IN BRIEF: Pope considers change in mass

Published: November 22, 2008

EUROPE

POPE CONSIDERS CHANGe in MASS

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI is considering a change to the Mass liturgy, said Cardinal Francis Arinze, who heads the Vatican office for sacraments. Arinze said Friday the pope may move

the placement of the sign of peace, where congregation members shake hands, to earlier in the Mass.

OFFICIAL CHIDES HIV CAMPAIGN

MOSCOW — Russia’s top AIDS official, Vadim Pokrovsky, on Friday lambasted the government’s approach to fighting HIV. He said that the number of registered cases was growing 10 percent a year despite increased federal funding.

SOUTH AMERICA

BRAZIL moves to help FOREST

BRASILIA, Brazil — President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday signed a decree aimed at recovering and protecting rain forest along Brazil’s Atlantic coast.

AFRICA

ISLAMIC GROUP TO FIGHT PIRATES

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A radical Islamic group in Somalia said Friday it will fight the pirates holding a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil. Abdelghafar Musa, who claims to speak on behalf of all Islamic fighters in the Horn of Africa nation, said ships belonging to Muslim countries should not be seized.

DEATHS BRING 4 LIFE TERMS

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A white teenager has received four life sentences for a shooting spree that killed four blacks, SABC radio reported Friday. Johan Nel, 18, was convicted on numerous counts of murder, attempted murder and weapons violations for the January shootings.

From Wire Services

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