of woman knocks down pope at christmas eve mass (caught on video)

Woman knocks down pope at Christmas Eve Mass: A woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI at the start of Christmas Eve Mass, but the 82-year-old pontiff got up unhurt and proceeded as planned with Thursday's service.

Witness video obtained by The Associated Press showed a woman dressed in a red hooded sweat shirt vaulting over the wooden barriers that cordoned off the basilica's main aisle and rushing toward the pope before being swarmed by bodyguards.

The video showed the woman grabbing the pope's vestments as she was taken down by guards, with Benedict then falling on top of her.

The commotion occurred as the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rang out among the thousands who packed the basilica. The procession came to a halt, the music stopped and security rushed to the trouble spot.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini said the woman appeared to be mentally unstable and had been taken into custody by Vatican police. He said she also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was taken to hospital for a checkup.

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of former japanese finance minister shoichi nakagawa found dead

Former Japanese finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa found dead: Japan's former finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who was forced to resign over his apparently drunken behaviour, was found dead at his home in Tokyo. The cause of death is unknown.


Mr Shoichi Nakagawa, former Japanese Finance Minister

Japan's former finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who was forced to resign over his apparently drunken behaviour at a meeting of world powers, was found dead at his home in Tokyo earlier today. Mr Nakagawa, 56, was found dead in a bedroom by his wife at his home in Tokyo's residential district of Setagaya. The cause of death was not immediately unknown. The Kyodo news agency reported that no external injuries were found on his body, while national broadcaster NHK said a will has not been found.

Mr Nakagawa, a close ally of then prime minister Taro Aso, was incoherent and slurred his speech at a news conference in February after the Group of Seven talks in Rome amid the global economic crisis. A heavyweight in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Mr Nakagawa said he had sipped some wine with lunch before the press conference but blamed jet lag and cold medicine for his drowsiness. More odd behaviour followed when he visited a museum at the Vatican after the news conference. He touched exhibits and set off an alarm after entering an off-limits area. The G7 trip was widely seen as a major embarrassment for the Japanese government.

of vatican: it's ok to believe in aliens

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

he Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones. In an interview published Tuesday by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes says that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. The interview was headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother." Funes said that ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom.