WASHINGTON - "Time is of the essence" to get humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine as winter sets in, a group of Ukrainian religious leaders said in a Nov. 9 appeal to U.S. President Barack Obama.

YANGON, Myanmar - From his residence at St. Mary's Cathedral, Cardinal Charles Bo has a front-row seat to the changes sweeping across his country. What he has witnessed ahead of the nation's Nov. 8 election — the first fully contested since 1990 — has troubled him, reported ucanews.com.

BEIJING - China's Communist Party leaders announced they would change the nation's one-child policy, which most strictly applied to Han Chinese living in urban areas of the country.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House voted to block federal funding for a year to affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and redirect the money to community health centres.

OTTAWA - They have written electoral guides, identified national issues, and invited Canadians to vote in the Oct. 19 federal election, but one day after voters swept Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party to a majority government, most Canadian churches had no official reaction.

UNITED NATIONS - The information and services that space technology provides must be shared as much as possible by the countries of the world to reduce the risk that economic and social inequalities will widen, a Vatican official told the United Nations.

KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine's Catholic bishops have urged citizens to back a "profound transformation" by voting in upcoming elections in areas controlled by the national government.

NEW YORK - The president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America said Oct. 13 that the organization's clinics will no longer accept reimbursement for fetal tissue procured in abortions and provided to researchers.

CALCUTTA, India - The Missionaries of Charity will close their adoption centres in India, citing new regulations that would allow non-traditional families to adopt children, reported ucanews.com.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Two couples attending the Synod of Bishops on the family said what surprised them most about their first synod in Rome was reading inaccurate media coverage of the closed-door proceedings, the diversity of problems families face around the world and the synod fathers' great concern and compassion for the family.