Last week's freak snowstorm in western New York knocked down several trees and stranded thousands in dark. But Georgianna Verrastro believes that her home was spared by the storm because a higher power was watching over her family that day. As proof she mentioned what happened to a statue of Jesus near her home.

Comedian Jackie Mason sues Jews for Jesus after the group put his image on a pamphlet. The famous Jew is asking a court to halt the unauthorized use of his face by a group that aims to convert Jews to Christianity.

Three Mexican shark fishermen claim that they survived more than nine months at sea in a small boat by eating raw fish and drinking rain water as they drifted thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean. The fishermen said they left their home town of San Blas on Mexico's Pacific coast last October to fish for sharks. But due to some mechanical problems at the boat and adverse winds they were blown towards the sea.

In a unique tradition, the origins of which remain unknown, thousands of childless couples offer cucumbers at a fourth century church in Goa, in the hope of being blessed with a child, reported the Asian News International. Welcome to St Anne's Church in Velha, located around 15 kilometers southeast of Panjim.

The beaches of Italy offer a wide variety of facilities including loungers, umbrellas, ice cream and a chance to get a massage or a tattoo. However, the Adriatic resort of Pescara is now offering a new attraction - the singularly unique opportunity to wipe away the sinful hangover from the previous night's partying. Don Vito Canto, 33, who is a priest from a village near Pescara, said he listened to confessions "almost uninterruptedly" from Saturday night through Sunday morning at a improvised shrine on the sands of the beaches.