As schools reopen in Pakistan’s battle-scarred Swat Valley, some pray for protection

MINGORA, Pakistan — The Taliban invaded their school, an explosion damaged it and a Pakistani army offensive forced them to leave it behind.

Convicted Brazilian church leaders return from US to shouts of ‘Alleluia’

SAO PAULO — The married couple who lead one of Brazil’s largest evangelical churches returned home Saturday to cries of joy from followers after serving a two-year sentence in the United States on money smuggling charges.

Vietnam’s tussle with a Zen master raises questions about religious freedom

HANOI, Vietnam — Communist Vietnam’s sometimes edgy relationship with religious freedom is being tested in a dispute over a monastery inhabited by disciples of Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the world’s most famous Zen masters.

Appeals court sides with Santeria priest who sued Texas city over ban on animal sacrifices

DALLAS — A federal appeals court reversed a lower court’s ruling on Friday that barred a Santeria priest from sacrificing goats in his Texas home, saying a city’s decision to prohibit the ritual violated the man’s religious rights.

Rights worker: Nigerian security forces killing civilians amid attacks on Islamist sect

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Nigeria’s League for Human Rights says overzealous security forces are killing innocent civilians as the military tries to crush an Islamist militant sect.

Iraqi police: at least 7 killed in blast at Sunni-backed political office

BAGHDAD — Police and hospital officials say a bomb has exploded in a building used by a Sunni-backed political group north of Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding 10.

Thousands flee homes as military and Islamist militant battle in north Nigeria

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Soldiers in tanks and armored cars besieged the shelled compound of a radical Islamist sect and sporadic gunfire exploded as hundreds of innocents fled on the third day of fighting in Nigeria’s northern city of Maiduguri.

Melee at Portuguese bullfight sparks renewed debate over religious tradition, animal cruelty

THORNTON, Calif. — It was supposed to be a “bloodless bullfight,” a dangerous dance between a pirouetting matador and an enraged bull that would not end in death.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch signals he will not allow independent church in Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine — The head of the Russian Orthodox Church rejected calls from Ukraine’s president to create a local Orthodox church that would be independent from Moscow, saying he firmly supports the status quo.

Testimony exposing sex abuse closes evangelist Tony Alamo’s 40-year career of crimes

Of all the horrid accusations against evangelist Tony Alamo — and the list is long — it was the testimony of formerly loyal subjects, recounting “marriages” between their cult leader and girls as young as 8, that may end his 40-year rule and send him to prison for life.

Evangelist Tony Alamo’s 40-year career of criminal charges, running from law may be at an end

Of all the horrid accusations against evangelist Tony Alamo — and the list is long — it was the testimony of formerly loyal subjects, recounting “marriages” between their cult leader and girls as young as 8, that may end his 40-year rule and send him to prison for life.

Activists say North Korean woman publicly executed for distributing Bible

SEOUL, South Korea — A Christian woman accused of distributing the Bible, a book banned in communist North Korea, was publicly executed last month for the crime, South Korean activists said Friday.

SKorean activists claim Christian publicly executed in NKorea in June

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea publicly executed a Christian woman last month for distributing the Bible, which is banned in the communist nation, South Korean activists said Friday.

Jurors debating preacher’s sex-crimes case pause to pose questions to federal judge

TEXARKANA, Ark. — Jurors took a pair of breaks from their deliberations at the sex-crimes trial of evangelist Tony Alamo on Thursday so they could pose questions to the federal judge presiding over the case.

Jurors debating preacher’s sex-crimes case pause to pose 2 questions to federal judge

TEXARKANA, Ark. — Jurors took a break from deliberations at the sex-crimes trial of evangelist Tony Alamo on Thursday so they could pose two questions to the federal judge presiding over the case.

Jurors in Arkansas to start deliberating sex-crime charges against evangelist

TEXARKANA, Ark. — Jurors are set to begin weighing the child-sex charges against jailed evangelist Tony Alamo.

Obama says US on schedule to leave Iraq in 2011, now in ‘full transition’

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that despite continuing violence in Iraq, the U.S. is on schedule to remove all troops by the end of 2011.

Vietnam police detain 18 Catholics after clashes erupt over disputed land for church site

HANOI, Vietnam — Clashes broke out after Catholics erected a makeshift place of worship in central Vietnam on a site where American bombs destroyed a church during the Vietnam War. Communist authorities detained 18 people.

Methodist leaders arrested as Fiji’s military cracks down on church

SUVA, Fiji — Fiji’s military-led government arrested eight Methodist leaders of the nation’s biggest church group, accusing them of pushing a political agenda, a spokesman said Wednesday, in the latest round of detentions since declaring emergency rule in April.

Pace of reconciliation tops Obama-al-Maliki talks, Iraqi focus on US private investment

WASHINGTON — U.S. concerns over the slow pace of political, religious and ethnic reconciliation in Iraq are expected to dominate President Barack Obama’s talks at the White House with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Prosecutors charge former California priest with past sex abuse of boy in mid-1990s

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A former Southern California priest who was accused of molesting a teenager more than 30 years ago has been charged with abusing a boy in another incident in the mid-1990s.

Lay Catholic group Voice of the Faithful gets infusion of donations after plea to members

BOSTON — Voice of the Faithful, the lay Catholic group founded during the church’s clergy sex abuse scandal, has raised enough money to keep operating for now.

Connecticut diocese plans appeal to US Supreme Court over sex abuse documents

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut sought Friday to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep under wraps sex abuse documents that could shed light on how a prominent retired cardinal handled the allegations.

APNewsBreak: Conn. diocese appeals to US Supreme Court over release of sex abuse documents

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep sex abuse documents under wraps.

Tens of thousands of Iranian opposition pack prayer sermon as top cleric criticizes leadership

TEHRAN, Iran — Tens of thousands of government opponents packed Iran’s main Islamic prayer service Friday, chanting “freedom, freedom” and other slogans as their top clerical backer Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon bluntly criticizing the country’s leadership over the crackdown on election protests.

Woman who was evangelist’s 8-year-old ‘wife’ says he began having sex with her when she was 9

TEXARKANA, Ark. — A woman who said evangelist Tony Alamo “married” her at age 8 is telling federal jurors that he sexually assaulted her repeatedly until she escaped his compound in late 2006.

Washington Supreme Court overturns moratorium that blocked homeless camp at church

SEATTLE — A Seattle suburb violated the state’s constitution by using a temporary ban on development to block a church’s effort to set up a tent city for the homeless, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Chinese PR campaign promotes harmony in restive region, but many Muslims aren’t listening

HOTAN, China — The chorus of smiling Muslims and Han Chinese wore matching yellow polo shirts and appeared on television Wednesday, singing: “We are all part of the same family.”

Prosecutors claim evangelist on trial for sex crimes ‘married’ 8-year-old girl

TEXARKANA, Ark. — Evangelist Tony Alamo preyed on his loyal followers’ young daughters, once taking a girl as young as 8 as his bride and repeatedly sexually assaulting her, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.

Lay Catholic group founded during clergy sex abuse scandal faces financial crisis

BOSTON — A lay Catholic group founded in the worst days of the church’s clergy sex abuse scandal said Monday it may be forced to cease operations because of a downturn in donations.