HOUSTON (AP) — Texas prison officials are investigating whether convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs violated his telephone privileges with calls to a relative on Christmas Day that may have been broadcast to an audience. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said Thursday Jeffs made two calls, each lasting the maximum 15 minutes allowed for calls by inmates.  “It’s alleged that Jeffs preached a sermon to his congregation, which means he would have had to have been on... Read more

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Fox Latin America has apologized for a poll on whether Jews killed Jesus Christ that one of its staffers put on a Facebook page promoting the National Geographic Channel’s Christmas special. The poll asked readers who they think is responsible for the death of Christ: Pontius Pilate, The Jewish People or the High Priests. The Simon Weisenthal Center in Buenos Aires calls it a defamatory reference to Vatican propaganda that “resulted in the persecution and... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Fifteen Muslim clerics and community leaders say they will boycott New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s annual interfaith breakfast Friday over a police effort to gather intelligence on Muslim neighborhoods, whose existence was revealed recently in a series of Associated Press articles. The breakfast has long served as a way to showcase the city’s diversity and tolerance. “I couldn’t be there while knowing that the mayor supports, if not established, this warrantless spying apparatus,” said Hesham El-Meligy,... Read more

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A swaggering Rick Perry parachuted into Iowa last summer at the top of the GOP presidential field with a job-creation message, an off-the-cuff speaking style and a fledgling campaign organization. He quickly nosedived. Lately, a more humble Texas governor has been trying to claw his way back into contention with a much different approach. He has tailored his pitch to tea party activists and religious conservatives, replacing a bus emblazoned with “Get America Working Again”... Read more

SOMERVILLE, New Jersey (AP) — An educator using a secretly installed camera videotaped teenage boys in the shower at a Catholic high school for nearly three years, authorities said. Patrick J. Lott, who was arrested last week, was arraigned Wednesday on charges he videotaped students in a communal shower area at Immaculata High School starting in January 2008. He did not enter a plea. The prosecutor’s office said that there were at least 22 victims and that nine boys identified... Read more

APIA, Samoa (AP) — The tiny South Pacific nation of Samoa and its neighbor Tokelau will jump forward in time on Thursday, crossing westward over the international date line to align themselves with their other 21st century trading partners throughout the region. At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 29, time in Samoa and Tokelau will leap forward to Dec. 31 — New Year’s Eve. For Samoa’s 186,000 citizens, and the 1,500 in Tokelau, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, will simply... Read more

APIA, Samoa (AP) — The tiny South Pacific nation of Samoa will jump forward in time on Thursday as it crosses westward over the international dateline to align itself with its other 21st century trading partners throughout the region. At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 29, time in Samoa will leap forward to Dec. 31 — New Year’s Eve. For Samoa’s 186,000 citizens, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, will simply cease to exist. The time jump back to the future... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Several Muslim leaders in New York City say they’ve declined invitations to the mayor’s annual year-end interfaith breakfast because they’re upset about police efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods. The imams and activists say in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg they’re disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship. The mayor... Read more

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two politically active pastors in Iowa’s robust evangelical conservative movement say that an effort is under way to persuade either Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann to consider quitting the Republican presidential race ahead of next week’s caucuses. The hope is that one would endorse the other to avoid splintering the influence of this influential voting bloc. The pleas represent a fear among a group of evangelical conservative voters that this year’s caucuses could be won... Read more

SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) — An educator using a secretly installed camera videotaped teenage boys in the shower at a Catholic high school for nearly three years, authorities said. Patrick J. Lott, who was arrested last week, was arraigned Wednesday on charges he videotaped students in a communal shower area at Immaculata High School in Somerville starting in January 2008. He did not enter a plea. The prosecutor’s office said that there were at least 22 victims and that nine boys... Read more