VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has rewritten its 2010 anti-money laundering law after European inspectors found that it didn’t fully meet their tough standards to combat the financing of terrorism. The new law, a copy of which was obtained Friday by The Associated Press, requires the Vatican to create a list of terror organizations based on those issued by the United Nations and requires the Vatican enter into agreements with other countries to share financial information. The Holy See... Read more

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An assistant U.S. Army chaplain who pleaded guilty to producing child pornography in Puerto Rico has been sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison. Nicolas Gonzalez Figueroa was accused in a case involving his daughter-in-law’s 7-year-old girl. Gonzalez’s stepson is married to the girl’s mother, but it is unclear if he is her biological father. The mother alerted authorities after she borrowed a USB flash drive from Gonzalez and found child pornography on it.... Read more

HACKENSACK, New Jersey (AP) — Authorities in New Jersey say a teenager charged in the firebombings of two synagogues plotted a similar attack on a Jewish community center. Bergen County’s prosecutor says investigators found multiple Molotov cocktails this week in a wooded area near the Jewish Community Center of Paramus. They say they’ve connected the bombs and a bike found in the same area to suspect Anthony Graziano. The 19-year-old Graziano was charged this week with firebomb attacks on two... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — The CIA officer working as a special assistant to the New York Police Department’s top intelligence officer will leave his post in April after nine months, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Friday. The department was notified of the planned departure in November, just weeks after the completion of an internal investigation into how the federal agency established its unprecedented collaboration with city police. The Associated Press had reported a day earlier that the officer’s assignment was... Read more

HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) — Authorities leveled additional charges Friday against a teenager accused in the firebombings of two northern New Jersey synagogues, saying he had plotted a similar attack on a Jewish community center and had conducted Internet searches for building Molotov cocktails and instructions on blowing up buildings. Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said investigators found multiple Molotov cocktails this week in a wooded area near the Jewish Community Center of Paramus, and they traced the evidence to a... Read more

HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) — Prosecutors said Friday they have uncovered evidence that a New Jersey teenager charged with firebombing two synagogues had also targeted a third Jewish institution. Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli announced additional charges against 19-year-old Anthony Graziano, but declined to provide more specifics until a news conference scheduled for Friday afternoon. Graziano was arrested earlier this week and has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of attempted murder as well as bias intimidation and arson charges for... Read more

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch Cabinet moved a step closer Friday to banning the burqa, making good on an election promise that is largely symbolic but has broad public support. Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Verhagen said the Cabinet agreed on plans to ban the head-to-toe Islamic gown along with other forms of face-covering clothing including ski masks. The legislation must still be approved by both houses of the Dutch Parliament, a process that could take months. “We are... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Some 10,000 Egyptian protesters converged on Cairo’s downtown Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of “Friday of Rage,” a key day in the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. On last year’s “Friday of Rage,” Mubarak’s security forces fired on protesters who streamed into the square, killing and wounding hundreds. The day ended with a collapse of Mubarak’s much-hated security forces. Millions of Egyptians, fearful of prison breaks and chaos, went out into the streets... Read more

BEIRUT (AP) — Two days of bloody turmoil in Syria killed at least 64 people, including small children, as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad shelled residential buildings and fired on crowds in a dramatic escalation of violence, activists said Friday. Video posted online showed the bodies of five small children, five women and a man, all bloodied and piled on beds in what appeared to be an apartment after a building was hit in the city of Homs. A... Read more

BEIRUT (AP) — Two days of bloody turmoil in Syria killed at least 74 people, including small children, as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad shelled residential buildings and fired on crowds in a dramatic escalation of violence, activists said Friday. Video posted online showed the bodies of five small children, five women and a man, all bloodied and piled on beds in what appeared to be an apartment after a building was hit in the city of Homs. A... Read more