Pope Francis: Profile Of New Catholic Leader

Francis is the first ever pope from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernised Argentina's conservative Roman Catholic Church.

Known until Wednesday as Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis is respected as a humble man who denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed.

In the past, the 76-year-old pontiff often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and regularly visited the slums that ring Argentina's capital.

He accused fellow church leaders of hypocrisy, and forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes.

The Archbishop of Buenos Aires kissing the hand of late Pope John Paul II

"Jesus teaches us another way. Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit," the then-Cardinal Bergoglio told Argentina's priests last year.

He was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, one of five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife.

His legacy as a cardinal includes his efforts to repair the reputation of a church that lost many followers by failing to openly challenge Argentina's murderous 1976-83 dictatorship.

The new pope on the streets of Buenos Aires earlier this month

He also worked to recover the church's traditional political influence in society, but his outspoken criticism of President Cristina Kirchner could not stop her from imposing socially liberal measures, from gay marriage and adoption to free contraceptives.

He came close to becoming pope in 2005, reportedly gaining the second-highest total in several rounds of voting before bowing out in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Initially trained as a chemist, Bergoglio taught literature, psychology, philosophy and theology before taking over as Buenos Aires archbishop in 1998.

He became cardinal in 2001, when the economy was collapsing, and won respect for blaming unrestrained capitalism for impoverishing millions of Argentines.

Bergoglio talks with a man as he rides the subway in Buenos Aires

Sergio Rubin, Bergoglio's authorised biographer, said the new pope felt most comfortable taking a very low profile, and his personal style was the antithesis of Vatican splendour.

"It's a very curious thing. When bishops meet, he always wants to sit in the back rows. This sense of humility is very well seen in Rome," Mr Rubin said before the 2013 conclave to choose Benedict's successor.

Bergoglio has stood out for his austerity. Even after he became Argentina's top church official in 2001, he never lived in the ornate church mansion where Pope John Paul II stayed when visiting the country.

He almost never granted media interviews, limiting himself to speeches from the pulpit, and was reluctant to contradict his critics, even when he knew their allegations against him were false, said Mr Rubin.

Cardinal Bergoglio with his family members

That attitude was burnished as human rights activists tried to force him to answer uncomfortable questions about what church officials knew and did about the dictatorship's abuses after the 1976 coup.

Many Argentines remain angry over the church's acknowledged failure to openly confront a regime that was kidnapping and killing thousands of people as it sought to eliminate "subversive elements" in society.

It's one reason why more than two-thirds of Argentines describe themselves as Catholic, but fewer than 10% regularly attend mass.

Under Bergoglio's leadership, Argentina's bishops issued a collective apology in October 2012 for the church's failures to protect its flock. But the statement blamed the era's violence in roughly equal measure on both the junta and its enemies.

"Bergoglio has been very critical of human rights violations during the dictatorship, but he has always also criticised the leftist guerrillas; he doesn't forget that side," Mr Rubin said.

The bishops also said "we exhort those who have information about the location of stolen babies, or who know where bodies were secretly buried, that they realise they are morally obligated to inform the pertinent authorities".

But that statement came far too late for some activists, who accused Bergoglio of being more concerned about the church's image than about aiding the many human rights investigations.

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Razor Blade Doughnuts Eaten In 'Attempted Scam'

A couple have been arrested after allegedly planting razor blades inside doughnuts before eating them to try and get a payout from a Utah grocery store.

Hospital x-rays showed that Carole Lee Leazer-Hardman, 39, and Michael Condor, 35, had several razor blades in their stomachs after eating the tampered doughnuts.

Police in Draper said they even gave one to a colleague who was not part of their scam. She suffered cuts to her mouth after eating one of the razor blades and called police.

They added that the couple planned to make an injury claim against a Smith's Food and Drug store in the same mall where they both worked at a Dollar Store.

The couple allegedly tampered with doughnuts bought at this Draper store

Smith's removed the doughnuts from their shelves after the couple complained they had found triangular pieces of sharp metal in the products.

But investigators became suspicious because the doughnuts were in tamper proof packaging.

"During the course of the investigation we were able to determine that they intentionally inserted these broken razor blades into doughnuts that they had purchased at Smith's and then swallowed the razor blades with the doughnuts," police said in a statement.

The pair were booked into Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of aggravated assault and filing a false police report.

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Acrobat Breaks Neck In Moscow Circus Fall

A Kenyan acrobat suffered serious injuries including a fractured vertebra after falling through a safety net during a show at a Moscow circus.

Video footage showed the moment 22-year-old Karo Christopher Kazungu fell nearly 50ft through the net and on to the arena floor during the show on Wednesday evening.

The Great Moscow State Circus said on its website that Mr Kazungu was conscious when he was taken to hospital.

Russian news agencies quoted the director of the acrobatics show saying the acrobat was diagnosed with a fracture of one of the vertebra in his neck and was in intensive care.

He is understood not to have been paralysed.

Life News reported the net broke underneath the acrobat, slowing his impact with the ground.

Mr Kazungu was one of a dozen Russian and Kenyan performers who were taking part in a highly complex show.

Edgard Zapashny, director general of the circus, told Russian television that the circus had never had any incidents of this kind and that the German-made safety net had been rigorously tested at the circus before it was used.

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Bronx Dog Attack On Toddler Caught On Camera

A vicious dog attack on a four-year-old girl in the Bronx district of New York City has been captured on a surveillance camera.

The pit bull ran across the street and latched onto the terrified toddler who was out walking with her mother on Sunday afternoon.

The whole attack was captured by a security camera at a nearby store.

Several bystanders ran over and eventually managed to tear the animal off. 

"The dog was biting her," witness Eduardo Candelier told WNBC. "The girl was crying, she was going crazy."

The child was treated for small puncture wounds to her right arm and right leg.

The owner of the pit bull, who turned up after the attack, was issued with a summons for letting the dog off its leash.

But there are no plans to have the animal put down.

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Higgs Boson: Experts Sure Of 'God Particle'

Physicists are now confident they have discovered a long-sought sub-atomic particle known as a Higgs boson, or the 'God particle'.

Scientists at the Cern research centre in Switzerland said data from 2012 confirms the Higgs-like particle they found last July was a version of Higgs boson - which explains why matter has mass and holds the universe together.

Cern physicist Joe Incandela said in a statement: "It is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson, though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is."

The Higgs boson theory was proposed by British physicist Peter Higgs in the 1960s and suggests the existence of an invisible force field and associated sub-atomic particle that permeates all things, working like glue to give form to stars, planets and even humans.

The Higgs particle is considered a missing cornerstone of physics and without it, the universe would have remained like a soup, the theory says.

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Coca-Cola: China Investigates Sat Nav Use

Coca-Cola is being investigated by Chinese authorities for using satellite navigation to deliver their drinks.

Commercial sat navs using the US-made Global Positioning System (GPS) are restricted in China as the country keeps tight control on who has access to maps.

The only satellite navigation systems allowed to be sold use maps that are approved by the government.

It is not known if Coca-Cola is being investigated for using vehicle-mounted systems, similar to those made by Garmin or Tom Tom, or hand-held devices that merely give a user's exact position.

Analysts say the notoriously secretive country is paranoid that its national security could be put at risk by foreign-designed mapping technology.

Providers of all map apps for smartphones or map websites must obtain government licences. The maps that are approved often omit features that the government wants to keep secret.

Google Maps, which includes a satellite function that shows images taken from space, cannot be accessed in the country.

Coca-Cola was just one of 21 companies investigators in the south west province of Yunnan found using illegal GPS devices.

Coca Cola sees China as a major location for expansion

Li Pengde, the deputy director of the national surveying agency, told the China National Radio website the companies had set out to "illegally obtain classified information".

Coca-Cola said some of its trucks used "location-based customer logistics systems" to improve service and fuel efficiency.

"These customer logistics systems are broadly used for commercial application across many industries in China and worldwide," it said in a statement.

"After being contacted by local authorities, our bottling plants have co-operated fully with their enquiries to ensure that our customer logistics systems are in full compliance with current regulations."

China's government has in recent years accused dozens of people, some of them foreign geologists and other scientists, of violating its mapping restrictions.

The state has been creating its own satellite navigation system called Beidou, which uses military satellites for commercial navigation.

It hopes to roll the system out to 100 cities across China by 2020, up to 15 years behind rivals like Google.

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Bahrain: Shia Protesters Clash With Police

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Bahrain to protest against the continued presence of a Saudi-led military force deployed to put down Shia-led demonstrations.

Firebombs and stones were thrown at riot police in several Shia villages by protesters chanting "No, no Saudi occupier" and "Down (King) Hamad," witnesses said.

Others shouted: "Bahrain free, free, Peninsula Shield out, out."

The Peninsula Shield Force - led by Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia - moved into Bahrain to help restore order in the Gulf kingdom  in March 2011 after protesters had spent a month camped out in Manama's financial centre.

The protesters blocked roads into Shia villages outside the capital using large tree trunks, rubbish bins and burning tyres.

In a statement on Twitter, Bahrain's interior ministry said that an act of "sabotage" had taken place on the main Budaiya road which links several Shia villages.

"The road was blocked and a vehicle was set alight," said the ministry.

The main Shia opposition group Al Wefaq said at least 35 protesters were wounded as tear gas and sound bombs were used in an attempt to disperse the crowds.

The majority Shias are seeking a greater political voice in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

Home to the US Fifth Fleet, Bahrain has continued to witness sporadic demonstrations since the Gulf force arrived, now mostly outside the capital.

The International Federation for Human Rights says around 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the violence first broke out on February 14, 2011.

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Xi Jinping Confirmed As New Chinese President

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

Xi Jinping has been declared the new leader of China's 1.3 billion people at a meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing.

Mr Xi's appointment marks the end of a leadership transition which began last November when he was appointed General Secretary of China's Communist Party.

From that moment, his position as President was a certainty.

However, in keeping with Chinese Communist Party rules, the National People's Congress (NPC) "voted" on his position.

The 2,956 members of the NPC, who are said to represent every corner of China, gathered in the Great Hall of the People on the western flank of Tiananmen Square to cast their votes.

Of all the votes cast, just one was against Mr Xi.

The NPC is the world's largest parliament but is widely seen simply as a rubber-stamp body which gives a pre-agreed nod to decisions already made by the ruling Communist Party.

Xi Jinping is set to lead China for 10 years

The 59-year-old stuck to tradition in not making an acceptance speech. Instead, he sat centre stage and offered a bow to close proceedings.

He will rule over one fifth of the world's population for the next ten years, if all goes to the Communist Party's plan. 

His challenges are numerous: a strong but slowing economy with growing resentment over corruption, an urban-rural wealth gap, continued calls for wholesale political reform and countrywide worries stemming from countless environmental scandals.

These are all challenges which must be balanced against the his overriding objective: to ensure continuity of Communist rule, five generations after the revolution which brought Chairman Mao to power.

Xi has spent the past three months preparing for his presidency.

Televised appearances have provided clues of his priorities and hints at a more relaxed style of leadership.

With Chinese state television cameras in tow, he has visited military barracks, impoverished mountain villages and the Shenzhen Economic Zone in southern China where the country's economic reforms were first introduced two decades ago.

Tackling corruption has also been a key theme.

Xi has promised to bring down the "tigers" and the "flies", a reference to bureaucratic corruption at all levels of society.

He also called for traditionally extravagant official banquets to be toned down.

"We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials and also earnestly resolving the unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems which happen all around people," Xi said in a January speech to senior Communist Party delegates.

"The style in which you work is no small matter, and if we don't redress unhealthy tendencies and allow them to develop, it will be like putting up a wall between our party and the people, and we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength," he said.

The anti-corruption drive has been widely welcomed among China's vast population. There are daily protests online and on street corners across the country against corruption.

However, he risks a backlash from hard liners within the top political circles if they are forced to give up their perks of power too quickly.

Mr Xi also faces criticism over his own personal wealth. Many question whether the "back-room" dealings he now wants to stamp out helped to put him where he is now.

As a so-called "princeling", he comes from a thoroughbred Communist background.

His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a Communist revolutionary and former Vice-Premier.

However, political direction and possible reform in China is judged as much on what the leaders look like as it is on what they do or do not say.

And by appearance, Xi is markedly different from his predecessor Hu Jintao.

President Hu was stiff, impenetrable and unreadable. In contrast, President Xi appears to be relaxed, self-assured and, trivial as it may seem, smiley.

In Chinese politics, a smile is rare.

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Kim Jong-Un Oversees Live Artillery Drill

Kim Jong-Un has supervised a live artillery drill close to a disputed sea border with South Korea, a state news agency has reported.

Kim Jong-Un watches a live shell firing drill

The drill is the latest sign of increased tensions between the two Koreas and the Yellow Sea border is seen as the prime location for a clash.

It was not immediately clear when Mr Kim oversaw the drill. He made an inspection tour of the same artillery units last week that was widely covered by state TV and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea has threatened a second Korean war

During the latest drill, "shells intensively hit the imaginary targets of the enemy while the roar of the artillery pieces rocked heaven and earth", KCNA said.

"A modern war is an artillery war," Mr Kim was quoted as saying.

'Modern war is an artillery war,' Mr Kim said

North Korea has threatened to unleash a second Korean War - backed by nuclear weapons - in response to UN sanctions imposed after its third atomic test in February and joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres.

North Korea's claims to be able to stage a nuclear strike on the US have been derided by most observers of its missile programme, but it shelled a South Korean island in 2010, causing civilian casualties.

North Korea has stepped up its rhetoric against the US and South Korea

So far, there are few signs beyond Pyongyang's rhetoric that it is preparing for a major conflict.

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Pope Francis Celebrates First Mass

Facts About Pope Francis

Updated: 1:32pm UK, Thursday 14 March 2013

The Argentinian trained as a chemist and taught literature, psychology, philosophy and theology before taking over as Buenos Aires archbishop in 1998.

:: The pontiff lost one lung to a teenage infection and his biographer Sergio Rubin says, "he's a little bit slowed by it, but he's OK".

:: The Pope loves opera and is a fan of literary giants like Jorge Luis Borges and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

:: Pope Francis is an ardent supporter of Buenos Aires football club San Lorenzo.

:: The 76-year-old is said to have finished second when Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005 and was chosen on just the fifth ballot in the latest election.

:: Francis was born into a family of seven, his father an Italian immigrant railway worker and his mother a housewife.

:: The Pope has been a vocal supporter of Argentina's claim on the Falkland Islands and has been reported as saying, "Las Malvinas are ours".

:: Francis has co-written a book, in Spanish, called Sobre el Cielo y la Tierra (On Heaven and Earth).

:: The pontiff speaks fluent Italian, German and Spanish.

:: On April 15, 2005, a human rights lawyer filed a criminal complaint against Jorge Mario Bergoglio, accusing him of conspiring with the junta in 1976 to kidnap two Jesuit priests. His spokesman has denied the allegations and no evidence was presented linking the cardinal to this crime.

:: Displaying his conservative orthodoxy, the Pope has spoken out strongly against gay marriage, denouncing it in 2010 as "an attempt to destroy God's plan".

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