Pope visit a sign of inclusion for Slovakia’s excluded Roma

KOSICE, Slovakia (AP) — Pope Francis is urging Slovakia’s Roma to integrate better into the mainstream as he meets with the country’s most socially excluded minority group, who have long suffered discrimination, marginalization and poverty. But Francis’ visit Tuesday to the Lunik IX settlement in Kosice brought home just how excluded the Roma are. Police…

School starts for 1 million NYC kids amid new vaccine rules

NEW YORK (AP) — Classroom doors are swinging open for about a million New York City public school students in the nation’s largest experiment of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The start of the school year Monday coincides with several other milestones in the city’s pandemic recovery that hinge on vaccine mandates. Nearly all…

Parson weighs special session to respond to Biden COVID plan

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is considering calling a special legislative session to challenge President Joe Biden’s plan to require COVID-19 vaccination or testing for many workers. Parson told the Kansas City Star in an interview on Friday that Missouri will oppose the White House initiative on “multiple fronts.” He…

Scores of Westerners, including Americans, fly out of Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An estimated 200 foreigners, including Americans, have left Kabul on an international commercial flight, marking the first large-scale evacuation since U.S. and NATO forces left Afghanistan last week. Their departure on Thursday represented a breakthrough in the bumpy coordination between the U.S. and Afghanistan’s new Taliban leaders. The Taliban have said…