COON RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota’s largest school district has abandoned a much-criticized policy that required teachers to remain neutral when issues of sexual identity came up in the classroom and replaced it with one that’s meant to foster a respectful learning environment for all students, gay or straight, religious or not, liberal or conservative. With only one dissenting vote, the Anoka-Hennepin School Board on Monday night dropped a policy that is the subject of two lawsuits by critics who... Read more

BEIJING (AP) — A Tibetan monk set himself on fire in western China and was beaten by security forces as they put out the flames, a rights group said, marking the latest in a series of dramatic protests against China’s handling of its vast Tibetan areas. Lobsang Gyatso, a 19-year-old monk from the Kirti monastery in Sichuan province’s Aba prefecture, set himself ablaze on Aba’s main street Monday afternoon, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet said. Security forces beat Gyatso... Read more

CALL TO WORK: Israel’s long-term prosperity depends on getting more ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israeli Arabs to join the work force, the International Monetary Fund said in a report Monday. DEMOGRAPHICS: The IMF study said the combined ultra-Orthodox and Israeli Arab populations could double over the next three decades, from a combined quarter of Israel’s population to half. LOW WORK PARTICIPATION: For example, Arab-Israeli women have an employment rate of 20 percent and ultra-Orthodox men of 40 percent. The two groups... Read more

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — A U.S. judge has rejected a second bid by Yale University to throw out all the allegations in a lawsuit filed by a South Korean university that claims it lost tens of millions of dollars after Yale damaged its reputation. Dongguk University claims in the 2008 lawsuit that it hired an art history professor after Yale wrongly confirmed the professor earned a doctorate at the New Haven school. Court papers say the professor, Shin Jeong-ah, later... Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — The International Monetary Fund says Israel’s long term economic stability depends on whether more Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews join the work force. The IMF says in a preliminary report after a two-week mission to Israel that the country’s economy is strong and has weathered the global economic slowdown well. But it notes that Arab-Israeli women have an employment rate of 20 percent and ultra-Orthodox men of 40 percent. The two groups are among the poorest and... Read more

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Security forces in Bahrain fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters trying to occupy a landmark square in the nation’s capital on Monday ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Gulf kingdom’s Shiite-led uprising. Thousands of opposition supporters marched through Manama’s streets in the largest attempt in months to retake Pearl Square, the central roundabout that served as the epicenter of weeks of protests last year by Bahrain’s Shiite majority against the ruling Sunni dynasty.... Read more

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Muslim clerics are suggesting Indonesians skip Valentine’s Day celebrations. Cleric councils have banned celebrations in Banten and Palembang provinces. The Aceh Assembly of Clerics said celebrating the Western cultural event would be inappropriate for Muslims. Aceh council Chairman Teungku Muslim Ibrahim said Monday many things about Valentine’s Day run against Islamic teachings and norms. Indonesia is a secular but mostly Muslim nation of 240 million people. Aceh is the only Indonesian province where Islamic law is... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The dustup over contraception underscored President Barack Obama’s political edge in working to attract independent voters without alienating his Democratic base. His Republican rivals are forced to keep emphasizing their conservative credentials to attract the right-leaning activists who dominate the nominating contests. It’s a dynamic that usually plays out when a president seeks re-election without a primary challenger, and the other party fights to determine its nominee. Obama already is in general-election mode, with the luxury of... Read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservatives said Sunday the controversy surrounding President Barack Obama’s birth control mandate was far from over, with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell saying he’ll push to overturn the requirement because it was another example of government meddling. While a senior White House official shrugged off such remarks, declaring the issue resolved and new legislation unlikely, the heated rhetoric from Republicans suggested they would try to keep the debate alive in an election year to rally conservatives and... Read more

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain on Sunday deployed thousands of security forces to confront anti-government protesters ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Shiite-led uprising that seeks to loosen the ruling Sunni dynasty’s monopoly on power. Opposition groups urged marchers to stream toward an empty lot dubbed “Freedom Square” outside the capital Manama. Some activists seek to occupy the site before Tuesday’s anniversary of the start of the wave of protests, and turn it into a new semi-permanent hub for... Read more