• MOSCOW (AP) -- Security is tight around a Moscow courthouse where three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot are to hear the verdict Friday in a trial that could send them to prison for seven years.
• The case has attracted international attention as an emblem of Russia's intolerance of dissent. The three women have been jailed since March after the band put on a brief guerrilla performance in Moscow's main cathedral, a so-called punk prayer entreating the Virgin Mary to protect Russia from Vladimir Putin, who at the time was on the verge of winning a new term as Russian president.
• The women, two of whom have young children, are charged with hooliganism connected to religious hatred. But the case is widely seen as a warning that authorities will tolerate opposition only under tightly controlled conditions.
• It also underlines the vast influence of the Russian Orthodox Church. Although church and state are formally separate, the church identifies itself as the heart of Russian national identity and critics say its strength effectively makes it a quasi-state entity.
• Protests timed to just before the verdict or soon afterward are planned in more than three dozen cities worldwide.
• ___

• KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A newly recruited Afghan village policeman opened fire on his American allies on Friday, minutes after they gave him a new weapon as

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