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Wednesday, January 15, 2025
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Former Pope Benedict Denies Forced Resignation

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Pope Benedict, who resigned almost one year ago, broke his silence for the first time since he stepped down from the highest position in the Catholic Church, branded new media speculation absurd that he had been forced out.

Church law states that the resignation of a pope is only valid if he makes the decision with full freedom and no pressure from anyone else.

Benedict, who is 86, said there is no doubt about the validity of his resignation from the Petrine ministry. He now holds the title of pope emeritus.

He stated that the only condition over the validity of his resignation was the complete freedom he had over the decision. Speculation with regard to the validity of his resignation he said was absurd.

On February 11 of 2013, Benedict made the announcement he was resigning, becoming the first pope to resign in 600 years. Two weeks after his announcement, Francis won the election amongst the Cardinals to become the first pope in over 1,300 who was non-European.

Benedict at that time said he was stepping down due to not being able to carry out his duties due to not having the spiritual or physical strength and that he was making the decision with complete freedom.

In early February, on the day following the one-year anniversary of his resignation, a newspaper in Italy ran an article that revived the speculation that he had been forced into resigning due to scandals that took place within the Vatican.

During 2012, the butler for Benedict was arrested due to leaking documents of a sensitive nature alleging corruption amongst Vatican prelates and irregularities in the finances of the Vatican.

At that time, Italian media reported a group of prelates who had wanted Benedict discredited and pressure him into resigning were the ones behind those leaks. That has been always denied by the Vatican.

The newspaper also made a suggestion that Benedict has chosen to continue wearing white because of feeling like he was still the pope.

Benedict now lives in almost complete isolation in a former convent on the grounds of the Vatican. When asked about this he said he continues to wear his white cassock and keep Benedict for his name for just practical reasons.

When he resigned, he said no other clothes had been available and he wears his cassock differently than Pope Francis does. He called it another case of unfounded speculation.

Fraternity at Ole Miss Suspended for Noose on Statute

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A University of Mississippi fraternity was suspended indefinitely on Friday by its own national organization and three members who were all freshmen were kicked out of the frat due to their alleged involvement in an incident that involved hanging a noose on the James Meredith statue.

Meredith was the first black student to enroll and attend the college, which previously was all white.

In a prepared statement, the fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, said it had suspended its Alpha Charter at Ole Miss and the expelled three members whose names will be given to authorities conducting the investigation.

This past week, police found a noose around the neck of the Meredith statue, as well as an older version of a Georgia flag with the battle emblem of the Confederacy in its design. The new Georgia flag does not included the emblem.

In 1962, when Meredith attempted to enroll at Ole Miss, the governor of Mississippi tried to block him. That caused violence on the campus in Oxford.

Robert Kennedy, the then Attorney General sent over 500 U.S. marshals to take over control of the school. Meredith was allowed a few days later to enter the school. Though Meredith faced a great deal of harassment, he earned a political science degree.

On Friday, the FBI said it was planning to expand its vandalism investigations to see if a federal law had been violated.

The Sigma Phi Epsilon CEO Brain Warren Jr. said that the fraternity championed racial diversity and equality since 1959, when at the time it became the first U.S. national fraternity to open its doors to all races, creeds as well as religions to be members.

On Friday the university attempted to question the three students, who are all white, about the vandalism, but attorneys for the three would not permit their clients to be questioned with the university first obtaining arrest warrants. All three men were unidentified.

A spokesperson for the university said the findings by the school had been handed over to the office of the district attorney. The spokesperson said the school would proceed with its own disciplinary action through a panel that is made up of both students and faculty.

Mystery over Missing Aircraft Deepens

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The mystery regarding what has happened to the Malaysian Airlines flight has deepened on Sunday as the search has continued for the aircraft. A military radar has indicated that the flight could have turned back to return to Kuala Lumpur prior to vanishing.

The flight carried 227 passengers along with 12 crewmembers. It suddenly disappeared in less than an hour after it took off for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

The plane’s disappearance has triggered a huge search and rescue operation throughout parts of the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, which has involved the military from China, Vietnam, Malaysia and the United States.

Officials from search and rescue in Vietnam said on Sunday that there was an investigation about a report on suspected debris seen floating near where the flight was thought to disappear.

The object was spotted by an aircraft from Singapore about 100 kilometers off the coast of Vietnam.

Three vessels from Vietnam were dispatched to that location and were due to arrive there sometime Sunday night. Two military airlifters and three vessels from the Singapore navy were sent to join the search.

The plane’s disappearance and the fate of its passengers and crew grew more complicated by revelations that two of the plane’s passengers appeared to have boarded with passports that were stolen. That prompted executives from the airline and officials from aviation to say foul play could not be ruled out.

The police chief in Malaysia said the investigators did not rule out the possibility of terrorism, but were not considering it the more likely cause of the plane’s disappearance.

Rescuers said the plane might have attempted a return to Kuala Lumpur, which might mean it could be in another location.

Military radar indicated that the plane might have reversed its course, said the chief of the air force General Rodzali Duad. The chief said military officials were continuing to study the data from the radar, adding that it was also corroborating using radar data from civilian authorities.

More than one dozen nations were represented by the passengers on the plane. Two people an Italian and an Austrian were not on the plane as their passports were the ones stolen in Thailand.

Grambling Football Program Amidst Chaos

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A spokesman for Jackson State announced late Friday evening that the game scheduled for Saturday between Jackson State and Grambling had been canceled.

Wesley Peterson, the spokesman for JSU told news agencies that officials at Grambling had contacted the school to let them know of the decision made by officials at Grambling.

Grambling players refused to travel for the game to Mississippi, as they were disgruntled. Will Sutton a spokesman for Grambling, said earlier in the day via a text message that no forfeit would be taken. He said officials at Grambling were going to determine what was the next step to be taken.

Earlier in the day, officials at Grambling tried to work out something that would allow the game to be played. However, officials and the disgruntled players could not agree on a viable solution.

Duer Sharp, the Commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference said prior to the final decision not to play the game, that if Grambling is not at the site of the game on Saturday, it would be forced to accept a forfeit and would be fined.

The apparent boycott by players was the latest in an upheaval that has lasted for three days for this proud football program at Grambling.

A number of media outlets reported that the players did not participated in practice on Wednesday or Thursday. The players apparently were not happy with issues regarding the football program and the leadership of the school.

This season Grambling, which is winless at 0-7, has changed its coaches twice over a period of two months. After two games of the season, former Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams was fired. George Ragsdale replaced Williams, but he was reassigned on Thursday and Dennis Dirt Winston replaced him on Friday.

Jackson State has homecoming this weekend and the canceled game will hurt tremendously the finances. Usually the matchup between rivals Jackson State and Grambling draws large crowds. In 2011, over 21,000 saw the game in Jackson.

Earthquake Leaves Dozens Dead in Philippines

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An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 caused the deaths of 85 people in the central region of the Philippines. The quake toppled buildings, knocked over historic churches and sent residents running terrified into deadly stampedes.

Panic followed as people started filling the streets following the 8:12 a.m. quake. The quake was centered nearly 20 miles below Carmen Town, which is on Bohol Island, where a number of buildings were destroyed, roads broken up and bridges became impassable or collapsed.

Cebu, one of the most densely populated cities also was hit with extensive damage. The city is located on the opposite side of a narrow strait from Bohol. People were killed when a market roof and fish port fell on them.

In a gym in Cebu, a stampede was set off by the quake. People make lines there to receive cash assistance but the stampede killed five and injured at least eight others.

In a city nearby, 18 were injured when a mad scramble to the door of building that was shaking ensued.

Police reported in Bohol that 69 deaths came from there, where the quake shook close to the town of Carmen. In Cebu, 15 deaths have been confirmed and rescuers were searching for those they believe are alive but trapped.

The quake was centered in an area inland and did not cause any tsunami.

Schools and offices were closed due to a national holiday, which could have helped save lives.

This quake was also deeper in the ground than last year’s 6.9 magnitude quake that hit in the waters near Negros Island.

One witness said the quake took place when she was in her room and it sounded as if a huge truck was approaching as the rumbling noise grew louder and louder as the rolling, got closer.

She ran outside and cold see the concrete electric poles swaying and said the entire shaking lasted at least 20 seconds.

Killer Bacteria Infects 31

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Vibrio Vulnifcus is an infection caused by bacteria found in salt water that is warm.

The bacterium is in the same family as the one that causes cholera. Thus far, in 2013, there have been 31 confirmed cases of the infection in Florida, by the strain that is the severest vibrio, and 10 people have died.

Health officials in Florida said a person could contract the disease in two ways: tainted raw shellfish most commonly oysters or when a person who has an open wound comes into contact with seawater that has the bacterium.

In Alabama this week, officials from the state health department said two males were diagnosed recently with vibrio vulnifuicus. One of the two died last month and the other is currently hospitalized.

Both of the men were working with crab traps in warm saltwater.

While these occurrences could be a concern to health officials in states with miles and miles of coastlines and tourism dependent economies, experts said the bacterium is not something most people should be concerned with.

The bacteria usually exist in salt water and for the most part affect only those with immune systems that are compromised. Symptoms of the bacteria include diarrhea, vomiting as well as pain in the abdomen. If the bacterium enters the bloodstream it provokes symptoms that include chills, fever, blistering wounds on the skin and decreased blood pressure.

Health officials said they believe the Gulf of Mexico is as safe to see as it was 10 years ago.

In other Gulf States, reports of other illnesses that are waterborne have been in the news, but they too are very rare. In fresh water, the amoeba Naegleria fowleri usually lives off bacteria from the sediment in rivers and lakes.

However, if it goes up a person’s nose high enough, it is able to get inside the brain and kill the person. Fatalities from this have been reported in Arkansas, Florida and Louisiana this year.

Ex-Examiner for Fed Says Firing Caused by Goldman Sachs Findings

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A former Federal Reserve senior bank examiner has sued her former employer. She claims she was fired due to her refusal to change her findings that the financial institute Goldman Sachs Group did not have a conflict of interest policy firm wide.

The former examiner, Carmen Segarra who is 41, said in her lawsuit filed on Thursday that she had examined the compliance and legal divisions for Goldman Sachs during late 2011 and the beginning of 2012. She said she found that the bank did not have a policy conforming to banking regulations set down by the Fed. She alleges the Fed fired her due to her refusing to withdraw those findings.

Michael Silva was the relationship manager for the Fed dealing with Goldman Sachs and has been named as one of the defendants in the lawsuit.

Segarra said her former employer possessed information that could cause Goldman Sachs harm.

Segarra in her complaint cites different emails with Silva where she argued that there was not firm wide policy at Goldman Sachs, while Silva accuses Segarra of telling him Goldman Sachs did not have any policy at all.

Segarra, in addition to her suit against the New York Fed, has sued Michael Kolb, Silva’s deputy and her supervisor Johnathon Kim.

A New York Fed spokesman, Jack Gutt said in a statement that was emailed on Thursday that the Fed could not discuss Goldman Sachs or Segarra due to rules of confidentiality.

Goldman Sachs spokesman Andrew Williams said that the company knows of no internal discussions at the Fed or the matters Segarra had raised.

Linda Stengle and lawyer for Segarra said on Thursday that her client was part of a group of examiners the New York Fed hired in 2011.

Yellen Nomination Eases Fears, Dollar Gains

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The news that U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to nominate Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve helped to lift the dollar and eased fears over the current budget deadlock Wednesday. Nevertheless, world stocks dropped for the third consecutive session.

An official from the White House said that Obama would be nominating Yellen, who is currently the Fed’s deputy chief. Her nomination is expected later on Wednesday.

Most observers feel Yellen will lead the Fed’s policy on a similar path of Ben Bernanke her predecessor, including staying with the commitment by the bank to the bond purchasing stimulus program until the economy has recovered and is back on track.

However, most participants in the market, expected that the positive impact of the nomination of Yellen to be short, given the little progress being made in Washington that could lead the U.S. to default on its debt obligations as soon as next week.

Those worries caused shares in Europe to fall to a new low of one month Wednesday just one day after Wall Street saw a sharp selloff.

Futures for stocks in the U.S. pointed to a slight recovery for Wall Street when the session opens on Wednesday, where much attention will be focused on a new round of corporate earnings. The season for corporate earnings started Tuesday afternoon with Alcoa reporting first.

The dovish stance for Yellen on policy implied her appointment was previously set as a net negative for the currency of the U.S., but the budget problem seems to have changed that temporarily.

The dollar was up over 0.5% to 97.3 yen, which took it off a low of two-months of 96.55 it had hit on Tuesday. The dollar was also higher by 0.5% on the Swiss franc.

Congress only has nine more days to act prior to the deadline for the debt ceiling of October 17. Little or no movement has been made in negotiations between the two political parties.

Economic Unbalances in Ukraine Worries World Bank

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Ukraine lawmakers must act in a very quick fashion to correct the countries imbalance in the economy that threaten to widen the current account and budget deficits beyond the control of the government, said the World Bank.

The lender, based in Washington, said Ukraine must allow more flexibility in currency exchange rates and end the gas-price subsidies to qualify for bailout funds from international lenders.

The international lender lowered its estimate for the 2013 economic growth for Ukraine from 1% to zero.

At present, Ukraine is in a struggle with a shrinking economy, contracting foreign reserves, a widening gap on current accounts and trade restrictions from neighbor Russia, its largest market for exports.

By delaying an overhaul to the economy until past the presidential elections scheduled for 2015, would make the changes at that time even more difficult and eventual recovery slower, said the international lender.

Ukraine’s bonds from the government due in 2014 fell, pushing the bond yield to over 15.1%, the highest it has been in over a week.

On September 20, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the debt rating for Ukraine by a full level to Caa1. That level is seven below investment grade. The service cited increasing economic and political risks due to relations deteriorating with Russia, low reserves in the central bank and no progress on a possible bailout from the IMF.

The reserves in the central bank are sitting at a low of seven years of just $21.7 billion as of the end of August. That is down by over $8 billion form just last year.

Policymakers have had to dip into the fund to support country’s currency the hryvnia. The balance is lower than the prices of three months of imports, which is a threshold many economists deem as important to keep financial stability.

India Seeking Regulation of Rent-a-Womb Business

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Rekha Patel a restaurateur from Britain held her newborn baby at a medical clinic in India’s northwest, as Daniel, her husband stood by smiling looking through a glass door.

Patel, who is 42, said she was amazed they finally had their baby and were grateful for the surrogate mother who was able to get pregnant and deliver a healthy baby.

The surrogacy industry in India is booming as thousands of couples who are infertile, many from around the world, hire the wombs of women in India to carry embryos to birth.

However, a big debate is raging over whether the industry, which is unregulated, exploits the poorer women. That in turn has prompted authorities in the government to draft legislation making it tougher for people from outside India that are seeking babes made there.

One Mumbai-based operation has produced over 295 surrogate babies, of which 90% were for clients overseas and 40% for couples who are same sex, since the fertility bank opened in 2007.

However, if the new law creates tighter rules, as the ministry of home affairs has suggested, which would disallow surrogacy for couple that are same-sex as well as single parents, then a clear impact would be felt in the industry and keep many clients from coming.

In 2002, India first opened to surrogacy on a commercial basis. It is one of just a few countries including Russia, Ukraine, Thailand and Georgia and a couple of states in the U.S. where women are allowed to be paid to carry to term another’s genetic child via the process know as in-vitro fertilization.

Skilled doctors, little bureaucracy, low-cost technology and a huge supply of possible surrogates have made India one of the preferred destinations for today’s fertility tourism drawing in nationals from the United States, Britain, Japan, Australia and others.

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