DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The imam spearheading a proposed Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York believes the fierce opposition is closely linked to the U.S. elections in November, according to comments published Monday.
“There is no doubt that the election season has had a major impact upon [...]

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) — President Barack Obama said the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq means “the war is ending” and Baghdad is in position “to chart its own course.”
Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to highlight Tuesday’s formal end to U.S. combat missions in Iraq and remind people that [...]

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in New Jersey say they seized 15,000 pairs of fake Nike shoes on Monday at Port Elizabeth as part of a nationwide sweep of counterfeit products.

The Oklahoma House voted overwhelmingly Monday to override vetoes of two restrictive abortion measures Gov. Brad Henry has called unconstitutional intrusions into citizens’ private [...]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A sharply divided federal appeals court on Monday exposed Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to billions of dollars in legal damages when it ruled a massive class action lawsuit alleging gender discrimination over pay for female workers can go to trial.
In its 6-5 ruling, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the [...]

BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi court threw the nation’s disputed election into deeper disarray Monday by disqualifying 52 candidates, including one winner, in a legal ruling that cast doubt on the slim lead of a Sunni-backed alliance over the prime minister’s political coalition.
The decision by the three-judge election court intensified political turmoil and dealt a [...]

Former boxing champion Edwin Valero, who had a spectacular career with 27 straight knockouts and flouted a tattoo of President Hugo Chavez on his chest, hanged himself in his jail cell on Monday April 19, after being arrested for stabbing his wife to death, police said.

After five days in which nature brought the jet age [...]

CAIRO — Egypt’s powerful security ministry warned that its forces could open fire on pro-democracy protesters if necessary, media reports said Monday, drawing criticism from groups calling for political reform in a parliamentary election year.
An Interior Ministry adviser delivered the warning at a parliamentary hearing in which opposition lawmakers questioned him over the use of [...]

ARLINGTON, Va. — Carrying loaded pistols and unloaded rifles, dozens of gun-rights activists got as close as they could Monday to the nation’s capital while still bearing arms and delivered what they said was a simple message — Don’t tread on me.
Hundreds of like-minded but unarmed counterparts carried out a separate rally in the nation’s [...]

Russian investigators suggested human error may have been to blame in the plane crash that killed the Polish president and 95 others, saying on Monday April 12 that there were no technical problems with the Soviet-made plane.

Cuban state media dismissed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as a cynic on Monday for her assertion [...]

OKLAHOMA CITY — Frustrated by recent political setbacks, tea party leaders and some conservative members of the Oklahoma Legislature say they would like to create a new volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.
Tea party movement leaders say they’ve discussed the idea with several supportive lawmakers [...]

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama optimistically opened a 47-nation nuclear summit Monday, boosted by Ukraine’s announcement that it will give up its weapons-grade uranium. More sobering — Obama’s counterterrorism chief pointedly warned that al-Qaida is vigorously pursuing material and expertise for a bomb.
Ukraine’s decision dovetailed with Obama’s goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials [...]

Islamist militants unleashed a car bomb and grenade attack against a U.S. consulate in northwestern Pakistan on Monday April 5, killing four people and striking back after months of American missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in the region.

Haitian schools reopened on Monday for the first time since the earthquake. Only a few hundred [...]

NEW YORK — With strong backing from the Census Bureau, gay-rights activists are urging maximum participation by their community in the first U.S. census that will tally same-sex couples who say they’re married — even those without a marriage license.
The move has drawn fire from conservatives, who complain that it’s another step toward redefining marriage.
For [...]

KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened over the weekend to quit the political process and join the Taliban if he continued to come under outside pressure to reform, several members of parliament said Monday.
Karzai made the unusual statement at a closed-door meeting Saturday with selected lawmakers — just days after kicking up a diplomatic [...]