MIAMI (AP) — Natalia Martinez speaks with a clinical distance when discussing her family’s decision to leave Cuba two decades ago. But the graduate student’s cool demeanor falls away when she speaks of returning to her homeland for the first time this week during Pope Benedict XVI’s historic visit. “I am excited. I am nervous, and I’m anticipating confusion,” Martinez, 25, said with an anxious laugh. She could be speaking for many of the more than 300 Cuban-Americans who will... Read more

HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban dissident group known as the Ladies in White held its customary weekly protest without incident Sunday on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the island. The lack of any arrests at the march outside a Havana church and the absence of the pro-government crowds that sometimes curse the women and yell revolutionary chants indicated an apparent unspoken temporary truce, after dozens of dissidents were briefly detained last weekend. The Ladies in White also... Read more

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Thousands of conservative Tunisians marched through the capital on Sunday calling for the application of Islamic law in the latest round of tit-for-tat protests by secularists and Islamists over the future of the country. On Tuesday, a similar number of Tunisians rallied along the same avenue in the capital calling for a civil state not influenced by religion. Tunisia was once one of the most secular Arab countries under the hardline dictatorship of President Zine El... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A landmark child sex-abuse case begins Monday in the U.S. as two Roman Catholic priests go on trial, including the first church official in the country ever charged with endangering children for allegedly failing to oust colleagues despite abuse complaints. Co-defendant Edward Avery entered a last-minute guilty plea Thursday, confirming one accuser’s account of a brutal 1999 sexual assault inside a church sacristy. The victim was then a 10-year-old altar boy, Avery a 57-year-old priest. The plea... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Defense lawyers plan to attack the credibility of the troubled adult accusers when two Roman Catholic priests go on trial in a landmark child sex-abuse case involving the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. But that strategy took a hit Thursday when co-defendant Edward Avery entered a last-minute guilty plea, confirming one accuser’s account of a brutal 1999 sexual assault inside a church sacristy. The victim was then a 10-year-old altar boy, Avery a 57-year-old priest. Avery’s plea leaves Monsignor... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A landmark priest-abuse trial opening Monday in Philadelphia may unveil the cryptic operations of the Roman Catholic archdiocese and detail how child sex-abuse complaints were buried for decades in secret archives adjacent to a glorious cathedral as the priests they named went unpunished. Monsignor William Lynn is the first U.S. church official ever charged with endangering children for allegedly failing to oust accused predators from the priesthood. But he may not be the last. Philadelphia prosecutors say... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A landmark priest-abuse trial in Philadelphia set to start Monday is likely to unveil some of the operations of the Roman Catholic archdiocese and detail how child sexual abuse complaints were buried for decades as the priests they named went about unpunished. The center of the trial that begins Monday is Monsignor William Lynn, the first U.S. church official ever charged with endangering children for allegedly failing to oust accused predators from the priesthood and keep them... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A landmark priest-abuse trial opening Monday in Philadelphia may unveil the cryptic operations of the Roman Catholic archdiocese and detail how child sex-abuse complaints were buried for decades in secret archives adjacent to a glorious cathedral as the priests they named went unpunished. Monsignor William Lynn is the first U.S. church official ever charged with endangering children for allegedly failing to oust accused predators from the priesthood. But he may not be the last. Philadelphia prosecutors say... Read more

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — The charge is only a misdemeanor. But if prosecutors win a conviction against Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Finn in Kansas City, they could open a new front in the national priest abuse crisis. Finn is accused of violating Missouri’s mandatory reporter law by failing to tell state officials about hundreds of images of suspected child pornography found on the computer of a priest in his diocese. Finn is the highest-ranking church official charged with shielding... Read more

PARIS (AP) — A week that terrified France may be just what Nicolas Sarkozy, an underdog in the race for presidential elections in April and May, needs to win a second term. Or not. The conservative president is vaunting his tough-on-crime credentials, but polls show voters still think jobs are what matters most. And with unemployment near 10 percent after a half-decade under Sarkozy, most still favor Socialist Francois Hollande. Sarkozy’s campaign strategists are tapping the fear that gripped many... Read more