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Changing the old system.

Pastors to challenge IRS over political endorsements, and they’re likely to get away with it

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Washington Post - Lilly Fowler, 10/4/12

View Photo Gallery — Religion on the campaign trail: Moments when faith and politics intersect during the 2012 campaign.

LOS ANGELES — In a matter of days, some 1,400 American pastors are planning to break the law. And they’re likely to get away with it.

As part of “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” on Oct. 7, religious leaders across the country will endorse political candidates — an act that flies in the face of Internal Revenue Service rules about what tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, can and cannot do.

1000s of Argentine police officers protest against pay cuts

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Press TV - 10/4/12

Thousands of police officers have taken to the streets across Argentina in protest at pay cuts.

Argentina

Argentina's gendarmerie members participate in a protest outside their headquarters at the Sentinel Building in Buenos Aires on October 3, 2012.


On Wednesday, protesting police officers marched through the streets of the capital Buenos Aires, waving their salary bills and chanting slogans such as “Nobody touches our pay,” AFP reported.
 

Similar demonstrations were also reported in other cities of the South American country, including Rosario and Comodoro Rivadavia.


Officials say the pay cuts, which are between 30 to 60 percent, are an administrative mistake and that the officers will receive their missing pay.

Ancient Maya watchtowers marked astronomical seasons with sun shining into slits during solstices and equinoxes

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Mail Online - 10/5/12

Experts in Mexico say they have determined that the ancient Maya used watchtower-style structures at the temple complex of Chichen Itza to observe the equinoxes and solstices.

The bases of the structures were found atop the walls of the long ceremonial court, where a ritual ball game was played. But to determine their use, archaeologists first had to rebuild the small, stone-roofed structures.

Each of the structures has a narrow slit running through it.

A view of El Castillo the Pyramid At Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. In the foreground is a watchtower while a pyramid stands in the background

A view of El Castillo the Pyramid At Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. In the foreground is a watchtower while a pyramid stands in the background

 

Fresh protests, strikes hit eurozone countries

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PressTV - 10/5/12

A municipal worker shouts slogans during a demonstration outside the parliament in Athens on October 3, 2012.
A municipal worker shouts slogans during a demonstration outside the parliament in Athens on October 3, 2012.
 
Clashes, protests and strikes have once again hit eurozone countries over harsh economic conditions and tough austerity measures in the bloc, Press TV reports.
 

Hundreds of protesting shipyard workers in Greece have broken into the grounds of the country’s Defense Ministry in Athens. The protestors pushed through the ministry gates attempting to enter the ministerial offices. The shipyard workers say they have not been paid for several months, some remain unpaid for three years. The police forces have clashed with the protestors and have arrested and injured several workers.

Blockade by Earth’s Most Threatened Tribe Paralyzes Brazilian Railway

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National Geographic - Joanne Eede, 10/5/12

Brazilian Indians blockade a key railway line. Copyright: CIMI/Survival

ON the forested western edge of Maranhao state in north-east Brazil lives the Awá tribe. One of only two nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes left in Brazil, the Awa have long lived in this area, which lies between the equatorial forests of Amazonia and the drier savannas to the east.  They are the most threatened tribe in the world.

The Awá spend their days hunting for game such as peccary, tapir and monkey, with 6ft bows made from the irapa tree and gathering forest produce such as babacu nuts and acai berries. Vultures, bats and the three-toed sloth are forbidden as prey for eating. They nurture orphaned animals as pets, share their hammocks with raccoon-like coatis and split mangoes with green parakeets. Awa women even breast-feed capuchin and howler monkeys and have also been known to suckle small pigs.

Pope's butler convicted of stealing documents

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Los Angeles Times - 10/6/12

Popebutler

VATICAN CITY -– A Vatican court Saturday found former papal butler Paolo Gabriele guilty of aggravated theft in the pilfering and leaking of private internal documents in a scandal that brought extraordinary attention to the heart of the Roman Catholic Church.

The three-judge panel senteced Gabriele to three years in prison, reduced to one and a half, because they said he had understood that he had betrayed Pope Benedict XVI and had acted under  an “erroneous” sense of loyalty.

To read the rest of this story, visit LATimes.com.

Butler scandal shines unwelcome spotlight on Vatican police

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The Washington Post -Alessandro Speciale,10/5/12

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican police corps celebrated their yearly festival on Friday (Oct. 5), the feast day of their patron, St. Michael the Archangel. But after the scandals of recent months, it was a more subdued celebration than normal.

The Vatican police force, or Gendarmeria, has found itself in an uneasy spotlight during the trial of Pope Benedict XVI’s former butler.

To read the rest of this story, visit WashingtonPost.com.

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