religion

In 2008, she began competing full-time in the Association of Surfing Professionals' World Series. In her first competition against the world's best women surfers, she finished third. The loss of an arm to a shark is just part of life, she says.

Behind the scenes in Rome, the word is that the Vatican is in a mess. There's talk of managerial, personnel and public-relations disasters under Pope Benedict XVI — and that's what the pope's best friends are saying. Never mind his critics!

Archdeacon Gary Harch will be working in the Irish Club Hotel in Toowoomba on Easter Sunday. "I enjoy a drink or two, and so do a lot of people; and I think some people will enjoy the more informal-style mass." The church is coming to the pub.

Belly dancing has been made popular by Shakira, the Latin American superstar. Although she is Colombian, her Lebanese background has influenced her dancing. Other singers who perform belly dance moves include Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera.

The Israeli supermodel denies she is engaged to Leonardo DiCaprio after she was seen wearing a ring on her wedding finger. "Let me explain," she told People: "These rings, made by a friend of mine, won't fit any other finger except this one."

The place to go this year is Istanbul: along with the Ruhr Valley and Pécs, Hungary, it's one of the three European Capitals of Culture. Mike Pilewski takes us to the megacity on the Bosporus in a land caught between East and West, between tradition and modernity.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali teamed up with Dutch film director Theo van Gogh to make Submission, a film about the mistreatment of women in Islam. Van Gogh was murdered on an Amsterdam street in 2004 by an extremist. Hirsi Ali now lives in Washington, DC.

The word "Christmas" means "Christ's Mass". It comes from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse. "Cristes" is from the Greek Christos, and "mæsse" is from the Latin missa. "Xmas" is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.