NEW DELHI (AP) — The Tibetan who burned himself alive on the eve of a visit by China’s president left a letter that urged the world to stand up for his homeland, activists said, while Indian authorities detained more Tibetans on Thursday in the Indian capital. Police have taken hundreds of Tibetans into custody since Monday’s self-immolation by Jamphel Yeshi, 27, and have effectively closed off New Delhi’s Tibetan neighborhoods, fearing embarrassing protests during the visit by Chinese President Hu... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni Muslim rulers largely shunned an Arab League summit hosted by Shiite-led Iraq on Thursday, illustrating how powerfully the sectarian split and the rivalry with Iran define Middle Eastern politics in the era of the Arab Spring. The crisis in Syria is the epicenter of those divisions. The one-day summit closed with a joint call on Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop his bloody crackdown on an uprising seeking his ouster. But the final statement barely papered... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Fewer than half the leaders of the Arab world showed up at an Arab summit in Baghdad on Thursday, a snub to the Iraqi government, but the leaders agreed on an appeal to Syria’s regime to stop its bloody crackdown on opponents.. As the summit opened in a former palace of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the powerful Sunni monarchs of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, other Gulf nations and Jordan and Morocco were absent. The only ruler from... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Fewer than half the leaders of the Arab world showed up at an Arab summit in Baghdad on Thursday, a snub to the Iraqi government that reflects how trenchantly the sectarian division between Sunnis and Shiites and the rivalry with neighboring Iran define the Middle East’s politics today. As the summit opened in a former palace of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the powerful Sunni monarchs of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, other Gulf nations and Jordan and Morocco... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — The annual Arab summit meeting opened in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday with only 10 of the leaders of the 22-member Arab League in attendance and amid a growing rift between Arab countries over how far they should go to end the one-year conflict in Syria. As the summit opened, two explosions were heard in central Baghdad. A senior Iraqi intelligence official said a mortar hit near the Iranian Embassy, just outside the Green Zone where... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Qatar’s prime minister says that his nation was sending Baghdad a “message” by its low-level representation at an Arab summit in the Iraqi capital, criticizing what he said was the marginalization by the country’s Shiite-led government of its Sunni Arab minority. The emir of Kuwait is the only Gulf Arab leader attending the summit, which Iraq had hoped would serve as its debut into the Arab mainstream after two decades of isolation. This reflects increased Sunni-Shia tensions... Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged an additional four women with being involved in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio, and added new allegations that suspects tried to hide or destroy evidence including a bag of hair from the victims. The updated indictment filed in federal court in Cleveland also charges alleged ringleader Sam Mullet Jr. with lying to federal agents during their investigation by denying knowledge of an October assault. The new allegations bring to... Read more

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged an additional four women with being involved in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio, and added new allegations that suspects tried to hide or destroy evidence including a bag of hair from the victims. The updated indictment filed in federal court in Cleveland also charges alleged ringleader Sam Mullet Jr. with lying to federal agents during their investigation by denying knowledge of an October assault. The new allegations bring to... Read more

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — “American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta has posted a farewell YouTube video to fans as he prepares for a two-year Mormon mission in South America. The 21-year-old singer says in a video blog posted Wednesday that his contact with fans will be limited while he’s in the undisclosed country. KSL reports he entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Wednesday as a precursor to the assignment. Archuleta competed on the seventh season of “American... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A string of Roman Catholic priests testified Wednesday in a landmark clergy-abuse case, saying they reported fellow priests to the archdiocese after finding them with pornography or in unhealthy relationships with children. The priests, uncomfortably, are prosecution witnesses in the trial of a longtime supervisor in the Philadelphia archdiocese, Monsignor William Lynn. The former secretary for clergy is charged with endangering children by allegedly helping the church cover up abuse complaints. The Rev. Joseph Okonski told jurors... Read more