MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — A year after an anti-government revolt forced Bahrain’s rulers to cancel the kingdom’s coveted Formula One race, the grand prix is again smack in the middle of a power struggle. Protesters aiming to break the Sunni regime’s grip on power have stepped up their campaign against the event — holding rallies across the island, plastering anti-Formula One posters on walls and criticizing the F1 chief and race drivers on social media websites. The country’s leadership is... Read more

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — A judge has refused to dismiss misdemeanor charges against a Missouri diocese and its bishop, who is the highest-ranking U.S. Roman Catholic official accused of shielding an abusive priest. Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are charged with failing to report suspected child abuse. Prosecutors say each is a “mandatory reporter” under the state law. Defense attorneys argued the law is unconstitutionally vague and that Finn wasn’t the diocese’s designated... Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has refused to dismiss misdemeanor charges against a Kansas City diocese and its bishop, who is the highest-ranking U.S. Roman Catholic official accused of shielding an abusive priest. Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are charged with failing to report suspected child abuse. Prosecutors say each is a “mandatory reporter” under the state law. Defense attorneys argued the law is unconstitutionally vague, and that Finn wasn’t the... Read more

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran is promoting a conservative cleric close to its supreme leader as a possible successor for the aging spiritual leader of Iraq’s Shiites, a move that would give Tehran a powerful platform to influence its neighbor, according to figures close to Iraq’s religious leadership. The 81-year-old spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is one of the most influential figures in Iraq, revered by its Shiite majority as well as by Shiites around the world. In the years... Read more

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The emotional and explosive testimony has resumed at a clergy abuse trial under way in Philadelphia. A 30-year-old former Marine who says he was molested as a 14-year-old by the Rev. James Brennan in 1996 is back on the stand Thursday for a second day of blistering cross-examination. The man yelled and told the priest’s attorney that he should be ashamed of himself for suggesting he’s lying about the abuse. Brennan is on trial with Monsignor William... Read more

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — The leader of a U.S. mosque that was listed in a secret New York police surveillance report is using the incident to try and recruit new members. Imam Mustafa El-Amin of Masjid Ibrahim in New Jersey ran an ad Thursday in The Star-Ledger newspaper urging people to read the Quran. Under a headline that reads: “NYPD Surveillance of Muslim Community,” the ad says there’s no need for the New York Police Department or any other... Read more

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The leader of a New Jersey mosque that was listed in a secret NYPD surveillance report is using the incident to try and recruit new members. Imam Mustafa El-Amin of Masjid Ibrahim in Newark ran an ad Thursday in The Star-Ledger newspaper urging people to read the Quran. Under a bold-letter headline that reads: “NYPD Surveillance of Muslim Community,” the ad says there’s no need for the NYPD or any other agency to conduct secret surveillance... Read more

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Jewish springtime holiday Passover is known as a festival of freedom, but its hallmark is a litany of dietary restrictions centered on not eating leavened bread for a week. The rules are so elaborate that chefs who want to observe the ritual law must prepare weeks before, removing every last crumb, buying up new sets of kitchen utensils and planning menus without bread or wheat flour. At Liliyot, one of Tel Aviv’s most prestigious... Read more

BNEI BRAK, Israel (AP) — Passover celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites’ escape from slavery and exodus from Egypt. The story recounts that God killed the first-born boys of Egypt after the pharaoh refused to release the children of Israel from bondage, but “passed over” the houses of the Israelites. Distraught over the death of his own son, the pharaoh let the Israelites go. They were then given the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai and wandered in the desert... Read more

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Rick Santorum is taking a break from the presidential campaign trail to observe the Easter holiday. The former U.S. senator returned to his Virginia home Wednesday night after appearing at some campaign events and going bowling in Pennsylvania, which he represented in Congress for 16 years. Campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley says Santorum has scheduled fundraising events for Monday and planned to resume campaigning Tuesday for Pennsylvania’s April 24 primary. Earlier this week, Santorum lost primaries in... Read more