PARIS (AP) — French far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says her anti-Islam agenda has been vindicated: The chief suspect in the country’s worst killing spree in years is a French Muslim claiming ties to al-Qaida. President Nicolas Sarkozy has borrowed from Le Pen’s playbook in the campaign for the presidential election in April and expected runoff in May, with talk of halving immigration and lamenting widespread availability of halal meat. It’s too soon to tell how an all-day... Read more

TOULOUSE, France (AP) — Inspired by radical Islam and trained in Afghanistan, the gunman methodically killed French schoolchildren, a rabbi and paratroopers and faced down hundreds of police for 32 hours. Then he leapt out a window as he rained down gunfire and was fatally shot in the head. France will not be the same after Mohamed Merah, whose deeds and death Thursday could change how authorities track terrorists, determine whether French Muslims face new stigmas and even influence who... Read more

TOULOUSE, France (AP) — An Islamic extremist who boasted of killing seven people to strike back at France died Thursday after jumping from his window, gun in hand, in a fierce shootout with police, authorities said. Interior Minister Claude Gueant said Mohamed Merah, 23, a French citizen of Algerian descent who claimed links to al-Qaida, lept out after police entered his apartment Thursday and found him holed up in the bathroom. His dramatic death ended a more than 32-hour standoff... Read more

BEIRUT (AP) — The gunmen in eastern Syria, sporting grenade launchers and assault rifles, announced on the Internet they were forming the “God is Great” Brigade and joining the country’s rebellion. They swore allegiance to the Free Syrian Army and vowed to topple President Bashar Assad. But unlike many other rebel bands, they wrapped their proclamation in hard-line Islamic language, declaring their fight to be a “jihad,” or holy war, and urging others to do the same. “To our fellow... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — An International Monetary Fund team was due to leave Cairo Wednesday without securing an agreement over a $3.2 billion loan to help boost the nation’s battered economy. Holding up the deal was political wrangling between the Islamist-dominated parliament and the government, an arm of the ruling military. Economists say Egypt needs to sign the loan agreement within six months to shore up confidence in an economy hit hard by the effects of political unrest following Hosni Mubarak’s... Read more

Annual tally finds drop in 2010 donation to churches NEW YORK — An annual report on North American congregations found that total donations to the churches declined by $1.2 billion in 2010, the second consecutive year denominations reported a drop in giving. According to the latest Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, congregations reported $29 billion in contributions for 2010, or $763 per capita, for a dip of 2.2 percent. Between 2008 and 2009, as the impact of the Great... Read more

ATLANTA (AP) — James Fortune used to watch his children sleep in the bathtub before he lay beside his pregnant wife at night in a motel, wondering how he was going to provide for his family the next day. For the gospel singer, being homeless for seven months in 2007 was the most strenuous stint of his life. The constant letdown of watching others get hired for jobs while he and his wife Cheryl went overlooked weakened his faith. He... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful political group, said Wednesday it is considering running its own candidate in upcoming presidential elections, dropping its previous decision to avoid direct participation in the race. The group appears to be playing one of its last cards in a power struggle against the ruling military council, after it failed to force the military to replace its Cabinet with a new one appointed by the Islamist-dominated parliament. If a Brotherhood fields a... Read more

CLEVELAND (AP) — A judge says the alleged ringleader in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio cannot rely on taxpayers to pay his legal tab. Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland ruled Wednesday that 66-year-old Samuel Mullet Sr. can afford to pay for his defense. Mullet has an 800-acre farm near Steubenville with oil and gas leases. Mullet has been represented by a public defender and now must pay if he wants to keep him. Mullet and 11 followers are... Read more

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The head of the Council of Europe on Wednesday criticized a new law in Hungary that sharply reduced the number of officially recognized churches and changed the procedure they need to follow to gain that status. Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland was in Budapest to meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other leading government officials to discuss the church law and other recent ones regarding media and judicial reforms that have drawn international criticism.... Read more