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.

JAKARTA, June 10, 2008 (AFP) - A minority Islamic group at the heart of a sectarian furore in Indonesia said Tuesday it did not recognise a ministerial decree ordering it to stop its activities and vowed to appeal.

NAIROBI, June 6, 2008 (AFP) - Suspected members of Kenya's banned Mungiki gang murdered a pastor by slitting his throat and skinned his face in the country's western town of Eldoret, police said Friday.

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.

NAIROBI, May 24, 2008 (AFP) - Kenyan police on Saturday killed two members of a criminal gang blamed for a series of murders and beheadings in recent months, a police commander said.

The two Mungiki members were killed in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret in a shoot-out with security forces. Two AK47 rifles were recovered, the commander added.

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.