NEWS OF THE DAY

_1 Married priests: On the heels of a bold call by Amazon region bishops for married men to become priests, Pope Francis on Sunday urged openness to new ways. At Mass to conclude a weekslong Vatican meeting on the special needs of Catholics in the South American region, Francis thanked the bishops for their candor. Some faithful who want to attend Mass and receive the Eucharist in the region don’t see priests for months, even years. Francis told bishops he would draw his conclusions about their requests in a document he hoped to write by year’s end. Conservative critics insist that the Vatican adhere strictly to centuriesold rules demanding that the church’s priests be celibate, unmarried men.

_2 Lebanon protests: Thousands of people formed a human chain Sunday along highways and coastal roads that link Beirut with other cities in a show of solidarity with antigovernment demonstrations. The protesters joined hands along a main bridge connecting central Beirut to the north and south in a show of unity while nationwide protests enter their 11th day. Demonstrators have rejected government economic reform proposals, saying they want a government and political system change. The rallies have paralyzed a country already grappling with a severe fiscal crisis.

_3 Peace talks: U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in Afghanistan’s capital for his first visit since talks between the U.S. and Taliban collapsed last month. Sayed Hamid Gailani, leader of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, said he met with Khalilzad and his team in Kabul to discuss the country’s recent presidential elections and peace efforts. An Afghan official also confirmed Sunday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had met with Khalilzad. Khalilzad’s visit to Kabul follows a meeting in Moscow he held with representatives of China, Russia and Pakistan, over restarting peace talks to end Afghanistan’s 18yearold war.

_4 Brexit turmoil: Two British opposition parties on Sunday proposed an even earlier election date than Prime Minister Boris Johnson has offered, trying to force his government to delay a final decision on its European Union divorce deal. The chess move by the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party reflects the volatile political landscape now in Britain. The ruling Conservatives desperately want a new election to bolster their numbers in Parliament, but they face resistance from the main opposition Labor Party, which fears the country will be unwittingly tricked into crashing out of the European Union without a deal. The latest election proposal is an effort to force Johnson to delay debate in Parliament on his Brexit withdrawal bill until after any election. _5 Germany vote: Two parties on the far ends of Germany’s political spectrum received more than half of the votes in a regional election Sunday, dealing a further blow to the country’s centrist forces that govern at the national level. According to projections, the excommunist Left Party of popular governor Bodo Ramelow won 30.1% of the vote in the state of Thuringia, a slight improvement on 2014. The farright Alternative for Germany, meanwhile, was forecast to get 23.5%, more than doubling its result five years ago. The party’s leader in Thuringia, Bjoern Hoecke, has come under scrutiny from Germany’s domestic intelligence agency for his extremist views. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union came third with 22.1%.