Religious Relations

Security official Abu Ali has reviewed hundreds of documents about the obscure messianic cult that incited deadly clashes last weekend at the height of Shiite Islam's most important holiday. The group, Abu Ali and other security and government officials say, wants to spark a war among Shiite Muslims. Officials said the so-called Supporters of the Mahdi disrupted Shiite worshipers last weekend in Basra and Nasiriya and fought security forces, leaving as many as 80 people dead.

Religious leaders should lead the way in solving the world's persistent problems, such as hunger, disease and violence, by reaching out to -- and working with -- people of other faiths, Los Angeles area Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders say. "It is increasingly clear to some of us that the world's problems can't be solved simply politically," said the Rev.

Followed by a gaggle of children, Julius Salik walks a muddy dirt track in one of this city's squalid Christian slums, past open sewers and ramshackle homes with stick roofs. With a weary sigh, he motions to a row of neat brick apartment buildings just a few hundred yards away. "Muslims live there," says the 60-year-old social worker and former federal minister. "Good construction. Big houses. Big cars." Pakistan, he says, is a place of extremes.

Trapped by smoke, the parents of a 9-month-old girl took a chance and dropped her from their apartment window, hoping that she would be caught four stories below. Their split-second decision paid off as Onur fell safely into the arms of a policeman. The parents, who were not identified, also survived, although the mother was in a hospital two days after the fire in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Some of the building's residents were Turkish immigrants.

Pope Benedict XVI has ordered changes to a Latin prayer for Jews at Good Friday services by traditionalist Catholics, deleting a reference to their "blindness" over Christ, the Vatican said. The Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano published the new version, in Latin, of the prayer, which now expresses hope that Jews will recognize Christ. "The language is better but it's still troubling," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League in the United States.

As Britain reels under unprecedented levels of immigration that have challenged the small island nation's traditions, the Archbishop of Canterbury entered the fray this week by declaring it is probably "unavoidable" that some limited form of Islamic law will have to be accepted in Britain. The archbishop, Rowan Williams, is the spiritual leader of the Church of England, and his pronouncement, aimed at building greater inclusiveness for Britain's 1.

A Middle East conference scheduled to be held next week at a prominent Pasadena church has sparked tensions between local Christians and Jews. But those involved say they hope to use the episode as a chance for increased dialogue and, perhaps, a deeper understanding of the sensitive issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Several Los Angeles rabbis and others in the Jewish community have criticized a decision by All Saints Episcopal Church to allow its facilities to be used Feb.

A potential security crisis loomed Saturday in troubled Diyala province as significant numbers of a U.S.-funded force of Sunni fighters left their posts, demanding the ouster of the provincial police chief. "You can imagine what danger will face the region in the next days," said Abu Talib, commander of 2,000 to 3,000 so-called Sons of Iraq fighters. His men, many of them former insurgents, turned against the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq last year under the Awakening banner.

The archbishop of Canterbury on Monday defended himself against a firestorm of recent criticism, telling fellow Anglicans his statement last week that Britain would have to accept some limited form of Islamic law had been misunderstood. Speaking to a gathering of elected representatives from the Church of England, Archbishop Rowan Williams said he took full responsibility "for any unclarity . . . and for any misleading choice of words that has helped cause distress or misunderstanding."

Groups of youths set fire to schools and cars in a sixth consecutive night of violence across Denmark, mostly in immigrant neighborhoods, police said. Forty-three people were arrested. The vandalism started last weekend, and some believe it intensified with the reproduction of a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers Wednesday.