The angry, aggressive crowd formed within minutes of my arrival. Dozens of Muslim men, all in ankle-length galabias, came together in the middle of the dusty dirt path leading to the Church of the Two Martyrs in this poor Christian and Muslim village some 130 miles south of Cairo. They were determined to block access to what has become a sectarian sore: a church overrun by Muslim locals and desecrated, an act that has prompted desperate ...

"It looks like this recession is finally over," declared Scott Davis, CEO of UPS, earlier this month while announcing 2009 earnings that were better than expected for the world's largest package carrier. Speaking to analysts on Feb. 2, Davis added, "Believe it or not, that makes 21 that UPS has successfully managed through." No doubt UPS shareholders are relieved after two of the hardest years in the 102-year-old firm's history. Indeed, only four months ago, the $45 billion company disclosed ...

How do you go about finding the stories on the show? Clark Cogbill LITTLE ROCK, ARK. Eight of us put the radio show together, and we are in constant search of stories. It generally takes us four or five months to find enough stories for one show. A surprising number of things just come to us from our website, including some of the most beautiful stories we've ever put on the air. If you had only 24 hours to come ...

Pirates seized control of a cargo vessel near the Seychelles Thursday, one of two attacks that took place within minutes of each other off the coast of east Africa, according to the European Union Naval Force. The EU maritime patrol responded to the early morning attacks, along with the Seychelles Coast Guard. The crew of the Panama-flagged MV Al Khaliq said two pirates had boarded the vessel before communication was cut off with the crew. The EU ...

China plans to make "every effort to rescue" a merchant ship and crew hijacked in the Indian Ocean, the country's state news agency reported on Tuesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu, speaking to reporters, said the government was monitoring developments and has developed an emergency response procedure, the news agency Xinhua reported. Monday's hijacking is the first of a Chinese ship this year, according to the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau. Ma said the ministry warned ships and ...

Leslie Elder's eyelids fluttered open, and through the fog of pain medication, she saw the emergency room doctors pull back the curtain in her room. She could tell that the news was bad. "They didn't have to say a word. I knew from their faces that something wasn't right," said Elder, 60, who hours earlier had stumbled into the ER with a stabbing pain in her abdomen. "Then one doctor said, 'Your right kidney ... it's breaking apart. You have ...

A huge cargo ship which disappeared mysteriously for more than two weeks this summer was not secretly carrying advanced Russian missiles, the country's foreign minister said Tuesday. "As for the alleged presence of S-300 systems onboard the dry cargo carrier Arctic Sea, this is an absolute lie," Sergei Lavrov told reporters. The journalists had asked him about media reports that the ship was secretly ferrying the anti-aircraft missiles to perhaps Iran or Syria. Lavrov's comments were reported ...