BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s Sunni vice president denied charges he ran a hit squad that killed government officials during the nation’s wave of sectarian bloodletting, accusing the Shiite-led government Tuesday of waging a campaign of persecution. Acting just a day after American forces completed their withdrawal, the government issued an arrest warrant Monday for Tariq al-Hashemi, the country’s highest-ranking Sunni official. The step risks tearing at the same sectarian fault lines that pushed Iraq to the edge of civil war... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant Monday for Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country’s highest ranking Sunni official, on terrorism charges. The move, a day after the last U.S. troops left Iraq and ended the nearly nine-year war, signaled a sharp new escalation in sectarian tensions that drove Iraq to the brink of civil war just a few years ago. Interior Ministry spokesman Adil Daham told reporters about the warrant on Monday and state-run television aired... Read more

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s Constitutional Court has struck down the country’s restrictive new church law as well as parts of its disputed media law and the criminal code. The Constitutional Court findings published Monday were a spirited response to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, which, backed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament, has been pushing through legislation at a chaotic pace. The church law, which would have gone into effect Jan. 1, only included 14 Christian churches and Jewish... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has approved seven new saints for the Catholic Church, including Hawaii’s Mother Marianne and a 17th-century Native American, Caterina Tekakwitha. Benedict signed decrees Tuesday approving miracles attributed to the intecession of the seven, clearing the last hurdle before their canonizations. Benedict also signed decrees that 65 Catholics died as martyrs during Spain’s civil war and will be beatified, one step shy of possible sainthood. Marianne cared for leprosy patients on Hawaii’s Molokai peninsula... Read more

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The president of Maldives has condemned a protest planned by an Islamic party against what it calls anti-Islamic activities in the country. A government statement Monday quoted President Mohamed Nasheed as saying that the real goal of the protest is the introduction of Islamic penalties such as stoning, amputations and executions. Nasheed defended working women and said Maldives should continue to practice a moderate form of Islam that allows recreation, sports and music. Several organizations... Read more

BEIJING (AP) — Religious practice among Chinese Communist Party members is increasing and threatens its unity and national leadership, a top party official said in remarks reported Monday. Party members are required to be atheists and must not believe in religion or engage in religious practice, said Zhu Weiqun, a member of the party’s Central Committee and executive vice director of its United Front Work Department in charge of dealings with nonparty groups. Religious practice is a growing trend, especially... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi lawmaker says a Sunni-backed political bloc has suspended its participation in parliament to protest the control of key posts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Hamid al-Mutlaq, a Sunni lawmaker from the Iraqiya bloc, said Sunday the decision stemmed from the Shiite-dominated government’s failure to share more powers with the Sunni-backed bloc. He said Iraqiya’s boycott is also a protest against what they say is the growing concentration of power in security affairs in the hands... Read more

ROME (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI made an emotional visit Sunday to Rome’s main prison, meeting with detainees, encouraging them, and calling for greater dignity for inmates everywhere. Benedict spent over an hour at Rome’s Rebibbia prison, fielding questions from a half-dozen inmates who spoke of their despair at being kept in overcrowded cells, away from their families, some of them sick with AIDS, and of having repented for their crimes. The 84-year-old pope told the men and women gathered... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s ruling military and the revolutionaries who demand they immediately step down battled for a third day in the streets on Sunday — and competed fiercely for the support of a broader public that has grown tired of turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago. The generals appear to be winning the fight for the public, despite a heavy-handed crackdown on protesters around Cairo’s Tahrir Square using a roughness that rivaled even that of... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Troops and protesters clashed Sunday in Cairo for the third straight day, pelting each other with rocks in skirmishes near parliament in the heart of the Egyptian capital. At least 10 protesters have been killed and 441 others wounded in the three days of violence, according to the Health Ministry. Activists say most of the 10 fatalities died of gunshot wounds. The clashes began early Friday when one of several hundred peaceful protesters staging a sit-in outside... Read more