World in brief: 1,600 evacuated from cruise ship
Scores of passengers climbed down rope ladders to rescue vessels after a Greek cruise ship struck a reef Thursday and started listing in the Mediterranean, forcing the evacuation of 1,600 people including North Carolina high school students.
Authorities said most of the nearly 1,200 passengers on the Greek-flagged Sea Diamond were American tourists. At least two school groups from Canada, more than 100 Spaniards and a crew of almost 400 were also on board when the ship hit the rocks off the island of Santorini shortly before 4 p.m.
“A lot of us were taking pictures from when we were coming into Santorini. All of a sudden, there was this big jolt,” said Catherine Small, 17, one of more than two dozen students from North Carolina on board.
“The ship was really far tilted. It was actually kind of freaking us out – scary,” Small told the Associated Press.
Tourism Minister Fani Palli Petralia said the rescued passengers would be housed in Santorini hotels and return on chartered ships to Athens’ main port of Piraeus today.
Chalco, Mexico
Symptoms called psychosomatic
Government health officials who examined about 600 female students suffering from symptoms that sparked fears of an epidemic at a Roman Catholic boarding school said Thursday the mystery illness was psychosomatic.
Media coverage showing girls unable to walk out of the La Villa de las Niñas school in the state of Mexico prompted allegations of abuse by the South Korean nuns who run the school and treat the girls with traditional Asian medicine.
Victor Manuel Torres, assistant director of epidemiology at the Mexico State Health Institute, told the Associated Press the teenage girls appear to have suffered from “psychosomatic symptoms.”
The cause “probably comes from being in a state of isolation,” he said.
The school houses more than 3,000 girls who are only allowed to see their families three times a year. The school offers free education for low-income families across Mexico and has been in operation for 17 years.
Rome
Pope washes feet of laymen
Pope Benedict XVI bathed the feet of 12 laymen in a Rome basilica in a Holy Thursday tradition symbolizing humility, as he kept up an intense schedule of public ceremonies that will culminate on Easter.
Bending over, the pope poured water from a golden pitcher on the feet of the men. Benedict then used a white cloth to dry the feet of the men, who wore white robes and were drawn from the laity of the Diocese of Rome. As pontiff, Benedict is also bishop of Rome.
The feet-washing ritual by the pontiff, who wore gold-colored vestments, represents Jesus’ humility toward his apostles during the Last Supper, on the day before he was crucified, and serves to remind today’s faithful that they should be at the service of others.
Benedict, who turns 80 on April 16, was making one of several Holy Week appearances. On Thursday morning, he celebrated a Mass with cardinals, bishops and other clergy in St. Peter’s Basilica.