Cardinal George Pell sentenced to 6 years for sexual abuse

Cardinal George Pell at the County Court last month in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Michael Dodge/Getty Images

An Australian judge has sentenced Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell to 6 years in prison for sexually abusing 2 choirboys in the late 1990s, reports the AP.

Details: Chief Judge Peter Kidd handed down the sentence to Pell, 77 — the most senior Vatican official to be convicted of sex abuse — on Wednesday from Victoria's County Court in Melbourne. He was convicted on 5 counts in a clandestine 5-week trial in December and has been ordered to serve a minimum of 3 years and 8 months before he is eligible for parole. He had denied the allegations and plans to appeal the convictions in June.

Go deeper: The stunning scale of the global Catholic sex abuse crisis

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Hans Nichols, author of Sneak Peek
12 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Biden's China plan: Bring allies

Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Joe Biden is planning to confront China across the globe, embracing some of President Trump's goals but rejecting his means.

The big picture: By starting a trade war with China, Trump has fundamentally altered the U.S.- China relationship — and forced both Republicans and Democrats to accept a more confrontational approach towards Beijing.

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Axios
Updated 2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Health: Fauci says U.S. may not return to normal until 2022 — Trump's testing czar: Surge "is real" and not just caused by more tests
  2. World: Taiwan reaches a record 200 days with no local coronavirus cases
  3. Europe faces "stronger and deadlier" wave — France imposes lockdown — Germany to close bars and restaurants for a month.
  4. Sports: Boston Marathon delayed — MLB to investigate Dodgers player who joined celebration after positive COVID test.
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Rebecca Falconer
2 hours ago - Science

In pictures: Storm Zeta churns inland after lashing Louisiana

Debris on the streets as then-Hurricane Zeta passes over in Arabi, Louisiana, on Oct. 28. It's the third hurricane to hit Louisiana in about two months, after Laura and Delta. Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

Tropical Storm Zeta has killed at least two people, triggered flooding, downed powerlines and caused widespread outages since making landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday.

The big picture: A record 11 named storms have made landfall in the U.S. this year. Zeta is the fifth named storm to do so in Louisiana in 2020, the most ever recorded. It weakened t0 a tropical storm early Thursday, as it continued to lash parts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle with heavy rains and strong winds.

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