News in Brief
BERLIN (AP) -- A top German bishop has apologized for thousands of sexual abuse cases that took place inside the Catholic Church in Germany, according to a devastating report released Tuesday that concludes at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy between 1946 and 2014.
"Sexual abuse is a crime," Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who is also the head of the German Bishops Conference, told reporters. "I'm ashamed for so many (of us) looking away, not wanting to recognize what happened and not helping the victims. That goes for me as well."
The report on sex abuse inside the German Catholic Church found that more than half of the victims were 13 or younger and most were boys. Every sixth case involved rape and at least 1,670 clergy were involved. Some 969 abuse victims were altar boys.
On average, the abuses happened multiple times over a period of at least 15 months.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Pentagon's nominee to be the next commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said on Tuesday that a decision to suspend some joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States had caused a "slight degradation" in readiness.
"I think there was certainly degradation to the readiness of the force," U.S. Army General Robert Abrams said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He added that he was confident that a mitigation plan was in plan to sustain readiness until the next series of exercises.
Abrams also said North Korea still had significant capabilities and the United States should remain "clear-eyed" about the situation on the Korean peninsula.
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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -- Ethiopian authorities arrested more than 1,200 people after violence erupted in and around the capital this month, a senior police official said, three times more than earlier estimates.
Twenty-eight people died, the head of the capital's police commission, Degfie Bedi, said, raising the death count from 23. "The majority were beaten to death. Seven were killed by security forces," he told journalists late Monday.
Violence that raged from Sept. 12-17 and included attacks on minorities in Ethiopia's ethnic Oromo heartland outside Addis Ababa, was a blow to new reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's efforts at reconciliation.
The unrest escalated on the day of a rally marking the return to Ethiopia of leaders of the exiled Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which had waged a four-decade insurgency for self-determination for Ethiopia's largest ethnic group.
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BERLIN (AFP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that Britain had still not expressed a clear position on its post-Brexit relations with the EU, warning that only "six to eight weeks" remained to reach an agreement.
Success in the upcoming negotiations depended "largely on what it is Britain really wants, and on this the discussion has still not been entirely clear," Merkel told a business conference in Berlin.
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MADRID (Reuters) -- Spain's Socialists (PSOE) would win 30.6 percent of the vote if an election was held today, an official poll showed Tuesday, up from a previous poll held in August which predicted the party headed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would win 29.9 percent.
The latest poll will buoy Sanchez in parliament, in which he holds just 84 seats in a 350-seat house, as he negotiates next year's budget and scrambles to find support while insisting he plans to take the government until the next election in 2020.
It was the second poll since June's change of government following a no-confidence vote which toppled the conservative People's Party (PP) and put the PSOE in power.
The PP fell in distant second in the poll by the Center for Sociological Studies (CIS) with just 20.8 percent of the vote, followed by the market-friendly Ciudadanos with 19.6 percent and the anti-austerity Podemos party with 16.1 percent.
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VIENNA (Reuters) -- Austria's chancellor said Tuesday a proposal by his far-right coalition partners to shut out several newspapers was unacceptable, suggesting fresh tensions between the ruling parties.
Two of Austria's three main national newspapers Tuesday published details of an email sent to police spokespeople by the Interior Ministry, which is controlled by the far-right Freedom Party (FPO). The email suggested communications with the papers and one other be reduced to "what is absolutely necessary."
The email accused the broadsheets Kurier and Der Standard and left-wing weekly newspaper Falter of "very one-sided and negative reporting" about the ministry or the police, without providing examples or details.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that the email was authentic and sent by its chief spokesman but said it was not binding and consisted of suggestions rather than instructions.
"Sexual abuse is a crime," Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who is also the head of the German Bishops Conference, told reporters. "I'm ashamed for so many (of us) looking away, not wanting to recognize what happened and not helping the victims. That goes for me as well."
The report on sex abuse inside the German Catholic Church found that more than half of the victims were 13 or younger and most were boys. Every sixth case involved rape and at least 1,670 clergy were involved. Some 969 abuse victims were altar boys.
On average, the abuses happened multiple times over a period of at least 15 months.
***
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Pentagon's nominee to be the next commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said on Tuesday that a decision to suspend some joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States had caused a "slight degradation" in readiness.
"I think there was certainly degradation to the readiness of the force," U.S. Army General Robert Abrams said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He added that he was confident that a mitigation plan was in plan to sustain readiness until the next series of exercises.
Abrams also said North Korea still had significant capabilities and the United States should remain "clear-eyed" about the situation on the Korean peninsula.
***
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -- Ethiopian authorities arrested more than 1,200 people after violence erupted in and around the capital this month, a senior police official said, three times more than earlier estimates.
Twenty-eight people died, the head of the capital's police commission, Degfie Bedi, said, raising the death count from 23. "The majority were beaten to death. Seven were killed by security forces," he told journalists late Monday.
Violence that raged from Sept. 12-17 and included attacks on minorities in Ethiopia's ethnic Oromo heartland outside Addis Ababa, was a blow to new reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's efforts at reconciliation.
The unrest escalated on the day of a rally marking the return to Ethiopia of leaders of the exiled Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which had waged a four-decade insurgency for self-determination for Ethiopia's largest ethnic group.
***
BERLIN (AFP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that Britain had still not expressed a clear position on its post-Brexit relations with the EU, warning that only "six to eight weeks" remained to reach an agreement.
Success in the upcoming negotiations depended "largely on what it is Britain really wants, and on this the discussion has still not been entirely clear," Merkel told a business conference in Berlin.
***
MADRID (Reuters) -- Spain's Socialists (PSOE) would win 30.6 percent of the vote if an election was held today, an official poll showed Tuesday, up from a previous poll held in August which predicted the party headed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would win 29.9 percent.
The latest poll will buoy Sanchez in parliament, in which he holds just 84 seats in a 350-seat house, as he negotiates next year's budget and scrambles to find support while insisting he plans to take the government until the next election in 2020.
It was the second poll since June's change of government following a no-confidence vote which toppled the conservative People's Party (PP) and put the PSOE in power.
The PP fell in distant second in the poll by the Center for Sociological Studies (CIS) with just 20.8 percent of the vote, followed by the market-friendly Ciudadanos with 19.6 percent and the anti-austerity Podemos party with 16.1 percent.
***
VIENNA (Reuters) -- Austria's chancellor said Tuesday a proposal by his far-right coalition partners to shut out several newspapers was unacceptable, suggesting fresh tensions between the ruling parties.
Two of Austria's three main national newspapers Tuesday published details of an email sent to police spokespeople by the Interior Ministry, which is controlled by the far-right Freedom Party (FPO). The email suggested communications with the papers and one other be reduced to "what is absolutely necessary."
The email accused the broadsheets Kurier and Der Standard and left-wing weekly newspaper Falter of "very one-sided and negative reporting" about the ministry or the police, without providing examples or details.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that the email was authentic and sent by its chief spokesman but said it was not binding and consisted of suggestions rather than instructions.