VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI said Monday that solutions to the global financial crisis must allow all to lead dignified lives. The pontiff noted that the crisis has spread from the developed world, where it started, to developing countries, where it is having a “profound impact” on life. “We must not lose heart, but instead resolutely rediscover our way through new forms of commitment,” Benedict said. “The crisis can and must be an incentive to reflect on human... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has remembered the “numerous victims” of religiously motivated terrorism during an annual reception for diplomats. Benedict said acts of terrorism were especially prevalent last year in Asia and Africa, citing violence in Pakistan and Nigeria. An explosion Christmas Day ripped through a Catholic church near Nigeria’s capital, killing at least 15, while last spring Pakistan’s sole Christian government minister was assassinated. The pope also expressed hope on Monday that there would be a... Read more

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A Romanian Orthodox bishop has told his priests to issue receipts for blessings and baptisms. Romanian Orthodox priests traditionally perform baptisms and bless houses, cars and even animals at the beginning of the year to coincide with Epiphany. Believers pay an informal fee to the priest who customarily does what he sees fit with it. However, the Metropolitan of Transylvania, Laurentiu Streza, told priests in an interview with Agerpres news agency Monday they must account for... Read more

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines lifted a terrorist alert in the capital Tuesday after millions of Roman Catholic devotees ended a 22-hour parade of a Christ statue that authorities feared was a tempting target for Muslim extremists. Authorities had deployed a massive police cordon after the president warned over the weekend that terrorists might target the raucous annual procession. After the parade ended, they declared the event a success and lifted the security alert in Manila. The government did... Read more

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Millions of Roman Catholic devotees on Tuesday finished parading a statue of Christ through the Philippine capital after 22 hours with no major incidents. The president had earlier warned that terrorists might target the raucous annual procession. Authorities, who had deployed a massive police cordon, declared the event a success and lifted the security alert in Manila. The government did not have specific intelligence on a terrorist plot. Still, about 15,000 policemen, backed by hundreds of... Read more

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Millions of Roman Catholic devotees paraded with a black Christ statue through the Philippine capital under a massive police cordon Monday after the president warned that terrorists might target the raucus annual procession. The government did not have specific intelligence on a terrorist plot. Still, about 15,000 policemen, backed by hundreds of army troops, secured the three-mile (five-kilometer) procession route for the charred wooden Black Nazarene statue from the seaside Rizal Park to a popular church... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iraq’s troubled start to life without U.S. forces calls into question the Obama administration’s assertion that it has wound down America’s long war responsibly: at least 78 killed in blasts across the country in a single day last week, a protracted political crisis with no end in sight, top political leaders accusing each other of monstrous criminality. An extension of the costly and unpopular deployment of American troops to Iraq may have only temporarily suppressed some of... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — A thoughtless remark by a pregnant science teacher transplanted from New York infuriates a doggedly religious teenage student in a shattered rural community, and their arguments about faith and evolution escalate in tune with their passionately held but incompatible viewpoints. This is the premise of Catherine Trieschmann’s intelligent new play, “How the World Began,” presented off-Broadway by Women’s Project Theater at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The increasingly tense, 90-minute drama is set in the fictional... Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The same forces that aligned for Republican Mitt Romney ahead of his narrow victory in Iowa are working in his favor ahead of South Carolina’s pivotal presidential primary. But a lot can happen before the no-holds-barred primary in a state that for decades has picked the eventual Republican nominee. A splintered conservative base is dividing its support among several of Romney’s rivals going into the Jan. 21 contest. The former venture capitalist’s business savvy seems to... Read more

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A regional government in Yemen said Sunday it has fired a security chief who oversaw deadly crackdowns on anti-government protesters. The dismissal strikes a blow to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom protesters have been trying to push from power during 11 months of mass rallies. Saleh’s security forces have cracked down hard on demonstrators, killing hundreds in raids on protest camps and armed attacks on marches. Saleh has remained defiant throughout. In November, he signed... Read more