In small-town northern India, Muslims are offered food and money to convert to Hinduism. If that doesn't suffice, they say they're threatened. Across the country, the Christmas holiday is canceled for hundreds of government servants who spend the day publicly extolling the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Powerful Hindu nationalist leaders — some with close ties to Modi's government — say they intend to ensure India becomes a completely Hindu nation.
But Modi himself? He has remained silent as nationalist demands have bubbled over into day-to-day politics, and amid growing fears among minority religious groups of creeping efforts to shunt them aside.

A Las Vegas man has been charged with drunk driving after he crashed into Jennifer Lopez's Rolls Royce, in which she was riding, in Malibu, California.
Los Angeles County prosecutors said in a statement Monday that 53-year-old Robert John Reitz was charged with misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and driving at nearly twice the legal blood-alcohol limit. He could get six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.

For most of the past 20 years, a live animal has been used in a small North Carolina town's annual New Year's Eve Possum Drop. But this year, following challenges from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the organizer says he'll no longer use a live opossum — instead, it'll be a road-kill opossum or perhaps a pot of opossum stew.
The Brasstown event involves enclosing an opossum in a tinsel-covered plastic box and lowering it to the ground at midnight, then releasing the animal.

Police say they matched a would-be pizza shop robber to a roll of toilet paper in his Pennsylvania home.
Uniontown police say 29-year-old Eric Frey tried to rob Michael Maria's Pizza on Saturday by handing an employee a note written on toilet paper that read: "I have a gun. Give me $300."

A state agency in Minnesota is claiming the world record for largest ball of paper.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says the ball measures 9 feet 7 inches tall and 32.2 feet in circumference. The 426-pound ball was displayed at the Minnesota State Fair to show how much recyclable paper state residents throw away every 30 seconds.

The Oregon cat accidentally sold with a mattress set is home after 10 days on his own.
Roy Dufek wrote in a statement that his girlfriend, Hayley Crews, caught Camo in a trap Saturday night after he was reportedly seen near the Hillsboro Airport west of Portland. The trap was baited with sardines in oil and familiar scented clothing.
West Africa's fight to contain Ebola has hampered the campaign against malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that is claiming many thousands more lives than the dreaded virus.
In Gueckedou, near the village where Ebola first started killing people in Guinea's tropical southern forests a year ago, doctors say they have had to stop pricking fingers to do blood tests for malaria.

Comedian Chris Rock filed for divorce from his wife Malaak Compton-Rock, a statement from his representative confirmed Sunday.
The statement went on to specify that Rock and his family request privacy as they go through this process because it is a personal matter.

Michael Sam said in a TV documentary that aired Saturday night that coming out as gay was the right thing to do. He'd have preferred the news come out after he informed the team that drafted him.
"It didn't need to be public," Sam said. "Why do gay people have to do it?"

Alicia Keys gave birth to son Genesis Ali Dean early Saturday morning. It's baby number two for the Grammy-winner and husband, producer-rapper Swizz Beatz, who are also parents to 4-year-old Egypt Daoud.
The 33-year-old singer shared the news on her Instagram account, Sunday, with a photo of Genesis's footprints. The image also details that the baby was born at 1:52 a.m. and weighs 6 pounds, 5 ounces (2.86 kilograms).
