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(Continued from page 30)
• Greece is a major entry point for people from poor or war-torn parts of Asia and Africa seeking a better life in the European Union. Fatal accidents are frequent as migrants risk the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey.
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Vatican undergoes 2nd grilling this year on global priest abuse scandal
• GENEVA (AP) -- In its second grilling at the United Nations this year, the Vatican on Monday sought to limit its responsibility for the global priest sex abuse scandal by undercutting arguments it has violated an international treaty against torture and inhuman treatment.
• The Vatican delegation's appearance in Geneva is the first time that the committee that oversees the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which the Vatican ratified in 2002, has hauled the Holy See before its members.
• Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's U.N. ambassador in Geneva, lost no time asserting that its responsibility for enforcing the U.N. treaty against torture only applies within the confines of the tiny Vatican City, which has fewer than 1,000 inhabitants in an area less than half a square-kilometer in size, making it the smallest country in the world.
• "The Holy See intends to focus exclusively on Vatican City state," he told the committee. "State authorities are obligated to protect and when necessary to prosecute persons under their jurisdiction."
• Committee member Felice Gaer's first question was to ask why the Vatican's first report to the committee -- the subject of the hearing this week -- came nine years late. Gaer, an American human rights expert, then took aim at the church's "alleged distinction" between Vatican City and the Holy See.
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Syria's famed Crac des Chevaliers, once world's best preserved Crusader castle, damaged by war
• HOSN, Syria (AP) -- The Crac des Chevaliers once held off a siege by the Muslim warrior Saladin some 900 years ago, but today bears the wounds of modern warfare: heavy artillery damaged its walls, an airstrike punctured its roof and shrapnel tore through its religious artifacts.
• From its towering hilltop perch in western Syria, the world's best preserved medieval Crusader castle has fallen victim to the chaos of Syria's civil war as rebels (Continued on page 32)
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