LOS ANGELES – Newly released records of sex abuse claims against 126 priests that are at the core of hundreds of lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles show that church officials for decades moved accused priests between counseling and new assignments. Attorneys for 500 alleged victims and the Roman …

UNITED NATIONS – The chief investigator into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri (search) urged Syria Tuesday to improve its cooperation with his team to help “fill in the gaps” about who planned and carried out the massive bombing in February. Washington and Paris quickly joined forces …

ATLANTA – Two men have been arrested in the four-year-old stabbing death of the husband of Ashley Smith (search), whose call to 911 in March led authorities to Atlanta courthouse shootings suspect Brian Nichols (search). The arrests occurred Wednesday after witnesses came forward with new testimony in the 2001 murder …

NEW ORLEANS – A campaign to lift “Wild American Shrimp” to the same cuisine status as Burgundy grapes or Angus beef is off to a rough start after shrimpers criticized TV chef Emeril Lagasse’s (search) new line of frozen shrimp. Lagasse’s product — “Emeril’s Louisiana Shrimp” — was seen as …

CHICAGO – A provocative new study challenges the notion that heart attack victims have only 12 hours in which to undergo an artery-clearing angioplasty. The study found that patients who had the procedure as much as two days after being stricken still benefited. Although the study was too small to …

LONDON – Here is the official statement concerning Nancy Reagan’s injury from Cathy Busch, a spokeswoman for Nancy Reagan (search): Early this morning Mrs. Reagan took a fall in her hotel room in London and was taken to a nearby hospital. After a thorough examination she was released and returned …

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI (search) urged African bishops Friday to keep up their fight against AIDS, reiterating church teaching that abstinence is the only “fail-safe” way to prevent the spread of the virus. Benedict met with the bishops from South Africa (search), Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho, all …

LAVERKIN, Utah. – Some schools sprouting up around the United States that are designed to practice tough-love with troubled teens are causing some communities to think twice about bringing one to their town. The tough-love facilites, which aim to straighten out kids by teaching them how to be more responsible …

LODI, Calif. – A mosque has fired a religious leader accused of speaking out against the United States and supporting Usama bin Laden (search) in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Shabbir Ahmed, 39, is one of two imams detained on immigration charges as part of an FBI investigation …

BANGKOK, Thailand – This big one did not get away. Thai fishermen netted a 646-pound catfish (search) believed to have been the world’s largest freshwater fish ever caught in Thailand (search), a researcher said Thursday. The nearly 9-foot-long Mekong giant catfish was landed May 1 by villagers in Chiang Khong, …