1st Amendment

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Sandra Botha , the parliamentary leader of South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance , said she will quit active politics after elections that must be held by mid-year.  

Editor’s note: The following are the top 10 stories in Newport-Mesa in 2008, as judged by Daily Pilot editors.  

For all China's celebration of 30 years of "opening and reform", there are Chinese media veterans who think journalists enjoyed more freedom in the 1980s than they do today.  

We are looking for sales & marketing representatives in different countries. Apply now! Bethlehem celebrates Christmas as citizens pray for justice The new head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land arrived today in Bethlehem on the annual Christmas procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem...  

More than 1.2 million people received a court summons last year after falling behind with their council tax payments.  

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats struggled to avert a showdown steeped in race and corruption yesterday as a defiant Roland Burris declared, "I'm a United States senator" and flew to the capital to claim President-elect Barack Obama's old seat in Congress.  

The former top aide and ex-lover of disgraced ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick followed her old boss to jail Tuesday, the last step in a criminal case that shook up Detroit politics for a year after romantic text messages between the pair made headlines.  

Tony Blair will receive America's highest civilian award - the Presidential Medal of Freedom - from George Bush next week.  

Politics Tony Blair will receive America's highest civilian award – the Presidential Medal of Freedom – from George Bush next week.  

Obama seeks swift passage of fiscal package  

In the conservative army that propelled the Republican Party to a generation's dominance of US politics, Paul Weyrich was among the fiercest warriors. Others might do deals with the Democratic foe if they helped advance the cause. Not Weyrich. For him, compromise was a betrayal of core principles...  

While presidential elections and wars have dominated international headlines, other world news affecting Christians have often gone unnoticed or with minimal coverage.  

2008 turned out to be an historic election-- one in which America elected its first African-American president.  

Religion was inescapable in the news of 2008. Headlines featured pastors embroiled in politics, confrontations over same-sex marriage, deadly sectarian conflicts, in-fighting among Anglicans and a joyful visit to the USA by Pope Benedict XVI.  

With headlines focusing on financial Armageddon, it would be easy to forget the highlights of 2008, a year when style and substance met in the world of international politics.