Pope Benedict XVI strongly defended celibacy for priests as a sign of faith in an increasingly secular world, insisting on a church tradition that has increasingly come under scrutiny amid the clerical sex abuse scandal.

PSNI chiefs are making agonisingly slow progress in transforming grim and heavily-fortified stations across Northern Ireland, a watchdog claimed today.

PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has halted a move to force all officers in Northern Ireland to declare membership of outside organisations, it emerged tonight.

An explosion at a building housing a Masonic lodge killed at least two people and wounded seven others tonight in Istanbul – a city struck by four suicide bombings last year.