News In Brief
AP, Vatican City
Pope Francis, who often laments current persecutions of Christians, has given the Catholic Church 35 new saints, nearly all of them martyrs, from past centuries.
The latest saints were proclaimed Sunday during a Mass celebrated by Francis in St. Peter’s Square.
Thirty martyrs, including priests and lay persons, suffered anti-Catholic persecution in 1645 at the hands of Dutch Calvinists in Brazil, while three children, indigenous persons in 16th-century Mexico, were martyred for embracing the Catholic faith and refusing to return to their ancient conditions.
Kyrgyzstan votes in unpredictable presidential poll
AFP, Bishkek
Voters in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan went to the polls Sunday to choose their next president in an unpredictable election setting the Central Asian country apart from its deeply authoritarian neighbours, while stoking fears of instability.
Voting began at 0200 GMT and will end at 1400 GMT. But after a tough campaign and with the electorate split, a second round of voting is a strong possibility, analysts say.
Fire in Saudi capital kills 10
AFP, Riyadh
A fire at a carpentry workshop in the Saudi capital has left 10 people dead and three others injured, the kingdom’s civil defence said Sunday.
“The Riyadh civil defence put out a fire that broke out at a carpentry workshop in the Badr district of Riyadh,” the Saudi civil defence wrote on its official Twitter account.
Vietnam flood death toll rises to 68
Xinhua, Hanoi
Landslides and floods caused by torrential rain this week in Vietnam’s northern and central regions have killed 68, left 37 missing and injured 31 others, the country’s Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said on Sunday.
The victims included 20 people in northern Hoa Binh province, 15 in central Thanh Hoa province, and nine in central Nghe An province.
