WORLD NEWS

Pope Francis on Thursday rejected the resignation of one of Germany’s most influential bishops, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who had offered to step down to accept responsibility for the sexual abuse crisis in the German Catholic Church. Marx, the Bishop of Munich, wrote to the pope in a letter released this …

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a new naming system for variants of Covid-19. From now on the WHO will use Greek letters to refer to variants first detected in countries like the UK, South Africa and India. The UK variant for instance is labelled as Alpha, the South …

A Malian woman has given birth to nine babies, in what would be an extremely rare case. Halima Cisse, 25, gave birth on Tuesday to five girls and four boys in a Moroccan hospital where she had been admitted, the Malian Health Minister Fanta Siby said in a statement. The …

Chad’s President Idriss Deby has died while visiting troops on the frontline of a fight against northern rebels, the army said on Tuesday, the day after Deby was declared the winner of a presidential election. Deby’s son, Mahamat Kaka, was named interim president by a transitional council of military officers, …

Former United States Vice President, Walter Mondale, a liberal icon who famously told voters to expect a tax increase should he win the presidency, died on Monday, US media reported. He was 93 years old. No cause was given for Mondale’s death, according to reports citing a statement from his family. …

Jose Mourinho has been fired, bringing a contract that had been due to run until the summer of 2023 to a premature conclusion   Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Tottenham Hotspur after just 17 months in charge. The Portuguese replaced Mauricio Pochettino as Spurs manager in November 2019 and …

Lionel Messi scored a brace last night to help FC Barcelona win their 31st Copa del Rey tittle when they trashed Athletico Bilbao by 4-0. The 33-year old since making his senior team debut for FC Barcelona more than a decade ago has gone on to win 35 trophies. The …

Italy has entered a strict three-day lockdown to try to prevent a surge in Covid-19 cases over Easter. All regions are now in the “red zone” – the highest tier of restrictions – as the country battles a third wave, with about 20,000 new cases a day. Non-essential movement is …

Two men have been sentenced to death for raping a woman in front of her children on the side of a motorway after her car ran out of fuel near Lahore in Pakistan. Abid Malhi and Shafqat Hussain were also sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment, time that must be served …

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in jail-two of them suspended – for corruption. Sarkozy, 66, was found guilty of trying to bribe a magistrate by offering a prestigious job in Monaco in return for information about a criminal inquiry into his political party. The …