embrace Dec. 2 as they wait inside the Rudy C Hernandez Community Center in San Bernardino, Calif. At least 14 people were reported killed and more than a dozen injured when gunmen opened fire during a function at a center for people with developmental disabilities, police said.

San Bernardino bishop urges prayers for unity, healing after shootings

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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - San Bernardino Bishop Gerald Barnes urged people to pray for unity and healing after the mass shooting in San Bernardino Dec. 2 that left 14 people dead and 21 others wounded.

Police officers conduct a manhunt after a mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., Dec. 2. At least 14 people were reported killed and more than a dozen injured when gunmen opened fire during a function at a center for people with developmental disabilities, police said.

Why thoughts and prayers don’t belong on Twitter

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The mass shooting in San Bernardino, CA, has killed at least 14 people and wounded 17. It’s one of the deadlier mass shootings of this year, which is an absurd sentence to even have to type, and in the wake of it many people have been doing what comes naturally: taking to Twitter. In some strange ways, it feels like the big room we all want to be in, to mourn and get information and express the opinions we can’t share with our co-workers or family members or the bus driver.

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