Sudanese security forces have attacked a pro-democracy protest outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, activists say. Gunfire has been heard, and medical sources saying at least eight people were killed. Sudan has been governed by a Transitional Military Council (TMC) since President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a coup in April.

The council later denied using force to break up the main protest site. “Sudanese forces did not disperse the sit-in outside the army headquarters by force, but rather targeted a nearby area which has become a threat to the safety of citizens,” TMC spokesman Lt Gen Shams al-Din Kabbashi told UAE-based Sky News Arabia TV channel. Protesters have been demanding that a civilian government take over the running of the country. The security services moved on the main protest site early on Monday, activists say. A source inside one of the main hospitals in Khartoum told the BBC they had received at least eight bodies and many others injured. The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors put the death toll at nine.(BBC)…[+]

BLAJ, Romania– Pope Francis yesterday asked forgiveness in the name of the Catholic Church for the mistreatment of the Roma people, a move likely to increase tensions with Italy’s anti-immigrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. Francis made the comment during a meeting with Roma people at the last event of his three day trip to Romania, saying his heart was made “heavy” by the meeting.

“It is weighed down by the many experiences of discrimination, segregation and mistreatment experienced by your communities. History tells us that Christians too, including Catholics, are not strangers to such evil,” he said. With an estimated population of 10-12 million, approximately six million of whom live in the European Union, Roma people are the biggest ethnic minority in Europe and rights groups say they are often the victims of prejudice and social exclusion.

Salvini, who has clashed with the pope repeatedly on migration issues, reacted angrily last month when Francis received a group of Roma at the Vatican last month. Salvini, head of the far-right Lega party and a deputy prime minister, responded by repeating his promise to close all Roma camps in Italy.(Reuters)…[+]

A Diego Mar­tin fa­ther of three is striv­ing to en­ter the 2020 Guin­ness Book of World Records as he works to build the world’s longest and high­est high-rid­er bi­cy­cle. Jahzeel Joseph, 34, said, “That is my aim. I have al­ready writ­ten to them and re­ceived the guide­lines.” Joseph is in the process of build­ing the bi­cy­cle which will be 12 feet long and stand ap­prox­i­mate­ly 28 feet, five inch­es in height. He said he was hav­ing a great time us­ing his skills as a cer­ti­fied welder to cre­ate his mas­ter­piece.

Rid­ing along the Care­nage Main Road re­cent­ly as he head­ed for the beach, Joseph’s high-rid­er cre­at­ed quite a stir as passers­by toot­ed their horns, with some even snap­ping pic­tures on their cam­era phones as they drove along. Dis­mount­ing from the bi­cy­cle—11 feet 6 inch­es in length and 6 feet 9 inch­es in height—Joseph said he got the idea to cre­ate the high-rid­er af­ter he saw two peo­ple us­ing a tan­dem bike in Diego Mar­tin. He said, “I want­ed to make one that you could ride from the back or front…and this one can be con­trolled from the top or the low­er lev­el. It on­ly took me one week to build it.”(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]