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NPR's Rick Karr reports on Pope John Paul's new Latin American appointments to the College of Cardinals. The Pope yesterday named new members to become 'princes of the church' and increased the number of Latin America prelates from 23 to 26. That will make them a powerful force when the time comes for the Roman Catholic College of Cardinals to select a new Pope. Altogether, Pope John Paul the Second named 37 new cardinals, including American Archbishops Edward Egan of New York, Theodore McCarrick of Washington and Fordham University theologian Father Avery Dulles.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that the new president of the Philippines spent the day shoring up support from the country's most important power centers-- the business, military and the Catholic Church. Gloria Macapgal Arroyo, the vice president who took power over the weekend when President Josef Estrada was forced from office, faces daunting national problems. They include an economy in free-fall, a currency at record lows, and an on-going Muslim insurgency in the south. Filipinos have no illusions that Arroyo will be able to work miracles. But after the tiring scandals of the Estrada regime, they seem willing to give the Harvard-educated economist a chance.

NASA scientists believe they've found another clue to the origin of life on earth - and, maybe beyond. Deep space, it seems, is freezing cold and filled with a sort of molecular sorbet. When the researchers duplicated these conditions in the laboratory, they found they could produce molecules that - when they were immersed in water - formed primitive cell walls. NPR's Chris Joyce reports the NASA team says it's just possible that molecules like these reached Earth, and "kick started" life as we know it.

Natasha Yefimova reports that officials in St. Petersburg, Russia, are considering lyrics for the city anthem. For decades, in train stations, at weddings and official city functions, residents have played music from a ballet based on Alexander Pushkin's poem about the city called The Bronze Horseman. Now, a prominent composer is suggesting lyrics for the hymn. He's re-writing the Pushkin poem to fit the meter... and has omitted themes that could be politically sensitive. The Petersburg city establishment wants to avoid the kind of controversy President Vladimir Putin stirred up when he restored the music of the Soviet national anthem, adding new lyrics.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Prague that for weeks, elderly Czechs who were forced to work for the Nazi regime during World War Two have been filing into the Office of War Compensation. Today, the Office sent the first batch of ten thousand applications for payment to Berlin. While Czech Jews were sent to concentration camps, nearly half a million non-Jewish Czech citizens were forced to work for the Third Reich. Last summer, the Czech government negotiated a lump sum settlement with the German government, amounting to about 7500 dollars for each forced laborer.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports that millions of pilgrims from all over India bathed in the waters of the Ganges River today, the most important date in the six-week-long Hindu festival known as Kumbh Mela. Naked militant Hindu holy men brandishing swords and spears led the charge well before dawn, followed by warrior priests and then the multitudes of faithful. Hindus believe the ritual dip will wash away their sins and end the cycle of rebirth. Organizers say this year's festival was the largest ever and perhaps the single largest religious gathering in history.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Camp Zeist in The Netherlands, where a special Scottish court today sentenced Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to life in prison -- with the possibility of parole -- for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The judges acquitted the second Libyan defendant, Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima . Relatives of some of the 270 people who died in the attack expressed satisfaction with the verdict against Megrahi. They said they still hold Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi responsible. President Bush applauded the work of U.S. investigators and the Scottish court, and said Libya must take responsibility for the crime and pay compensation to the families.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports that Ecuadorian fishermen using crude equipment and no protective gear are trying to scoop up thousands of gallons of oil that spilled from a tanker ship in the Galapagos Islands. Since the accident on Sunday, currents have carried much of the fuel out to sea, away from the islands, one of the world's most fragile ecosystems. But conservationists worry that the currents will shift, endangering thousands of species of rare plants and animals, many found nowhere else in the world. The US Coast Guard is on the scene, trying to help right the ship and remove 10 thousand gallons of oil remaining in the tanker.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on a new allegation against Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft that opponents hope will hurt his chances for confirmation. Paul Offner, a health-care expert at Georgetown University, said that when he was applying for a state job in Missouri, then-Governor Ashcroft asked him about his sexual orientation. Yet during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ashcroft insisted that he would not consider sexual orientation in hiring for the Justice Department. James Hormel, Bill Clinton's ambassador to Luxembourg who is openly gay, was part of a news conference today called by Ashcroft opponents.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Davos, Switzerland, that the annual World Economic Forum got under way today amid concern over a downturn in the U.S. economy. This year's event did not draw as many top leaders to Davos as last year's 30th anniversary meeting. The Bush administration -- in the midst of confirmation hearings -- sent no senior official to Davos. Swiss police have mounted a huge security operation to prevent the kind of "anti-globalization" protests that have surrounded recent meetings of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization.