DUBLIN (AP) — An estimated 500,000 people crowded Saturday into central Dublin for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, a focal point for Irish celebrations worldwide and the start of the tourist season in debt-battered Ireland. Bands from Britain, the United States and Russia joined thousands of Irish volunteers in the two-hour procession through Ireland’s capital of 1.3 million. It was the biggest of more than 50 parades and street festivals across the island. Overseas, more than a dozen landmarks —... Read more

DUBLIN (AP) — An estimated 500,000 people crowded Saturday into central Dublin to view the St. Patrick’s Day parade, a focal point for Irish celebrations worldwide and the start of the tourist season in debt-battered Ireland. Bands from Britain, the United States and Russia joined thousands of Irish volunteers on Saturday’s two-hour procession down Dublin’s major boulevard, O’Connell Street, across the River Liffey, past Trinity College and concluding outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In his St. Patrick’s Day message, Catholic Cardinal... Read more

DUBLIN (AP) — An estimated half-million people crowded Saturday into central Dublin to view the St. Patrick’s Day parade, a focal point for Irish celebrations worldwide and the start of the tourist season in debt-battered Ireland. Bands from Britain, the United States and Russia joined thousands of Irish volunteers on Saturday’s two-hour procession down Dublin’s major boulevard, O’Connell Street, across the River Liffey, past Trinity College and concluding outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In his St. Patrick’s Day message, Catholic Cardinal... Read more

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Two suicide bombers detonated cars packed with explosives in near-simultaneous attacks on heavily guarded intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital Damascus Saturday, killing at least 27 people. There have been a string of large-scale bombings against the regime in its stronghold of Damascus that suggest a dangerous, wild-card element in the year-old anti-government revolt. The regime blamed the opposition, which denied having a role or the capabilities to carry out such a sophisticated attack.... Read more

BEIRUT (AP) — Twin suicide car bombs struck intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital Saturday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 140, according to state media. State TV aired gruesome images of the scene, with mangled and charred corpses, bloodstained streets and twisted steel. “All our windows and doors are blown out,” said Majed Seibiyah, 29, who lives in the area of one of the blasts “I was sleeping when I heard a sound like an earthquake.... Read more

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Twin bombings struck intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital on Saturday, killing at least 27 people and wounding nearly 100, according to state media. State TV, citing the health minister, said the death toll could rise. The state news agency, SANA, posted gruesome photographs online of the scene Saturday, with mangled and charred corpses, bloodstains on the streets and twisted steel. “All our windows and doors are blown out,” said Majed Seibiyah, 29, who... Read more

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Twin bombings struck government targets in the Syrian capital early Saturday, killing security forces and civilians and leaving pools of blood and carnage in the streets, according to state-run television. A Syrian official said there were reports of a third blast targeting a military bus at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, but there were no details. He asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The bombings were... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration signaled Friday it’s willing to help insurance companies offset the cost of providing free birth control to women working at church-affiliated institutions like hospitals and colleges. By finding a way to make the middlemen whole, the administration may be able to extricate itself from an unexpected political furor over birth control that has mobilized partisans across the political spectrum a half-century after the advent of the pill. A 32-page regulatory proposal unveiled Friday offered... Read more

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — About 8,000 Islamists have demonstrated outside Tunisia’s constitutional assembly calling for a charter based on Islamic law. The crowd, mostly bearded men and heavily veiled women, called on Friday for the assembly charged with writing the country’s new constitution to apply Islamic law to Tunisia, a country once known for its secular traditions. Tunisians overthrew President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali one year ago and in October elected a constituent assembly to write a new constitution.... Read more

HAVANA (AP) — A decision by Cuba’s Roman Catholic cardinal to call police in to remove dissidents occupying a church has sparked an uncomfortable debate about the Catholic Church’s role on this Communist-run island. It has also come at the worst possible moment: just 10 days ahead of a high-profile visit by Pope Benedict XVI. Cuban opposition leaders on Friday denounced the raid as a black mark for a church that ought to protect human and political rights. Others are... Read more