HOUSTON - Houston became the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker after a hotly contested runoff.

It had been a great day so far. I was trying to get in my last bit of shopping for Christmas since we were about to depart for the mainland. Most of the shops were picked over. In the islands they ship most things in, and the good stuff goes pretty fast.

The Episcopal Church should respond with "prayer and discernment" to the recent election of a lesbian priest as an assistant bishop of the Los Angeles diocese, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said Saturday.

As the world observes Human Rights Day on Thursday, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki Moon reminded the international community to be more accepting of other races.

He has also exorcised many people and destroyed their witchcraft. They include a 16-year-old girl from Lashibi, in Accra, a 19-year-old girl at Kasoa who had used her witchcraft to kill 150 people, an 11-year-old girl who gave birth to a snake, a 13-year-

A Fort Worth-area couple said one of their hens laid an egg with a cross on the end of it. Pam and Tracy Norrell of Burleson, who displayed the odd-shaped egg, said they believe it's a sign of encouragement during the holiday season.

American conservatives, are now taking it a step further in their efforts to prove that God supports their positions: they're rewriting the Bible, changing translations to fit their views and eliminating parts that conflict with them.

The Roman Catholic diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., is expected to release thousands of documents connected to sexual abuse lawsuits.

An angry loser came to Syracuse University to make a fool of herself by spreading pathetic hatred and was treated to a happy mutant style stunt by this smiling student, named Chris Pesto.

The Supreme Court won't revive a student's lawsuit against a school that punished her for talking about her religion during her high school graduation speech.