VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has kicked off the Catholic Church’s Holy Week celebrations with Palm Sunday Mass and good news from Cuba. After his visit last week, Cuba agreed to his request to make Good Friday a holiday. The day marks the solemn commemoration of Christ’s death. On Sunday, Benedict traveled into St. Peter’s Square on the back of a white jeep at the start of Palm Sunday Mass, which marks Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem and inaugurates... Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hundreds of Christian pilgrims are visiting the Holy Land to mark Palm Sunday, the day Jesus Christ made his triumphant return to Jerusalem. The faithful are expected to march from the Mount of Olives to the holy city behind a white donkey, retracing Jesus’ traditional route from 2,000 years ago. Early Sunday, visitors walked down the cobblestone alleyways of the walled Old City carrying olive branches, palm fronds and crosses. The day marks the start of Holy... Read more

FITCHBURG, Wis. (AP) — Appearing ever-more confident in Wisconsin’s primary, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney focused entirely on Democratic President Barack Obama during a campaign trip through this upper Midwestern battleground and predicted a victory that could effectively seal the nomination for him Tuesday. “We’re looking like we’re going to win this thing on Tuesday,” Romney told supporters, suggesting he could also claim wins in Maryland and the District of Columbia that day. “If I can get that boost also... Read more

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (AP) — For the first time in history, the U.S. military hosted an event expressly for soldiers and others who don’t believe in God, with a county fair-like gathering Saturday on the main parade ground at one of the world’s largest Army posts. The Rock Beyond Belief event at Fort Bragg, organized by soldiers here two years after an evangelical Christian event at the eastern North Carolina post, is the most visible sign so far of... Read more

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — For the first time in history, the U.S. military hosted an event expressly for soldiers and others who don’t believe in God, with a county fair-like gathering Saturday on the main parade ground at one of the world’s largest Army posts. The Rock Beyond Belief event at Fort Bragg, organized by soldiers here two years after an evangelical Christian event at the eastern North Carolina post, is the most visible sign so far of a... Read more

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The top official for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs is resigning to accept a full-time leadership position with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Larry Echo Hawk, assistant secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, is being appointed to the Quorum of the Seventy, which is the Mormon Church’s third-highest governing body. The announcement from the church came Saturday during its semi-annual general conference in Salt Lake City. The 63-year-old Echo Hawk... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Mitt Romney victory in the Wisconsin Republican primary on Tuesday could all but end the party battle to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama in November. The former Massachusetts governor, who as CEO of a private equity firm amassed a fortune worth an estimated quarter of a billion dollars, is predicting success in the upper Midwestern state as he shifts his campaign attacks almost solely to Obama and away from fellow Republicans who had turned... Read more

FITCHBURG, Wisconsin (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney focused entirely on Democratic President Barack Obama during a campaign trip ahead of the Wisconsin primary and predicted a victory that could effectively seal the nomination for him Tuesday. “We’re looking like we’re going to win this thing on Tuesday,” Romney told supporters, suggesting he could also claim wins in Maryland and the District of Columbia that day. “If I can get that boost also from Wisconsin I think we’ll be... Read more

Are all mandates equal? Other federal health care requirements raise questions for high court WASHINGTON (AP) — The individual insurance requirement that the Supreme Court is reviewing isn’t the first federal mandate involving health care. There’s a Medicare payroll tax on workers and employers, for example, and a requirement that hospitals provide free emergency services to indigents. Health care is full of government dictates, some arguably more intrusive than President Barack Obama’s overhaul law. It’s a wrinkle that has caught... Read more

PEWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) — Appearing ever-more confident in Wisconsin’s primary, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney focused entirely on Democratic President Barack Obama during a campaign trip through this upper Midwestern battleground that could effectively seal the nomination for him Tuesday. Fading rival Rick Santorum sought to stoke doubts about Romney’s conservative credentials on the last weekend of campaigning before the critical showdown. It’s Santorum’s last chance to prove his strength in the industrial heartland, where he’s said he can challenge... Read more