The power of unity

September 22, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

The most important battles in Iraq and Afghanistan today are in the political arena: the battle for democracy.

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The debate over Scotland's future fizzled amid a bitter war of words Sunday, with the Scottish leader claiming his countrymen were "tricked" into rejecting independence in a referendum and Britain's three main political parties bickering over how to take political reform forward. Alex Salmond, Scotland's outgoing independence leader, accused politicians in London of reneging on their promises to hand more power to Scots in a rare cross-party pact that he said played a crucial role in swinging the votes in favor of union in Thursday's vote.

Pope Francis, in his strongest criticism of Islamist militants to date, said on Sunday no religious group which used violence and oppression could claim to be "the armor of God." Francis made his comments during a one-day visit to Albania, an impoverished Balkan country hailed by the pontiff as a model of inter-faith harmony because of good relations between its majority Muslim community and its Christian denominations.

Afghanistan's two presidential candidates signed a power-sharing deal on Sunday that makes one president and the other chief executive, ending months of political wrangling following a disputed runoff that threatened to plunge the country into turmoil and complicate the withdrawal of foreign troops. Ending an election season that began with first-round ballots cast in April, the election commission named Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner and next president. But the commission pointedly did not release final vote totals amid suggestions that doing so could inflame tensions.

Nearly three-dozen structures were destroyed in a massive Northern California wildfire that continues to spread more than a week after it started, officials said Sunday. According to preliminary figures, 10 residences and 22 outbuildings were lost in the King Fire as the structures were discovered in the White Meadows area of Pollock Pines, said Capt. Tom Piranio a state fire spokesman.

Yemen's prime minister resigned Sunday, the state news agency reported, following days of violence that left more than 140 dead and prompted thousands to flee their homes. The official SABA news agency gave no details on the move by Mohammed Salem Bassindwa, and it was not immediately clear if his resignation had been accepted by the president.

Nine days after a gunman opened fire in a deadly ambush at a state police barracks, authorities have had no contact with the suspect they describe as a self-taught survivalist despite an intensive search that shut down the heavily wooded community where he lived with his parents. Though a shelter-in-place order had been lifted in the Pocono Mountains community where police have focused their search, they continued to urge residents to be vigilant Sunday as the manhunt continues for Eric Frein.

A three-day lockdown in Sierra Leone aimed at stemming the worst Ebola epidemic on record has identified dozens of new infections, but has not reached everyone in the country and is likely to be extended, a senior official said on Sunday. In one of the most extreme strategies employed since the epidemic began, Sierra Leone ordered its 6 million residents to stay indoors as volunteers circulated to educate households as well as isolate the sick and remove the dead.

Apple's new and bigger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are more durable than last year's model and a leading Android phone, a study says. Apple's iPhone 6, whose screen measures 4.7 inches, did the best across a variety of tests that measures how prone smartphones are to break due to every day accidents, SquareTrade, a company that provides extended protection plans, says.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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