Pope and Congress: Francis is certain to challenge lawmakers
By ANDREW TAYLOR A political pope is sure to seize his opportunity when he addresses a political body. So both Democrats and Republicans are looking forward to Pope Francis’ remarks…
Environment
Sailing body to test for viruses in Rio Olympic venue
By STEPHEN WADE The governing body of world sailing says it will start doing its own independent testing for viruses in Rio’s Olympic waters after an Associated Press investigation showed…
Argentine mayor: Pope Francis is game-changer for climate
The latest developments at the Vatican’s meeting of mayors on fighting climate change and human trafficking. All times local. ___ 4:25 p.m. Monica Fein came all the way from Pope…
Land agency: Agent’s gun may have been used in pier slaying
By PAUL ELIAS The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is investigating whether an agent’s gun was used in the shooting death of a woman walking on a popular San Francisco…
BP to pay record $18.7 billion to states affected by spill
By KEVIN McGILL, REBECCA SANTANA and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN More than five years after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history fouled beaches, coated seabirds in thick goo and threatened…
Cybertheft adds to US-China tensions ahead of upcoming talks
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON Tensions between the U.S. and China are growing over its island-building in the South China Sea and over suspicions that Beijing was behind a massive hack into…
Pope challenges world to clean up its filth
NICOLE WINFIELD, RACHEL ZOLL ,SETH BORENSTEIN With a poet’s lyricism, a former chemist’s precision and a pontiff’s moral thunder, Pope Francis recast humanity’s relationship with nature in stark ethical terms,…
Pope’s stance leaks; calls for urgent action on environment
By NICOLE WINFIELD A draft copy of Pope Francis’ eagerly awaited encyclical on the environment calls for urgent action to protect the Earth and fight global warming, which the pope…