NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Militants ousted: The Lebanese military is now in control of more than 80 percent of the areas previously held by the Islamic State along the border with Syria, only days after launching a broad offensive there, a spokesman said Tuesday. Brig. Gen. Ali Qanso said only 12 square miles remain in the hands of the extremists. The U.S-backed Lebanese army launched its operation on Saturday and has since driven out the militants from some 62 square miles. The Syrian army and its ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah group, have launched a simultaneous operation to clear the Islamic State from the Syrian side of the border in the western Qalamoun mountain range. Hezbollah has been fighting in Syria alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces since 2013.
Italy quake: Italian firefighters working through the night, sometimes digging by hand, freed a 7-month-old baby Tuesday and then his two older brothers from the rubble of their home that collapsed when a 4.0-magnitude quake struck the resort island of Ischia during the height of tourist season. At least two people were killed in the quake, which struck Monday, 39 more were injured and 2,600 were left homeless. The victims were an elderly woman who was struck by masonry that fell from a church, and a second woman who was inside a building that collapsed.
No expulsion: Cambodia’s prime minister said Tuesday he has rescinded his decision to expel an American-led Christian organization from California that seeks to rescue and rehabilitate women working in the sex trade, accepting its apology and explanation that it did not intend to demean Cambodians. Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the Roseville (Placer County) group, Agape International Missions, would be allowed to continue its normal operations and that he hoped the group had learned a lesson from the controversy. Hun Sen ordered the group expelled three weeks ago after its personnel appeared in a CNN report about child prostitution in Cambodia. Hun Sen took offense that the report said Cambodian mothers sold their daughters into prostitution.
Children of priests: Bishops in Ireland have created detailed guidelines to address an issue the Roman Catholic Church has tried to keep under wraps for centuries: the plight of children born to Catholic priests and the women who bear them. The policy, approved in May and made public recently, states that the wellbeing of the child is paramount. It says that the mother must be respected and involved in decision-making and that the priest “should face up to his responsibilities — personal, legal, moral and financial.” The guidelines are believed to represent the first comprehensive public policy by a national bishops’ conference on the issue, which has long been shrouded in secrecy given the perceived scandal of priests having sex. Roman Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy.
Sheep intestines: A state-owned newspaper in Dubai reported that a man has found himself in a legal mess after allegedly trying to smuggle 5.7 million amphetamine pills into the sheikhdom hidden inside sheep intestines. Al-Bayan newspaper reported on Tuesday that the man has been charged with hiding pills in intestines packed into drums heading into Dubai’s massive Jebel Ali port. Amphetamine busts are common in the United Arab Emirates, as smugglers ship the drugs into the country in an effort to try and reach Saudi Arabia.
Chronicle News Services