Catholic News 2

BEIRUT (AP) -- Back in Syria, the young women were told they would get well-paid jobs at restaurants and hotels in Lebanon. But when they arrived, their belongings and mobile phones were taken away, and the women were locked up in two hotels north of Beirut and forced into prostitution....

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- The Latest on the Syrian civil war (all times local):...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syrians in government-controlled areas headed to polling stations Wednesday to elect a new 250-member parliament that is expected to serve as a rubber stamp for President Bashar Assad....

SOYAPANGO, El Salvador (AP) -- As police Inspector Alba Guevara Lopez's officers fanned out through the narrow alleys of a gang-controlled neighborhood in this San Salvador suburb, half had their faces hidden by black ski masks....

CHANGSHA, China (AP) -- A judge ruled against a gay couple in China's first same-sex marriage case that attracted several hundred supporters to the courthouse Wednesday in a landmark moment for the country's emerging LGBT rights movement....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly 2 in 3 Americans back Democrats' demands that the Republican-run Senate hold hearings and a vote on President Barack Obama's pick for the Supreme Court. But an Associated Press-GfK poll also suggests that GOP defiance against considering the nominee may not hurt the party much because, to many people, the election-year fight is simply not a big deal....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Paul Ryan's national stature is such that he had to call a news conference to deny he wants to be president. Back on Capitol Hill, he's about to blow through a statutory deadline to pass an annual budget, a major embarrassment for him and House Republicans....

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) -- Navy Secretary Ray Mabus had a simple message Tuesday for 1,500 Marines and sailors: The decision to let women compete for all military combat positions is as irreversible as earlier edicts to integrate blacks and allow gays and lesbians to openly serve....

AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Heavily armed military police sealed off part of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport for hours Tuesday night after arresting a man for unspecified suspicious behavior and summoning explosives experts to check his luggage....

BEIRUT (AP) -- The Latest on the Syrian civil war (all times local):...