January 20, 2015 Edition

On his flight back to Rome from the Philippines, Pope Francis told journalists he defends the Church’s teaching against artificial contraception but that this didn’t mean “Christians should have children one after the other.” He appealed for responsible parenting, saying that good Catholics should not have to breed “like rabbits.” The “key teaching of the Church,” he said, “is responsible parenthood.” The Pope arrived back in Rome at 12:38 am Tuesday, January 20, Manila time.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Read the story on his return to Rome also on Rappler.

The wealth of the richest 1% will surpass that of the rest of the world by 2016, anti-poverty charity Oxfam said. Global inequality is increasing as the richest 1% is foreseen to own more than 50% of the world’s wealth by the same year. The Oxfam research coincides with the start of the 45th World Economic Forum in Davos. Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said “the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast” and urged leaders to take on “vested interests that stand in the way of a fairer and more prosperous world.”

Read the full story on Rappler.

A related story is on the BBC.

Indonesian probers said the crash of AirAsia QZ8501 on December 28 was unlikely to be caused by terrorism. All 162 passengers on board the plane from Surabaya to Singapore died, with only 53 bodies recovered so far. After analyzing the cockpit voice recorder, transport safety committee investigator Andreas Hananto was quoted by the BBC as saying there was “no threatening voice on board.” He also said the plane’s pilot appeared to be too busy to regain control of the aircraft to send a distress signal. The plane was flying through bad weather.

Read the full story on the BBC.

Emails of journalists from top media organizations like The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the BBC, among others, were tapped by Britain’s electronic spy agency GCHQ, an analysis of documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden shows. The Guardian reported that the emails were among 70,000 harvested in less than 10 minutes one day in November 2008 by one of several taps on the fiber-optic cables that make up the backbone of the Internet. The Guardian also said “investigative journalists” were considered a threat alongside terrorists and hackers.

Read the full story on Rappler.

More details are on The Guardian.

The estimated 6 million who turned up along the papal route and waited at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta was “incredible” to veteran reporters who have been covering the Vatican. Agence France-Presse’s Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere said, “I think it’s great hope for the world church, there’s a lively church in the Philippines. It’s a very good sign.” Undaunted by bad weather in both Manila and Leyte, Filipinos waited hours on the streets to see or greet Pope Francis, who according to the Vatican reporters, connected well with his audience.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Indonesia’s execution of two foreigners convicted on drug charges have prompted outrage as Brazilian and Dutch envoys recalled their envoys. On Sunday, January 18, Dutch citizen Ang Kiem Soei and Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira were killed by firing squad, along with convicts from Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria and Vietnam, The New York Times reported. Indonesian President Joko Widodo earlier said the executions would be “important shock therapy” in the fight against illegal drugs. He said after the executions that there should be “no halfhearted measures” in the war against drug syndicates, the Times said.

Read the full story on The New York Times.

The social media capital of the world gifted Pope Francis on his way back to the Vatican with a collection of photos taken by Filipino netizens using the hashtag #ShowThePope. The collection of photos from Rappler included photos of pristine beaches, a lovely sunset, homeless children, selfies, and letters written by schoolchildren, among others. The collection was handed to the Pope by Joe Torres, a correspondent of the Union of Catholic Asian News, a partner of Rappler in the papal coverage. Torres is part of the Vatican-accredited media that traveled with the Pope on his trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Diseases linked to lifestyle choices kill 16 million people every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday, January 19. Smoking, alcohol abuse, consuming too much fat, salt, and sugar have brought about an epidemic of diseases, which together, constitute the leading cause of death worldwide, WHO said. 6 million die prematurely each year because of tobacco use, while 3.3 million die because of alcohol abuse. 3.2 million deaths are linked to lack of physical activity, while 1.7 million are related to too much salt intake, WHO said.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Rizal Park or the Luneta and nearby areas were choked with garbage after the public Mass of Pope Francis Sunday, January 18. Packed with millions who attended the Mass, the area was littered with plastic water bottles, fast food containers, plastic glasses, and piles of wet missalettes. In his homily, Pope Francis said that God “created the world as a beautiful garden and asked us to care for it. But through sin, man has disfigured that natural beauty.” Aileen Lucero of the EcoWaste Coalition said Rizal Park was transformed into an “unsightly garden.”

Read the full story on Rappler.

Spanish and British astronomers propose that “at least two” more planets lie beyond Pluto, championed by some as the most distant planet from the Sun. Their calculations are based on the unusual orbital behavior of very distant space rocks called “extreme trans-Neptunian objects.” They observed that these space rocks are scattered more widely than they should be, leading astronomers to surmise that planets or very large objects must be in the area, with their gravitational force affecting these rocks. If confirmed, results would be “truly revolutionary for astronomy,” researchers said.

Read the full story on Rappler.