With a few words in Latin, Pope Benedict XVI did what no pope has done in more than half a millennium, stunning the world by announcing his resignation and leaving the already troubled Catholic Church to replace the leader of its one billion followers by Easter.

Twelve people including five children were killed in Guatemala when a pick-up truck was washed away in a river swollen by heavy rains.

A British student whose “joke” that she was carrying bombs on to a transatlantic flight landed her in a United States jail said tonight she hoped to return home soon.