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'Rent-a-pilgrim' to walk to Fatima for $2,700
Carlos Gil is a "payer-off of promises," at least that is the way the Roman Catholic refers to himself, but he is more commonly known as a "rent-a-pilgrim". The 52-year-old Portuguese national takes on pilgrimages by proxy -- in the name of others -- especially Catholics unable because of sickness to undertake the journey or too busy or lazy for the week-long spiritual walk to the central Portuguese town of Fatima. Gil is one of the nearly one million Catholics who will descend at the weekend upon the town where three child shepherds reported visions of the Virgin Mary 100 years ago.
Harvard University will hold first ever black only graduation ceremony
Harvard University will host a graduation ceremony exclusively for black students, organisers have announced. More than 170 students and 530 guests have signed up to attend the event, which will be held 23 May. All-black ceremonies have been held at other US universities, such as Stanford and Columbia, but this will be a historic first for Harvard.
New Orleans crews remove second Confederate statue amid protests
New Orleans authorities dismantled a statue honoring president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis amid cries by protesters waving Confederate flags and cheers from a group that said the monument glorified racism in the U.S. South. Police watched the two groups taunt each other early on Thursday as crews used a crane to pluck the 8-foot (2.4 m) bronze statue from the granite pedestal where it had sat for more than a century on a piece of land near an intersection in the Mid-City neighborhood. "I am here to witness this debacle, taking down this 106-year-old beautiful monument," said Pierre McGraw, president of the Monumental Task Committee, which restored the statue as one of its first projects 29 years ago.
Jihadists snaring starving civilians in Mosul death trap
Jihadists preparing for a desperate last stand in Mosul are booby-trapping homes with civilians inside and welding doors shut on starving families to prevent the population from fleeing, residents say. Iraqi forces are closing in fast on the Old City and its narrow streets, where the Islamic State group is expected to focus its significantly depleted military capabilities. The most violent group in modern jihad has repeatedly resorted to human shields to cover its movements but in Mosul the jihadists appear to be taking the tactic to new levels.
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