Pope Rejects Call for Apology to Canada’s Indigenous People

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Pope Rejects Call for Apology to Canada’s Indigenous People Photo Pope Francis, above in Rome this week, will not apologize for the church’s role in a Canadian system that forced generations of Indigenous children into boarding schools. Credit Franco Origlia/Getty Images OTTAWA — Despite a personal appeal from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Roman Catholic Church has said that Pope Francis will not apologize for its role in a Canadian system that forced generations of Indigenous children into boarding schools.
The residential school system, as it is commonly known in Canada, was described as a form of “cultural genocide” by a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 that also concluded that many students were physically and emotionally abused.
Among its 94 recommendations was a call for an apology from the pope. The Catholic Church, along with several Protestant denominations, operated most of the schools for the government.
“The Holy Father is aware of the findings of t..

Poison Was Left on Russian Spy’s Front Door, the British Police Say

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Poison Was Left on Russian Spy’s Front Door, the British Police Say Photo Police officers outside the home of Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian double agent who was poisoned by a nerve agent, in Salisbury, England. Credit Frank Augstein/Associated Press LONDON — The British authorities said on Wednesday that Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, the poison victims at the epicenter of a diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, had been sickened with a nerve agent on the front door of Mr. Skripal’s house.
The announcement narrows the many possibilities of how the Skripals came into contact with the poison.
Detectives will focus their efforts now on Mr. Skripal’s house in the cathedral town of Salisbury, England, said Dean Haydon, senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, in a news release.
They will also, presumably, search for a person who could have delivered the poison.
Mr. Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter, who had been visiting hi..

At Least 68 Dead as Fire Erupts Amid Riot at Venezuela Jail

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At Least 68 Dead as Fire Erupts Amid Riot at Venezuela Jail Photo Anguished relatives of inmates outside a police station in Valencia, Venezuela, where a deadly fire broke out during a riot. Credit Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters CARACAS, Venezuela — At least 68 people died when a fire erupted during a riot at a jail in the northern city of Valencia, the attorney general said late Wednesday.
The announcement hours came after crowds of anguished family members had gathered outside the facility, some weeping and others facing off with police officers in riot gear. Officials had released little information throughout the day.
Tarek Saab, the attorney general, said four prosecutors had been named to investigate the cause and circumstances. All but two of the victims were men, he said.
The facility, attached to a police station, had a capacity of about 60 detainees, workers at the scene said, although prison crowding has often resulted in Venezuelan detention facilities exceeding their capaci..

Mireille Knoll, Murdered Holocaust Survivor, Is Honored in Paris

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Mireille Knoll, Murdered Holocaust Survivor, Is Honored in Paris Photo A march in memory of Mireille Knoll in Paris on Wednesday. Ms. Knoll, a 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, was found murdered in her apartment last week. Credit Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters PARIS — Every morning, in a part of the 11th Arrondissement of Paris that has not yet gentrified, Mireille Knoll would sit at home watching television as she waited for her personal care aide.
The aide, Leila Dessante, would clean the small second-floor apartment, cook lunch and keep company with Ms. Knoll, a 85-year-old grandmother and Holocaust survivor. “She would take my face in between her hands and always ask, ‘How are you doing today, sweetheart?’” Ms. Dessante recalled on Wednesday.
Ms. Knoll’s gentle routine was brutally interrupted last week when she was killed in her apartment. The attack shocked her neighbors, France’s Jewish community and the country as a whole. Two suspects, men in their 20s, have been placed under formal i..