YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man has admitted defrauding fellow Amish in 29 states out of nearly $17 million. Seventy-seven-year-old Monroe L. Beachy of Sugarcreek changed his plea to guilty Thursday in Youngstown federal court. The judge ordered a pre-sentence report and scheduled sentencing for May 24. A one-count mail fraud indictment returned last year charged Beachy with promising investors safe securities but moving money to riskier investments. The indictment says nearly 2,700 people and entities, including an Amish... Read more

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban police evicted 13 dissidents from a Havana church they had been occupying for two days demanding that Pope Benedict XVI air a list of grievances during his upcoming trip to the island, a Roman Catholic Church spokesman said. The protesters were removed from the Church of Charity in densely packed Central Havana late Thursday at the request of the city’s cardinal, church spokesman Orlando Marquez said in a statement. “Cardinal Jaime Ortega addressed the competent authorities... Read more

HAVANA (AP) — A group of 13 Cuban dissidents who have occupied a Havana church for two days are no longer demanding an audience with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits this month, but vowed Thursday to continue their protest. The dissidents say they are now asking the pontiff to mediate a list of their grievances with the Cuban government, said Fred Calderon, a spokesman for the group, in a phone interview from a closed-off room in the Central Havana... Read more

HAVANA (AP) — A group of Cuban dissidents who are holed up in a Havana church say they are changing their demands but vow to continue their protest. Fred Calderon is one of 13 government opponents occupying the Church of Charity of Cobre in Central Havana since Tuesday. He tells The Associated Press that they are no longer requesting an audience with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits this month. Instead they want the pontiff to speak to the Cuban... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — An ambitious project to clean the statue-topped colonnade that cradles St. Peter’s Square is likely to last at least three more years, the director of the Vatican restoration says. The work on Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s columns began in 2009, after some two years of preliminary studies, and it is proceeding in sections so the square can still be used for Vatican events, including papal appearances. Guy Devreux, who directs the Vatican’s workshop for marble and limestone... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Restoration is slowly but steadily proceeding on a Vatican project so ambitious it has been likened to the decades-long cleaning up of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Guy Devreux, who directs the Vatican’s workshop for marble and limestone structures, says cleaning the Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s statue-topped colonnade that cradles St. Peter’s Square should take far less time. He says the work to clean the columns, which began in 2009 — and ensure fragments don’t fall... Read more

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — A man has admitted defrauding fellow Amish in 29 states out of nearly $17 million. Seventy-seven-year-old Monroe L. Beachy changed his plea to guilty Thursday in federal court. The judge ordered a pre-sentence report and scheduled sentencing for May 24. A one-count mail fraud indictment returned last year charged Beachy with promising investors safe securities but moving money to riskier investments. The indictment says nearly 2,700 people and entities, including an Amish community loan fund, lost... Read more

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — A man must face a federal judge at a change-of-plea hearing on a charge of defrauding fellow Amish in 29 states out of nearly $17 million. Seventy-seven-year-old Monroe L. Beachy has informed the court that he intends to plead guilty at Thursday’s hearing in Youngstown. A one-count mail fraud indictment returned last year charged Beachy with promising investors safe securities but moving money to riskier investments. The indictment says nearly 2,700 people and entities, including an... Read more

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man must face a federal judge at a change-of-plea hearing on a charge of defrauding fellow Amish in 29 states out of nearly $17 million. Seventy-seven-year-old Monroe L. Beachy has informed the court that he intends to plead guilty at Thursday’s hearing in Youngstown. A one-count mail fraud indictment returned last year charged Beachy with promising investors safe securities but moving money to riskier investments. The indictment says nearly 2,700 people and entities, including... Read more

JERUSALEM — In a world overwhelmed by electronic gadgets that have changed the way we read, write and learn, the Jewish and Islamic arts of calligraphy have preserved their methods for generations. Parchment, feathers and “qalams,” a pen made of dried bamboo, are still used by sophers — Jewish scribes — and khattats — Muslim calligraphers. Calligraphy is one of the main art forms in Judaism and Islam, reflecting how central the word is to both religions. The Quran has... Read more