[01:01.84]It exempts the rebels from wide-ranging sanctions imposed shortly after the start of the mass movement attempting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
[01:10.10]Matt Wells in Washington has more details.
[01:12.62]The announcement on Friday from the US Treasury which controls financial sanctions lifts the ban on citizens,
[01:20.42]companies and banks sending money to the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
[01:25.13]The sanctions law remained, but for now the US government wants to do whatever it can, short of sending arms, to aid the rebel effort.
[01:33.06]A statement from the Treasury said that the Syrian government had sacrificed all legitimacy in its violent attempts to cling to power.
[01:39.90]The US has already said it will provide medical supplies and food directly to opposition fighters.
[01:45.22]The Vatican has rejected as defamatory allegations that Pope Francis did not do enough to protect two priests in his native Argentina
[01:54.05] during the country’s military dictatorship more than 30 years ago.
[01:57.88]Here’s James Robbins.
[01:59.52]The Vatican has responded to allegations that Pope Francis much earlier in his life as a senior Jesuit priest failed to protect two fellow Jesuits who were kidnapped.
[02:08.65]The Vatican says there has never been accusation that was concrete or credible.