Benedict, 82, was not hurt in the incident during Christmas Eve Mass and delivered his traditional Christmas greetings from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

Still, the incident in St. Peter’s Basilica raised fresh questions about security for the pontiff, particularly after officials said the woman involved had jumped the barrier at the 2008 Midnight Mass in a failed bid to get to the pope. She even wore the same red-hooded sweat shirt.

The Vatican identified the woman involved in Thursday night’s incident as Susanna Maiolo, 25, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems who was immediately taken to a clinic for treatment.

– Associated Press

MEXICO

Journalist is killed outside holiday party

A journalist was gunned down this week as he left a holiday party on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, human rights officials and an international media group said Friday, bringing to 12 the number of reporters killed this year in the country.

Alberto Velázquez of the newspaper Expresiones de Tulum was killed Tuesday. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Velázquez had written articles critical of local officials and his paper had received threats. In a statement, the group quoted colleagues as saying that Velázquez was shot by a gunman on a motorcycle and that they believed it was related to his reporting.

– Associated Press

Iran makes nuclear counteroffer: Iran would be willing to swap nuclear material with the West in Turkey, the foreign minister said in the country’s latest counteroffer to a U.N.-drafted deal. The U.N. proposal aims to ease concerns that Iran could build a nuclear weapon by reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium.

Thailand holds firm on Hmong: Thailand insisted it would repatriate thousands of ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers to Laos, despite U.S. and U.N. concerns that some could face persecution. “Authorities in Laos have assured us that those who have been sent back are safe,” said Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Remembering veterans of Soviet war in Afghanistan: The lower house of the Russian parliament defended the Soviet war in Afghanistan on the 30th anniversary of its start and praised its veterans. The Kremlin-controlled State Duma said differing assessments of the war “mustn’t erode the Russian people’s respect for the soldiers who honestly fulfilled their duty in implementing tasks to combat international terrorism and religious extremists.”

– From news services