The Greek MEP who has become the face of the European Parliament's widening graft scandal will spend at least another week in custody before attending a postponed pre-trial hearing, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Eva Kaili, a 44-year-old former newsreader and until this week one of the vice presidents of the Strasbourg parliament, is one of four suspects charged with receiving bribes from World Cup host Qatar to influence EU policy.

The Qatar government has rejected any claims of wrongdoing as "gravely misinformed".

Morocco's support for the Palestinians during the Atlas Lions' historic World Cup run shows the cause has not been "buried", says Palestinian Football Association chief Jibril Rajoub.

Like several other Arab nations, Morocco has agreed full diplomatic ties with Israel -- but this has not stopped its players from making clear their loyalties regarding the decades-old conflict.

They unfurled a Palestinian flag on the pitch after their stunning December 6 upset victory against Spain, and also after beating Canada during the group stage.

A doctor, rap artists and a footballer are among around two dozen Iranians who risk being hanged as Tehran uses capital punishment as an intimidation tactic to quell protests, rights groups say.

The executions in the past week of Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23 and the first people put to death over the protests, sparked an outcry, especially as Rahnavard was hanged from a crane in public rather than in prison.

Pope Francis on Wednesday called on people to spend less on Christmas presents and celebrations, and donate the money saved to those in war-ravaged Ukraine.

"It is nice to celebrate Christmas. But let's lower the level of Christmas spending a bit," Francis said in his weekly general audience at the Vatican.

"Let's have a more humble Christmas, with more humble gifts. Let's send what we save to the Ukrainian people, who need it," he said.

Istanbul's popular opposition mayor faced new hearings Wednesday in a politically-charged trial that could bar him from seeking office months before next year's general election.

Prosecutors want to sentence Ekrem Imamoglu to between 15 months and four years in jail over a remark he made after defeating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ally in a hugely controversial 2019 mayoral vote.

People who are sentenced to less than four years are rarely put behind bars in Turkey.

Iran's protest crackdown has helped push the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide to a record high of 533 in 2022, according to a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published Wednesday.

The figure is up from 488 in 2021, already a record, according to the France-based NGO.

More than half are detained in just five countries: China, which remains "the world's biggest jailer of journalists" with 110, followed by Myanmar (62), Iran (47), Vietnam (39) and Belarus (31).

Moroccan moped driver El Haj Mohamed is in high spirits as his country's top footballers gear up for a historic World Cup clash against France, a welcome break from daily economic pain.

"This team has let us forget everything, high prices and the rest. My mood has changed," he said as he took a break from making deliveries in a market in Sale, a city adjoining the capital Rabat.

Hundreds of Sudanese protesters took to the streets Tuesday to protest a recent deal aimed at ending the crisis caused by last year's military coup, AFP reporters said.

"No to the settlement," protesters chanted, heading toward the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum.

Near-weekly protests have rocked Sudan since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan led an October 2021 military coup derailing a transition to civilian rule.

Sudan's short-lived transition was installed following the 2019 ouster of president Omar al-Bashir.

His country is in diplomatic crisis with Morocco, but that's not stopping Tunisian Wissam Sultani supporting the first ever Arab or African team to reach a football World Cup semi-final.

"There's no politics on the pitch. Supporting an Arab country, whichever one, is a duty when it gets to this stage of a tournament," said Sultani, a 41-year-old greengrocer in Tunis, capital of the North African nation.

"Football brings people together, but politics divides them."

The world union of professional footballers FIFPRO said it was "shocked and sickened" by the risk of Iranian footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani being sentenced to death in connection with protests which have shaken the country for three months.

Nasr-Azadani was arrested in the city of Isfahan two days after allegedly taking part in an "armed riot" in which three security agents were killed on September 16, Isfahan's judiciary chief Abdullah Jafari said, quoted Sunday by Iran's ISNA news agency.