JERUSALEM (AP) — One of Israel’s most popular television personalities quit the news business Sunday to start his own political party, a move that could shake up the Israeli political system by energizing opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yair Lapid is a best-selling author and columnist who has anchored Channel 2’s top-rated weekend news edition for the past four years. Polls show the 48-year-old Lapid would do well, particularly with secular voters. A poll conducted late last week by... Read more

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI is baptizing 16 babies in the splendor of the Sistine Chapel. Some of the infants looked at him wide-eyed after he poured water from a golden shell-shaped dish over their forehead, as Benedict administered the sacrament Sunday, welcoming them formally by name into the Catholic church. A few babies flailed their arms when brought up to the pontiff, but none cried in front of him. Benedict told their parents and godparents in his... Read more

BEIJING (AP) — The body of a Tibetan monk who died after setting himself on fire was paraded through the streets in northwestern China, a report said Monday, in the latest in a series of self-immolation protests against Chinese rule. U.S. broadcaster Radio Free Asia said hundreds of angry Tibetans forced police to hand over the remains of the 42-year-old monk, named Sopa, then carried them through the streets in Dari county in Qinghai province. It said the monk died... Read more

BEIJING (AP) — State media confirmed Sunday that two former Tibetan monks set themselves on fire in far western China, in what an activist group said was the latest in a series of self-immolation protests against Chinese rule. The official Xinhua News Agency said a 22-year-old man set himself on fire at a crossroads in Aba prefecture in Sichuan province on Friday and was hospitalized with serious burns. It said another man burned himself to death in a hotel room... Read more

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — More than 3 million Roman Catholic worshippers paraded with a charred Christ statue through the Philippine capital in an annual procession Monday despite a warning from the president that terrorists might target the gathering. The black wooden statue known as the Black Nazarene was displayed at the seaside Rizal Park where Manila’s Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle led a Mass and offered prayers for victims of tropical storms and landslides over the past year. Organizers then brought... Read more

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine president has warned of a possible terrorist attack during an annual Catholic procession in Manila that may draw more than a million devotees. President Benigno Aquino III told a hurriedly called news conference Sunday that several terrorists planning to disrupt the religious procession have been sighted in the capital. He said police are attempting to arrest the suspects and disrupt any planned attack. Aquino said security will be very tight for the procession Monday... Read more

SOUTH RUSSELL, Ohio (AP) — Wally the Walmart horse is looking for a new home. That’s the nickname given to a 9-year-old standardbred horse that a humane society says was left at a northeast Ohio store by an Amish teenager more than two months ago. Humane Officer Christian Courtwright in Geauga County says the teen apparently unhooked the horse from a buggy, tied it to a rail at the Walmart in Middlefield and never came back for it. He says... Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police say a man dressed as Santa Claus fatally stabbed an Arab Christian man in the back during a procession to mark Orthodox Christmas in the city of Jaffa. Gabriel Cadis, the head of Jaffa’s Orthodox Church Association, was stabbed Friday night and died hours later at a hospital. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said six members of an Arab Christian family were in custody Saturday as police investigate. Witnesses told police the attacker was wearing a... Read more

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria top Christian group leader: members will “defend ourselves” after Muslim sect attacks. Read more

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Thousands of regime backers massed at a mosque in the Syrian capital Saturday for funeral prayers for policemen killed in a Damascus bombing, as the government vowed to respond with an “iron fist” to security threats. Coffins bearing 11 policemen, covered with Syrian flags, were brought into the Al-Hassan mosque for the prayers, a day after the explosion ripped through a Damascus intersection, killing 26 people and wounding 63. Officials said the attack was a suicide... Read more