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Former Pope Benedict is 'very sick', says the Vatican and asks for prayers for the 95-year-old Pope Francis made the surprise appeal at the end of his audience this morning Benedict, 95, served as Pope from April 2005 until he resigned in February 2013 He stepped down due to old age but his papacy was wracked with scandals

The community of pensioners living off-grid on Britain's canals 'forgotten' by authorities Express.co.uk spends a day on the canals with a sub-group of Britain's pensioner community who have recently been granted new help with their energy bills, but who still feel they have been forgotten by the authorities.

Early on the third day of the Melbourne Test, despite their scorecard advantage, you wondered whether an Australian team that more resembled a medical ward could adequately function in the match. Instead, when they finally declared two sessions later, two batters with busted hands were the ones in the middle landing the punches.

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Putin 'overruled his generals and personally ordered encircled troops to fight to the death' in Ukraine, claims report that reveals how he wakes to a daily 7am briefing on the war's progress Vladimir Putin is deluded about the reality of Russia's botched war, insiders say He personally intervened to order surrounded troops in Lyman to stay and fight No one in the Kremlin can stand up to Putin and tell him the truth, officials claim

Chinese people have rushed to book overseas travel after Beijing announced it would reopen its borders next month. Passport applications for Chinese citizens wishing to travel internationally will resume from 8 January, the immigration administration said. It follows an announcement on Monday that ended almost three years of strict quarantine rules for arrivals. Travel sites have since reported a spike in traffic.

The UN Security Council has denounced Taliban government policies targeting women and girls in Afghanistan. The Taliban have banned women from attending university and working for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) within the last week. The 15-member Security Council said it was "deeply alarmed" by the increasing restrictions on women's education. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the latest restrictions "must be revoked".

Thirteen-year-old Nika Selivanova made a heart shape with both her hands, waving goodbye to her best friend Inna who was pressed up against the glass partition that divided the entrance hall of Kherson's train station from the waiting area. Moments earlier, they'd hugged, tears welling up in their eyes. Inna had kissed Asia, a tan dachshund dog wrapped up in a warm blanket, carried by Nika in her arms.

Scientists have developed a blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease without the need for expensive brain imaging or a painful lumbar puncture, where a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is drawn from the lower back. If validated, the test could enable faster diagnosis of the disease, meaning therapies could be initiated earlier.

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The minimum wage is increasing on New Year's Day in 41 cities — 28 of them in California — and 23 states. Later in 2023, another five states and 22 cities and counties will hike their baseline rate, according to the National Employment Law Project, a worker rights group. The pay raises vary, with Michigan hiking its minimum wage by 23 cents to $10.10 an hour. Washington is on track to have the highest state minimum wage in the U.S. next year at $15.74 an hour, up $1.25 an hour from 2022.

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A home win in regulation this might have been. But this comfortable victory over Bournemouth was as welcome as it was necessary for Graham Potter. First-half goals from World Cup returnees Kai Havertz and Mason Mount made what could have been an awkward evening one of relief and, largely, satisfaction.