Orthodox Christians worldwide mark Easter

Orthodox Christiansworldwide mark Easter
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Above, Metropolite Joanikiije of the Serbian Orthodox Church performs first liturgy on Orthodox Easter in Belgrade. Orthodox Christians around the world celebrated Easter on Sunday, worshipping at candlelit services from Russia to Ethiopia before gathering families for outdoor feasts. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of 200 million Orthodox Christians, led prayers and called for peace on Easter eve in the crowded Church of St. George in Istanbul. A flame brought from the site of Jesus' grave in Jerusalem was passed from candle to candle. Orthodox Christians use a different calendar from Roman Catholics and Protestants, so their celebration of Easter usually falls on a different date from the rest of Christianity and always after the Jewish festival of Passover.
GAO report recommendsmore powers for FDA
WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration should have the power to require that drug makers conduct studies on the safety of prescription medications already on the market, congressional investigators recommend. Drug makers often promise timely follow-up studies, but they often delay going ahead, the agency said. As a result, the FDA can lack useful data in determining whether an approved drug really is safe, according to a report being released today by the Government Accountability Office. Investigators also are urging Congress to change how the FDA tracks potential concerns about drug safety, makes major decisions and settles internal disputes.
BTK killer earns privileges
WICHITA, Kan. -- Good behavior has earned the BTK serial killer the privilege to watch television, listen to the radio, read and draw in his prison cell. Prosecutors had sought restrictions on such activities, saying images of women and children and news accounts of his murders would allow Dennis Rader to relive his grisly, sex-fueled fantasies. But Rader earned the privileges through a system designed to encourage good behavior, said Bill Miskell, a Department of Corrections spokesman. "We're having a hard time understanding why somebody like this is allowed to earn privileges when all the evidence was presented as to how he can turn what most people would consider to be innocent into something that is evil," said Kevin O'Connor, a Sedgwick County deputy district attorney.
Iran rejects nuke deadline
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran said Sunday its nuclear program is irreversible, issuing yet another rejection of a U.N. Security Council deadline to cease enriching uranium that expires in five days. Earlier this month, Tehran announced for the first time that it had enriched uranium using 164 centrifuges, a step toward large-scale production of nuclear fuel that can be used either in atomic weapons or in nuclear reactors for civilian electricity generation. "Nuclear research will continue. Suspension of [nuclear activities including uranium enrichment] is not on our agenda. This issue is irreversible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
Genetic breakthrough
NEW YORK -- Scientists have discovered a mutant gene that triggers the body to form a second, renegade skeleton, solving the mystery of a rare disease called FOP that imprisons children in bone for life. The finding, reported Sunday in the online edition of the journal Nature Genetics, may one day lead to the development of a drug not only to treat the rare bone disorder, but also to treat more common bone buildup related to head and spine trauma, and even sports injuries, the researchers said. "We've reached the summit," said Dr. Frederick Kaplan, an orthopedist.
Associated Press