MILWAUKEE (AP) — Catholics partying before the Brewers’ home opener might want to think twice before grilling the bratwurst and sausage that are near requirements at a Milwaukee tailgate. Opening Day falls on Good Friday this year. Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki says traditions aside, Catholics still must abstain from eating meat. Listecki says Good Friday is one of the holiest days of the year and a day when Catholics mustn’t eat meat and poultry. He says fans will have plenty... Read more

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s presidency is backing a court’s conviction of two men for insulting Islam by posting images of the Prophet Muhammad on Facebook. Jaber Majeri and Ghazi Jribi were convicted March 28 for “insulting the sacred” by posting images that purportedly showed Muhammad being intimate with one of his wives, Aisha. They were sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and a fine of $800. Some in Tunisia say the case is an attack on... Read more

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Maryland man who once said he wanted to wage jihad against the United States renounced terrorism Friday as he was sentenced to 25 years for plotting to bomb a military recruiting center near Baltimore. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Manuelian told U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz that Antonio Martinez maintains the mindset that led him to place what he believed was a bomb in front of the recruiting center. However, Martinez said in a lengthy apology... Read more

ROME (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI encouraged those threatened by unemployment and other economic woes to draw courage and strength from the suffering of the crucified Jesus Christ as the pontiff presided over a Good Friday candlelit Way of the Cross procession at the ancient Colosseum. Benedict, who turns 85 on April 16, didn’t carry the cross during the hour-long procession itself. Instead, he listened intently to mediations on suffering that he asked an elderly Italian couple to compose for... Read more

ROME (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI, tourists and Romans are praying together at the traditional Good Friday candlelit procession at the Colosseum in Rome. Crowds of faithful clutched candles and prayer books outside the ancient arena in the heart of the Italian capital. The pope, who turns 85 on April 16, wasn’t carrying the cross, but prepared a speech to read at the end of the long ceremony. Benedict chose an Italian couple, who have been married for some 60... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has begun a Good Friday service at the Vatican by kneeling in silent prayer. Benedict rested his folded hands on a red cushion near the central altar of St. Peter’s Basilica as he prayed during the solemn commemoration of Jesus’ death by crucifixion. Hours later, Benedict will go to Rome’s Colosseum to preside over the traditional Way of the Cross procession. The pope, who turns 75 on April 16, is not expected to... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — A former strongman of ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s regime announced Friday that he will enter Egypt’s presidential race after supporters marched and pleaded for him to run. Omar Suleiman’s entry reversed an earlier decision and was likely to shake up an already heated race that pits former regime officials against Islamists for the country’s top post. It also was a blow to the hopes of the youth activists who spearheaded the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak last... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Thousands rallied in Cairo on Friday in support of an ultraconservative Islamist presidential hopeful who may be disqualified from the race after it was announced that his mother was an American citizen. The protesters carried photos and campaign posters of Hazem Abu Ismail, a 50-year-old lawyer-turned-preacher who in recent months vaulted to become one of the strongest contenders for president, with widespread backing from ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis. The showdown between Abu Ismail’s supporters and the... Read more

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia is abuzz with talk of the value of the Orthodox Church patriarch’s watch after it mysteriously disappeared from his wrist in a website picture. Speculation about Patriarch Kirill’s timepiece reached a climax this week when bloggers spotted a photo of him wearing the watch, which allegedly costs some $30,000. By Thursday, the site’s editors had doctored the photo, erasing the watch but failing to get rid of its reflection. Reacting to bloggers’ indignation, the patriarch’s office... Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — Roman Catholics and Protestants in the Holy Land are commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Good Friday prayers and processions through Jerusalem’s Old City. In the West Bank town of Beit Jala, adjacent to Bethlehem, Palestinian Catholics re-enacted Jesus’ 14 stations of the cross in their olive groves and vineyards to protest Israel’s construction of settlements and separation barrier. The Easter holiday and Jewish Passover coincide this year. According to the Gospels, Jesus ate his last... Read more