Tampa donations build Cuba church

Tampa donations build Cuba church

Cuba has allowed construction of the country's first new Catholic church in 55 years, the church said Monday. Experts said it's a sign of improving relations between the Vatican and Cuba's communist government. The church, funded by donations from Catholics in Tampa, will be built in Sandino, a citrus and coffee-growing town in the far-western province of Pinar del Rio. The church publication Christian Life said it will have space for 200 people. "The construction of a church is a clear demonstration of a new phase, of an improvement, in relations between the church and the state," said Enrique Lopez Oliva, a professor the history of religions at the University of Havana.

Cargo for space station on hold

A delivery mission to the International Space Station was called off Monday after a sailboat got too close. Orbital Sciences Corp. got to within the 10-minute mark for the launch of its unmanned Cygnus capsule from Wallops Island, Va. But a sailboat ended up in the restricted danger zone, and controllers halted the countdown. The company will try again this evening. The capsule holds 5,000 pounds of cargo for NASA.

Pistorious case will be appealed

South African state prosecutors said Monday that they planned to appeal the conviction and sentence handed down to track star Oscar Pistorius after a seven-month trial that ended last week in ferocious debate over the magnitude of his punishment. In a post on Twitter, Nathi Mncube, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, said the organization "will be appealing both the conviction and sentence." Pistorius, 27, was sentenced to a five-year prison term for culpable homicide, equivalent to manslaughter, in the killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, on Feb. 14, 2013. Under the terms of the sentence, he may be released into house arrest after 10 months.

Mammoth skeleton may be a rare one

A portion of a Columbian mammoth skull and tusks have been uncovered in southeastern Idaho, and experts say a rare entire skeleton might be buried there. Experts estimate the mammoth was about 16 years old and lived 70,000 to 120,000 years ago in what was a savanna-like country populated with large plant-eaters and predators.

Times wires

Tampa donations build Cuba church 10/27/14 [Last modified: Monday, October 27, 2014 9:17pm]

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Tampa donations build Cuba church