Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- The Iraqi parliament has passed a law banning the import, production, and sale of alcohol.
- Analysis: Religious nationalists in Turkey are striving to reclaim territories formerly occupied by the Ottoman Empire.
- Aljazeera: Residents of Garden City, Kansas rallied to support the local Muslim community after federal investigators uncovered a plot by local militia members to bomb an apartment complex where many Muslims live.
- In Ireland, an appellate court has denied the appeal of Christian bakers who challenged a ruling that they had discriminated against a customer by refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding.
- WSJ: A group of 300 institutional investors, including many with ties to religious organizations, is waging a new campaign to press drugmakers to justify their price increases.
- The Freedom from Religion Foundation is considering suing a school district in Mississippi where the football coach has performed baptisms of the team players on the school football field.
- The President of Venezuela met with Pope Francis this week as the Vatican decided to step in and defuse a political standoff in Venezuela.
- The French government has announced its intention to stop segregating Islamic inmates from other inmates in French prisons.
- The Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican have agreed to act as peace mediators between conflicting parties in Ukraine.
- Deseret News: FBI officials have dropped an effort to create counseling teams to intervene with young people who show signs of drifting toward radical Islamic ideology and terrorism.