Myanmar court, Vatican official, British-Iranian: World round-up

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Myanmar court to deliver verdicts on jailed Reuters reporters

A court in Myanmar is set to hand down verdicts on Monday in the case of two Reuters journalists accused of obtaining secret state documents. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, are charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Former top Vatican official says pope should resign over abuse crisis

A former top Vatican official has accused Pope Francis of having known of allegations of sex abuse by a prominent U.S. cardinal for years and called on him to resign, in an unprecedented broadside against the pope by a Church insider. In a detailed 11-page bombshell statement given to conservative Roman Catholic media outlets during the Pope's visit to Ireland, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano accused a long list of current and past Vatican and U.S. Church officials of covering up the case of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who resigned last month in disgrace.

British-Iranian aid worker returns to jail after temporary release - husband

A detained British-Iranian aid worker sentenced to five years in jail in Iran was returned to prison on Sunday after a request to extend her three-day temporary release was rejected, her husband said. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 at a Tehran airport as she was heading back to Britain with her two-year-old daughter after a family visit.

Zimbabwe's president takes oath as U.S censure hangs over vote

Emmerson Mnangagwa urged Zimbabwe to unite behind his presidency on Sunday, as he took the oath of office following a divisive election that U.S. observers said had called the country's democratic credentials into question. The Constitutional Court confirmed Mnangagwa as president on Friday, dismissing a challenge by the man he beat in the July 30 ballot, Nelson Chamisa.

Timeline: Reuters journalists detained in Myanmar

Two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been detained in Myanmar since Dec. 12, 2017. At the time of their arrests, they had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in Rakhine state. After eight months of hearings, a court is set to decide on Monday whether or not to convict the reporters under the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Colombian anti-corruption referendum fails to meet quorum

A referendum vote on seven anti-corruption measures failed to meet quorum in Colombia on Sunday, nullifying the results even though each of the measures, including a reduction in lawmakers' salaries and term limits for public posts, got at least 99 percent support. Corruption has become a hot topic in the country in recent years as security has improved and Colombians have increasingly turned their attention to headline-grabbing cases, including vote-buying, graft to obtain public contracts and the extradition of the country's anti-corruption czar for allegedly taking bribes.

Pope begs forgiveness for 'state of shame' inflicted on Ireland

Pope Francis on Sunday begged forgiveness for the multitude of abuses suffered by victims in Ireland at the hand of the church over decades as he concluded a tour of the once deeply Catholic country watched by parishioners and protesters. After meeting privately with abuse victims on Saturday on the first papal visit to Ireland in almost four decades, Francis apologized to mothers estranged from their children in church-run homes, children abused by priests and those exploited in religious schools, calling it a "state of shame."

New Australian prime minister faces party popularity slump

Australians' support for the Coalition government has dropped to its lowest in a decade after it dumped Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister and installed Scott Morrison last Friday following a week of chaos, an opinion poll showed on Monday. The latest Newspoll, published by The Australian newspaper, also showed opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten, who had long trailed Turnbull, is now preferred, prime minister.

Head of Islamic State in Afghanistan killed, government says

The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Saad Erhabi, was killed in a strike on the group's hideouts in Nangarhar province on Saturday night, authorities said on Sunday. Ten other members of the militant group were also killed in a joint ground and air operation by Afghan and foreign forces, the National Directorate of Security in Kabul said in a statement.

Macron targets French welfare spending as deficit pressure rises

French President Emmanuel Macron's government will tackle social spending in the next wave of its reforms as weaker than expected growth puts pressure on the budget deficit, the prime minister said on Sunday. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in an interview in Le Journal du Dimanche that the government would press on with its reform drive in the face of record unpopularity after little more than a year in office.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)