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Vatican opposes faith-based Web addresses: Could lead to "bitter disputes"

Establishing Internet domain names based on religion would lead to “bitter disputes” among churches, the Vatican has warned the nonprofit entity responsible for the Internet’s naming system.

Domain names that refer to religion, such as “.catholic, .anglican, .orthodox, .hindu, .islam; .muslim, .buddhist, etc., . . . could provoke competing claims among theological and religious traditions,” wrote Carlo Maria Polvani, a Vatican representative, in a statement sent to the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

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Giving up online social networks for Lent? A virtual fast

Most days you can find college sophomore Adan Farrah on his laptop checking in with his classmates, looking at photos and updating his personal page on Facebook.

For the 19-year-old and many of his friends, the social networking site is something close to an obsession. “I’m on there a total of three hours a day—four hours on weekends,” said Farrah, a student at Kutztown University in Penn sylvania.

But on Ash Wednesday, Farrah decided to quit Facebook cold turkey. No more status updates. No more commenting on photos posted by classmates.