BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Islamic extremists armed with guns and throwing grenades stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital Friday morning, killing at least three people and taking numerous hostages, authorities said.
Malian troops, backed by special forces from America and France, reacted quickly. As people ran for their lives near the luxury hotel along a dirt road, the soldiers in full combat gear pointed the way to safety. Within hours, local TV images showed heavily armed troops in what appeared to be a lobby area. Malian state TV reported that 80 people in the hotel when the assault began have been freed.
(RNS) — The Little Sisters will lose. In the Supreme Court, that is. How do I know this? OK, let's back up.
In the biggest decision of its 2013-2014 term, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 that a for-profit corporation that objects to provisions of a federal law as impairing its religious freedom is entitled to an accommodation under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The case at hand involved the Affordable Care Act's mandate that employee health insurance plans provide women with free contraceptive care.
