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.
The UK on Tuesday announced new sanctions against senior Russian military commanders, as well as Iranians involved in the producing and supplying drones to target Ukraine.
The government said 12 Russian top brass would be subject to assets freezes and travel bans, including Major General Robert Baranov, who is said to be in charge of a unit programming and targeting cruise missiles.
Israel's parliament elected a close ally of prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu as its new speaker Tuesday to oversee the passage of legislation that will help his formation of a government.
Yariv Levin, a senior member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, was chosen as speaker to replace Mickey Levy from outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party.
The European Parliament sacked one of its vice presidents on Tuesday amid corruption accusations allegedly linked to World Cup host Qatar, as EU officials scrambled to contain a widening scandal.
The assembly's MEPs voted 625 to one to strip Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili of her vice presidential role, despite her lawyer declaring that she was innocent and "has nothing to do with Qatar's bribes".
The government of Qatar has denied any connection to any wrongdoing in the case.
