
Obama offers faith groups new birth control rule
Facing a wave of lawsuits over what government can tell religious groups to do, the Obama administration is proposing a compromise for faith-based ...

At palace, Egypt protesters, police clash
Protesters denouncing Egypt's Islamist president hurled stones and firebombs through the gates of his palace gates on Friday, clashing with security ...

Mahony defends legacy on church abuse in blog
Retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony defended his tattered legacy in a sharply worded letter to his successor, a day after Archbishop Jose ...

Syrian rebels slam Assad inaction on Israeli raid
Syrian opposition leaders and rebels on Friday slammed President Bashar Assad for not responding to a rare Israeli airstrike near Damascus, calling ...

No priest, no sheik means no marriage in Lebanon
She was an English language tutor with an easy smile and an independent streak. He was a gym receptionist who wanted to better himself. They met for ...

Iraq Sunnis protest; al-Qaida front calls to arms
Tens of thousands of Sunni protesters blocked a major highway in western Iraq on Friday, as an al-Qaida-affiliated group called on Sunnis to take up ...

Arabs, Tuaregs in Mali face hostility amid war
Bawba Mint Baba Ahmed's dress-making teacher singled her out in front of the class, telling her: "You look like a rebel." Others threatened to slit ...

Militants attack Pakistani army camp; 6 killed
Militants attacked an army camp in northwestern Pakistan with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades before dawn on Saturday, killing six ...

LA archbishop relieves retired cardinal of duties
Retired Cardinal Roger Mahony, the former head of the nation's largest Roman Catholic diocese, was stripped of his duties Thursday by his successor ...

Iraqi president's absence leaves political hole
President Jalal Talabani's unexpected exit from Iraqi politics couldn't have come at a worse time for his nation, threatened by mounting antagonism ...

Freedom returns to the storied city of Timbuktu
On the morning French commandos parachuted onto the sand just north of this storied city and ended 10 months of Islamic rule, Hawi Traore folded up ...

Evangelical churches refine message on gay issues
The Rev. Robert Jeffress has changed the way he talks about homosexuality from the pulpit. The pastor of the 11,000-member First Baptist Dallas hasn't ...
Furor over proposed shift in Scouts no-gays policy
The Boy Scouts of America faces intensifying criticism from the left and right over a proposal to move away from a mandatory no-gays membership policy ...

Egypt's police regain Mubarak-era notoriety
With near impunity and the backing of the Islamist president, Egyptian police have been accused of firing wildly at protesters, beating them and ...
Egypt's political factions denounce violence
Representatives from across Egypt's political spectrum held a rare meeting Thursday to denounce violence, hours before a fresh call for a new wave of ...

Activists try to save old Warsaw ghetto building
It was the place where Jewish women did their ritual bathing. It was a tuberculosis clinic. It survived the German onslaught and became a gathering ...

Victim portrayed as contradiction in Ariz. trial
Attorneys for a woman charged with killing her lover worked Wednesday at her trial to portray the victim as a liar and cheat who repeatedly deceived ...

Priest, teacher convicted in Pa. church abuse case
A jury on Wednesday convicted a priest and teacher in a pivotal church-abuse case that rocked the Philadelphia archdiocese and sent a church official ...

Week of unrest weakens Egypt's Islamist leader
Egypt's Islamist president has been significantly weakened by a week of violent protests across much of the country, with his popularity eroding, the ...

Morsi, in Germany, defends comments on Jews
Egypt's Islamist president turned aside repeated criticism of his past comments referring to Jews as "the descendants of apes and pigs" as he visited ...

Egypt liberals, Islamists add pressure on Morsi
A hardline Islamist party normally allied to Egypt's president joined the liberal opposition on Wednesday in calling for a national unity government ...

2 Israeli parties endorse Netanyahu for new term
Israel's two largest political parties endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister Wednesday, all but guaranteeing him a third term at the ...

France takes key Mali cities; now the hard part
French-led forces have wrested control of three key cities in northern Mali from al-Qaida-linked militants, but the fighters have escaped with their ...

Pussy Riot cathedral video banned for 'extremism'
Footage of feminist rockers Pussy Riot's irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral last year has been banned in ...
Mexico breaks up alleged border sex-slavery cult
Mexican officials broke up a bizarre cult that allegedly ran a sex-slavery ring among its followers on the U.S. border, Mexican immigration ...