Nepal appoints 3-year-old as new living goddess

By Chris Carlson (AP)

He may not be able to walk on water, but when the mood strikes, Father Matthew Munoz can ride one gnarly wave all the way into the beach.

So Sunday at dawn, on the white sands of the town where the U.S. Surfing Championships were born nearly a half-century ago, Munoz and some two dozen fellow wave riders paused to thank God for all the joy the oceans have provided them.

Then, after the surfer\'s ceremonial blowing of a conch shell for good luck, the pastor of Orange County\'s St. Irenaeus Catholic Church shouted out a hearty, \"Let\'s surf!\"

Clutching a board with an...

By Mukhtar Khan (AP)

Police warned Monday they would shoot any violators of a curfew imposed in Indian-controlled Kashmir to prevent a large pro-independence rally planned later in the day.

Thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers in riot gear drove through neighborhoods and went to people\'s homes warning them to stay indoors, said Ghulam Nabi, a resident of Nowhatta district in Srinagar, the main city in India\'s only Muslim-majority state.

In recent months the disputed Himalayan region has seen some of its largest protests against Indian rule in two decades. At least 45 people have died...

By Mukhtar Khan (AP)

Police warned Monday they would shoot any violators of an indefinite curfew imposed in Indian Kashmir to prevent a pro-independence rally.

Thousands of police and paramilitary soldiers in riot gear drove through neighborhoods and went to people\'s homes warning them to stay indoors, said Ghulam Nabi, a resident of Nowhatta district in Srinagar, the summer capital of India\'s only Muslim majority state of Jammu-Kashmir.

In recent months the disputed Himalayan region has seen some of the largest protests against Indian rule in two decades. At least 45 people have died in the...

By Haraz N. Ghanbari (AP)

The law is a guide to an orderly society, an American cardinal said an a church service Sunday that included five Supreme Court justices ahead of the start of their new term.

At the annual Red Mass, Cardinal John Patrick Foley told an audience of government officials, ambassadors, academics and members of the capital\'s legal community about his decision to attend seminary rather than law school.

Foley said he never regretted the decision _ assisted by his voluntary teaching of religious studies to special education students _ but that he sees many similarities between his...

By ANTONIO DI GENNARO (AP)

Pope Benedict XVI warned Sunday that modern culture is pushing God out of people\'s lives, causing nations once rich in religious faith to lose their identities.

Benedict celebrated a Mass in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to open a worldwide meeting of bishops on the relevance of the Bible for contemporary Catholics.

\"Today, nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity, under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture,\" said Benedict, who has been pushing for religion to be given more room in society.

The...

By ANTONIO DI GENNARO (AP)

Pope Benedict XVI has warned that modern culture is pushing God out of people\'s lives, causing nations once rich in religious faith to lose their identities.

Benedict celebrated Mass in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Sunday to open a worldwide meeting of bishops on the relevance of the Bible for contemporary Catholics.

Benedict is pushing for religion to be given more room in society, particularly in Western Europe.

By Gurinder Osan (AP)

India said Thursday that U.S. congressional approval of a civilian nuclear pact was a sign that \"the world needs India as India needs the world.\" Pakistan immediately demanded a similar deal.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of overturning a three-decade ban on atomic trade with India, allowing American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections of India\'s civilian nuclear plants.

The U.S. House of Representatives earlier approved the accord, which now goes to President Bush, a...

By Mahesh Kumar A (AP)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel Friday to India to commemorate approval of a landmark U.S.-India nuclear cooperation accord, a foreign affairs victory for President Bush\'s final months in office.

The Senate voted 86-13 Wednesday to overturn a three-decade ban on atomic trade with India, giving congressional approval to a pact that allows American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections at India\'s civilian, but not military, nuclear plants.

Spokesman Sean McCormack told...

By Gurinder Osan (AP)

India said Thursday that U.S. congressional approval of a civilian nuclear pact was a sign that \"the world needs India as India needs the world.\" Pakistan immediately demanded a similar deal.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of overturning a three-decade ban on atomic trade with India, allowing American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections of India\'s civilian nuclear plants.

The U.S. House of Representatives earlier approved the accord, which now goes to President Bush, a...

By Mike Wintroath (AP)

Pastor Luke Emrich prepared his sermon this week knowing his remarks could invite an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. But that was the whole point, so Emrich forged ahead with his message: Thou shalt vote according to the Scriptures.

\"I\'m telling you straight up, I would choose life,\" Emrich told about 100 worshippers Sunday at New Life Church, a nondenominational evangelical congregation about 40 miles from Milwaukee.

\"I would cast a vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin,\" he said. \"But friends, it\'s your choice to make, it\'s not my choice. I won\'t be...

By (AP)

The death toll in a stampede at a Hindu temple rose Thursday to 224 as the government asked a retired judge to probe the cause of the disaster two days earlier in western India, police said.

Another 57 injured were being treated in various hospitals in the historic city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan state, said senior police official Rajeev Dosat.

Dosat said the death toll went up after police found that several local people had taken their dead relatives home and later cremated them without informing authorities. Police contacted them subsequently.

A retired judge has been...

By (AP)

Nearly a year of attacks on Christians have put India\'s leaders on edge, and the latest flare-up in violence drew an angry denunciation from the country\'s Sikh prime minister as \"acts of national shame.\"

\"We are a secular state. We are a multireligious, multicultural nation,\" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters during a stopover in France.

Hours later, Hindu mobs rampaged through villages in eastern India on Tuesday, attacking a Christian minister, damaging two churches and setting off Hindu-Christian clashes that killed at least one person.

It was just...

By (AP)

A Hindu temple official blamed an unruly group of pilgrims trying to get ahead in a line of worshippers for a stampede that killed more than 200 people and injured nearly 60 in western India.

Authorities were still working to determine the final death toll, but the number had already crossed 200, said senior police official Rajeev Dosat.

The disaster occurred just as the doors of the temple were being opened for worship at dawn for more than 12,000 people celebrating a key Hindu festival in the historic city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan state.

A group of 200 pilgrims jostled...

By (AP)

A Hindu temple official blamed an unruly group of pilgrims trying to get ahead in a line of worshippers for a stampede that killed at least 147 people and injured nearly 60 in western India.

The death toll was scaled down Wednesday from 168 because some victims were counted twice in the initial confusion as bodies flooded into several hospitals, senior police official Rajeev Dosat said.

However, the toll from Tuesday\'s stampede was likely to rise again because some people took home the bodies of relatives without informing police, Dosat said.

The disaster occurred just...

By Matt Rourke (AP)

Before leaving home each morning to patrol the city\'s streets, Officer Patrick McDonald would crank up Survivor\'s \"Eye of the Tiger\" and hit the weights in his elaborate basement gym.

That the fit, 30-year-old patrolman would crank up a \"Rocky\" anthem and make like Philadelphia\'s favorite fictional fighter was hardly suprising, friends and family remembered at his funeral Tuesday.

\"Definitely Philly through and through,\" his uncle and godfather, George Gillin, told the more than 1,500 mourners inside the downtown Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and...

By (AP)

Thousands of pilgrims panicked by false rumors of a bomb stampeded at a Hindu temple in western India on Tuesday, killing at least 168 people in the crush to escape.

Television footage showed dozens of bodies lying on the sidewalk, while nearby frantic people tried to revive unconscious devotees, slapping their faces and pressing on their chests.

One child sat on the ground next to the body of a woman, rubbing her forehead and crying \"Mother, Mother.\"

The disaster occurred just as the doors of the temple were being opened for worship at dawn for more than 12,000...

By (AP)

Thousands of pilgrims panicked by false rumors of a bomb stampeded at a Hindu temple in western India on Tuesday, killing at least 168 people in the crush to escape, officials said.

More than 12,000 people gathered at the temple at dawn to celebrate a Hindu festival in the historic city of Jodhpur when the stampede occurred early Tuesday morning.

The temple floors were slick with coconut milk as thousands of devotees broke coconuts as religious offerings, causing pilgrims to slip and fall as they scrambled to escape, said Ramesh Vyas, a pilgrim who was standing in...

By (AP)

At least 168 people were killed and 100 injured when thousands of pilgrims stampeded Tuesday at a Hindu temple in the historic town of Jodhpur in western India, officials said.

Severe overcrowding apparently caused the crush as more than 12,000 people gathered at the temple to celebrate a Hindu festival, Jodhpur Police Superintendent Malini Agarwal said.

At least 168 people were killed in the stampede, said Naresh Pal Gangwar, the district collector.

The stampede apparently began as false rumors of a bomb spread among the crowd, said Ramesh Vyas, a pilgrim who was...

By (AP)

At least 125 people were killed and 50 injured when thousands of pilgrims stampeded Tuesday at a Hindu temple in the historic town of Jodhpur in western India, officials said.

Severe overcrowding apparently caused the crush as more than 12,000 people gathered at the temple to celebrate a Hindu festival, Jodhpur Police Superintendent Malini Agarwal said.

At least 125 were killed and 50 were injured in the stampede, said senior police official Rajeev Daso.

The stampede apparently began as false rumors of a bomb spread among the crowd, said Ramesh Vyas, a pilgrim who was...

By (AP)

At least 125 people were killed and 50 injured when thousands of pilgrims stampeded Tuesday at a Hindu temple in the historic town of Jodhpur in western India, officials said.

Severe overcrowding apparently caused the crush as more than 12,000 people gathered at the temple to celebrate a Hindu festival, Jodhpur Police Superintendent Malini Agarwal said.

At least 125 were killed and 50 were injured in the stampede, said senior police official Rajeev Daso.

The stampede apparently began as false rumors of a bomb spread among the crowd, said Ramesh Vyas, a pilgrim who was...

By (AP)

At least 80 people were killed and more than 150 injured when thousands of pilgrims stampeded Tuesday at a Hindu temple in the historic town of Jodhpur in western India, police said.

Severe overcrowding apparently caused the crush as more than 12,000 people gathered at the temple to celebrate a Hindu festival, Jodhpur Police Superintendent Malini Agarwal said.

At least 80 bodies were at two local government hospitals, Agarwal said, adding most of the victims were dead when they arrived at the hospitals. She said the death toll could rise as many of the injured were in serious...

By RICCARDO DE LUCA (AP)

The first solar panels were installed Monday on top of the papal audience hall at Vatican City.

Workers began putting photovoltaic cells on the roof of the hall to convert sunlight into electricity. In sunny Rome, engineers say the cells will produce enough electricity to illuminate, heat or cool the hall.

The hall is used for weekly papal audiences during winter and other times of year when the weather is bad.

Pope Benedict XVI\'s has made conserving resources an important concern of his papacy.

By Patricio Realpe (AP)

Ecuadoreans on Sunday resoundingly approved a new constitution that significantly expands leftist President Rafael Correa\'s powers and allows him to run for two more consecutive terms.

Exit polls and quick counts indicating overwhelming voter approval were backed by preliminary results, which showed 65 percent support with 5 percent of the vote counted.

\"We\'re making history! Onward!\" a jubilant Correa proclaimed in his coastal hometown of Guayaquil after his crushing victory became clear. \"This is confirmation of the citizen\'s revolution we\'re offering.\"

He and...