Reuters

• Pope: Gay priests should be celibate or leave

  Men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be admitted to the Catholic clergy, and it would be better for priests who are actively gay to leave rather than lead a double life, Pope Francis says in a new book.

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  Hardline groups that agitated to remove Christian governor hold major rally in Jakarta

  Tens of thousands of Indonesian Muslims held a rally in Jakarta on Sunday led by hardline groups who had agitated to remove the city's Christian governor, underscoring the growing influence of Islamist groups ahead of elections in 2019.

• Terrorism charges for leaders of hardline Islamist group persecuting Asia Bibi

  Pakistan's government on Saturday announced it will press terrorism and sedition charges against leaders of a hardline Islamist group that staged recent protests across the country against the acquittal of Asia Bibi.

• Group close to pope urges California's Governor Jerry Brown to commute all death sentences

  Brown, who once trained to be a priest of the Jesuit order, will leave office after completing his current two terms on January 7, when Governor-elect Gavin Newsom is sworn in.

• Ukraine president welcomes moves to Church independence

  President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday Ukraine was on the cusp of securing its own independent church, snapping centuries-old ties to a Russian clergy that Kiev accuses of meddling in its affairs.

• Conservative, Catholic Chile approves landmark transgender law

  Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Wednesday signed into law a bill allowing people over the age of 14 to change their name and gender in official records.

• Israeli artist beats Gaza rockets into Hanukkah lamps

  The clang of hammer on metal and the roar of a blowtorch can be heard long before you walk into Israeli metal sculptor Yaron Bob's workshop.

• Ukraine introduces martial law citing threat of Russian invasion

  Poroshenko said martial law was necessary to bolster Ukraine's defences after Russia seized three Ukrainian naval ships and took their crew prisoner at the weekend.

• Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool

  Google's technology will not suggest gender-based pronouns because the risk is too high that its Smart Compose technology might predict someone's sex or gender identity incorrectly.

• British academic Matthew Hedges pardoned by UAE

  The UAE president issued the pardon as part of a mass clemency of more than 700 prisoners to mark the country's National Day

• Indian police investigate who helped American missionary killed on remote island

  John Chau, 26, was allegedly killed on November 17 by people of the Sentinelese tribe who inhabit the North Sentinel Island in the Andaman and Nicobar island chain.

• More than 80,000 Yemeni children may have died from hunger, aid group says

  Western countries are pressing for a ceasefire and renewed peace efforts to end the disastrous conflict.