Pope recalls 'joy and burden'

Pope Benedict XVI leaves after celebrating his last general audience in St. Peter's Square. Benedict recalled great joy but also "rough waters" and thanked his flock for respecting his decision to retire. Source: AP

POPE Benedict XVI basked in an emotional sendoff at his final general audience in St. Peter's Square, recalling moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty.

He also thanked his flock for respecting his decision to retire.

Tens of thousands of people toting banners saying "Grazie!" - "Thank you" - jammed the piazza in Rome to bid Benedict farewell and join the appointment he has kept each week for eight years to teach the world about the Catholic faith.

Benedict clearly enjoyed the crowds, taking a long victory lap around the square in an open-sided car and stopping to kiss and bless half a dozen children handed to him by his secretary.

Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd during his last weekly public audience before stepping down tomorrow. He is the first Pope to retire since 1415.

In keeping with the historic moment, Benedict changed course and didn't produce his typical professorial Wednesday catechism lesson.

Rather, he made his final public appearance in St. Peter's a personal one, explaining once again why he was becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign and urging the faithful to pray for his successor.

"To love the church means also to have the courage to take difficult, painful decisions, always keeping the good of the church in mind, not oneself," Benedict said to thundering applause.

Benedict basked in an emotional sendoff from believers at his final general audience in St. Peter's Square, recalling moments of "joy and light" during his papacy but also times of great difficulty.

He recalled that when he was elected pope on April 19, 2005, he questioned if God truly wanted it.

"'It's a great burden that you've placed on my shoulders,'" he recalled telling God.

During eight years, he said "I have had moments of joy and light, but also moments that haven't been easy ... moments of turbulent seas and rough winds."

Pope Benedict XVI is driven through the crowd in his pope-mobile as he arrives to celebrate his last general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

But he said he never felt alone and thanked his cardinals and colleagues for their guidance and for "understanding and respecting this important decision."

Under a bright sun and blue skies, the square was overflowing with pilgrims and curiosity-seekers. Those who couldn't get in picked spots along the main boulevard leading to the square to watch the event on giant TV screens.

Some 50,000 tickets were requested for Benedict's final master class, but Italian media estimated the number of people actually attending could be double that.

A man cries during Pope Benedict XVI's last general audience.

"It's difficult - the emotion is so big," said Jan Marie, a 53-year-old Roman in his first years as a seminarian. "We came to support the pope's decision."

With chants of "Benedetto!" erupting every so often, the mood was far more buoyant than during the pope's final Sunday blessing. It recalled the jubilant turnouts that often accompanied him at World Youth Days and events involving his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

Benedict has said he decided to retire after realising that, at 85, he simply didn't have the "strength of mind or body" to carry on. He will meet Thursday morning with cardinals for a final time, then fly by helicopter to the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome.

A nun welcomes Benedict to his last general audience before retiring tomorrow. Fifty thousand people requested tickets but as many as 100,000 were expected to attend.

There, at 8pm, the doors of the palazzo will close and the Swiss Guards in attendance will go off duty, their service protecting the head of the Catholic Church over - for now.

Many of the cardinals who will choose Benedict's successor were in St. Peter's Square for his final audience. Those included retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, the object of a grass-roots campaign in the US to persuade him to recuse himself for having covered up for sexually abusive priests. Cardinal Mahony has said he will be among the 115 cardinals voting on who the next pope should be.

Vatican officials say cardinals will begin meeting Monday to decide when to set the date for the conclave to elect the next pope.

But the rank-and-file faithful in the crowd weren't so concerned with the future; they wanted to savour the final moments with the pope they have known for eight years.

"I came to thank him for the testimony that he has given the church," said Maria Cristina Chiarini, a 52-year-old homemaker who traveled by train early Wednesday from Lugo in central Italy with some 60 members of her parish.

"There's nostalgia, human nostalgia, but also comfort, because as a Christian we have hope. The Lord won't leave us without a guide."

Benedict thanked his cardinals, colleagues and ordinary faithful for their support and for respecting his decision to become the first pope in 600 years to resign. He said that "to love the church means also to have the courage to take difficult, painful decisions, always keeping the good of the church in mind, not oneself".

He was driven around the square in an open-sided vehicle, surrounded by bodyguards. At one point he stopped to kiss a baby handed up to him by his secretary.

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Egypt balloon horror caught on video

Warning: disturbing images. A deadly air balloon accident in Egypt was caught on amateur camera. Vision courtesy Al Jazeera TV.

TERRIFYING video has emerged of a hot-air balloon catching fire before a fatal crash in Egypt.

The amateur footage, recorded from another balloon nearby, was broadcast by Al Jazeera TV today following the deaths of 19 people in the Luxor tragedy.

Smoke can be seen billowing from the stricken craft in an eerie silhouette against the rising sun. Then, the smoke trail goes down to the ground as the balloon collapses and plummets 300m.

Meanwhile, a photographer who witnessed the tragedy has posted an image taken moments before the accident with the words: ''I prefer to remember yesterday like this''.

San Francisco-based freelancer Christopher Michel was taking aerial photos from another balloon when catastrophe struck.

Two of the eight balloons before the tragedy. Picture: Christopher Michel

The ill-fated balloon was flying over the ancient city of Luxor when it caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field. 

The casualties included French, British and Japanese tourists.

GALLERY: More of Christopher Michel's pictures from Luxor

As family and friends come to terms with the loss of their loved ones, Michel relived the calm and serenity of the flight before the tragedy.

''I'm a freelance photographer and was shooting the ancient temples of Luxor from the balloon,'' Michel told News Limited.

''It was a smoky morning as the sun rose across the Nile. Incredible beauty harshly juxtaposed with terrible tragedy.

''The picture captures two of the eight balloons flying that morning.  It was taken just a few minutes before the tragedy.'' 

The photographer was unable to confirm whether one of the two balloons captured in the photo is the one that crashed.

Michel, who previously made a balloon excursion with an English pilot, said the Egyptian operation "didn't feel quite as professional" as that of his first voyage.

He told the BBC: "We flew over the ancient ruins. Just before landing in the cornfields, I heard an explosion and saw smoke. I think it was the balloon behind mine.

"I wasn't sure what had happened at first. It was only when we landed we heard the full extent of what happened."

"It's really, really tragic and everyone involved is in a lot of shock."

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Japanese hotel shrinks to half its size

This combo picture, taken on November 10, 2012 (L) and February 20, 2013 (R) shows a shrinking 40 floor luxury hotel Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in central Tokyo. Source: AFP

PASSERS-BY in Tokyo's busy Akasaka district have started to notice something odd about a 40-floor hotel - it has shrunk to half its original height.

Slowly but surely, and with none of the explosions or dust normally associated with the demolition of skyscrapers, the hotel is being torn down.

"In this demolition scheme, the building shrinks and disappears without you noticing," said Hideki Ichihara, manager of Taisei, the construction firm running the project.

The Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka was built in the 1980s, a gleaming 140-metre symbol of a decade of extravagance when people almost had money to burn and Japan's red-hot economy powered the world.

Now it is shrinking: losing two floors, or 6.4 metres, every 10 days, said Mr Ichihara.

The Japanese-developed Taisei Ecological Reproduction System (TECOREP) is a new process designed to contain the noise and dirt of a demolition, and recycle the energy pent up in a tall building.

Engineers reinforced the top floor with steel beams and then effectively lopped it off, keeping it in place to be used as an adjustable lid that can be lowered down the building on an external support frame.

Workers at the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka have brought in 15 hydraulic jacks on which this "lid" now sits as they remove one floor at a time, carefully breaking apart the once-luxurious guest rooms.

The materials are separated and, where possible, recycled.

"By keeping this cap on top of the building, we can contain the noise and the dust significantly," Mr Ichihara said. "Dust pollution is cut by more than 90 per cent, keeping the environmental impact very small."

The waste is lowered through a central well on a pulley system that generates the electricity used to power lighting and ventilation systems, said Ichihara, further reducing the environmental impact of the demolition.

The 30-year-old hotel - known locally as "Aka-Puri", a contraction of the Japanese pronunciation of "Akasaka Prince" - was once a symbol of Tokyo's glitzy lifestyle.

At its height it was the epitome of luxury, with well-heeled guests willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a night in one of its luxury suites, or for its special Christmas Eve packages for lovers.

However, the glitter rubbed off Japan's economy with the bursting of the stock and real estate bubbles at the start of the 1990s. Luxury hotels gradually fell out of favour and some struggled to keep their guest books full.

A spokesman for the hotel owner said the company appreciates the quieter and cleaner demolition, which is in keeping with the erstwhile image of the hotel as a landmark.

"The Aka-Puri was loved by so many people, and so many people had their weddings there," said Jugo Yasutake, of Seibu Properties, which plans to build a new hotel and business complex on the spot.

"It is good to see the building disappear in such a clean manner."

The demolition is expected to finish in June.

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Robot suit for disabled gets safety nod

Employees of Japan's robotics company Cyberdyne demonstrate the robot-suit "HAL" (Hybrid Assistive Limb) as they walk on a street in Tokyo. HAL was given a safety certificate in Japan, paving the way for a worldwide rollout. Source: AFP

A ROBOT suit that can help the elderly or disabled get around was given its global safety certificate in Japan, paving the way for its worldwide rollout.

The Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL, is a power-assisted pair of legs developed by Japanese robot maker Cyberdyne, which has also developed similar robot arms.

A quality assurance body issued the certificate based on a draft version of an international safety standard for personal robots that is expected to be approved later this year, the ministry for the economy, trade and industry said.

The metal-and-plastic exoskeleton has become the first nursing-care robot certified under the draft standard, a ministry official said.

Battery-powered HAL, which detects muscle impulses to anticipate and support the user's body movements, is designed to help the elderly with mobility or help hospital or nursing carers to lift patients.

Emiko Tsunematsu, 84, paralysed on her left side, wears a robot suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) as she trains for walking in Takasaki.

Cyberdyne, based in Tsukuba, northeast of Tokyo, has so far leased some 330 suits to 150 hospitals, welfare and other facilities in Japan since 2010, at 178,000 yen ($1886) per suit per year.

"It is very significant that Japan has obtained this certification before others in the world," said Yoshiyuki Sankai, the head of Cyberdyne.

The company shares a name with the fictional firm responsible for the cyborg assassin played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1984 film The Terminator.

"This is a first step forward for Japan, the great robot nation, to send our message to the world about robots of the future," said Mr Sankai, who is also a professor at Tsukuba University.

A different version of HAL - coincidentally the name of the evil supercomputer in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey - has been developed for workers who need to wear heavy radiation protection as part of the clean-up at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Industrial robots have long been used in Japan, and robo-suits are gradually making inroads into hospitals and retirement homes.

But critics say the government has been slow in creating a safety framework for such robots in a country whose rapidly-ageing population is expected to enjoy ever longer lives.
 

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Prince Harry tries dancing on Africa visit

Prince Harry greets pupils at a primary school for blind children in Maseru, Lesotho, which was built with the support of his charity Sentebale. Source: AFP

BRITAIN'S Prince Harry has visited his charity projects in Lesotho, finding time to perform traditional dance moves with children during his return visit to the southern African kingdom.

On the third day of a three-day tour, the 28-year-old stopped at the Kananelo Centre for the Deaf, where around 70 kids cheered his arrival.

He took part in a traditional dance with the students, though the locals coyly admitted that the flame-haired royal messed up the moves.

Harry's visit came as his brother Prince William, who works as a rescue helicopter pilot, helped save a couple stranded on a Welsh mountaintop.

Prince Harry tries some traditional dance moves with schoolkids on his visit to the Kananelo Centre for the Deaf.

Some children also performed a mini-theatre production in sign language to show off the skills learnt at the centre, which was built with the support of the prince's non-governmental organisation Sentebale.

It teaches the national curriculum in sign language and also trains life skills in the impoverished country.

The prince was given a violin-like instrument and a traditional clothing blanket.

Prince Harry tries his hand at some baking, on his visit to his charity projects in Africa. 

Harry will next travel to a primary school for blind children and a community housing and water project.

The projects work with Sentebale, an organisation which Harry set up with Prince Seeiso, the younger brother of King Letsie of Lesotho.

Its name, in local language Sesotho, means "forget me not".

Deaf schoolchildren teach Prince Harry some sign language. Harry's charity Sentebale helps vulnerable children in Lesotho get support to live healthy, productive lives.

The third-in-line to the British throne will whisk off to Johannesburg in neighbouring South Africa the afternoon for a fund-raising gala dinner.

 Prince Harry charms some schoolgirls at St Bernadette's Centre for the Blind, a project supported by his charity Sentebale in Lesotho.

Prince Harry learns sign language from deaf children during at visit to the Kananelo Centre for the Deaf. Harry is on a three-day visit to Africa to see the progress of his charity and meet some of the deaf and blind children benefiting from its projects.

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Lions, bears taken from gangster

A sedated lion is carried on a stretcher at the estate of Ion Balint, a notorious gangster. Picture: Vadim Ghirda Source: AP

A NOTORIOUS gangster known as Nutzu the Pawnbroker has been indicted for heading a gang charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, blackmail and illegally possessing weapons, but the public seems to be more interested in his pets: four lions and two bears.

Press reports, not confirmed by authorities have claimed that Ion Balint - his real name - use the lions to intimidate rivals and victims.

When he rode away from prison on a black stallion in 2010, Balint played up that fearsome image.

"You said I fed men to the lions?" Balint can be heard saying on a tape heard by The Associated Press. "Why don't you come over and I'll give you some lions!"

Authorities removed four lions and two bears that were illegally kept on the estate. Picture: Vadim Ghirda

Authorities won't speculate about why Balint kept lions and bears, as well as thoroughbred horses and canaries, at his high-walled and heavily guarded estate in the poorest part of Bucharest.

"Many untruths are being reported," Balint's son-in-law Marius Vlad said, referring to other rumours of a torture chamber.

Bystanders and relatives who gathered near the gates of the estate described Balint, 48, as a good neighbour and an animal lover, and said they weren't bothered by roaring lions.

A sedated lion is surrounded by media at the estate of Ion Balint. Picture: Vadim Ghirta

"We can hear them every day but only when they're hungry or the female is in heat," said Gabriela Ionescu, 36, robed in a dressing gown and clutching her toddler daughter's hand. "They don't disturb us at all."

Authorities allege that Balint and his brother Vasile headed a criminal network which controlled much of the underworld activity in Bucharest, a city of 2 million. Some 400 police and detectives were involved in the investigation which led to the arrest last week of 67 suspects, including the Balint brothers.

In 2009, Balint was convicted of human trafficking, violence and pimping, and sentenced to 13 years in prison. That was reduced to six years but Balint was free after a year.

Yesterday, the four lions and two bears were sedated, put in cages and removed by environmental authorities and the Vier Pfoten animal welfare charity. The animals, which generally appeared in good condition, will be temporarily housed in a zoo and may be eventually relocated in South Africa, animal welfare officers said.

Mircea Pupaza, commissioner of the National Environment Guard, said Balint had no documentation or health records for the animals, which he's kept illegally for 10 years. He could face a year in prison and a hefty fine for illegally keeping wild animals.

"The lions are a status symbol for him," said Livia Cimpoeru, a Vier Pfoten spokeswoman. She declined to speculate whether they had a more sinister purpose.

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Nan shoots grandkids, then herself

Debra Denison is believed to have shot dead her two grandkids with a .38 pistol, similar to this one. Source: AFP

A WOMAN who picked up her two young grandsons from daycare drove them to a neighbouring town and shot and killed the children and herself.

The bodies of 47-year-old Debra Denison and her grandsons, 2-year-old Alton Perry and 6-month-old Ashton Perry, were found on Tuesday night in a car parked near Lake of Isles in Preston, Connecticut.

State police called the deaths a double murder-suicide, saying they believe Denison shot the boys and herself. Autopsies were planned.

Family members said Denison had bipolar disorder and a history of mental health problems.

Tuesday was Alton's second birthday. Denison picked up the children from their daycare in North Stonington on Tuesday afternoon and was supposed to bring them home so Alton could open his presents, family members said.

"I wanted him to come home and play with his new toys and have a good day," Alton's mother, Brenda Perry, told WVIT-TV.

In Facebook postings, Brenda Perry thanked people for their prayers and said she loved her sons.

"God (has) two beautiful angels helping him now," the postings said. "My boys are in an amazing place we got a few great angels watching over us. love you Ashton and alton."

On Monday she wrote: "So excited making mini cupcakes and play dough for Altons day tomorrow can't believe 2 years old already. So blessed"

Perry and her husband, Jeremy, told WVIT that Denison had a gun and suffered from split personalities.

Denison was armed with a gun when she left her home on Tuesday afternoon and had permission to pick up the boys from the daycare, state police spokesman Lieutenant J. Paul Vance said.

A phone message seeking comment was left at the daycare, Kidds & Co. A posting on the daycare's Facebook page said, "Our love and prayers are with the Perry family ... we are here to offer our support to all our families and staff."

The bodies were found at about 9:30 pm (1:30pm Wednesday AEDT) on Tuesday, about two hours after state police issued a statewide Amber Alert for Denison and the boys.

For help with emotional difficulties, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au

For help with depression, contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36 or at www.beyondblue.org.au

The SANE Helpline is 1800 18 SANE (7263) or at www.sane.org

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Two cops killed when suspect opens fire

A California Highway Patrol officer stands guard near the shooting scene in Santa Cruz, California, where two Santa Cruz Police detectives and their suspect were shot and killed in a shoot-out. The violence has shattered the quiet coastal town. Picture: AP/Santa Cruz Sentinel/Dan Coyro Source: AP

THE quiet seaside community of Santa Cruz erupted in violence on Tuesday when two detectives investigating a sex crime were fatally shot while trying to question a man who was later killed in a police shootout, leaving the chief to call it the darkest day in the department's history.

Sgt. Loren Butch Baker and detective Elizabeth Butler were shot and killed during an altercation at the home of the coffee shop worker, according to police and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's office.

They were shot while following up on allegations that barista Jeremy Goulet, 35, made inappropriate sexual advances on a co-worker at her home, authorities said. Goulet was arrested Friday and was fired the next day, The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.

Baker, a 28-year veteran of the force, and Butler, a 10-year veteran, had gone to the house where Goulet was living to follow up on the case, authorities said. They were subsequently fired upon and called for backup, and responding officers found Goulet, who was killed in the gunfire that followed, the sheriff's office said.

"There aren't words to describe this horrific tragedy," said Police Chief Kevin Vogel. "This is the darkest day in the history of the Santa Cruz police department."

Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputies secure the shooting scene.

The shootings prompted the lockdown of two schools and an automatic police call to nearby residents, warning them to stay locked inside. The ordinarily quiet residential neighbourhood echoed with a brief barrage of gunfire that killed the suspect about a half hour after the officers were shot.

A store clerk a few buildings from the shooting said the shootout was "terrifying."

"We ducked. We have big desks so under the desks we went," said the clerk, who spoke on condition of anonymity and asked that her store not be identified because she feared for her safety.

After the shootings, police went door-to-door in the neighbourhood, searching homes, garages, even closets, to determine whether there might be additional suspects. Law enforcement officers filled intersections, and helicopters and light aircraft patrolled the neighbourhood about a mile from downtown Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

The two police officers were killed while following up on allegations that barista Jeremy Goulet made inappropriate sexual advances on a co-worker at her home. Picture: AP/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro

The city's mayor, Hilary Bryant, said in a statement that the community about 97 kilometres south of San Francisco was "heartbroken at the loss of two of our finest police officers who were killed in the line of duty, protecting the community we love."

"This is an exceptionally shocking and sad day for Santa Cruz and our police department," Mr Bryant said.

Goulet, a barista at a coffee shop in the Santa Cruz harbor, was previously convicted in Portland, Oregon, in May 2008 of peeping on a 22-year-old woman who was showering in her condominium and of carrying concealed weapon, according to a Portland newspaper, The Oregonian. He was on probation but was sentenced to two years in jail after a dispute with his probation officer.

The shootings came amid a recent spike in assaults, which community leaders had planned to address in a downtown rally scheduled for Tuesday. That, along with a City Council meeting, was cancelled after teary-eyed city leaders learned of the deaths.

The recent violence included the killing of a 32-year-old martial arts instructor who was shot outside a popular downtown bar and restaurant; the robbery of a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was shot in the head; a 21-year-old woman who was raped and beaten on the UC campus; and a couple who fought off two men during a home invasion.

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Shooting horror in Swiss factory

Police sealed off the wood-processing company in Menznau, central Switzerland. (AP Photo/Keystone, Urs Flueeler) Source: AP

A LONGTIME employee opened fire at a wood-processing company in central Switzerland yesterday, leaving three people dead, including the assailant, in the country's second multiple-fatality shooting in two months, police said.

Seven other people were wounded, six of them seriously, in the shooting at the premises of the company Kronospan, in the small town of Menznau, Lucerne criminal police chief Daniel Bussmann told reporters.

The incident occurred as the Swiss parliament prepares to consider tightening some aspects of the country's famously lax gun legislation.

The assailant, a 42-year-old Swiss male, arrived at the premises shortly after 9am., drew a pistol and started firing. Police spokesman Kurt Graf said the shootings took place in the building's canteen area.

Officials didn't immediately have further details on the weapon or how the assailant acquired it. They also did not know how the assailant was killed.

Initial reports say the shooter is among the dead. (AP Photo/Keystone, Urs Flueeler)

"A lot of things are unclear at this stage," said Ida Glanzmann-Hunkeler, a Christian Democrat lawmaker who lives near the scene of the shooting.

Ms Glanzmann-Hunkeler said a proposal will be put before parliament in the coming weeks that would require greater exchange of information between the gun registries kept by Switzerland's 26 cantons. Authorities would also record whether a person is considered mentally fit to own a gun, and increase officials' powers to confiscate weapons if they aren't.

But the shooting is unlikely to immediately revive calls for ex-soldiers to store their military-issued firearms in secure army depot. The country has a long-standing tradition for men to keep their military rifles after completing compulsory military service.

This partly accounts for the high rate of gun ownership in the country, where some 2.3 million firearms are owned by a population of about 8 million.

A referendum to tighten the laws was defeated at the ballot box in 2011. At the time, opponents pointed to Switzerland's relatively low rate of gun crime, with just 24 gun killings in 2009, which works out to a rate of about 0.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. The US rate that year was about 11 times higher.

Still, there have been several high-profile incidents over the years, including the killing of 14 people at a city council meeting in Zug, not far from Lucerne, in 2001. And in early January, a 33-year-old man killed three women and wounded two men in a southern Swiss village.

Critics and advocates of gun rights doubted the latest shooting would lead to drastic law changes beyond the proposal now before parliament.

"If we demanded another referendum now, many people would say we already dealt with this two years ago," said Tobias Estermann, a member of the anti-weapons group Switzerland Without an Army.

Peter Schilliger, a Lucerne lawmaker, said the popularity of shooting clubs in Switzerland means there is strong grassroots support for gun ownership.

"And anyway, it will always be possible to come by a weapon somehow," he said.

Kronospan Chief Executive Mauro Capozzo said that the suspected assailant had been "with us for more than 10 years - a quiet man, no other incidents involving him are known". Mr Graf, the police spokesman, said the man was still with the company at the time of the shooting.

According to the local town council, Kronospan has some 450 employees. There was no immediate word on a possible motive; Mr Capozzo said the company hasn't laid anyone off recently.
 

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