I’m thankful for the anonymous heroes living among us, who grab our hearts and change our minds. I’ve been thinking about them a lot in the context of a story I love about a group of very adamant, anonymous men in the Gospels.I was reminded of it after a friend …

With just hours left until the first GOP presidential debate on Thursday, candidates and their campaigns are sequestered away studying and practicing on mock debate stages in hotel rooms and studios somewhere along the campaign trail. A lot goes into preparing for debates. Much like the “special team” that’s brought …

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand police say they have found one body in a field of avalanche debris during their search for two missing Canadian hikers. Police spokesman Nicholas Barkley said Monday that teams have removed the body but have yet to make a formal identification. He said police …

MOSCOW – Vladimir Putin and Sepp Blatter just can’t stop praising each other. The Russian president, speaking with Swiss TV on Monday, said the embattled head of FIFA deserves a Nobel Prize for his work. Two days after Putin and Blatter hosted the preliminary draw for the 2018 World Cup, …

PHILADELPHIA – Authorities say a man is in critical condition after a surgical team had to amputate his leg when he became pinned underneath a freight train in Philadelphia. Police say the 46-year-old was hit at about 2:45 a.m. Wednesday on the tracks in the city’s Bustleton section. It’s unclear …

SANAA, Yemen – Yemeni security officials and witnesses say al-Qaida fighters have publicly shot to death six Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, in a town north of Aden. The witnesses, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said al-Qaida made the captured Houthi fighters, who were in their …

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – A retired Georgia judge who was nearly killed in the 1978 shooting that injured Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt has died. A funeral director says services were held Tuesday for retired Gwinnett County Magistrate Judge Gene Reeves Jr. of Auburn, Georgia. Reeves died Friday at age 85. …

YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has expressed concern that massive flooding in much of the country might be used as a pretext to undermine November’s general election. In a video appeal Thursday to the international community for help for flood victims, the Nobel Peace Prize …

BEIRUT – Syrian state television is reporting that a shell has hit a street in central Damascus, killing five people and wounding 36. The TV report said the shell was fired Saturday by “terrorists,” a term that the government uses for all opposition fighters. It is not uncommon for opposition …

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Police are investigating after a man’s body was found at a confederate monument in Florida. Police released few details, saying the man’s body was found Sunday morning on a park bench in Pensacola. A witness told the Pensacola News Journal (http://tinyurl.com/o8rtw9g) that he was doing yard work …