Pope Francis offered encouragement to prisoners, artists and young people in Venice on Sunday, with his first trip of the year testing his mobility and resilience after a number of health scares in recent months.
The 87-year-old pope travelled by helicopter, motorlaunch and golf buggy, hopping the city's famed canals on his first visit to Venice since he became pontiff in 2013.
He started the day by flying directly into a women's prison where the Vatican has set up a multimedia exhibition that is part of the Venice Biennale -- a prestigious international art show that has never been visited by a pope before.
Through a deal with the Italian Justice Ministry, the Vatican chose to stage its pavilion inside Venice’s women’s prison and invited inmates to work alongside the artists. Between them they created what is called “With My Eyes”, the multimedia exhibit open to the public.
Upon his arrival the Pope said: "Let us not forget that we all have mistakes to be forgiven for and wounds to heal, I too, and that we can all become healed who bring healing, forgiven who bring forgiveness, reborn who bring rebirth".
Israeli tanks, under cover from heavy fire from air and ground, pushed further into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, residents and Hamas media said, while airstrikes hammered Rafah in the south.
India voted on Monday in the fourth phase of a seven-week long general election, as campaign rhetoric became more strident over economic disparities and religious divisions, while soaring summer temperatures was a challenge for some voters.
Flash floods and mud-slides in Indonesia's West Sumatra province killed at least 43 people over the weekend while a search for 15 missing people continued, authorities said on Monday.
The season's first major wildfires have spread across Western Canada as authorities issued an evacuation order for a community in British Columbia and warned of poor air quality across provinces.
At least 15 people were killed and scores injured on Sunday when a section of a Russian apartment block collapsed after being struck by fragments of a Soviet-era missile, launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russia, Russian officials said.
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