Daily News Channel
Three years ago, the film based on Dan Brown’s novel "The Da Vinci Code" was the focus of protest and controversy, with a Vatican archbishop calling for a boycott and Catholics at many levels refuting plot points. But when it comes to the new film based on a Brown novel, “Angels & Demons,” star Tom Hanks says talk of controversy is much ado about nothing
Few question Pope Benedict XVI’s good will, nor the eloquence of his prose. But for the second time in three years, the Pope has delivered a highly anticipated discourse on the Holocaust that was moving but, by its silence on specific subjects, missed an opportunity of historic proportions. Welcomed at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial early Monday evening, Benedict spoke powerfully of the victims, and called on humanity never to forget the attempt to exterminate the Jews as a way “to ensure that hatred will never reign in the hearts of men again.” But, in a highly unusual criticism of an honored guest’s remarks, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, chairman of the Yad Vashem council, told Israeli television that though the speech was moving, “Something was missing.
Thai authorities investigating the recent deaths of two female tourists suspect that the women may have died from food poisoning, police sources told CNN Monday. Jill St. Onge, a 27-year-old artist from Seattle, Washington, and Julie Michelle Bergheim, a 22-year-old Norwegian woman, died at the same resort on Thailand’s Phi Phi Island just over a week ago
Pope Benedict XVI headed to Israel on Monday on his first visit to the Mideast, aimed at promoting good relations between Muslims and Christians. Benedict’s stop in Tel Aviv will begin his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Under Pope Benedict XVI’s reign, the Vatican dossier on Islam could be entitled: “Regensburg, and Everything After.” Regensburg was the professor Pope’s landmark 2006 discourse at his former university that included a nasty historical citation about the prophet Mohammed and provocatively asked if Islam lacks reason, making it inherently prone to violence. The worldwide protests among Muslims, including a handful of church burnings and the killing of a nun, forced the Pope to quickly change his approach, and soften his tone
On the second day of his visit to the Middle East, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the need for harmony and unity between Christians and Muslims.
Pope Benedict XVI will leave for a weeklong tour of the Middle East Friday morning, the first papal visit to some of Christianity’s most holy places since Pope John Paul II made the pilgrimage in 2000. The trip will take him to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch expects News Corporation-owned newspaper Web sites to start charging users for access within a year in a move he says could radically shake-up the culture of freely available content. Speaking on a conference call as News Corporation announced a 47 percent slide in quarterly profits to $755 million, Murdoch said the current free access business model favored by most content providers was flawed
Miss California USA Carrie Prejean has assured pageant officials that a lingerie modeling photo published online this week is the only one she posed for, the state pageant director said.
Miss California USA Carrie Prejean "breached her contract" by keeping semi-nude photos a secret and could be stripped of her beauty queen title, according to a state pageant spokesman. Prejean said the photos — taken when she was a teenage model — were being used in a “vicious and mean-spirited” effort to silence her for “defending traditional marriage.” The 21-year-old Miss USA contestant has been the center of controversy since she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage in a response to a question on the pageant stage last month