In 2003, rebels in Darfur took up arms to force President Omar al-Bashir's Arab-dominated government to deliver greater autonomy and better governance to the neglected region.
GOP leaders want to continue negotiations with Democrats over the shape of financial reform, before it moves on to the Senate floor. But a pivotal vote is set for Monday afternoon.
A court has disqualified one winning candidate and 51 others on charges of formerly belonging to the Baath Party, delaying the formation of a government and raising tensions.
The department is barred from fund-raising, but a program designed to open the world of policing to outsiders has helped bring in contributions from prominent New Yorkers.
AP - Morgan Hayden and Joe Moton stepped carefully through nails, broken glass and pink tufts of insulation, the remnants of their home leveled by a tornado as severe storms killed at least 10 people in rural Mississippi and two in Alabama.
AP - With a showdown vote looming, Democrats are resisting Republican appeals for a broad compromise on financial overhaul legislation and are eager to test whether GOP unity will crack in an anti-Wall Street political climate.
AP - An Iraqi court disqualified 52 candidates Monday from the country's parliamentary elections, including two who won seats, and threw out their votes in a decision that could potentially change the outcome of the March 7 vote.
Israel has reacted angrily to Hamas releasing an animated video Sunday portraying the plight of the father of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit has been held in Gaza since June 2006 and is at the centre of complex negotiations for a prisoner exchange. The short video shows Noam Shalit wandering the streets of Tel Aviv with a picture of his son and features a real audio recording of the young soldier which was published by Hamas last September.
Hassen Chalghoumi is the best-known imam in France and easily the most controversial, even though he preaches peace instead of hate. Police cars are stationed in front of his mosque during Friday prayers, and he has two bodyguards with him at all times when he goes out in public. Sometimes, when it all becomes too much for him, he takes his wife and their five children and goes away for a week or two, in the hope that all the excitement over him and the ideas he preaches will calm down again. But the tactic hasn't worked so far, because the whole thing flares up again as soon as he returns home. Chalghoumi has led a hectic life in recent weeks.
There are 5 million Muslims in France, although there could even be as many as 8 million, no one knows for sure. Some have been there for a long time while others are recent immigrants. Within this population, there are believed to be 1,400 women who wear either the large full-body veil, the burqa, in black or blue, or the niqab, the full veil that covers the face apart from the eyes, although that number could also be as low as 400. In any case, Chalghoumi dared to publicly condemn the wearing of the full veil, and he welcomed the idea of outlawing it -- something that may have been ill-advised.
Chalghoumi's is a man who doesn't reveal much about himself, while others seem to think that they know everything about him. What is indisputable is that he was born in Tunis in 1972, immigrated to France in 1996 and became a French citizen in 2000, or perhaps it wasn't until two years later. Sometimes Chalghoumi contradicts himself, or he doesn't remember the details correctly, or he is quoted out of context. It isn't easy to figure him out, but it is easy to like him. He is a gentle person, a man with the grace of a professional dancer.
The pope won't call off a trip to Britain despite a leaked Foreign Office memo that made jokes about Benedict-brand condoms, the pontiff's spokesman said.
American missionary Laura Silsby will stand trial in Haiti on a charge of arranging irregular travel, a judge ruled Monday, but more serious charges against her and nine fellow missionaries were dropped.
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