RYE, New York (AP) — Fifteen Muslims arrested after a New York amusement park scuffle over headscarves are set to have charges against them dismissed. A Rye Town Court judge told them Tuesday that their cases will be dropped if they stay out of trouble for two months. The charges ranged from disorderly conduct to assault. The scuffle began after Muslim women were told they couldn’t wear religious headscarves on some rides at Playland Park. The women were among about... Read more

PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — An unemployed teenager charged Tuesday with firebombing two synagogues is an anti-Semite whose hatred of Jews guided his actions, authorities said. Anthony Graziano, of Lodi, was charged with the Jan. 11 attack on a Rutherford synagogue and the Jan. 3 firebombing of a synagogue in Paramus. He was being held on $5 million bail. The charges include nine counts of attempted murder, bias intimidation, arson and aggravated arson. The 19-year-old Graziano was scheduled to make an... Read more

PARAMUS, New Jersey (AP) — An unemployed teenager charged Tuesday with firebombing two synagogues is an anti-Semite whose hatred of Jews guided his actions, authorities said. Anthony Graziano, of Lodi, was charged with the Jan. 11 attack on a Rutherford synagogue and the Jan. 3 firebombing of a synagogue in Paramus. He was being held on $5 million bail. The charges include nine counts of attempted murder, bias intimidation, arson and aggravated arson. The 19-year-old Graziano was scheduled to make... Read more

HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) — A 19-year-old man was charged Tuesday with attempted murder and hate crimes in connection with recent firebombings of two northern New Jersey synagogues that put the region’s Jewish community on edge and prompted round-the-clock police patrols. Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli charged Anthony Graziano, of Lodi, with the Jan. 11 attack on a Rutherford synagogue and the Jan. 3 firebombing of a synagogue in Paramus. He was being held on $5 million bail. The charges include... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Thousands of Egyptians rallied Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the country’s 2011 uprising, with liberals and Islamists gathering on different sides of Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a reflection of the deep political divides that developed in the country in the year that followed the downfall of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and their liberal and secular rivals differ over both the goals of the revolution and the strategy to achieve them,... Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say a group of ultra-Orthodox extremists have attacked a woman who was putting up posters in a troubled town near Jerusalem. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says about a dozen ultra-Orthodox men in the town of Beit Shemesh surrounded the woman on Tuesday, pelted her with stones and slashed her car’s tires. He says the woman suffered minor injuries. Rosenfeld says it’s not clear why she was targeted. The woman was putting up posters for Israel’s... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Prosecutors are trying to hold a single Roman Catholic church official responsible for the priest abuse scandal in Philadelphia, defense lawyers argued Tuesday at a key hearing in a novel clergy-abuse case. City prosecutors want to include accusations against dozens of priests when Monsignor William Lynn stand trial on child endangerment and conspiracy charges in March. Most of the cases stem from a 2005 grand jury report that blasted church officials for keeping 63 problem priests on... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Lawyers for a Catholic Church official say prosecutors are trying to hold him alone responsible for the priest abuse scandal in Philadelphia. Prosecutors want to include accusations against dozens of priests when Monsignor William Lynn goes on trial in March on child endangerment and conspiracy charges. Lynn served as secretary of clergy for the archdiocese from 1992 to 2004. Many of the accusations are decades old. Prosecutors say Lynn kept priests on the job despite explosive allegations... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia judge could decide Tuesday if prosecutors can tell a jury that the Catholic Church long ignored sex abuse complaints and fed dangerous priests a steady supply of children. Prosecutors want to use dozens of old allegations at the upcoming March trial of a church official charged with child endangerment and two priests charged with rape. Monsignor William Lynn is the first U.S. church official to face trial for his handling of sex abuse complaints. Prosecutors... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI is asking everyone to quiet down. In his annual communications message released Tuesday, Benedict extolled the sounds of silence. He said silence makes people better listeners and better communicators, because they have more time to think about what they’re saying. And he says that in a world inundated by Tweets and 24-hour news coverage, that precious time to think gives words greater value. Benedict has in recent years used his annual social communications... Read more