AP, Vatican City
Pope Francis has signed off on the miracle needed to make Mother Teresa a saint, giving the nun who cared for the poorest of the poor one of the Catholic Church’s highest honours just two decades after her death.
The Vatican said Friday that Francis approved a decree attributing a miracle to Mother Teresa’s intercession during an audience with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making office on Thursday, his 79th birthday.
Ash Carter calls US commando mission into Syria a success
AP, Irbil
Defence Secretary Ash Carter says the first mission by a new team of special operations forces into Syria was successful in identifying Syrian Arab fighters the coalition can work with to oust Islamic State militants from their self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa.
Speaking after meeting with several members of the team and commanders, Carter said the U.S. commandos went into Syria to “identify and link up with local forces, especially Syrian Arab forces that were willing to fight ISIL but needed our help.”
Furious Congress blasts Gandhi summons
AFP, New Delhi
India’s opposition Congress will protest against a court summons of leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi over allegations they misused funds from a newspaper once run by the family, a party member said on Thursday.
The mother-son duo of the famed Nehru-Gandhi dynasty are due to appear in a New Delhi court Saturday after a politician from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party filed a petition accusing them of illegally acquiring the National Herald’s assets.
China to conduct war games in sea
AFP, Beijing
China’s military conducted war games in the disputed South China Sea this week, an official newspaper said today, as tensions simmer over Beijing’s island-building in the region.
China insists it has sovereignty over virtually all of the resource-rich South China Sea, conflicting with the various claims of Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei.
Israel to normalise ties with Turkey
AFP, Jerusalem
Israel and Turkey have reached “understandings” to normalise ties, at a low since the Jewish state’s deadly 2010 raid on a Turkish ship headed for the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said Thursday.
The deal, drafted at a secret meeting in Switzerland, calls for Israel to compensate victims of the raid, a return of envoys and the start of talks on gas exports to Turkey, the unnamed official said.
Vietnam builds military muscle to face China
Reuters, Xuan Mai
Vietnam’s military is steeling itself for conflict with China as it accelerates a decade-long modernization drive, Hanoi’s biggest arms buildup since the height of the Vietnam War.
