Vatican to punish women priests

The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests yesterday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication. The decree was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect. A Vatican spokesman said the decree made the church's existing ban on women priests more explicit by clarifying that excommunication would follow all such ordinations. Excommunication forbids receiving the sacraments or sharing in acts of public worship. (Reuters)

VIENNA - The United Nations received intelligence from about 10 countries on Iran engaging in studies, engineering work, or procurement that could be relevant to designing and building a nuclear bomb, diplomats said. The latest confidential Iran report by the International Atomic Energy Agency sent to board members on Monday said Tehran's alleged research into nuclear warheads "remained a matter of serious concern" and it needed to provide "substantive explanations." (Reuters)

MANAMA - Bahrain's king has appointed a woman believed to be the Arab world's first Jewish ambassador as the country's envoy to Washington. Lawmaker Houda Nonoo said she was proud to serve her country "first of all as a Bahraini," adding she was not chosen for the post because of her religion. "It is a great honor to have been appointed as the first female ambassador to the United States of America," Nonoo said. (AP)