Environmentalists savored a long-awaited victory on Thursday when the carbon cap-and-trade bill fashioned by Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman and Edward Markey passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, putting it on the road to becoming a law. Supporters had to withstand over 400 amendments filed by Republicans during the markup of the bill this week, but it's now possible the U.S. could see climate legislation go into effect by the end of the year. "The bill represents ...

In what could be a goodwill gesture to the Obama administration, Israeli security forces removed an illegal settler outpost Thursday in the West Bank. A spokesman for the Israeli military said a combination of police and military personnel carried out the action, removing several metal containers from a minor hilltop encampment at Maoz Esther. The small outpost was erected in 2005 by residents of a nearby settlement. The move comes just three days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ...

Seven Baha'i leaders jailed in Iran face a possible new accusation that could lead to the death penalty, the religious group said Thursday, and a major human rights group has called for their release. The seven -- six arrested on May 14, 2008, and another arrested in March 2008 -- have been charged with espionage for Israel, propaganda against Iran, and "insulting religious sanctities," an Iranian deputy prosecutor said in February. Now Baha'i officials say families of those imprisoned have ...

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass for about 40,000 parishioners Thursday at the Mount of the Transfiguration, outside the city of Nazareth. Nearing the end of his eight-day tour of the Middle East, the pope also attended a reception given by the mayor of Nazareth -- the city described in the Bible as the boyhood home of Jesus -- and was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Greeted by a jubilant crowd waving Vatican flags, the pope smiled broadly and ...

Pope Benedict XVI called on Israelis and Palestinian to put aside their "grievances and divisions" and work toward reconciliation in the Middle East during a speech in the West Bank. "Just and peaceful coexistence among the peoples of the Middle East can only be achieved through a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect, in which the rights and dignity of all are acknowledged and upheld," the pontiff said Wednesday at a speech attended by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in ...

Pope Benedict XVI visited Jerusalem's holiest sites Tuesday, touring areas sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians and stressing the common threads of the three faiths. After visiting the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine, the pontiff prayed at the Old City's Western Wall. Also known as the Wailing Wall, it was once part of Judaism's Second Temple, which was destroyed. Later, the pope was scheduled to celebrate Mass at Gethsemane, the site where the Bible says Jesus prayed to ...

A U.S. airstrike likely wounded at least 11 civilians in southwest Afghanistan, a senior U.S. military official said Wednesday. The U.S. military is investigating following claims by local officials that dozens of Afghan civilians were killed and wounded in the airstrike in Farah province. The preliminary conclusion finds that 11 insurgents were killed and about 11 civilians were wounded, the official said. The chief police commander in Farah, Col. Abdul Ghaphtar Watandar, confirmed that a number of civilians were killed ...

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have confirmed on their offical Web site that further analysis of samples taken from the Beijing Games have revealed that six athletes tested positive for blood-boosting hormone CERA. A total of 948 samples were analyzed, with seven tests, from six athletes, coming back as positive. "The further analysis of the Beijing samples that we conducted should send a clear message that cheats can never assume that they have avoided detection," said Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of ...

Taliban fighters will withdraw from the Buner district, just 96 kilometers (60 miles) from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, a spokesman says. The move came soon after Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani told the national assembly that the military could stop the Taliban and that the country's nuclear weapons were safe. "If anybody challenges the writ of the government, then we will react," Gilani said. "Yesterday, I heard that [the Taliban] had reached Buner and close to Islamabad. Do ...

The father of a 20-year-old student, one of the last to be pulled alive from the rubble says it could only have been a miracle that saved his daughter. Luigi Calesini says when he arrived at his daughter Eleonora's university dorm most of the building had already collapsed on itself. He says he thought it was a lost cause because his daughter lived on the ground floor. "We waited and waited, and they were only pulling out dead bodies. Then ...