U.S. & WORLD NEWS DIGEST | Pope: Humanity isn’t random

Pope: Humanity isn’t random

VATICAN CITY

Pope Benedict XVI marked the holiest night of the year for Christians by stressing that humanity isn’t a random product of evolution.

Benedict emphasized the biblical account of creation in his Easter Vigil homily Saturday, saying it was wrong to think at some point “in some tiny corner of the cosmos there evolved randomly some species of living being capable of reasoning and of trying to find rationality within creation, or to bring rationality into it.”

“If man were merely a random product of evolution in some place on the margins of the universe, then his life would make no sense or might even be a chance of nature,” he said. “But no, reason is there at the beginning: creative, divine reason.”

Heavy fighting in Misrata, Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya

Heavy fighting raged anew in Misrata and killed 24 people Saturday as Moammar Gadhafi’s forces gave up more ground inside Libya’s third-largest city. The U.S. said its first Predator-drone attack in the country destroyed a government rocket launcher that had menaced civilians in the western city.

Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, said troops have halted operations in Misrata to enable tribal elders to negotiate with the rebels. If the rebels don’t surrender in the next two days, armed tribesmen will fight them in place of the army, he said.

Rescuers find rubble at collapsed tunnel

MULLAN, Idaho

Rescue efforts have reached a section of a collapsed tunnel where they had hoped to find an Idaho silver miner who has been missing underground for more than a week, a Hecla Mining Co. official said Saturday.

But crews using bore holes and probes found only sand and rubble where they had been searching for an open section of mine, said spokeswoman Melanie Hennessey.

Finding collapsed material here could mean the entire 75 feet of tunnel where 53-year-old Larry Marek had been working has collapsed.

There still could be open areas elsewhere inside the mine, Hennessey said. And since there is no way to know for certain Marek’s location, search efforts will continue.

Gas prices cloud re-election bid

WASHINGTON

With gas prices climbing and little relief in sight, President Barack Obama is scrambling to get ahead of the latest potential obstacle to his re-election bid, even as Republicans are making plans to exploit the issue.

No one seems more aware of the electoral peril than Obama himself.

He raised the issue unsolicited in a series of town meetings in Virginia, California and Nevada that ostensibly were about his deficit-reduction plan. And he made the gas spike the subject of his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.

Pastor plans protest

DETROIT

Shocked and outraged, the Rev. Terry Jones said he intends to return to Dearborn, Mich., this week to protest outside city hall against the denial of his First Amendment rights. The Quran-burning pastor from Florida was briefly handcuffed and jailed by Dearborn police Friday after a trial stemming from an unusual complaint filed by Wayne County prosecutors.

Jones also said he’s considering filing a lawsuit against Wayne County and Dearborn authorities and he plans to rally at 5 p.m. Friday. County prosecutors had filed a complaint to make Jones stay away from the mosque for a planned rally because they said it would breach the peace. A jury sided Friday with prosecutors and Jones was led to jail.

Combined dispatches