RELIGION

Lady Gaga has taken India by storm, as Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan join local newspapers, business moguls and fans in adoration after the singer's performance at the F1 after-party, her words of praise for the Indian people, and her unexpected skill with the sitar. Gaga's experience touring Indian orphanages, meanwhile, may have inspired her to form a charity for disadvantaged children.

Halloween likely originated with “Samhain,” the most important festival of the Celts of ancient Ireland

I am the only woman in the establishment and yet I barely notice, so at home do I feel. I've just perched myself in one of the lounge's lion-armed chairs, newspaper in hand, when, from across the room, a man bellows, Rocky Patel; toro; 1992; a Nicaraguan blend. I used to like those. Good smoke.

Denver native Jared Kleinstein started the Tebowing Web site this week after he and his friends took a picture outside a New York bar showing the group in the famous prayer position used by the Broncos' Tim Tebow.

It's time for Michele Bachmann to go, writes Ned Ryun, president of American Majority, in an official statement echoed by the majority of the Tea Party organization. Bachmann's floundering campaign and recent focus on social issues have alienated former supporters, who now argue the GOP candidate is not an adequate spokeswoman and has no chance of winning the primary.

Terry Jones, the Florida pastor known for publicly burning the Quran, is running for president as an Independent, on a platform of spending cutbacks, deportation of illegal immigrants and tax cuts for businesses.

Diwali is celebrated across the globe from Trinidad and Tobago to Quebec, Canada. Here's a look at photos of the global celebration of the Festival of Lights.

Mississippi is considering a constitutional amendment that would effectively ban all abortions, in the most direct state challenge yet to the Roe v. Wade precedent.

Tunisian Islamist leader Rachid Ghannouchi is seen by many secularists as a dangerous radical, but for some conservative clerics who see themselves as the benchmark of orthodox Islam -- he is so liberal that they call him an unbeliever.

5 things to know about 2011 Diwali celebrations across the globe from India to Trinidad and Tobago.

The Victoria's Secret Angels epitomize the word sexy. Their fashion choices are no less alluring.

Mike Daisey makes a show of discovering a problem, but doesn't offer any solutions.

Diwali 2011 will begin on Oct.. 26 and last for five days. Here's a look at the customs and traditions of India's Festival of Lights.

The transitional government leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil declared Sunday the end of Libya's eight-month-long war and set out a vision for a post-Moammar Gadhafi Libya that will have an Islamist tint.

Martha Marcy May Marlene may be drawing attention as the movie with the weird title, or the movie with the other Olsen sister in it. But there's a lot more to first-time Sean Durkin's creepy, unsettling drama than those obvious hooks.

As Muammar Gaddafi lay still unburied, Libya's outgoing premier said the coming days posed a crucial test of resolve for the new men of power, who are wrangling over the body, and about a formal end to the war.

A confident Mitt Romney criticized his Republican rivals and fended off attacks on Tuesday at a feisty debate that could help reinstall him as the party's presidential front-runner.

Republican presidential hopefuls meet at Sands Expo Convention Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday for the eighth debate in their race for their party's nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.

The Los Angeles Times' two-part series on the Kabbalah Center this week provides a fascinating look at the organization's rapid rise in popularity, its colorful founders, and its current tax issues.

The foreign ministry in Beijing said the suicides were a form of terrorism in disguise

Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Rick Perry were involved in a verbal spat on Tuesday, at a CNN-sponsored Presidential debate. However, despite disagreements on immigration and healthcare, the two main challengers united to criticize fellow-candidate pizza-magnate Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan