'Lolita' star Sue Lyon dies at 73

Source: NBC

Sue Lyon, who was cast in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" at the age of 14, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 73.

Lyon's longtime friend Phil Syracopoulos told the New York Times she had been experiencing poor health for some time.

Lyon's acting career lasted from 1959 to 1980, with her most significant role as the title character in the 1962 Kubrick film based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel about a middle-aged man who becomes sexually obsessed with a young girl. Lyon earned the part over 800 girls that auditioned; Nabokov described her as "the perfect nymphet."

While Nabokov's 1955 novel was seen as scandalous, the film was less so due in part to the restrictive Motion Picture Production Code.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/lolita-star-sue-lyon-dies-73-n1108126

Thousands of koalas feared dead in wildfire-ravaged area north of Sydney

Source: CBS

Thousands of koalas are feared to have died in a wildfire-ravaged area north of Sydney, further diminishing Australia's iconic marsupial, while the fire danger increased in the country's east on Saturday as temperatures soared.

The mid-northern coast of New South Wales was home to up to 28,000 koalas, but wildfires have significantly reduced their population. Koalas are native to Australia and are one of the country's most beloved animals, but they've been under threat due to a loss of habitat.

"Up to 30% of their habitat has been destroyed," Australia's environment minister, Sussan Ley, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "We'll know more when the fires are calmed down and a proper assessment can be made."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wildfires-in-australia-thousands-of-koalas-feared-dead-north-of-sydney-2019-12-28/

German bishops commit to 'newly assessing' Catholic doctrine on homosexuality and sexual morality

The German bishops’ conference has committed to “newly assessing” the universal Church’s teaching on homosexuality, sexual morality in general, as well as the sacraments of ordination and marriage. The commitment comes at the beginning of a controversial two-year “Synodal Process” by the German hierarchy.

Following consultations in Berlin last week, the chairman of the Marriage and Family Commission of the German bishops’ conference declared that the bishops agreed that homosexuality is a “normal form” of human sexual identity.

“The sexual preference of man expresses itself in puberty and assumes a hetero- or homosexual orientation,” Berlin’s Archbishop Heiner Koch asserted in a statement released by the bishops’ conference.


“Both belong to the normal forms of sexual predisposition, which cannot or should be be changed with the help of a specific socialization”.