BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s deputy oil minister appeared tense as he looked at the camera and announced in a video that he has defected from President Bashar Assad’s regime, acknowledging he expects government forces to “burn my home” and “persecute my family.” Abdo Husameddine, a 58-year-old father of four, on Thursday became the highest-ranking civilian official to join the opposition, and he urged his countrymen to “abandon this sinking ship” as the nation spirals toward civil war. In the YouTube... Read more

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Two Catholics have been convicted of spreading anti-government propaganda and sentenced to prison in Vietnam, where local church officials and the ruling Communist Party have had an uneasy relationship for years. Vo Thi Thu Thuy, 50, and Nguyen Van Thanh, 28, were sentenced to five and three years in prison, respectively, at a one-day trial on Tuesday, said Pham Van Phuc, a court official in central Vietnam’s Nghe An province. The two were arrested in early... Read more

Romney says he’s on track to get a nominating majority before convention; rivals undeterred. WASHINGTON (AP) — His delegate lead growing, Mitt Romney gently nudged his Republican opponents toward the sidelines on Wednesday and said he was on track to wrap up the presidential nomination before the party convention next summer. Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich paid him no mind, vowing to fight on in a campaign marked by persistent ideological divisions. If anything, the political maneuvering intensified as the... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — A lineup of Islamists, retired generals, old regime figures and political newcomers are campaigning to become Egypt’s first president since Hosni Mubarak’s fall, but none of them may have the stature to tackle this nation’s enormous problems or stand up to the powerful military. The May 23-24 elections are supposed to mark the final stage of the post-uprising transition to civilian rule and in the end, the Islamists will probably have the last word. They dominated parliamentary... Read more

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Vatican has taken the extraordinary step of overruling the closing of 13 parishes by the Cleveland Diocese in the U.S. state of Ohio, a lawyer who fought the cutbacks said Wednesday. The move represents a rare instance in which Rome has reversed a U.S. bishop on the shutdown of churches. The Vatican office known as the Congregation for the Clergy ruled last week that Bishop Richard Lennon had failed to follow church law and procedure in... Read more

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Vatican has taken the extraordinary step of overruling the closing of 13 parishes by the Cleveland Diocese, a lawyer who fought the cutbacks said Wednesday. The move represents a rare instance in which Rome has reversed a U.S. bishop on the shutdown of churches. The Congregation of the Clergy ruled last week that Bishop Richard Lennon had failed to follow procedure in the closings three years ago, attorney Peter Borre said. The 13 Roman Catholic churches... Read more

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Vatican has taken the extraordinary step of overruling the closing of 13 U.S. parishes, a lawyer who fought the cutbacks said Wednesday. The move represents a rare instance in which Rome has reversed a U.S. bishop on the shutdown of churches. The Congregation of the Clergy ruled last week that Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Diocese had failed to follow procedure in the closings three years ago, attorney Peter Borre said. The 13 Roman Catholic... Read more

Crystal Cathedral fires 3 of founder’s relatives GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) — The Crystal Cathedral has fired three relatives of the megachurch’s founder in an effort to revamp the “Hour of Power” amid declining donations and viewership. California’s Orange County Register reports that the church’s board voted to oust the Rev. Robert H. Schuller’s daughter and two sons-in-law along with five other people. Church spokesman John Charles says Schuller and his wife abstained from voting to dismiss daughter Gretchen Penner... Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — Jewish American activists are in Ethiopia to escort remnants of one of the oldest communities in the Jewish Diaspora to Israel, organizers said Wednesday. Tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel in clandestine operations starting more than three decades ago. Jews are granted automatic citizenship in Israel according to its “Law of Return.” Thousands of descendants of Ethiopian Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity in the 19th century, known as the Falash... Read more

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Religious and leftist students fought running battles at a Tunisian university Wednesday in the latest incident involving rising religious sentiment in the North African country. Competing demonstrations in the morning by hundreds of conservative students, known as Salafists, and leftist members of the national students’ union erupted into violence when the former tore down the national flag flying at the university entrance. The Salafis students replaced the Tunisian flag with their own black standard bearing the... Read more