johalputt: Conal Urquhart

Pope Benedict talks of 'evil, suffering and corruption' in the world in remarks to Vatican Curia as he prepares to vacate papacy

The Vatican has attacked reports in the Italian media linking Pope Benedict XVI's resignation to the alleged discovery of a network of gay prelates as attempts to influence the cardinals in their choice of a new pontiff.

The Vatican secretariat of state said in a statement: "It is deplorable that as we draw closer to the time of the beginning of the conclave … that there be a widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories that cause serious damage to persons and institutions."

The statement was made as Pope Benedict XVI had his final meeting with senior clerics, lamenting the "evil, suffering and corruption" that have defaced God's creation in a final address to Vatican officials.

Benedict spoke on Saturday at the end of a week-long spiritual retreat coinciding with Lent, the period of 40 days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Easter. For the past week, Italian cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi has led the Vatican on meditations that have covered everything from the family to denouncing the "divisions, dissent, careerism, jealousies" that afflict the Vatican bureaucracy.

Ravasi's blunt critique of the dysfunction within the Vatican Curia comes as cardinals from around the world are arriving for the final days of Benedict's papacy and the conclave to elect his successor. Bureaucratic reform is a high priority for the next pope.

The pontiff's speech follows a report that has linked his resignation to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, some of whom have reportedly been targeted by blackmailers.

The Italian daily newspaper La Republica said the pope decided to resign on 17 December – the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called "Vatileaks" affair.

Last May Pope Benedict's butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with stealing leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting.

The newspaper said the cardinals described a number of factions, including one whose members were "united by sexual orientation". It added that some Vatican officials had been subjected to "external influence" from laymen with whom they had links of a "worldly nature". La Republica said this was a clear reference to blackmail.

Pope Benedict XVI

Religion

Catholicism

Christianity

Vatican

Italy

John Hooper

Conal Urquhart

via The Guardian World News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/23/vatican-pope-gay-conclave-reports

06:36

Falls of more than 60cm close roads, railways and a nuclear power station as five state governors declare emergency

The north-east of the United States was smothered by snow on Saturday with falls of more than half a metre causing blackouts and the closure of a nuclear power station.

Hundreds of thousands of people lost power – more than 200,000 in Massachusetts, more than 100,000 in Rhode Island, and 30,000 in Connecticut, according to power companies.

More than 60cm of snow fell on central Connecticut and parts of Rhode Island, New Hampshire and south-east Massachusetts, with Boston due to get up to 90cm. New York City was due to get about 30cm with more expected elsewhere in the state, while heavy snowfall was also predicted in Connecticut and Maine.

Winds reached 35 to 40 miles per hour by Friday afternoon and forecasters expected gusts up to 60mph.

The storm prompted the governors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Maine to declare states of emergency in the face of the fearsome snowstorm. The Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick, took the rare step of announcing a ban on most car travel starting on Friday afternoon, while the Connecticut governor, Dannel Malloy, closed the state's main roads to all but emergency vehicles.

Blizzard warnings were in place from New Jersey to southern Maine, including New York City and Boston. Commuters were repeatedly warned not to travel on Friday evening or Saturday, with the National Weather Service warning that visibility could be "near zero in white-out conditions".

The National Weather Service said Boston could receive three feet (90cm) of snow, which would rank as the city's largest ever snowfall. The previous high of 27.6 inches was recorded in 2003. Cities from Hartford, Connecticut, to Portland, Maine, were expected to see at least a foot of snow, the NWS said, while New York City was predicted to see 12.1 inches.

By Friday night some commuter trains between New York City and Westchester County, Long Island and Connecticut had already been suspended. Amtrak suspended rail services between New York, Boston and points north on Friday afternoon.

About 3,500 flights were cancelled on Friday and hundreds more on Saturday. Most airlines had cancelled flights in and out of New York City and Boston as well as smaller airports in the region before the storm. The flight tracking website Flight Aware said over 3,100 flights had been cancelled on Friday and a further 1,000 on Saturday. Passengers were advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

The Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, lost power and automatically shut down on Friday. An official at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said: "There was no impact on plant workers or the public."

In many cases, authorities ordered non-essential government workers to stay at home, urged private employers to do the same, told people to prepare for power cuts and encouraged them to check on elderly or disabled neighbours.

"People need to take this storm seriously," said Malloy. "Please stay home once the weather gets bad except in the case of real emergency."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was monitoring the storm and would hold "regular operational briefings" with state agencies in affected areas on Friday and Saturday.

The storm wasn't bad news for everyone. The New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, suggested that people relax at home by cooking or watching a film. Bloomberg said he planned to catch up on his sleep.

As she stocked up at a Brooklyn grocery store, 28-year-old Jackie Chevallier said that after two years without much snow, she was looking forward to waking up to a sea of white.

"I'd like to go sledding," she said.

The storm also posed a risk of flooding at high tide to areas still recovering from last October's hurricane.

"Many of the same communities that were inundated by Hurricane Sandy's tidal surge just about 100 days ago are likely to see some moderate coastal flooding this evening," said Bloomberg.

United States

Snow

North and Central America

New York

United States

New York

Boston

Massachusetts

Boston

Connecticut

Rhode Island

Maine

Air transport

Rail transport

Road transport

Natural disasters and extreme weather

Conal Urquhart

Adam Gabbatt

via The Guardian World News http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/2013/feb/09/us-power-cuts-snow-new-england

Adam Gabbatt Conal Urquhart johalputt The Guardian World News

04:36

With the key phase of France's campaign over, it is unclear whether lasting peace or a simmering guerrilla war will follow

François Hollande has arrived in Timbuktu to meet local elders days after French forces liberated the Saharan town from fundamentalist Muslim rebels.

The French president, accompanied by his ministers for defence and foreign affairs, landed in Sevare in central Mali before travelling north.

Until just over a week ago, fighters from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb controlled Timbuktu, torching its showpiece library of ancient manuscripts in a vengeful departing act. They retreated from the town without firing a shot.

Malians have overwhelmingly welcomed France's military operation, which has involved 3,700 ground troops. Their own unelected leaders failed to stop a rebel advance last year, which meant the towns of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal fell under Islamist rule. French, Malian and other African forces have retaken all three.

But with the major phase of the French campaign over, there is uncertainty about what comes next: a lasting peace or, as seems more probable, a simmering guerrilla war. There are also questions about the human rights record of Mali's army. In separate reports, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch accused the military on Friday of carrying out extrajudicial killings.

Hollande's visit comes after the UN's adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, warned of the increasing risk of reprisal attacks against ethnic Tuareg and Arab civilian populations in the Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao regions.

"While the liberation of towns once under the control of the rebel and extremist groups has brought hope to the populations of northern Mali, I am deeply concerned at the risk of reprisal attacks against ethnic Tuareg and Arab civilians," he said.

"There have been serious allegations of human rights violations committed by the Malian army, including summary executions and disappearances, in Sevare, Mopti, Niono and other towns close to the areas where fighting has

occurred. There have also been reports of incidents of mob lynching and looting of properties belonging to Arab and Tuareg communities. These communities are reportedly being accused of supporting armed groups, based simply on their ethnic affiliation."

Some Malians, meanwhile, are unhappy about negotiations in Kidal between French forces and the MNLA, a secular Tuareg nationalist militia that has been fighting in the south for decades. The MNLA wants an independent republic – something Dioncounda Traoré, Mali's interim president, has categorically ruled out.

France's defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has declared the intervention a success, while recognising that Mali's situation is not secure. He also said Malians should now establish a reconciliation process, but this call has left some unhappy. "I welcome the French, but I'm extremely angry they are talking to the MNLA," Ibrahim al-Senussi, a corporal in Mali's army, said. "The MNLA are liars and traitors."

The fate of several French hostages held by Islamist groups is likely to feature in any private dialogue between Paris and northern Malian leaders. Some 11 westerners are being held by jihadist forces, it is believed, including three tourists who were kidnapped from their Timbuktu hotel in 2011. A German who resisted was shot dead.

There has been no information on the hostages, but the remote mountains north of Kidal have previously been a haven for radical Islamist guerrillas. French fighter jets bombed the area on Thursday.

Most of the French public back the intervention in Mali, even if it is not their top concern. A poll this week suggested Hollande's swift decision to deploy troops had boosted his presidential stature and approval ratings slightly. But pollsters said despite a small bounce in his ratings, Hollande's status remained "fragile". The president is unpopular because of high unemployment and the economic crisis.

This week he said French and African forces in Mali were "winning the battle", but the joint African force taking over must continue the pursuit of Islamists in the north. France is due to gradually hand over to a UN-backed African force of some 8,000 soldiers. Its job will be to secure northern towns and pursue militants into their mountain redoubts near Algeria's border, but timings remain unclear.