WORLD

President Barack Obama, in an abrupt policy shift aimed at quelling an election-year firestorm, announced on Friday that religious employers would not be required to offer free birth control to workers and that the onus would instead be put on insurers.

President Barack Obama, announcing new rules on birth control coverage, said religious groups had expressed genuine concerns about his original plan but accused his opponents of using the issue as a political football in an election year.

Rick Santorum said that his opposition to President Barack Obama's birth control bill has nothing to do with social conservatism and that the White House's compromise to appeal to Catholic voters wasn't a compromise at all.

The Syrian army has instigated the bloodshed in the besieged city of Homs by launching attacks on civilians, according to the United States ambassador to Syria.

Lebanon is starting to look like Syria. On Friday, armed supporters of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad attacked anti-Assad demonstrators in the Lebanese city of Tripoli.

The head of the U.S. central bank, in his second public statement on housing policy in as many weeks, told an audience of residential builders Friday that creditors who own vacant homes should consider renting the properties as a way to stanch urban blight.

Fresh off of his triple win on Tuesday, Rick Santorum told an enthusiastic audience at CPAC 2012 in Washington, D.C., Friday morning to put your honor on the line and choose him for the Republican presidential nomination.

The Operation Black March boycott, led by Anonymous, aims to protest ACTA and SOPA by asking opponents of the treaty not to purchase media for the month of March.

The International Energy Agency lowered its forecast for global oil demand for the sixth consecutive month because of the continuing weakness of the global economy, sending shares of crude oil down with it.

U.S. GDP is projected to grow at an annual rate of 2.2 percent this quarter, lower than a previous estimate, according to a survey by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, released on Friday.

Rumors are rampant that Wang had been seeking asylum in the U.S.

Rumors of Kim Jong-un's death hit Weibo on Friday

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a survey Friday that suggests the employment rate will drop further as 2012 progresses. Currently the unemployment rate in the country hovers near 8.5 percent.

The Kosovo man who admitted to shooting two American soldiers at the Frankfurt airport last year was sentenced to life in prison on Friday.

Egypt's embattled military rulers faced pressure on all sides Thursday, with the newly empowered Muslim Brotherhood demanding the regime cede power as an intensifying standoff over American nonprofit employees imperiled U.S-Egyptian relations.

The Maldives--a small string of islands in the Indian Ocean that boasts surreal beachfronts and extraordinary getaways--is full of destruction and chaos as it undergoes a tumultuous political upheaval. Nations such as the United States, China and India could be dramatically affected by the instability in the Maldives, and each has responded in a different way.

The Office of Congressional Ethics is looking into whether Rep. Spencer Bachus, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, violated insider trading laws and used his public office for private gain.

The union specifically singled out Poul Thomsen, the IMF’s principal official in Greece, for arrest.

On Friday, unions representing the city's police, firefighters and military police voted to strike and to protest in downtown Rio de Janeiro. But Carnival and nearly one million tourists are arriving in just seven days.

U.S. stocks dropped on Friday as the most recent flare-up in Greek negotiations for a financial bailout package put the S&P 500 on track to snap a three-day winning streak.

Pretrobras, Brazil's oil giant approved the construction of several dozen new oil rigs designed to tap into the country's large offshore oil deposits.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has tossed out an appeal by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani designed to avoid appearing before the court in connection with an ongoing contempt case.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney always had a love for American cars, growing up as the son of a chief auto executive. However, in 2008 the former Massachusetts governor strongly opposed a bailout intended to aid the diminishing General Motors, Chrysler and Ford manufacturers. And now he’ll have to explain his reasoning if he wants to dominate Michigan’s primary on Feb. 28, according to Reuters.

A Russian officer was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday for giving missile secrets to the CIA.

The comments were apparently the first public statement that the Saudi monarch has made regarding Syria.

Americans overwhelmingly support President Barack Obama's foreign policy on issues ranging from drone warfare to Afghanistan, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.

Luka Bojovic, one of the suspects wanted for the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003, was arrested in Spain. Police apprehended Bojovic, a Serbian national, in a restaurant in Valencia on Thursday.

A lot happened as thousands of Republicans flooded the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. Thursday for the massive three-day gathering of conservatives. At the end of the day, however, there was a clear list of winners and losers.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is up for re-election this year. He faces stiff competition from both the Socialist Party and the extreme right National Front. With France's economy in shambles, Sarkozy's re-election prospects look slimmer every day.