Pope Francis on Wednesday denounced fake news as satanic, saying journalists and social media users should shun and unmask manipulative “snake tactics” that foment division to serve political and economic interests. “Fake news is a sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes, and leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred. That is the end result of untruth,” Francis said in the first document by a pope on the subject.

The EU has removed eight countries, including Panama, from its new tax haven blacklist, after they pledged to address its concerns, in a move swiftly condemned by activists. The United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Mongolia, Macau, Grenada and Barbados were also lifted from the list by finance ministers, in a move that comes just weeks after the bloc unveiled its original list of 17 non-EU nations.

A series of attacks against prison guards by inmates at institutions across France has led to a nationwide strike in the country.

Unions have vowed a "total blockade" of prisons on Monday as their dispute with the government over safety improvements and wage rises enters its second week.

France's Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said she would meet union leaders to try to end the crisis.

Last week, unions rejected government proposals to end the strikes.

Pope Francis has apologized for making comments he said were hurtful to victims of clerical sex abuse.

The pontiff sparked controversy when he defended embattled Chilean Bishop Juan Barros -- who is accused of covering up sex abuse by his mentor Father Fernando Karadima.

According to Crux, a Catholic news outlet, the Vatican found Karadima guilty of sexual abuse in 2011 and sentenced him to a life of prayer and penitence. Barros has denied allegations that he covered up the abuse.

Britain’s Princess Eugenie of York has got engaged, lining up a second royal wedding this year at the church where Prince Harry will tie the knot. Buckingham Palace announced on Monday that Eugenie, who is eighth in line to the throne, “will marry her nightclub manager boyfriend Jack Brooksbank in late 2018”.

A German man who admitted selling the weapon a teenage gunman used to kill nine people has been sentenced to seven years in prison, a court spokeswoman said on Friday. David Ali Sonboly, 18, killed nine people in Munich in 2016 before shooting himself dead. Another 27 people were injured. Police concluded the German-born Sonboly was a lone gunman obsessed with mass killings and was not inspired by Islamist militancy.