TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Republican presidential contenders Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney wooed Michigan voters in appearances that were vastly different both in substance and in style — and that illustrated the contrasts between the two front-runners for the GOP presidential nomination. Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator pitching blue-collar populism and his Christian faith, used a visit to a nightclub Sunday on the outskirts of this town to outline a vision of American greatness driven by the workers who... Read more

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — When Rick Santorum told a Michigan crowd they had come to see him because “freedom is at stake in this election,” a man in the crowd shouted a word that’s almost never heard at Mitt Romney’s campaign events: “Amen!” When Romney went to Milford, Mich., to talk to tea party voters, he took a handful of pre-screened questions from event organizers. After Santorum wrapped up a 30-minute speech to several hundred tea partyers early on... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of dollars in White House money has helped pay for New York Police Department programs that put entire American Muslim neighborhoods under surveillance. The money is part of a little-known grant intended to help law enforcement fight drug crimes. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush and Obama administrations have provided $135 million to the New York and New Jersey region through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, known as HIDTA. Some... Read more

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran hailed the country’s first Oscar-winning film as a triumph over arch-foe Israel on Monday after an Academy Award race with its own subplots: Iranian officials giving a grudging nod to cinema and Israeli audiences flocking to see a made-in-Tehran drama. Iran’s state-spun praise for “A Separation,” which beat out an Israeli film and three others in the foreign language category, was mostly wrapped in patriotic boasting as a conquest for Iranian culture and a blow... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, battling furiously for the most conservative perch before the critical Michigan primary vote on Tuesday, also are looking just over the horizon a bonanza of delegates in the 10-state nominating contests that fall on one day just a week later. Romney and Santorum are virtually tied heading into the critical Michigan vote where the outcome could further boost Romney’s tenuous front-runner position or upend the race for the party’s... Read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Potential candidates for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office are taking stands on the New York Police Department’s surveillance of Muslim students, ranging from cautious support to a warning about curtailing civil liberties. Bloomberg, who leaves office after the 2013 election, has said that he finds “worrisome” the idea that his successor might abandon NYPD policies that have kept New Yorkers safe. The NYPD used undercover officers and informants to infiltrate Muslim student groups at a dozen colleges... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s ruling military council pushed ahead Sunday with plans to begin drafting a new constitution before transferring power to civilian rule, announcing that parliament will meet this week to select the panel tasked with writing the document. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ statement that parliament will begin choosing the 100-member panel March 3 marked a setback for activist groups who have demanded the military relinquish power before a constitution is written. They fear that if... Read more

ALGERIA, Algeria (AP) — Algeria’s main Islamist parties have agreed to run as an alliance in May’s parliamentary elections, boosting their chances of taking the largest number of seats, a party leader announced Sunday. The alliance of three of the country’s fractious Islamist parties increases the likelihood of Algeria following in the steps of three other North African countries where Islamists have recently triumphed at the ballot box. Abou Djara Soltani of the Movement of Society for Peace, Algeria’s largest... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — The Hamas leadership has left its longtime base in Syria because of the regime’s crackdown on opponents there, the No. 2 in the Islamic militant movement said in an interview Sunday at his new home on the outskirts of Cairo. Moussa Abu Marzouk also told The Associated Press that a unity deal between Hamas and its political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, faces steep obstacles despite optimistic assessments made by both sides in public. A unity deal... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum criticized President Barack Obama’s apology for the burning of Qurans in Afghanistan, adding that Afghanistan should apologize to the U.S. for the deaths of four U.S. soldiers during six days of violence sparked by the incident. “There was nothing deliberately done wrong here,” Santorum said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”. “This was something that happened as a mistake. Killing Americans in uniform is not a mistake. It was something that deliberate.” More... Read more