John Banville’s first novel in three years references many of his own characters in a quasi paean to metafiction and artistic thievery, writes Val Nolan.

ITALY:  Pope Francis slipped out of the Vatican to make a surprise visit to a Rome optician’s shop to get a new pair of glasses, insisting that his old frames be reused and that he would pay for them.

Police in Thailand have issued an arrest warrant for an “unidentified foreign man” seen leaving a bag minutes before a deadly bombing at a Bangkok shrine.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of a man who entered a Bangkok temple shortly before a blast that killed 22 people could shed light on who was behind the unprecedented attack.

NEPAL plans to investigate whether a centuries-old tradition of worshipping a virgin girl as a “living goddess” or Kumari has violated the child’s human rights, a senior official said yesterday.