Free Republic

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia came close to nuclear disaster in late December when a blaze engulfed a nuclear-powered submarine carrying atomic weapons, a leading Russian magazine reported, contradicting official assurances that it was not armed. Russian officials said at the time that all nuclear weapons aboard the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine had been unloaded well before a fire engulfed the 167-metre (550 feet) vessel and there had been no risk of a radiation leak. But the respected Vlast weekly magazine quoted several sources in the Russian navy as saying that throughout the fire on December 29 the submarine was carrying 16...

VATICAN CITY — Two-and-a-half years ago, Pope Francis was trying to fill a big job. For decades, that position — heading the powerful office that helps vet and select bishops — had gone to consummate Vatican insiders. But Francis had staked his papacy on expanding the boundaries of the Catholic Church. And he had his eye on a surprise contender: an American-born missionary operating in the coastal plains of Peru, some 6,000 miles from Rome.“You know that I am very happy in Peru,” the missionary, then-Bishop Robert Prevost, recalled telling Francis. “But if you ask me to take on a...