Apostasy and blasphemy may seem to many like artifacts of history. But in dozens of countries around the world, laws against apostasy and blasphemy remain even today, according to Pew Research Center.
Muslim rebels stormed a Catholic church compound in the capital of Central African Republic on Wednesday, killing as many as 30 people in a hail of gunfire and grenades, witnesses said.
Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was on course for a sweeping victory in the country’s presidential election on Wednesday, according to early provisional results.
A 2010 Pentagon directive on military support to civilian authorities details what critics say is a troubling policy that envisions the Obama administration’s potential use of military force against Americans.
Four of the kidnapped Nigerian girls being held by Boko Haram militants have escaped, a local education official has said.
Residents of California’s largely rural, agrarian and politically conservative far northern counties long ago got used to feeling ignored in the state Capitol and out of sync with major urban areas.
A preliminary report released Wednesday found “serious conditions” at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs facility, including hundreds of veterans who were never placed on an official wait list and faulty scheduling practices that meant some veterans would never see a doctor.
Mobs of Arab rioters Wednesday intimidated Jewish worshippers, attacked police officers and caused the closure of the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.
The United States has launched a campaign against Israel in wake of its refusal to attack Syria.
“Jerusalem is the heart of the nation. It will never be divided,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said. He spoke on Tuesday night, at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav Kook, to mark the anniversary of the capital’s reunification, 47-years ago. From 1948 and until the Six-Day War in 1967, the city was split between Israel and Jordan.
Western governments expect too much from Iran in negotiations over its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday amid the stalled diplomatic effort.
Republican lawmakers and foreign policy experts blasted President Barack Obama’s announcement on Tuesday that he would fully withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 as a move that could embolden the Taliban and eventually lead to a resurgence in violence.
Pope Francis carried out a headline-grabbing three-day tour of the Holy Land, visiting refugees, hugging clerics and honoring the victims of the Holocaust. But perhaps the most interesting moment of the trip came during an exchange with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting in Jerusalem. The Israeli premier and the pope found occasion for a slight historical quibble.
Israeli police clashed with stone-throwing rioters on the Temple Mount for a second day in a row Wednesday morning, police said
A special committee headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, Harel Locker, has recommended a three-phase plan to all but do away with cash transactions in Israel.
California is well on its way to further redefining the family, this time through a bill that would change state-issued birth certificates.
Some 55 percent of Americans now say they support same-sex marriage, the highest number since Gallup polling on the question began in the 1990s, according to a new Gallup poll.
Congress is stepping up pressure on the White House to confront Russia over allegations that it is cheating on a key nuclear arms treaty – a face off that could further strain U.S.-Moscow relations and dampen President Barack Obama’s hopes to add deeper cuts in nuclear arsenals to his legacy.
A convoy of inspectors from the international watchdog overseeing the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons program came under fire on Tuesday in Syria but all staff members were safe, the organization said.
President Obama plans to cut the U.S. presence in Afghanistan dramatically by the end of the year and announced the next steps in winding down the war in Afghanistan on Tuesday afternoon.