The pope's comments were made during an 80-minute press conference with reporters on his flight back to Rome, his first meeting with press since he was named pontiff in March.
Pope: Gays can and should be accepted into the Catholic Church
Potential well water contaminants highest near natural gas drilling, UT Arlington study says
A new study of 100 private water wells in and near the Barnett Shale showed elevated levels of potential contaminants such as arsenic and selenium closest to natural gas extraction sites, according to a team of researchers that was led by UT Arlington associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry Kevin Schug.
The results of the North Texas well study were published online by the journal Environmental Science & Technology Thursday. The peer-reviewed paper focuses on the presence of metals such as arsenic, barium, selenium and strontium in water samples. Many of these heavy metals occur naturally at low levels in groundwater, but disturbances from natural gas extraction activities could cause them to occur at elevated levels.
Long backlog for godless wedding services in Ireland
Traditionally Catholic Ireland has allowed an atheist group to perform weddings this year for the first time, and the few people certified to celebrate them are overwhelmed by hundreds of couples seeking their services.
Demand for the Humanist Association of Ireland's secular weddings has surged as the moral authority of the once almighty Catholic Church collapsed in recent decades amid sex abuse scandals and Irish society's rapid secularization.
The New Jerusalem: 'I will not give you my home!'
Around 1,000 Jewish settlers now live among 31,000 Palestinians in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, taking over homes that have been inhabited by Muslim families for decades or even centuries, and flying Israeli flags from the walls and rooftops of their properties.
They are the frontline fighters in a broader battle – backed by the Israeli government, city authorities and security services – to ensure Jewish control of Jerusalem and to drive its Palestinian population down to a minimum.
More than 1000 inmates escape from Libyan jail
About 1,200 inmates have escaped from a jail in the restive Libyan city of Benghazi. A security official told the AP news agency that most of the escapees were facing serious charges.
Another report said a riot had taken place inside the al-Kwafiya prison. The jailbreak comes a day after the assassination of a prominent political activist triggered protests in the city, although it is not clear whether the two are connected.
Gunman among 7 dead after Fla. hostage standoff
A hostage situation and mass shooting that ended this morning with seven people dead in the South Florida town of Hialeah began when an elderly couple who managed the apartment complex left the granddaughter they were watching and went to talk to a tenant living with his mother, according to reports.
That commonplace act led to a barrage of gunfire that killed the couple, a man walking his children home and three other people apparently going about their business Friday night, according to police. The incident ended when a SWAT team stormed the apartment early Saturday where two hostages were being held by a man suspected of shooting six people.
U.S. allowed Italian kidnap prosecution to shield higher-ups, ex-CIA officer says
A former CIA officer has broken the U.S. silence around the 2003 abduction of a radical Islamist cleric in Italy, charging that the agency inflated the threat the preacher posed and that the United States then allowed Italy to prosecute her and other Americans to shield President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials from responsibility for approving the operation.
Confirming for the first time that she worked undercover for the CIA in Milan when the operation took place, Sabrina De Sousa provided new details about the “extraordinary rendition” that led to the only criminal prosecution stemming from the secret Bush administration rendition and detention program launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Reuters' climate-change coverage 'fell by nearly 50% with sceptic as editor'
Reuters' climate-change coverage fell by nearly 50% after a climate sceptic joined the news agency as a senior editor, a study has found.
The sharp decline in coverage since 2011, recorded by the Media Matters for America advocacy group, reinforces charges from a former staffer that Reuters cut back on climate stories under the influence of Paul Ingrassia, who is now the agency's managing editor.
Halliiburton pleads guilty to destroying Gulf spill evidence
Halliburton Co has agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday.
The government said Halliburton's guilty plea is the third by a company over the spill and requires the world's second-largest oilfield services company to pay a maximum $200,000 statutory fine.
Halliburton also agreed to three years of probation and to continue cooperating with the criminal probe into the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
Page 323 of 1143
