Pope Francis visits Cuba

This past Sunday, Pope Francis visited Cuba and returns this afternoon. The Pope spoke with Cuban nuns, priests, seminarians and bishops along with Fidel Castro. Castro spent much of his time. Francis also called for the church to embrace a “spirit of poverty,” saying that “wealth takes away the best of us” according to CNN.

“Bad accountants are great for the church, because they make it free, make it poor,” the Pope said. “God wants it to be poor … . Blessed are the poor of the heart, those who aren’t attached to money.”

Francis had a “friendly and informal” meeting with Fidel Castro at the former Cuban president’s residence, the Vatican said.

It lasted about 30 minutes, with the Pope and the communist leader exchanging books about religion. About 10 members of Castro’s family were present, according to the Vatican. Francis could play a major role in restoring diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba.

Fiorina trumps Carson, second only to Trump

After last week’s GOP debate, republican candidate Carly Fiorina jumped up to second, beating candidate Ben Carson and  Falling just behind Donald Trump. The CNN/ORC polls, conducted in the three days after 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night’s GOP debate, shows that Trump is still the party’s front-runner with 24 percent support. That, though, is an 8 percentage point decrease from earlier in the month when a similar poll had him at 32 percent.

Fiorina ranks second with 15 percent support — up from 3 percent in early September. She’s just ahead of Ben Carson’s 14 percent. Carson’s support has also declined from 19 percent in the previous poll.

Driving Trump’s drop and Fiorina’s rise was the GOP  debate in which 31 percent of Republicans who watched said Trump was the loser, and 52 percent identified Fiorina as the winner. The front runners in these polls depict an evident split in the Republican party, as well as support for new power, as none of the top three contenders have ever held political office.

IS defectors speak out more
A growing number of defectors from the Islamic State are speaking publicly about their decision to leave, according to a new report by  the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation. The defectors risk reprisals by members of the militant group and imprisonment by their home nations, the report says, leading most to go into hiding. estimates that hundreds of former militants have now defected or attempted to defect. Dozens are thought to have made it out via Turkey while others have reportedly been caught and executed. The ICSR claims that the 58 cases in their study are “likely only a fraction of those disillusioned, ready to defect and/or willing to go public.”