Laurent Stefanini, 54, a senior diplomat and Mr Hollande's chief of protocol, was nominated in early January but the Vatican has maintained a stony silence over whether it accepts his credentials, officials in Paris said. The usual time frame for their acceptance is a month and a half. After that, a prolonged silence after a nomination is normally interpreted as a rejection.

The Elysee said that the choice of Mr Stefanini to represent France at the Vatican resulted from "a wish by the president and a cabinet decision" and that the president regarded him as "one of our best diplomats." French media widely reported that Mr Stefanini has been blackballed due to his homosexuality. Le Journal du Dimanche quoted a Vatican insider as saying that the rejection was "a decision taken by the pope himself."

Liberation, the left-leaning daily, said that "the Vatican's homophobia seriously tarnishes Pope Francis' image as being (slightly) more open-minded that his predecessors on sexuality". France in 2007 nominated a gay ambassador to the Vatican who had a partner recognised under French law but the Holy See never responded to the nomination, despite lengthy attempts to secure him the post.

He hopes it will encourage UN negotiators meeting in Paris in December to make courageous decisions about protecting the world from global warming, he told reporters traveling with him to the Philippines earlier this year. "I don't know if (human activity) is the only cause, but mostly, in great part, it is man who has slapped nature in the face," he said in January before visiting with survivors of 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, according to federal weather experts. "We have in a sense taken over nature."

Pope Francis is exceptionally well regarded at the end of his first two years as pontiff, a tenure during which he has rejected ostentatious trappings of the Vatican, embraced the poor and criticized a church that he says has become obsessed with abortion, gay marriage and contraception. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released in March found that only 6 percent of Americans viewed him negatively, while 55 percent had positive feelings about him.

Christiana Peppard, an assistant professor of theology, science, and ethics in Fordham University's Department of Theology, said she doubted that Francis would convince doubters in the US Congress to change their minds. "But I think it is good to have people who are respected as moral leaders and powerful ones at that remind powerful politicians that in a globalizing world a lot more is at stake than might be discerned in election cycles or fiscal quarters," she said.

Though the petition has already surpassed the required amount of signatures needed for the initiative, Sibila said that he hopes it will gather another 50,000 by early May in order to highlight the issue. “Who wants to stay in euro? This is the main question,” Sibila told RT. “But we don’t want to get out just like this - we want a program and a discussion, and then let the citizens decide. It’s really necessary today as the situation in Italy is going from bad to worse where jobs and economy are concerned.”

The Italian constitution, however, does not provide for the cancellation of international agreements through referenda. According to Sibila, Italy’s debt increased dramatically after the introduction of the euro. He also noted that Italy’s unemployment rate hovers around 12.7 percent, the sixth highest in the EU. “We can’t have our own fiscal policy, but without the euro it is possible in Italy,” Sibila said.

The Five Star Movement, formed in 2009 by comedian and activist Beppe Grillo, finished second in the 2014 European Parliament election with 21 percent of the vote.

For decades, we’ve been poisoning our soils with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We’ve been overgrazing and over-farming our soil to the point that what were once prairies and grasslands teeming with life, are now lifeless dust fields.

The top six inches of soil are the most precious yet least understood ecosystem on Earth. In order to appreciate its importance to our very survival, you first must understand the role carbon plays in maintaining the ecological balance of our entire planet.

Conventional agriculture that relies on tilling and monocrops decimates the top soil and is responsible for massive losses every year. So much so that some predict that most of the topsoil in the US will be lost in the next two generations.

Some of the DNA strands are from humans, because the developers hope milk proteins made from our own species will mean less chance of allergic reactions. iGem has now hit its $15,000 (£8,790) goal on the Indiegogo crowdfunding website, to develop the cheese for mass market. It claims that the product is the first vegan cheese - rather than a cheese substitute.

On its fundraising page, iGem said: "To create our proteins, we study animal genomes to find natural milk-protein genetic sequences. We optimise the genes for use in yeast and synthesise the resulting yeast milk protein DNA from scratch. This DNA is then put into yeast cells where the cellular machinery takes over and produces real milk-protein from the DNA blueprint provided by us."

Farmers in those counties are also eligible for emergency aid through the US Department of Agriculture. The agencies opened up their aid programs in Oregon in response to US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's announcement this week that most of Oregon is in drought disaster mode. A map of the disaster zones nationwide shows California, Nevada, and Arizona completely engulfed in drought, while just a few counties in New Mexico and Utah remain unaffected.

Meanwhile, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife experts worry that without sufficient glacial melt to keep waterways deep and cold, fish will struggle to survive. Oregon Department of Forestry officials are bracing for a fourth straight long, devastating fire season. "Instead of 1- or 2-acre fires in the spring we've been seeing 20- and 30-acre fires," Oregon Department of Forestry spokesman Rod Nichols said.

“They’re taking the water hoses, taking the copper wiring,” says the county’s District Attorney, David Linn. “We’ve even had instances where they’ve come in and stolen the water pumps from the farmers.” Linn has recently launched a new task force so rural residents and farmers can reach a deputy district attorney 24-7 to report crime, including illegal well drilling.

Linn says a hypothetical call might be, “You know over the past two weeks, the water flow on my kitchen sink has continued to decrease. I notice there’s a couple of big drill rigs across the road, looks like they’re very active.” An investigator could come out and talk with the well driller to make sure they’re drilling where they should be. “We want to stop the wholesale planned attempt by water drillers to essentially tap out entire neighborhoods of homes without proper legal authority,” says Linn.

If water is siphoned out of a storage tank, or a water pump goes missing, the DA’s office could dispatch investigators to the scene to collect evidence for prosecution. Under last year’s landmark groundwater law, local officials will be taking on the primary responsibility for managing groundwater and enforcing new rules.

Making calls for reparations does not advance the race by Greece and its creditors to bolster the country's solvency by even "a millimetre", Gabriel, who is also vice-chancellor, said at an event in Berlin. "Honestly, I find it dumb," he added.

Greece has an interest in gaining "wiggle room" for its new radical government's policies, Gabriel said, adding: "This changed policy and the wiggle room have absolutely nothing to do with the Second World War and reparations payments." Greece's fledgling radical-left government that came to power in January has stepped up pressure on Berlin over the emotional and controversial issue of war reparations which it says are a "moral issue" that must still be resolved.

As tempers have flared between debt-mired Greece and the eurozone's effective paymaster over the debt crisis, painful historical memories have resurfaced over the Nazi's bloody and devastating occupation of Greece from 1941. A junior minister told the Greek parliament on Monday that the figure owed by Germany amounted to more than 278 billion euros, including some 10 billion for a forced loan taken by Nazi occupation forces.

In a highly symbolic visit to Moscow on the eve of a crunch International Monetary Fund loan repayment, Mr Tsipras insisted Greece was not a “debt colony”, but a “sovereign nation with the indelible right to carry out its own foreign policy”. Following a three-hour meeting with president Vladimir Putin, the Leftist premier asserted his government would continue to forge an independent economic and foreign policy, hailing a “new spring” in Greco-Russian relations.

"We are a sovereign state and we can sign agreements in our common interest in order to combat the crisis in our country. This is why we came here. We want to create bonds of trust with Russia." Mr Tsipras also risked opening up a new schism with the European Union, repeating his claim that economic warfare against Russia would not resolve Europe’s simmering security problems with its eastern giant, and could presage a new “Cold War in Europe”.

Ahead of the visit, EU officials warned Greece of undermining the continent’s unity over economic sanctions imposed on Moscow in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.

At first glance, the Arab League’s decision seems laudable. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hailed the decision as a historic step to fight extremism and "to protect Arab national security." Arab League General Secretary Nabil Elaraby celebrated the resolution as a watershed given the "unprecedented unrest and threats endured by the Arab world," and US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter endorsed the plan as "a good thing." The Saudi pro-government daily al-Riyadheven proclaimed the rebirth of the Arab League as a “resurrected breathing, speaking, acting body."

However, the envisioned Arab League military force would have severe negative repercussions for sectarian relations in the greater Middle East. After all, the announcement was made as a Saudi-led military force continued to bombard alleged Iranian-backed Shia insurgents in Yemen and as Western negotiators raced to finalize a framework nuclear agreement with Iran. Escalating tensions with Iran and the unprecedented rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham did energize the Arab League. But some skepticism is in order about the new force’s ability to serve as a pillar of regional stability.

So far, details of the proposed Arab force remain vague. The summit formally requested participating nations’ chiefs of staff to draft a comprehensive plan to be presented to the Arab League's Joint Defense Council within three months. Until then, the scope and character of the envisioned force can be assessed only through press statements. Officials have described it as comprising up to 40,000 elite troops, supported by naval and air capabilities. Saudi Arabia is expected to provide most of the funding, and Egypt is likely to contribute the bulk of the personnel. Other Arab countries, such as Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, will make smaller contributions. The headquarters will probably be in Riyadh or Cairo.

Essentially, last week’s announcement resulted in the factual exclusion of Shia Arabs from Mesopotamia to the Levant from the heart of the organization, and has thus greatly increased polarization within the Arab world. As a consequence, the Arab League might become more effective, but it will certainly become less comprehensive and inclusive. Action will come at the expense of division.

The Alborz destroyer and Bushehr support vessel sailed from Bandar Abbas on a mission to protect Iranian shipping from piracy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said in comments cited by Press TV. Saudi Arabia and several Arab allies have imposed an air and naval blockade on Yemen as part of a two-week campaign to oust the Houthis, who have taken most of the country and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Riyadh.

Iran has condemned the campaign and called for dialogue. Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of providing military support to the Houthis, a charge the Islamic Republic denies. The Iranian ships will patrol the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen, and the Red Sea, Sayyari said. The area is one of the world's most important shipping routes and a gateway between Europe and the Middle East.

Offering the Omer is a commandment from the Torah, and was instituted to be held annually at the Temple. It marks the first day of the fifty day countdown from Pesach up until the Shavuot holiday, which commemorates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai in Biblical times.

The event was held as part of the Temple Institute's activities to prepare for renewed Temple service at the time of the Third Temple.

If the sale is given the OK by Congress and details are worked out between the two governments, it would represent the first sale of the R model of Hellfire to Egypt. Egyptian military forces currently operate the F and K variants. The sale, with a projected cost of $57 million, would occur under a Foreign Military Sales agreement. Lockheed Martin would be the prime contractor, with work occurring at its Orlando, Florida, facility.

The announcement of the sale, posted on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency's website, noted that it would help "improve the security of a friendly country that has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East. Egypt will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense," the notice reads.

While the justification statement on weapon sales notifications are usually bland, those two statements are notable, given current events.

“The sensors are the input and the radios are the output. The other key to being a complete computer is the ability to supply its own power.” The Michigan Micro Mote contains solar cells that power the battery with ambient light, including indoor rooms with no natural sunlight, allowing the computers to run perpetually.

This line of ‘smart dust’ devices includes computers equipped with imagers (with motion detection), temperature sensors, and pressure sensors. One key application for this line of smart sensors lies in personal security and information. Numerous specks of technology could be discretely placed to invisibly monitor a home, business, or personal device.

According to the report by ThinkProgess, in March alone, 111 people died during police encounters — 36 more than the previous month. This high number in March increased the average for police killings from every 8.5 hours, to nearly 1 police killing every 6.5 hours in the US.

China, whose population is 4 and 1/2 times the size of the United States, recorded 12 killings by law enforcement officers in 2014. On average, US police kill people at a rate 70 times higher than any of the other first world countries as they “protect and serve” the American citizens. This is not what freedom looks like.