White House considering dramatic expansion of travel ban
WASHINGTON — The White House is considering dramatically expanding its much-litigated travel ban to additional countries amid a renewed election-year ...
Pakistan mosque blast kills senior police officer, 13 others
QUETTA, Pakistan — A powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in southwest Pakistan during Friday evening prayers, killing a senior police officer a...
Steyer wants climate change refugees to enter US legally
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer on Friday unveiled an immigration proposal seeking to make immigrants fleeing the effects of...
Panel: Alleged pedophile wanted by Australia fit for trial
JERUSALEM — An Israeli psychiatric panel has determined that a woman facing dozens of sex-abuse charges in Australia is fit to stand trial for extradi...
Filipino Catholics pray for Mideast peace in huge gathering
MANILA, Philippines — A mammoth crowd of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics prayed for peace in the Middle East on Thursday at the start of an annual ...
Court reverses $35M verdict against Jehovah’s Witnesses
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a $35 million judgment against the Jehovah's Witnesses for not reporting a girl's sexu...
The Latest: Iraq seeks Security Council condemnation of US
TEHRAN, Iran — The latest on U.S.-Iran tensions in the wake of the U.S. airstrike that killed Iran's top general (all times local):
Push to oust US troops from Iraq a risky undertaking
BAGHDAD — A push led by pro-Iran factions to oust U.S. troops from Iraq is gaining momentum, bolstered by a Parliament vote in favor of a bill calling...
Groups demand answers after Iranians say they were detained
SEATTLE — Civil rights groups and lawmakers were demanding information from federal officials following reports that dozens of Iranian-Americans were ...
Throngs mourn, Iranian leader weeps for general slain by US
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader wept Monday over the casket of a top general killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, his prayers joining the wails...
The Latest: Baghdad residents say 3 blasts hit Green Zone
BEIRUT — The latest on U.S.-Iran tensions (all times local):
Trump’s threats draw Iran’s cultural sites into tensions
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran's ancient and rich cultural landscape has become a potential U.S. military target as Washington and Tehran lob thre...
Renovation chief: Notre Dame Cathedral is not saved yet
PARIS — The French general overseeing the reconstruction of fire-devastated Notre Dame Cathedral says the Paris landmark is not saved yet because ther...
Palestinians face mounting barriers to peaceful protest
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Abdullah Abu Rahma has been arrested by Israeli soldiers eight times in the last 15 years, spending weeks or months in prison an...
Methodists propose split in gay marriage, clergy impasse
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — United Methodist Church leaders from around the world and across ideological divides unveiled a plan Friday for a new conservative ...
Trump portrays himself as defender of faith for evangelicals
MIAMI — Highlighting his record on religious liberty, President Donald Trump on Friday worked to energize a group of evangelical supporters who make u...
Iraqi militant killed by US worked with Iran for decades
BAGHDAD — Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a veteran Iraqi militant who was closely allied with Iran and rose to be a senior militia commander during the war ag...
Hanukkah stabbing suspect questioned in prior Monsey attack
NEW YORK — The man charged in the machete attack on a Hanukkah celebration north of New York City had been questioned by local authorities in connecti...
As Jewish enclaves spring up around NYC, so does intolerance
MONSEY, N.Y. — For years, ultra-Orthodox Jewish families priced out of increasingly expensive Brooklyn neighborhoods have been turning to the suburbs,...
Militiamen withdraw from US Embassy but Iraq tensions linger
BAGHDAD — Iran-backed militiamen withdrew from the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Wednesday after two days of clashes with American security forc...
Year-end violence highlights danger of worshipping
NEW YORK — When a machete-wielding attacker walked into a rabbi's home in Monsey, New York, during Hanukkah and a gunman fired on worshippers at a Tex...
Minister: Texas gunman grew angry in past over cash requests
DALLAS — The congregation at a Texas church where two people were fatally shot had repeatedly given food to the gunman, according to the pastor, but h...
China sentences Protestant pastor to 9 years for subversion
BEIJING — China has sentenced a prominent pastor who operated outside the Communist Party-recognized Protestant organization to nine years in prison f...
Firearms instructor took out gunman at Texas church service
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas — Alarms went off in Jack Wilson's head the moment a man wearing a fake beard, a wig, a hat and a long coat walked into a Texa...
In Afghanistan, jailed Taliban await peace, their freedom
PUL-E-CHARKHI, Afghanistan — Thousands of Taliban prisoners jailed in Afghanistan as insurgents see a peace deal being hammered out between the United...
Jewish leaders urge action after another ‘senseless’ attack
NEW YORK — When a suspect walked into the home of a rabbi celebrating Hanukkah and stabbed five celebrants it was the latest in a week of anti-Semitic...
5 stabbed at Hanukkah celebration north of NYC
MONSEY, N.Y. — A man attacked a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home north of New York City late Saturday, stabbing and wounding five people before ...
Drawn-out sex crimes case rattles Israel-Australia ties
JERUSALEM — Nicole Meyer endured years of sexual abuse allegedly at the hands of her former school principal. She’s had to watch as her alleged abuser...
Hundreds of accused clergy left off church’s sex abuse lists
Richard J. Poster served time for possessing child pornography, violated his probation by having contact with children, admitted masturbating in the b...
Iran-backed groups accuse Iraqi president of caving to US
BAGHDAD — Iran-supported groups on Friday blasted Iraq's president for not naming their preferred prime minister candidate, saying his decision was at...