RELIGION

Internet giants Google and Facebook told the Delhi High Court on Monday that it is not possible for companies to block offensive content that appears on their websites, in a case that has stoked fears about censorship in the world's largest democracy.

Thousands of Chinese workers protesting over compensation and job security at a Sanyo Electric Co Ltd plant clashed with police in southern Shenzhen, media said on Monday, the latest outbreak of labor unrest in China's manufacturing hub.

Child suicide bombers from Afghanistan say they were led to believe their bombs would obliterate only the infidel Americans and spare those executing the mission.

The Tim Tebow-Tom Brady showdown during the Broncos-Patriots game might have absorbed all attention Saturday night, but a 30-second John 3:16-themed commercial from Focus on the Family might have piqued some interest.

Canada's David Hearn responded in the best possible way to some good-natured banter from his compatriots by charging up the second-round leaderboard at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Friday.

Tunisia is one of the few Arab Muslim countries that still has a significant Jewish community (which traces its origins back 2,000 years).

Myanmar's government said on Saturday 302 of the 651 detainees it freed this week were political prisoners whose release had been sought by the National League for Democracy (NLD) party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The prohibition on eating pigs stretches back to antiquity.

Tunisians Saturday marked the first anniversary of the revolution that started the Arab Spring with celebrations that were true to the spirit of the revolt: raucous, unscripted and driven by the energy of ordinary people.

The ancient enmity between Shia and Sunni Muslims exploded in violence again on Saturday in Iraq when a suicide bomb killed at least 50 Shia pilgrims and wounded almost 100 in the southeastern city of Basra, according to Iraqi police and security officials.

Paul’s views on Israel have been controversial to say the least.

A human-rights body of the United Nations has expressed its support for a Sikh man in France in his battle to wear his turban in defiance of French laws against religious headgear.

A German Catholic priest admitted in court Thursday to 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys in the past decade, adding that he didn't think he was doing anything wrong.

Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has warned the strike is costing the nation’s economy $600-million every day.

Perry's father has issued a public apology for his ugly comments about Jews during one of his sermons at the Church on the Rise last week. The evangelical preacher, who insists he is not anti-Semitic, admitted his insinuation that Jews were money-obsessed and greedy was rooted in the worst anti-Semitism in the past, images that at times led to the persecution and murder of Jews. Katy Perry has yet to comment on the controversy.

One YouTube user, Jefferson Bethke, has created a video dubbed as controversial and conversation-sparking about why Jesus is the answer but not religion, in a viral video entitled, Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus. The video, which was uploaded to YouTube on Jan. 10, is nearing 6 million views and has amassed more than 64,000 comments as of Friday morning.

Religion is an important issue to the Republican voters and this is posing a challenge to Republican front runner Mitt Romney in the conservative South Carolina state.

Sweden dealt a symbolic blow to the global fight against digital music and film piracy by recognising a group that promotes file-sharing across the Internet as a religion.

A federal appeals court's ruling against a proposed constitutional amendment to ban Oklahoma courts from using Islamic Sharia law represents more than a setback to the measure's proponents. Experts say that the decision also reveals how such laws fall somewhere between impractical and unconstitutional.

The video is somewhat reminiscent of the abuses of Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib jail by American troops.

Nicolas Steno, the 17th century Danish father of geology, was honored Wednesday with a Google Doodle commemorating what would have been the genius' 374th birthday. Steno, whose name means rock in Danish, pioneered research in both anatomy and geology helping to discover a groundbreaking theory to explain how fossils function in layers of rock.