The Roman Catholic church on Thursday said it has sufficient support in the Philippine congress to defeat a controversial family planning bill promoting sex education and the use of contraceptives.

`The bishops are confident they have the numbers,` said Maria Fenny Tatad, executive director of the church lobby group Bishops-Legislators Caucus of the Philippines.

Britain has returned to Greece a 14th-century icon stolen from a Greek Orthodox monastery 30 years ago and found in the hands of a London-based collector, the Greek culture minstry said on Wednesday.

The religious painting of Christ`s Deposition from the Cross had been stolen from the monastery of St John the Baptist in Serres, northern Greece in 1978.

Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India`s ruling dynasty, has sought to heal a rift with the Sikh community over the bloody events surrounding the assassination of his grandmother Indira Gandhi.

During a visit Tuesday to Amritsar, Gandhi, who is a general secretary of the ruling Congress Party, acknowledged the `tragedy` of the 1984 army assault on Sikhdom`s holiest shrine in the city.

Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India`s ruling dynasty, has sought to heal a rift with the Sikh community over the bloody events surrounding the assassination of his grandmother Indira Gandhi.

During a visit Tuesday to Amritsar, Gandhi, who is a general secretary of the ruling Congress Party, acknowledged the `tragedy` of the 1984 army assault on Sikhdom`s holiest shrine in the city.

Three Kuwaiti Islamist MPs said on Sunday they will file a request to grill the prime minister for allowing a prominent Iranian Shiite cleric to enter the Gulf state despite a legal ban.

Waleed al-Tabtabai, Mohammed al-Mutair and Mohammed Hayef, all Sunni Muslim Salafi lawmakers, said in a joint statement that they will file the request on Monday.

A Jewish ultra-Orthodox MP was assigned a bodyguard on Sunday after death threats from his own party`s supporters blaming him for the loss of the mayorship of Jerusalem to a secular Israeli.

RIYADH, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez broke Saudi Arabia's strict religious laws during an opening address at an OPEC summit on Saturday by making a sign of the cross at the start of his speech.

The Catholic leftwing president, who issued a warning about rocketing oil prices and encouraged OPEC to become actively involved in foreign policy, began his speech with the ritualistic Christian hand movement.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Leaders of the world's main religions kicked off an annual inter-faith peace summit here Sunday with calls for a global organisation uniting their faiths.

Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Israel's chief rabbi Yona Metzger and the imam of the United Arab Emirates, Ibrahim Ezzeddin, were among those attending the gathering.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox and other Christian leaders kicked off an annual inter-faith peace summit here Sunday with calls for a formal structure linking world religions.

The pope did not formally attend the summit, organised by the Sant'Egidio community, but met and lunched with the delegates as part of a pastoral visit to this impoverished southern Italian city.

'With respect for the differences between the various religions, we are all called to work for peace and... reconciliation among peoples,' he said.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - The crackdown on monks in Myanmar was an 'extreme insult to Buddhism,' the country's leading monk in Britain said Sunday as an inter-faith peace summit opened in Naples, Italy.

In 'peaceful protests, Burmese (Myanmar) Buddhist monks marched in procession ... spreading loving kindness for all beings, by hoping that their loving kindness will win through,' U Uttar told the gathering of some 200 world religious leaders.

JERUSALEM, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Archaeologists have uncovered artifacts under Jerusalem's contested Al-Aqsa mosque compound that may shed light on the first Jewish temple, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Sunday.

'An apparently sealed archaeological level dating to the first temple period was exposed in the area close to the southeastern corner of the raised platform surrounding the Dome of the Rock,' it said in a statement.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday evoked the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as he urged 'reconciliation among peoples' ahead of an inter-faith summit in Naples.

'With respect for the differences between the various religions, we are all called to work for peace and ... reconciliation among peoples,' Benedict said as he met with Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox and other Christian leaders.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged 'reconciliation among peoples' ahead of a religious summit in Naples.

'With respect for the differences between the various religions, we are all called to work for peace and ... reconciliation among peoples,' Benedict said in the meeting with leading Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Anglican, Orthodox and other Christian figures.

The meeting is the largest inter-faith dialogue he has held as pope.

MOSUL, Iraq, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Two Iraqi Catholic priests abducted more than a week ago in the northern city of Mosul were released alive and well on Sunday, church negotiators said.

Fathers Pius Affas and Mazen Ishoa, who were kidnapped last Saturday after being threatened by an unknown group, were now back at their church in Mosul, the negotiators told AFP on condition of anonymity.

'The two priests were left this morning by the kidnappers on a street in the middle of Mosul,' they said.

DUBLIN, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Ireland's top Roman Catholic prelate has apologised for the 'horrific evil' of sex abuse involving thousands of children placed in the care of clerics in residential institutions.

Archbishop Sean Brady told a Saturday evening Mass for abuse victims he could not 'adequately apologise to all those who have been hurt while they were entrusted to the Church's care' over the last 70 years or more.

MOSUL, Iraq, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Two Iraqi Catholic priests abducted more than a week ago in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul were released alive and well on Sunday, church negotiators said.

Fathers Pius Affas and Mazen Ishoa, who were kidnapped last Saturday after receiving threats from an unknown group, were back at their church in Mosul, Christian leaders in the city involved in their release told AFP.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI began a pastoral visit to Naples on Sunday, calling for a 'struggle against all forms of violence' during an open-air mass in the city renowned for its mafia links.

Speaking as rain fell on pilgrims huddled under umbrellas in the city's main square, Benedict lamented 'the sad phenomenon of violence' in the impoverished city.

NAPLES, Italy, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI is to meet the leaders of some of the world's main religions in Naples on Sunday on the sidelines of an inter-faith peace summit.

The pope is making a pastoral visit to the impoverished southern Italian city at the same time as the summit organised by the Sant'Egidio community, in what the lay Catholic association called a 'happy coincidence.'

ROME, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI was to meet in Naples on Sunday with leaders of several of the world's main religions on the sidelines of an inter-faith peace summit.

The pope is making a pastoral visit to the impoverished southern Italian city at the same time as the summit organised by the Sant'Egidio community, in what the lay Catholic association called a 'happy coincidence.'

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Several thousand Christian conservative voters rebuffed an olive branch from Republican White House hopeful Rudolph Giuliani Saturday, over his support for abortion rights.

The former New York mayor tops Republican national polls in the quickening 2008 race, but was unable to win over a cross-section of a crucial party voting bloc at a huge 'Values Voter' conference in Washington.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Republican White House hopeful Rudolph Giuliani Saturday told a lion's den of skeptical evangelical Christians they had nothing to fear from his views on core moral issues.

The former New York mayor tops Republican national polls in the quickening 2008 race, but his past, comparatively liberal positions on abortion and gay rights have sparked anxiety in the mighty 'religious right' bloc.

MOSUL, Iraq, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - Kidnappers of two Iraqi Catholic priests abducted last weekend in the northern city of Mosul have demanded a ransom of one million dollars for their release, a bishop said on Saturday.

The unknown group issued a payment deadline of Saturday morning for the release of fathers Pius Affas and Mazen Ishoa, who are still believed to be alive, the bishop in Mosul told AFP on condition of anonymity.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Friday renewed Saudi Arabia as a key anti-terrorism ally despite concerns over its track record and fears it is exporting extremist ideology.

The move by the US leader came just weeks after a top US Treasury official sharply criticized the kingdom's record on combating terrorism and while the authorities considered a proposal to close down a Saudi-backed school outside Washington for alleged religious intolerance.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia wants a couple of years to complete a review of its school textbooks criticized for religious intolerance, the US State Department said Friday.

Saudi Arabia has been on the State Department's religious freedom blacklist for the last three years but Washington granted the Middle East ally a reprieve last year and discussed steps to promote religious freedom and tolerance.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - The Dalai Lama began the spiritual leg of a tour of the United States Thursday with a visit to a shelter for women in Washington, where he humbly brought himself to the level of the residents by pointing out that he, too, is homeless.

'Me too, homeless,' the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet said, eliciting a roar of approving laughter from the group of a dozen women gathered in a small room at Washington's N Street shelter for homeless and low-income women, many of whom are trying to kick drug habits.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Republican White House hopefuls Friday tried to convert skeptical Christian conservatives to their causes, wooing a crucial party power base taking a dim view of the party's 2008 line-up.

In a field lacking a clear standard bearer for the mighty 'religious right,' Republican candidates waded into pulpit politics at a 'Values Voter Summit' as they sprint to their first nominating contest in Iowa in 75 days.

ROME, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - A high profile Vatican cleric suspended after he was shown on television making advances to a young man allegedly had a list of homosexual priests and bishops in the Roman Catholic Church's governing body, Italy's Panorama weekly reported Friday.

Father Tommaso Stenico, 60, had 'a detailed dossier' of all the homosexual clerics at Vatican 'with a list of names and circumstances implicating a certain number of priests and even bishops working at the Curia,' Ignazio Ingrao, reporter for the conservative news weekly said.

ROME, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI will meet on Sunday with leaders of several of the world's main religions on the sidelines of their annual gathering in Naples for an inter-faith peace summit.

The pope is making a pastoral visit to the impoverished southern Italian city at the same time as the summit organised by the Sant'Egidio community, in what the lay Catholic association called a 'happy coincidence.'

ROME, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - The kidnappers of two Roman Catholic priests in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have extended to Saturday a deadline for paying a ransom for their release, a Catholic missionary agency in Rome said.

'The ultimatum was extended by 72 hours' or until Saturday 'for paying the ransom, but the kidnappers maintained their demands,' Monsignor Georges Casmousssa, the Syrian Catholic Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa in Mosul, was quoted as saying by the Misna news agency on Thursday.

ABUJA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A simplistic understanding of Sharia Islamic law in 12 Nigerian states is leading to rights violations of detainees and women, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.

'We are concerned that many officials, judges and members of the public have a simplistic understanding of Sharia that ignores the protection it grants an accused as well as the many rights it grants women,' the rights watchdog's executive director Ken Roth told a press conference in the Nigerian capital.

ANKARA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A Turkish prosecutor sought life sentences Thursday for five youths accused of the gruesome murders in April of three Christians, one of them a German, a report said Thursday.

The suspects, aged 19 and 20, are expected to go on trial within a month, the Anatolia news agency said.

A German missionary and two Turkish converts to Christianity, members of the tiny Protestant community in the eastern city of Malatya, had their throats slit in the offices of a Christian publishing house there on April 18.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Malaysia said Thursday it plans to develop a 'halal' meningitis vaccine jointly with Cuba within the next two years.

The 3.6 million ringgit (one million dollar) vaccine is aimed at the thousands of Muslims who are infected with the disease during the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, state news agency Bernama reported.

At present, most meningitis vaccines are produced from pig products, which are considered haram, or forbidden, by Muslims, it said.

MANILA, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - A Roman Catholic parish priest in the Philippines has been excommunicated for failing to keep secret sins confessed to him by a member of his flock, the church said Thursday.

Reverend Father Alejandre Galias of the diocese of Sorsogon in the central Philippines was excommunicated on September 21 by Bishop Arturo Bastes, according to a statement issued by the archdiocese of Manila.

KABUL, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Two separate probes have rebutted allegations that US soldiers burnt a copy of the Koran on a raid in Afghanistan last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said Thursday.

The US military had already rejected claims by villagers in the eastern province of Kunar that its soldiers burnt a copy of the Muslim holy book on October 13, but said after locals protested that it would investigate.

ORRVILLE, Ohio, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - For more than 125 years, the Schantz family has been hand building church organs one pipe at a time in this small Ohio town.

While the business has expanded in recent years as American churches return to traditional sounds, little else has changed.

There is a massive cauldron where the Schantz family and their 85 employees mix the tin, lead and zinc used for the organ pipes.

The molten metal is poured onto a long table and spread into a thin sheet.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prayed at the Biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ on Wednesday, promoting religion in the quest for Middle East peace during intense diplomacy.

'Being here at the birthplace of my lord and saviour Jesus Christ has been a very special and moving experience,' said the top US diplomat, a devout Christian whose father and grandfather were Presbyterian ministers.

MALE, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - The president of the Maldives on Wednesday unveiled tough measures to combat Islamic extremism in a bid to protect the country's lucrative luxury tourism industry after an unprecedented bomb attack.

An order from President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said extremist e