I would like to make my apache server accept nice URLs, like this:

    http://domain.com/news/local

and then it will display the content from the index.php file under the
/news/local directory.

However, I need more than a simple redirection; actually I want the
web browser to keep showing http://domain.com/news/local in its
address bar; so that users can bookmark this nice url.

I believe this can be achieved by using mod_rewrite. The bottom line
is I want to implement it independent of the web script language (php,
asp) that I'm going to use.

Please show me the exact rewrite rules (or steps). Pointers to useful
web sites (other than the mod_rewrite doc) will also be appreciated.

Thanks!

If that's all you need, then you can do it without mod_rewrite, just
using the DirectoryIndex directive.

Thanks for your comment.

Do you know, for DirectoryIndex directive, if the address bar of the
browser will hide the index.html or whatever the true file being
shown?

Thanks for your help again!

just tested and it works great! Will cancel the question.