The decisive margin of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in elections last week stunned many observers and angered his opponents' supporters, who in the ensuing days took to the streets in protest by the hundreds of thousands. The decisive margin of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in elections last week stunned many observers and angered his opponents' supporters, who in the ensuing days took to the streets in protest by the hundreds of thousands. At least eight people ...

Reward money has climbed to $275,000 for information in the kidnapping of nine foreigners in Yemen -- three of whom have been found dead -- as troops search for the remaining six hostages, Yemeni officials said. The Ministry of Interior offered a $250,000 reward, in addition to the $25,000 reward offered by the governor of Saada City -- both aimed at information leading to the arrest of the kidnappers -- according to the Yemeni Embassy in Washington. Special forces and ...

Richard Land, the head of the gigantic Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and its most influential political operative, has dived headlong into what has become a favorite Baptist parlor game: What exactly is a Mormon? It's a question that has special significance right now, since it relates to how religious conservatives regard the Mormon candidate Mitt Romney. On Wednesday, the EthicsDaily.com newswire, which is written by and for Baptists with views more liberal than the ...

A moderate Muslim cleric who denounced suicide attacks as forbidden by Islam was killed Friday in a suicide attack on his mosque in Lahore, authorities said. Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi was the first imam in Pakistan to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, against suicide attacks in Pakistan. On Friday, a suicide bomber approached Naeemi as he left the Jamia Naimia Mosque and religious school. The bomber detonated his explosives, killing Naeemi and two others, police said. Another 10 people were ...

Barack Obama began his latest overseas trip on a mission to increase international cooperation, with a visit to Islam's holiest land, Saudi Arabia, and its most dynamic intellectual hub, Cairo. He ended it four days later at a monument to what such common purpose can achieve. Sixty-five years ago today, 135,000 allied troops launched the largest seaborne invasion in history on the beaches of northern France, a move that would eventually decide the outcome of World War II. On ...

President Obama spoke emotionally Friday about his great-uncle's role in liberating the German concentration camp at Buchenwald, noting that "it was a memory burned in him for quite some time." Obama is to visit the camp Friday afternoon. He told reporters that as a young boy he learned about the life of his great-uncle, Charles Payne, who had a "very difficult time re-adjusting to civilian life" after his time as an American soldier in the 89th Infantry Division. That ...

Grounding himself in verses from the Koran, President Barack Obama on Thursday promised the Muslim world a new partnership with the U.S. based on mutual interest, mutual respect — and a promise to "say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors." And he delivered by the bucket, in a speech that first wooed his audience with lavish praise of Islam's contribution to global civilization, and then delivered some ...

President Barack Obama spoke of the tensions Thursday between the United States and Muslims saying " the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam. "Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view ...

As U.S. President Barack Obama makes the final tweeks to his key speech in Egypt to the Muslim world, half a world away the world's largest Muslim nation will be watching. At a time of deep mistrust between the West and the Islamic world, Indonesia -- where Obama spent time as a child -- can play a significant role in helping him reach out to Muslim nations. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country and the world's third-largest democracy. Political ...

On the eve of President Obama's highly anticipated speech to the Muslim world, al Qaeda's second-in-command issued an audio statement saying the president of the United States is not welcome in Egypt. Obama is traveling to the Middle East in an effort to repair a damaged U.S. image and reset relations with the Islamic world. But the terrorist network's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said those relations cannot be mended as long as the administration maintains its alliance with Israel. In ...