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ISANTI, Minn. (AP) — The young Buddhist lama sat on a throne near an altar decorated with flowers, fruits and golden statues of the Buddha, watching the celebrations of his 18th birthday in silence, with a faint smile. Jalue Dorje knew it would be the last big party before he joins a monastery in the Himalayan foothills -- thousands of miles from his home in a Minneapolis suburb, where he grew up like a typical American teen playing football and listening to rap music. But this was not an ordinary coming-of-age celebration. It was an e...
HAVANA (AP) — The 1959 Castro-led revolution installed an atheist, Communist government that sought to replace the Catholic Church as the guiding force in the lives of Cubans. But 65 years later, religion seems omnipresent in Cuba, in dazzling diversity. The bells toll on Catholic churches and the call to prayer summons Muslims in Havana. Buddhists chant mantras as they gather at a jazz musician's home. Jews savor rice, beans and other Cuban staples for Sabbath dinner. Santeria devotees dance and slap drums in a museum filled with statues, p...
NEW YORK (AP) — A coalition advocating for Native American people impacted by an oppressive system of boarding schools for Native youths plans to digitize 20,000 archival pages related to schools in that system that were operated by the Quakers. The Quakers and other faith groups — including Episcopalians, Methodists and Catholics — have in recent years either begun or increased efforts to research and atone for their prior roles in the boarding school system that Native children were forced to attend, and that cut them off from their famil...
Muslims around the world are welcoming the start of Ramadan, a month of fasting, increased worship, heightened charity, good deeds and community. Christians are also fasting during Lent, the 40-day period of penance and prayer ahead of Easter, which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Fasting across religions is practiced for a wide range of reasons that include spiritual purification and self-discipline. Here is a quick look at fasting as an act of faith: BUDDHISM -- In Buddhism, fasting is recognized as one of the methods...
Kieran Moïse's afro was a splendid 19 inches, a huge part of his personality. But after six years of growth, the 17-year-old Alabamian knew that he and his hair would soon be parted: He was bound for the U.S. Air Force Academy. So in memory of a friend who died from cancer, he cut it off and donated it to the nonprofit Children With Hair Loss, which provides human hair replacements to children and teenagers facing medically related hair loss due to cancer treatments, alopecia and burns. "I knew I didn't want it to just get cut off and thrown...
The faith community should guide the way on reparations for America's history of slavery and racial discrimination and help the nation's process of reconciliation and healing, religious leaders said during a panel held to discuss the issue. U.S. religious groups have seen widespread interest in reparations, especially among Protestant churches that were active in the era of slavery. Many are starting or now considering how to make amends through financial investments and long-term programs benefiting Black Americans. "The faith community not...
HOUSTON (AP) — Years before a bystander's video of George Floyd's last moments turned his name into a global cry for justice, Floyd trained a camera on himself. "I just want to speak to you all real quick," Floyd says in one video, addressing the young men in his neighborhood who looked up to him. His 6-foot-7 frame crowds the picture. "I've got my shortcomings and my flaws and I ain't better than nobody else," he says. "But, man, the shootings that's going on, I don't care what 'hood you're from, where you're at, man. I love you and God l...
The church attended by the white man charged with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage businesses, most of them women of Asian descent, condemned the shootings Friday and said they run contrary to the gospel and the church's teachings. Crabapple First Baptist Church in Milton, Georgia, also announced in a statement that it plans to remove 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long from its membership because it "can no longer affirm that he is truly a regenerate believer in Jesus Christ." Previously the church had only issued a brief...
CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Delta rapidly intensified into a dangerous Category 4 storm with 145 mph (230 kph) winds Tuesday while following a course to hammer southeastern Mexico and then continue on to the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. The worst of the immediate impact was expected along the resort-studded northeastern tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where hurricane conditions were expected Tuesday night and landfall early Wednesday. From Tulum to Cancun, tourism-dependent communities still soaked by the remnants of Tropical S...
HOUSTON (AP) — Years before a bystander's video of George Floyd's last moments turned his name into a global cry for justice, Floyd trained a camera on himself. "I just want to speak to you all real quick," Floyd says in one video, addressing the young men in his neighborhood who looked up to him. His 6-foot-7 frame crowds the picture. "I've got my shortcomings and my flaws and I ain't better than nobody else," he says. "But, man, the shootings that's going on, I don't care what 'hood you're from, where you're at, man. I love you and God l...
BALTIMORE (AP) — First came the prayer ceremony at the conclusion of the Sabbath with their families, then, the celebration on the basketball court and the overflowing joy of March Madness victory. Yeshiva University beat Penn State Harrisburg 102-83 on Saturday to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in the history of the Jewish Orthodox institution. The Maccabees, named after the ancient Jewish rebel warriors, fought against all odds. They won their 29th straight game in a record-breaking season that b...
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Where does the power line stand in crisis-torn Bolivia? Jeanine Añez, the Senate leader who has claimed the interim presidency of the Andean country, seems to have the backing of the police, the military and the Roman Catholic Church. But even in self-exile in Mexico after resigning under pressure from the armed forces, former President Evo Morales says he would be willing to return to Bolivia, and his supporters are making a show of force in the streets while his party controls a majority in both houses of Congress. Norm...
Chile is one of the richest countries in the region. Haiti is the poorest. Ecuador has a centrist government. Bolivia's is socialist. Yet, from Port-au-Prince to Santiago, furious demonstrators were marching this week to demand fundamental change, part of a wave of often-violent protests that has set tires, government offices, trains and metro stations ablaze across Latin America and the Caribbean. What's driving the protests thousands of miles apart, across countries with profoundly different politics, economies, cultures and histories? One...
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Morgan Hurd is such an inspiration for young American gymnasts — and anyone who wears eyeglasses and practices sports — that some have dressed up in leotards and her trademark glasses for Halloween. The costume surprised her because the 2017 all-around world champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic hopeful still feels like any other 18-year-old. "Honestly, it feels kind of crazy because I still think of myself as almost no one — I'm just me," Hurd told The Associated Press. "When people ask me for my autograph, I go like, 'wow! W...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Agents of Argentina's dictatorship on Aug. 20, 1976 dynamited the bodies of 30 people who had been detained as dissidents in a blast that spread their remains over a wide radius. The grisly details about the explosion that tore apart the bodies of 10 women and 20 men executed in the Argentine city of Pilar were found in a recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency report posted Thursday by the independent National Security Archive. Thousands were tortured, killed and forcibly disappeared in a g...
CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) — A U.S.-backed campaign to force President Nicolas Maduro from power met strong resistance Saturday from Venezuelan security forces who fired tear gas on protesters trying to deliver humanitarian aid from Colombia and Brazil, leaving two people dead and some 300 injured. Throughout the turbulent day, as police and protesters squared off on two bridges connecting Venezuela to Colombia, opposition leader Juan Guaido made repeated calls for the military to join him in the fight against Maduro's "dictatorship." Colombian a...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine court on Tuesday sentenced two former Ford Motor Co. executives to prison for helping agents of the country's former dictatorship round up 24 Argentine union workers who were tortured and held in military jails. The courtroom was crowded with some of the victims and family members, some of whom broke into tears and hugged after the sentencing for crimes against humanity was announced. The court said that factory manufacturing director Pedro Muller and security manager Hector Francisco Sibilla t...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Leaders of the world's top economies agreed Saturday to repair the global trading system as they closed a Group of 20 summit that saw the Trump administration at odds with many allies over the Paris accord on climate change and issues like migration. The joint statement signed by all 20 member nations said 19 of them reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris climate accord, with the United States, which withdrew from the pact under President Donald Trump, the lone holdout. The official communique acknowledged f...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A World Trade Organization conference dampened from the start by criticism from the United States ended Wednesday without any substantial agreements. The ministerial-level meeting that wrapped up in Argentina's capital addressed trade issues involving food and agriculture, e-commerce, development and fisheries subsidies. "Members did not manage to agree on final substantive agreements this time," WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said at the closing ceremony. "It's not every time that ministers meet that they'r...
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AP) — An apparent explosion occurred near the time and place an Argentine submarine went missing, the country's navy reported Thursday, prompting relatives of its 44 crew members to burst into tears and some to say they had lost hope of a rescue. Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said the search will continue until there is full certainty about the fate of the ARA San Juan, despite the evidence of an explosion and with more than a week having passed since the submarine disappeared. It was originally scheduled to arrive Mond...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Argentine submarine ARA San Juan went missing in the South Atlantic last week with 44 crew members aboard. Here's a look at the submarine and the round-the-clock international maritime search. ___ THE VESSEL The German-built diesel-electric TR-1700 class submarine was commissioned in 1985 and was most recently refit in 2014. The retrofitting cost about $12 million and took more than 500,000 work hours. The boat was cut in half and had its engines and batteries replaced. Refits can be difficult because they i...
