Key dates in the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which ended Sunday with the last convoy of troops leaving: ___ 2003 —March 20: U.S. forces attack Baghdad with missiles and bombs in a failed attempt to kill Saddam Hussein. U.S. and allied ground troops roll into Iraq. —April 9: American troops storm Baghdad and the statue of Saddam is toppled in Firdous Square, the symbolic collapse of his regime. —May 1: President George W. Bush declares an end to major combat... Read more

Today is Sunday, Dec. 25, the 359th day of 2011. There are 6 days left in the year. Today is Christmas Day. Highlights in history on this date: 1000 – St. Stephen, the first Christian king of Hungary, is crowned. 1066 – William the Conqueror is crowned king of England. 1154 – Pope Adrian IV is enthroned. 1223 – St. Francis of Assisi assembles one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy. 1776 – George Washington crosses the Delaware... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — In the beginning, it all looked simple: topple Saddam Hussein, destroy his purported weapons of mass destruction and lay the foundation for a pro-Western government in the heart of the Arab world. Nearly 4,500 American and more than 100,000 Iraqi lives later, the objective became simply to get out — and leave behind a country where democracy has at least a chance, where Iran does not dominate and where conditions may not be good but “good enough.”... Read more

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Do Palestinian school textbooks “teach terrorism,” as Newt Gingrich claimed in a recent debate among U.S. Republican presidential hopefuls? His example — that Palestinians “have text books that say, ‘If there are 13 Jews and nine Jews are killed, how many Jews are left?'” — is not in any of the texts, researchers say. As for Gingrich’s broader claim, the textbooks don’t directly encourage anti-Israeli violence, but they also don’t really teach peace, studies say.... Read more

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Protesters descended on a Lowe’s store in one of the country’s largest Arab-American communities on Saturday, calling for a boycott after the home improvement chain pulled its ads from a reality television show about five Muslim families living in Michigan. About 100 people gathered outside the store in Allen Park, a Detroit suburb adjacent to the city where “All-American Muslim” is filmed. Lowe’s said this week that the TLC show had become a “lightning rod”... Read more

ALLEN PARK, Michigan (AP) — Protesters descended on a Lowe’s store in one of the country’s largest Arab-American communities on Saturday, calling for a boycott after the home improvement chain pulled its ads from a reality television show about five Muslim families living in Michigan. About 100 people gathered outside the store in Allen Park, a Detroit suburb adjacent to the city where “All-American Muslim” is filmed. Lowe’s said this week that the TLC show had become a “lightning rod”... Read more

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Protesters descended on a Lowe’s store in one of the country’s largest Arab-American communities on Saturday, calling for a boycott after the home improvement chain pulled its ads from a reality television show about five Muslim families living in Michigan. About 100 people gathered outside the store in Allen Park, a Detroit suburb adjacent to the city where “All-American Muslim” is filmed. Lowe’s said this week that the TLC show had become a “lightning rod”... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI seems worn out. People who have spent time with him recently say they found him weaker than they’d ever seen him, seemingly too tired to engage with what they were saying. He no longer meets individually with visiting bishops. A few weeks ago he started using a moving platform to spare him the long walk down St. Peter’s Basilica. Benedict turns 85 in the new year, so a slowdown is only natural. Expected.... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested Saturday after they scaled a chain-link fence or crawled under it to get to an Episcopal church-owned lot they want to use for a new camp site. Protesters used a wooden ladder to scale the fence or lifted it from below while others cheered them on. A man wearing a Santa suit stood on the ladder among others, as they ignored red “Private Property” signs. As officers made... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — The top bishop of the Episcopal Church is asking Occupy Wall Street protesters not to trespass on the property of a New York City church that has supported them. In a rare comment on a local issue, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori (SHOHR’-ee) said in a statement Friday it’s “regrettable” Occupy members want to seize fenced-in property owned by Trinity Wall Street Episcopal church in Manhattan. She says it could result in “legal and police action.”... Read more