Spain’s Catholic bishops and the Spanish government took another step Monday toward compensating victims of sexual abuse by clergy members who have died or whose possible crimes are too old to be prosecuted. In January, Spain’s Catholic bishops agreed to let the country’s ombudsman have the final say in the church’s compensation of such victims. The government and Spain’s bishops signed paperwork Monday detailing how the new church-state reparation system, which takes effect April 15, would work. The agreement, which envisages a one-year window for claims, marks a rare concession by the Catholic hierarchy. It’s aimed at resolving disagreements between...

Spain closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the Iran war, officials said Monday, in another step by Europe’s loudest critic of U.S. and Israeli military actions in the monthlong conflict. The country earlier said that the U.S. couldn’t use jointly operated military bases in the war, which Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has described as illegal, reckless and unjust. Defense Minister Margarita Robles said that the same logic applied to the use of Spanish airspace. “This was made perfectly clear to the American military and forces from the very beginning. Therefore, neither the bases are authorized, nor, of course,...

Russia on Monday expelled a British diplomat over accusations of spying that were rejected as “complete nonsense” by the U.K., a second such move this year that comes as tensions spiral between Moscow and the West. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the country’s top domestic security and counterintelligence agency, said in a statement that the diplomat was “carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten ⁠the security of the Russian Federation.” The FSB charged that the diplomat had sought to gather “sensitive information” about the Russian economy in “unofficial meetings” with Russian experts, without providing further details. It said he...

Indonesian search teams rescued 21 people from a raft Tuesday morning, a day after their boat sank in rough seas. Everyone on board the ship was found safely, said Muhammad Rizal, who heads the search and rescue office in Palu city. Officials earlier reported that 27 people were missing, but survivors reported that six people listed on the manifest had cancelled their plans to join the trip. Rescuers found the survivors, who were mostly fishing crew, on a raft about 46 kilometers (29 miles) from the place where the boat sank in the northern waters of Taliabu Island. The boat,...

NASA began the countdown Monday for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years. The 32-story Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast off Wednesday evening with four astronauts. After a day in orbit around Earth, their Orion capsule will propel them to the moon and back. There are no stops — just a quick U-turn around the moon. The nearly 10-day flight will end with a splashdown in the Pacific. “Our team has worked extremely hard to get us to this moment,” said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. “Certainly all indications are right now we are in excellent,...

Australia’s online safety watchdog said Tuesday it was considering court against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube alleging they are not doing enough to keep Australian children younger than 16 off their platforms. Experts say the Australian courts could decide what steps the platforms can reasonably be expected to take under the laws that took effect on Dec. 10 banning young children from holding accounts. eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant on Tuesday released her first compliance report since those laws took effect demanding 10 platforms remove all Australian account-holders younger than 16. While 5 million Australian accounts had been deactivated,...

The Israeli military has suspended a battalion whose soldiers assaulted a CNN crew in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in a rare case of punishment for soldier misconduct. The army announced Monday it was suspending the Netzah Yehuda battalion after soldiers were filmed assaulting the CNN crew last week. Netzah Yehuda is a unit of ultra-Orthodox soldiers that has been linked to abuses of Palestinian civilians in the past, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American man after his detention by the battalion’s forces in 2022. After an outcry from the U.S. government in that case, the Israeli military called...

China announced Monday that it is sanctioning a conservative Japanese lawmaker close to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, accusing him of “colluding with” separatists in Taiwan, the latest incident that underlines growing tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over the self-governed island. Japan called the step unacceptable and regrettable and demanded that China retract it immediately. “The one-sided action taken by China as if to intimidate those of different views than its own is absolutely unacceptable,” Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki said. “It is extremely regrettable from the perspective of the Japan-China relations.” China’s Foreign Ministry earlier said the sanctions...

President José Antonio Kast said Monday that his administration will tighten security measures at Chile’s schools, following two incidents involving weapons and amid growing concern about school violence in the South American country. The announcement follows a deadly attack Friday that left one dead and four wounded. The pledge also came on the same day that another student was detained while attempting to enter a school with a loaded firearm. “We are going to have to take certain measures to protect our students,” Kast said at an event at a school in the capital, Santiago. “These measures, which were previously...