RIYADH, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested a man working for the country's vice squad who is accused of having six wives, two more than allowed under Islamic law, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

ELDORADO, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - The jailed leader of a polygamist sect and five other men linked to a Texas compound raided earlier this year have been indicted on child sexual assault and other charges, officials said Tuesday.

LAS VEGAS, July 9, 2008 (AFP) - Jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was hospitalized here Wednesday after going into convulsions and becoming feverish at his Arizona prison, officials said.

Jeffs, 52, convicted as an accomplice to rape last year, was being treated for an undisclosed condition at the Sunrise Medical Center under police guard, officials said.

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2008 (AFP) - The raid by Texas authorities on a reclusive polygamous sect in April and their seizure of 400 children amid allegations of abuse has had an unexpected consequence -- the launch of a new clothing line.

VANCOUVER, June 3, 2008 (AFP) - A special prosecutor has been hired to consider criminal charges against polygamists in British Columbia, the attorney general of Canada's westernmost province said.

WASHINGTON, June 2, 2008 (AFP) - More than 400 children taken from a Texas polygamous sect will be returned to their families immediately, a court official said Monday, two months after they were seized over abuse allegations.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that 468 children seized from a polygamist sect must be returned to their parents, saying state child welfare officials had overstepped their authority.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the removal of 468 children from a polygamist sect on grounds they were at risk of abuse 'was not warranted.'

The ruling upholds a Texas appeals court decision on May 22 that state authorities had had no right to remove the children from the sect because it had not proven they were in imminent danger.

CHICAGO, May 23, 2008 (AFP) - Texas childcare authorities late Friday appealed a state court's decision to reverse their removal of hundreds of children from a polygamist sect, arguing that returning them would be irresponsible.

The state's Child Protective Services also argued that the children could not be returned because their real parents had not been positively identified.

CHICAGO, May 22, 2008 (AFP) - The state of Texas had no right to remove hundreds of children from a polygamist sect because it has not proven they were in imminent danger, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

Officials raided the sprawling compound of the reclusive sect on April 3 and took 250 girls and 213 boys into state custody amid allegations of systemic sexual and physical abuse.

NAIROBI, May 4, 2008 (AFP) - A quarter of Kenyan married men are either openly polygamous or have secret wives, according a new poll published on Sunday.

Of the 44.8 percent of respondents who said they were married, one quarter practice polygamy openly or have stable relationships with secret wives, said the poll published in the Sunday Nation.

CHICAGO, April 28, 2008 (AFP) - More than half of the teenaged girls removed from a polygamist sect in Texas are already mothers or are currently pregnant, child welfare officials said Monday.

All of the sect's 463 children were taken in state custody earlier this month amid allegations of widespread sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the YFZ (Yearn For Zion) Ranch.

CHICAGO, April 24, 2008 (AFP) - Child welfare workers were struggling Thursday to find foster care facilities for some 437 children removed from a polygamist sect in Texas amid allegations of widespread sexual abuse.

SAN ANGELO, Texas, April 18, 2008 (AFP) - A Texas judge ruled Friday that all 416 children removed from a polygamist sect compound in the largest custody hearing in US history be kept in protective custody for the time being, according to media reports.

SAN ANGELO, Texas, April 18, 2008 (AFP) - A polygamist sect had a culture of sex between young girls and much older men that justifies the removal of its 416 children, a child welfare worker testified Friday in the largest custody hearing in US history.

SAN ANGELO, Texas, April 17, 2008 (AFP) - A Texas judge struggled Thursday with the task of determining the fate of some 416 children taken from a polygamist sect amid allegations of widespread sexual and physical abuse.

SAN ANGELO, Texas, April 17, 2008 (AFP) - A Texas judge struggled Thursday with the task of determining the fate of some 416 children taken from a polygamist sect amid allegations of widespread sexual and physical abuse.

SAN ANGELO, Texas, April 17, 2008 (AFP) - A Texas judge on Thursday was to begin considering the fate of some 416 children taken from a polygamist sect amid allegations of widespread sexual and physical abuse.

CHICAGO, April 14, 2008 (AFP) - A Texas judge on Monday attempted to sort out how to handle the custody cases of some 416 children taken away from a polygamist compound because of allegations of widespread sexual and physical abuse.

ELDORADO, Texas, April 10, 2008 (AFP) - State investigators say they have discovered a bed inside a polygamist compound temple in Texas that was reserved for husbands -- often middle-aged men -- to have sex for the first time with their underage 'wives.'

ELDORADO, Texas, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - A Texas polygamist compound emptied of more than 400 children was the site of pervasive sexual abuse where girls were groomed to accept sex at puberty and boys were indoctrinated to perpetuate the cycle, officials said in court records released Tuesday.

ELDORADO, Texas, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - A Texas polygamist compound emptied of more than 400 children was the site of pervasive sexual abuse where girls were groomed to accept sex at puberty and boys were indoctrinated to perpetuate the cycle, officials said in court records released Tuesday.

ELDORARDO, Texas, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - A Texas polygamist compound emptied of more than 400 children was the site of pervasive sexual abuse where girls were groomed to accept sex at puberty and boys were indoctrinated to perpetuate the cycle, officials said in court records released Tuesday.

SAN ANGELO, Texas, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - Hundreds of young girls removed from a polygamist sect in Texas were being groomed to accept sex with adult men as soon as they reached puberty, officials said in court records released Tuesday.

ELDORADO, Texas, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - Texas state authorities have removed more than 400 children from the secluded, sprawling compound of a polygamist sect, amid allegations of widespread sexual and physical abuse.

ELDORADO, Texas, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - After spending years in seclusion in the sprawling compound of a polygamist sect, more than 400 children were taken into state custody amid allegations of widespread sexual and physical abuse, officials said Monday.

ELDORADO, Texas, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - Authorities have removed 534 women and children from the sprawling Texas compound of a polygamist sect under investigation for sexual and physical abuse, officials said Monday.

ELDORADO, Texas, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - Authorities have removed some 534 women and children and are looking for others in the sprawling Texas compound of a polygamist sect under investigation for sexual and physical abuse, officials said Monday.

ELDORADO, Texas, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - Authorities on Monday kept up their search for children hidden in the sprawling compound of a polygamist sect after some 210 women and children were removed over the weekend, officials said.

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 6, 2008 (AFP) - Police in Texas late Sunday had removed some 219 women and children from the compound of a polygamous sect, as they pressed ahead with an investigation into possible child abuse, US media reported.

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 5, 2008 (AFP) - Police searched the temple of a polygamist sect's compound in Texas as authorities pressed ahead with an investigation into possible child abuse, US media reported on Sunday.

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 5, 2008 (AFP) - Police and members of a polygamist sect under investigation for possible child abuse faced off Saturday over access to a Mormon temple where a suspected victim of the abuse was believed to be held, local media reported.

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 5, 2008 (AFP) - Police on Saturday investigated possible child abuse in a breakaway polygamous Mormon church after removing 52 girls between the ages of six months and 17 years from the secretive sect's compound in Texas.

Social workers determined that 18 of the girls had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse, the Houston Chronicle reported.

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2008 (AFP) - US authorities removed as many as 52 girls from a polygamous sect's compound in western Texas on Friday, while the rest were questioned, officials said.

The age of the girls ranged from six months to 17 years, according to the Child Protective Services in Schleicher County.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov 20, 2007 (AFP) - The head of a US polygamist sect was jailed for five years to life on Tuesday following his conviction on rape charges over the marriage of a schoolgirl against her will to a cousin.

JAKARTA, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Indonesia's constitutional court on Wednesday rejected a high-profile request to scrap restrictions on polygamy filed by a lawyer who argued that it ran counter to the teachings of Islam.

'We reject the demand of the plaintiff,' constitutional court chairman Jimly Asshiddiqie said, reading the verdict in a case that has grabbed headlines and stoked debate across Indonesia.

He said polygamy was permitted under the law, but only under strict conditions.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - The leader of a US polygamist sect was on Tuesday found guilty of rape charges stemming from the marriage of a 14-year-old girl against her will to a cousin.

Warren Jeffs, 51, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which split from the Mormon Church because of differences over polygamy, was convicted on two charges of acting as an accomplice to rape.