"God told me to do it," the 86-year-old former pontiff told a friend, six months after his decision to step down shocked the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. God had implanted in his heart the "absolute desire" to resign and to devote himself to a life of prayer and reflection, Benedict told the anonymous confidante, according to Zenit, a Rome-based Catholic news agency.

"It was not because of any type of apparition or phenomenon of that sort," he said, but instead the result of a "mystical experience" received during "a direct rapport with the Lord". He said the more he sees the "charisma" of Pope Francis, his successor, the more he is convinced that it was "the will of God" that he became the first pontiff in 600 years to resign.

Francis, the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, has won huge popularity with his down-to-earth and direct style, renouncing many of the trappings of office, visiting a favela slum during his week-long trip to Brazil last month and calling for a "poor Church".

The Syrian army says the accusations have been fabricated to cover up rebel losses. The main opposition alliance said that more than 1,000 people were killed by the attacks. Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent, comments:

"Two things stand out immediately in this reported Syrian attack.

Firstly, the timing is odd, bordering on suspicious. Why would the Assad government, which has recently been retaking ground from the rebels, carry out a chemical attack while UN weapons inspectors are in the country?

But secondly, the scale of the apparent casualties is far worse than any of the previous alleged chemical attacks. Experts say it would be almost impossible to fake so many dead and injured, including children and babies. They bear no visible wounds from gunshots; instead, many display the classic symptoms of a nerve agent attack, with startled, frozen expressions that experts say are reminiscent of Saddam Hussein's 1988 attack on the Kurds at Halabja.

Last year a senior Syrian defector, Nawaf Fares, told me in Qatar that the Assad government would not hesitate to use chemical weapons if it wanted to. However, today it denies any guilt and instead says this is a media campaign by its enemies."

But some independent specialists said the video evidence was not entirely convincing.

"At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators," said Paula Vanninen, director of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention. "In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms," AFP quoted her as saying.

Japan's nuclear regulator also said it feared the disaster exceeded the ability of the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, to cope "in some respects". A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said earlier on Wednesday the agency plans to upgrade the severity of the crisis from a level 1 "anomaly" to a level three "serious incident" on an international scale for radiological releases.

Such a move would be the most serious action taken since the plant was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. "Any way you look at it, this is deplorable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular news conference on Wednesday. "The government will make every effort to halt the leak of contaminated water as soon as possible."

China said it was "shocked" to hear that Fukushima was still leaking contaminated water two years after the disaster and urged Japan to provide information "in a timely, thorough and relevant way". "We hope that the Japanese side can earnestly take effective steps to put an end to the negative impact of the after-effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters in Beijing.

Upgrading the warning to level 3 will mark the first time Japan has issued a warning on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) since three reactor meltdowns at the plant after a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. A maximum INES level 7 was declared at the battered plant after explosions led to a loss of power and cooling two years ago, confirming Fukushima as the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier. The leak is so contaminated that a person standing 50 cm (1.6 feet) away, after 10 hours, a worker in that proximity to the leak would develop radiation sickness with symptoms including nausea and a drop in white blood cells.

According to the British Heart Foundation, one in every 180 babies is born with a heart problem. It remains the most common defect at birth and accounts for more anomalies than limb, face and lung problems combined. The number of children dying from these defects has fallen more than 80% in the last 30 years thanks to better understanding and treatment. Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the BHF, said: "Our research is beginning to unravel how some of these defects occur. But there's still a long way to go."

The report says: “Estimates suggest that three quarters of the population could be suffering from the effects of heart disease, diabetes and related illnesses within two decades, which is a significant jump. Furthermore, the improving trends seen in survival rates for these diseases translate into larger numbers of people needing nursing care.”

The number of adults suffering from obesity has been forecast in previous research to double by 2030, meaning that half the adult population of Britain would be obese. Heart disease, which is linked to fatty diets, lack of exercise and smoking, is the leading cause of death in the UK. The number of people diagnosed with diabetes has risen by a third in six years, with a 57 per cent rise in prescriptions for the condition.

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: “The tragedy is that we have brought this on ourselves. We have failed miserably to prevent weight increases for more than two decades, so that this problem has kept creeping up on us. Successive governments have failed to take a firm strategy on this, and so we are left with this time bomb.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the anti-corruption Aam Admi (Common Man) parties have opened greengrocery vans in the capital Delhi to sell heavily subsidised onions to embarrass the government and highlight eye-watering price increases.

Onions are a key ingredient of most Indian dishes and are regarded as a basic right throughout the country. They are also widely regarded as a sensitive political issue – the BJP government collapsed in 1998 amid anger, among other things, over onion prices which hit 60 rupees (60 pence) per kilogramme.

In recent weeks prices have soared to 80 rupees (80 pence) per kilogramme, provoking a political outcry. The BJP and the Aam Admi Party believe the anger aroused by the shortage and price increase could help oust the ruling Congress Party from power in Delhi's state elections in November. "Onion is very important for all the sections of society in India, particularly the poor, which can survive on just onions and bread," he said.

On Monday, No 10 refused to disclose whether ministers had approved the detention of David Miranda, the partner of Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, at Heathrow Airport under anti-terror laws. However, a Downing Street source said yesterday that the Prime Minister had been “kept abreast of the operation”.

The source denied any political involvement in the decision and emphasised that the Government “does not direct police investigations”. The source stressed that the fact that Mr Miranda was carrying “stolen” information from the US National Security Agency posed a serious threat to Britain’s security.

Mr Miranda could have been kidnapped and the documents passed into the hands of terrorists or other individuals who wanted to harm Britain, the source said. There were similar fears that the Guardian’s own computer system was not secure enough to be trusted with protecting such highly sensitive information.

Critics have claimed that the police operation was an attempt to intimidate a journalist who had written a series of controversial articles on the activities of the NSA. Mr Miranda was held and questioned at Heathrow for nine hours on Sunday and forced to hand over electronic equipment including encrypted computer files containing more information from Mr Snowden.

Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel. With 70% of the US economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome.

Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone. Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of US stocks too. Finally, billionaire George Soros recently sold nearly all of his bank stocks, including shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Between the three banks, Soros sold more than a million shares.

So why are these billionaires dumping their shares of US companies? It’s very likely that these professional investors are aware of specific research that points toward a massive market correction, as much as 90%. One such person publishing this research is Robert Wiedemer, an esteemed economist and author of the New York Times best-selling book 'Aftershock'.

Before you dismiss the possibility of a 90% drop in the stock market as unrealistic, consider Wiedemer’s credentials. In 2006, Wiedemer and a team of economists accurately predicted the collapse of the US housing market, equity markets, and consumer spending that almost sank the United States. Wiedemer calmly laid out a clear explanation of why a large drop of some sort is a virtual certainty. It starts with the reckless strategy of the Federal Reserve to print a massive amount of money out of thin air in an attempt to stimulate the economy.

“These funds haven’t made it into the markets and the economy yet. But it is a mathematical certainty that once the dam breaks, and this money passes through the reserves and hits the markets, inflation will surge,” said Wiedemer. “Once you hit 10% inflation, 10-year Treasury bonds lose about half their value. And by 20%, any value is all but gone. Interest rates will increase dramatically at this point, and that will cause real estate values to collapse. And the stock market will collapse as a consequence of these other problems.”

The army's clampdown on supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi over the past week, the "suspicious deaths" of 37 prisoners in custody and the detention of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie on Tuesday have worsened relations between Washington and Egypt's new rulers.

The White House, State Department and Pentagon all disputed a statement by a US senator's office that the US government had decided for now to stop funding to Egypt's military. Obama and his aides have been trying to navigate a tricky path on Egypt, expressing displeasure with the army's actions while not entirely breaking a relationship crucial to US security interests in the Middle East.

Cutting off the aid could be costly for the US government. One former senior US government official said the United States could face a bill of about $3 billion if it cancels military aid to Egypt since it is one of two countries, along with Israel, able to order equipment before US funds to pay for them have been approved by Congress. A current US official said some of the costs would flow from penalties for cancelling the contracts as well as the expenses of winding down such programs.

They are important "partners" even beyond the Iraqi context. Berlin has been intensifying its contacts to the Kurdish autonomous government in Erbil since 2005 and more intensively since 2008. At that time, the focus was primarily on obtaining access to Northern Iraqi natural gas, to supply the planned "Nabucco" pipeline.

However following that project's collapse, German influence has focused on the regional reorganization of the nations. Foreign policy experts are currently discussing a tighter affiliation of the Kurdish-speaking regions in Northern Iraq, Syria and Turkey, with the possible perspective of forming a sort of "Kurdistan Province" integrated in a federally restructured Turkey. A "Kurdish National Conference" - due to be convened soon in Erbil to unite Kurdish associations from Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran - will probably also focus on these plans. If such reorganization does take place, Berlin would not like to be watching from the sidelines.

So now Congress, who promised the American people a fair health care plan that would last generations, now can add themselves to the nation of Islam, which under the provisions of Obamacare, is exempt from its requirements and taxes.

As a consequence of this provision, Muslims may claim a religious exemption that is denied Christians and Jews. Since Islam believes insurance is haraam (forbidden) and likens insurance to gambling, the religion is excluded from requirements, mandates, or penalties set forth in the bill. Others who fall into this category are the Amish, American Indians, and Christian Scientists. Although the US Constitution grants all Americans equal protection of the law, some Americans are more equal than others.

They have been incredibly reckless, and as James Rickards told Greg Hunter during an interview the other day, we are in much worse shape to deal with a major banking crisis than we were back in 2008...

What’s going to cause the next crisis?

Rickards says, “The problem in 2008 was too-big-to-fail banks. Well, those banks are now bigger. Their derivative books are bigger. In other words, everything that was wrong in 2008 is worse today.” Rickards goes on to warn, “The last time, in 2008 when the crisis started, the Fed’s balance sheet was $800 billion. Today, the Fed’s balance sheet is $3.3 trillion and increasing at $1 trillion a year.”

Rickards contends, “You’re going to have a banking crisis worse than the last one because the banking system is bigger without the resources because the Fed is tapped out.” As far as the Fed ending the money printing, Rickards predicts, “My view is they won’t. The economy is fundamentally weak. We have 50 million on food stamps, 24 million unemployed and 11 million on disability, and all these numbers are going up.”

We never even came close to recovering from the last financial crisis and the last recession. Now the next major wave of the economic collapse is coming up quickly. I hope that you are taking this time to prepare for the approaching storm, because it is going to be very painful.

The much anticipated "financial correction" is rapidly approaching, and investors are starting to race for the exits. We have not seen so many financial trouble signs all come together at one time like this since just prior to the last major financial crisis. It is almost as if a "perfect storm" is brewing, and a lot of the "smart money" has already gotten out of stocks and bonds.

Could it be possible that we are heading toward another nightmarish financial crisis? Could we see a repeat of 2008 or potentially even something worse? Of course a lot of people believe that we will never see another major financial crisis like we experienced in 2008 ever again.

A lot of people think that this type of "doom and gloom" talk is foolish. It is those kinds of people that did not see the last financial crash coming and that are choosing not to prepare for the next one even though the warning signs are exceedingly clear. Let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst and right now things do not look good at all.

The extremist group could plant explosives on trains and tunnels or sabotage tracks and electrical cabling, said Bild, Europe's most widely read daily. Bild said the information came from the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States, which had listened in to a conference call involving top Al-Qaeda operatives. The attacks on Europe's rail network was a "central topic" of this call, Bild said.

Authorities in Germany have responded to the threat with discrete measures such as deploying plain-clothed police officers at key stations and on main routes, according to the daily. According to US media reports, intelligence services intercepted a conference call earlier this month between Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and more than 20 operatives from across the group's global network.

Iran and Hezbollah, it warned, were continuing their “global terror campaign” against Israeli and Jewish targets. It noted that Iran remained bent on avenging alleged Israeli responsibility for the killing of Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh in a Damascus car-bombing in 2008, and the deaths of three Iranian nuclear scientists.

It said its information indicated that Israeli businessmen and ex-government officials were prime potential targets for assassination and/or kidnapping. With all that in mind, the bureau reconfirmed that Israelis are barred altogether from travel to Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where the “concrete” terror threat was “very high.” Generally, it urged Israelis traveling worldwide to take extra precautions, such as avoiding unexpected meetings or out of the way places, and to change regular travel routes.