
Spain's Socialist party rejected a re-worked offer on Tuesday to form a coalition government with the far-left Unidas Podemos that could have mapped a way out of a four-month political hiatus that began with an inconclusive national election.

Convicted pedophile Cardinal George Pell had his appeal against child sex abuse charges rejected by an Australian court on Wednesday. Once the Vatican's third-ranking official, 78-year-old Pell was sentenced this year to six years in jail for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s.

The United States will extend a reprieve that permits China’s Huawei Technologies to buy components from US companies to supply existing customers, the Commerce Department said on Monday, but it also moved to add more than 40 of Huawei’s units to its economic blacklist.

Pope Francis is expected to make an official trip to Thailand in November ahead of an already announced visit to Japan, becoming the first pontiff in nearly four decades to go to either country, Vatican sources say. The three sources said the trip would be announced soon.

Spanish actor Javier Bardem on Monday defended the need for a world pact to protect the oceans, just as the third round of negotiations on the subject is kicking off at the United Nations, where he is participating as an ambassador for Greenpeace.

Britain said on Monday it will immediately end freedom of movement for people from the European Union after Brexit on Oct 31, in a policy shift under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “Freedom of movement as it currently stands will end on October 31 when the UK leaves the EU,” a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

Vladimir Putin rebuked his French counterpart on Monday, saying he did not want yellow vest protests spring up like in France, after Emmanuel Macron urged the Russian leader to abide by democratic principles following weeks of protests in Moscow.

An Iranian tanker at the centre of an angry confrontation between Iran and Washington sailed for Greece on Monday after it was freed from detention off Gibraltar, as Washington called the release unfortunate and warned Greece and Mediterranean ports against helping the vessel.

Brazil is considering designating Lebanese group Hezbollah a terrorist organization, as President Jair Bolsonaro increasingly aligns his government with the U.S. on foreign policy.

A bishop had denied point-blank any involvement of Pope Francis in Argentine politics, following on August 11 presidential primaries, which have quashed President Mauricio Macri's reelection aspirations, increasing opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez chances of taking office next 10 December, while Latin America's third economy was driven into financial chaos as the word default creeps intensely as a possibility in the near future.