Nation and World News

WASHINGTON – Social issues dominated the presidential race Friday, as President Barack Obama tried to calm a storm over religion and birth control and the Republicans vying to replace him jockeyed to outdo each other in proving their conservative fervor.

WASHINGTON – A new ethics investigation of the House Financial Services Committee chairman’s investment activities during the events leading up to and surrounding Congress’ $700 billion bailout of Wall Street sets back lawmakers’ election-year efforts to rebound from their record low standing with the public.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A man from Uzbekistan who pleaded guilty Friday to plotting to kill President Barack Obama with an automatic rifle claimed he was acting at the direction of an Islamic terror group in his home country.

DALLAS – In the past few days, she’s danced with cheering school kids, chatted with troops, swapped ideas with busy parents and engaged in a friendly cooking competition with stars from “Top Chef.”

WASHINGTON – Under fierce election-year fire, President Barack Obama on Friday abruptly abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes. He demanded insurance companies step in to provide the coverage instead.

PHILADELPHIA – The child-molestation scandal in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has taken a mysterious new turn, with prosecutors asking a coroner to examine the body of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua to establish whether he died of natural causes.

ALEPPO, Syria – Two suicide car bombers struck security compounds in Aleppo on Friday, killing 28 people, Syrian officials said, bringing significant violence for the first time to an industrial center that has largely stood by President Bashar Assad during the 11-month uprising against his rule.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – In a folder on his work computer labeled “Personal Pics,” Steve Powell maintained a peculiar collection of photos: 55 depicting his daughter-in-law, Susan, but few if any showing his son.

CHICAGO – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin continues to push for legislation that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to televise its public proceedings.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared Friday he's found a solution to a birth-control uproar that will protect religious liberty but also ensure that women have access to free contraception, as he rushed to defuse an election-year issue that threatened to overtake his administration.

BEIRUT – Between blasts of rockets and mortar fire, Syrians used loudspeakers to call for blood donations and medical supplies Thursday in the stricken city of Homs, where a weeklong government offensive has created a deepening humanitarian crisis.

WASHINGTON – Democrats are deeply divided over President Barack Obama’s new rule that religious schools and hospitals must provide insurance for free birth control to their employees amid fresh signs that the administration was scrambling for a way out.

WASHINGTON – It could be the beginning of the end for No Child Left Behind.

WASHINGTON – The House on Thursday joined the Senate in voting to explicitly prohibit members of Congress and other top officials from making investments on insider information. But an effort to bridle purveyors of Capitol Hill political intelligence could delay the bill’s enactment.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Wild arm swings, sharp robotic turns, pulsing fist pumps.