Tell-It-Like-It-Is: February 2013

Pope Benedict XVI recalls joy and 'choppy waters'

Pope Benedict XVI: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I'm really moved"

Pope Benedict XVI has admitted he faced "choppy waters" during his eight years at the helm of the Roman Catholic Church, but says he was guided by God and felt his presence every day.

The Pope, 85, will retire on Thursday - the first pope to abdicate since Gregory XII in 1415.
Thousands of pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square in the Vatican for Pope Benedict's final general audience.
His successor will be chosen in a conclave to take place in March.
Pope Benedict told the crowd his papacy had been "a heavy burden" but he accepted it because he was sure that God would guide him.
At times he "felt like St Peter with his apostles on the Lake of Galilee", he said, making reference to the Biblical story when the disciples were battling against heavy waves and Jesus Christ appeared to them.
The Church has been beset by scandals over sexual abuse by priests and leaked confidential documents revealing corruption and infighting in the Vatican.
'Serenity of spirit'

At the scene

James Robbins BBC News, St Peter's Square

This was a farewell, but without a funeral. The sight of a living Pope here in St Peter's Square taking his leave of the faithful reinforces the sense of the Catholic Church at an unprecedented moment in its extraordinary history.
No other pope has ever asked over a billion Catholics throughout the world to pray for him "and for the new Pope", as Benedict XVI did here in Vatican City.
Was this the message of a man moving with the times? A Pope accepting with serenity that the Church at a time of crisis needs a younger, fitter man?
Certainly Pope Benedict looked and sounded frail - worn out, even - as he delivered his opening prayer, flanked by the Swiss Guards who will be withdrawn from his side on Thursday evening at the moment he relinquishes the papacy.
But his decision to quit leaves behind a Papal in-tray piled high with challenges over sex abuse and financial scandals his supporters insist he has done so much to confront while conceding there is far more still to be done.

The Pope thanked his flock for respecting his decision to retire and said he was standing down for the good of the Church.

"I took this step [resignation] in full awareness of its gravity and novelty but with profound serenity of spirit," he said in his address.
As a result of his surprise announcement, the Church has now amended its laws to bring forward the election of a successor.
A conclave beginning in mid-March would have left little time to have a new pope installed for one of the most important periods in the Catholic calendar, Holy Week, leading up to Easter, which begins on 24 March.
The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says that on Thursday the Pope will travel by helicopter to his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, about 15 miles (24km) south-east of Rome. He will cease to be Pope at 20:00 local time.
After Benedict XVI steps down, he will become known as "pope emeritus".
He will retain the honorific "His Holiness" after his abdication and will continue to be known by his papal title of Benedict XVI, rather than reverting to Joseph Ratzinger.
He will wear his distinctive white cassock without any cape or trimmings, but will surrender his gold ring of office and his personal seal will be destroyed.

Nuns and monks were among thousands running into the square to take their place in history

He will also give up wearing his red shoes.
"On the one hand I felt that since the decision that he would leave office and resign became public, Pope Benedict is relieved," said the head of the German bishops' conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch.
"But he also now feels the sympathy of the people for him, and therefore he will have a sense of melancholy and nostalgia, a bit of sadness."
Farewell The title "emeritus" is used when a person of status, such as a professor or bishop, hands over their position, so their former rank can be retained in their title.

Timeline to Thursday's resignation

Thursday 1000 to 1115 GMT: Cardinals gather in the Vatican to bid farewell to Pope Benedict
About 1515 GMT: Benedict is driven to a helipad within the Vatican
About 1600 GMT: Papal helicopter flies to Castel Gandolfo near Rome
About 1700 GMT: Pope appears at a window overlooking the public square in Castel Gandolfo to bless a crowd
About 1900 GMT: Benedict ceases to be pope; Swiss guards at the entrance to Castel Gandolfo leave their posts

In pictures: Pope's final audience

The Pope is to spend his final hours at his Vatican residence saying farewell to the cardinals who have been his closest aides during his eight-year pontificate, says the BBC's David Willey at the Vatican.

His personal archive of documents will be packed up and, at 20:00 (19:00 GMT) on Thursday, the Swiss Guard on duty at his Castel Gandolfo residence will be dismissed, to be replaced by Vatican police.
This will mark the formal end of his papacy and the beginning of the period of transition to his successor, due to be chosen next month.
From 4 March, the College of Cardinals will meet in general congregations to discuss the problems facing the Church and set a date for the start of the secret election, or conclave, to elect Pope Benedict's successor.
That successor will be chosen by 115 cardinal-electors (those younger than 80 years old) through ballots held in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.
A two-thirds-plus-one vote majority is required. Sixty-seven of the electors were appointed by Benedict XVI, and the remainder by his predecessor John Paul II.
About half the cardinal-electors (60) are European - 21 of them Italian - and many have worked for the administrative body of the Church, the Curia, in Rome.
Source:BBC

Pope resigns

Man killed in New Zealand shark attack

Aerial footage appears to show the shark shortly after the attack

A shark has killed a man off a beach near the New Zealand city of Auckland.

The attack took place around 13:30 (00:30 GMT) on Wednesday at Muriwai Beach, to the west of the country's largest city.
The 47-year-old man was swimming when he was attacked. Police shot at the shark before it disappeared, they said in a statement.
Shark attacks are rare in New Zealand. Only 11 fatal attacks had taken place since records began in 1847, TVNZ said.
The last confirmed shark fatality was in 1976 in the Bay of Plenty, south-east of Auckland, it said.

People grieve outside the Muriwai Surf Lifesaving Club after a swimmer died in a fatal shark attack at Muriwai Beach on 27 February 2013 in Auckland, New Zealand

The beach where the man was attacked has been closed

A police statement said that the man suffered fatal injuries in the attack.
"Police and surf life savers went out in two IRBs (inflatable rescue boats) and fired on the shark. It rolled over and disappeared," Inspector Shawn Rutene said.
The statement said the shark was thought to be about 12-14 feet (3.6-4.2m) long.
Fisherman Pio Mose told Stuff news website: "All of a sudden... we saw the shark fin and next minute, boom, attack him, then blood everywhere on the water."
Mr Mose said the man was still alive when "we saw another attack pull him in the water". Other local reports also said more than one shark may have been involved.
It is still unclear what species of shark attacked the man, but officials say great whites had recently been reported in the area.
The man's body had been recovered, said police while the beach and others nearby were closed.

Clinton Duffy, a shark expert from New Zealand's Department of Conservation, told the Associated Press news agency that such attacks are rare.
"There are much lower levels of shark attacks here than in Australia,'' he said.
"It's possibly a function of how many people are in the water'' in New Zealand's cooler climate, he added, saying that sharks ignore people "99% of the time".
Source:BBC

Controversial union chief

Elba Esther Gordillo rose from humble origins in rural Chiapas state
Leads the SNTE teachers' union, with an estimated 1.5 million members
Has held post for more than 20 years
Prosecutors have never brought a charge against her despite numerous fraud allegations
Expelled from President Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party in 2006 for forming her own party
Accused by prosecutors in February 2013 of "systematic embezzlement" of union accounts between 2008 and 2012

"We are looking at a case in which the funds of education workers have been illegally misused, for the benefit of several people, among them Elba Esther Gordillo," Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said.

His office alleges Ms Gordillo, 68, used the money on property, including in the US, private planes and plastic surgery.
The BBC's Will Grant in Mexico City says that Ms Gordillo is one of the highest profile figures in Mexican political life, known simply as "la maestra" or "the teacher".
For more than 20 years she has led the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE).

Attorney General Jesus Murillo gives details of the arrest

Political player With an estimated 1.5 million members, the SNTE is considered Latin America's most powerful union.
Ms Gordillo has held real influence over governments and individual presidents by persuading her union members to vote as a single bloc, our correspondent says.
The teachers were also responsible for manning polling stations on election day.
Her union is very wealthy, and can count on an annual budget of tens of millions of dollars.
It is on claims that she mishandled those funds, allegedly diverting money intended for the union's coffers to her personal accounts, that she has now been arrested.
The education reforms appeared set to weaken the SNTE, which has largely controlled access to the profession.
The union has argued that reforms could lead to massive lay-offs.
Critics also say the changes could signal the start of the privatisation of education in Mexico.
Mexico's education system currently ranks bottom in a list of members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The reforms will require teachers to undergo regular assessments, something that has previously never taken place inside Mexico's primary and secondary schools.
Many teachers in Mexico are said to have a very low standard of education themselves.
Another change is intended to tackle the problem of absent or even deceased teachers receiving wages.
Ms Gordillo has been an outspoken critic of the current education minister and his approach to the reforms.
Source:BBC

The Surya Sen Market was housed in an old multi-storey building in the crowded Sealdah area of the city.
Several people were also seriously injured, and officials say the death toll could rise.
The deadly blaze was contained in three hours and it is thought there is no one left trapped inside.
The fire in the paper and plastic market broke out early on Wednesday morning while some people were sleeping inside the complex.
The head of the fire services Gopal Bhattacharya told AFP news agency that they "found dozens of people lying unconscious with severe burns" and that most of the victims had suffocated in their sleep.
Toxic gases were also released from the flammable materials present in the building, which hampered the rescue operations.
State Fire Services Minister Javed Khan told AFP: "The market has only one exit point and those who stayed in the market at night were trapped after the fire broke out."
Mr Khan also said the market was illegal and action would be taken "against the authorities for not having any fire safety arrangement".
'Unplanned buildings' West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, visiting the scene, promised a full investigation.

Rescue workers carry a victim"s body wrapped in plastic bag after a fire at an illegal market in Kolkata

Officials said the building did not have adequate safety measures in place

She said there were many such illegal or "unplanned" buildings in the city and that "no-one follows any safety norms".
She announced compensation amounts of 200,000 rupees ($3,714; £2,461) for the families of those who died and 50,000 ($930; £610) rupees for the injured.
At least 25 fire engines were sent to the scene and the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
The reason for the fire remains unknown, but some local officials said a short circuit due to faulty electrical wiring could be to blame.
A police investigation into the cause is now underway and Ms Banerjee said they will have a report ready within three days.
There have been several major fires in Calcutta in recent years.
In December 2011, around 90 people died in a blaze at a hospital. A year before that, 43 people died in a fire at the historic St Stephen's Court building on the city's Park Street.
In 2008, more than 2,500 shops were destroyed in a huge fire at one of the city's largest markets
Source:BBC

EU ministers back fish dumping ban

The decision comes after a long campaign that won big public backing

European Union fisheries ministers have agreed to phase out the controversial practice of dumping unwanted fish.

After a tense all-night meeting, ministers said a ban on "discards" should be phased in, starting in January 2014 for certain types of fish.
It is a victory for campaigners who have demanded the end of a practice that has brought the EU into disrepute.
But activists fear that exemptions for certain countries could open loopholes to be exploited in future talks.
'Historic moment' The UN says Europe has the world's worst record of throwing away fish. Almost a quarter of all catches go back overboard dead because they are not the fish the crews intended to catch.
The decision reached early on Wednesday morning was driven by northern European nations, including the UK.
They prevailed over mainly Mediterranean countries, which were fighting to protect the interests of their fishermen.
The ban will apply to pelagic stocks like herring and whiting from next year, and to white fish stocks from January 2016.

How a UK trial uses CCTV on fishing boats to crack down on discards

Spain, France and Portugal managed to cling on to some restricted exemptions, particularly relating to crews operating far from land in mixed fisheries where the cost of landing unwanted fish is deemed to be prohibitive.
These crews will be allowed to discard 9%, shrinking to 7%. This figure is too high for the northern nations and the European Commission, which say the public expects that in a hungry world no fish should be thrown away.
Details of how exactly the discards ban will work in practice with the quota system or its projected replacement will be debated later.
The British government, one of the campaigners for change, said it was disappointed that the ban was not absolute, but that last night’s result was an historic victory to end a "scandalous" policy.
It is one instance in which mass public pressure has clearly influenced the politicians, with almost a million people on the Online campaign site Avaaz demanding an end to discards.
UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said: “This is a historic moment in reforming the broken Common Fisheries Policy. The scandal of discards has gone on for too long.
“I am disappointed that some of the measures required to put this ban into place are no longer as ambitious as I had hoped but it’s a price I am willing to accept if it means we can get the other details right.

The technology on trial at Denmark's North Sea Centre

“The result we have achieved today is another step in the right direction and will prove to be good for both fishermen and the marine environment.”
The deal builds on a recent commitment to fish sustainably, and to allow more regional decision making. Many crucial details are still to be resolved over exactly what sustainably means, how the policy is enforced, how fishing crews are supported and how they are helped to buy gear that fishes more selectively.

Fashion Insiders Weigh In: Can Your Style Survive Google Glass?

How did a weird piece of orange plastic get into our fashion shot?

A lucky few Americans will try Google Glass. The rest of us will have to look at them.
Google Glass is a ground-breaking Augmented Reality gadget. It’s also an item of clothing. As Google runs a contest to choose a select few early adopters, the rest of us need to prepare for a world where friends and colleagues are wearing Google Glass on their face. And let’s say you end up being one of the lucky few. Do you want to be seen wearing one? We talked to fashion experts to discuss how the gadget works as an accessory.

There are two particularly interesting things about the video. The first is that precisely one other person is seen wearing Glass, and it’s a fellow sky-diver covered in safety gear. The second is that one of the shots is from the POV of a model on a runway. We suspect that the first fact belies the message of the second: Runway model or no, Google Glass isn’t all that great to look at.
It’s clear that Google is conscious of the fashion implications of a gadget that you wear on your face, and they are trying to position it as a high end item of style. After Sergey Brin jumped out of a zeppelin for I/O, the next place Google debuted the device was New York Fashion Week 2012.
But anyone who’s ever tried to buy a pair of sun or regular glasses knows exactly how hard it is to make something that frames the face nicely. “If my buyer came to me and said he just purchased 1000 units that looked like the Google Glass he would be fired,” says Jonathan Muller, CEO of Gaffos.com, a retailer of designer eyewear.
“Regarding the design as a form of function, Google Glass works, however you have to consider that people who wear glasses (or even sunglasses) wear them to fit their style profile,” says Muller. “If Google can meld Italian design with its current technology, they might have a winner.”

Google Glass. This is less cyberpunk and more grandpa's clip-ons.

Google Glass. So far, this is less cyberpunk and more grandpa’s clip-ons.

Steve Jobs famously said that design is “not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” But when it comes to something sitting on your face, what it looks like matters a whole lot.
“Google is no Apple when it comes to design, the iconic white earphone, even though they could be considered a fashion are not a fashion accessory. Earphones, don’t have to fit someone’s face shape or match an outfit,” says Muller.
“It’s taken a futuristic approach in design, not something I would call ‘in style’,” he says, “At this point the Google Glass will not appeal to the mainstream (it just seems like a forehead mounted live camera) and might be relegated to the tech crowd in Silicon Valley and New York.”
That may not be such a problem for Google for now, says Jay Owens, an analyst and researcher with Face. “It’s as non-offensive as it could possibly be. It’s fine – and that’s not faint praise at all,” she says. “The whole point is for it to disappear as ‘techie thing’ or ‘status symbol’ and to become essential, can’t-live-without infrastructure.”
Until Glass does disappear, it’s going to look weird when you look at someone using one. The fact of having one will mark you out as exclusive and special. “Google Glass will say, for a bit — ‘Look, I have $1500 on my face — and privileged early adopter access’,” says Owens. It’s not dissimilar to the signalling of high end watches. “Watches are rarely fashion at all, they’re just a way of saying ‘Look I have £10,000 round my wrist.’”
If anything, Owens says, Google may have jumped the gun by offering even different colours this early in the game. “Perhaps it’s just because, as the first device of its kind on the market, emotionally I want it to present a singular, crystal clear vision: ‘This. Is It.’ I want to be seduced by the idea, or by technology, or even just the abstracted notions of ‘interface’ or ‘seamless digital-physical worlds’.”

Depending on who you ask, Google Glass either comes in too many or not enough colours.

Owens worries more about what it will be like to interact with someone who is wearing Google Glass. Though the most recent video shows off people recording what they’re doing and making use of things like driving apps to be more present, you may recall the old demo video that features a dude learning to play the ukulele while being bombarded with notifications.
That’s what we already struggle with when we have a phone on the table, Owens says. An ambient awareness means constant distraction, and a sense that we’re not all there. “Glass just puts this on your face and in front of your eyes: in the foreground of our vision. It makes explicit the fact that we all will stop mid-sentence and blank people mid-conversation should we feel the ping! of an incoming message notification.”
In the end the people wearing Google Glass are going to have to contend with the same forces that have made wearing a Bluetooth headset a faux-pas in almost every circumstance. They look weird, and they signal to the people with you that your mind is elsewhere.
“There will be genuine UX design reasons for early adopters to wear them everywhere in public,” says Owens, “but I’m afraid my instinctual reaction is still ‘God, you utter pretentious twat.’ Special occasions only, I think…”
Source:wired.com

Woman burned alive for 'sorcery' in Papua New Guinea

A woman has been tortured and burned alive in Papua New Guinea after being accused of using sorcery to kill a young boy, local media report. The woman, a mother aged 20 named as Kepari Leniata, was stripped, tied up and doused in petrol by the boy's relatives in Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands, said the National newspaper.
She was then thrown onto a fire in front of hundreds of people.
Police and firefighters were unable to intervene, the paper said.
The Post Courier newspaper said they had been outnumbered by the crowd and chased away. Both newspapers published graphic photos of the incident on their front pages.
Provincial police commander Supt Kaiglo Ambane told the National that police were treating the case as murder and would arrest those responsible.
In parts of the Pacific nation deaths and mysterious illnesses are sometimes blamed on suspected sorcerers. Several reports have emerged in recent years of accused people, usually women, being killed.
In 2009, after a string of such killings, the chairman of PNG's Constitutional Review and Law Reform Commission said defendants were using accusations of witchcraft as an excuse to kill people, and called for tougher legislation to tackle the issue.
Local Christian bishop David Piso told the National that sorcery-related killings were a growing problem, and urged the government to "to come up with a law to stop such practice".
The US embassy in the capital, Port Moresby, condemned the killing as a "brutal murder", the AFP news agency reports, and evidence of "pervasive gender-based violence" in Papua New Guinea.
"There is no possible justification for this sort of violence. We hope that appropriate resources are devoted to identifying, prosecuting, and punishing those responsible for Ms Leniata's murder."

Tell-It-Like-It-Is