135 migrants rescued in Mediterranean
ROME -- The European charity ship Ocean Viking said Friday it rescued another 135 migrants, including a pregnant woman and eight children, from a double-decker boat in Maltese search-and-rescue waters.
In total, the vessel operated by the humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee was carrying 359 shipwreck survivors, it said, adding the ship had been assigned to the distant port at Ancona, in Italy's central Marche region.
Nongovernmental organizations operating in the central Mediterranean Sea have repeatedly warned that the far-right-led Italian government's policy of assigning ports farther north keeps their rescue ships out of waters where they can be saving lives.
Rome has recently ordered the ships to port after each rescue, punishing groups that conduct other rescues by holding ships in port for 20 days at a time.
The Ocean Viking has been subject to three such blocks over three months.
Friday's rescue came a day after survivors saved from a deflating rubber dinghy in the central Mediterranean on Thursday reported that some 60 people who departed from Libya with them more than a week ago had perished during the journey.
The Ocean Viking spotted the dinghy with 25 people on board Wednesday. Two were unconscious and were evacuated to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, some 60 miles to the north.
Congo lifts ban on capital punishment
DAKAR, Senegal -- Congo has lifted a more than 2-decade-old moratorium on the death penalty as authorities struggle to curb violence and militant attacks in the country, according to a justice ministry statement released on Friday.
The statement, dated earlier this week, said the ban from 2003 allowed offenders accused of treason and espionage to get away without proper punishment.
Eastern Congo has been riddled by conflict for decades, linked to more than 120 armed groups fighting for land and power and in some cases, protecting their communities.
In its statement, the justice ministry said capital punishment will be reserved for offenders involved in criminal conspiracies, armed gangs, insurrection -- and also those who commit treason and war crimes. It will also be applied to the military, including those who rebel or desert and join enemy ranks.
Rights groups have condemned the decision, calling it a step back for the country.
"This initiative is against the constitution," said Jean-Claude Katende, president of the African Association for Human Rights. "We don't think that capital punishment and the execution of this sentence are appropriate measures to restore order."
Ramadan begins without feared violence
JERUSALEM -- The first Friday prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan passed without violence at the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque under tight Israeli restrictions, amid fears the ongoing Israel-Hamas war would spark clashes in Jerusalem's Old City.
Hamas militants have called on Palestinians to rise up and challenge tight Israeli restrictions on entry to the site. The militant group hopes a fresh outburst of violence would put more pressure on Israel and improve its leverage in ongoing cease-fire talks.
But no flare-up occurred after the important noon prayers on Friday. An estimated 80,000 worshippers attended the prayers, the highest turnout since Ramadan began on Monday, according to the Waqf, the Jordanian-based Muslim religious body that administers the site.
Nearly all the worshipers moved peacefully through the Old City's winding streets and crossed the compound's gates guarded by armed Israeli police.
Friday also marked the first time Palestinians from the occupied West Bank were able to travel to Jerusalem since Oct. 7.
But West Bank Palestinians' access to the city was limited to men over 55, women over 50 and children under 10, with all visitors required to return to the territory the same day. Israel also demanded all visitors obtain a special permit through a mobile application.
Bulgaria mourns late religious leader
SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Thousands of Orthodox Christians from across Bulgaria flocked to Sofia's main Alexander Nevski Cathedral on Friday to pay their respects to their late spiritual leader, Patriarch Neophyte, who died Wednesday at the age of 78.
Neophyte, who became patriarch in 2013, was the first head of the Bulgarian church to be chosen after the fall of Communism in 1989. He died in a hospital in Sofia after a long illness.
The government declared a two-day period of national mourning to honor Patriarch Neophyte's memory.
Black-clad priests held a memorial service Friday as lines of worshippers passed by the open casket where Neophyte lay in state, dressed in a white robe and wearing a golden crown.
The coffin holding the patriarch's body will be taken today in a funeral procession to St. Nedelya's Church, where he will be buried.
Neophyte was widely acclaimed for his diplomatic skills in resolving internal conflicts among the senior clergy, as well as maintaining good relations with other churches and denominations.
Bulgarian Orthodox priests pay their last respects to Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Friday. (AP/Valentina Petrova)