ROME (AP) — Priests who rape and molest children lie when confronted with an accusation but victims usually tell the truth, psychologists told Catholic bishops at a symposium Tuesday, advising them to listen first to the victims. The message came during a Vatican-backed meeting on clerical sex abuse that aimed to help bishops draft and enforce tough policies to protect children and root out pedophiles from the priesthood. Priests and bishops from about 100 countries were attending the four-day symposium... Read more

ROME (AP) — Psychologists have told bishops from around the world that priests who rape and molest children often lie when confronted with an accusation and that victims usually tell the truth and need to be believed in order to heal. The messages were delivered Tuesday at a Vatican-backed symposium on clerical sex abuse that is aimed at helping bishops create tough policies to protect children and root out pedophiles from the priesthood. Advocates for victims have dismissed the symposium... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Ministers from Iraq’s Sunni-backed bloc ended their boycott of the Cabinet on Tuesday, a move that could restore some stability to the war-ravaged nation that has been mired in a security and political crisis since the U.S. completed its military withdrawal from the country. The government of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki set off the political crisis in December by issuing an arrest warrant against the country’s top Sunni official, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, charging him with... Read more

BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday vowed to crack down on unrest in Tibetan areas and accused overseas activist groups and the Dalai Lama of fomenting the recent violence. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said clashes last month between Tibetans and security forces in Sichuan province were the work of criminals and were instigated by overseas groups advocating for Tibetan independence. “We believe that this is a case of a handful of criminals illegally gathering and smashing and looting,” Liu... Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say “death to Christians” and other Hebrew-language graffiti has been scrawled on a Greek Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Tuesday that “price tag” was also painted on the monastery in the Valley of the Cross, near Israel’s parliament. The phrase “price tag” refers to retaliation by suspected Jewish extremists for Israeli government actions against settlers. Such acts originally targeted West Bank mosques but have recently expanded to include a mosque... Read more

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum made a calculated decision a few weeks ago. The cash-strapped candidate chose to skip ahead in the primary calendar to court conservative electorates in the three states that voted Tuesday — Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri — while GOP front-runner Mitt Romney and chief challenger Newt Gingrich battled each other in the expensive state of Florida. Santorum’s gamble paid off. He broke a four-state losing streak Tuesday by aggressively courting conservative... Read more

LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney railed against President Barack Obama’s “assault on religion” Tuesday, part of an intensified effort to win over social conservatives in GOP caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota. Romney, who previously supported abortion rights and is now an opponent, has struggled to convince some cultural conservatives that he’s conservative enough. Rival Rick Santorum, long an outspoken figure on social issues, hopes those voters will help him finish strong on Tuesday. “Remarkably under this... Read more

CINCINNATI (AP) — Newt Gingrich is criticizing both Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama’s records on requiring Catholic organizations to provide contraceptive aids in some circumstances. The Republican presidential candidate told GOP voters in Cincinnati on Tuesday that Obama has declared war on the Catholic Church. The administration recently issued a regulation requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control for their workers. Some Catholics say the rule forces Catholic institutions to violate their religious convictions. Romney also has criticized the... Read more

CINCINNATI (AP) — Newt Gingrich thrust the reproductive rights issue into the GOP campaign spotlight on Tuesday, criticizing both Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama’s records on requiring Catholic organizations to provide contraceptive aids in some circumstances. Rick Santorum vowed to make the issue a central part of his struggling campaign. Gingrich, a Catholic, told GOP voters in swing-state Ohio that Obama had declared war on the Catholic Church. He and his GOP rivals have blasted the administration’s new regulation... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s ruling generals are playing a risky game of brinksmanship by cracking down on American nonprofit groups that promote democracy, threatening a relationship with Washington that has brought the military billions of dollars in aid over the past three decades. The generals may be betting the U.S. cannot afford to cut relations with Egypt — a cornerstone of American Mideast policy. But the ruling military council may also fear it has much more than foreign aid to... Read more