HINDU SACRIFICE OF 250,000 ANIMALS BEGINS ( WORLD'S BIGGEST ANIMAL SACRIFICE )

The world's biggest animal sacrifice began in Nepal today with the killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu festival in the village of Bariyapur, near the border with India.
The event, which happens every five years, began with the decapitation of thousands of buffalo, killed in honour of Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.
With up to a million worshippers on the roads near the festival grounds, this year's fair seems more popular than ever, despite vocal protests from animals rights groups who have called for it to be banned. "It is the traditional way, " explained 45-year old Manoj Shah, a Nepali driver who has been attending the event since he was six, "If we want anything, and we come here with an offering to the goddess, within five years all our dreams will be fulfilled." .
Crowds thronged the roads and camped out in the open, wrapped in blankets against the cool mist. The festivities included a ferris wheel, fortune-telling robots and stalls broadcasting music and offering tea and sugary snacks.
As dawn broke, the fair officially opened with the sacrifice of two rats, two pigeons, a pig, a lamb and a rooster in the main temple, to cheers of "Long live Gadhimai" from spectators pushing against each other for a better view.
In the main event, 250 appointed residents with traditional kukri knives began their task of decapitating more than 10,000 buffalo in a dusty enclosure guarded by high walls and armed police.
Frightened calves galloped around in vain as the men, wearing red bandanas and armbands, pursued them and chopped off their heads. Banned from entering the animal pen, hundreds of visitors scrambled up the three-metre walls to catch a glimpse of the carnage.
The dead beasts will be sold to companies who will profit from the sale of the meat, bones and hide. Organisers will funnel the proceeds into development of the area, including the temple upkeep.
On the eve of the event, protesters made a final plea to organisers by cracking open coconuts in a nearby temple as a symbolic sacrifice. "It is cruel and inhumane. We've always been a superstitious country, but I don't think sacrifice has to be part of the Hindu religion," said the protest organiser, Pramada Shah.
The campaign has the support of the French actor Brigitte Bardot, who has petitioned the Nepalese prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, about the issue. But the government, which donated £36,500 to the event, has shown no sign of discontinuing the centuries-old tradition. An attempt by the previous government to cut the budget for animal sacrifice provoked street protests.
Chandan Dev Chaudhary, a Hindu priest, said he was pleased with the festival's high turnout and insisted tradition had to be kept. "The goddess needs blood," he said. "Then that person can make his wishes come true."

HUNDREDS FLOCK TO PRAYER BREAKFAST

A murmur of praying voices filled the Amarillo Civic Center at daylight Tuesday. Among them, one could hear the names "David Logan, Gary Hinders," and, more generally, "our judges," "the policemen" and "all the teachers at Amarillo High."
A few people clasped hands as they prayed. Others lifted their hands toward heaven.
Logan and Hinders are Canyon city commissioners, two of the many people listed on the prayer guide distributed at the Community Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday.
About 1,300 people gathered at the civic center and asked God to bless and guide them, as did other local, state and federal leaders.
The prayer breakfast, in its 20th year, combines youth, music, sounds of patriotism and an inspirational speaker. Patrick Morley, author of "Man in the Mirror," a look at time, temperament, finances and relationships from a masculine perspective, spoke of emptiness after a life of financial success.
"I realized I wasn't looking for God. He was looking for me," he said.
Morley outlined spiritual struggles facing most people, including the desire to live worldly lives while trying to nurture a spiritual life.
"God loves you, and he wants you to repent," he said.
Roland Shorter Jr., a prayer breakfast guest, studied "Man in the Mirror" at church.
As men's ministry leader at Amarillo Bible Fellowship, he came looking for ideas to help the dozen men involved with the ministry become better Christians.
And he found an idea.
"It's repenting. We've got to repent of the world," Shorter said.
Lucy Karr has been on the prayer breakfast committee for 15 years. Its value as an event is in its emphasis on God and his love, and in the prayer for healing of the land, she said.
"It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done. ... I think it's a little taste of heaven," Karr said.