An explosion has ripped through a petrochemical plant on the Gulf of Mexico's southern coast, killing three people, injuring dozens and sending a toxin-filled cloud into the air.

Tropical Storm Ernesto has weakened to a tropical depression as it moves inland over Mexico, killing seven people and dumping rains in the mountains of Mexico’s flood-prone southern Gulf region.

Tropical Storm Ernesto has hit Mexico, killing two people as it moved inland and began drenching the flood-prone southern Gulf region.

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.

Actress Salma Hayek has lent her support to groups helping battered women in her native Mexico through a series of generous donations.