NEW YORK (AP) — Ever eager to provoke, Rush Limbaugh has now succeeded into drawing the White House into a skirmish. The spark: Limbaugh telling his talk show fans that a law student was a “slut” for her testimony to Congress about the need for birth control coverage. On Friday, two days after Limbaugh’s tirade, President Barack Obama called student Sandra Fluke to commend her willingness to speak out and share her dismay over the slur. The White House termed... Read more

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The 4,000-member First Presbyterian Church in Colorado church plans to ask members Sunday whether to proceed with efforts to leave their denomination. The Gazette reports ( ) the Colorado Springs church is considering leaving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), possibly for the conservative Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians. The congregation plans a “non-technical” vote Sunday, which could be followed by an official vote. The Colorado Springs church says the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is moving to a... Read more

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mormon church leaders say its policy of not performing proxy baptisms of Holocaust victims and others unrelated to church members will be reiterated worldwide during Sunday services. The announcement follows outrage over recent claims that temples posthumously baptized Anne Frank and other Holocaust victims. The Anti-Defamation League on Friday applauded the extra step to educate members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about the practice. The organization expressed outrage this week when... Read more

HACKENSACK, New Jersey (AP) — A second man was charged Friday in a series of attacks on synagogues in New Jersey that included the firebombing of a house of worship where a rabbi and several family members were sleeping upstairs. The attacks in January kept Jewish residents of the religiously diverse communities of New Jersey’s Bergen County, outside New York, on edge for weeks, and prompted authorities to institute round-the-clock police patrols of houses of worship and community centers. Prosecutor... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama joined in the defense of a university student Friday who was attacked as a “slut” by a fiery conservative commentator because she testified before Congress about the need for contraceptive coverage. The third-year Georgetown University law student, Sandra Fluke, received a supportive phone call from Obama, and was backed by members of Congress, women’s groups, and the administration and faculty at her Roman Catholic university. Fluke testified last month on the Obama administration’s... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Rush Limbaugh drew fire Friday from many directions, including President Barack Obama, for his depiction of a college student as a “slut” because she testified before Congress about the need for contraceptive coverage. The third-year Georgetown University law student, Sandra Fluke, received a supportive phone call from Obama, and was backed by members of Congress, women’s groups, and the administration and faculty at her Roman Catholic university. Calls for Limbaugh’s sponsors to pull their ads from... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s ruling generals faced a backlash Friday over the departure of Americans on trial over charges that their pro-democracy groups fomented unrest, with the country’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood and others accusing military leaders of bowing to pressure from Washington. Six of the Americans left Egypt a day earlier after a travel ban against them was lifted, easing a heated diplomatic dispute over the case between longtime allies Cairo and Washington. The moves to prosecute the Americans have... Read more

After weeks of bloody siege, Syrian troops have moved into one of the most restive neighborhoods of Homs, one of the cities at the center of the country’s uprising against President Bashar Assad. The Red Cross is preparing to move in, and opposition activists accuse troops of carrying out a scorched-earth campaign of reprisals in the district, called Baba Amr. Homs is just the latest battleground in one of the bloodiest conflicts to emerge from the region’s Arab Spring revolts.... Read more

After weeks of bloody siege, Syrian troops have moved into one of the most restive neighborhoods of Homs, one of the cities at the center of the country’s uprising against President Bashar Assad. The Red Cross is preparing to move in, and opposition activists accuse troops of carrying out a scorched-earth campaign of reprisals in the district, called Baba Amr. Homs is just the latest battleground in one of the bloodiest conflicts to emerge from the region’s Arab Spring revolts.... Read more

After weeks of bloody siege, Syrian troops have moved into one of the most restive neighborhoods of Homs, one of the cities at the center of the country’s uprising against President Bashar Assad. The Red Cross is preparing to move in, and opposition activists accuse troops of carrying out a scorched-earth campaign of reprisals in the district, called Baba Amr. Homs is just the latest battleground in one of the bloodiest conflicts to emerge from the region’s Arab Spring revolts.... Read more