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Associated Press – December 3, 2007 KHARTOUM, Sudan – A British teacher jailed for insulting Islam after allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad flew home Monday following a pardon by the president of Sudan, a British Embassy spokesman said. Gillian Gibbons was believed to be on an Emirates flight with a stopover…

Associated Press – December 3, 2007 NORFOLK, Va. – Pat Robertson is turning over his duties as chief executive officer of the Christian Broadcasting Network to his son but will remain chairman, the 77-year-old religious broadcaster announced Monday. Robertson said he told CBN’s board that it was time for him to pass on some of…

Associated Press – December 2, 2007 DES MOINES, Iowa – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, striving to be the country’s first Mormon president, will give a speech this week explaining his relatively unknown faith to voters, his campaign said Sunday. The decision, made after months of debate at his Boston headquarters over whether to make…

Associated Press – November 30, 2007 MOUNT AIRY, Md. – President Bush urged Congress on Friday to approve an additional $30 billion for the fight against AIDS worldwide over the next five years, and announced he would visit Africa early next year to further highlight the need and his administration’s efforts. “We dedicate ourselves to…

Associated Press – November 29, 2007 SEATTLE – A few hours after a judge ruled that a 14-year-old Jehovah’s Witness sick with leukemia had the right to refuse a blood transfusion that might have helped him, the boy died, a newspaper reported. Dennis Lindberg died Wednesday night at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, his…

Associated Press – November 30, 2007 VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized modern-day atheism in a major document released Friday, saying it had led to some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” ever known to mankind. But Benedict also critically questioned modern Christianity in his second encyclical, saying its…

Associated Press Khartoum, Sudan – British teacher Gillian Gibbons has been convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation from Sudan, one of her defense lawyers said Thursday. “The judge found Gillian Gibbons guilty and sentenced her to 15 days…

Associated Press Jerusalem – In unusually frank comments, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned in a published interview Thursday that “the state of Israel is finished” if a Palestinian state is not created, saying the alternative is a South African-style apartheid struggle. The explosive reference to apartheid came as Olmert returned from a high profile…

Associated Press St. Petersburg, Fla. – Republican presidential rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney scornfully debated immigration in a provocative, no-holds-barred CNN/YouTube debate just over a month before the first votes are cast. Giuliani, the front-runner in national polls, accused Romney Wednesday of employing illegal immigrants at his home and running a “sanctuary mansion.” The…

Associated Press – November 28, 2007 WASHINGTON – So far so good. But can Israel and the Palestinians conclude a peace agreement mostly on their own? Time is running out for President Bush to make good on his promise of a Palestinian state. “It is not going to be possible in 2008 unless he is…

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