Wind stalls launch of cargo rocket

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- High wind again kept space station supplies stuck on Earth. An unmanned rocket loaded with 7,400 pounds of cargo for the International Space Station -- the first U.S. shipment in months -- was grounded by dangerous gusts Saturday. It was the third weather delay in a row. Launch director Bill Cullen called off the attempt three hours in advance. Technical troubles had bumped the late-afternoon launch time to the last possible moment in the window; given the high odds of excessive wind, there seemed little reason to proceed. The next try -- No. 4 -- comes today.

Official quits over 'Christmas' event

ROSELLE PARK, N.J. -- A city council's decision to add the word "Christmas" to the name of its tree-lighting ceremony prompted one council member to step down because it "turned it from a non-religious event to a religious one." Charlene Storey announced her decision minutes after the Roselle Park council approved the change Thursday night. Her resignation takes effect Jan. 7. Storey, who was raised Catholic but describes herself as a non-believer, said the town's decision to change the ceremony's name from "A Tree Lighting" to "A Christmas Tree Lighting" favors one religion and "cuts non-Christians out of the loop."

18 patients die in power outage

NEW DELHI -- Severe floods that hit the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu killed 18 hospital patients last week after rainwaters knocked out generators and switched off ventilators, officials said Saturday. State authorities were investigating complaints of negligence by officials at MIOT International hospital in the state capital of Chennai, which is reeling from massive floods. The 18 patients were in the intensive-care unit when a power outage affected ventilators in the hospital, leading to their deaths over the past two to three days, said state Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan. He said floodwaters entered the room with the generators, cutting off power to the building and switching off the ventilators.

Nightclub burned after dispute; 16 die

CAIRO -- Two men who were denied entry to a nightclub later returned with others and firebombed it early Friday, setting off a blaze that killed all 16 people who were trapped inside by the smoke and flames, authorities said. Terrorism was quickly ruled out as the cause of the attack at the El Sayad restaurant and club in Cairo's Agouza district. Egypt has been battling a growing Islamic insurgency in recent months. The overnight fire that came on the first day of the weekend in Egypt also injured three people. Police were searching for six people suspected in the attack, which occurred after two of them were not allowed to enter the club, said Interior Ministry spokesman Abu Bakr Abdel-Karim. After the two were refused entry, they "went and drank alcohol somewhere else," then brought four others with them, arriving on motorcycles about 6 a.m., Abdel-Karim said. "They then threw a Molotov cocktail at the entrance of the place," he said.

-- From wire reports