Breaking News - Pope Benedict XVI formally resigns to become 'pilgrim'

News in Top Pope Benedict XVI has officially resigned, saying that he now "will simply be a pilgrim" starting his last journey on earth.

The pontiff, aged 85, was earlier flown by helicopter from the Vatican to his retreat at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.
The college of cardinals, headed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, is now in charge of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics until a new pope is elected.
Benedict vowed "unconditional obedience and reverence" to his successor.
He stepped down after nearly eight years in office - the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

A cardinal, who was inside the Clementine Hall of the Vatican to take his leave of Pope Benedict, told me it was one of those moments one can only describe as "electric with emotion".
He said he felt "the gratitude, the appreciation and the love that was flowing between the Pope and the cardinals".
But another Vatican insider admitted that the next pope has to continue the work started by Benedict to counter sexual abuse by clergy.
"Speaking as a Catholic priest myself", he told me, "it's something that blights our Church, that affects our whole role as priests in the Church.

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Breaking News - Benedict XVI: 10 things about the Pope's retirement

Pope Benedict XVI's resignation on Thursday - the first by a Pope for more than 600 years - is forcing the Vatican to consider some unusual questions. Here are 10 answers.

1. Name and title He will be known as Pope emeritus, or Roman pontiff emeritus, the Vatican announced on Tuesday. He will also continue to be known by his papal title of Benedict XVI, rather than reverting to Joseph Ratzinger, and he will continue to be addressed as "Your Holiness" Benedict XVI - in the same way, for example, as US presidents continue to be referred to as "president" after leaving office. "Emeritus" is a Latin word meaning "retired", from the verb "emereri" - to earn one's discharge by service.
2. New home Benedict XVI will leave the Vatican by helicopter before he resigns at 20:00 (19:00 GMT) on Thursday, but he will return in about three months to a new residence - a former convent known as Mater Ecclesiae - in the south-west corner of Vatican City. Reports suggest Vatican gardeners will continue to cultivate a 500 sq m organic fruit and vegetable garden there - the Pope is said to enjoy marmalade made from its oranges. Meanwhile - as Mater Ecclesiae is refurbished - he will stay in the papal residence at Castel

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Breaking News - Benedict XVI resignation: The two-pope problem

  News on Top The Pope's resignation could raise issues of divided loyalties among Church leaders closely allied with his teaching

The Pope has resigned because he felt he was no longer up to the demands the office made on him.

That hasn't happened in 600 years.
In 1294 the hermit Pietro da Morrone, elevated to the papacy with the title of Celestine V because the cardinals couldn't agree on anyone else, felt likewise after only six months in the job, and gave up.
He wanted to return to his hermitage, but Boniface VIII, his successor, thought it wiser to lock him up in a convenient castle for the rest of his life, fearing he might become a rallying-point for the disaffected.
And, as it turned out, there was no shortage of disaffection during Boniface's pontificate.
One of the arguments marshalled by Boniface's many enemies was that, because popes could not resign, he wasn't the legitimate heir to St Peter.
Electing an antipope?

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Breaking News Lulu Xingwana: Minister sorry for Afrikaner slur

News on Top Lulu Xingwana said she withdrew the comments

South African Women's Minister Lulu Xingwana has apologised for saying that Afrikaner men were raised to believe that women and children were their property.

She was speaking to an Australian broadcaster about the Oscar Pistorius murder case.
The comments have been condemned by Afrikaner groups, who want her fired.
The presidency said no individual group should be blamed for violence against women, which affects all communities.
Mr Pistorius denies deliberately shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp earlier this month, saying he thought she was an intruder.
Ms Xingwana told ABC television: "Young Afrikaner men are brought up in the Calvinist religion believing

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Breaking News - Rafael Benitez: Chelsea interim manager angrily confirms exit.

News on Top The 52-year-old has been unpopular with some Blues fans since he took over from
Champions League-winning manager Roberto Di Matteo in November.

The editor of Chelsea Fanzine CFCUK, David Johnstone, reckons Benitez can now expect the protests to ramp up to another level when they host West Brom in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
He said: "If he is there for Saturday's game and if he thinks it was bad last night, he will get it in spades. He might have more than a banner, he might have his P45."
A section of the club's supporters was unable to forgive or forget Benitez for his association with Liverpool, and the acrimonious rivalry formed with then Blues boss Jose Mourinho.
Benitez outwitted "The Special One" in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League semi-finals and the 2006 FA Cup semi-finals, and directed some barbs towards the club.
"I have been in charge in football for 26 years, I won the Champions League, I won the Fifa Club World Cup, the FA Cup, the Italian Super Cup, the Spanish league twice, nine trophies - all the trophies you can win at club level," said Benitez after a comfortable victory at the Riverside.

Chelsea supporters spent most of the night singing "We don't care about Rafa, he doesn't care about us, all we care about is Chelsea FC." It was hardly the worst abuse that the Spaniard has suffered during his short reign, and when he repeated his message afterwards to TV, radio and the written press it made it appear as if his intentions were pre-meditated.
He needed little prompting as the press pack gathered in a busy room, unaware of what was to happen. The Daily Telegraph's Henry Winter caught wind of Benitez's radio interview via Twitter, so after a couple of questions about the match, he lit the firework and stood back. For the next 13 minutes, it was Rafa unleashed.
The curious thing is that after a week where Chelsea lost at Manchester City and Benitez denied reports of a player row, the win over Middlesbrough offered a chance to underline the competitions in which Chelsea could yet triumph this season. Instead, Benitez singled out the fans, and more importantly, the club.

"So this group of fans are not making any favourites with the team and they are singing and wasting time

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Breaking News - Syria conflict: John Kerry set to up US aid to rebels

  The escalating carnage in Syria has increased pressure for western intervention

New US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting Syrian opposition leaders in Rome, as the US prepares to increase its support for rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

He is attending a gathering of the Friends of Syria group of nations that support the Syrian opposition.
Mr Kerry is expected to announce increased "non-lethal" aid for the rebels but not weapons.
The UN estimates 70,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict since 2011.
Mr Kerry says US wants to "accelerate the political transition" in Syria.
Specific promises The main opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) had threatened to boycott the meeting in Rome in frustration at the "the world's silence" at the violence.
But it agreed to attend after the US and UK indicated there would be specific promises of aid.
The increased support is expected to involve food and medical supplies for rebel-controlled areas.
It could also include training, armoured vehicles and night-vision equipment, the New York Times reported, citing senior US officials.

  Mr Kerry has said he wants to "change the calculation" of President Assad

The Obama administration has so far made it clear that it will not supply weapons to the Syrian rebels.
But arms are clearly what the Syrian opposition want and they are becoming ever more frustrated at the level of help they are getting, BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says.
According to UN estimates, more that 70,000 people have been killed in Syria since the revolt against President Assad began nearly two years ago.
Opposition fighters have been constantly outgunned as President Assad's forces deploy tanks, aircraft and missiles against them.

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Breaking News -EU agrees to cap bankers' bonuses

News on Top The new Basel III rules will come into effect next year

European Union officials have struck a provisional deal on new financial rules, including capping bank bonuses.

Under the agreement, bonuses will be capped at a year's salary, but can rise to two year's pay if there is explicit approval from shareholders.
The deal was reached late on Wednesday. EU ministers must approve it, although this is considered a formality.
The UK, which hosts Europe's biggest financial services centre, was opposed to any of caps on bank bonuses.
London argues the rules would drive away talent and restrict growth in the financial sector.
The UK had been trying to rally other governments in the 27 countries in the EU behind its position.
Top bankers and financial traders can earn bonuses multiple times their base salaries. But there has been public outrage over bonuses following the huge bail-outs of banks.
The agreement was reached during eight hours of intense talks in Brussels between members of the European parliament, the European Commission and representatives of the bloc's 27 governments.
Core business Othmar Karas, the European Parliament's chief negotiator, said: "For the first time in the history of EU

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Breaking News Thriving cancer's 'chaos' explained

News on Top The way cancers make a chaotic mess of their genetic code in order to thrive has been explained by UK researchers.

Cancer cells can differ hugely within a tumour - it helps them develop ways to resist drugs and spread round the body.
A study in the journal Nature showed cells that used up their raw materials became "stressed" and made mistakes copying their genetic code.
Scientists said supplying the cancer with more fuel to grow may actually make it less dangerous.
Most normal cells in the human body contain 46 chromosomes, or bundles of genetic code. However, some cancerous cells can have more than 100 chromosomes.
And the pattern is inconsistent - pick a bunch of neighbouring cells and they could each have different chromosome counts.
This diversity helps tumours adapt to become untreatable and colonise new parts of the body. Devising ways of preventing a cancer from becoming diverse is a growing field of research.
Chaos from order Scientists at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute and the University College London Cancer Institute have been trying to crack how cancers become so diverse in the first place.
It had been thought that when a cancer cell split to create two new cells, the chromosomes were not split evenly between the two.
However, lead researcher Prof Charles Swanton's tests on bowel cancer showed "very little evidence" that

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Breaking News Babies can hear syllables in the womb, says research

News on Top Linguistic processes appear to develop long before birth

Scientists say babies decipher speech as early as three months before birth.

The evidence comes from detailed brain scans of 12 infants born prematurely.
At just 28 weeks' gestation, the babies appeared to discriminate between different syllables like "ga" and "ba" as well as male and female voices.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the French team said it was unlikely the babies' experience outside the womb would have affected their findings.
The research lends support to the idea that babies develop language skills while still in the womb in response to their parents' voices.
Prof Sophie Scott Speech perception expert at UCL

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Breaking News Bad sleep 'dramatically' alters body.

News on Top A run of poor sleep can have a dramatic effect on the internal workings of the human body, say UK researchers.

The activity of hundreds of genes was altered when people's sleep was cut to less than six hours a day for a week.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers said the results helped explain how poor sleep damaged health.
Heart disease, diabetes, obesity and poor brain function have all been linked to substandard sleep.
What missing hours in bed actually does to alter health, however, is unknown.
So researchers at the University of Surrey analysed the blood of 26 people after they had had plenty of sleep, up to 10 hours each night for a week, and compared the results with samples after a week of fewer than six hours a night.
More than 700 genes were altered by the shift. Each contains the instructions for building a protein, so those that became more active produced more proteins - changing the chemistry of the body.

Prof Colin Smith University of Surrey

Meanwhile the natural body clock was disturbed - some genes naturally wax and wane in activity through the day, but this effect was dulled by sleep deprivation.

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Breaking News New York policeman 'in cannibal plot'

  News on Top Authorities say Gilberto Valle kept files of more than 100 women on his computer

A New York City policeman has been arrested for an alleged plot to kidnap women, rape and torture them and then cook and eat their body parts.

Gilberto Valle is being held in custody without bail on charges that include kidnapping conspiracy and unauthorised use of law enforcement databases.
The authorities were alerted by the suspect's estranged wife.
No women were hurt, but the 28-year-old used police records to gather data on potential victims, officials alleged.
Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman said the charges against the officer were "profoundly disturbing".
Mr Valle, who has served in the police force for six years, sat quietly through the hearing, correspondents say.
His public defence lawyers said the alleged plans were a deviant "fantasy in a sexual world", that had never crossed the line into reality.

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But prosecutors argued the officer had come too close to executing his plans.
Mr Valle, who lives in Queens, was assigned to a police precinct in Manhattan.
'Meeting potential victim'

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Breaking News BP spill trial told it "put profits over safety"

  News on Top The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused one of the worst oil spills in history

BP has been accused of putting profits before safety on the first day of a trial in New Orleans over liability for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The accusation came from the lawyer acting for the plaintiffs' steering committee, which represents thousands of businesses and individuals.
He told US District Judge, Carl Barbier, that BP executives were most focused on cost-cutting.
The trial could result in the biggest civil fine in history of up to $17.6bn.
BP agreed to pay $4.5bn (£2.9bn) last year to settle criminal charges relating to the spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
It has also paid $7.8bn in a settlement with people and businesses affected.
BP and other oil industry firms are pitted against the Department of Justice and the US states that were affected by the spill.
"Production over protection. Profits over safety," Jim Roy said.
The lawyer also attacked the rig's operator, Transocean, saying the company's safety official on the rig had had little training: "His training consisted of a three-day course. Amazingly, he had never been aboard the

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