Nigerian girls returned, with a warning
DAPCHI, Nigeria -- Boko Haram Islamic extremists returned nearly all of the 110 girls they had kidnapped from a boarding school last month, dropping them off in the middle of the night Wednesday with a warning: "Don't ever put your daughters in school again."
Several of the girls said in interviews that they had been traveling for days before the convoy of vehicles arrived in the center of the town of Dapchi about 2 a.m.
"We were freed because we are Muslim girls and they didn't want us to suffer," said Khadija Grema, one of the freed girls who said a Christian classmate remained captive.
The development brought elation to most of the families, but more heartache for the relatives of the six girls still unaccounted for. The sister of one girl fainted Wednesday upon hearing that she was not among those freed.
The Nigerian government denied that it had paid a ransom or made a prisoner swap in exchange for the girls' freedom.
ISIS bombing kills 33 Afghan pilgrims
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An Islamic State militant group suicide bomber struck on the road to a Shiite shrine in Afghanistan's capital Wednesday, killing at least 33 people as Afghans celebrated the Persian new year, authorities said.
Wahid Majro, spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, said 65 others were wounded in the attack, which was carried out by a bomber on foot.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility in an online statement, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites. The group said the attack targeted "a gathering of Shiites celebrating Nowruz."
The Persian new year, known in Afghanistan as Nowruz, is a national holiday, and the country's minority Shiites typically celebrate by visiting shrines. The Sunni extremists of the Islamic State have repeatedly targeted Shiites, who they view as apostates deserving of death.
The attack took place near Kabul University, about a mile away from the Sakhi shrine, where people were gathered to celebrate the new year, said Gen. Daud Amin, Kabul's police chief.
Vatican exec quits over doctored letter
VATICAN CITY -- The head of the Vatican's communications department resigned Wednesday over accusations he mischaracterized a private letter from retired Pope Benedict XVI, then had a photo of it digitally manipulated and sent to the media.
A week after The Associated Press exposed the doctored photo, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Monsignor Dario Vigano and named his deputy to run the department for now. But Francis kept Vigano on in the department in a lesser capacity, indicating that he doesn't believe the problem was all that grave.
The scandal began last week when Vigano read aloud part of a private letter from Benedict at an event for a Vatican-published, 11-volume set of books about Francis' theology.
Marking Francis' fifth anniversary as pope, Vigano had held up Benedict's letter as a sign of the continuity between the two popes, to blunt critics who complain that Francis' mercy-over-morals papacy represents a theological break from Benedict's doctrine-minded, theology-heavy papacy.
Vigano didn't read the whole letter and omitted the part where Benedict objected to one of the authors in the volume because he had been a longtime critic of Benedict and St. John Paul II. A news release sent out by Vigano's office only contained Benedict's words of praise for Francis and the book initiative, without mentioning that he hadn't even read the books and had no plans to.
The AP reported that the photograph of the letter that accompanied the news release had digitally blurred out the lines where Benedict began to explain that he didn't have time to read the books and wouldn't comment on them, as requested by Vigano.
Gas flies but Kosovo border deal passes
PRISTINA, Kosovo -- Kosovo lawmakers on Wednesday approved a contentious and long-pending border demarcation deal with Montenegro despite the opposition's use of tear gas to prevent a vote.
The 120-seat parliament voted 80-11 to endorse the deal, ensuring its passage with the minimum two-thirds support required.
The European Union has set the border agreement as a precondition for Kosovo's citizens to travel without visas in Europe's Schengen travel zone.
Kosovo Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli said he was hopeful the EU would follow through and let Kosovars enjoy visa-free travel, as citizens of other Balkan region countries already do.
The opposition Self-Determination party says Kosovo loses 20,000 acres of its territory under the agreement, which was reached in August 2015. The previous government and international experts deny that.
At least two lawmakers were injured in the tear-gas dispersal. In the chaos, the session failed four consecutive times to call the vote, but Veseli insisted it would take place.
A Section on 03/22/2018