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Many Americans love cappuccino, but few people know where the name comes from. Cappuccinos are named for a holy Capuchin priest who was chaplain to an army fighting Ottoman Turks to defend Christian Europe. Bl. Mark (or Marco) of Aviano is a saint celebrated by Catholics on August 13, and the name cappuccino comes from the name of the religious order Mark joined, the Capuchins. To understand the story of cappuccino, it helps to know a little about Bl. Mark himself. As a teenager, Mark set off to preach Christianity and possibly become a martyr in Crete (where Muslim Turks...

Ironically, most people, including most Armenians, are unaware that the first genocide of Christian Armenians at the hands of Muslim Turks did not occur in the twentieth century; it began in 1019—exactly one-thousand years ago this year—when Turks first began to pour into and transform a then much larger Armenia into what it is today, the eastern portion of modern day Turkey. Thus, in 1019, “the first appearance of the bloodthirsty beasts … the savage nation of infidels called Turks entered Armenia … and mercilessly slaughtered the Christian faithful with the sword,” writes Matthew of Edessa (d.1144), a chief source...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is in a bind as a House committee prepares to vote on a resolution that would recognize the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide. While a White House candidate, then-Sen. Obama said he believed the killings were genocide. A congressional resolution to that effect could alienate Turkey, a NATO ally and traditional friend of the United States that is crucial to America's foreign policy goals.

ANKARA, Turkey - Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there, Turkish security officials told The Associated Press. more at link.

SOME of the US's closest NATO allies have abandoned Washington on the key battleground ofthe war on terror - the bloody struggle against Islamic militants for control of southern Afghanistan. Five years after the world stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the US in the aftermath of 9/11, The Times has learned that many of the countries that pledged support then have now ignored an urgent request for more help in fighting a resurgent Taliban and its al-Qa'ida allies. Turkey, Germany, Spain and Italy have effectively ruled out sending more troops. France has not committed itself either way, but military sources...